A newly published report projects that mobile advertising spending worldwide will grow by 74 per cent this year to $913.5 million and will accelerate in 2011 when advertisers are expected to boost mobile advertising spend as part of an overall shift to digital channels.

Media industry website Mediapost.com reports that by 2013, Gartner expects mobile ad spending to surpass $13 billion, with the Asia-Pacific region leading the way, followed by North America and Europe.

Key drivers behind the trend include the increasing popularity and affordability of smart phones especially the iPhone.

Gartner expects smart phones to account for 45.5 per cent of all mobile phone sales in 2013, up from just over 9 per cent in 2008.

And, people are using mobile phones in different ways too.

They are clicking on mobile banner adverts and using mobile search more and more; downloadable applications and SMS advertising are gaining in popularity too.

While data usage is growing most rapidly among smartphone users, Gartner analyst Andrew Frank told Mediapost.com that the increased mobile media consumption is leading Web publishers to create more user-friendly versions of their mobile sites, 'which in turn is lifting mobile Web access among non-smartphone users'.

The advent of the Qwerty keyboard and touchscreens is also pushing the trend forward.

And location based services are starting to come into their own as GPS technology becomes increasingly pervasive.

Younger mobile users are keen users of location based applications to help them navigate and connect with friends on the go. This keys in with the trend towards hyper local internet content and traditional publishers are keen to establish local directory services to drive traffic.

In the Isle of Man we are seeing this trend play out with the increasing popularity of sites like TheBestOf, isleofman.com and the just launched shopiom.com, an initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Shopiom.com is part of the government's strategy to help Island retailers get online and its launch followed quickly on the heels of several retail site launches under the Venda programme.

In light of the Gartner research, the next logical step for these Isle of Man online directories will be to develop features and functions for the mobile internet, if they are to remain relevant.

One strategy may be to provide services in mobile advertising via mobile applications.

Partnering with any of the thousands of popular services in the Apple's App Store could open up a huge range of new opportunities.

For a great example of this strategy in action look to luxury automotive brand Jaguar which has launched just such a campaign in partnership with American sports television channel ESPN.

Adverts for Jaguar's XF model are appearing in the broadcaster's new iPhone application, the ESPN Fantasy Football 2009 Draft Kit, which has been launched to tie in with the beginning of the new NFL season later this month.

This campaign is a great way for Jaguar to target potential customers because the iPhone is a premium product in line with the Jaguar own brand and men tend to be the main buyers of smartphones and viewers of American football.

A click on a banner ad will take the application user to a mobile website designed to capture data to be used in future marketing initiatives by the car maker.

The automotive industry is employing the mobile channel on an increasingly regular basis, with major manufacturers employing mobile websites and dealer location services to promote new cars.

Perhaps the Isle of Man's new green car dealer e-go.im will be among the first Island companies to enter the fray?

The Gartner report also predicts that consumers, young ones in particular, will accept free mobile content subsidised by advertising, much like the traditional television advertising model.

That said, it's a fine line to navigate between providing highly targeted, personalised mobile advertising and infringing on personal privacy.

No one likes spam in any form, and certainly don't want their SMS in-boxes to by jammed with unsolicited commercial text messages.

Permission based marketing is the key to mobile advertising success.
Manx Telecom offers services to help Isle of Man companies with mobile marketing.

The company's Online SMS is an easy to use web based service that lets businesses get information instantly and directly to individually targeted customers via their mobile phone.

It's surprisingly cheap to use and worth checking out.

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Sherrilynne Starkie is the managing partner of Strive Public Relations, a strategic communications consultancy serving the Isle of Man. Visit her business blog, www.strivepr.com/notes or follow her on twitter.com/sherrilynne