The world of advertising, like technology, has evolved. The term of the day is mobile advertising. It is without a doubt one of the most effective ways to reach out to potential customers.
According to the IAB’s 2018 internet advertising revenue report, “advertising delivered on a mobile device currently accounts for 65.1% of overall Internet advertising revenues.”
Furthermore, according to the IABs 2020 study, mobile advertising revenues climbed by 24% between 2018 and 2019.
A smart advertising campaign must undoubtedly focus on its mobile phone utilizing an audience in a consumer world that is always online. Yet, mobile advertising is an entirely new industry that differs greatly from classic ad approaches.
Modern marketers employ a variety of sophisticated alternatives to build user-friendly mobile ads in order to increase brand awareness and income.
This article will address all of your questions about mobile advertising, including its benefits, distinct forms, the stages required in building a successful campaign, methods, and expenses.
About Mobile Advertising And Its Advantages
Mobile commercials are the advertising industry’s response to a consumer world obsessed with their phone screens or mobile gadgets. It is the type of product/service promotional approach that you see on your smartphone.
Mobile phone advertising can take the form of text-based adverts, banner ads, videos, or even mobile games. Given the usual mobile screen size, the adverts are tailored to fit into a smaller display space.
Mobile advertising is essentially a subset of mobile marketing that collects data using traditional approaches and strategies. This may comprise consumer profiles, demographics, behaviours, and preferences, among other things.
Instead of getting out and physically addressing your markets (posters, banners), mobile advertising takes advantage of the prevalence of smartphone devices.
When it comes to marketing campaigns, the invention of mobile advertising has proven revolutionary. Customer engagement rates have increased, as have cost-effectiveness, tailored consumer relationships, and social media friendliness.
In a world where mobile subscriptions outnumber the human population, it would be absurd not to build your marketing strategy on it!
Recent Mobile Advertising Trends
It’s not uncommon to see an online promotional advertisement appear when you’re using an online app. Customers anticipate this, and their answers to commercials are increasing in frequency.
According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, mobile advertising grew by 65% in 2014 and 24% by 2019, and it has subsequently continued to increase.
According to Emarketer, “In 2019, worldwide digital ad spending will increase by 17.6% to $333.25 billion.” This means that digital will account for almost half of the global ad industry for the first time.”
According to another IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, 2018 for the United States, “Mobiles contribute the most to digital marketing’s steady development, accounting for around two-thirds (65%) of 2018 internet ad revenues.” From 2017 to 2018, mobile advertising revenue increased by 40%.”
Similarly, “digital advertising experienced yet another record-breaking year in 2017, as ad revenue hit $88 billion, a 21 per cent increase from 2016,” according to this Ad Age story.
Basics of Mobile Advertising – Things you should know
So, what are the fundamentals you should understand before venturing into the fantastic, yet ever-changing world of mobile advertising?
Here’s a rundown of some fundamentals you should know:
- The Terminologies used:
The emerging trend in advertising is programmatic advertising. Everything is going digital.
The following are some key terms:
- Demand Side Platform (DSP)
This is also called a ‘Buy-side optimizer or ‘Buy -side platform’. DSP is a digital standard that allows for the centralized and aggregated purchase of media from many sources. This contains all sources’ real-time bidding capabilities.
- Real-Time Bidding (RTB)
This method is primarily suited for purchasing and selling real-time ad inventories (live).
- Ad Exchange
These are the acquiring and selling channels for online media advertising inventories. This is a modernized version of the classic manual bidding price negotiation tactics.
- Ad Network
This term refers to companies that provide sales services to publishers. Their primary responsibilities include sorting through ad inventories from multiple sources and generating buying possibilities for advertisers.
- Supply Side Platform (SSP)
There are exchanges where publishers can sell their ad inventory to advertisers. They are sometimes known as “sell-side optimizers,” “inventory aggregators,” or “yield optimizers.”
- Agency Trading Desk (ATD)
As the name implies, this is a section of an advertising agency that assists clients in purchasing and inventory.
- The Mobile platform used:
Knowing the mobile platforms that can be used to target your advertisements is critical. The two types of mobile platforms in use are as follows:
- Mobile Web
This refers to the pages that have been formatted to fit mobile screen sizes (both smartphones and tablets). Because more users prefer to utilize their mobile devices rather than desktop computers, reaching a larger number of target audiences is easier. Contemporary ad material, such as video advertising and other rich media versions, contributes to an improved ad experience.
- In-App
In today’s world, a debate about mobile advertising would be unthinkable without mentioning mobile apps. App advertising is one of the most popular methods for marketers to promote their products. All you have to do is select the appropriate applications and upload the appropriate creative within them.
Apps are popular among today’s mobile consumers since they are simple to download and utilize. Advertisements that appear within these apps are known as in-app advertising. They are specifically intended to target user behaviour and preferences and provide the greatest browsing experience possible.
Ad formats (as detailed in the next sections) are dependent on the platform used.
- The currency terminology being used:
Payments for mobile ad campaigns can be done in a variety of ways. These are some examples:
- Pay Per Click (PPC) – In certain places, this is referred to as Cost per Click (CPC). In layman’s terms, payments are provided depending on how many times the ad is clicked.
- Cost per Impression (CPI) – Every new ad view results in a payment.
- Cost per Action (CPA) – Every performed action is compensated.
- Cost per view (CPV) – Money is made whenever an advertisement appears.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) – Refers to the number of times a link has been clicked.
- Cost per Mile (CPM) – Funds are made for each thousand ad views.
- Conversion Rate (CR) – Proportion of users who perform the desired action
- Install Rate (IR) – The percentage of users who install an app.
Benefits of Mobile Advertising
What is it about mobile advertising that makes it so effective?
Markets are always expanding. New business initiatives and entrepreneurs are looking for ways to capitalize on this fantastic opportunity. The following are some of the primary advantages of mobile advertising Services:
- Accessible – Social media platforms and mobile applications have become the current communication jargon. Individuals devote a significant amount of time to upgrading their apps. As a result, it is critical to convey your message directly to your customers. And what better method to do so than to contact your customers via their mobile phones? The accessibility advantages of mobile advertising mean that your ad campaigns are delivered immediately and easily accessed by users.
- Geo-targeting – Because people travel with their cell phones, marketers and advertisers can utilize this information to send location-based, geo-targeted adverts. Location-based mobile advertising is an excellent technique to study consumer preferences and habits such as purchasing preferences, frequented places, and so on. For example, if a consumer in X locality sees an advertisement for a deal in a store there, the likelihood of visiting the store increases.
- Understanding consumer habits – Each mobile device has a unique ID. The offline and online behaviours of the target consumers can be simply researched using the Id. This, in turn, aids in the development of an effective marketing campaign.
- Cost efficiency – Mobile advertising is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach out to your target audience. In fact, the whole cost of planning a mobile advertising campaign is a fraction of the expense of a TV or radio commercial. Being cost-effective allows marketers to increase the frequency with which they send communications or even repeatedly target new customers.
- Personalized advertising – Mobile advertising has the distinct advantage of personalized marketing campaigns to the mobile user’s preferences. Consumers can use social media to follow, like, or even submit their own suggestions to their favourite brands.
- Plethora of creative options – Because mobile advertising combines nicely with social media channels, websites, and apps, the creative levels of the adverts can be increased. Mobile ads have a stronger impression on the target demographic due to their strong visual appeal and immediate reach.
- Fraud resistance – In comparison to desktop advertising, mobile device fraud detection is simple. It is simple to validate the “Click to calls” and usage.
- Quick results – Mobile phone users take their smartphones everywhere they go. When compared to desktop or other traditional advertising tactics, the chances of viewing an ad on a mobile device are higher. It is also simple to track user responses in real time.
- Higher conversion rates – When compared to desktops or even tablets, smartphone ads, clicks, spending, and conversions are growing at the fastest rate.
- Interactive – Consumers enjoy participating in commercials that include contests, games, and other activities. Mobile advertising becomes increasingly engaging through the use of gamification and other elements.
Mobile advertising vs Mobile marketing
While mobile advertising and mobile marketing are similar in terms of applications, they are not the same. Mobile marketing is a catch-all word for mobile advertising.
Mobile marketing makes use of a variety of services and data, such as location-based services, buyer personas and their habits, user preferences, and so on.
As a result, certain mobile ads will only appear when a user enters a geo-marked boundary.
On the other hand, Mobile ad placement is accomplished through programmatic bidding, in which marketers/advertisers compete in real time to position an ad on a mobile device. This includes demand-side platforms (DSP), which allow advertisers to track their performance. KPI (Key performance indicators) such as CPC, CPA, and others are used to optimize performance.
Kinds of Mobile Advertising
Mobile advertisements can take various shapes and run on various platforms. While marketers employ each of the mobile advertising solutions listed below, the applicability to a sector and the baseline plan determines the choice. When it comes to mobile advertising tactics and efforts, various social media sites operate differently.
What follows is a look at the many sorts of mobile advertising options available and how they relate to the purpose of the advertisement.
Mentioned below are the most commonly utilized mobile ad formats –
- Banner advertising – Banner ads are the most traditional type of mobile advertising. Web marketing is where banner advertising got its start. Nonetheless, in a world that is more obsessed with interactive rich media ads, banner advertisements continue to thrive.
Banner advertisements are frequently encountered embedded in a web host page or an app. Most of the time, these are represented by images (or visuals with text) that are intended to catch the attention of consumers. The goal is to redirect people from the host website to the advertiser’s page and convert them into paying customers.
- Video advertising – According to Business Insider, social video advertising spending more than doubled in 2017 (as projected) to more than $4 billion.
The Pictures Speak For Themselves!
Video advertising is a very effective communication technique for achieving a company’s goal conversion figures.
When it comes to making a purchasing choice, customers can benefit greatly from product videos. Videos can effectively give a full visual experience, giving users a better sense of the products in issue.
A significant proportion of users watch videos on their mobile phones. In fact, watching video on the phone has a greater effect and results in more conversions than watching video commercials on TV!
- Full-screen or interstitial mobile advertising – Interstitial ads are full-screen videos or visuals that are typically displayed during app transition points.
Let’s say you’re playing a video game. You’ve just finished Level 1 and are ready to go on to the next game level. That’s when you’ll notice a picture or a brief video ad appear. These are mobile interstitial adverts.
- Native app-based advertising – Native advertisements are comparable to banner advertising but do not provide information directly, hence they are classified as advertisement content. The advertisements are displayed within the app’s natural surroundings on the mobile device, and so blend in with the flow.
They have an advantage because they are entrenched as part of the mobile environment. They cannot be stopped.
As a result, your advertisement is displayed to targeted users without causing forced disruptions. The appearance, buttons, and design components are consistent with the rest of the program.
- Gamified mobile advertising – Gamified alternative is a kind of interactive video or rich media advertisement. They are popular among intelligent marketers that seek to establish interactive advertising channels.
Games are a natural approach to pique the interest of users. When it comes to app marketing, gaming mobile adverts are really effective. For instance, if the app is about problem-solving or locating routes on a map, short and brief gaming videos that allow customers to test it perform well as advertisements.
Engaging customers from the basic level is a great way of gaming mobile advertising. They are also useful for generating user data such as consumer profiles, etc. Because game-based learning is currently regarded as a highly evolved mode of education by all industries, gamification-based ads generate high conversion rates by capturing user attention.
Important Steps For a Mobile Advertising Campaign
An online mobile marketing campaign goes with a particular set of prime elements. Mentioned in the list of factors that involve creating a fruitful mobile advertising campaign –
- Determine the goals
It is crucial to determine the objectives for the mobile advertising campaign as an initial step likewise other marketing campaigns. Setting objectives or measurable goals allows you to better understand your results and learn from them.
- Selecting your target audience
One of the primary motivations for starting a mobile promotion event is to gain more connections or clients.
Nevertheless, simply adding up the audience is insufficient. To stay on top of your advertising game, you need to target a specific group of people. It all begins with determining who you want to target.
- Defining the type of mobile advertisement required
Choosing the appropriate form of ad campaign for your product or service requires considerable study. Ad campaigns could be established for the express objective of increasing sales or raising brand awareness.
- Finalize the length of the ad campaign
The first step is to determine the type of mobile ad campaign you want to run and the numbers you want to generate. After that, it’s just a matter of planning the real campaign.
- Recognize the targeted devices
The content of advertisements differs depending on the devices that are targeted. For each device, a distinct form of content is used.
Smartphones have small screen sizes and require more focused information with little interruptions. Tablets and iPads, on the other hand, necessitate high-quality design.
- Ad designing
Next, the mobile advertisement must be designed, complete with images and text.
There are certain principles to bear in mind while developing a mobile ad all over the internet. But, keep in mind that mobile adverts are designed with the primary goal of capturing the viewer’s attention.
- Reporting, data management, and analysis
It is simple to collect user information. Nonetheless, it is critical to respect your users’ privacy and consider the security of their data. It is critical to manage the data obtained during mobile marketing.
The database gathered during mobile campaigns is massive. It is far more than what can be obtained from online desktop promotions.
- Ad testing
So your ad is finished and you’re ready to go?
Now is the time to put the conversion rates to the test. Metrics and measurements can be collected for a short period of time, such as a month, to see how the mobile ad is functioning. At this step, an evaluation will tell you how well the advertisement is performing in terms of conversions and sales.
Primary Mobile Ad Strategies That Are Worth Doing
As stated previously in the article, mobile ad expenditure in 2019 is expected to account for around half of the worldwide advertising market.
While the industry’s quick growth is great, it has not been easy for brands to get their mobile ad campaigns to function as they like. Because the medium is still relatively new, determining the optimal methods and approaches might be difficult.
Mentioned below are a few key mobile ad strategies –
- Integrate current versions of mobile advertisements.
Mobile banner advertising is commonly used by numerous global brands. While they remain popular, it is time to think beyond banners. After all, “banner ad blindness” is no longer a new concept!
- Think Niche
The share of local ad spend is expected to increase in 2023.
Have you ever wondered why there has been so tremendous growth?
Mobile ads are one of the most effective channels for local companies. Mobile ads are now being delivered to local consumers thanks to geotargeting capabilities.
- Keep using the targeting alternatives
To boost overall efficacy, it is critical to target your mobile ads.
When it comes to enhancing response rates, targeting options such as customer demographics, time targeting, behaviour targeting, and so on are extremely beneficial. Make use of as many of these targeting choices as possible.
- Use Facebook and Google as your beginning Point
With so many channels to choose from, it can be difficult to decide which ones are best for your mobile advertising budget.
- Decrease your ad loading time
Even when they generate excellent conversions, mobile advertising is frequently missed by user groups. According to various research, a large percentage of mobile users prefer to block their mobile ads owing to delays created by excessive loading times.
Mobile Advertising Platforms
Here are some of the famous mobile ad platforms used by marketers –
- Google Mobile Ads
Google advertisements are seen on both desktop and mobile devices. When employing display advertisements, there is a device targeting option that allows the advertiser to pick only smartphone and tablet users.
- Instagram and Mobile Ads
Because these are two of the most popular social media networks, they established Audience Network, an ad platform.
- Bing Ads
Although Bing ads are behind Google, they cost roughly 70% less in terms of advertising budget. Furthermore, they give marketers more control over area selection, language, campaign scheduling, and so on.
- AdMob
This platform was acquired by Google in 2009 and is an excellent choice for businesses wishing to place adverts within a mobile app. The platform offers banner advertisements, video ads, native ads, and interstitial ads.
- AdColony
Popular brands that use this mobile video ad network include Hilton Hotels, Farmville, Adidas, and others. Advertisers can place video adverts within app usage. As a result, it is a popular choice among mobile game producers.
Mobile Advertising Costs
Finding the appropriate expenditure is not as straightforward as it sounds. According to a marketer estimate, global mobile internet ad spending has increased from 19.20 billion dollars in 2013 to 195.55 billion dollars in 2019!
Monitoring mobile ad expenditures is accomplished through methods such as CPS, CPA, and CPM.
Cost per Click
Advertisers are typically asked to bid on their CPC by advertising networks. A smaller specialty will typically command a higher fee for a single click.
Cost per Action
Ad formats such as banner ads and video ads do not rely on clicks to generate conversions. Companies may create campaigns with goals like “x” number of app installs, “x” number of sign-ups, and so on. This is a CPA.
Cost per mile or Cost per thousand impressions
This payment method allows users to bet on impressions rather than clicks or conversions, so they just pay for the number of users who view the mobile ad.
Conclusion
Mobile advertising is the advertising industry’s future. It is the quickest approach to selling your brand or goods to the Gen Z audience. With the announcement that 5G will be available on the market soon, internet speeds will skyrocket. Video commercials, gamification, and reality ads will become more accessible.