As the big network providers gear up to meet voracious consumer bandwidth demand for smart devices such as Android, iPhone and Windows Mobile we hear one thing: more sites will be viewed via mobile.

That’s why mobile-enabled sites are standard fare in our book of tactics.

Be mobile.

Simple as that. Street Dog Digital can develop an effective, mobile-ready and responsive site for your company. Let’s talk more about it.

Many small business advertisers are including QR codes in their print advertising and direct mail. Many are lured by their printing company or magazine advertising salespeople to use QR codes in their publications as an incentive to buy an ad from them, and the salesperson will create the QR code for free. Sounds like a deal right? Not really.

There is nothing worse than wasting your customers, or prospects, time, effort and energy. QR Codes are meant to be viewed on a mobile device and if you are going to use them in your advertising, avoid these 5 common mistakes:

• Do not link your QR to desktop/non-mobile websites
• Do not have broken links, test before publishing
• Do not use a QR Code that can’t be tracked or measured
• Do not place QR Codes where there is no available network connection
• Do not link to useless information—have a purpose

It might look cutting-edge or up-to-date to have QR Codes integrated into your print advertising, but what is the goal you are trying to achieve? What is the call to action for the customer? What do you want them to think or do?

The goal of a good interactive tool should be to interact and engage with potential customers. It’s never good practice to waste people’s time, especially your customer’s. If you are going to use QR Codes in your advertising it would be advantageous to have a purpose for doing so, rather than just going through the motions in an attempt to look marketing savvy.

Too many mobile SMS text message companies will sell their “service” to anybody who will pay for it. The problem is that most business owners and/or their employees don’t know how to use mobile to market their business and have little time to add any more daily tasks to their already overloaded schedules. We see examples of “Do it Yourself” mobile marketing all to frequently; from restaurants, car washes, retail specialty stores, auto mechanics to grocery stores.

Last month, an automotive shop used their customer database and took it upon themselves to send everyone in it an opt-in invitation, via text message (which is a no-no). Their customers never requested to receive text messages from this mechanic. Nor did they request any other communication for that matter. Beyond that, the shop never asked for permission to send any text communications to personal cell phones, but did anyway. They’ve just intruded on their entire customer base. To build an effective mobile database, have your customers “opt-in” to receive them before sending anything.

Another example from a restaurant we frequent, (and a place that I did “opt-in” to receive their discounts and promotions via their text message Mobile Club). Great food and service. The problem is, they started sending promotional text messages at 10am on Sunday mornings. One Sunday morning, when my pastor was welcoming everyone to the Sunday morning service, a loud “beep beep!” erupts in the room (yeah, partially my fault). Anyway, very embarrassing. Why would I want to think about pizza at 10am on a Sunday morning? Really.

Too many mobile marketing companies do nothing more than sell a “utility” service. Most of these companies don’t know much about marketing at all and they are really only interested in making a profit off the text service itself while charging businesses a service fee, text credits and keywords.

The best bet and a worthwhile investment would be to hire a mobile marketing consultant, who will put your customer first and center of every communications outreach, coach you on MMA guidelines and best practices to help you form a mobile plan that will really help impact your business.

Mobile is the most exciting and untouched marketing platforms available today, but only if it’s used intelligently.

Mobile is probably the most exciting and untouched spaces in marketing today. It allows for a personal connection between brands and customers, enhance revenue potential, and is both measurable and very cost effective. Most importantly, it helps businesses stay relevant to the lifestyles of todays customers.

Street Dog Digital, a Naperville-based digital marketing agency, is now roaming the area. Blake Thomas and Greg Ice, both Naperville residents, have partnered to create a different type of agency that brings over 25 years of award-winning marketing and advertising experience to your table, offering high-level creative, strategy and measurement tools to small to mid-sized businesses and start-ups.

At Street Dog Digital, we offer our clients clear and measurable results. A marketing agency that performs. Refreshing isn’t it?