Like so many businesses across the globe, the travel industry is going through an evolution due to the growth of new technologies. As travelers become more acclimated with their mobile devices the use of those devices is driving this change in the industry. They are now booking travel, checking in for flights and posting photos, stories and videos right from their mobile device. Businesses know that these activities are just the beginning of how mobile will impact the travel industry.
Travel and Mobile Go Hand in Hand
According to Travelmarket 61% of travelers book their travel using a smartphone. Travelers mainly use computers and smartphones/mobile devices to do at least one of these actions: browsing flights, booking flights or planning some part of their travel. So it’s impossible to overlook mobile devices anymore.
To effectively meet the needs of today’s travelers it take these key activities:
- Reaching the travelers while they are actually traveling. We all have that friend or family member that loves to plan trips. They may send you an itinerary of your trip weeks in advance. Yes, it’s important to reach these people with mobile advertising and marketing, however finding those procrastinators can be key to a successful mobile strategy. When a traveler searches for hotels near you, it’s important that your ad comes up. Make sure all your map sites and apps are fully optimized to enable your location to be best represented.
- Hit airports or other popular travel spots – Using a Geofence, a mobile advertising tool, will enable your business to show up on their mobile device when they are using apps such as weather, flight info or news. Having your messaging show up on popular apps in a heavy travel centric area can make the difference.
- While it may seem obvious that every business’s website needs to be optimized for mobile devices, many businesses haven’t made this change yet. Once the traveler sees information about your business they’re likely to look at your website. Sometimes the ad itself links to your website. You’ll want an up-to-date website that is easy to use and that offers conveniences, such as bookings online and product or service purchases. Remember, mobile users won’t go to a website that takes a long time to load or that isn’t easy to navigate. Scientiamobile released information in 2017 saying: “53% of mobile site visitors abandon if it takes more than 3 seconds to load page.” Keeping your online branding the same between mobile devices and computers is important. While many travelers search their plans with a mobile device, they still often purchase the travel on their computer or laptop, so you want them to find the navigation just as easy on their laptop as it is on their smartphone.
- The great thing about any digital marketing platform is the ability to customize the content. Mobile advertising is no different. In addition to the personalization, you can use these communications to promote savings and/or deals. Customized experiences, no matter in the digital world or real world, enhance the customer’s experience leading to satisfied customers and stronger relationships with those customers.
Mobile advertising provides the tools you need to reach customers in a more positive way. Travelers rely on their mobile devices as much or more than those around them. Integrating mobile advertising into your travel marketing plan will provide greater awareness for your business and help convert mobile users to customers.