Interactive Marketing - reaching to the user communities

Do you remember the last time you reached for the Yellow Pages to search for a particular company? Well, as customers, we have become environmentally conscious, paper-free and don’t prefer catalog marketing either. We usually toss away direct mailers into the trash can. Similarly, no one wants to attend a call on one’s mobile without permission. In fact, telemarketing has never been really effective. Print and television are here to stay, however more and more companies are opting for interactive marketing mediums that are not only affordable but surely effective.

The last three quarters of 2009 saw 18.1% and 9.2% growth in mobile and internet respectively. On the other hand, advertising through TV declined by -10.1%, newspapers by -18.7% and radio by -11.7%. The coming decade will see closer integration of television and print with the internet for marketing purposes.

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Nothing is predictable in any industry. Even the best known names in the hospitality industry cannot determine or predict how consumers will buy or make their choices. No doubt, online hotel marketing strategies will be very strong in creating a well-executed presence for every hotel in the virtual world.

Three effective tips to consider are:

• Analyze where you have spent your money for marketing and determine the returns you have received from your spend.
• Consider that meta and search that are important areas to spend on in years to come.
• Offer useful website tools such as currency converter to engage customers on your website.

Here is a checklist for you to consider if you plan to grow your hotel’s visibility through smart online marketing strategies.

What are Your Hotel’s Distribution Channels?

• Does your hotel associate itself with major credit card companies?

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Bean there…Done that…

At Starbucks, it is all about ‘you.’ Chanting the simple mantra of “people before products,” the company has been able to communicate that it cares about consumer experience. It gave them a platform to speak their minds. Once this was in place, all that had to be done was spotting what people really wanted. And, if an idea made sense, ‘Your Starbucks’ adopted it.

When it comes to e-marketing success stories, Starbucks has to be on the list. The company did not stick to existing sites for this… it created My Starbucks Idea. This platform asks the simple question “What’s your Starbucks idea?” and invites people to express what more the company could do for them. This became a channel for such a free flow of customer feedback that the company was able to get its market to do its marketing. Starbucks lovers began visiting this online community and posting their ideas. They could also see ideas posted by others, comment on them and vote for/against them. This wonderful forum, that was thrown open to people in March 2008, had generated over 70,000 ideas till its first anniversary.
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The world of fashion is a mélange of colors, fabrics, textures, concepts, brilliant creativity and a million fabric swatches that designers base their ideas from. It’s not about brands, seasons or just runway shows. It’s about mirroring what you are from in life, donning a Creator’s robes to visualize beauty, transform whites into a million shades of multiplicity and detailing it with just about anything the earth can offer such as shells, stones, gems and whatever catches artistic fancy. It’s about telling the world how beautiful it is through a larger vertical through phases of conceptualization, design, visual merchandising and showcasing.

Here are some top global trends to watch out for in 2009:

Pre-collections
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“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet,”
- Juliet says distressed because Romeo’s name (symbolizing the family he belongs to) does not allow them to be lovers.

This is not about Theatre although it is rather Theatrical
With all due respect to Shakespeare, I just have to disagree. There is, in fact, a lot in a name. Why else would I go to a restaurant and ask for Coke instead of just any cola? Why would I automatically walk into a Levis showroom, knowing that I would get a pair of jeans that was sure to fit beautifully? When my aunt gifts me a Tommy Girl, why do I know I will love the fragrance before I even open the bottle? When my husband surprises me with Swarovski earrings, how am I so sure that they would sparkle for years? Apparently, there is a lot in a name.
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The New Year 2009 has begun amidst a lot of worries about global recession. For the hotel industry, this has been the worst of times, as most hotels around the world are struggling to tackle the problem of lowest occupancy rates. This is a first, since 1971. However, hoteliers are sure to devise creative and innovative ways to attract their guests and earn their trust once again. Inevitably, most luxury facilities in the hospitality sector would have to work doubly hard to demonstrate how unique and satisfying their offers would be so as to justify the greater expense. That’s why there is so much debate about innovative trends in the global hospitality sector.

So, here’s a mixed bag of global trends that is sure to interest those who are keen to understand what’s in store for the global hospitality segment:
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The very purpose of having a web presence has changed drastically over the past decade. From being a mere extension of the promotional strategy of a business, a web presence has blossomed into becoming the core promotional methodology for enhancing brand recognition and promoting sales. IAB Europe President Alain Heureux said in a statement in June 2008, “Despite a slowdown in ad spend on some traditional media, the rise of online advertising in Europe continues unabated.” The growing importance of the Internet is also revealed by the survey conducted by Nielsen Monitor-Plus in the US market. The survey reflects that while US advertising spending was up merely 0.6% in 2007, Internet ad spending grew 18.9%.

Why Formulate a Content Development Strategy?

Most people are attracted to the Internet as a source of information. This information is mainly available in the form of content. Content has the power to:
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