What special, eye-catching innovations are companies using to start and build relationships with consumers? Are they working?

Acquiring and building consumer relationships today are quit different, especially through the use of new media. New media, such as mobile marketing, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, in-game advertising, and social marketing, have impacted traditional communications. And yes, they are working. Businesses are effectively integrating these new media opportunities into their marketing and sales strategies.

Today, consumers are empowered in ways like never before. With dozens of product choices available at the click of a mouse or through other mobile devices such as PDAs, the concepts of "instant gratification" and "personalization" are no longer the exception; they are the rule. If a consumer can't get what they need or want immediately, it's pretty simple to find other alternatives. Therefore, companies must utilize these new media technologies, and their eye-catching abilities to stay in the game.

Mobile marketing, for example, allows for the opportunity to deliver the right message to retail shoppers at the moment of decision – in and away from the store. This both improves the experience for the shoppers and increases the advertiser’s worth. Other new media avenues such as blogging, social marketing, and podcasts also offer great consumer relationship building opportunities.

Some of the factors that make blogs powerful as marketing tools include personal interaction through comments, instant notification of page updates through RSS feeds, and the overall friendly personalized tone and writing of the blog posts themselves. This coupled with the proven high search engine optimization value of blogs make them a marketer’s dream for building customer relations. The marketing purpose of the blog is for developing longer term relationships between the business and the general public. Over time, the readers naturally gravitate toward purchasing the company’s goods and services. A blog is relationship marketing at its best. The blogger provides helpful information, and links to other sites that benefit the readers. The visitors return the business' generosity with their purchasing dollars.