The holiday numbers are in, the mobile user surveys are done, and the implications for brands, retailers and marketers are profound. Tracking consumer purchase patterns on the move, along with the ability to separate data into specifically targeted user groups and demographic patterns, gives brands an effective, expedient way of reaching prospective customers, and securing their long-term loyalty. How you choose to market your brand now will be critical for future customer acquisition and loyalty. Location-aware marketing is gaining serious traction. MORE >>

Manager, Solutions Marketing, Nuance, tells me mobile apps have a significant appeal among more mature users, a customer segment that “typically values convenience, ease of use and life-simplifying solutions.” But there is also a significant and growing group of consumers that want to perform self-service tasks on an app and connect to an agent (without having to hold) only when an issue can’t be resolved using other channels. Mobile Apps Mobile Loyalty Mobile ResearchWhat do we really want from our branded, self-service mobile apps? Think again. MORE >>

At the recent ITSMA Marketing Leadership forum I was stunned by a presentation given by Sean Geehan CEO of the Geehan Group author of the upcoming book the B2B Executive Playbook. The big eye opener for me was – B2B marketers are always tasked with getting net new customers when in reality their existing customer base is their most important source of revenue and referrals. If B2B marketers are constantly focused on gathering new customers our spending will be misaligned with the actual group that can delver us the highest return – our existing customers. MORE >>

When most people think of earning loyalty points, they think of their loyalty cards. The brands behind these loyalty programs are capturing tons of valuable data in what is perceived as a fair trade. What if we looked earning loyalty points differently? What if loyalty was less about how much a consumer buys, but the bigger win is that the brand earns loyalty points for doing the right thing for the consumer? Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Canadian Marketing Association 's Social Media conference in Toronto. Buying loyalty. MORE >>

There's also a group of services like Squirrel, TuneIn and ShowYou that are helping us find relevant audio and video content too. For example, a group of publishers that include National Geographic and the Washington Post recently issued a cease and desist to one of these services , Zite, for going too far in how it presents content. As all of these trend vectors continue, however, it's almost a given that more marketers will begin to partner directly with these new curators or build their own mobile media platforms around niches they wish to own. But now it's worse. MORE >>