As smartphones become more pervasive, marketers are expected to boost spending on mobile search marketing techniques and campaigns.

Thirty-eight percent of American adults will use smartphones by the end of 2011 and more than 40 percent will use the mobile web at least once per month, eMarketer suggested in a recent release.

EMarketer believes companies are taking notice of consumers’ increasing reliance on the mobile, with an estimated $1.2 billion spent on various mobile marketing campaigns by year’s end. The current growth of mobile ad spending represents 65 percent growth over 2010 when marketers directed $743 million to mobile marketing campaigns.

While display ads are a portion of the figure, mobile search marketing campaigns are becoming more pervasive for both B2B and B2C organizations. According to eMarketer, mobile search marketing campaigns will account for 33 percent of spending on the channel. Moving forward, 40.2 percent of budgets aimed at marketing on smartphones, tablets and other mobiles devices will be devoted to search.

Brafton reported that mobile searches are expected to surpass queries from desktop and laptop PCs by 2015. EMarketer’s numbers support this expectation, as the research firm pegs mobile marketing spend to surpass $4 billion by 2015.

Marketers looking to develop innovative methods to target mobile prospects must analyze their current campaigns and see where mobile can be worked in. For example, adjusting a keyword and SEO strategy as part of a content marketing campaign can help target mobile audiences looking for nearby businesses.

Currently, Android-powered smartphones are the most used in the U.S., Brafton has reported. Google’s mobile search application, the default search on these devices, factors location into search results. Therefore, including certain geographical references in content where appropriate could be a way to generate site – and foot – traffic from on-the-go users.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.