Tag: mobile ads

Mobile marketing is an effort that doesn’t stop with applications

| February 11, 2015

The majority of advertisers are quick to dive into apps, but there is a great deal more to the channel.

While study data has been consistently showing that consumers are now spending more time looking at the screens of their smartphones and tablets than their TVs, mobile marketing is still not viewed as a powerful channel for advertising.

Instead, many marketers are seeing this sphere as being limited to mobile apps, and not much else.

All too many mobile marketing companies have been overlooking the mobile web as a good way to be able to reach consumers. That said, the vast majority of m-commerce and traffic over smartphones and tablets does not come through apps. This suggests that marketers are missing a considerable opportunity by placing all of their focus on that one component of the channel, and overlooking the rest, nearly completely.

Recent Forrester research findings suggest that mobile marketing may not be fully understood by those using it.

Mobile Marketing - More to advertising than just appsThe Forrester findings showed that the average smartphone user on in the United States and the United Kingdom have 24 mobile apps on their devices, but will spend 80 percent of the time that they use those devices on only 5 of them. The most amount of time is typically spent on messaging and on social media, as opposed to mobile gaming. While there are certain specific vendor apps, such as Starbucks, that have done exceptionally well, the majority are considered to be relatively insignificant.

With the growing importance of mobile devices to the average consumer, it is surprising that retailers and brands have not kept up with the new wave of advertising opportunities, particularly considering that the competition is “low” now, and will only increase over time. Moreover, this is typically considered to be quite an affordable and cost effective way to reach consumers, but is not being used for driving engagement.

While it isn’t that apps are unimportant, data is showing that mobile marketing needs to involve the web and other methods of reaching consumers in a way that increases their odds of being reached.

Mobile marketing boosts in-store sales

| February 9, 2015

A study has shown that 55 percent of retailers feel that smartphones are sending shoppers into stores.

A new survey conducted by RSR Research has revealed that brick and mortar retailers don’t necessarily feel that smartphones are working against them, as mobile marketing is working effectively to send foot traffic back into their shops.

This has also taken some of the edge off the threat that some have felt from e-commerce giants.

The responses to the survey showed that 55 percent of businesses feel that mobile marketing is sending more consumers into their stores in order to make purchases there, in person. At the same time, they also stated that this new advertising channel could make things more challenging for them along the way, if it is to grow into a larger part of doing business. So far, the largest challenge that it presents is actually the capability for stepping into mobile, in addition to actually wanting to boost online traffic while meeting the demands of customers that are associated with making those changes.

The survey results also pointed out that there are differing opinions on mobile marketing among businesses.

Mobile Marketing increases in-store salesThe survey pointed out that there are two different categories of businesses, which they called “laggards” and “winners”. They explained that, depending on the type of business, the companies are likely to have different priorities with regards to the use of mobile advertising. The report on the survey explained that the companies that are in the “laggards” category, half feel that not knowing the expectations of the consumer in terms of smartphone ads could be the biggest challenge. Comparatively, only 38 percent in the “winners” category felt the same way.

Moreover, among the “winners”, 44 percent were focused on engaging with different groups of consumers in order to push sales upward. Furthermore, 21 percent felt that it was possible that mobile technology could be moving too fast to keep up. Equally, among the “laggards”, 20 percent said that they wanted to engage with customer groups and 0 percent felt that tech was moving too rapidly.

Both groups of businesses felt that mobile marketing was becoming an increasingly important tool and that it would only rise in its popularity over time.