You’d have to be living on the moon to miss the fact that our lives are ruled by mobile phones.
So marketers should be falling over themselves to reach their customers on these devices, right?
But they’re not.
A Bain & Company survey discovered that we interact with our mobiles an average of 13 times an hour – or around 200 times in our waking day.
But while we consume a quarter of our media via these handheld devices, companies spend just 13% of marketing budgets on mobile advertising.
Brands tend to view mobile under the umbrella of digital media – when it deserves to be an umbrella all on its own!
Until they do, they won't be Singin' In The Rain of profits, but simply experiencing a steady trickle (see what I did there?)
Rather than measuring mobile with the expectations and practices of other forms of online advertising, mobile should be considered its own medium with enormous possibilities and ways of engaging.
I have previously discussed micro moments, and the fact that marketers have three seconds or less to grab the attention of mobile browsers.
What’s crucial, is that marketers and brands serve mobile users with relevant information at just the right time. In order to do this (and capitalise on the very short conversion window) brands cannot simply repurpose digital content created and optimised for desktop.
Resizing an image, using the same targeting criteria, and displaying the same advertising message originally created for desktop won’t cut the mustard on mobile.
Brands will waste money splitting advertising budget across multiple devices, but see a lower conversion rate and ROI from mobile, due to lack of mobile- focused formatting and optimisation.
Brands and marketers need to have a comprehensive, mobile-only strategy.
The strategy needs to account for mobile-specific asset creation, content, targeting, segmentation and analytics.
I would go so far as to say that the mobile-focused strategy should have its own, dedicated budget.
We know that mobile usage will continue to grow – especially in emerging market countries that are becoming increasingly important to brands and marketers alike.
It’s crucial that we start thinking about mobile as its own medium, with marketing and advertising specifically tailored to capitalising on micro moments and driving conversions.