Companies are scrambling to keep up with the demands of an increasingly mobile world. From producing mobile social networks with localized search and GPS capabilities, to developing complex campaigns that reach out to a variety of devices and platforms…the mobile industry has the potential to be the break-out star of marketing.

(Picture Credit: Big Mouth Media)

All of this is well and good, and the case for new and exciting content and ad revenues appears to be astronomical. In fact, mobile marketing can serve as a great addition to a traditional print and media advertising campaign.

But, consider this true story from a friend of mine: you just received a text from Allure Magazine, alerting you to free stuff. Which is great. Except you never signed up for mobile alerts. And, you’re a guy.

You just got hit with spam.

The one potential flaw to the mobile marketing hype is spam. Unlike e-mail, mobile spam is much worse not only because you’re paying for the text, but also because your phone number is considered more private. Not only that, but receiving spam on your phone will cause consumers to devalue and lose trust in that brand.

Most of us may be somewhat used to e-mail spam. Filters are set, we are careful with where our e-mail address is published and what we use it for. Some people even have separate “spam” accounts set up that are solely set for registering for anything online. But, there are no best practices set for keeping your mobile phone safe from spam.

Even though the example above was probably a case of someone typing their phone number wrong when they opted-in to receive Allure “free stuff” alerts, it could also be a case of a company purchasing a list. When companies don’t take the time to check their phone numbers and make sure people have opted-in, the end result can be disastrous.

As the U.S. continues to catch up our technology with China and other countries, perhaps we should consider solutions for problems they are experiencing, so that we can preemptively strike out spam.