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In the world of marketing, mobile advertising is the way of the future. Advertising through this medium is similar to online advertising, although the potential target is much larger. In 2009, the total number of mobile phones in the world exceeded 4.6 billion. Computers were less than a quarter of the total. Currently the amount spent on mobile advertising is around 1% of the total advertising budget. Media for mobile phones is developing rapidly. According to the International Association for the Wireless Telecommunications Industry, CTIA, approximately 90% of the United States population owns a cell phone.
Mobile advertising has really taken off in countries like Spain, France and Japan. In Japan, 44% of mobile phone users click on advertisements they receive through their phones. Japan’s largest mobile advertising company, D2, announced in November 2009 that the industry was worth $900 million in their country alone. There are many forms of mobile ads, from web banners to SMS ads to ads in apps and games. Other forms include audio or video recordings that play while you interact with various services. You can get free instant access to the best mobile marketing newsletter.
According to Mashable, an online guide to social media and one of the top ten blogs worldwide, trends to watch in mobile advertising include:
– Innovation through SMS
– Enhancement with rich forms of media such as sound, gaming and video
– Mobile Apps or Mobile Websites
Geo-location as an advertising tool
– Role of mobile video
– Innovation through SMS
98% of available mobile phone models are capable of short messaging service or text messaging. This form of communication is one of the most popular methods in the world. Text messaging is easy to use with low cost. No application is needed to send a text message to another person. Service providers offer a range of options, from unlimited plans to plans that offer up to 250 messages per month. Even if a person opts out of the text messaging plan, he or she is still able to receive messages. Statistics show that at the end of 2008, the average US user sent 357 text messages per month. Experiments reported that text messages are typically read within 15 minutes of receipt and replied to within an hour, whereas email messages can remain unread for several days.
Enrichment with Rich Media
With the increasing number of smartphones in the market, rich media will gain a stronger foothold in the mobile advertising industry. Consumers love engaging, interactive ads designed through rich media such as gaming, sound and video. One drawback of this form of mobile advertising is that it requires skill and time to create the ad. Larger companies benefit from this media as they are more likely to have the budget and staff to deal with this type of advertising.
Ads in mobile apps or mobile websites
Advertisers need to decide whether they are going to build a mobile application or a mobile website. Some will choose to do both. Certain factors such as operating systems, types of devices, and screen sizes play a role in how mobile marketing is presented. Internet giant Google is taking the mobile web road while Apple is going the application route. At this point it is difficult to ascertain what type of platform consumers will prefer in the future. This causes many issues during the development phase.
In an April 2010 survey conducted by eROI, Trends in Mobile Marketing, less than a third of marketers in the United States consider the mobile marketing experience to be important to their customers. Only 23% of respondents reported having a website optimized for mobile devices. An Internet trends report by Morgan Stanley estimates that by the year 2014, mobile devices will conduct half of the web browsing done by Americans.
ads with geo-location
Geo-location is one of the new trends in mobile advertising. Applications such as Foursquare are location-based programs for smartphones that help consumers find new ways to explore their city. Although there is interest in this type of marketing, a recent study by Foursquare indicated that only 4% of users have taken advantage of location-based services. Only 1% actually log in to a location once per week.
Some of the concerns with geolocation-based mobile advertising center around privacy issues. The same is true of other forms that are specifically related to target marketing. When companies customize ads, they use personal behavioral data, user profiles, and other data-driven information. Privacy advocates have warned the industry that this could lead to a breach of privacy. Users are generally required to give consent when opening an account for an application. This consent will overcome many privacy issues. The Mobile Marketing Association has published guidelines to assist marketers, but since this is a rapidly growing field, the association has found it difficult to keep their guidelines current.
role of mobile video
There has been a huge increase in the consumption of Internet video with today’s Internet users. Because of this internet video trend, marketers believe that there will be a huge increase in mobile video as well. Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking, believes that video usage will capture approximately 66% of mobile traffic by 2013.
Mobile advertising has certainly caught the attention of marketers and the amount spent on advertising is on the rise. Marketers can measure the effectiveness of mobile ad campaigns with the number of views and clicks, as well as other interactive tools. Swedish analyst, Berg Insight predicts that by 2014, mobile marketing will represent 11.7% of the total digital advertising market.
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