Mobile Marketing Campaigns: Present and Future
If you’re tired of hearing that the “future of marketing is changing” every other week, you’re not alone. Many of these marketing fads and passing social media platforms will be gone before you can even think about a strategy. But one trend that is certainly not disappearing is mobile marketing. In 2014 mobile internet usage surpassed desktop for the very first time. And that trend continues its upward climb. While mobile marketing is here for good, it’s still unclear as to which mediums and techniques are going to prove the most successful in the long run. Today we’re going to discuss a few mobile marketing trends that we believe will come out on top when the dust of the mobile revolution settles.
Present: Geolocation; Future: Beacon Proximity
While utilizing mobile marketing means reaching consumers no matter where they are, the newer trend is reaching them because of where they are. Access to geolocation data used to be a privacy concern for many, but now 53% of consumers are willing to share their location to receive more relevant advertising. Beyond geolocation, retailers can also use beacon proximity marketing to target users via a local Wi-Fi or Bluetooth signal. This is the most relevant to retail locations who can beam discounts, specials, product videos, and more to any willing participants walking by.
Present: Video Ads; Future: Vertical Video
To everyone who predicted that “video is the future of marketing,” congratulations, you were correct. In fact, it’s no longer the future, it’s already here. According to Cisco, mobile data traffic grew nearly 70 percent in 2014, with 55 percent of that traffic spent on videos. And by 2019, it’s predicted that up to 72% of mobile traffic will be videos. But there is a particular trend that continues to grow with the rise of Snapchat, Periscope, and Meerkat: vertical video.
Once thought to be the bane of viewers’ eyeballs, new studies have shown users are extremely unlikely to rotate their phones to watch an ad. With everything literally at our fingertips, we’ve become understandably lazy. Considering you now have about one second of scrolling before your video is gone forever, vertical video offers an opportunity to grab consumers’ attention in an increasingly widespread format. One vertical video from Audi saw an 80% increase in effective video completion. For more information about utilizing video for marketing, read our piece on how to use video in brand storytelling.
Present: Make an App; Future: Make an App?
According to Flurry, U.S. consumers spent more time inside mobile applications than watching television in 2015. Naturally, this has led to a flooding of app stores from every brand, large and small.
But before you run out and develop an app for your SMB, remember that more than 80% of app usage happens in the top five apps on a user’s phone. If you can imagine this list on your own phone, you know it’s going to be hard to break into that level. How many apps have you downloaded and never opened again? Instead, consider how to get your marketing into those top five apps. Of course there are plenty of businesses whose apps are generating returns, but the starting cost to develop an app is around $150,000 today, so before you allocate those resources, be sure the demand is there, and that your mobile site isn’t already the answer.
Present: Mobile & Social; Future: Mobile, Social & E-commerce
If you’re not creating mobile ads for social networks, you are already far behind the times. In fact, 78% of Facebook’s advertising revenue comes from mobile ads. Social media ads are great at raising brand awareness, extending reach, and increasing site traffic. Unfortunately, social media has shown paltry results when it comes to converting. But that number is on the rise.
People already shop on their phones. In fact, 50.3% of e-commerce traffic comes from mobile, though desktop still holds the lion’s share of revenue. Social has awkwardly lagged behind as the place no one wants to buy things. But we believe social is going to play an increasingly large part in e-commerce sales going forward, both on mobile and desktop.
Whatever your mobile marketing strategies are, it’s no question that in 2016, you already have some in place. The question going forward is whether or not you’ll be leading the pack in the way we interact with mobile in the future.
UNION is a digital marketing agency founded in 2002 and headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Considered a digital marketing leader, UNION collaborates with many of the Southeast region’s top brands to achieve business objectives through strategy, creative and technology. The agency specializes in crafting digital marketing platforms, and campaigns that deliver meaningful and measurable ROI results.
