It’s time once again to gaze deeply into our crystal balls and predict what the new year may deliver to our cherished industry.
“Mobile marketing will see unprecedented growth next year,” Ian Hayes, an independent mobile marketing consultant formerly with Enterprise eCommerce Connections, tells Mobile Marketing Watch on Friday. “Many of the large and mid-sized brands that have stayed out of mobile for whatever reason will finally get off the fence and jump into the deep end.”
“In particular,” Hayes says, the expansion of location based mobile marketing “might very well steal the show.”
“All facets of mobile marketing are moving toward local – if not hyper-local,” he says. “It’s going to be huge.”
On Friday, Fun Mobility published its list of five predictions for mobile marketing in 2013 and, not surprisingly, the growth of location based marketing also turned up on their prominent list of prognostications.
“Geotargeting isn’t new to marketers, but few have mastered the art of geotargeting to mobile devices,” the report adds, before serving up a helpful little plug for themselves.
In 2013, FunMobility’s Mobile Relationship Management Suite will change how marketers target their customers. Using this platform, marketers can instantly push special offers when customers drive by their stores. Alternatively, they can use this technology to create and nurture meaningful relationships by encouraging in-store check-ins or friendly competition amongst friends using a points-based rewards system.
Another major prediction? Get ready for business to pick up in HTML5 and hybrid apps.
“While HTML5 was introduced in 2011,” Fun Mobility reports, “it will become mainstream in 2013. Why? Unlike native apps, HTML5 allows developers and designers to create one “universal” app, without coding for each individual OS. In recent months, HTML5 has become standardized across most platforms, including iOS and Android. Plus, the latest version of iOS has vastly improved HTML5 performance.”
To check out the full list of trends to watch for in mobile marketing next year, click here. Otherwise, please share your thoughts and expectations for mobile marketing in 2013 with a comment below.