Once again, mobile marketing made the top of many lists highlighting the trends to watch for in 2011. The evolution of smartphone operating systems and mobile platforms in general gives this marketing sector what many feel the most promise. Mobile marketing is making its rounds, and according to new research, even more companies are gearing up to take advantage.

According to a recent survey conducted by advertising specialist Borrell Associates, more than 80% of small and medium sized businesses in the United States will invest, or have already invested, in some form of mobile marketing in 2011. Another interesting point of the Borrell survey, which involved a total of 484 SMB respondents, revealed than nearly one third of those businesses cited not expecting to have to pay for their investments in advance due to the explosion of the daily deals market.

What the companies surveyed in Borrell’s research are banking on is the pricing models of daily deals players like Groupon and LivingSocial. The way these two particular services are structured, marketers are only required to roughly 50% of their transactions, meaning they only pay when sales are made. While the 50/50 split and offering of products or services at a reduced price means there is greater chance of investing more, there is no upfront capital expenditure, and this is obviously a trait that makes daily deals a more attractive option for smaller businesses eyeing the mobile market on a tight budget.

Plenty of Opportunities in Mobile

The fact that smaller companies are utilizing daily deals as an entry into mobile marketing is certainly fascinating. However, the most intriguing aspect of the aforementioned research is the increased focus on getting a piece of the pie in any shape or form. Mobile marketing offers plenty of opportunities outside of the daily deals segment, including:

Text Messaging – SMS, the simple technology beyond the phenomenon that is text messaging, represents one of the most popular types of mobile marketing. What gives this tool so much potential? Well, according to research, as much as 90% of all text messages are opened and read by the recipient. If that isn’t potential, I don’t know what is.

Advertising – In the mobile arena, advertising takes on many forms. From banner displays to in-game ads, all have tremendous potential. With an ample budget and sound targeting strategy, mobile advertising can pay off big time.

Geolocation – Driven by GPS technology, geolocation enables mobile marketers to target smartphone users based on their location. The potential of this segment can be seen in the popularity of location-based services such as Foursquare and Groupon, the king of daily deals. Increased exposure, traffic and sales are among the benefits the geolocation game has to offer.

Whether it’s through daily deals or SMS, just knowing that more businesses are investing in mobile marketing is encouraging news for those who are still on the fence. Don’t view it as bandwagon jumping. View it as taking advantage of a worthwhile trend with uncapped potential.