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I’ve just spent two days in Brussels at the FT Business of Mobile Conference where I gave a talk on mobile marketing and heard some interesting views on where the industry is heading.

Here are my key take-outs and lessons in mobile marketing:

Listening to your customers
It may seem like an obvious thing to say but having spent two days immersed in the industry the thing that struck me the most was that people are spending too much time trying to monetize existing services and not enough time listening to what customers want and then developing services which meet their needs.

Mobile Internet is accelerating fast
Geraldine Wilson, Yahoo! Europe predicted that by 2016, more users will access the internet from their mobile devices than the fixed PC. Geraldine observed that there are approximately a billion PCs and three billion mobiles and said take up will be more rapid in emerging markets, where people do not have PCs, and mobile is the only way that they can access the internet. It’s also worth having a look at Opera’s new report on how social networks are dominating mobile internet.

Mobile advertising is all about relevance and engagement
Those who continue to use ‘frequency, reach, eyeballs and CPM’ to measure mobile advertising will not succeed. People, especially the young, want dialogue and relevance.

Understanding the ‘third screen’
Stephen Pritchard, the conference Chair, urged companies to recognise mobile as a channel in its own right rather than an extension of the internet. Mobile is communication, not a content channel – TV and Radio are content channels. Free communication and access to relevant information is of the utmost important to mobile users – particularly for young adults. The key with communicating successfully via mobile is to be rich in relevance, engagement and user experience.

Mobile marketing can build brands
There is more to mobile marketing than free coupons encouraging direct response. We are finding that ad campaigns on Blyk can be used to support brand building generate market insight and strengthen consumer relationships. Marketers need to start measuring changes in ‘attitudes’ as well as ‘click-throughs’.

Penguin embraces mobile
Genevieve Shore, Global Digital Director, Penguin Group gave some great insight as to how ‘old media’ like books can thrive in a digital world and use in a highly targeted and effective way. You can read more about how Penguin worked with Blyk to promote Nick Hornby’s Slam.

Advertising is good
There’s a misconception within the industry that mobile users tolerate annoying ads in return for free calls. We’ve found the opposite to be true. Blyk shunned the typical mobile-operator model of simply adding as many subscribers as possible and concentrated on accumulating a deep knowledge of our member base. As a result, response rates average 29% and our members want to engage with brands they like and see advertising as valuable information

Make the most of the mobile medium
Build your campaign around the unique attributes of mobile: ubiquity, immediacy of response, 100% opt-in and personal engagement.

Call for common sense regulation
Sir Alistair Graham, Chairman, PhonepayPlus, took an admirable stance on regulation and called for more dialogue, transparency and championed the use of language that consumers can easily understand. I’m sure the folks at Campaign for Plain English would approve.

I look forward to comments and word of other highlights from anyone that attended the conference. I gave an interview to BnetTV who were covering the show so look out for that when it goes live on Friday 23rd May.