In this video I provides tips and advice to businesses, large and small, about the need to plan for mobile as the key part of their digital marketing strategy. The internet and how we use internet marketing is changing so fast that most businesses can’t keep up.

Mobile internet is everywhere in Australia. The penetration of Smartphones in Australia is very high, with 46% of Australians owning a smartphone and 8.5% owning tablet computers – these statistics are expected to rise fast with 80%+ smartphone ownership and 33% tablet ownership by 2015. Internet enabled mobile devices already represent the majority of internet connections world wide as people in many developing countries use mobile as their primary way to access the internet.

In January 2012 Google experienced its first month where the number of mobile searches was higher than the number of searches that came from desktop computers. It’s not happening every month but it definitely sends a strong indication that a shift is coming. I wrote a blog a few weeks ago about how tablets “surprise & delight”. The iPad has become the companion device, we use it to enhance our media and entertainment experiences – we share the device around as well as sharing the content we’re enjoying on that device.

The mobile internet is important to digital marketers because online users’ expectations are changing. At the moment, in March 2011, users do not expect every business to have a mobile site or to have an ipad friendly, non-flash version, but these user expectations of how their experience should be on a mobile device will change, and it will happen fast.

My one big tip for businesses who are active in the online space and have a digital and website strategy that does not include mobile – is to revisit that strategy and start again.
If you don’t have a mobile website or mobile touchpoints for your business, you could be in trouble.