Mobile Advertising: What you need to know

1. Get moving. Be quick!

Did you know global smartphone audience, which surpassed the one billion mark in 2012, has already increased to 1.75 billion in 2014? And this fast-paced trajectory is expected to continue through 2017. More people spend time on mobile now than desktop.  This only means that mobile is growing fast and you gotta get moving with it!

The great news is technologies supporting this drastic change are being built. Mobile apps continue to dominate the market, which consistently generate traffic and overall revenue for companies. It has also become easier for brands to adapt quickly to technologies, unlike shifting from traditional platform to the web years ago. So you have no reason at all to be left behind.

How to get started:

• Collaborate with mobile experts who have demonstrated strong mobile expertise in your industry.
• Lead your company’s mobile initiatives by developing in-house expertise. Partner with mobile experts who will help internal resource build up mobile competency and will eventually take on mobile initiatives for your business.
• Don’t go big just yet. Look into flexible and custom-programs. Start small (budget and campaign-wise) and slowly scale up once you get the hang of it.

2. Do more than the banners.

If you think mobile advertising is about creating a smaller version of the banners on your website then boy, we have a problem here. Mobile advertising is a combination of creativity and technical ingenuity. From strategic targeting to functionality, format and context, mobile ads make it possible for any business to showcase their brands in ways that are impossible to execute in traditional ads. Through mobile ads, it is no longer a dream to capture market attention, capitalize creativity (hey you, millennials!) and drive brand awareness in just one touch.

Here are other ways to leverage mobile ads for certain business objectives such as driving traffic and acquisition:

• Use interactive ads and utilize it by creating an easy-to-complete and enjoyable challenges/games that are, of course, within your brand equity.
• Allow users to make their choice. Interactive ads, like games for instance, let users play and give them the option to play again OR let them access a preview of the show/promo on your actual business website.
• Create sense of urgency among users by putting on a COUNTDOWN to your business/company’s launch, promos and/or business initiatives.
• Develop a heartwarming narrative that users will fall in love with. Use that narrative to keep them interacting on mobile.
• Go for a simple idea — such as bonuses — and leverage native video functionality to execute it.
• If you want to keep using a banner, at least be creative with it. Transform a banner ad with a striking and intriguing Call-To-Action, which will reveal unpredicted visual or audial materials that will artistically tell your audience about your business initiatives.

3. Be wherever consumer traffic is.

I may sound like a broken record, but this I have to emphasize: find where your market is (their screens!) and conquer them. You probably think it’s annoying for your audience. Here’s what I am going to tell you: Yes! Your ads will be the most annoying thing they will find on their screens.  Ads have always been irritating, sometimes inspiring and mesmerizing, but then it gets annoying again. Why? It’s because it’s made to cut all the fun and break the momentum!

Here is when it gets interesting, though. People don’t have a choice but to embrace it, allot time for it (most of time, unconsciously) and deal with it. Majority of the market will let mobile ads invade their screens and even in their quiet time (right back at you, Spotify) because they would not want to spend a single cent to go ad-free. Though most brands have created ways for the audience to shut these ads down, the audience is not eager to grab that opportunity of a clean and consistent experience if it means paying out of their pockets. And if brands won’t see this as a prospect for you to get more aggressive in leveraging mobile ads for your businesses, I don’t know what would.

4. Mobile ad fraud is happening.

Now that everyone has gone mobile, so are the hackers, hijackers and sophisticated scammers! According to security firm White Ops, online fraud is estimated to be two to four times bigger than mobile fraud, but the latter is steadily growing. I say it is because of the billions of dollars being put into mobile worldwide!

By the end of 2015, global mobile ad spending will reach to a whopping $35.55 billion. With this amount of money allotted for mobile advertising budget and billions of data that are now readily accessible through mobile, it is of the essence for businesses to take the initiative to raise awareness to new threats.

Companies, marketers and vendors must learn to track mobile fraudulent behavior to ensure a more sustainable and safe advertising ecosystem. It seems like nothing can be smooth sailing when it comes to online and mobile but just like what Jon Stewart said before he went off air, “Bullsh*t is everywhere… if you smell something, say something.”