This week at the eMetrics Summit, we listened, learned, and spoke a lot about analytics. Well, even more than usual. Repeated takeaways from the keynotes and mobile track sessions focused on the need to seamlessly integrate all of your different data analytics, attribution tracking and marketing metric reporting, so that you have a holistic view of your customer interaction, across all touchpoints and devices. That makes sense and it's a topic that many marketers continue to tackle, but it's a pretty broad challenge. Sometimes it's wonderful to grab one takeaway that is so clear and simple, it makes you smile (and get moving).

If you weren't convinced that mobile marketing is where you should be devoting a significant part of your 2013 budget, today's news should be the last straw. Adage reports that the forecast for mobile advertising spend in 2013 has been increased by another $100 Million. eMarketer is now predicting that total mobile spend will reach $7.29 Billion in 2013, thanks in large part to the explosive growth of social and seach-based mobile advertisting. 

The mobile machine is well underway this year, and if you haven't integrated mobile into your Q1 marketing strategy the time has come to hop on board or get run over. According to eMarketer, US mobile users will spend over $37 billion on retail alone. If you still think there’s time to procrastinate, let me put the fear of Google in you, who boldly declares, “we believe that your success in mobile will determine the future of your business.” Keep your future bright and stop dragging your feet on the mobile front. Here are 5 ways to get moving with mobile marketing today. 

Many of us will watch the famous ball drop in New York's Time Square, but we're definitely not going to let the figurative ball drop when it comes to business. The new year is all about learning from our triumphs as well as our mistakes and looking forward to what lies ahead - and 2013 is going to be big. Mobile marketing is growing up, and new technologies continue to create exciting opportunities for brands to connect and win over consumers. 

Dan Mitchell posted a great article on CNN Money today, highlighting a critical problem in mobile advertisting and addressing Google's biggest ad problem: Fat Fingers (not to be confused with Homer Simpson's own fat fingers dialing dilemma). He looks at how a substantial portion of mobile-ad clicks are basically worthless, because they were caused by accidential clicks due to clumsy user interaction with a very small screen. This creates a frustrating issue for marketers and advertising platforms such as Google or Facebook, as they struggle to find the most effective type of ad unit for mobile campaigns. Brace yourself for some not-so-secret wisdom: the most effective type of ad unit for a mobile campaign is a call, not a click. These are mobile phones we are talking about - the most natural action for a consumer to make on a mobile device is to place a call, not follow a link or fill out a form. 

For marketers, the big news this holiday season is the impact of mobile. This Cyber Monday there was a 70% increase in online mobile consumers from the previous year. Whew! That’s a lot of people shopping on small touchscreens while they’re on the go. Considering the numbers, it’s not hard to see why: 85% of all American adults own a mobile phone.  Nearly half of those phones are smart phones, and the numbers continue to swell. No wonder mobile sales and shopping have been off the charts this holiday season! 

With Thanksgiving just a couple of days away, marketers and businesses are eagerly awaiting the holy grail of retail holidays - that’s right, we're referring to Black Friday.

It’s 2012 and everyone’s gone digital. NY Fashion week went digital, the London Olympics delivered the games and events live to your mobile phone, heck, even Coachella went digital and resurrected Tupac for the holographic performance of a lifetime. It should come as no surprise that the 2012 elections joined the movement and have been influenced by digital technology more than any other in history.

Both the Obama and Romney 2012 campaigns have leveraged digital media to promote their candidates, changing the way advertising, the media, and ultimately the public, have approached their view of the campaigns. Let’s take a look at the ever evolving digital trends impacting the elections...

Social Media-
Think Twitter and Facebook are just for posting what you ate for breakfast? Think again! Both campaigns have embraced the 24/7 news bandwagon and are using social media to connect and interact. Twitter accounts, Instagram, Google+ hangouts, and even Reddit where Obama did an AMA (ask me anything) are examples of how technology and the internet have empowered conversation surrounding the election, and also dialogue with the actual presidential candidates themselves!  

Apps-
With apps like Congress for Andriod and Realtime Congress, technology has brought transperenancy back to politics. Well, OK - not quite, but people can access real-time information about Congress from their mobile phones. Meetings, actions, and legislative process are at your fingertips - literally. Doubtful of people’s interest in political apps? Well check it- the Mitt’s VP app, a one-trick pony that announced Romney’s choice for his vice presidential candidate, had 200,000 downloads within just the first 48 hours.

Mobile-
A recent study found that 66% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 in the United States own a smartphone, and smartphone usage among all adults is up 10% year-over-year. Mobile Politics, a website that enables U.S. political candidates to interact with their constituents, estimates that more than 80 million voters in the U.S will access information critical to their decision making process through their smartphones.

Both campaigns have successfully used their mobile apps to not only inform their supporters, but also, to inspire and acquire fundraising via SMS donations. Mobile donations, how about that?

Both campaigns have also taken a stab at mobile advertising by pushing across paid political messages. Whether it’s making a donation, finding out who the next VP will be, or simply accessing and sharing information, mobile is clearly a major player in this year’s election. The candidates’ efforts to reach younger and tech-savvy voters over the past several months have proved useful, and perhaps necessary as digital media steadily moves from being a growing trend to a solidified, standard part of the average American’s everyday life. 

Hey Obama and Romey! Interested in a solution that helps seamlessly manage your digital, offline and mobile marketing needs? RingRevenue can help set up multiple campaigns, track which of your efforts are most successful in driving phone calls, and engage with those mobile donators via SMS. Just a thought... 

We’ve all heard the saying, “Mother knows best.” If you’re like me, after your first unsuccessful attempt at laundry in your freshman year of college, you learned that while cliche, the saying is in fact very true. So why should it end when you move out of your parents' house? Especially when the same advice she gave to you as a child still relates to the business world today! Don’t believe me? Read on, doubter.

1. “All that glitters is not gold”

Some of us might have heard this from Smash Mouth rather than our mothers, but the sentiment is still the same. Take calls for instance. Even though businesses love getting phone calls, not all calls are created equal. A phone ringing off the hook with unqualified callers not only doesn’t make you money, but can cost you money since precious sales time is wasted talking to someone not interested in purchasing your product or service.

Luckily, RingRevenue’s technology lets you easily filter calls so that you only receive the quality calls you want. With Interactive Voice Response (IVR) you’re able ask a series of qualifying questions to ensure that the calls being routed to your your call center are only those callers who meet the qualifying factors you've specified. In other words, RingRevenue gets you the “golden” calls!

2. “A penny saved is a penny earned”

If I had a penny for everytime my mom reiterated this one...(sigh) well, I’d be set wouldn't I?  RingRevenue’s IVR not only enables you to filter calls so that you only receive the quality calls that you want, but also gives you the option to only pay for the calls you want. Interested in only paying for calls that last longer than 2 minutes? Or perhaps you only want to pay for calls that end in a sale or include a specific key press? Whatever phone calls you choose to spend money on, or rather not spend money on, RingRevenue's platform makes that possible.