Though most companies (75%) say mobile marketing is at least somewhat important to their marketing plans this year, many are still unsure about its practicality and ROI: 32% of marketers and business professionals cite not knowing how to make a business case as their biggest impediment to executing a mobile marketing campaign, and 29% cite the lack of clear analytics to measure ROI, according to a survey from R2integrated.

In addition, 29% say mobile marketing isn't on their strategic road map, and 22% say their "audience isn't mobile yet."

Asked to assess the importance of mobile marketing to their overall strategy in 2010, 22% say mobile marketing is very important, 26% say important, 28% say somewhat important, and 8% say not important at all.

Critical Areas of Improvement

Among those planning mobile marketing campaigns, 43% say quantifying ROI is the most critical area of improvement, followed by 37% who cite improving mobile lists through the use of social/influencer networks.

Measuring Success

Some 41% of marketers and business professionals cite improving company visibility as their main reason for executing a mobile marketing campaign, followed by lead generation (34%), a necessity to compete (26%), and increasing direct sales (24%).

However, asked to measure success, most point to tangible increases in new business:

• Customers: 49%
• Sales: 39%
• Company visibility: 34%
• Mobile subscribers: 24%
• Market share: 15%

Mobile Channels

Over one-half (52%) of marketing and business professionals plan to focus on mobile website development as part of their mobile marketing strategy, followed by mobile application development (40%), and SMS (text) and MMS (multimedia) messaging campaigns (32%).

Looking for real, hard data that can help you match social media tools and tactics to your marketing goals? The State of Social Media Marketing, a 240-page original research report from MarketingProfs, gives you the inside scoop on how 5,140 marketing pros are using social media to create winning campaigns, measure ROI, and reach audiences in new and exciting ways.

Mobile Platforms

When respondents were asked to rate the importance of mobile platforms, 59% cited the iPhone as "very important," followed by the Blackberry (41%). Only 7% said the Android is a "very important" platform.

"I think because the technology is still working to fully prove itself, most marketers are playing it safe by focusing on the mobile browsing experience, where they can leverage existing Web assets, rather than on mobile marketing, where the ROI proposition is still being evaluated," said Matt Goddard, cofounder and CEO, R2integrated.

"The iPhone still reflects the largest base for marketers to sell into, even though the Android may be the platform du jour in terms of hype."

About the data: The survey of approximately 155 marketing and business professionals was conducted by R2integrated from Jan. 13 to Jan. 25, 2010.