There’s little need to cite statistics. They all point to the fact that “Going Mobile” is the new gold rush for marketers. Leave wherever you call home and “git” out to Mobile-fornia where market share is just laying around for the taking. And a rush it is! eMarketer estimated our mobile ad spending would surge 75% this year.

There might be a couple of lessons for marketers in the history of the gold rush that erupted after carpenter John Sutter’s find in 1848. It produced the largest mass migration in US history, set off an influx of immigrants from around the world, and…in the hysteria, more merchants got rich than miners! At the heart of the boom an egg cost the equivalent of $25 today, a pound of coffee $100 and a pair of boots $2500! Phil Armour got rich operating the sluices that controlled the flow of water. John Studebaker made a fortune he later turned into automobiles, selling wheelbarrows. Henry Wells and John Fargo did OK starting a bank. A guy named Levi Strauss created a dynasty providing strong denim work pants to the miners. Prospectors overran John Sutter’s land, his mill went bankrupt and his discovery of gold wound up ruining his life. You can create your own analogies from these historic reminders.

We gathered a group of experts to tell us what the future of the Mobile Industry can look like, what trends we can expect to see in mobile services and what are the best opportunities for marketers:

Patrick Denney, Chief Mobile Architect at Headspring Mobile, a company that provides custom business application consulting and development to those looking for the best in the business.

Martina Dodić, Marketing Manager at Infobip, a company that offers mobile services to a range of clients, from mobile operators and service providers, to enterprises, financial institutions and public sector organizations.

Joe Luthy, Marketing Director at LogiGear Corporation, a company that provides software testing services, test automation, and QA training to Fortune 500 companies.

Mayank Mehta, VP Product at Capriza. Their mobility virtualization platform enables enterprises to rapidly extend business-critical applications to modern devices for customers, partners, and employees.

Katie Meurin, Director of Marketing at Zco. Clients hire Zco to build their mobile apps.

Satish Shetty, Founder & CEO at Codeproof Technologies Inc, a leading platform provider of true SaaS, cloud based BYOD security.

Zhen Wu, President & Chief Operating Officer at Flashtotalk, LLC, a leading CDMA wireless phone provisioning solutions provider.

SocialAgenda Media: What market trends in mobile services do you see, what changes do you predict as a result and what opportunities will these changes present to marketers?

MAYANK MEHTA:

We see more and more customers looking for alternatives to traditional mobile application development. Yes, some mobile apps need to be very robust and complex, requiring a highly-skilled iOS and/or Android developer (e.g. 3D product demos, interactive e-books, etc.) but for the transactional, work-specific tasks that burden many marketers like invoices, approvals, vendor/partner management, etc., we see that the market is heading in the direction of lightweight, transactional apps that provide one specific workflow. The result is higher productivity for marketers.

Additionally, I see greater adoption of consumer apps for corporate marketing use (e.g. Instagram), which I expect to raise the quality of B2B marketing technologies in the long term as marketers grow even more accustomed to the beautiful, easy-to-use nature of consumer apps.

SATISH SHETTY:

BYOD Security and Mobile Device Management (MDM) market will grow exponentially in 2014. As a result more people will use smartphones in business and vice versa.

KATIE MEURIN:

I feel like in 2012 businesses were all TALKING about mobilizing – but the majority were waiting to see how it all played out.  Now that there are more businesses like Starbucks and Cumberland Farms using apps and sharing their successes, we’re seeing mobilizing hit a tipping point and the masses are moving forward with it. CMOs know just as well as CTOs that mobilizing is crucial. Don’t wait for IT to drive these efforts – take the lead.

PATRICK DENNY:

I see a shift away from the MDM trend and more toward MAM solutions as BYOD gains traction. People hate having their enterprise spy on them on their personal devices. This will provide opportunities for other 3rd-party vendors to gain market traction against giants like Airwatch, which have centered their platform on device control instead of application control.

ZHEN WU:

• Postpaid premium carriers continue to increase network speed and create more device and functionality dependency.  Marketers will continue to unveil cutting edge devices to solidify this dependency and encourage the addiction for the latest and the coolest device.  The birth of a handset leasing and financing model has already increased the speed of handset obsolescence as well as serving to fill the digital divide caused by financing inadequacy.
• Continued 4g LTE deployment makes the 3G network obsolete for premium carriers thus making room for MVNOs.  This creates a huge opportunity for recycled devices to be reused across different networks.  This phenomenon creates an opportunity for Flashing and Unlocking vendors like Flashtotalk, LLC.
• T-Mobile’s lead in creating a non-contract, non-carrier dependent model will continue to be welcomed in the US.  We will start to see the migration to prepaid network operators as they provide much more reasonable monthly charges.  As this grows, consumers will demand the use of their current device and find ways to use them on non-native carriers. CPE/BYOD enabling Marketers like Flashtotalk who provides professional Flashing/Unlocking (provisioning) services will be even more in demand.  Flashtotalk has been a leading provisioning service provider for the last 7 years; we are able to flash over 800 models that include 3G and LTE models.  We are the preferred flashing service provider for several national and regional carriers. The US wireless scene will soon follow the European model to be majority non-contract based.  Network operators will have to compete on the economics of airtime and data.  This will end the pricing fix on major carriers and stimulate real competition.  In the end, consumers win.
• Smaller screens will have more relevance than larger screens for entertainment, news and communication.  The availability of mobile Internet in vehicles and app based vehicular operations will revolutionize the wireless industry even more along with the 5G network.
• Handset recycling will be an even bigger global operation since internationally, due to economic conditions; some older network standards still exist.
• Enterprise systems increasing demand for BYOD and data security.

JOE LUTHY:

What I see as a significant trend is that the mobile device is becoming the entry point to the Internet. This changes many of the accepted marketing dynamics and especially the purchasing decision cycles. For marketers this presents both the challenge and opportunity of a short AIDA cycle.

MARTINA DODIĆ:

Mobile computing will continue its rise towards global dominance and marketing on mobile devices, smartphones and tablets will continue to follow suit. It’s going to be interesting and exciting to watch just what the new developments will be, but for our forecast we’ll stick to three things we do best.

Push notifications

As far as engagement tools go, few offer so many opportunities as push notifications. Smartphone penetration will continue to grow, and is well above 50% in several developed markets, lending even more relevance to push technology, which is flexible, unintrusive and offers excellent geolocation features, which makes a huge difference in this So-Lo-Mo world.

Mobile payments

It’s not exactly a mobile marketing tool, but the m-payments trend will continue to spread, especially direct mobile billing (a.k.a. carrier billing), which enables payments to be charged directly to a mobile account. With mobile and social gaming trends increasingly growing in the mobile space as well, m-payments are an excellent way for content providers to monetise their offering, both online and on mobile.

Mobile couponing

Everybody loves free stuff, and mobile coupons can influence an impulsive buy, either in brick-and-mortar, or e-commerce, or especially m-commerce. Discount coupons delivered by SMS require little investment and can yield great returns, especially if combined with the geolocation features of push notifications to increase foot traffic in stores and sales.

SocialAgenda Media: What do marketers need to take into consideration while developing a cohesive mobile marketing strategy?

KATIE MEURIN:

I can only speak to the app/software side of mobile marketing, but if you’re building a consumer-facing app don’t waste your money on one that your clients won’t use. Don’t build an app just to build an app. Make sure you’re considering what’s in it for them – not for you. Try to take advantage of smartphone capabilities that aren’t as easily available in a mobile web experience – push notifications, geo–targeting, app store point of sale, gamification, taking and sharing pictures, elegant user interfaces, offline functionality etc.

MAYANK MEHTA:

Marketers need to start by knowing their audience and finding out where that audience operates on mobile. Then they should start building a marketing strategy. In the B2B world, it might not make sense to invest in Instagram whereas buying mobile ad placement on a particular website might be the best investment. Whatever you do, make sure your website and the content on it is mobile-optimized so that users on any device can enjoy your wonderful copy.

ZHEN WU:

Marketers need to pay attention to OS platforms and OS Versions.  Also be attentive with the device life cycle.  Most marketing schemes are mobile app based uni-directional ad campaigns; consumers who are savvy with mobile technology would be more attracted to bi-directional, participatory ad campaigns where they can give their own input and feedback.

Also, consumers are much more conscious today about Carbon Footprint, sustainable living, recycle, reduce & reuse, choices, freedom and having a global solution.

JOE LUTHY:

Have you ever watched a child with a hammer? To them everything looks like a nail. We all have that perspective to a degree. The focus is the customer, then the message and finally the medium. A mobile strategy is only as good as your understanding of the customer and the message delivered via the right medium.

MARTINA DODIĆ:

All the precepts of marketing apply in mobile as well, but knowing the mobile channels is a prerequisite: mobile website vs. a mobile app, how to use SMS combined with other channels, etc. For example, a link included in an SMS message needs to lead to a mobile or a responsive website in order to make the experience smooth and enjoyable.

In other words, when talking about KYC, C stands for both customer and channel. Not only is mobile relatively new, it is also quite divergent and each element can be used individually, but when combined the impact is much greater. Knowing how and when, and for what purpose to use the elements of mobile is the key to a cohesive mobile marketing strategy. While it might seem a daunting task, it’s actually quite intuitive and the technology itself is flexible enough to allow for inspired solutions.

PATRICK DENNY:

The technology. Don’t try to directly translate your paper or web marketing campaign to mobile, you’ll fail and waste tons of money. Use the technological advantages, like geolocational awareness, to only target your ideal prospects.

SocialAgenda Media: What insights into the future of mobile marketing would you need to gather for a more effective successful mobile marketing plan 2014?

MAYANK MEHTA:

My team would benefit from knowing how best to surface the right content at the right time to potential customers using their mobile devices. That means gathering data on the best type of content for mobile (e-book, article, infographic) as well as the highest-converting channels for disseminating that content.

PATRICK DENNY:

I’d keep a close eye on Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and what Apple is doing with iBeacon. It is a much more efficient way to track consumer habits and provide target marketing over technologies like GPS and NFC.

JOE LUTHY:

I am constantly looking at the mobile/desktop consumption. The better I understand this the more effective my marketing promotions will be.

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Check the integrated demand generation process flow we’ve designed for you and download the presentation to learn about our LeadGen Journalism as a new demandgen method.

Also read:

• Marketing’s Gold Rush to Mobile: Cracking The Code – Tactics, Issues, Solutions
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• Top 5 Most Important But Not Obvious Principles Of Selling And Business In General – interview with speaker Richard Grehalva
• Marketing Through Sports: Secret Sauce of Getting Publicity With Celebrity Endorsement Deals