Three Keys To Success With Local Mobile
In early November, Google announced plans to dominate the mobile market with its Android operating system, offering $10 million in rewards to the developers who build the best Android applications. Meanwhile, Yahoo! is busy locking up worldwide distribution deals for its Go 2.0 system and has signed up major phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG Electronics and HTC.
Since mobile phones are in the process of becoming mini pocket PCs, there’s no doubt mobile is about to get hot. Marketers, start your engines; it’s time to concentrate on a local-mobile marketing strategy now.
The stakes
Money is there to be made despite the years of slow motion. In 2006, the mobile ad spend was $1.5 billion worldwide (eMarketer). That may seem rather puny compared to the $24 billion spent on internet advertising, never mind the $450 billion spent on total advertising for the year. The lack of interest in mobile has been mostly due to limitations of technology, which are being overcome with the iPhone and other smartphones to hit the market, not to mention Google’s push to provide an operating system with apps that make phones into mini PCs.
The problems concerning privacy are also melting away as research continues to show that mobile users will accept ads for free services. IBM Institute for Business Value conducted an online survey of more than 2,400 mobile users in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Japan and Australia, reporting a majority of these users would accept ads for free services. To provide a current example, Virgin Mobile USA signed up about 330,000 of its 4.8 million subscribers for its Sugar Mama program that “pays” subscribers one minute of free call time for every 45 seconds they spend interacting with an ad on their phones or the company’s website. Since the program launched about a year ago, Virgin has given away 9 million minutes of mobile talk time, as reported in Business Week.
Despite the fact that mobile spending is miniscule now, this platform will grow rapidly with its ubiquitous nature that almost imparts omniscience. Imagine the beauty of having instant access to information in your pocket 24/7 with Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 apps at your fingertips.
The monetary projections vary widely, perhaps in anticipation of advanced technology yet in development. ABI Research projected a 13-fold increase in global spending on mobile marketing and advertising between 2006 and 2011. Informa Telecoms & Media predicted mobile advertising will be worth $11.5 billion by 2011. eMarketer is more bullish, predicting $14 billion by 2011. Yet other analysts say mobile marketing can get as high as $20 billion worldwide by then.
In the U.S. alone, Kelsey Group expects mobile search ad revenue to grow from $33.2 million in 2007 to $1.4 billion in 2012, representing a compound annual growth rate of 112 percent.
The obstacles
For mobile to succeed, it will be necessary to achieve cooperation between the mobile carriers, the handset manufacturers, the software developers, and the search engines. These are the major players that have the most to gain or lose, and they’re all fighting for control. The carriers are the most anal, trying to control their customers and databases.
But the customers refuse to be controlled. iCrossing’s 2007 mobile study shows that mobile users prefer Google, Yahoo and MSN rather than the default search provided by carrier deck. These walled gardens won’t last much longer as the smartphones give users unfettered access to the mobile web.
The development of the mobile web gives your business the opportunity to extend its reach through an additional marketing channel. Competing in the mobile channel requires the following three-prong strategy.
It goes without saying that developing a site for the mobile screen differs from designing a wired site. Don’t plan on transcoding your wired site into mobile because this simply won’t give users the best user experience. You can, however, use a subdomain such as mobile.yourdomain.com or xhtml.yourdomain.com, and get a decent site with some updating and coding.
To illustrate the difference in screen size between mobile vs. PC screens, try this: if you have a smartphone, go to http://mobile.aol.com/. Then go to http://www.aol.com/ on your PC from a standard browser to see what I mean.
Here’s the mobile screen:
Here’s the web screenshot:
Keeping in mind the constraints of a tiny screen, below are some tips for designing your mobile site.
Navigation: Put navigation buttons below your most important content to display critical content above the fold, making it visible to users as they surf. Ensure navigation buttons are clearly labeled and well organized. Use text links for main navigation. Important: provide a site map. Place jump links on top, allowing users to immediately access content below the fold. Important inner pages should be within three clicks of the homepage. Be ever mindful of the small screen.
Coding: Use XHTML. Write correct code and avoid unnecessary code to ensure fast download. Use external CSS to decrease load time and ensure correct display across multiple devices with different screen resolutions. Keep file names short and keyword-rich.
Mobile SEO
Follow traditional SEO best practices by using targeted keyword copy, meta tags and links that can accommodate the small screen. Be mindful that queries are shorter (two to three words in an average mobile search query) when selecting keywords.
Avoid pop-ups, frames and Flash. Get links from relevant mobile sites. You can use press releases and blog posts for gaining backlinks. Use social bookmarking and tagging. Go easy on embedded objects (images, scripts, etc.) because they may not download correctly.
Test across devices and device simulators (Google Mobile Proxy and Skweezer). Validate your dot-mobi site with mobile code checkers (W3C Mobile Web Validator and .Mobi Validator).
Tip for local-mobile: Make your telephone number clickable by using the sample syntax below. This immediately connects users to your business when they click on your phone number.
<href=”tel:6193982670″>619-398-2670< /a>
References for mobile web development standards:
W3C Mobile Web Initiative
Open Mobile Alliance.
List your mobile site in all the mobile search engines and directories. Besides the majors, focus on the local and vertical search engines relevant to your niche. Many verticals are local in nature. People looking to rent a house might go to Craigslist. Retail queries may go to BizRate or PriceGrabber. Locally-oriented verticals include real estate sites like Zillow and automotive portals like Vehix. Some verticals charge a submission fee. The nature of your business determines which local/vertical search engines to submit to.
Local-mobile tip: Make sure your business profile is correctly listed in local search sites. Most search sites populate their databases with maps and business information for hundreds of thousands of local businesses from various databanks such as Yellow Pages and Acxiom. So your business may already be listed in Google Maps and Yahoo Local, but you need to verify the information is correct because sometimes these databanks are inaccurate. Your profile consists of company name, address, phone number and a link. This information about your company will appear in local search results. So you want to ensure it is correct, and if it’s not, you can edit the info from Google or Yahoo.
Listing tip: Don’t wait for mobile search engines to crawl your site; you’ll get listed faster when you submit. Below is my most current list of mobile search engines.
Mobile search engines
4Info Mobile Search
411synch
AOL Mobile Search
Ask Mobile Search
Bango
Cellmania
Click4Wap
FreoWap
Google Mobile Search
Go2
Indexcell
Infospace
JumpTap
Medio Systems
Mobicious
MobileLeap
MSN Mobile Search
Nokia Mobile Search
Sensis
Seek4Wap
Skweezer
Technorati Mobile
Wapall
WapFinder
Waply
Yahoo Mobile Search
YoSpace
Now that you’ve established a mobile presence and are listed in mobile search engines, you are ready to concentrate on developing your mobile initiatives.
Up until recently, most mobile campaigns used text-messaging because marketers were wary of using video and other multimedia ads for fear of consumer backlash (Airwide Solutions 2007). However, two factors will enable wider use of the mobile channel: proliferation of smartphones as prices become more affordable, and the realization that users would happily tolerate ads for rewards such as free services.
It’s important to remember that mobile works best when it is integrated with other marketing tactics. Mobile is a medium that requires engagement and targeting. It can be used along with offline and online marketing tactics such as press releases and social media marketing to create viral campaigns by offering prizes and coupons. Below is a review of the type of ad campaigns that have run on the mobile platform.
Opt-in SMS campaign: Text messages sent by short message service (SMS) ads can be used to persuade consumers to provide their cellphone number in exchange for special offers and coupons delivered via text message. Example: contests to win prizes or SMS alerts to customers reminding them to reorder a product while offering a discount coupon with a “buy now” call-to-action.
Opt-in MMS campaign: Multimedia message service (MMS) provides advertisers with a way to send and receive wireless messages that include images, audio and video clips as well as text. Promotions might offer a mobile game demo by giving users a chance to download the free demo through a WAP link embedded in the message. Once the trial is over, the user might get a discount coupon to buy the full game from a dedicated WAP site.
Mobile pay-per-click campaigns: Google and Yahoo provide mobile PPC ads on their mobile search engines and have ad networks for content site ads through Google AdSense for Mobile and Yahoo Mobile Publisher Services. Microsoft also plans to deploy mobile search ads globally after concluding a number of mobile deals, including the recent acquisition of Paris-based mobile ad network ScreenTonic.
Mobile ad networks: You can also place mobile PPC ads through mobile ad networks on a number of content networks, targeting by country, audience or device. If you don’t have a mobile site, the service providers will create a mobile landing page. Most service providers give you reporting and analytics. Mobile ad solutions providers include AdMob, Enpocket, Mobile Posse, Quattro Wireless and Third Screen Media to mention a few. Mobile content sellers (companies selling ringtones, games, services and applications for mobile) use such ad networks to advertise to a targeted audience with good results.
Location-specific targeting: Cellular networks can locate callers to within 50 to 300 meters by triangulating signals. Thus, a caller’s location could be matched with a business that has purchased an ad targeted by surfing behavior and demographics. Carriers like Sprint Nextel expect to deliver ads based on users’ near-exact location. Most carriers have yet to initiate GPS-specific ads, but soon will.
Local search display ad: These banners are designed for local search on the mobile web. They can also drive traffic to an offline business. A user searching from Yahoo Local on a cellphone might be looking for information on garbage disposals. That user would be served a banner ad within search results for a nearby hardware store. Sites like Lowe’s or Ace Hardware could potentially have sponsored ads showing as well. Consumers could click the banner ad for more info or click to call.
Ad-supported content sponsorship: Gartner predicts sponsorships will ultimately be the dominant format for mobile advertising. This model is useful because consumer surveys show mobile users are willing to receive and view ads in return for free or lower-cost mobile apps or services. Music, games and mobile TV/video are among the most popular mobile content services mobile users want for free (Informa Telecoms & Media, 2006).
Example: Greystripe is a game portal that provides mobile content free to consumers through its AdWRAP advertising network, which delivers full screen images, videos and scrolling banners into its mobile games and applications. After download, users must view a full-screen ad before and after playing the game. In-game ad space sells for $45 CPM. Ad types are click-to-call, click-to-mobile web and click-to-jump page (survey/poll). Revenue is shared with the game publishers. This model claims an average worldwide clickthrough rate of 15 percent for the seven brands with ads in this game portal.
Carriers are testing a similar model to supplement their current payment plans. Verizon is testing a two-tier payment model, charging higher fees for ad-free and lower fees for ad-supported content.
Mobile campaigns must be opt-in, relevant to the audience and deliver a good user experience. Campaigns are good for branding and creating customer loyalty, as well as increasing sales. From a measurement point of view, there are challenges; however, what better unique-identifier than the mobile phone number?
Your best prospects are early adopters, business users and the youth market (teens 13-17 and the 18-34 demographic). Knowing your audience well and targeting to their needs is important for success.
Response rates are typically higher than those reported on wired campaigns. Enpocket reported an MMS-driven campaign for Samsung that achieved response rates of more than 15 percent and a conversion rate of 2 percent.
The Airwide Solutions survey found 75 percent of marketers reported mobile-marketing response rates of more than 5 percent. Another 27 percent saw purchase rates of more than 5 percent for their campaigns.
Who’s going mobile?
The Airwide Solutions survey found 32 percent of brands will spend more than 5 percent of their marketing budgets on mobile marketing in 2009, while 58 percent expect to reach that level by 2012. MarketingSherpa found 49.2 percent of marketers are thinking about conducting a mobile search campaign, and 13.8 percent will definitely start or test one this year.
While it’s not yet common for online websites to market directly to consumers via their cellphones, many companies are testing this strategy. It’s a good time to start learning as much as you can about your customers — find out what they might respond to and what turns them off.
What’s the cost?
Are mobile marketing campaigns expensive, you ask? Well, they can be; however, there are some low-cost options you can explore. Look for a carrier that allows you to send or receive a batch of SMS messages for $200 or less. Some carriers don’t charge customers to receive text messages; others include a specific number in their standard plan, which usually cost less than 10 cents per message.
More sophisticated SMS marketing services can start at $3,000 or more. This includes hosted, web-based mobile messaging campaign software, which provides a dashboard interface, reports, a customer database and various other tools. On top of that, you can spend another $100 to $300 monthly for hosting fees, plus charges up to 10 cents per message.
Some mobile ad campaigns run $5,000 to $10,000 and more. Inexpensive campaigns are called blind buys. You can’t select the mobile sites where you want your ads to display. These campaigns can be launched quickly, sometimes within a day. Expensive campaigns take more time to launch, but they allow you to specify the sites where you want your ads to display.
The following check list can help you review the major points that govern mobile marketing:
• Define your target audience
• Write an ad that engages your audience
• Create a clear and precise call-to-action
• Mobile messages are about interaction — don’t pitch
• Be relevant, timely, clever
• Let people express themselves by making suggestions and responses
• Use humor
• Pull users to mobile interaction through other media: ads, radio, internet, TV, billboards
• Use multimedia
• Target your demographic carefully, tailoring ads accordingly
• Gain permission; trust is key because the medium is personal
• Create a click-to-call option
• Incentivize your campaigns with coupons
• Create exciting contests
• Send your page via mobile email
• Add the ability to share with others through SMS
• Use mobile in tandem with other offline and online marketing tactics
• Test and validate your mobile advertising campaigns and website to ensure proper display
• Integrate your mobile marketing and messaging into your entire media and messaging campaigns
• Get it right the first time; campaigns will cost more if not done well
In closing, think about going mobile in 2008. With 2.8 billion mobile phones around the world (Wireless Intelligence, 2007), you can reach a wider audience than the billion or so personal computers worldwide. And the number of mobile phones is growing faster than the number of computers. Lastly, people carry their mobile phones everywhere and are depending on them more and more for answering questions and accomplishing tasks. Mobile marketing done right is a win-win, hands down.