The evolution of mobile advertising and marketing in an incredibly short period has been phenomenal. Mobile advertising provides marketers with an accountable medium to understand consumer behaviour and gain deep insight into consumer needs and desires. This targeting capability, combined with creative choice as well as the incorporation of social, video and interactive experiences, makes the advert more engaging and therefore more viral, encouraging users to become advocates of the product or service.
Consumer engagement
Brands that want to engage and target consumers should shift a significant amount of their advertising and marketing budgets to the mobile space. The first investment a brand needs to make is in a company that can deliver all forms of mobile advertising, across different channels based on customer segments, with guaranteed and measurable results.
The dynamic nature of mobile advertising and the fast-changing technology environment enables companies to provide a very rich experience that would see consumers engage with a brand for longer.
The industry is noticing a move away from the standard banner ad to 3D elements that may use features such as the “tilt” functionality of smartphones to provide an experiential component, as well as features such as embedded videos and social interactivity.
Satisfying the data-hungry consumer
Many services for consumers are now offered on a trial basis or free, given ad-supported revenue or what is commonly known as a “Freemium” model. This type of model implies that ad revenue subsidises the cost of services, or that the customer subsequently will convert to a premium model, whereby they would have more features available or access those features via an in-app purchase.
The success of Candy Crush, for example, can be attributed to the fact that the game is both highly addictive and profitable, without resorting to forcing players to part with cash, as it is free to download and play, but there is an ability to purchase items within the games, like more lives and moves. Other ways to target the ever-data-hungry consumer is to provide them with an incentive, such as offering 100MB of free data at a restaurant, when they complete a survey or browse through a few adverts.
Similarly, consumers are showing great interest in video content consumption, where Procter & Gamble is reportedly looking at building branded video streaming channels in India, as an alternative to the usual television ads.
Mobile power
In emerging markets or developing communities such as South Africa, the power mobile holds is incredible and consumers are watching more videos on mobile devices overall, giving marketers more time and opportunity to place ads within streaming video content.
Globally, we are seeing a mobile surge and a trend of replacing the PC with mobile devices as the primary device – certainly, in Africa, the mobile is often the only device available.
Therefore, it’s not surprising that mobile is fast becoming the dominant channel through which we consume video content. The increase in short-form videos from Instagram and Vine will continue to fuel consumers’ appetite for video content.
Yaron Assabi is the founder of Digital Solutions Group. He has extensive experience in the mobile data services and solutions market. Yaron also serves as the ICT strategist for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and formulated the strategy for the 46664 global reach programme. For on Twitter @DSGLimited
