A report by Nielsen shows that while mobile marketing is increasingly recognised as a mainstream approach to reaching consumers, companies are still divided over how to get the best results from the technology.

While brands and agencies are adopting mobile faster than online advertising was embraced, the channel is still relatively new. 82 per cent of brands have three years or less experience with mobile advertising, and 21 per cent are “just getting started”. Agencies were not significantly more advanced, with seven out of 10 claiming three years or less experience.

Marketers are largely sticking with tried-and-tested tactics, with mobile display and video leading the way in formats advertisers have used or plan to use. However, mobile-specific features like geo-targeting were being adopted, with 63 per cent using or planning to leverage this on smartphones.

Mobile is proving integral to multichannel tactics, with agencies preferring to use mobile in conjunction with other online advertising 75 per cent of the time, and offline advertising 52 per cent of the time. Unfortunately, this pairing with other media, and a tendency towards using mobile for branding over direct response, means that advertisers struggle to calculate mobile ROI (Return On Investment) and lack the relevant metrics for determining the success of their mobile campaigns.

39 per cent of advertisers wanted to use the exact same metrics as they use offline, along with additional mobile-specific metrics, with only 23 per cent happy to rely primarily on mobile metrics, reflecting the low incidence of mobile-only campaigns. Three out of 10 brands say that the ability to use the same metrics to evaluate reach on mobile as they use offline, such as GRP (gross rating points) and brand lift, would increase their use of mobile advertising.

This difference between how advertisers want to measure audience reach and how publishers are reporting may be hampering the mediums growth and adoption. 55 per cent of advertisers are “doubtful or unconvinced of publishers targeting claims and about mobile advertisings effectiveness”, suggesting that publishers will need to address these claims if the swift rise of mobile advertising is to continue.