The Future of Hospitality Marketing: Think Small

Hospitality marketing is shifting dramatically and marketers are "thinking small" as more and more advertising dollars are shifted away from traditional marketing and toward small screens.  We're talking about desktops computers, tablets and smart phones.  The trick is understanding that consumer behavior is different depending on which small screen the audience is utilizing at any particular moment.

Tablets are quickly taking over the computing space once dominated by desktops and laptops.  The portability and processing power of iPads and most Android powered tablets allow consumers to untether themselves from their homes and take their web browsing in the road.  Although smart phones also facilitate portable web browsing, consumers expect the tablet experience to be more like the familiar desktop experience and not the scaled down "lite" version smart phones use.  Therefore, marketers are adamant that smartphones and tablets require their own marketing channels.

The most simple explanation as to why tablet and smartphone require their own marketing strategies is that consumer behavior is completely different on those two devices.  In late 2012 Google published a white paper that explains how people use different devices throughout the day.  The study found that desktop/laptop users were more business focused and were more likely to use their machines for research and information gathering.  Smartphone users are geared to mobile social networking and communicating while tablet users mostly used their devices for entertainment purposes.

Further segmenting the mobile audience reveals one of the most important differences marketers must pay attention to is that more commerce is transacted via tablets than smartphones.  A Neilson report found that smartphones were frequently used to find information about purchases but tablets were used to consummate the purchase.  Phones are commonly used to find brick and mortar stores, check prices and use mobile coupons while tablets were used to read reviews and actually make final purchases.

 

Clearly the hospitality segment must transition their marketing strategies to focus on the small screen. Mobile friendly websites should be designed to entice and provide the right kind of information that will lead to conversions with the understanding that those conversions are likely to happen via desktop or tablet devices.  All three mediums must work in a cohesive manner but the future of hospitality marketing is definitely targeting the small screen.