MMA: Mobile to jump 25% in 2009

The economy may still be in trouble, but mobile marketers are betting on the relatively new medium to help them beat the selling doldrums. According to a new forecast from the Mobile Marketing Association, mobile marketing will increase by 26% this year.

by Kristina Knight

Advertising, overall, will not fare as well as it is expected to fall by 7%.

SMS text messages continue to lead in mobile marketing with 66% of marketers saying they use SMS to reach consumers. Mobile Websites are quickly catching up (53% are using mobile sites) and mobile email campaigns (33%). One benefit of the mobile campaign is that marketers are learning how to attach a 'use now' coupon to an email message so that consumers are more likely to go to a brick-and-mortar store or visit a website to use the coupon.

In 2009, mobile marketing is expected to reach $1.7 billion; by 2010, it is expected to reach $2.16 billion. Currently mobile accounts for less than 2% of most marketer budgets.

With more consumers logging on to the mobile web, marketers are following and so are mobile ad platforms. The MMA is not the only group touting the fast growth of mobile revenue. Forrester Research reports that the interactive ad spend will top $50 billion by 2014; mobile marketing efforts are going to be a big part of that increase. In fact, social and mobile efforts are expected to be the two biggest reasons for interactive spending to explode over the next five years.

Tags: Forrester Research, interactive advertising, MMA, mobile marketing, Mobile Marketing Association, mobile marketing forecast