Simon Robinson, senior director, marketing & alliances EMEA at Responsys, offers advice to marketers looking to fly the mobile-friendly skies.

Responsys_Simon Robinson (3)Peak holiday seasons may seem like a key opportunity for holiday operators to generate huge sums of revenue, but in fact many make only small margins on air fares, meaning there is a need for new ways to create revenue. While partnerships with travel companies such as car hire services can provide a 10-12 per cent increase in incremental sales, reaching the consumer in peak periods has been almost impossible.

However, at the beginning of the year, the European Commission announced a relaxation of in-flight regulations, now allowing passengers to use their electronic devices on in-flight mode throughout the entire journey. This dramatically increases the amount of time marketers have to reach a captive audience of customers, who have nothing better to do than tinker with their various flight-safe devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Here are three ways in which marketers can harness mobile to reach the previously unavailable consumer and be the first and best with this opportunity.

Help passengers pass the time
As the popularity of smartphone games has proven, commuters, children and businesspeople like to be distracted. Passengers on a plane are confined to a small space in their seat and are often desperately looking to be amused, or calmed down. While airplanes offer entertainment options on-board, passengers are now more likely to pick up their mobile device to amuse themselves.

Virgin America is a good example of a brand that has successfully tapped into this desire, by creating the ‘Here On Biz’ app, a social network specifically designed for passengers to enable them to communicate with each other, as long as they have the app and a LinkedIn profile.

Using such networks, marketers can generate revenue by engaging in a way both they and the consumer are used to on social networking sites such as Facebook. Marketers who harness networks like this will benefit from higher levels of engagement in this specific and previously untapped customer base.

Create travel-specific sites
Another option available to marketers hoping to target the passenger is to partner with airline wi-fi and create mobile ads, designed to run specifically on that network. For example, travel brands can strike distribution agreements with airlines and navigate passengers to specific registration pages when they connect to the wi-fi.

Using increasingly intelligent geo-targeting services, brands also have the chance to deliver travel-specific content relevant to the destination area. For example, booksellers such as Amazon could build geo-targeting in to their sites in order to recommend books to passengers relevant to where their current location is appearing.

Greet them at the gate
With more relaxed mobile device laws, as soon as passengers touch down at their destination, they are more likely to turn off flight-mode. Travel brands who have the knowledge that a customer will be landing on a flight should consider sending customers an email while they fly, so the brand message is one of the first thing travellers see upon arrival.

If a company harnesses data it has on the consumer effectively to send relevant content, the return on this should be exceptional. Passengers are looking to arrive at their final destination as soon as possible, and are likely to welcome the relevant information on the nearest and best tourist services available to them at the airport.

While there are currently limitations to the options available to marketers due to limited wi-fi services on board in the UK, Ofcom predicted that on board wi-fi in the UK will be fast enough to stream movies by the end of 2014. This will be when in-flight marketing will open up huge windows of opportunities for brands who will be able to contact their constantly-connected customers.

Marketers who prepare in advance for the take off of real time in-flight marketing will reap the rewards of high engagement levels from airplane passengers who will expect the best offers delivered to their mobile devices, as soon as there is the possibility for a constantly-connected flight.

Simon Robinson is senior director, marketing & alliances EMEA at Responsys