About a decade ago, businesses were adopting the internet as a new channel, and now Forrester says marketers’ burgeoning investment in mobile platforms suggests mobile is the next big thing. Forrester’s Global Mobile Maturity Online Survey for Q3 2010 shows that marketers are increasingly integrating their mobile campaigns into their overall business strategies.
According to the report, just one-third of marketers have had a mobile strategy in place for more than a year, but nearly half (45 percent) are planning to integrate mobile campaigns into their overall corporate agendas. One-quarter of respondents say they have put top management executives in charge of mobile initiatives.
At the same time, Forrester believes that businesses are still not taking mobile seriously enough, as just 44 percent of respondents say they have created a mobile task force to outline clear objectives for their campaigns. The company points to monthly mobile Facebook use, which hit 150 million users in July 2010, and the growing number of mobile Twitter users (currently 62 percent of microbloggers) as evidence that the mobile channel deserves more energy.
If the convenient marriage of social and mobile marketing doesn’t inspire businesses to boost mobile strategies, the rise of on-the-go web browsing could indicate it’s time to more carefully consider mobile search campaigns. As Brafton reported, comScore’s latest mobile market report shows that more than one-third of American cellphone owners used a mobile browser in August 2010 – an increase of more than 2 percent over May.
Catching the attention of mobile users could be a profitable endeavor. Experts at the recent Mobile Commerce Forum say that mobile shoppers will spend more than $119 billion in 2015.
