mardi 8 mars 2011
dimanche 6 février 2011
lundi 31 janvier 2011
dimanche 23 janvier 2011
The shift of consumers' expectations in loyalty programs
This article publishes the results of a survey led by Loylogic, a provider of loyalty technology solutions, which reveals the expectations of consumers about travel loyalty programs.
Firstly, the article points out that consumers mainly prefer to deal with their points got thanks to loyalty programs on the Internet. It means that hoteliers and travels’ providers should not underestimate the importance of the Internet in their clients’ way of consuming products. It also proves that hoteliers and travel agents should even more interact with their clients online and get information on their profile and expectations via the Internet.
Nonetheless, Facebook appears as the last medium through which consumers are used to run their points related to travel loyalty programs. It reveals that even if customers like to deal with their points online, they are not ready however to do it on social media but rather on sites which are specifically dedicated to it and on which consumers can have their own private account.
Secondly, the survey reveals that, among non-bare essential products, travels represent the most preferred reward of consumers. Therefore, hotels and travel agencies should take advantage of their position of strength in terms of loyalty rewards to their clients.
Thirdly, the article also stresses the occuring shift in consumers’ expectations since clients would like to benefit from rewards meeting their willings rather than rewards whose conditions are imposed by companies. This part of the survey is very relevant as it proves that consumers are fed up with rewards offering a unique option and would prefer to get the travel they want or, at least, different choices as rewards of their loyalty toward brandnames. It is true that travel rewards are often defined according to specific destinations and dates that do not necessarily meet customers’ availability and taste so much so that they can hardly consider they are actually regarded as valuable clients who deserve rewards for their loyalty towards brandnames. Given the increasing competition in travel industry and the ability of consumers to have access to a wide variety of choices in the Internet, consumers could break their loyalty to one brand for another one if they notice that no differentiated loyalty program is offered to them by the company.
I think that hoteliers and travel agencies should take into consideration the results published in this article in order to change the way they deal with their loyalty programs. It seems clear that they should notably rely on the comments and behaviours of their clients on social media in order to target their expectations and so keep them loyal. Of course, it would be difficult for brandnames to offer personalized loyalty programs to each of their consumers but they could, at least, identify different categories of clients’ profiles and adapt their loyalty rewards to expectations of these various categories. Why not, for example, publishing a survey on their Facebook / twitter pages or on their website to figure out what types of options their clients want to earn as rewards within loyalty programs.
dimanche 16 janvier 2011
Few ideas to brand your company online
The New Rules of Branding Your Business Online
http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/the_new_rules_of_branding_your_business_online
This article asserts that having a nice website is not sufficient when you hold a business and stresses the importance of being interactive on the web . It gives tips on how to make one's brandname noticeable on the web, which hoteliers should follow carefully if they want to distinguish themselves from their competitors and draw the attention of customers.
It seems obvious nowadays to have a Facebook or a Twitter business page. Though, either companies do not have such pages and only rely on their website to communicate on their brand, either they do not use their business pages appropriately. It's necessary to create its own page on social networks in addition to one website because social networks are much more suitable to directly interact with customers. Websites are quite unilateral in the sense that they provide information about companies to customers but do not allow them to express what they expect from companies. On the contrary, social networks are actual communication tools for both sides (suppliers and clients) provided that companies pay attention and reply to customers' comments on their services. It is true that reactivity on the web from part of hotels requires available time, but it proves to be very efficient on customers' behaviours and choices. To interconnect their activities between their website and business pages, hoteliers have to insert Twitter or Facebook buttons on their website as well as links on their business pages which lead to their site. In addition, they need to use tools, such as Google Alerts for example, to remain aware of what is said about them on the web and to answer to their customers as quickly as possible. Hoteliers can also rely on Google Alerts to check comments on their competitors and domain so that they know what they have to avoid or do to meet customers' expectations.
If hoteliers do not manage to spend time on developping their presence on the web, they should at least deal with their websites on a more personalized way. Almost all hotels' websites are made on the same traditional frame and tone. Companies need to make their website more interactive to appeal to customers. For example, instead of describing their hotel in a quite boring manner, the owners could invite their personnel to participe to the website and to give their opinion on what they prefer in the hotel or what they do to make customers feel at ease. This could be done thanks to videos posted on the site or testimonies accompanied with pictures. The owners could also share what they like (music, shops, pictures...) on their site and not only speak about their business. Thus, customers could learn more about their characters which is very important since a company necessarily reflects its owners' nature. In the same way, hoteliers should clearly indicate their target market because it allows people to learn more about the hotel's identity and the type of services provided. At last, hoteliers should not hesitate to publish on their website everything which is related to their current events including rewards, newspapers releases, videos or reports on them in YouTube or TV news... The more hoteliers communicate about themselves, the more customers would be convinced that hoteliers are willing to do their best for their clients.
jeudi 13 janvier 2011
mercredi 12 janvier 2011
Expedia affiliate program
With Expedia affiliate program you can earn up to 12% on the sale amount. The Expedia affiliate program includes text links, buttons, banners, products catalog, HTML searching tools, emailings to put in your site and connect it to Expedia site.
Here is the detail of the commissions fees:
Here is the detail of the commissions fees:
Amazon affiliate program
If you choose to use Amazon as an affiliate program you have different options:
Volume-Based Advertising Fee Rates for General Products
- you can put a link to amazon in your site so that visitors can have access to Amazon site from your own page and you receive a 15% commission on all the purchases your visitors make on Amazon site thanks to your link. You can create a link on a specific product sold on Amazon site with information about that product or use links (banners) to amazon product categories and promotions
- you can also include widgets in your site. Widgets are a kind of interactive applications from Amazon. For example, one of these widgets enable your visitors to look for information about or buy products from Amazon without leaving your page. Another one helps your visitors to download music, etc... By adding Amazon widgets in your page, you can get up to 10% in referral fees.
- Here is the detail of the commission fees provided by Amazone:
Volume-Based Advertising Fee Rates for General Products
dimanche 9 janvier 2011
The use of localisation in the web
Géolocalisation et marketing
This article refers to the topic of geolocalisation in the web and the use of this tool by brandnames to get loyalty from their consumers. Geolocalisation consists in indicating to yours friends where you are via the web in your cell phone or where you can find some specific places (restaurants, hotels...). This can seem to be quite a commonplace tool at first sight, but brandnames have quickly understood they could deeply impact their customers through the use of it. For example, Starbucks was the first company to use Foursquare - a site dedicated to geolocalisation - to increase loyalty among its clients by giving them the opportunity to collect points each time they prove their presence in a Starbucks restaurant with a "check-in" in Foursquare and offering them some promotions on products when they got a certain amount of points. Such a process encourages consumers to go to Starbucks coffees on a long-term basis as it rewards them for their loyalty.
Geolocalisation is not only use to keep loyalty from customers but also to spread the image of brandnames among a large scale of people. By localising themselves in a specific places, customers let know their friends the name of places where they are used to or like to be and in a sense they invite people to join them into the indicated places. Consequently, without any effort nor any expenses, brandnames can rely on localisation sites on the web to do their own advertising. Thanks to sites like foursquare, brandnames can all the more have access to a wide number of people that "check-ins" are often shared in very famous social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.
Google Places - another localisation site - can also help companies to spread the image of their brandname on the web. Indeed, brandnames can use Google Places to show the way to their selling points, to add a link which is directly connected to their website and to create tags on their page in Google Map to lead to ads about their product. Thus, the presence of brandnames on the web is largely developped through the use of localisation tools.
As far as hotels are concerned, they unfortunately do not make enough profit from localisation sites. Hotels often use Google Map or Google Places in order to help their clients to localise them on a map and to have easily access to their website. But contrary to brandnames like Starbucks, they usually do not take into account sites like Foursquare to keep loyalty from their clients or to increase their reputation among customers. If hotels want to be able to compete with third parties such as Tripadvisor or with other brandnames, they should rely more on localisation tools to develop their presence and spread their image on the web.
Fidéliser sa clientèle
http://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/crm-marketing/geolocalisation-et-marketing/fidelisation.shtmlThis article refers to the topic of geolocalisation in the web and the use of this tool by brandnames to get loyalty from their consumers. Geolocalisation consists in indicating to yours friends where you are via the web in your cell phone or where you can find some specific places (restaurants, hotels...). This can seem to be quite a commonplace tool at first sight, but brandnames have quickly understood they could deeply impact their customers through the use of it. For example, Starbucks was the first company to use Foursquare - a site dedicated to geolocalisation - to increase loyalty among its clients by giving them the opportunity to collect points each time they prove their presence in a Starbucks restaurant with a "check-in" in Foursquare and offering them some promotions on products when they got a certain amount of points. Such a process encourages consumers to go to Starbucks coffees on a long-term basis as it rewards them for their loyalty.
Geolocalisation is not only use to keep loyalty from customers but also to spread the image of brandnames among a large scale of people. By localising themselves in a specific places, customers let know their friends the name of places where they are used to or like to be and in a sense they invite people to join them into the indicated places. Consequently, without any effort nor any expenses, brandnames can rely on localisation sites on the web to do their own advertising. Thanks to sites like foursquare, brandnames can all the more have access to a wide number of people that "check-ins" are often shared in very famous social networks such as Facebook or Twitter.
Google Places - another localisation site - can also help companies to spread the image of their brandname on the web. Indeed, brandnames can use Google Places to show the way to their selling points, to add a link which is directly connected to their website and to create tags on their page in Google Map to lead to ads about their product. Thus, the presence of brandnames on the web is largely developped through the use of localisation tools.
As far as hotels are concerned, they unfortunately do not make enough profit from localisation sites. Hotels often use Google Map or Google Places in order to help their clients to localise them on a map and to have easily access to their website. But contrary to brandnames like Starbucks, they usually do not take into account sites like Foursquare to keep loyalty from their clients or to increase their reputation among customers. If hotels want to be able to compete with third parties such as Tripadvisor or with other brandnames, they should rely more on localisation tools to develop their presence and spread their image on the web.
lundi 27 décembre 2010
Social media and email marketing
In his article, Raphael Savy stresses the importance of combining the use of both emails and social media to enhance marketing strategies and develop the impact of companies’ brand name on consumers.
Indeed, these web tools have a different and complementary purpose. With a page dedicated to their brand on social media such as Facebook or Twitter, companies have access to a large scope of consumers and can create a web community around their brand. Consumers are particularly fond of social media because they can share advices on products with other customers via forums as well as get quick information on products and promotion sales.
As far as emailing is concerned, the process is completely different. Emails aim at providing a more detailed and personalized message to consumers. In a sense, they are a good way for companies to enter the private sphere of consumers and to adapt their communication to each client in order to reach loyalty. It implies a particular approach from part of companies toward their customers.
Consequently, companies have a great interest in using both social media and emails to reach their clients and keep loyalty. By now, companies rather use social media and emails in a traditional and separate way. The purpose of Raphael Savy is to demonstrate that companies would earn more market shares if they could combine these tools and interconnect them. For example, companies could include Facebook or Twitter shares in their emails in order to spread their brand name to friends or followers of their consumers on social media. Companies could also publish membership forms in their Facebook and Twitter pages so that they could have access to their clients’ email addresses and send them targeted newsletters.
I am personally convinced that companies would improve their marketing strategies and revenues by mixing social media and emailing rather than dealing with them as if they were different marketing segments. Of course, each of these web tools has its own specificity and purpose but it does not mean that they can not be considered as complementary and integrated in a whole marketing policy. This is all the more true that both social media and emails are now accessible on more and more supports such as computers, smartphones and netbooks. Thus, the target market becomes wider and wider and it would be a pity not to make profit of it.
lundi 13 décembre 2010
vendredi 10 décembre 2010
Hoteliers' misinterpretation of customers reviews
In his article How to use negative reviews to effect positive change in your hotel, Daniel Edward Craig tackles the impact of negative customers’ reviews on hotels’ reputation and suggests solutions to turn them into positive action. The whole article proves that hotels’ reputation is not only about quality of service but also about communication.
Indeed, hoteliers are considerably concerned with online reviews and it turns out that they even hire people to pass themselves off as customers and write positive comments about their hotel on the web. I consider that such a plan of action is totally irrelevant for two main reasons.
First, this kind of dishonest behaviour has strongly been disparaged by most of consumers associations and magazines. Therefore, the use of fake reviews by hoteliers is not a secret anymore and customers cannot be deceived as easily as before. Parts of customers do not only refer to online reviews to select hotels because they are aware that these criteria are not actually reliable. Customers also know that people giving their opinion on the web tend more to express disappointment than satisfaction as it is a typical human feature.
Secondly, hoteliers make a serious mistake by focusing on the impact of negative reviews on their reputation rather than by improving their own means of communication. All fake positive comments they can publish online will never erase customers’ complaints. As customers can have access to the description of all quality services provided by hotels on their websites or brochures, they usually pay more attention to negative comments when they skim through online reviews in order to see how they contradict the praised image of hotels. Nevertheless, I think that customers would really appreciate if hoteliers made the effort to answer to negative users’ reviews instead of reacting with fake positive comments because it would prove that hoteliers take into account their clients’ complaints and commit themselves to improve their services in accordance with the desires of their customers.
Thus those considerations show that hoteliers need to be more imaginative in the way they communicate with their customers. The more they will create presence on the web, the more they will be able to face negative reviews, the more their popularity will increase.
samedi 4 décembre 2010
Airline challenges for future
See the following article: The travel gold rush 2020: how global travel is changing
A recent study has been carried out in order to bring out future travel trends and the new growth or revenue opportunities they could create. When looking at the main points developed in the study, it clearly appears that airlines will have to face different challenges if they want to keep growing despite the results of the financial crisis and social changes on travel consumption.
According to the study, Asia will represent the main destination as well as the region that will provide the most increasing rate of future tourists by 2020. Consequently, to anticipate such a demand, airlines will doubtless have to look for new routes and swell the number of aircrafts dedicated to Asian countries.
Moreover, new influxes of tourists with different expectations will use air transport. As life expectancy is increasing in western countries, travelling people will get older and be able to spend more time in leisure and holidays. In addition, because of their rising standard of living, inhabitants from emerging countries will probably represent a large part of future travellers as well.
If airlines want to reach all these new potential customers, it is by now necessary to carry out market surveys on these different segments of population in order to target their specific expectations and needs while travelling. Then airlines will have to adapt their existing ground installations and offers. For example, they could implement personalised services for old people who usually need careful attention from air personnel or provide more comfortable cabin classes.
Broadly speaking, airlines will have to pay attention and meet the requirements of customers who long for new travel experiences. The study notably stresses the need to expand partnerships between rail and air transport so that customers can be taken on by travel agents without an interruption during their whole travel. Such partnerships will obviously have to be complemented with the development of industry niches and expert agents who will be able to provide advices and services compatible with their customers’ desire of new travel experiences.
Therefore, airlines will have to take all these changes into consideration if they want to play an active role in new travel trends and make their activities thrive in accordance with their new customers’ habits.
mercredi 1 décembre 2010
mardi 30 novembre 2010
Business travels and events planner
I am interested in working as a travel and event planner for business men and women. Such a job needs:
· To contact different companies and to organise their seminars, congresses and business travels
· To convey original concepts to each project in order to reflect companies’ brand name and public image
· To offer competitive prices
· To set up marketing campaigns to sell projects
· To analyse the tourism market
· To get partnerships with transport, accommodation, catering and design companies and select partners according to the services provided
· To negotiate contracts
· To follow through the missions of the different partners and coordinate them so that themes of events, budgets and deadlines can be respected
· To run a planners team
· To manage emergency situations
· To communicate on the planned events to customers
· To supervise the smooth running of business events and travels
· To identify positive and negative points to anticipate new projects
Travel and event planning requires specific skills such as:
· Creativity and originality
· Ability to communicate
· A good organisation
· Budgeting knowledge
· Commercial skills
· A deep knowledge of tourism activities
· Reactivity / anticipation
· Stress and time control
· Team work / adaptation
· Sense of responsibility
dimanche 28 novembre 2010
Distribution management and customer loyalty
Comment on the article Cornell panel talks distribution management, customer loyalty
http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com/international/cornell-panel-talks-distribution-management-customer-loyalty?utm_source=HMM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sales-Marketing_11_24_2010&utm_content=cornell-panel-talks-distribution-management-custome
I have been interested on an article referring to new customers’ trends in travel booking channels. In my opinion, the article will greatly impact the future marketing strategies carried out by online travel agencies towards their consumers. As customers lately seemed to come back to traditional reservation channels such as offline travel agencies, online travel agencies (OTAs) will have to focus on brand loyalty rather than on doing exclusively financial transactions. In other words, the challenge for OTAs will be to improve their communication on services provided by their online booking channels and therefore to gain consumers’ confidence and loyalty. The article alludes to an issue that stresses the obligation for OTAs to change their booking methods, until then only based on making sales and money, into strategies which emphasize their ability to provide high quality services and to follow through their customers’ travelling habits.
http://www.hotelworldnetwork.com/international/cornell-panel-talks-distribution-management-customer-loyalty?utm_source=HMM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Sales-Marketing_11_24_2010&utm_content=cornell-panel-talks-distribution-management-custome
I have been interested on an article referring to new customers’ trends in travel booking channels. In my opinion, the article will greatly impact the future marketing strategies carried out by online travel agencies towards their consumers. As customers lately seemed to come back to traditional reservation channels such as offline travel agencies, online travel agencies (OTAs) will have to focus on brand loyalty rather than on doing exclusively financial transactions. In other words, the challenge for OTAs will be to improve their communication on services provided by their online booking channels and therefore to gain consumers’ confidence and loyalty. The article alludes to an issue that stresses the obligation for OTAs to change their booking methods, until then only based on making sales and money, into strategies which emphasize their ability to provide high quality services and to follow through their customers’ travelling habits.
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