LOS ANGELES ? A Yamaha executive at the Mobile Marketing Forum said that mobile has exceeded its expectations and the company is getting as many users into its SMS databases as email.

During the ?Mobile Relationship Management Results? panel, executives discussed how a brand or retailer can start integrating mobile internally across their existing departments. The panel was moderated by Giselle Tsirulnik, managing deputy editor at Mobile Marketer, New York.

?One of the things I?ve heard is that we have this silo of customer data,? said Jeff Hawley, director of customer experience group at Yamaha Corporation of America, Buena Park, CA.

?We?ve got our Web data and mobile data and it should be one and the same,? he said. ?We?re one of the lucky ones that made that connection.

?It?s not our mobile CRM, it?s our CRM.?

Mobile fit
According to Mr. Hawley, Yamaha is one of the few companies that has brought that together.

?As we move forward as an industry, the concept of mobile CRM will become CRM,? Mr. Hawley said.

?It?s important to have that data and be able to target that experience,? he said. ?The mobile point is certainly valuable and we tend to do cool things with it.?

Yamaha has been doing a lot in the mobile space and considers the medium an integral part in its day-to-day efforts.

?We had a good way to get into mobile ?a simple SMS campaign,? Mr. Hawley said.

?Since we are a music company, we also saw really crazy results from live broadcasting with mobile,? he said.

Mobile change
Brands and marketers are continually trying to figure out how to incorporate mobile into their strategy successfully.

However, mobile is not a one-size-fits-all feature.

What works for some might not work for others, and it is important that brands and marketers understand that before they jump into the mobile arena.

?There?s a lot of complexity in the space,? said Jack Philbin, cofounder and president of Vibes Media, Chicago.

?Those different levels and different constituents mean a lot of different things to different people,? he said.

According to Mr. Philbin, brands and marketers need to think about how mobile will help not only drive user engagement, but drive consumers in-store over and over again.

?You have to think about what the loyalty strategy is after they?ve made that purchase,? Mr. Philbin said. ?The way that we have it set up ? that is for us ? the holy grail data point.?

Final Take
Jeff Hawley, director of customer experience group at Yamaha Corporation of America, Buena Park, CA