Flickr: Sean Dreilinger

Back in college, my friends and I used to sit around discussing the magical moment when the majority of the population would have internet access at their finger tips. These discussions involved the ability to write a URL on a bathroom stall, billboard, or whathaveyou, and then everybody would immediately go to that URL and sign on to our ideas.

As most of you know, that time is already upon us. Well, almost. 

I attended this week's AMA/Aquent webcast with Chi Modu from Diverse Insights and DiDigital.net on mobile marketing. Chi has been the brains behind the development and implementation of a number of successful mobile marketing campaigns, including an awareness building campaign for the Bowery Mission of NYC. After making his point that mobile marketing is not just relevant, but necessary -- 75% of the U.S. population use mobile phones and 50% of the global population pay to use mobile devices -- Chi shared some great tips for mobile marketing.

First and foremost, mobile campaigns will not work if they are just mobile campaigns. It's extremely important to utilize mobile as one of many channels. Similarly to your website, your mobile push should run alongside print, the social web, and other outlets. A few examples were shown of ads that directed their audience to text "enter catch phrase here" to a certain number.  At that point (read: once the audience/potential donor has reached out to you), you can begin communicating directly with your audience.

Chi also discussed the thin line between "spooky, creepy & annoying". As much as he was pushing for integrated campaigns that allow mobile marketing to mix with more traditional forms of marketing, Chi emphasized the importance of the "triple opt-in" with mobile. Since the phone is such a personal device, one we all carry with us constantly, it becomes even more important -- and often a matter of legality -- to respect the user's privacy and wishes. Respecting those wishes means asking once, twice, even three times for an opt-in, as well as offering a way out of the service. The Bowery Mission case study is a great example of this, asking users to "reply 1 to learn more".

Overall, however, he emphasized that it's about your audience. Regardless of the platform -- hear that all you Droid v. iPhone debaters? -- the first and most important step is to understand what your audience expects from your organization and how they use their mobile devices. With that information, you can create or redefine your mobile brand and move into developing your strategy. If your donors aren't in the 20% of the mobile user base with smart phones, perhaps developing an app isn't the best way to spend your resources.

It's easy to loose sight of facts like these -- and vital that we don't. Your circle of friends and techie colleagues don't necessarily represent the larger population who are still texting their way past URLs in the bathroom stall.