Not only has she created a brand but she is cultivating a fanatical group of consumers, known as her “Little Monsters,” who will follow her for decades to come. She did so by engendering immense loyalty from her fans through her music, her message, and the community she has built around them. To anyone in the business community, this sounds like a classic case of loyalty marketing and customer cultivation. Here are seven lessons for building this kind of loyalty in any organization (and they don’t include wearing a meat dress): Focus on Your One Percenters. MORE >>

have spent my career creating events to connect brands with consumers. love events because they give people opportunities to experience the brand through their five senses with a healthy dose of emotion and excitement tied in. The brand truly comes alive at this intersection of “In Real Life” (aka IRL) and online; with the voice of your brand ambassador, the thrill of a unique experience, and online engagement that inspires brand loyalty. In small ways and significant moments, brands can deliver this type of connection. It Be welcoming.  MORE >>

It’s a profound shift that market analysis and strategy firm VisionMobile has expertly identified and documented in Developer Economics 2011 , a landmark, must-read report that surveyed some 900+ developers across 75 countries to understand their attitudes and identify the hottest issues in mobile apps. special feature this year was the integration of 21 one-to-one interviews with senior execs from a variety of brands and agencies to gauge the level of interest (and motivation) in branded apps. Featured Mobile Apps Mobile Loyalty Mobile Marketing MORE >>

While the flat economy keeps consumer consumption weak, retailers are looking to pull levers other than just price to build brand loyalty. Short term vs. long term customer loyalty. Whilst price matching might be good for the consumer in the short term, it negatively impacts the bottom line and does not lead to increased loyalty in the long term. In a recent study by loyalty360 it was revealed that 84% of respondent retailers use some form of loyalty strategy, but surprisingly less than half (48.8%) believe their initiatives are working. Tweet This! MORE >>

Marketers spent decades trying to crack the code and come up with cost-effective and timely ways to capture, slice and dice this endless depth of customer information gold. Few companies had the financial wherewithal, human capital and marketing resources to harness this information fully. This combination of customer data captured at the business level and people self-identifying themselves in spaces like Facebook , Twitter , YouTube and Pinterest creates the perfect storm for brands to leverage the power of social commerce and the value of a strong loyalty program. MORE >>