Email and telephone calls are already popular contact methods of communication for businesses in the hospitality sector, but mobile can also be important in marketing, making bookings and even customer service.
With more people accessing information online via their phones than ever before, people are using their mobiles to research the best hotels, restaurants and places to drink. More than ever before businesses need mobile to support their overall marketing strategies and use messaging as the main force driving customers to the internet.
SMS messaging is an important link in and gives a campaign the added power to communicate directly with customers by delivering your message right into their hands. Text messages are simple, low cost and have a readership of over 95%; also the average text is read within four minutes of being sent.
So, you haven’t managed to accumulate contact numbers. Textlocal’s short code service allows you to easily build a database of opt-in customers, for example, by publishing Text “HOTEL to 60777” on your website, or marketing collateral you can prompt customers to opt–in for text alerts.
The possibilities are endless as to what you can showcase and push out to your opt-in database. You can boost profits by using mobile web tools in conjunction with SMS to direct customers to your mobile site, or even add a link in your text that goes directly to your latest mobile brochure, menu or portfolio, all of which Textlocal can design for you.
But it’s not all about mobile websites and brochures. Using an opt-in SMS campaign means customers have chosen to hear from you and so you can then build a relationship with them based on permission and trust. This could support your promotional activity, for example, a hotel could offer a room discount or weekend stay package to increase repeat bookings. SMS also allows you to keep customers updated with new developments, a new bar or restaurant opening, or a new headline act. More simply, you can provide that all important level of customer service, by texting a simple ‘thank you for coming’ or ‘we enjoyed you staying with us, come again soon’.
Textlocal work with an array of clients all enjoying success with mobile, including Malmaison and Pizza Hut. It’s important, more now than ever to get involved in this ever growing and developing marketing channel for campaign success and a guaranteed return on investment.
