Mobile Marketing Is The New Frontier

After my post about what worked and didn't work in political advertising in 2010, a friend dropped me a note that said he found it interesting that back in 2008, people were all excited about text messaging programs, yet now it seems kind of dead.  So I decided to elaborate a little bit on what I think is happening and go a little more in depth into why mobile is working so great.  And, unlike some other posts or articles you might read, this one is not just about political marketing; some of us actually have other clients....

Text messaging is what I consider to be a necessary evil.  I'm not writing about the send a text message to #1234 or #DONATE, because I believe those are expensive programs with a short life span.  Any marketer should be collecting mobile numbers and sending text messages, however if that's your only mobile strategy you are DOA.

The next place a lot of people go to in their mobile strategy is Mobile Search which I think is great place to go to next.  However, based on my experience, mobile search is about 10% of desktop volume and requires different tactics.  Match type and creative strategies are vastly different as is your bidding and keyword strategies.  If you think you can just export your desktop campaign and forget about it, you are wrong.

The game now is mobile display advertising and there are a few places you can go.  

1. Apple has an awesome, yet expensive platform
2. Until Google finally absorbs AdMob, AdMob has the best rates and best results especially when it comes to CTR in mobile apps
3. Google of course has two tactics you can use.  The first is display ads on mobile websites and the next place is ads in Apps.  Display ads on mobile websites are not worth your time unless you like your current display ad's CTRs

The click thru rates and cost per clicks I've seen advertising in Apps are vastly superior than what I've seen on a decent display campaigns; far higher than what many people consider to be a strong CTR campaign of 0.23%.  In fact, through Google, you can buy a Mobile Surge the details I outlined in a post on Michele Bachmann's famous State Fair campaign. Also, I believe that the geo-targeting is far more accurate on mobile phones than desktops and this allows you to precisely target people in a smaller radius. 

Right now advertising on mobile Apps have superior CTRs, lower CPCs, better targeting, and you can send the clicks into any number of destinations including YouTube videos, App download link, mobile websites, Facebook, and etc.  It is not simple at all and there are experts who can help with your strategies and campaigns.  Basically, if you are relying on text messaging as your mobile strategy, you will be left behind THIS YEAR!

PardonMyFrench,

Eric

P.S. If you are anyone but a package goods, retailer QR Codes cause more problems than they are worth, but as usual Google has a solution called Goggles for you.

P.P.S. Still not convinced?  Based on a recent survey of 16K respondents, 75% of YouTube mobile users report that mobile is their primary way of accessing YouTube.