The bewildering array of marketing channels now available to campaign managers makes it harder than ever to figure out where to focus your energies. Mobile platforms are the dominant platform for reaching 18-34 year olds, with:
• 50% of unique email open-and-reads happening on mobile devices
• 71% of all Facebook traffic now coming through mobile devices
• 24% of all IP traffic coming from mobile devices
Research from Emarketer indicates that the total revenue from US mobile ads will exceed $8.5 billion by year’s end. And yet – and yet – marketers still, on average, spend twice as much money on radio advertising than on mobile advertising. In 2012, former Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker put a value of $20 billion on missed mobile marketing opportunities. For all its impressive, rapid growth, mobile still only accounts for 5% of the total advertising spending in the US. So what gives?
Some experts believe it’s a question of uncertainty on the part of marketers still suspicious of new technology. A culture of retreating to traditional platforms is especially notable among older, more established brands who stick to what they know – even when the evidence says it’s not working.
The upshot of this disconnect between market potential and market value is obvious: it’s all to play for. Putting some distance between you and your competitors using mobile marketing is easy if you do the right things. And once you’ve made that head-start, there’s no looking back. Here are a few tips to steal a mobile marketing march on your rivals:
• Educate yourself. If you’re a veteran of print advertising, don’t dig your heels in at the thresh-hold of a digital future – embrace it! Yes, the online universe can be overwhelming, but hire a digital marketing company and learn from them by requesting regular updates and 101 tutorials.
• Have a separate strategy for mobile and desktop. You need a mobile app – not just a mobile-friendly website. Instead of treating mobile marketing like an additional headache, spend the time developing a mobile-specific campaign. It will pay off.
• Know your audience. The beauty of mobile advertising is you can tweak it for each individual. Unlike a billboard or television commercial, you can send personalized text messages. The golden rule once you know anything about your customers’ favorite things: reference the preference.
• Take note of successful mobile campaigns. Look at models like Twitter, whose IPO filing recorded 65% of their revenue coming from mobile.
• Be innovative. Learn from successful mobile advertising strategies, but try your own, fresh approach to cornering your share of the market. The less orthodox your approach, the less likely it is to get lost in the crowd.
That $20 billion of untapped market real estate identified by Meeker is unlikely to be snapped up too quickly. A Markets and Markets report projects a mobile advertising market value of $76 billion by 2018. The task for mobile marketing campaign managers wanting to take advantage of the gap is to think big and think clever.
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