There is no doubt that mobile is changing the world of marketing. In fact, after attending the DMA 2011 conference, I would like to report the following (very unscientific) numbers:
- 85% of all attendees were carrying a smartphone
- 60% of the exhibitors had QR Codes on signage, collateral, or clothing
- Nearly every session mentioned how mobile is changing [fill-in-the-blank] (options include: web browsing, social networking, online video, searching, commerce, payments, etc.)
As businesses seek to adjust resources to reach the mobile audience, one item that should be looked at is advertising.
Many companies still spend quite a bit online advertising. But as people shift their web browsing habits from their desktop/laptop to their smartphone, businesses will need to adjust their advertising strategies. They may need to make changes to their creative, their messaging, their data collection process, and their tracking methods.
Will it pay off to make those changes? We will have to wait and see. But that doesn’t mean that companies should not invest in the mobile ad space yet.
eMarketer recently published some statistics and estimates on that subject.
They estimate that “advertisers will spend nearly $1.23 billion on mobile advertising this year in the US, up from $743 million last year.” Also, they project that the number will be $4.4 billion by 2015.
Clearly, as the number of smartphone owners increase, thus will increase the number of people that will no longer see the banner ad that you are paying for on someone’s blog or website. We certainly must be ready to start reaching those people with mobile advertisements and campaigns that will appear on mobile websites.