By Valerie Christopherson

Mobile marketing is not a new concept. Since the turn of the century, it has been a much-debated topic in the sense of whether or not agencies, both public relations and marketing, should address it with service offerings to their clients.

Until 2005, that is where it stood -- a debate.

However since 2005, those firms that embraced mobile marketing, whether on a large or small scale, are generally those that are growing today, or at least sustaining business, in what is commonly characterized as one of the worst economic periods in decades.

These days, companies and organizations need to tighten their marketing budgets and obtain quantifiable ROI from their agencies, especially when it comes to PR.

While one of the hallmarks of a strong agency traditionally has been its relationships with the media, when evaluating a prospective marketing partner, an agency's PR skill sets now must extend beyond the phone calls and handshakes at trade shows into the world of social media via the mobile channel.

Your PR agency partner should understand the social networking landscape and ultimately lead you past Media Relations 1.0 and into PR 2.0 -- a broader world of communications that includes influencing target audiences through Web, interactive and mobile vehicles.

A vital component of PR 2.0, mobile marketing is enabling that transition, opening a window of opportunities for PR practitioners that were otherwise shut in the traditional sense.

Mobile enables agencies to generate awareness on a targeted, yet massive, scale. It brings about real-time reporting enhanced with reader engagement. It simply provides for a more viral, social and personal means to capture awareness within a very specific audience.

Given that PR is one of the most cost-effective ways of boosting sales and brand, blending mobile into the PR mix captures the eyes and ears of today's on-the-go audience.

Recently, the concept of incorporating mobile marketing in the PR mix has transitioned from the underdog to making huge waves.

Now, those marketing and PR agencies that were ahead of the curve in 2005 with monitoring the mobile ecosystem and seeing the growth of mobile marketing are poised to immediately engage with clients and enable them to leverage mobile's low-investment, high-impact capabilities.

Bottom line, mobile marketing in the PR world is happening and represents a massive opportunity.

How do companies and organizations better understand this fast-emerging mobile world, and how do they find a proper agency partner to help them leverage it?

SMS and text-based messaging have become a method of interactive PR and marketing, as evidenced through the continued popularity of campaigns centered on reaching a direct demographic or audience.

When evaluating a prospective partner, it is essential that PR and marketing agencies philosophically embrace mobile marketing as an effective means to communicate with target audiences and achieve business goals.

Mobile marketing does not replace tried-and-true PR activities, such as media relations, event marketing and trade shows. Rather, mobile augments and strengthens all of these outreach vehicles.

Furthermore, agencies must understand the mechanics of the various mobile technologies, how they are best deployed and how they bridge the online and offline world for consumers.

Agencies must articulate in their presentations that PR and marketing campaigns today must include graphics, video and MMS.

Marketers can incorporate mobile marketing into their PR programs at a basic level through the following:

â?¢ Sending invitations to press conferences are sent via the mobile medium
â?¢ Querying prospective media targets during a media tour for their availability
â?¢ Locating a journalist on a trade show floor amid tens of thousands of people
â?¢ Distributing news through the mobile channel
â?¢ Hosting "mobilenars" with the use of mobile video/streaming
â?¢ Texting responses to interview questions while on the go

Of course, these program elements should all be based on a journalist's opt-in permission to avoid any and all intrusive behavior.

In conclusion, public relations is an experiential profession, meaning that those agencies that have been performing mobile marketing for a longer period naturally will have the advantage of living through the years of growth for the medium.

Generally, those agencies' experiences will help speed the client's adoption of the various mobile technologies and avoid potential pitfalls.

When evaluating prospective marketing partners, ask where they see mobile marketing fitting into the marketer's overall PR programs and how long they have been implementing mobile marketing strategies for their clients.

While 2005 or thereabouts may not seem all that long ago, in "Internet years," generations of mobile technologies have passed.

Valerie Christopherson is managing director of Global Results Communications, a corporate communications firm in Irvine, CA. Reach her at .