When someone thinks of deriving data about an entity’s patrons or guests to improve the entity’s marketing, they might think that this would be useful only for restaurants or retail businesses. However, cities and municipalities can also greatly benefit from knowing more about the people who visit their venues, use their facilities, and participate in their events.  

A city, just like a retail business, needs to reach its target audience through effective channels to distribute publications and marketing materials. A city also wants to increase engagement of its patrons, so its events are better attended and its revenues are increased. And, a city needs to ensure that the products and services it provides to its citizens meet those citizens' expectations.

Just as retail businesses turn to Wi-Fi marketing and analytics platforms for help, so should local government.

Coupons are an extremely effective way to influence consumer behavior, but they may not always be the right marketing choice for your business. Before you start a coupon program, consider your short- and long-term goals. Coupons can be great to get a new customer in the door, but that visit may not turn a bargain shopper into a loyal patron.

Some companies turn to coupons for a quarterly bump in sales or to move inventory that’s been sitting too long. If your company wants to use coupons to address customer churn, you’ll have to keep a close eye on several data points and structure the offers for repeat customers. Making haphazard decisions won’t get you the desired goal and may even lead to losing money.

Have you purchased an email or other marketing distribution list that did not produce new customers? Have you paid someone to design, print and distribute a mailer that didn't increase sales? If so, you know just how precious marketing dollars are.  And, you don't want to make the same mistake again.

Knowing how and where to spend a marketing budget to maximize results is the key to any marketer's success. The same is true for managers who need to assess how to allocate their "resources" - i.e., their employees.  And when combined, knowing how to best coordinate your operations to take advantage of your marketing efforts, and vice-versa, is an art many businesses are still trying to perfect. 

Why are loyal customers important?  It seems like an easy question to answer, but not all companies understand how costly it is to lose--and have to replace--their customers.  Plus, companies may be doing irreparable harm to their brand if they aren’t recognizing why customers aren’t loyal to their brand.  

Restaurant marketers struggle every day to find new ways to learn about their customers.  Far too often they find themselves lacking adequate tools and resources needed to discover usable insights. They know that with such insights, they can increase profits and improve customer return rates.

Brick and mortar marketers in all industries are constantly reminded of how much easier it is to acquire customer information digitally.  They question how to get the same data their online competitors are able to acquire. The answer may be right under their roof.  The free Wi-Fi they are already offering to customers can generate the type of usable insights they need, especially when paired with the right software.

Many retail and restaurant marketers are starting to realize that Wi-Fi marketing and analytics are powerful tools to better understand their customer base, boost profits and improve customer loyalty. Yet, not every product is the same.  What makes one a better investment than another comes down to the product capabilities, the progressiveness of the company behind the product, and the services the company provides.

Here we will outline a detailed comparison process for how marketers should choose one tool and one company over another.

Marketers at smaller hotel and motel chains face constant pressure to increase bookings and strengthen guest satisfaction. Printed cards for customer surveys only go so far in giving marketers the insights they need to improve their marketing. Plus, pen and paper feedback is a thing of the past.  

Looking ahead, it is expected that consumers will increasingly shop based on price rather than brand name in the non-luxury product and service segments (just ask Alexa).  This is true for the hospitality industry, as well.

You may have heard of Wi-Fi advertising, Wi-Fi analytics or Wi-Fi marketing, but you may not really know what these things are or the differences among them. So, while you know you need to take advantage of these new technologies to revitalize your revenue, you may not be sure how to proceed.

Confusion in the market about Wi-Fi advertising vs. Wi-Fi marketing stems from their similarities.  So, the first step is to spend some time outlining how they are similar, how they differ, and how marketers should go about choosing between or among them.  Then, you can better understand Wi-Fi analytics, and how it converges with advertising and marketing to help you understand consumer behavior and increase revenue.

Restaurant marketers are intrigued by marketing concepts used by digital businesses and larger companies, but they are also frustrated that those concepts have been largely inaccessible to them because of the limitations of brick and mortar customer tracking.

For instance, restaurant marketers are frustrated by not being able to leverage things like behavioral segmentation in their marketing. With tools like Wi-Fi marketing platforms, however, marketing based on behavioral segmentation is now possible for companies with brick and mortar businesses.