Mobile Marketer's Mobile First Look 2014 Summit

Last week we attended Mobile Marketer’s Mobile First Look 2014 summit. It is a great conference as it shows what the mobile marketing professionals are focusing on in 2014. Here is a quick summary of the biggest trends that everyone is betting on this year:

Big Data Collection, Aggregation and Analysis – The sophisticated marketing teams and professionals are all about understanding what is really happening with their mobile marketing efforts. Connecting the dots is very important for a more targeted consumer engagement. Knowing the consumer behaviors and predicting patterns is what the marketing teams are focusing on. Segmenting and targeting with much more relevant messages is also a must as the mobile technologies offer more sophisticated capabilities.
Mobile Wallets – One of the biggest trends for 2014 is mobile wallets. Most of what the discussion is about is the non-payment side of the mobile wallets which ties the circle for the user experience via the mobile channel. Apple Passbook and Google Wallet of course are the leading platforms here, which should come as no surprise.
Beacons – In a nutshell, Bluetooth enabled small devices installed on premises. When the user installs an app connected to the beacons the technology knows when the customer is on location and can push relevant offers and alerts.
Mobile is a big part of the Omni-channel planning – Mobile Engagement is no longer just about a single channel (SMS or Mobile App, Push..) Marketers are intelligently starting to place strategy behind how to make all the channels work together and connect them in a meaningful way for a better user experience.
The Consumer Journey/Know your Consumer/Client – This goes in line with the Omni-channel experience. It is now about “How do we take the consumer on a journey?” It is not just about “Let me send them an SMS or Push”. Collecting end-user experiences and data points, marketers are looking to build a picture of “what this consumer has done in the past, visited, clicked, texted…” “And what can I do to make their experience more personal?”
CRM – Integrating the results and data collection in one place. All of the large companies have existing large databases controlled by CRM admins. They are looking for integrating mobile results and data collection into those. That way they can really monitor the impact of a campaign and understand the consumer by building a more detailed profile.
Push Notifications – Since many of the companies realize the strength of a mobile app, and have already invested millions in developing mobile apps and strategies behind them, they are now starting to embrace the push messaging within the mobile apps.
Mobile as a Connective Tissue – The consumer is now on their mobile phone more than anything else. Marketers are realizing that MOBILE is not a side-office job. Now MOBILE is a leading initiative for the forward thinking enterprises. It is not the “marketing after thought” it is now the connective tissue of everything that is happening around the marketing efforts of our clients.