• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 14, 2006

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. -- The proliferation of Web-enabled mobile devices, and their potential to bring online-style accountability to traditional media, will lead to a boom in local search marketing, a panel of execs predicted Monday at MediaPost's Search Insider Summit.

"The mobile phone has created an opportunity to create a response metric for traditional media like television and radio," said Omar Tawakol, chief advertising officer for Medio, which specializes in mobile marketing. For instance, he said, users might see a TV ad for a big-box retailer, use mobile search to find the big-box retailer nearest them, and then present a short code included in the TV ad to receive a promotional discount.

Scott DeLea, senior vice president and general manager of DigitalGrit, agreed that traditional media can clarify the complex relationship between online search and offline purchases in "brick-and-mortar" retail establishments. "People don't just convert online--they go to stores," he said. "Local retail business is not based on click-throughs, but if you can combine mobile search with 1-800 tracking, or if you're driving people to profile pages or coupons, then you can start tracking it."

But executives also said challenges remain, including the need to lure more small marketers to search. One problem, said DeLea, is that small businesses need search marketing services "that they don't have to think about," requiring fairly intensive involvement on the service end.