Last week, I had one of those lightbulb moments while hosting a webinar on mobile optimization.
One of our speakers - my friend Robert Cole, founder of RockCheetah - said something simple that is quite profound, for any marketer who wants to stay ahead of the competition.
He said just like Steve Jobs predicted many years ago that in 2015, mobile sales will surpass PC sales (which will come true this year), Robert predicts that in 2020, we'll be wondering why we treated mobile any differently than desktop since it will be the most pervasive platform that's being used.
We'll be wondering why we treated mobile any differently than desktop.
I've often chatted with other marketers about the importance of mobile optimization but his statement really struck a chord: we don't just need a mobile strategy, we need a consistent, multi-channel strategy that showcases who we are on every channel consumers use - it's not mobile-first, it's mobile, period. They're not mobile consumers that we need to target, but consumers, period, who use mobile every day. Because there will come a time (and I actually think it'll happen sooner than 2020) when mobile becomes the predominant channel we use - and we need to be prepared.
In 10 countries, including the U.S. and Japan, smartphone search has exceeded desktop search.
Have You Adapted Your Strategy?
That being said, tomorrow's successful marketers will be ones that understand and keep an eye on mobile today. So have you adapted your online storytelling strategy to include a great and modern mobile experience for travel shoppers?
Stories work in hospitality marketing to help us get the job done, which is to say that framing our unique selling propositions in a way that’s both helpful and entertaining ultimately leads to more revenue and better guest relationships.
Today’s narratives are often shared on mobile devices of all shapes and sizes – while we’re hanging out with friends and family or having lunch with a colleague.
When was the last time you were in one of these scenarios and someone hasn’tpulled out their phone to show you a photo or video or googled a source to call you on a factoid you pulled out of the clear blue sky?
One Screen? More Like Three-Plus!
Interesting, a report from HeBS talks about how today’s “3 screens” are just the beginning. In fact, in the first half of 2015, more than 21% of online bookings and nearly 19% of room nights are generated from non-desktop devices with 45% of web visitors coming from smartphones and tablets.
What about new opportunities arising from wearables, connected cars and so on? Now we’re talking about 5 or 6 screens!
We really need to get our heads around the term “seamless experience” across devices. This doesn’t mean presenting the exact same thing in exactly the same way across desktops, smartphone and tablets.
Here’s what it does mean.
One, offer an uninterrupted experience – like starting to watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix from your smart TV in the living room and finishing the episode the next night on your iPad in bed. The “channel” remembers who you are and where you were in the story and then lets you pick up where you left off.
Secondly, the channel is smart enough to know that your TV is a different form than your tablet, resizing the programming based on your device, connection speed, etc. Additionally, you’re likely to receive unique advertising and promotional offers based on how you’ve connected – makes a lot of sense because of context – where you are and what you’re doing at the time.
What a wonderful world it will be when we have the same experience during our travel shopping journey – I hope we’re not that far off.
Stay on top of changing user behavior on smartphones and tablets and other evolving technologies. Now that larger screens for phones are out there, consumers may begin to do more browsing on these devices than they have in the past.
By the end of 2015, the world will see mobile sales surpass desktops as Steve Jobs once predicted and properties that aren’t managing their mobile presence will increasingly be ignored.
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