• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 7, 2011

Most women I know prefer to carry large purses and stuff everything in them: checkbook, keys, wallet, makeup, cellphone, and more. Sometimes two cellphones: one for work and the other personal use. Sometimes they also manage to squeeze in an iPad. I know a woman, in fact, who carries two purses. One on her shoulder; the other she leaves in the car packed with things not necessarily needed at that moment. No matter what purse she takes along for the ride, the cellphone never leaves her side. Do you know her?

This woman, a learning therapist, runs her own business geared toward school age kids and relies on search engines to find directions, confirm business listings, and locate local restaurants during lunch time in cities where she's not familiar with the surroundings. And since she's on the road commuting daily, the cellphone also works to provide access to email and contacts. You can pretty well say this 60-year-old woman depends on that cellphone for a variety of tasks, both personal and business. One time she mistakenly dropped the phone in the toilet and flushed day's worth of work down the drain. Not literally, of course, but she did have to purchase a new phone when it refused to reboot.

Her good annual salary affords her the luxury of shopping at some of the finer department stores such as Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus. Don't get me wrong, she also goes to Wal-Mart Stores and Target to find essentials. And occasionally makes purchases on her mobile device during lunch when she's in a pinch. I'd say she's the perfect candidate for mobile ad targeting. What do you think?

Tagga media, which serves up mobile ads, has seen mobile traffic jump at least four times across all the sites it builds and hosts. Clients have begun to add in app and mobile Web advertising to their overall strategies. Mobile is outperforming online in many aspects of campaign effectiveness, according to Tiffany Chester, Tagga director of marketing. She says many of the mobile ad campaigns run for clients outperform other channels. For example, the average click-through rates run about .4 for mobile vs. roughly.1 for online ad campaigns.

Lazard Capital Analyst Colin Sebastian pegs 2011 "as a standout year for mobile commerce," aided by faster 4G networks. Mobile apps allow stores to become virtual showrooms for Amazon, for example. Overall, Sebastian expects to see the online advertising market grow between 15% and 20% this year.

Sebastian isn't the only one in support of this view. On Friday, Borrell Associates released insights on three ways for digital media publishers to grow interactive advertising revenue. One, to invest in mobile marketing, points to a 2010 survey of 3,300 business owners where 15% identified they have tried some form of mobile advertising and 44% said they would be somewhat likely to try mobile advertising in 2011. The research firm estimates mobile advertising reached $6.3 billion in 2010 and is expected to grow to $42.1 billion in 5 years.

By the way, I prefer the small purse with just the essentials inside. Of course, that would include my smartphone, providing all the information I need for any adventure or mobile commerce excursion.