• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, October 28, 2015

Mobile marketing efforts need to be considered as a part of a greater whole, say marketers at MediaPost’s OMMA Chicago conference.

“People tend to bring a Webcentric framework to mobile. They think if it worked on digital/desktop it will work on mobile. However… we have to remove the idea that digital strategy is going to work on mobile all the time,” says Billy Collins, director of strategy at PunchKick, in a panel on mobile metrics today.

That being said, mobile can’t be thought of as just another channel, says Dave McAnally, director of SEO at Resolution Media. Mobile needs to be factored into any marketer’s overall strategy because that’s just what people expect now. “Mobile is here,” he said, “and it’s just something we have to deal with.”

Many brands are hesitant to spend money on mobile because the potential financial returns aren’t always clear cut.

Amy Hilbert, vice president, digital director at Spark SMG, says that location data’s use in building user profiles was invaluable in showing the added value of mobile as a tool for marketers. “Beacons don’t need to be used to push notifications, they can also be used to collect more data, and drive information,” she says.

Getting hyperspecific location data, such as which aisles in a store a certain customer spends more time in, can be helpful for marketers looking to build a profile. Apple TVs will also essentially be beacons that can track second-screen use among Apple customers.

As more money moves into mobile ad spending, the panel agreed that ROI metrics will become clearer.

The biggest blind spot in mobile metrics is engagement, relevancy and the walled garden model for data that large platforms like Facebook employ to keep their data proprietary.