Guest Post By: Holly Krenek, Marketing Manager & Hillary Prey, Marketing Communications at Digby

Mobennials, or The Mobile Generation, are the most connected and affluent consumers today. Ranging between the ages of 13-44, Mobennials are hyper local, individualistic, self aware, and driving the mobile smartphone revolution. They come from Gen X, Gen Y and an even younger population ranging down to preteens. They are defined as always connected and always tuned-in whether it is to news, their social networks or favorite retail brands. They want tailored, interactive offers that empower them to make educated purchase decisions on their own and influence others to do the same. And they are never without their lifeline—their smartphone.

Even though these power consumers are always connected, they are not always listening. Retailers and branded manufacturers need to tailor their messaging across all multi-channel touch points in order to influence, create unique and valuable experiences and maintain the brand-consumer relationship successfully with these digital gurus. Mobennials’ savvy adoption of mobile and social technology has spiked the interest of all retailers and branded manufacturers, who have first handedly witnessed their utilization of mobile via purchases from rich applications, mobile websites and in-store mobile engagements. But how do you, as one of many retailers, successfully get your message in front of this mobile generation without having it lost in the noise?

Start by getting to know the audience. Almost half of smartphone owners (48.7%) are between the ages of 25 and 44, with the majority of those in the 25-34-age range. Find out what devices they are using and develop a mobile marketing, commerce and in-store strategy that provides relevant, timely and valuable offers and experiences that can be delivered in an optimized way through your mobile commerce site or rich App for the iPhone, Android or BlackBerry smartphone.

Also, think about how you can engage with Mobennials by leveraging mobile and social as the two are inherently intertwined. The median age of social networkers on mobile is 30 years old. Conversely, 13-24 year olds represent almost a fourth of all smartphone users (23.8%). While this percentage may not be as overwhelming, it does represent the future. 23% of teens (ages 12-17) already use their phones for social networking and 11% use it to make purchases. Get in with these young Mobennials early, gain their trust, and make them loyal followers—they will be your audience for years to come and they already have their demands.

Speak their language. If retailers want to remain relevant to this uber-connected group, they need to identify with the ways in which Mobennials consume information.

A great way to engage with loyal Mobennials is with insightful and visually educational videos. Retailers who offer videos via mobile or social outlets enhance the consumer connection to the brand. Videos must focus on store products, and provide exclusive information to the consumer with edgy and unique visual messaging to capture their loyal advocates attention. When executed correctly, the mobile and video correlation can lead to successful purchases both in-store and online for retailers, and gain value through strong communication to their Mobennial customers. Ulta is a great example if a retail brand that utilizes mobile and video to their advantage. See the example below of one of their amazing videos.

Most recently, Nordstrom has enabled mobile checkout in their retail locations. According to the luxury retailer, approximately 5,000 mobile checkout devices will be incorporated in to their retail stores, escalating the power of mobile and technology for the company. Nordstrom sales associates can look up previous purchases of customers via an iPod Touch, and spend quality time with consumers on the sales floor with the implementation of the mobile checkout. Having one-on-one time with consumers is valuable to the retailer, and creates quality engagements between the company and its loyal customers. The company is also using the mobile checkout app to spread the word about special events and other promotions directly to shoppers based on their location.

In addition, the Nordstrom mobile-optimized website allows users to purchase items from their smartphones so their loyal customers can have access to products whether they are at home, on the go or in the retail store.

Wet Seal’s mobile and social presence has grown exponentially since 2008. Not only do they have a great and elegant mobile optimized website for their broad customer base, their iPhone application, iRunway, which launched in 2009, allows loyal customers to access collections of user-created outfits in the Wet Seal Fashion Community, view items and see outfits that go with that style, scan a barcode or enter the style number to view the outfits with that item, view most popular outfits, share outfits socially or via email to friends and family, and view store locations and information such as ratings and reviews.

Staying in frequent contact with Mobennials across every touch point is crucial to building and maintaining a strong mobile and social relationship with them. They have the largest word of mouth base and act as both influencers and the influenced. It may take some trial and error, but it is worth the effort to figure out how to successfully engage this affluent in-crowd.