The Art of Mobile Persuasion Podcast

No one, including those at Apple who created it, expected the App Store to become so robust and important in the lives of mobile users. POSSIBLE Mobile CEO Ben Reubenstein had one of the first 300 apps in the store and now leads a company working on some of the most popular apps, including ones developed for the PGA Tour, JetBlue and many Turner apps. Ben gives us his view of the next decade by reviewing events in the last one.

The hospitality industry still needs to put heads in beds, but how it goes about it has changed dramatically in the mobile era. Jason Craig, Director of Mobile Applications for International Hotels Group (IHG), shares ways to cater to varying customers and locales, and to build business. The lessons transfer well across all categories.

Gen Z'ers were born with a pacifier in one hand and mobile device in the other. Their media consumption is different in terms of day part, device, and source. But they aren't unreachable. Lessons on how to market to Gen Z are in this quick-hitting episode.

Just when we had this online and mobile thing nailed - yeah, right -- up came voice. Amazon has most driven this innovation and Dave Isbitski, the company's chief evangelist for Alexa and Echo, has taught tens of thousands. In this episode, Dave shares actionable steps to take for you to give voice to your brand. He also gives insight into consumer expectations around voice interfaces and how you should meet and even beat them.

Little irks me more than seeing someone refer to stats around mobile that are six months old or older. The practice is faulty and the individual is lazy. In this episode, consumer expert Lee Rainie makes us smart with the latest findings from the Pew Research Center. A listen will arm you to crush it in your next mobile programs.

A leading Google voice recently wrote a piece suggesting that now is the time to stop making excuses for mobile marketing failures or standing in place. I'll argue that the time was in 2013. Whatever. Where are we with mobile today and how can we use the answer to our advantage? The episode includes new case studies.

In a world upended by new technology and consumer behavior, it's still wise to rely on customer data and doing what has been successful for marketers for decades. Bruce Hershey, VP of Marketing at Tailored Brands, knows his customers at Men's Wearhouse and Jos A Bank like his job depends on it. Of course, it does. He shares how to make the info actionable as well as his views on "shiny objects" and how his team evaluates innovation.

Customers used to turn to desktops to accomplish more complicated banking chores. Now they insist on using their mobile devices. Fazir Ali, SVP, Digital Strategy, Product Management & Innovation for KeyBank, teaches us how to identify consumer needs and to meet and exceed them.

The "Year of Mobile" proclamations have finally ended. There is no doubt that mobile has become an increasingly important part of the marketing mix. But we have more work to do. Gartner's Noah Elkin returns in part 2 of my interview with actions to take to run more sophisticated mobile programs that amp up the return on investment.

Retail expert Ryan Craver returns to give us specific actions to take to sell more stuff in 2018. By all means, strengthen your app and web efforts, but also look for complementary efforts to go where many of your customers and prospects spend significant time.