Mobile is fast becoming the device we reach to for advice and assistance throughout our daily routine, so it's little wonder that verticals such as Health & Fitness and Finance are stepping up mobile advertising activities and spend.
It's a massive mobile advertising trend that marked 2011, and sure to gain additional momentum in 2012, according to the 2011 Year In Review SMART report (Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting).
The holiday numbers are in, the mobile user surveys are done, and the implications for brands, retailers and marketers are profound. Mobile has become an integral part of the shopping routine, with the vast majority of consumers admitting to using their mobile phones to search and purchase gifts. John Stevens examines this mobile megatrend and shares eight tips for creating and executing a successful mobile strategy.
***
Shopping will never be the same. A number of reports show that people rely on mobile every step of the consumer journey. Equally mobile search continues to play a huge part in our lives. A recent Performics survey of 502 U.S, residents who use mobile phones to search the web at least once a week revealed that a whopping 75 percent of consumers report mobile search makes their lives easier. Specifically, 63 percent said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information, and 32 percent said they use search more on their mobile devices than they do on their personal computers.
Every week over at m-pulse we discus the companies and concepts rocking the industry and my pick was Scoopshot, a mobile crowdsourcing app (and ecosystem) that allows media companies to post location-aware photo 'assignments' to the community of app users. The upshot is user-generated content that impresses on two counts: media (newspapers, magazines, online) have fresh content and people earn money for their photos. What's more, the app is plugged into an ecosystem that manages right and makes payments.
It is refreshing to see such a well-executed strategy and end-to-end ecosystem, so I caught up with Niko Ruokosuo, the brains behind Scoopshot, which is also owned by Helsinki-based P2S Media Group Inc. Niko — acts as the CEO of the company and is in charge of the company’s internationalization efforts, business development operations and marketing — has a long track record in the media industry and held executive positions in companies including: the Saudi Research and Marketing Group, one of the largest media organizations in the Middle East, the Finnish magazine publisher Sanoma Kaupunkilehdet and the Los Angeles Times.
Did Amazon's Kindle Fire cost Apple some holiday iPad sales? Only Amazon knows. However, reports coming in over the last days indicate that Kindle Fire sales outpaced most analysts' forecasts. What's more, the new tablets device is seeing ad impressions grow at an average double-digit daily rate since its launch in the U.S. market in November, a data point that could mean the imminent release of the Kindle Fire in Europe could do more than burn up iPad sales. It may mark a seismic shift in how brands and sellers approach marketing in the mobile channel.
A raft of recent developments supports the observation that this device is indeed a game-changer, starting with buoyant sales numbers that have exceeded everyone's expectations. Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente (via All Things Digital) has upped his original estimate of 4.5 million units sold last quarter to 5.5 million. Piper Jaffray is convinced Amazon is on track to sell 10-12 million Kindle devices (Kindle and Kindle Fire), up from the initial estimate of 9 million units. Meanwhile, analyst Tavis McCourt at Morgan Keegan has downgraded his iPad sales forecasts for the quarter from 16 million units to 13 million. (Again, sales lost to Kindle Fire.)
As more people purchase smartphones and tablets, increasing their access to the mobile Web and applications, advertisers are clamoring to engage them there. But the bigger challenge is how to deliver people advertising they are likely to appreciate because it ticks all the boxes. Tim Jenkins draws from his company's experience with Hartz, a U.S.-based maker of pet care products, to show how knowing people's offline behavior can vastly improve mobile advertising effectiveness.
***
Mobile advertising is set to explode. Market research firm eMarketer predicts that mobile ad spending will increase 48 percent this year from $743.1 million in 2010 to $1.1 billion in 2011. That’s significant growth, but none of this projected spending will be effective if advertisers can’t reach the right people with the right types of ads on the right devices at the right times.
Who are the big-spenders in mobile advertising? In Q3 2011 the financial services sector jumped from third place in Q2 2011 to become the leading vertical in the U.S., ranked by mobile ad spend, followed by Entertainment, Retail & Restaurants, Telecoms and CPG...
People are increasingly relying on mobile for assistance to make a wide variety of product and purchase decisions, a seismic shift in behavior that spells opportunity for brands across all industry verticals, including automotive, retail, travel, finance,...
Indoor navigation -- and services that map and understand our mobility patterns - lay the ground work for a slew of exciting new location services that combine advertising, marketing, couponing and analytics to deliver people offers they truly can't refuse. What is the role of mobile operators? Where are the growth opportunities? These are just a few of the questions I explore with Phyllis Reuther, manager of the advanced analytics lab run by the major U.S. mobile operator Sprint.
Mobile is global. Mobile must be aligned with our needs, not technology. Mobile sits at the center of a strategy to 'engage at every stage.' Mobile has caused and enabled irrevocable changes in our behavior. Effective mobile marketing requires a sharp focus on four mindsets: 1) I'm local. 2) I'm bored. 3) I'm multitasking. 4) I need it NOW.
These are some of the observations and opinions voiced by a few of the just over 100 professionals, practitioners and passionates who made our first Tweetchat an invigorating exchange and a rousing success. Tweetreach, for example, reports we reached nearly 107,000 people via just under 600 tweets to
With the MMA Forum (London, October 4-5)-- the premiere mobile marketing knowledge and networking event organized by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) -- just three weeks away, MobileGroove brings industry authorities and pundits together to debate the hot trends and topics moving up the global brands agenda.
Grab a pew at the MMA Tweetchat (September 20) and follow the edgy and informative exchange with Paul Berney, MMA CMO, and Tomi Ahonen, independent consultant, influential blogger and seven-time best-selling author.
How can the charitable sector can leverage mobile to connect with the public and collect donations on a massive scale? We talk with Andrew Darling, Associate Director of Market Development at OpenMarket, a company providing payment and messaging services to mobile retail and commerce clients worldwide. OpenMarket is also a driving force in efforts to help charities put together the approaches and platforms that will allow them to take donations and connect with the people who give to relief efforts and causes around the world.
The benefits and the business models around mobile are the topic of Empowering the Charitable Sector with Interactive Technology II (September 15, London). The all-day knowledge seminar organized by AIME (the Association for Interactive media & Entertainment) is already standing room only (!), an unexpectedly high attendance that tells us the topic strikes a chord with charities, advertising & marketing agencies, service providers, broadcasters, industry bodies and mobile operators--all the players that need to come together and work together to maximize the potential for all kinds of charities to use mobile.
Give your customers what they want? It's a tall order on mobile, where marketers must navigate an increasingly fragmented landscape and ensure they are supporting all the different ways their customers consume Web services. Ronan Cremin cuts through some of the myths about our mobile device usage and behavior to reveal what we really need to know about mobile.
***
Doing business on the Internet used to be so simple. If you knew for sure that your desktop website was optimized for access across all browsers, then your job was done. That was then. Now, the explosion of Internet-capable and connected devices has complicated matters. As more customers access your site from mobile devices, you have to do more to deliver a good user experience. To deliver content your customers can access and enjoy on their mobile devices you need to know what those devices are, what capabilities and features they have and -- more importantly -- how your customers are using them.
A last call for entries for the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards organized by Mobile Marketing Magazine. The deadline to submit your campaign (no entry fee, BTW) is Friday, August 26th. (However, David Murphy - friend, esteemed colleague and editor of Mobile Marketing Magazine -- tells me there will likely be a few days grace for those struggling, so get started on those entries!)
#FF amplifies the voices that matter most, and profiles Millennial Media, an independent mobile advertising and data company, that has consistently provided the industry with mobile intelligence and actionable insights. How have mobile advertising campaigns,...
Mobile is fast becoming the device we reach to for advice and assistance throughout our daily routine, so it's little wonder that verticals such as Health & Fitness and Finance are stepping up mobile advertising activities and spend.
