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So, first I apologize for my delay on this post.   A lot of new opportunities have been presented to me and I’ve had to take a step back to assess some of them. If you’ve been reading here at my site you might have read a recent post “All I want for X-Mas is a Mobile Marketing Program” and I listed a number of steps for those interested in executing a mobile marketing program for this upcoming holiday season.  This series is meant to break down some of the steps and give insight into the best way to get started. The first step to get started with mobile marketing is to get educated.  The rest of this post will discuss the best way to move forward. So let’s dive in!

Step 1:  Get Educated!

As I mentioned in the previous post, first you need a trusted partner that has experience executing mobile initiatives.  There are many agencies and consultants out there so do your research.  Although mobile is very technology oriented it still begins with a strategy.  Determine your goals/objectives and speak with a mobile professional to determine a strategy and set measures for success.

“Where do I start researching?” you might ask.  Well, the first source I would recommend checking out is the Mobile Marketing Association.  There you’ll find:

• An overview of the Mobile Marketing Ecosystem – Understand the value chain from Brands/Content through application service providers to aggregators through the wireless carriers to customers.
• Anyone you choose to work with should be a member of the MMA or at least MMA Compliant. You should ask to see case studies of the type of work they have executed.  The MMA has a directory of all members here.  This includes, aggregators, service providers, agencies, consultants etc. Always a nice place to start.
• While researching companies you can also look at Case Studies by industry (i.e. Automotive, B2B, Retail etc) to scope out projects that may relate to one you’d like to execute or get ideas for campaigns of your own.

The MMA has information on terminology as well but a good source for stats and terms is here.  Next, I would recommend doing some personal research on mobile, its user demographics across channels (SMS, Mobile Web, Applications) and real life examples of how it’s currently being used by brands. Some of my favorite sources are:

• Mobile Marketer
• Mobile Marketing FYI
• Burning The Bacon with Phill Barrett
• Mobile Enthusiast
• Mobile Marketing Profits
• Rank Mobile’s Blog
• www.gregoryhickman.com (my shameless plug)
• Also try following people on Twitter and joining Linkedin groups in and around mobile.

As you do research on some of these sources you’ll definitely learn of agencies you could contact that can provide both strategy and technology to help execute campaigns. Some of the people that I believe you should contact (other than myself of course) for guidance would be:

• Cindy Krum from Rank Mobile: She speaks globally on mobile and is a mobile SEO guru. Cindy is currently writing a book on mobile.
• Kim Dushinksi: A mobile consultant with a great introductory service to get you involved in mobile. Kim also wrote The Mobile Marketing Handbook.
• Thumbfound: This is an agency I have co-founded and we love sharing mobile insight, strategy and take pride in seeing folks test the waters of mobile as it’s a very complementary channel.
• The Hyper Factory: This is an agency I’ve followed for a while. I’ve never actually worked with them but they’ve done some great work.

These are just a few that I think should get you started.  When you chat with any of these people or possibly someone else you feel comfortable with make sure you focus on the your goals and objectives.  At the end of the day mobile is just another channel. It’s not going to solve all your problems. Consider your customers and how having a mobile solution will benefit them and aid in your brand image and goals.  The tools will be easy to learn so don’t stress out about technology.  The important piece of the puzzle is to make sure you have an intelligent strategy in place. The rest will come together!

Stay tuned for the next part to this series which breaks down the different channels within mobile and why SMS is the best place to start.