NEW YORK - An American Express executive during the 2011 Mobile Marketing Forum discussed the key mobile services companies need to drive their business objectives.

During the "Mobile Marketing in Review: It's Still a Consumer Backed World - Strategies for Success" session, executives shared key insights on how the mobile industry is evolving. As the industry changes, so should a company's strategy towards building an engagement with existing and new consumers.

?If you don?t contextualize the brand services for the platform, another company will, and you?ll lose a customer,? said Lou Paskalis, vice president of global media at American Express.

?Mobile moves too fast to be left behind ? you are either there or you are not,? he said.

Not all are equal
Although apps can be a great way to engage with consumers, they also have the possibility to become irrelevant in the pool of constantly growing and evolving content. 

Apps need to create and improve relevancy in a consumer's life, per Mr. Paskalis.

?In order to deliver on an app, you have to think about the alignment of the user journey first,? Mr. Paskalis said. ?Figure out a way to create utility to fundamentally change people?s lives.?

In addition to thinking about relevancy for consumers, companies also need to realize how competitive and evolving the market is.

Businesses always face competition.

There will always be another company that can pull consumers away if others do not deliver to their needs.

Mobile express
According to Mr. Paskalis, it is important for consumers to know how mobile technology works and how it will benefit them. 

?Everyone sees the data that mobile is an important, up-and-coming medium, but at the end of the day just hearing the statistics is not important,? Mr. Paskalis said.

?People need to be talked through exactly what the technology does and how it will impact them directly,? he said.

The executive said that the starting point to creating a successful mobile strategy is to think simply.

However, many companies do not do that.

?Start with a vision that is simple,? Mr. Paskalis said. ?Mobile has the opportunity to evolve and grow, but first you need to think about adoption and simplicity.?

One way to make mobile strategy simple is to bring services to the forefront of a company?s overall strategy.

?Don?t expect what you can?t inspect first,? Mr. Paskalis said. ?In order to deliver on mobile, you have to focus on the service aspect of your application or technology.?

Brand mission
According to Mr. Paskalis, American Express has established itself as a company based on trust and service for its customers, so it was necessary to bring those qualities into a mobile strategy.

?We have used mobile as a potential proof point to tie back to our brand?s mission,? Mr. Paskalis said.

?It?s important to think about mobile as a way to advance customer?s mind to re-establish the mission that customers have already come to expect from your brand,? he said.

?The goal of mobile should be to provide value and utility.?

Mr. Paskalis said one of the opportunities in mobile is being able to deliver to consumers in a time of need while they are on the go.

?Do not create apps that are so far away from consumers? needs that they need to filter through content to find what they need,? Mr. Paskalis said.

?Everything people need with an app should be in one easy-to-reach place,? he said.

?Overall, mobile takes a lot of conversation and work to be successful, but it is an exciting time for a brand to be there with a customer to show how it can serve them.?

Know your customer
John Handl, managing editor and founder of BrandinHand, who works with clients such as American Express said that the key to mobile marketing is understanding consumers first to develop a mobile marketing plan.

According to Mr. Handl, there is a four-step method the company uses to explain successful mobile platforms to companies: self promotion, finding information, discovering and maintaining relationships and transacting.

?The goal is to find a way to move from an old way of thinking of finding people at home on their desktops to finding a way to target a person on the go with a mobile device,? Mr. Handl said.

?Mobile is a more accessible and realistic way to reach consumers in the industry these days,? he said.

The key to thinking in a mobile way is to remember the consumer before developing a marketing strategy.

Additionally, mobile is a great channel to increase brand awareness and create a strong relationship with consumers to impact purchasing decisions.

?Mobile is not as much about technology as it is about people and consumers,? Mr. Handl said. ?It?s not rethinking technology, it?s about rethinking consumers.?