Are you ready for the Holidays? Is your mobile marketing?

As the holiday shopping season approaches businesses will expect to see increased in-store traffic. Whether using this as an opportunity to launch in mobile-or simply enhancing your existing database...Jay Highley over at Pangea Partners highlights some key mistakes to avoid:

Mistake No. 1 – Wait until the last minute

Even though mobile offers a quick way to communicate changes in pricing or offers during the holiday marketing race, waiting until the last minute to plan how mobile will fit in your holiday marketing strategy is a sure formula for failure.

Take the time now to map out your plans for reaching out via mobile during the holiday season.

You can worry about the messaging and content as the race plays out. But by not creating a mobile execution game plan now you may find yourself behind the curve if you need to react quickly.

Mistake No. 2 – Not capturing mobile numbers to build your mobile database

Whether or not it is the holiday season, if you are not continuously building your mobile number database, you are missing a great way to engage consumers in a relevant and effective way.

Realistically, it may already be too late to build a big mobile database for this holiday season, but you should use the frenzy of the holiday shopping season to build your base for the future.

Just as an email database provides a media channel to change pricing or offers in near real time, a mobile number database can allow you to test, learn and test again in a matter of hours.

Mistake No. 3 – Not including a mobile opt-in option on all your media

If you are not already doing so, you should be making it easy for your consumers to opt into your mobile program via every media touch point you place this holiday season.

Make all of your media spend work double time for you by creating an easy pathway for your best consumers to engage with your brand on an ongoing basis.

Consumers are ready to receive offers and coupons via their mobile phones. But, for some strange reason, most retailers are still approaching mobile as a standalone marketing program and missing the leverage they could get by including mobile across all media platforms.

Research now supports that consumers are spending over twice the amount of time each week engaged with their mobile device as they are with radio, newspaper and magazines − combined. Why not use all of your media energy to drive more engagement to mobile, which is where the action is.

Mistake No. 4 – Wasting money on a smartphone app

Recognize the difference between what is hype and what is able to deliver great results.

I both appreciate and enjoy the use of some applications on my iPhone, but the statistics speak for themselves – more than 80 percent of the iPhone applications launched are never downloaded more than 10,000 times and less than 5 percent of all iPhone applications are used after the first six months of being downloaded.

Not to mention the fact that only 25 percent of mobile users can even download an application.

I am not trying to disparage all smartphone applications because some of them have achieved great reach and adoption.

However, for the average brand or retailer, spending the money on a smartphone application will not get them the biggest bang for their buck.

Mistake No. 5 –Not doing anything with mobile

The time for procrastination in the development of a well-conceived mobile marketing strategy is over.

If you do not have a plan, you need to huddle with a mobile expert quickly that can help you craft a game plan.

Most important, do not get overwhelmed and paralyzed by the fancy lingo and over-hyped news about mobile these days.

Have someone help you build an achievable and measurable phased plan − then take it one step at a time.

Do not worry about trying to fly at supersonic speeds coming out of the blocks − slow but steady is the right approach. Test, learn-and then test again.

Mobile is going to play a big role in marketing and consumer engagement this holiday season, so seize the moment and jump in the game. You can’t win if you don’t play!