• by Ross Fadner , October 29, 2009

Joy Liuzzo, Senior Director of Marketing and Mobile Research at InsightExpress, was a voice of reason at the OMMA Mobile conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. While a panel of agency and mobile marketing services providers piped on about the success of a few of their iPhone apps, the mobile industry researcher noted that only about 15 percent of the population uses smartphones and has access to these apps.

“We find in our research that folks use 3-4 apps” most frequently, Liuzzo said, which means the opportunity for success there is very limited. She noted that in many cases, the mobile Web gives a far broader experience than an app would. “There’s not just one thing that’s working,” Liuzzo added; it’s not just the mobile Web, not just video, not just the applications.

In reality, it all comes down to what you’re objectives are. If you’re trying to generate awareness, go for the mass, go for SMS or the mobile Web, she said. If engagement is your goal or you’re trying to build upon an existing message, go for narrower, more engaged audiences through mobile video or an app.