It’s always important to remember that it’s not just the Googles and Admobs of this world that drive mobile advertising. There is a growing swell of support for mobile as a channel amongst hoteliers and others in the hospitality sector. We’ve got a selection of fresh stories about it right here; along with the DealChirp LBS app supporting a local shopping campaign in Boise; and the continuing growth of SMS as a marketing tool.
“Think Boise First” campaign gets support from iPhone app
Idaho’s capital city of Boise has a campaign that supports local purchasing. Think Boise First tries to get Boise residents to go to their local stores, businesses and producers for the needs. DealChirp, a Boise-based iPhone developer has gotten involved with the campaign, and has delivered a location-based shopping application – it shows unique local offers, filtered by the users interests and location.. The application is available for use by anyone, but only shop-owners that are locally based and independently operated can place their deals and goods on the app.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Boises-Leading-Buy-Local-Marketing-Platform-Extends-Its-Reach-With-Release-DealChirp-1265380.htm
InterContinental hotel group using mobile location as a marketing tool
tnooz is reporting that the InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a partnership with mobile location-based social network Gowalla. InterContinental, which owns the Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotel chains, now lets guests at these hotels check-in with Gowalla to receive targeted deals and promotions. According to USA Today, it will even allow mobile owners to use their phones to unlock their hotel rooms!
And this isn’t the only story about mobile and hospitality today, as we see that:
Hospitality business needs to change it’s attitudes to mobile marketing
http://www.hospitalityebusiness.com/aboutus.php Hospitality eBusiness Strategies is a digital marketing firm dedicated to promoting better use of the internet as a channel for marketing hotels. But the firm is now beginning to strongly push mobile as a better channel for mobile, and it claims that hotels need to realise that you can’t use mobile the same way you use on-line. Chief eBusiness Strategist, Max Starkov says “Many hoteliers do not fully realize that the mobile Internet is not wireless access to the conventional Internet. The mobile Internet adheres to different rules than the conventional Web…. Hotel guests—past, current and potential—are already mobile-ready and hoteliers have to respond adequately to this growing demand for mobile services.”
What flavour do you like your spam? Mobile or email?
An email marketer (iPost) and an SMS marketer (CRM Text) are joining forces this week to offer a joint solution to digital marketers. Now a marketer can split their inventory between email and SMS any way they like with the two companies. Stan Bradbury, President of CRM Text Solutions says “Text messaging is the ideal compliment to email marketing to increase the reach and visibility of your message. Increasingly customers rely on their mobile device for communications and SMS is the most reliable and preferred method for mobile communications.”
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20100524005305&newsLang=en
Unica and Mobile Messenger sign mobile marketing deal
Digital marketer Unica has entered into a partnership with mobile text company Mobile Messenger. Unica specialises in enterprise marketing, giving businesses better reach over the internet and better contact with their customers. It is adding the messaging capabilities of Mobile Messenger to this offering. Mobile Messenger will be bringing not only its SMS and shortcode capabilities, but also its contacts with mobile operators (which is, perhaps, more valuable).
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