The advertising industry has a tradition of capitalizing on consumer trends and technological advances. When consumers took to the roads, retailers’ ads followed them on billboards. When television found a place in every home, the TV commercial was born. And when computers became ubiquitous, so did Internet ads.Today, consumers spend more time on their mobile devices than ever—communicating, searching for information, checking sports scores, reading news, playing games, etc. As the world becomes increasingly mobile, advertisers are developing ways to exploit it.
Still, the ad industry’s move to mobile has been slower than you might think. The reason is that many retailers and advertisers don’t fully understand how to advertise on mobile devices and what strategies yield the greatest benefits. This is holding them back from leveraging mobile advertising as a competitive advantage.
The industry needs a clearer picture of what’s possible and how to put dynamic mobile marketing solutions to work today. Below are some common mobile myths and the facts to help set the record straight.
Myth #1: Smaller screen, smaller effect.
Many marketers assume that because mobile phones have smaller screens, advertisements will look cluttered, compressed, or sloppy. The truth is click-through rates (CTRs) are higher on mobile screens than on traditional PCs. In fact, ads on mobile devices often look cleaner than on the Web because overall content clarity is more vivid on a smartphone.
A smartphone’s smaller screen size (typically 4.5" x 2.4") lends itself well to more organized content. Mobile banners are positioned in the center of a mobile Web page, above or below a page’s content. Conversely, ad banners on traditional Web pages are usually placed on the side of a page, away from users’ eyes.
Myth #2: Mobile ads are harder to design.
Many marketers believe it is more difficult to design an effective ad campaign for the mobile medium. The truth is the only difference between a mobile ad and a traditional ad is the banner size. Any professional designer can tailor a design for a smaller space.
For those without a degree in graphic design, the Mobile Marketing Association has put together industry standards (available online at no cost) to help guide those who are new to the mobile environment. And some mobile advertising companies, such as Mojiva, have integrated templates that make designing a professional, original ad possible in a few easy steps.
Myth #3: There’s no unique user detection and targeting.
On the Web, a site’s unique visitors are tracked by cookies. Data such as entrance pages, exit pages, visitor paths, length of time on each page, and more can be captured and recorded. What most people don’t know is that it’s just as simple in the mobile world. By using multiple identity parameters in ad requests, such as device, WAP IP, or session info, it’s easy to detect unique visitors.
Mobile ad platforms such as mOcean Mobile, which powers the Mojiva ad network, take the natural targeting capabilities of the mobile phone into account, providing advertisers with functionality based on keyword matching, a user’s location (country, region, state, city, and even up to a certain block), mobile device characteristics (platform, technology support, and manufacturers), and mobile carrier.
These capabilities make even more detailed advertising concepts possible, such as frequency capping, demographic targeting, and enhanced user targeting options. This ensures your message is being seen by the intended audience and not just blasted into the mobile ether. But that leads us to the next myth.
Myth #4: Big brother is watching you.
Spend a few minutes with an iPhone and it doesn’t take long to see some of the truly futuristic capabilities of today’s smartphones, such as latitude-longitude (lat-long) enabled apps. In theory, if a consumer’s phone always knows where he is, then so does the advertiser targeting him.
Imagine walking past a car dealership and getting an ad on your phone for a new Lexus. This might sound incredible, but many marketers already have access to tools that would allow them to advertise to mobile customers based on their precise location via lat-long.
Several leading companies, including Skyhook Wireless, Wavemarket, and uLocate, make location-based data available to advertisers. The problem is precision. Although location-based services (LSBs) provide coordinates on a map, they can’t zero-in on a user’s exact location in a neighborhood. Rather, the location is within a few-block radius.
Mobile lat-long app programs also require user opt-in. Chances are small that a smartphone user who has chosen to opt-in to a lat-long app will walk past your shop at exactly the right time.
That doesn’t mean the data isn’t valuable, however. This is where regionally based marketing programs shine. Citywide, state, and regional targeting are valuable for a good set of the mobile marketing community. A local pizza parlor would likely see significant ROI by marketing to smartphone users in the shop’s neighborhood.
Myth #5: Creating a mobile Web site is difficult and expensive.
The first step to launching a mobile ad campaign is creating a mobile content page. Fortunately, there are many free tools designed to make that process quick and painless. Mofuse, DotMobi, and Ubik, for example, can help users build a mobile site from scratch or simply translate an existing Web page into a mobile format.
It’s possible to set the page up to automatically extract any online content through an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed and have it sent to the mobile site. If the content already exists on the Internet, this process can be set up in a matter of mouse clicks. Clearly, the more automated the process can be, the easier it is for the user (that’s you).
Myth #6: No ROI.
The nature of mobile advertising lets advertisers and marketers capture conversions in a much more innovative way than is possible on the Web. The power of click-to-call actions, lead generation forms, and click-to-pay make it simple for advertisers to run mobile campaigns, determine effective conversions, and quickly calculate ROI for their spend.
These actions give mobile users a direct, immediate response, such as the ability to pay for a product in a single screen touch. Purchases made over mobile are faster and more streamlined than traditional e-commerce. Obviously, an easy process translates to more customers, giving retailers the ROI they’ve come to expect.
Myth #7: SMS is the only type of mobile advertising.
Many advertisers assume mobile advertising is only possible through Small Message Services (SMS or text messages), which lack user interaction and dynamic content and offer limited ad text. But advances in mobile technologies have made it possible to expand advertising into interactive text and manners and embed ads in mobile games and smartphone applications.
The enhanced support for rich media on the iPhone and other rapidly advancing smartphones has made it possible for advertising to take a comparable step forward and offer more streamlined ad exposure.
Myth #8: Only mobile companies use mobile advertising.In the beginning of mobile advertising, the first companies to jump on board were, not surprisingly, the mobile companies themselves. Today, larger brand names such as Pizza Hut, eBay, ADT, and Edmunds.com are turning to mobile advertising as a new revenue opportunity.
Just three months after going live, Pizza Hut’s mobile application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch has surpassed $1 million in sales. The application lets customers place an order to Pizza Hut while on the go using their mobile device.
A second mobile campaign was launched to generate buzz about the company’s Hershey’s Dunkers and build a mobile database of consumers to remarket to. Users were asked to text a keyword to a short code to be entered for a chance to win a free pizza once a month for a year. Within two weeks, the company had more than 2,000 opt-ins. That’s 2,000 new users now being marketed to.
With a clearer distinction between what’s realistic today and what’s industry hype, brands, agencies, and publishers can begin leveraging the mobile medium as an easy-to-use advertising tool. Despite many common misperceptions, mobile advertising and publishing is not only targeted, trackable, and creative, but a measurable new revenue opportunity.
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Krish Arvapally is the chief technology officer and co-founder of mobile advertising firm Mojiva, Inc. His e-mail address is
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