Sixty-two percent of Fortune 50 companies use mobile channels to reach their customers, but few promote their offerings using existing media, according to a study by Burson-Marsteller.

The research found that only 39 percent of companies with mobile offerings highlight them on their corporate Web sites. The study examined whether Fortune 50 companies offer mobile-optimized Web sites, mobile applications, SMS/text messaging, or 2D bar codes to communicate externally.

?Companies should promote their mobile offerings via every channel possible,? said Ashley Welde, director of research and insights at Burson-Marsteller, New York. ?Mobile should be just another piece of the integrated marketing pie. 

?Just as some companies now have a Facebook or Twitter icon on their home pages to make it easy for visitors to connect with them via social media, there should information on the home page about how to connect with the company via SMS/text, and there should be an image of the company?s Web site on a mobile phone,? she said. 

?Email customers to let them know what mobile tools are available. Put QR codes on magazine ads that link to the company?s mobile Web site or to download the company?s mobile applications. The possibilities are endless.?

Burson-Marsteller, established in 1953, is a global public relations and communications firm.

Who has what?
Specifically, the study found that 38 percent of Fortune 50 companies have mobile-optimized Web sites and an even higher proportion (58 percent) of companies offer a mobile application on iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.

Companies were most likely to develop applications for the iPhone (58 percent) followed by Android (32 percent) and BlackBerry (26 percent).

The study found that a company?s first foray into mobile is often by building an iPhone application, but brands should also think about developing a basic mobile-optimized Web site, per Burson-Marsteller.

Making basic Web content easy to read and interactive via mobile will enable all smartphone users to connect with brands anyplace and at anytime, regardless of mobile device or operating system.

?One might have guessed that optimizing existing digital content from the company?s corporate Web site for a mobile device would have been the first step towards a mobile offering, but instead companies are opting to build applications,? Ms. Welde said.

?This is also surprising because a mobile-optimized Web site can benefit any stakeholder with a smartphone, whereas a mobile application will only serve stakeholders who have the type of phone that the application is designed for,? she said.

?For example, an iPhone app will be useless to Android and BlackBerry users. Why not develop a mobile-optimized Web site that could be enjoyed by all three, and then focus on platform-specific apps??

Mobile use cases
Twenty-two percent of Fortune 50 companies are communicating with stakeholders via SMS/text message.

Forty-three percent of the Fortune 50 have mobile Web sites or applications that are enabled for mobile transactions such as shopping, updating account information, refilling prescriptions or transferring money.

Twenty-two percent of the Fortune 50 are placing QR codes in magazines, on billboards, or at any convenient location to deliver relevant content to smartphone users.

?It?s surprising that companies are not using every possible touch point to make customers aware of their mobile offerings, and that they are missing an opportunity to interact with customers via mobile for lack of a simple description of their mobile tools,? Mr. Cordasco said. ?It seems like they?re wasting their investment in mobile if they?re not flaunting it.

?My first recommendation is to start off with a mobile-optimized Web site, because that can be accessed by all smartphone users,? he said. ?The second is to make sure that mobile tools do more than just spit out company information one-way. The mobile tools should enable transactions. The third is for companies to communicate their mobile offerings through any channel possible. 

?Consumers are way ahead of businesses with how they?re using mobile and will only take advantage of a company?s mobile tools if they know about the tools and they?re easy to find. Another detail is for companies to make their contact information very prominent on their mobile Web site as many people are using mobile Web sites to try to contact a company.?