Add mobile communication to the ever-growing list of “must-have” applications for the forward-thinking political campaign. That’s the message being conveyed today at the first-ever Politics-to-Go conference, hosted by George Washington’s Institute for Politics Democracy & The Internet.

Companies with names like POLItxt, Mobile Voter, and Mobile Accord filled the room – all brand new firms banking on the profit potential of mobile communication to canvas, register, organize, vote, lobby, and solicit donations from voters with just a few clicks of the thumb.

Profits aside, mobile communication is quite possibly the future of political communication for the wired generation. Young voters are one of the most elusive groups for political and advocacy marketers. They’re the most likely to tune out direct mail, use cell phones as their primary method of telecommunication, contact friends and family using text messages, and fast-forward through commercials using digital video recorders.

In this fragmented media universe, the always-on and always-in-your-pocket nature of mobile communication stands out as being able to reach, attract and hold the attention of younger voters – perhaps even more so than the Internet.

But with the impending potential for mobile communication also comes “an enormous responsibility,” according to Oliver Star of Mobile Weblog. After all, the cell phone is perhaps the most intrusive, push medium that ever existed. He warns that marketers must not engage in sending unsolicited text messages to unsuspecting voters. “If my phone becomes a mindless buzzing, personal pop-up in my pocket, I’ll trash it and not use it.” (Great quote, right?)

But will voters – and more importantly campaigns – take the plunge? It’s too early to tell. Howard Dean experimented with text messaging to communicate with voters during the 2004 election (think “tune in to ABC tonight” or “filing deadline today!”) with mixed success.

As Matt Gross, Dean's Director of Internet Communications told The Gadflyer in June of 2004:

“Some things didn't work. I started the Dean Wireless Network - a text
messaging service - in April of 2003. More than 4,000 people eventually signed
up, but in comparison to our other efforts it was a failure. Maybe in 2008 - or
2012.”

Further complicating the process are the actual cell phone carriers. Wireless service providers like Verizon and Cingular currently limit mobile payments/contributions to small “micropayments” of $10 – and they take 50% of micropayments as a processing fee! (ouch).

As with all new political technologies, I imagine that adoption of mobile marketing will be part of a natural evolution, not an overnight revolution. So perhaps we’re not there yet, but it would be hard to ignore the fact that mobile marketing is a powerful way to communicate with voters and is here to stay.

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