It’s time you got moving on mobile

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The mobile internet has arrived

There will be more people using the internet on mobile phones than on desktops within five years [1]. This would have seemed incredible only a short time ago but many industry stats now confirm Google’s view that the age of mobile internet has very much arrived. Every week, 71 million Europeans access the internet on mobile devices, spending on average 6.4 hours browsing mobile websites [2]. In the UK alone there are already 7.4 million mobile internet users [3]. As Google CEO Eric Schmidt said at the Mobile World Congress, our mobiles are now ”an extension of everything that we are.”

Computing; Connectivity; Cloud

Google refers to the “Three Cs” as major factors in the mobile evolution/ Computing, Connectivity and the Cloud. The combination of the increasing power of mobile devices, the ease and speed with which devices can connect, and the capacity for data storage and access cloud computing has facilitated, are instrumental in enabling progress.

These factors have transformed the user experience that is possible on a mobile handset, and consumers have responded quickly. Smartphone use grew more than 30% year on year in 2009 and users of these high-end devices, such as the iPhone and those running Google’s Android, are 50 times more likely to use search than traditional mobile phone users. Already in the first quarter of 2010, searches on Google from these high-end mobile devices were up 62% compared with the final quarter of 2009 [4]. Members of this user group are also 35 times more likely to engage in mobile commerce [5].

Is your brand mobile?

As an advertiser, the question is: how will you respond? Consumer demand exists and is growing rapidly, and many brands say to us: ”We know we need to develop a mobile strategy but where do we start?” The important thing is to ask this question and factor mobile into your business plans now; gain learning and avoid being left behind.

 

Consider these principles when determining your mobile advertising strategy:

  1. Be Clear – know what your business objectives are and how these translate to the mobile platform. Do you want customers to buy a product through your mobile site, be driven to a physical location or download an application? Are you trying to increase brand awareness or get information out to a certain market? Know what your success metrics are.
  2. Be Ready – ensure that you have the right mobile infrastructure in place and can cope with the demand you may face. Develop a high-end-ready mobile website and ensure that the user experience is as easy and intuitive as possible, for instance providing large, clickable user interface features for touchscreen users.
  3. Be Found – ensure that your brand is appearing in front of the right user at the right time. Within search, this encompasses both natural results – you should submit a Mobile Sitemap to the Google index – and paid results. We advise separating your mobile AdWords activity from your desktop activity, with separate campaigns allowing you to have greater control and targeting. Tailor your keywords and ad copy to mobile users, focusing on immediacy with calls to action, and make use of the unique possibilities in phone advertising, such as click-to-call. Consider mobile in your offline media planning too, incorporating ideas such as scannable QR codes on outdoor campaigns to drive traffic to your mobile site. If branding is your objective, consider how else to be found at scale by your mobile audience, for instance by building and promoting an engaging app.
  4. Be Smarter – understand the value that mobile marketing brings to your business and how you can optimise future activity. It is estimated that the number of mobile users paying for goods or services on their mobile phones will increase by 600% from 2009 to 2014 [6]. Ensure that you have conversion tracking and mobile site analytics set up effectively to allow you to make business decisions based on your own performance metrics.

Ian Carrington, mobile advertising sales director, Google

 

Sources
1. Mary Meeker, Morgan Stanley, March 2010
2. European Interactive Advertising Association
3. Continental Research
4. Google internal
5. ComScore
6. Generator Research, May 2010

 

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