Opportunities for growth through mobile devices are yet to be realised, said an expert, adding that while ‘digital’ continues to overhaul the way we do business, mobile has become a business imperative.

“A detailed understanding of attitudes and behaviours online and mobile is vital for the development of winning marketing plans and growth strategies,” said Steve Hamilton-Clark, CEO of TNS Mena, a leading custom market research organisation.

“There are five clear digital imperatives for chief marketing officers (CMOs) worldwide: engagement, brand idea, analytics to make data work harder, speed of execution and organisational change,” he added.

He cited syndicated TNS reports based on one-to-one interviews with chief marketing officers from a range of international organisations, including Kellogg’s, Nissan, Xerox and Coca-Cola.

Insights from ‘The Impact of Digital on Growth Strategies: CMO Imperatives for 2012’ and ‘More than A Marketing Channel’, ‘CMOs and The Mobile Imperative’, unveiled that CMOs feel that understanding mobile behaviour and applying it across other platforms results in marketing success.

Hamilton-Clark urged marketing teams to be nimble to mobilising the path to purchase. “Mobile consumers stand to benefit from pre-store experimentation lifestyle enablement and location services, in-store opportunities business end activities through to mobile payments.”

He explained that it is key to respond to real-time customer feedback, to stay relevant with a broader group of influencers at the speed, which customers now demand.

“Leveraging on mobile loyalty via general marketing, apps, mobile web space, platforms and social mobile channels will result in tangible results for marketers and most importantly for consumers.

“The role ‘mobile’ should be playing is as an enabler across all functions of the business, from upstream to innovation and product development and, in others, downstream to shopper marketing and retailing,” Hamilton-Clark concluded. – TradeArabia News Service