Welcome to the fourth installment of our 2011: A Mobile Year in Review Q&A style blog series that features the thoughts and insights of mobile industry luminaries, media executives and brand marketers.

In this post, we interview Ethan Alexander, VP of Mobile for LivePerson, Inc (@LivePerson) and leading industry figure for over 15 years. Ethan shares why it’s difficult to choose only one great mobile innovation this year, why LivePerson’s clients are so interested in advancing their mobile initiatives and why mobile chat is essential to the customer experience. Lastly, Ethan compares mobile growth to the early days of the internet and decides what he thinks 2012 will bring.

Ethan Alexander is the VP of Mobile for LivePerson, Inc., which provides online engagement solutions that facilitate real-time assistance and advice. The company’s hosted platform supports and manages real-time online interactions for businesses and independent experts. With its B2B services, chat, voice/click-to-call, email, self-service/knowledgebase and now mobile interactions are managed from a single agent desktop. Ethan spearheads the company’s efforts to extend real-time, intelligent interactions beyond the browser to anywhere with mobile service. Previous to LivePerson, Ethan was a part of the mobile leadership team at Salesforce.com where he helped develop their mobile platform and business strategy from the ground up after the 2006 purchase of Sendia, where he ran business development and partner efforts. Through the years, Ethan has worked closely with leading device manufacturers, various network operators and mobile integration and app development partners.

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Today we’re bringing you the next post in our  “2011: A Mobile Year in Review” Q&A style blog series that features the thoughts and insights of mobile industry luminaries, media executives and brand marketers.

In this week’s post, Michael Ricci (@MobileNTRactv), Vice President of Mobile at Webtrends (@Webtrends), talks shop about why mobile really took off in 2011. He shares his thoughts on such subjects as the biggest mobile innovation of the year and the top reasons companies decided to invest in mobile analytics. Additionally, he offers his perspective on the mobile device that came out of nowhere and really delivered the goods in 2011. Finally, Ricci gazes into his crystal ball to predict the next big thing in mobile for 2012.

 As VP of Mobile for Webtrends, Mike is responsible for all facets of Webtrends’ mobile analytics business and works with blue chip clients like Coca Cola, Hilton, Microsoft, NY Times, RIM, Polar and a host of others to effectively implement measurement programs that shape mobile strategies and user experiences.  Mr. Ricci joins Webtrends from Merkle, where he served as vice president and mobile practice leader. At Merkle, Ricci established the company’s presence in mobile marketing and worked with Merkle’s blue-chip client list to develop mobile engagement strategies. Prior to Merkle, Mike held key executive roles at iLoop Mobile, Volantis Systems, Aggreko plc and York International Corporation. 

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Who doesn’t like a little recognition for a job well done? We sure do! Especially when it comes in the form of an award from an esteemed industry organization like DIGIDAY, Mobile Village or International Academy of the Visual Arts.

We are pleased to announce that last week, our Citysearch mobile site took home the 2011 Mobile Superstar Award from Mobile Village — our 5th award this year! To honor the fantastic work everyone on our team has done, from design and product management to QA, operations and engineering, let’s take a quick rundown. Drum roll please!

1. Mobile Star Awards – Superstar Award for Best Mobile Marketing Success Story – Citysearch
2. DIGIDAY Mobi Awards – Best Mobile Site of 2011 – Fandango
3. Silver Davey Award – Entertainment – Fandango (Mobile Web)
4. Silver Davey Award – Guides/Ratings/Reviews – Fandango (Mobile Web)
5. Silver Davey Award – Guides/Ratings/Reviews – Citysearch (Mobile Web)

We’d like to give a huge thanks to everyone involved, especially our partners and clients that helped make this year so successful. Here’s to an even better 2012!

A few months back, Mobile Marketer, the news leader in mobile marketing, media and commerce, approached us about writing an piece for their annual Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce. I am excited to share with you the fruits of this collaboration — an article titled “The Effect of HTML5 on Mobile Strategy” (and written by yours truly). HTML5, the fifth iteration of the HTML standard, has been one of those hot buzzwords for quite some time now, and for good reasons. The technology behind HTML5 has the framework to fundamentally change how we interact with the web, from both our desktop and mobile devices — we’ve actually covered the topic a few times in our blogging past.

You can find “The Effect of HTML5 on Mobile Strategy” article below. I also highly recommend downloading the entire Classic Guide to Mobile Commerce, which features many intelligent and thought-provoking pieces about the current state of m-commerce. Enjoy!

The Effect of HTML5 on Mobile Strategy

While 2010 was the year of the application, 2011 shaped up to be the year of mobile Web. This is largely due to enthusiasm for HTML5 and its promise to bring the “write once, deliver everywhere” guarantee that Web browsers have historically delivered to PCs, as well as the ability to deliver an app-like experience across all browsers.

Brands, retailers and marketers are quickly realizing that mobile Web provides the broad reach and flexibility that is critical for reaching today’s consumers at a fraction of the cost of native applications. And who does not want to reach their target audience in an efficient and effective manner?

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Mobile has emerged from a fascinating new technology to an influential channel that marketers rely on to perform key marketing functions. With the ability to text, e-mail, call, tweet, like, and more, mobile inherently creates a direct two way line for communication throughout the entire purchase cycle and beyond.

Perhaps, the two most important functions that challenge marketers are branding and direct response. Since the early days of the internet, both branding and direct response have been going through a transformation. And now with the emergence of mobile, they are not only opening new avenues for marketers, but transforming other media channels too.

There are numerous ways to use the mobile channel for branding and direct response purposes. Here are four key starting points. Just keep in mind that as with any marketing program, a test, tweak and repeat methodology is critical for success. (more…)

In the last post, we talked about the different ways that a mobile user can access your mobile website as part of a cross-media campaign.  In this post, we will explore some best practices for ensuring that your cross-media campaign is effective.  Surprisingly, more often than not, a brand will go through the motions of “adding mobile” to its marketing mix, but fail to execute properly, and wonder why its marketing ROI is lackluster.  Here are some keys to success for your cross-media mobile web campaign: (more…)

There are many paths a mobile user can take to get to a mobile website. Adding the mobile web as the central touchpoint to a cross-media campaign can make your marketing efforts significantly more effective.

Utilizing a mobile landing page alongside different complementary types of media provides an interactive “home” where mobile consumers can fully experience your brand and act upon your call to action. Although difficult to master, it is easy to begin implementing — simply trigger an action from another medium that sends customers to a mobile landing page where they can be encouraged to take an action, such as enter a sweepstakes, join a loyalty club, or receive a coupon to make an immediate purchase.

Here are a few different ways to utilize your mobile website as the hub of your cross-media campaigns: (more…)

When building a mobile website, you want your customers to feel they can reach out and touch your products and services. That’s just what Disney had in mind for their Aulani Resort and Spa mobile site. Go to m.disneyaulani.com (developed by Trilibis) on your iPhone or Android device and explore the resort by tap expandable menus and Swipe galleries make it easy for anyone to browse the alluring photos and wallpaper section. Touch-optimized features like these makes exploring the resort via a smartphone as easy and relaxing as sunbathing by its Wailana Pool.

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Last week we launched the first in a series of posts on how to boost your mobile site’s appeal. This second post in the series will discuss creating a whiz-bang user interface (UI).

Even the best content can be rendered useless by an unfriendly UI. With the booming popularity of smartphones, and their hefty price tags, today’s tech-savvy consumers expect more from a mobile website than a simple list of text links with an occasional image sprinkled in between. If this describes your mobile site, you may be in dire need of an interface lift, especially if the bulk of your customers are smartphone users.

So how can turn your UI from drab to whiz-bang? In short, the key to a successful UI makeover consists of designing the UI for touch (a topic that deserves a separate post) and then kicking it up a couple of notches with sophisticated visual elements and features that accommodate common finger motions such as swipes, flicks, pinches, and resizes. Let’s take a look at a few great examples.

Take a business where “reach out and touch” has a special meaning: Match.com. Match’s mobile site has a whiz-bang UI that includes: (more…)

Once you have your conventional website fully functional, it’s time to turn your attention to your mobile presence. Mobile websites are the point of entry for an explosive number of consumers who go online with smartphones, iPads, and similar devices. To make your site do things like drive purchases and improve loyalty, you need to add features that maximize its appeal on the “small screen.” This series of posts describes approaches to take your mobile website from static and hard-to-read to dynamic and hard-to-leave. The series will explore the following five features:

1. Location Functionality
2. Whiz-Bang UI
3. Touch-Optimised UI
4. Social Networking
5. Offline Storage

To begin the series, lets talk location, location, location! It’s equally as important for brick-and-mortar real estate as it is for the virtual real estate of a mobile website. Mobile visitors are eager to find you, your products, or your services. Reward them by offering content or incentives that are tied to their current location, enable them to visit you and, ideally, make quick, convenient purchases. (more…)