The year is more than a week old but it is never too late to review your marketing plan for the year to see whether you have all the bases covered.  We see a couple of trends and technologies this year that would be helpful for you to keep track of.  You really do not have to implement marketing strategies based on these trends, but if you run out of ideas, it would help to know these trends.

We at hubze are basing our “predictions” on the observations we have made in 2011.  Check out the 2012 trends that you should know about now.

Mobile Payments

Mobile is expected to get bigger in the coming years, with some experts saying that mobile technologies could become mainstream within this year.  In 2011, we have seen the rise of QR codes and the introduction of near-field communication both as marketing tools and payment alternatives.  What would happen to mobile this year?  Mobile payments.  If you have not paid attention to mobile payments before, now would be a good time to start.

With Google’s introduction of its Wallet service, NFC-enabled payments would become more and more familiar to consumers.  Google Wallet partners with some of the country’s biggest retailers, including American Eagle Outfitters, Macy’s, Gap, Guess, OfficeMax, Bloomingdale’s, Foot Locker, and Walgreens.  So with all the talk and the visibility, people are bound to try it, right?

eCommerce + Social Networks

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been very prevalent in the recent years, so much so that businesses have come to appreciate just how powerful social media sites are when it comes to marketing their business, products and services.

Indeed, most businesses are advised to have a Facebook like page or a Twitter account.  But while most of the activities done on social networking had been focused on engaging the customer, there has been little success when it comes to actually selling products on social networking sites.  We are not saying that in 2012 and beyond, you could safely add an “add to cart” button on your Facebook page and not turn people off.  Instead, we are seeing a lot of fusion between social networking and the bottom line.

Confused? Take a look at KickStarter.com.  It basically puts new creative projects up there and people pledge monetary support for it.  After the number of days has lapsed, the project creator only gets the money if he or she is fully funded.  Other sites that mix money and social have also come out, such as Weemba.com, Saveup.com and Bundle.com.

More Targeted Promotions

The rise of mobile phones with geolocation capability, of QR codes, and of other similar technologies makes it possible to give out more targeted deals.  In fact, these technologies can help a business owner or a marketer to lure people to opt into their marketing campaigns and e-mail lists and get them to participate in contests, or give them more information.  The beauty of these technologies is that it would be easy to track all the data you need.  For example, if you run a QR code campaign, you could easily see what time your codes were scanned, where it was scanned and other data that you would need to fine tune future QR code campaigns.