• by Aaron Baar , January 17, 2013

Mobile marketing is like sex: nearly everyone is doing it, many want to do it even more, but no one feels they’re doing it particularly well. 

According to a new study from the Association of National Advertisers and media agency MediaVest, 96% of marketers are currently using or planning incorporate mobile marketing into their broader programs, and 85% of them are expecting to increase their mobile budgets in the near future. But only 21% of those marketers feel their efforts are particularly successful. 

“Marketers know that [mobile] is evolving from a consumer standpoint, and they need to be there. But they don’t feel as comfortable as they would like in measuring its success,” Marni Gordon, vice president of conferences and committees for the ANA, tells Marketing Daily. 

The biggest hurdle, Gordon says, is a lack of standardization when it comes to mobile marketing measurement, which leads to little clarity when it comes to return-on-investment. According to the survey, 42% of marketers said they’re concerned about having the proper metrics in place to judge a campaign. Another 42% said are concerned that they’re unable to prove ROI.

Such lack of standardization has led to three industry groups -- the ANA, the 4A’s and the IAB -- to work to create a standardized system under the banner “3MS” (Making Measurement Make Sense). Creating such a system will allow marketers to compare apples to apples when it comes to mobile marketing programs, Gordon says. 

“The opportunity is that ‘3MS’ will ultimately lay the groundwork to lay the metrics in place,” Gordon says. “This will be a longer-term process. The hope is with that initiative that will lay the groundwork for mobile and social and other media.”

The lack of clarity, however, isn’t keeping marketers from attempting to create mobile marketing programs, often at the expense of other media. According to the survey, marketers are reallocating funds from traditional media budgets (37%) and digital budgets (26%) to pay for mobile marketing programs. And, the top three draws of mobile were: reaching unique audiences, delivering content on the go and knowing (via location services) where a consumer is at any given time. 

“The opportunities can be so huge,” Gordon says. “Just knowing that you can find out where a consumer is at any time and that your product is available at a Walmart or a drug store.”