A revolution is upon us.

Okay, so maybe that’s a little dramatic, but mobile is evolving and its value is growing with it.

With more than a billion smartphones in consumers’ pockets—and more than a billion people now connected 24/7—it’s more important than ever for marketers to adapt their strategy to mobile trends.

The Internet is constantly at our fingertips; we want what we want, when we want it and how we want it. Hear that, businesses? To engage with consumers in the mobile era, you must understand the shift in consumer behavior—immediacy and convenience fuel actions.

Mobile must be a strategic priority, and mobile investment must rise.  Seems pretty definitive, right?

Well, it’s nothing a little preparation can’t help your business  do to brave this revolution and stay ahead of the competition. Here are 10 tips for embracing mobile from Forrester’s 2013 Mobile Trends For Marketers report.

1. Give your consumers a rich, differentiated environment to engage their mobile experience.

This will likely require a shift in your marketing approach, but mobile is transforming business models. Deepening consumer engagement and combining real-time with location-sensitive interactions will allow brands to provide services at a premium by delivering added value.

2. Recognize that tablets and smartphones need different strategies.

Tablets, or “PC replacements,” will outpace smartphones for mobile commerce in 2013. But don’t loot your mobile budget to improve your tablet platform. Pull in some money from your PC initiatives and allow the two devices (i.e., smartphone and tablet) to diverge on the mobile spectrum.

3. Stop considering connected devices gimmicky.

Marketers need to capture information about consumers and their environment to further develop these devices and improve the next-generation connected experience. Smart products may remain in the limelight in 2013, but preparation for their mainstream acceptance is needed.

4. Don’t draw the line between product, content, and marketing.

Get ready for a lot of data coming from mobile phones and other connected devices. What should you do with it? Integrate with back-end campaign management and start serving up personalized content with data at its core.

5. What’s your mobile maturity? It’s time to evaluate it.

Use mobile to reach out to those one billion (potential) customers worldwide. It will begin to play a role in paving the way for marketers to reach consumers in new markets.

6. Nurture your brand experience with a mobile governance group.

Mobile will need a more formal process and there should be a team of leaders to prioritize next-generation mobile experiences and how they’ll be implemented to reach your consumers.

7. Find and hire talent to map out your mobile strategy.

Stop outsourcing wholesale and start developing the expertise internally. Take hold and ownership of your customer data and marketing insights. You should know your consumers better than an outside agency.

8. Get your senior exec(s) on board to lead your mobile strategy.

Mobile efforts shouldn’t exist in a silo. Get strategic suggestions, considerations, etc., from everyone on your team.

9. Set a long-term strategy and staff employees based on it.

Cultivating the right mix of skills for mobile will increase in importance; make sure you have the employees, tools, and strategy to stay ahead of the game.

10. Get friendly with IT.

Forrester mentions a shift from front-end development to back-end development in mobile services. Be sure to work closely with IT and clearly express your needs to justify the shift in spending—remember, it’ll happen in small steps, not leaps.

Are you ready for the mobile revolution?

This post originally appeared on Engage.