5 Most Common Mistakes in Mobile Marketing
Mobile devices comprise about half of all online traffic. Neglecting to include mobile marketing in your strategy would be a foolish mistake.
[guest post by Sophia Mest]
The only time it’s a problem is when you aren’t using mobile marketing effectively. If you’re running a bad marketing campaign, that’s just as bad as running no campaign at all. Before you launch your next mobile ad campaign, be sure that it satisfies the necessary requirements for success.
1. Not Optimizing for Mobile
This may seem obvious enough, but you’d be surprised to learn how many major companies have failed in this regard. In recent times, big brands like Target and Chipotle have actually ran mobile ads that weren’t optimized for mobile.
Why would someone go out of their way to enlarge an advertisement? If it doesn’t display correctly, you’re out of luck. Consumers aren’t going to expend extra effort to get your ad to display correctly.
2. Creating Annoying Ads
Imagine this: you’re reading a fascinating article on your phone when suddenly, a giant ad obscures the page. You have to manually close this ad to go back to your article. Are you going to walk away with a positive impression of the brand advertised, or are you going to be irritated that they disrupted your experience?
There are tons of apps for iPhone and Android that block mobile ads of this nature, because mobile users are tired of the annoyance. Your ads shouldn’t be designed to inconvenience anyone – doing so will alienate people who may have otherwise shopped with you.
3. Uselessly Generic Efforts
You’ve decided to expand your mobile marketing efforts by creating an app. People love apps, provided they’re useful. Phones have limited storage space, and people won’t hang on to apps that don’t provide them with some sort of value.
Your app should be personalized, customizable, and functional. If nobody has a reason to use it, the only time they’re going to interact with it is when they tap, hold, and drag it to the recycle bin. Always optimize apps and turn them into useful tools.
4. Failing to Provide Direction
What do you want people to do with your ads? What are you promoting? How do you want people to purchase it? Let them know. Your mobile marketing should contain some kind of call to action. Big logos and stock images don’t do anything at all, particularly if people have no idea why they’re looking at it. You may not have a lot of space for graphics and text, so make sure everything counts. If you want people to buy something, don’t make it difficult for them to do so.
5. Ignoring Your Demographic
Who are you targeting? Are you running your mobile marketing campaign in places that they actually visit? Running a broad campaign is expensive, and likely ineffective. Target your demographic by marketing on their favorite online haunts. Design your ads to appeal to a specific lifestyle, and make sure your branding is clear.
You need to capture people’s interest, and thorough market research will help you develop ideal ads. It’s worth spending some money investigating your demographic if you want to directly speak to those people.
It’s crucial to remember that advertising today isn’t the same as it was five years ago. Get with the times and adopt a modern approach if you want real, measurable results. Mobile marketing is relatively new in terms of marketing methods, but everyone is doing it. If you want to compete, you need to stay innovative.
** About the Author: Sophia Mest is a Content Manager at BizDb, where she aspires to put her writing passion into practice and spread her words across the world. She spends her free time travelling and exploring the wonders of nature. Follow her on Twitter @MestSophia
