NEW YORK -- A conference filled with direct marketers breathed a sigh of relief after learning that industry experts agree that the essential elements of mobile commerce are already in the direct marketing arsenal.

At the Direct Marketing Association's Mobile Commerce Spotlight Conference, a panel of experts explained that what matters in mobile commerce is consumer behavior, tools, applications, marketing, billing, payment and fulfillment, all of the things direct marketers already know. Dan Butcher, staff writer on this publication, moderated the session, asking panelists to explain for newbies what mobile commerce is, how it's different from other forms of commerce and what it takes to execute successfully in the mobile commerce world.

"A good definition for mobile commerce depends on what industry you are in," said David Geipel, co-founder and CEO of QWASI, Philadelphia. "Take interaction and turn it into a transaction. The consumer is looking for info they love, simple as that."

"SMS is a requirement, as is mobile Web, and you may need an app if it makes sense for your user base," he said. "You need multiple mobile pieces and you need to bring them together to be consistent."

"Mostly, you just need to take the challenges you're already facing, understand them and figure out which path in mobile can fix them."

Mr. Geipel reminded the audience that consumers are now choosing to cut the cord on landlines and go only mobile, with tremendous repurcussions for CRM and database-building.

SMS is a driving force behind the mobile phone today, which means that text is leading people to explore their phone in new ways such as mobile Web and applications, Mr. Geipel said.

Mr. Geipel listed some of the main barriers in mobile commerce such as simplicity for the customer, receipts, product returns and privacy.

However, he comforted the audience saying that Facebook and SMS will drive consumers to go and stay in the mobile space as long as retailers and marketers continue to make progress.

"Long live the mobile consumer," said Gary Schwartz, president/CEO of Impact Mobile, Toronto, Canada. "That has to be underscored because people are so excited about this thing called mobile and all the shiny objects, but we are here to understand the consumer and the consumer is way ahead of us.

"We need to know what they are doing and how we can help them do something a bit better," he said. "If that is your approach you will always be successful."

Mr. Schwartz put forth a few tips to perfect mobile commerce strategy, the first being to leverage the existing consumer and store behavior.

Second, Mr. Schwartz said to leverage the largest mobile installed base and keep it very simple.

And finally, he reminded the audience to note that mobile is an intimate, personal channel and should be used to leverage existing promotional strategies, rather than standalone.

"Our take on mobile commerce is pretty simplistic," said Mike Dulong, senior vice president of business development at Billing Revolution, Seattle. "If you offer a product to a user in a very optimized way, they will buy.

"Today, if I want to buy something from my phone and I don't have my account set up on the Web, they won't let me make that purchase unless I click to call," he said. "If we can make it easy to securely enter credit information into a mobile phone, people will buy."

Mr. Dulong encouraged the audience to leverage all other forms of media and marketing to incorporate mobile on an integrated level.

In his presentation, Mr. Dulong reminded marketers that they have everything they already need - good marketing practices. The same rules apply for mobile.

Once a marketer understands what the consumer wants and how they behave, it's all easy from there.

Heather Baker, managing partner at BennettBaker, Chicago, gave her insight as a recruiter in the business to wrap up the session.

"I know there is hesitancy to spend money during this tough economic time, but get an actual individual dedicated to mobile instead of using your Web guy," Ms. Baker said. "And then let your talent communicate with your Web designer."