In our last blog, we discussed how to make your outdoor advertising more effective. The impetus for that topic was the arrival of lets-go-outside weather. Another hot-weather phrase that gets bandied about this time of year is “good summer beach read.” Not long ago, you might have stuffed your beach bag with a good paperback or two. These days though, you’re just as likely to see people on the beach reading the latest thriller on an e-reader, tablet, even their phone. So in the spirit of adventuring outdoors without needing to make a just-as-extreme, monkish vow to completely disconnect, here’s something to add to your summer beach reading list: 5 tips for making your mobile advertising more effective.
In the Moment. Mobile is inherently about immediacy. If you give your users a chance to act immediately, you can capitalize much more effectively. If it’s dinnertime, restaurants should be pushing coupons. If it’s April, clothing stores should be pushing rain apparel.
Pinpoint Accuracy. Just as timing is crucial, location is just as essential to an effective campaign. Geotarget your users so that every dollar you spend on advertising is being spent on potential customers, rather than the broad public. Drill down farther and push ads when potential customers are within a specified distance from your store or a place that’s relevant to your business.
Directed Advertising. As we said in our last blog, outdoor is not the time for direct advertising. In mobile advertising, direct is your best bet. If you’re ad is timed right and pushed to the right place, all you have to do is give your user a chance to directly engage. Let them “click here” for a coupon that they can use right then and there. And just like 7 words is the rule of thumb for billboards, less clicks is the rule of thumb for mobile ads. Each additional required click cuts your audience in half.
Can I Get Your Number? Billboards aren’t the right place for phone numbers. Neither are TV or radio. When was the last time you wrote down the phone number off a TV commercial? But on a smartphone, users just have to click on the number and they’re already dialing your store. An ad for a pizza parlor that includes a coupon and a phone number to click and place an order? That’s about as effective as it gets.
The Rest of the Pie. Mobile advertising needs to be one component of an integrated effort. If your entire campaign is mobile, you’re not only going to miss out on large swaths of your audience, your campaign will have to do more work than mobile can accommodate. But if you’re generating awareness in other media and then sealing the deal with mobile ads that are relevant and targeted, you’ll solve the puzzle.