According to a report published by MarketingSherpa, a marketing research firm, it’s not as hard as you might think to blend mobile marketing in with current marketing tactics. Since 88 percent of US adults are now mobile phone owners and 46 percent of US adults use smartphones, it’s at this point silly to ignore the potential of the channel.

According to the report, nearly every demographic group saw a notable rise in smartphone usage from the prior year, and smartphone usage is more than 60 percent in groups like college grads and those with household incomes of $75K or more. Mobile presents the unique opportunity for marketers to combine online and offline experiences in the palm of their customers’ hands.

In the MarketingSherpa 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 46 percent of surveyed CMOs said they felt mobile smartphone and tablet adoption would be among the top trends to affect their email marketing programs within the next 12 months. In that same report, 41 percent said they predict an increase in 2012 budgets for mobile marketing. In order to help tackle the still unfamiliar territory of mobile, the company put together a report with nine tips for what to do. Here, we share a few. For the full report, visit here and download it.

Tactic 1: Integrate mobile with your existing strategies

One of the first steps in planning a mobile strategy is to look at your current marketing and determine how you can incorporate mobile tactics into the existing framework. Most notably in the early stages, mobile won’t replace your existing marketing, but may put a new spin on it.

For example, mobile content should be promoted on your website. If you’re advertising a free whitepaper download and it’s available in a mobile format, mention this in your website ads.

You can also include QR codes in your offline advertising and product packaging. When scanned by a smartphone, the codes can bring mobile users to your website or landing page. For example, try including a call-to-action to sign up for your email program in your offline ads, and include a QR code that is linked to a mobile-friendly registration page.

Tactic 2: Make your emails mobile-friendly

According to the MarketingSherpa 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, 11 percent of marketers say their subscribers read emails on mobile phones—a figure that will likely continue to increase.

Email marketing in general presents plenty of challenges. You must keep your message short and succinct, create an intriguing subject line, make it through spam filters, and more. When designing an email with mobile users in mind, there are additional factors to consider.

Step 1: Estimate your total email readership

A key question for email marketers is, “How much of your audience is reading your email via mobile devices?” The answer will dictate the priority you should give to optimizing your messages for this channel.

However, a mobile audience can be difficult to precisely measure.

Step 2: Format for the lowest common denominator

Your mobile audience is likely to have an array of devices, both new and old. It can be tempting to create a cutting edge template that looks fantastic on the latest smartphones, but this might neglect a large portion of your audience. The key is to set a low baseline.

Read the full report here.