New York—Marketers need to rethink mobile marketing, not as simply an adjunct to existing digital channels but as the soon-to-be-dominant medium through which virtually everyone will consume marketing content.

That message was delivered by Karsten Weide, VP-research, digital media and entertainment at market data and analytics company IDC, in his keynote address at The BtoB Forum: Mobile Marketing conference here today.

“Even today, our research indicates that more than 50% [of users] access the Internet through a mobile device,” Weide said. “And by 2015, it will grow to 90% when more people go online via their mobile device than on a computer. It's nothing less than a revolution. It's going to be a total seismic change in how we use the Internet.”

Weide said marketers and advertisers are woefully underinvested in mobile advertising, with just 5% of ad spending currently devoted to the channel. That's got to change, he said, not only because it's where customers will be spending their time but also because of mobile's better performance.

“Click-throughs are two to three times better on mobile than on computers,” Weide said. “That means two to three times more people coming to your website. Whatever you're spending on mobile advertising, spend more.”

Weide offered a handful of “golden rules” for marketers developing a mobile marketing campaign, including focusing on search spending because of mobile's suitability for direct-response marketing and making sure messages appear across alternate platforms, devices and media.

“That also means a whole different world for creative,” he said. “The iPad, for example, is a big, beautiful device; so you need "kick-butt' advertising to match the display.”

Because of the multiple verticals that mobile marketing has to address, Weide stressed the importance of choosing ad networks carefully. Prominent for their traffic and popularity are Apple Inc.'s iAd, Google Inc.'s AdMob and Display Network, Jumptap Inc. and Millennial Media, he said.

“Not all ad networks offer all ad formats, so figure out what they have,” he said. “Also, not all ad networks are cross-platform; for your primary network, choose one that is.”

Powerful landing pages are imperative with mobile marketing, Weide said, and must be useful, legible, fast and easy in facilitating conversions.

“Great ads need great destinations,” he said. “Don't even think about a mobile ad campaign if you don't have a great place to send people.”