Great article by Mobile Marketer daily and Dan Butcher-

How to embrace mobile Web for maximum reach and sales

(mobile marketer daily- excerpt) “Growing trends I’m seeing include continued increase in the number of users accessing the Internet via their mobile device as the dominant method of access, and continued growth in smartphone adoption, although the overall mobile handset units are growing as well,” said Steve Timpson, president of Siteminis Inc., Atlanta.

“Additionally there is strong growth in the use of social sites such as Facebook and Twitter year-over-year, the adoption of location-based interactions on mobile and the use of bar code scanner technology,” he said.

Changes in usage behavior are affecting the way that consumers interact with ads on the mobile Web, and provides increased opportunities for brand advertisers

Ad placement, delivery and pull-through to real calls-to-action are improving, per Siteminis.

Mr. Timpson said that brands are placing more effort on the quality and content of mobile advertising to take advantage of increased mobile Web traffic.

“SMS is still a strong way to get customers’ attention, but as with anything in the mobile space, it is mission-critical to have solid content and offer-driven mobile Web sites that can convert that customer,” Mr. Timpson said.

“Social sites are gaining in popularity as an advertising opportunity, but clearly that takes significant oversight by the brand to really bear fruit—but it will bear fruit,” he said.

“Location-based marketing is also growing but is still being flushed out as far as a tool used commonly for most brand marketing efforts.”

However, Mr. Timpson believes that many advertisers are not currently embracing the mobile Web to the fullest.

“‘Embracing’ may be a bit aggressive,” Mr. Timpson said. “Brands that have traditionally placed a high value on direct marketing efforts have done a superior job in working mobile ads into their everyday marketing approach—coupons, loyalty programs, video and QR codes are growing.”

While there are some early-adopters among brands that have gone all in, so to speak, other brands are still sitting on the fence or dipping their toe in the water.

Many companies are struggling with how to manage mobile as an integrated marketing tool.

“Overall, there is strong growth in mobile advertising year-over-year, and the customer experience is getting better, but there is still a lot of runway for improvement,” Mr. Timpson said. “The mobile Web still seems to be the most effective at gaining customer reach and frequency.”