Whether you're an established brand or just a mom with a website working from home, mobile marketing can have tremendous benefits. In a short time, the cutting edge capabilities of mobile, such as live video streaming, geo-targeted ads and instant feedback via SMS, can bring increased revenue and a more interactive experience with your customers.

But the real question is: How do you know what type of mobile campaign is most effective for your business? Before you decide to allocate a large portion of your marketing budget to mobile, ask yourself the questions below, and you'll feel a lot more confident about making the leap to this growing marketing channel.

Are your customers mobile?

This should be an easy one to answer because, unless you're running an extremely authentic 15^th century Renaissance faire, you'll find that likely ALL of your customers regularly use a mobile device. Whether they're using it for work, fun or socializing, you know for certain there are periods of time when their full attention is focused on that small, but powerful, screen.

Use your company's target customer sector as a starting point for the best type of mobile campaign for you. For example, an older demographic will likely respond best to simple text messages whereas a younger audience will appreciate mobile streaming videos and interactive mobile sites. Your company’s involvement can be something as simple as optimizing your current website for mobile, or a full opt-in SMS campaign. Either way, directly reaching out to potential clients is an opportunity for you to engage them and convert them into actual customers.

Sure, your customers are mobile, but how can you reach out to them?

To answer this question you have to dig a little deeper to first find out what type of mobile devices your customers are using. A mobile device is considered anything from Zack Morris' locker-sized cell phone to the latest iPad 2, so before you approach available avenues for reaching out to current or potential clients, first ask: Which devices will you need to target? Each device has slight differences in capability, so the more informed you are about your audience, the more accurate your mobile marketing efforts will be. You don't want to end up wasting your entire mobile ad budget by marketing to the wrong audience. For example, if your primary audience is under 35, you'll want to target Android and iPhone devices. According to a recent Nielsen report, 50% of Android devices and 43% of iPhones are used by adults 18-34, whereas only 38% of Blackberry devices are purchased by that age group.

You've got them where you want them, so now what?

As a diligent business owner you've done your part and gathered all the data you can about your current or potential customers' mobile usage habits. What comes next is finding a good mobile marketing partner to bring your company and brand to the mobile space.

A mobile marketing company that is performance-based, familiar with YOUR business' industry, and can answer any questions you have about your mobile marketing campaign possesses all the key characteristics to look for. A marketing company that is performance-based also means you only pay for results with none of your budget wasted on bad leads, which is vital when testing a new marketing campaign.

Regardless of what type of marketing you've done in the past, you'll have a lot of questions. It's very important to pick a partner that's knowledgeable and can speak as an expert on the topic. For example, if you ask how many mobile users each campaign will reach, don't settle for a vague answer like “nationwide.” The power of mobile marketing is in the ability to reach specifically targeted users, so you will always be able to track and analyze every campaign.

Take the leap!

In any type of business, marketing is a must and by staying on the cutting edge of the marketing industry, your advertising budget will go much further. Mobile marketing through SMS campaigns, mobile search ads, in-application ads, mobile affiliate networks and mobile video streaming are all ways you can brand your business in the new and exciting mobile space.

The best thing you can do is arm yourself with knowledge about your business, your clients, and what results you want to get out of your mobile marketing experience.

This article was written with contributions from Araks Khachatryan, CornerBlue's Co-Founder and VP of Business Development

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