As Black Friday ushers in the official start of the holiday shopping season, online retailers like Amazon.com are doing their best to attract and retain customers. I’ve personally seen many online deals advertised (some in my own inbox) with promises of deep discounts, free shipping, and other incentives.

Amazon.com announced recently that it has formed a “Holiday Customer Review Team” made up of six of its top customer reviewers, who were given early access to Amazon’s Black Friday deals in order to share their favorites with other customers. This customer-generated feedback will help to drive Amazon’s marketing strategy this season.

“Amazon’s customer reviews have revolutionized the way that people shop, helping consumers make informed buying decisions,” Russell Dicker, senior manager of community at Amazon.com said in a recent statement. “Our customers have to come to rely on the the third party expertise our customer reviews provide, and the Holiday Customer Review Team is an extension of that resource over the holidays.”

Recent studies have shown that consumer reviews play a major role in the purchasing habits of frequent Internet users, and after an online forum that I participated in the other day about the influence of product reviewers on blogs and websites I’m inclined to believe that this is the case. What does this mean for you if you have an e-commerce site? It’s time to pay attention to the reviews, and the reviewers on your site, because it’s clear that visitors to your sites are paying close attention.

The Marble Slab ice cream chain is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a mobile marketing campaign called “Gr8 2 Go,” reports Dianna Dilworth of DMNews. As we’ve previously reported on this blog, mobile marketing campaigns are all the rage, so to speak, with advertisers, and have been used to sell everything from cat food to vacation deals, and now, apparently, frozen novelties.

“We wanted to tap into a new trend, which is being top of mind for customers on the one device that they keep with them all the time-their cell phones,” said Jennifer Johnston, SVP of brand marketing at NexCen Franchise Management.

The first part of the campaign allows customers to text “slab” and receive coupons for ice cream via their cell phones, while the second part offers customers the option of registering their e-mail addresses with Marble Slab.

With the holiday shopping tradition fast approaching, or already upon us, depending on whether you wait until Black Friday or start in October, many retailers are hoping that mobile marketing campaigns like this will help drive what many analysts predict will be a sluggish shopping season.

Many retailers are offering online discounts, free shipping, and online and mobile-based coupons. Retail giant Wal-Mart, for example, offers 99 cent shipping on select items, while Kmart has been actively promoting its Layaway program since late September.

One thing is evident: mobile marketing campaigns, whether they are aimed at selling ice cream, promoting an event, or raising an awareness of a cause, are becoming more prevalent.