People across the world started using mobile gadgets for online search only a few years ago. This trend caught on after smartphones became affordable and people found them useful for surfing. In the early stages, people used mobile phones to surf when not around their desktops. But today, they choose mobile over the desktop as it gives them access to high-speed internet and a range of functionalities on the go. They can find the information they need, and shop what they want. And they can do it anytime from anywhere.
Already, there has been a steady decline in the number of searches made through desktops. The prediction that it will decrease by one-third between 2012 and 2018 is turning out to be true. Marketing budgets have increased in the mobile segment in almost every organization. Those investments are working, leading to a steady increase in mobile marketing budgets as a proportion of digital marketing spends. It is predicted that 75% of digital marketing budgets will be dedicated to mobile advertising by 2018.
The need of the hour
Dependence on data cannot be avoided. Investing in data is the need of the hour because it will help keep your mobile targeting strategies relevant.
However, that is easier said than done. In order to capture the interest of your targets, advertising with the support of data is just the beginning. Click-worthy calls-to-action, quick data retrieval and audience connect, design optimization, and A/B testing are all required for you to be able to tap into digital opportunities successfully.
It is also worthwhile to focus on native advertising strategies, as they fetch 50% more clicks on average.
For better engagement, using videos may not be wise all the time, but they can be extremely effective if you are able to reach your audience while they travel or in their free time. Undeniably, mobile advertising is mostly about timing. Getting it right will solve many problems.
And remember, nothing beats good app functionality.
You can reach mobile users in two ways:
- Through your brand app, which the users have already downloaded
- Through platforms, which your targets audience to use in everyday life
the first case, you will have to make sure that your app delivers some value. There is no reason for someone to download it otherwise.
Here’s what makes an app worth downloading for customers:
- Seamless interactivity – for getting across the right messages and enabling convenient communication
- Easy functionality – for making the customers’ life easy and preserving their inclination to use your app
- Flexible technology – for changes or upgrades to your app, which should be easy and involve minimal or no downtime
The second way of reaching mobile users involves recurrent planning for the right programmatic advertising platform and the right publishers.
For mobile ads, here are some “always remember” strategies:
- Just let your ad viewers call you directly if you are having trouble converting them. Although it sounds simpler than it really is, displaying your phone number works. If your targeting is strong enough and you’ve done all the hard work, maybe your audience thinks literally one click should be enough to reach you.
- When targeting audience segments, don’t forget about conversion. You can let the ad viewers call you on the phone directly, ask them to submit their contact info, follow you on social media, subscribe to emails and newsletters, or register for an event. Put the right conversion button for the right purpose for better conversion.
- Use Dayparting, which is a technique to program your ad reach differently for different parts of the day. Everyone likes to be notified about something relevant. For example, reaching parents in Miami during the afternoon with an ad for a children’s waterproof will definitely help them remember about it! You can also time your ads to match when they go for shopping. Consider shifting a part of your budget to desktop when mobile CPCs feel too expensive. This can be implemented by accessing the “Devices” tab under “Settings” in AdWords.
Programmatic advertising technology has proved to be the latest asset for experienced marketers, and the returns are proving to be worth the effort.
Third-party advertising requires a team specializing in ad-ops. It should be able to strategize for profitable online advertising. That said, a sufficiently capable ad-tech software solution will help optimize your mobile ad expenses and assess your activities with advanced analytics on a real-time basis.
