Mobile Advertisement: Potential And Challenges

In 2012, $10 billion in sales were made through mobile channels. That’s expected to rise to $30 billion by 2016. In addition, 55 percent of smartphone owners use their smart phones to research purchases.

Despite the popularity of apps, brands spend more than ten times as much on paid search advertising as they spend on ads on apps.

There are a few reasons:

• When it comes to tracking customers search pattern, cookies do well on the web. On mobile apps cookies can’t track customers search pattern as good as they do on web. Cookies can’t do that well on mobile apps.
• There is no way to track whether purchasing is influenced by mobile
• Ads that are large enough to be seen on mobile screens are often considered invasive by users. Ads that are small are often too hard to see.
• Constantly changing apps on Android and iOS — 45 percent turning over every 30 days and 85 percent every three months — makes it difficult for advertisers to get to a critical mass of viewers

To realize the full potential of mobile advertisement, marketers need to do:

• Create an opportunity to develop engaging content that increases brand awareness
• Photo ads inserted into Facebook’s mobile newsfeed, for example, have shown promising results to date. Ads need to tap into this burgeoning mobile-social shopping behavior.
•  Ad dollars should go to developing useful and relevant apps that bond customers with the brand. Companies need to create compelling offers (such as discounts, free delivery, early access) to convince customers to download apps.

Adapted From: Cracking the Mobile Advertising Code