With the holiday season right around the corner, it is imperative that brands and retailers strategically integrate mobile into all marketing and advertising initiatives, according to an industry expert.

Marketers need to carefully tailor the messages sent using mobile because irrelevant, intrusive and unsolicited communications via the medium feel very unwelcome. With the number of worldwide subscriptions for wireless services expected to reach 5 billion, equaling 73.4 percent of the world?s population, there is no question as to whether the channel has reach.

Mobile Marketer?s Giselle Tsirulnik interviewed Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, Kirkland, WA, regarding mobile?s role in this year?s holiday marketing. Here is what he said.

Should mobile always be part of the marketing mix? Why or why not?
Always is, of course, an absolute.

Given the popularity and reach of mobile devices, you would be hard-pressed to have only non-mobile subscribers in your target group.

But if that is the case ? perhaps in a rural area that has not seen a cell tower ? mobile should be left out.

Leave delivery of the message then to the Wagon Train.

How should brands and retailers be integrating mobile into their marketing mix? What should they be thinking about when deciding on how to incorporate mobile?
Everything ties back to business objectives.

Mobile marketing is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It is using a new channel but it is still marketing.

The same rules apply ? know your audience, integrate your marketing efforts, learn as you go, then optimize.

How can the mobile channel act to complement or even support a multichannel effort?
Hipcricket client Arby?s masterfully drives trial, sales and loyalty through cross-media integration.

As an example, the campaign to launch its Roastburger product kicked off with a Jimmy Kimmel Live segment, where viewers were urged to text the word ROASTBURGER to 27297 to receive a free sandwich with the purchase of any drink.

Arby's created 172 local databases to enable a local mobile capability and to handle the SMS response traffic from its television, radio and in-store promotions.

Of consumers who started a text interaction through in-store signage, more than 89 percent opted to join the Arby?s local database. In addition, more than 90 percent of TV respondents did so.

Since the initial launch, Arby?s has integrated mobile into many of its TV and radio commercials, print ads, Sunday coupon circulars, live events and in-store signage.

The program has been so successful that it is a finalist for a Mobile Marketing Association award for North American product launch.

Do you have some best practices for integrating mobile into the multichannel strategy?
By employing a technology platform like Hipcricket?s HIP 6.0, brands can measure campaigns in real time, then optimize.

For brands such as JVC, Arby?s and Macy?s, the deployment of different keywords provided metrics that were otherwise unobtainable.

This ensures that money is not misspent and that results are reviewed when a brand marketer can still do something to affect the campaign?s outcome.

What are some common pitfalls that brands and retailers should avoid when incorporating mobile into the multichannel mix?
Mobile marketing never sits on an island.

Arby?s is a master at including a call to action in nearly all of its communications. This way, dollars work harder and become more trackable.

The most common mistake for brands and retailers is when mobile joins a program as an after-thought rather than early on with critical business-generating decisions are made.

Final take
Giselle Tsirulink is senior editor at Mobile Marketer
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