In direct marketing, email and mobile go hand in hand

In just about any line of work, it's important to connect with your customers, develop relationships and work to earn people's loyalty over the long haul. After all, what industry doesn't require happy customers?

Consumers today expect their brand relationships to be dynamic and fast-paced. They're moving a mile a minute, pausing only briefly to check their smartphones - so any communication they have with your business needs to be quick and easy to handle on the go. For this reason, email is one of the most important direct marketing tools at your disposal. You want people to access your content quickly, like what they see and seamlessly work it into their daily routine.

In today's mobile-first culture, email marketing is a major player. Your content needs to establish a foothold in people's (already quite busy) lives.

One industry example
One example of an industry that's forced to capitalize on email marketing is hotels. People these days have very little brand loyalty when it comes to travel accommodations - they're liable simply to do a Google search, find the place that's cheapest and stay there. Big Hospitality reported that the online travel agent (OTA) is an unavoidable presence in today's market, and Hotel Football's Stuart Procter says hotels need to respond to this trend.

"You're kidding yourself if you think that you're going to target everyone without OTAs," Procter argued. "You only need to give them three rooms per night, but it will give you brand awareness that sales people in your team can't achieve. Once you've got customers into your hotel, you need to meet them to make sure they never book through OTAs again, but people are naive if they think they can challenge lastminute.com and laterooms.com."

If hotel managers want customers to patronize their establishments regularly, they need to make a better effort to build relationships.

Universal truths in marketing
By no means is this only an issue in the hotel industry. In fact, it's pretty much a universal truth in business - if you want more loyalty from your customers, you need to make an effort to earn it.

In today's climate, that means going online and sending them compelling email content. If these are the same consumers who use mobile searches to find their next hotel room, it stands to reason they'll respond well to email marketing. Once you get customers in the fold initially, email makes a great channel for following up and, eventually, earning people's trust.