You can longer ignore mobile as part of your marketing plan.

People didn’t think digital or online marketing would take off but look at where we are today.

Companies should start thinking about having a mobile strategy as part of their marketing plan. Of course, this may not be suitable for all, but it certainly is for retail, banks and even some B2B businesses.

1.Disney & mobile

Disney recently announced its mobile strategy . They are going to have SMS alearts and games, sweepstakes programmes and video enabled mobile website – they will have a WAP version and one for iPhone’s safari browser. Last October, they released a free, ad-supported app for iPhone and iPod touch. Their mobile site and app support all the Disney films, tv shows and video games.

They also have an expanding line-up of paid applications available in the App Store such as Toy Story Mania, Disney Fairies Fly, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Breakspin. The entertainment giant works with several mobile ad networks, including Millennial Media, AdMob, Jumptap and Nokia.

2. Search engines go mobile

Google even has its own mobile strategy, launching the first Android phone the G1 in 2008. Last November Google paid $750 million for Admob and Apple bought Quattro, Admob’s privately owned rival which owns mobile websites and applications for Apple’s iPhone and other smart phones, such as those using Google’s Android operating system.

There is potential to earn a new revenue stream. Mobile advertising has not yet completely kicked off, mainly due to the old phones that were slow and didn’t allow more than text messages. According to Strategy Analytics, smartphones now account for 15% of global mobile shipments, and that proportion is expected to rise to 45% by 2013. There is a window of opportunity here for companies to get on board early and work out their own mobile strategy or work with an agency that can help them. According to Gartner, mobile advertising revenues could be worth as much $13 billion by 2013. If a company could have just 1% of that, they would be very happy indeed.

Source: Business standard

When you do decide to go mobile, make sure your mobile strategy is part of your marketing plan and not just ad hoc as this will not work. Please do not think of your mobile strategy as building applications and then sitting still. Zara has jumped on the iPhone app bandwagon but don’t seem to have thought much about the actual application as this post from Econsultancy explains.