A study by International Data Corporation confirms that mobile marketing will continue to grow steadily.

Many small businesses gain consumers by implementing a mobile advertising strategy, and Equi=Media suggests this is the perfect route to success assuming the market has a propensity to use mobile devices.

One way to find out if your consumer base consistently engages with their mobile device is researching texting statistics. According to Nielsen, the most likely to text message are the 25-34 year-olds. 19 percent of both 18-24 year-olds and 45-54 year-olds text. For certain users, they may be more likely to respond to an SMS advertisement.

Most mobile marketers use less than 5 percent of their budget on mobile advertising campaigns, according to Jumptap, however the mobile analytics agency suggests that more than one-third of those companies will increase their mobile expenditures in the coming year.

"Forget what we have taken for granted on how consumers use the Internet," said Karsten Weide, research vice president, Media and Entertainment. "Soon, more users will access the Web using mobile devices than using PCs, and it's going to make the Internet a very different place."
 

Based on a study by Hubspot, a mobile marketing analysis agency, 91 percent of email users have unsubscribed from a company email and 84 percent of 25-34 year olds no longer visit previously-viewed websites because the content's advertisements were intrusive or unrelated.

If a mobile marketing team is experiencing a low rate of return on their email advertising campaign, they may benefit from voice broadcasting.

Voice broadcasting gives marketers the ability to distribute an interactive audio message to a large number of consumers at once. The process is both efficient and time-saving. According to Outsourcing Rebate Processing, voice broadcasting increase marketing team's response rate three-fold.

With the addition of smartphone technology, consumers can reply to the message automatically. For instance, if a client receives a voice broadcast from a company that offers a discount on products pending a reply, they can choose to reply and receive the deal immediately or hang up. This approach is simple, while companies can easily calculate their marketing success rate through voice broadcasting by accruing the number of responses.

Mobile devices are everywhere, and a retailer desiring a high volume of sales may benefit from using marketing trends suggested by a professional, ABC reports.

The holiday season is a few months away, but Andrea Woroch, a consumer savings expert for Konoli, suggests there are marketing trends every consumer will be exposed to in the coming weeks.

"Personalised product recommendations are everywhere this year because improved technology allows merchants to base purchase suggestions on a shopper’s previous search behavior," Woroch said.

By understanding a consumer's tendencies online, marketers can microtarget individuals with a higher retention rate.

Woroch infers that mobile marketing has progressed exponentially over the past few years, based on overall spending and technology improvement. According to J.P. Morgan, mobile ad spending may eclipse $1.2 billion by the end of 2011. Woroch goes on to say that companies with a sound marketing campaign should do more than just throw money at their advertisements. They can consider implementing user-friendly methods such as free shipping for their holiday deliveries, which is a common practice for many Amazon.com retailers.
 

With the inclination of marketers to engage their consumer base via mobile applications, it's important to understand what the realistic return on investment will be in the future, Business2Community reports.

According to the news source, mobile app spending may exceed $13 billion by 2012 and total applications may increase to upwards of 33 billion.

Currently, there are more than 230 mobile phone users in the United States. According to comScore, a global digital analytics organization, more than 82 million of those Americans have smartphones, as of July 2011.

In addition, consumers are inclined to make decisions about services and products through their smartphone, according to a review by Google. Although a relatively small percentage – 23 percent -actually make purchases via a smartphone, 74 percent of respondents told Google they made a purchase after researching on a mobile device.

Consumer purchases are generally made in-store or from a personal computer, Hubspot reports. Regardless if the return on investment for mobile marketing is low, people use their mobile device as a learning tool – researching products instead of buying them. This information can be beneficial for marketers.
 

Mobile marketing often relies on the amount of personal information a customer is willing to share with them. A recent study by JiWire Mobile Audience Insights investigates the issue.

Location-based marketing involves a company advertising to individuals of a specific area. For instance, a Phoenix-based real estate agency can advertise their properties to smarthphone users with Arizona zip codes, while location-based advertising doesn't primarily involve nearby regions. For example, an American-based hockey store with an excess of Montreal Canadian jerseys can target Quebec consumers through their mobile devices.

Still, these marketing strategies depend on the consumer. According to Insights's study, 47 percent of respondents said they were unwilling to share their information in return for relevant content. However, 60 percent of those between the ages of 25-34 told the mobile marketing agency they would share personal information with a company. Generally, the statistics show that the older a consumer is, the less likely they are to disclose their contact and residence details.

If a company is struggling to reach their clientele through location-based advertisements, Hubspot reveals nearly 80 percent of business people check their mobile device for email.

Consumers all over the world research products online or via a mobile device. In fact, 84 percent of 25-34 year-olds do so before purchasing, according to Hubspot.

Ford is making an effort to engage their clients with informational videos and photographs of their up-and-coming vehicles, MediaPost News reports.

According to the automaker, after posting a Facebook page laying out information about its hybrid vehicle, Focus ST, they quickly received 300,000 fans. The car is expected to be released in 2012. In years past, it may have been tough to gauge the potential value of a product so precisely, however with mobile marketing and social networks, companies such as Ford can now determine with more confidence the future sales of a product.

"Social media gives us a rare opportunity to show enthusiasts how this car is progressing, gives insight into its technologies and builds excitement in this community as we finalize Focus ST's technical specifications," Jost Capito, a Europe-based director of Ford, said in a statement.

Social media and smartphones have opened a whole new avenue for all types of industries to interact with their consumers.
 

Mobile marketing is experiencing a boom in all channels of distribution. Both mobile and social network advertisements are expected to reach billions in spending over the coming years, and nearly half of the American population will own a cell phone by the start of 2012, according to Nielsen.

Hubspot, an internet marketing organization, revealed a study which laid out the common behaviors of the most abundant online demographic, the 12-34 year-old consumer.

According to the study, approximately 80 percent of consumers use the internet to research a product or service. This shouldn’t be confused with actually purchasing the product, which is also done at a high rate. More often than not, a consumer's first look at your offerings is through a search engine, such as Yahoo or Google. Therefore implementing a sound online marketing strategy is essential to engaging the online customer to your products.

Hubspot further suggests that inbound marketing is more effective, both cost- and consumer-interest wise, than outbound marketing. Inbound marketing costs more than 60 percent less than outbound, and consumers are more apt to seek a company's services, rather than be sought out via infringing advertisements.

Though everyone knows about the benefits of using Facebook to promote business and engage consumers, that social network shouldn't be your only venue for exposure.

According to Business 2 Community, the top four social networks for marketing are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. There are unique advantages to each website.

According to the organization's website, Facebook is nearing 800 million users. This is by far the largest social network in the world, making it a great starting point for any marketing firm to implement a strategy.

Twitter's advantage is in its simplicity. Each user is restricted to 140 characters per status update. Companies can include a snippet of their pitch or an interesting quote along with a link to a website, if desired.

YouTube offers users the ability to share video. In essence, a marketing team can practice their commercial idea through this medium and view the feedback.

LinkedIn is a professional website that is more focused on business relationships. The return on investment rate may be higher on this website if they are inclined to promote to employees and potential business affiliates.
 

Small business owners may struggle with properly gauging the value of their online marketing efforts.

"The extremely fast-paced nature of the online industry is what is the most challenging. Ironically, that is also the most exciting aspect," Paul Ten Haken, president of Click Rain, said "There's no time to get comfortable with a medium in the digital space as new tools and strategies get introduced on a seemingly daily basis."

Bizbytes has created an easy way for businesses to approach and analyze their online marketing return on investment, the Miami Herald reports.

With an overview of web metrics, it's easier to follow your online marketing success rate.

Bizbytes created a glossary of terms it feels are the most important for online marketers to understand.

Abandonment, conversion rate, inbound links, keywords, leads and unique visitors are included on its "cheat sheet" for success.

According to Internet World Stats, nearly 80 percent of Americans use the internet. Adapting to the online tendencies of such a massive population can prove beneficial for a company.

Entrepreneur Magazine recently released the top 10 finalists for its edition of the Emerging Entrepreneur of 2011 contest, Argus Leader reports. The news source got a chance to speak with one of the finalists, Paul Ten Haken.

Hakken, an online marketing strategist, states the pace of his industry is very fast, which creates unique challenges every day. He that although the work of an online marketing team can be stressful, it is extremely exciting and fulfilling.

When asked what his keys to success are, Hakken responded, "Someone asked me the other day what my hobbies were, and I told them that my hobby is online marketing. When my kids go to bed each night, I get right back online to soak up as much as possible. I follow a ton of industry resources on Twitter and blogs."

His passion for online marketing goes beyond his 9 to 5 hours at work. While the state of lending for small businesses is questionable at best, according to Small Business trends, entrepreneurs of all types can take Hakken as an example of what it means to eat, sleep and breathe their business until they succeed.