Additionally, the automotive industry has been eager to get on board with mobile advertising as well as financial services and entertainment.

In particular, Toyota is a brand that Mr. Litman says makes mobile advertising a priority.

Part of the challenge with mobile is making things such as filling out a form easy. However, with consumers attached to their smartphones throughout the day, many companies have been surprised by the lengths that consumers will go to via their devices.

Data is king
Josh Herman, vice president of product strategy and innovation at Acxiom Corp., Washington, also spoke on the panel.

Companies need to have confidence in the audience that they buy ad space for. But some brands are still not convinced that consumers are on mobile because they do not have the data to back it up.

?What I look for is the friction points about why the speed is not moving to mobile yet,? Mr. Herman said.

?Part of that confidence-building is having the data to make a buy on the front-end and then closing the loop on the back end,? he said.

Per Mr. Herman, the reason why there has not been a shift to more mobile cannibalization by brands is because companies are still trying to figure out how to shift a marketing budget without everything else falling apart.

Mobile learnings?
An executive from Razorfish said that one thing that mobile has going for itself is being able to learn from past digital mistakes from the Web.

?Mobile can connect with consumers with a full-journey picture - it is about telling the right message that all drive the purchasing funnel,? said Paul Gelb, vice president and mobile practice lead at Razorfish, New York.


Razorfish's Mr. Gelb and Acxiom Corp.'s Mr. Herman

According to Mr. Gelb, the Web took 16 years for the advertising revenue to pass newspaper, but mobile is growing at a much faster clip.

Some of Razorfish?s clients see mobile claim 20 percent of budgets, depending on the company.

Although mobile advertising might be largely controlled by companies such as Apple and Google, it also helps give the relatively-new mobile industry some stability.

Search is a key part of a brand?s mobile advertising, but still has the possibility for much more. For example, including more in-app search functions will be an area to watch, per Mr. Gelb.

Tablets are also proving to be large vessels for commerce due to increased sales and the sharing habits associated with the devices.

As mobile commerce grows, marketers will shift their focus to more touchscreen opportunities versus device-specific efforts.

Brand search
A strong mobile search strategy is a good bet for companies developing a mobile advertising strategy, according to Tony Effik, managing director of media connections at R/GA, New York.

Understanding specific moments to target users is key to delivering relevant marketing messages to consumers.

?If you have a range of devices from tablets, smartphones and desktop, you need to start thinking about the types of behaviors and moments to engage with users,? Mr. Effik said.


Mr. Litman from Medialets and R/GA's Mr. Effik

Marketers also need to think about how to include mobile in a company?s overall digital strategy.

For example, one of R/GA?s clients, Nike, is focused on developing long-term relationships with its consumers via mobile applications.

The company has a line of different apps, but the key to crafting the apps into a broader digital strategy is by promoting them.

Social media also plays a huge role in mobile with the intersection with location, per Mr. Effik.

?It is not just about broadcasting yourself, it is about how you represent yourself as well,? Mr. Effik said.