In today’s world, there’s nothing that businesses are worried about more than their bottom line, and the impact that advertising has on this figure is no exception. Increasingly brands that use advertising are under more and more pressure to translate advertising spend into cold, hard ales. Building brand awareness is all well and good, after all, but does it help to demonstrate ROI? With this in mind, there’s no doubt that the question on many brand’s lips when it comes to allocating their marketing budget, is does mobile advertising actually drive revenue? If so, what’s the best way for them to achieve this?

There is no argument when it comes to the role that smartphones play in the daily lives of consumers. According to recent research, “UK mobile searchers demonstrate strong purchase intent with 40 per cent reporting an intention to make a purchase within the day, while 35 per cent take up to a month before making a purchase decision.” The smartphone has turned the role of mobile from a portable communications device into the ‘always on’ companion and advertisers need to be ready to take advantage of this palm-held confidante. Thanks to smartphones, consumers are now always possible to reach, meaning the opportunities to engage customers has increased in leaps and bounds over recent years.

At the end of the day, marketers are trying to drive sales, and smartphones are increasingly becoming an integral part of this process. Not only do today’s smartphones help shoppers research and make a purchase decision on the go, but they also help to inform them about special offers and promotions. As a result, advertisers are finding that they need to adapt their individual campaigns to reflect the increasingly diverse mobile needs of their customers. The question is how to develop an advertising campaign for mobile that will appeal to everyone.

First of all, there’s no doubt that an engaging campaign can increase the likelihood that the user will skip straight to making a purchase decision rather than looking around for more information. This of course, is the holy grail for brands. If mobile advertising can have a positive impact, not just on brand awareness, but also on a customer’s intention to purchase, then it cannot be deemed to be anything other than a success. Drawing customers in through engaging, content-rich campaigns can be an extremely effective way of achieving this.

So what’s the secret to moving the customers preference from ‘that’s nice’ to ‘I want one!’? Brands need to focus on the importance of matching your advert to the specific features that your customers need and want. This means researching different adverts and looking into what increases not only awareness, but most importantly, intent to purchase, through different swipe formats or ranges of colours.

From a brand perspective, publishers need to look at customer preferences and refine their advertising according to the preferences of their target audience. Invasive and irrelevant advertisements will only disturb and annoy users. The trick is to target users before they are actively engaged in an activity, such as when an app is uploading. Knowing when and where to communicate via mobile advertising can be the difference between success and failure.

Successful advertisers take advantage of targeting possibilities and suitable ad formats making sure to use the right message to the right audience at the right time. Just showing a picture and text doesn't work anymore (if it ever has). Today, convenient, built in features such as click to call, calendar and geographic locations can all help brands to engage the consumers even if a great deal is still about the actual content.

You need to ask yourself if your advertising spend is following the eyeballs to mobile.

 

By Joy Dean, head of partnerships at Widespace.

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