Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

Mobitrove, a division of Borrell Associates, reports that U.S. businesses spent over $9.3 billion on mobile promotions and advertising last year. But the real story is found in the projected mobile spending for 2015. In just 4 years, Mobitrove analysts are expecting to see mobile marketing expenditures reach $56.5 billion or a 6-fold increase.

Women might be the ones who control more of the household spending. But they are also more likely than men to steer away from a dinner out when prices of essentials rise. A new survey issued by CityGrid, and carried out by HarrisInteractive, shows high gas prices influence spending behavior for more women than men. But, there may be a way for local vendors to reach younger women and convince them to keep spending: The Like button on Facebook.

Consumers have more ways than ever to purchase goods and service online. The rapid adoption of both smart phones and tablets is translating into higher mobile commerce sales. As a result, vendors are quickly launching mobile commerce channels to make sure they’re not losing sales to the competition.

Earlier this year, I posted a blog referencing a Cornell University study that predicted an increase in the use of mobile marketing by hotel operators. Researchers at Cornell’s Center for Hospitality Research just released new data that gives great insight into how destination and accommodation firms are allocating their online marketing budgets, include details on mobile. The report also includes data on marketing plans for 2011 and the news is generally positive.

One of the most exciting new promotional angles from a marketer’s perspective, mobile check-ins, could backfire if merchants aren’t careful about how they use it. Marketers competing for consumer business by offering prizes rely heavily on the use of mobile phones. While certain consumer groups have accepted this marketing method, many others aren’t so willing to sign up. Instead, they’re signaling they want to limit the amount of private information they share with marketers.

It’s a problem faced by every marketer attempting to maintain a customer relationship via email: churn. Some businesses report a churn rate that exceeds 30%. Marketers face a delicate balance when deciding how much email to send to a customer. If they do not send enough email, they may lose business to a more aggressive competitor. But if they send out too many updates, offers and sales notices, they may find themselves on the receiving end of an unsubscribe notice. This is an unfortunate outcome because the initial customer acquisition has a significant cost.