NEW YORK ? An mCordis executive at the sixth annual Mobile Marketing Day conference predicted that connectivity is becoming a top need for motivating consumers, proving that marketers must leverage mobile to drive purchase behavior and send influencing messages. 

Brands should be considering both online and offline touch points in the consumer shopping journey, but ultimately must map out the unaware and unengaged customer with social media interception and integrated messaging elements. Being adaptable and responsive are also two key goals for marketers wishing to succeed in omnichannel marketing, as the space will continue to evolve drastically in the next several years.

?The iPhone fundamentally changed the paradigm of what mobile was about and what it could and can do,? said Michael Becker, co-founder and managing partner, mCordis, Sunnyvale, CA. ?By 2013, we saw a global ecosystem of mobile evolved to power modern experiences. 

"These experiences represent a tremendous change in the evolution of society. Mobile has fundamentally changed consumer behavior, forever."

Mobile Marketing Day is a Mobile Marketer event jointly hosted with the Direct Marketing Association.

The new need
Mr. Becker argued that connectivity is the new need for consumers, adding it to the foundation of psychologist Abraham Maslow?s hierarchy of needs, which focuses on patterns of human motivation. As mobile is the first medium that is able to interact with all previous channels of communication, it has become an integrated part of consumers? lives and will become even more so as beacon technology and personalization take off.

Although some customers are still wary of privacy concerns, most chief marketing officers claim they do not expect it to majorly affect their companies in the near future. Instead, they count topics such as social media currency, social interception and personal pricing as significant trends to watch.

Several brands have been leveraging social media as a form of currency by asking consumers to check-in to a company page via Facebook or Twitter, and then rewarding them with a free product or beverage from a vending machine.

Others have eliminated traditional price tags, and instead ask customers to scan a QR code tag on a clothing item to view a personal price created just for them, based on their history with the brand.

However, marketers must keep in mind that social media should be used to drive users back into their own branded media channels, as networks are simply mediums that should be leveraged accordingly.

?You are a tenant farmer in social media,? Mr. Becker said. ?Facebook and Twitter, others, own the farm; you?re just farming it for them.

?Your objective with social media should be use to leverage it to invite people to engage you in your owned media--link them to your mobile Web sites, apps and messaging channels. This will help you build your assets."

Role of marketing
Brands should aim to look at their media strategies and differentiate their combined owned, shared, paid and earned models. Although there are two views of marketing, one from the consumer?s point of view and one from the marketer?s, the ultimate goal of marketing is connect buyers and sellers.

However, traditional forms of marketing are also coexisting with digital, social and mobile channels, and are not entirely converging. Eventually, a marketer should maintain a happy marriage between these two.

Tactics such as interactive window displays and shopping carts will also likely become popular. For example, food marketer Hellman?s rolled out a feature where it could tell when a consumer was in its usual product aisle in a supermarket, and would send mobile notifications suggesting which meals the mayonnaise would pair best with.

?The content that you?re developing is critically important,? Mr. Becker said. ?Content drives a conversation and a conversation can build relationships."

Eventually, this will lead to an influx of beacon technology, although the next 18 to 34 months will be very touch and go.

?Digital and mobile are fundamentally changing everything,? Mr. Becker said. ?The elements of mobile are evolving at varying paces

"Beacons, for example, are in a trial phase," he said.

?Beacons are a really good example of turning mobile moments to micro moments. At contextually relevant times, we?re interacting with consumers.?

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York