According to a study at eMarketer, worldwide spending for mobile search advertising in 2009 is expected to be more than $760 million. In case you haven’t been keeping track, that’s up almost 20% from last year’s total and by 2012, we’re looking at 2.4 billion… with a ‘b’. Mobile is big and getting bigger.
Are you marketing with mobile? Let us know in the comments.
I know there are plenty of you thinking; mobile, social, paid, organic…somebody shoot me. When does it end? I can’t really help you there, largely because I have no idea myself. Seems like there is something new every day that we have all just ‘got to be doing’ if we’re gonna make it online.
That said, there are over a million iPhones out there already. The new iPhone is already sold out in pre-sales, then there are BlackBerries, Palms, Androids and who know what else. Point being, mobile is proliferating at an alarming rate. Half a billion+ being spent on mobile search is just the cherry on top.
I can’t help it that it’s just ‘one more thing’ to have to bother with, but what I can do is maybe give you some points to consider as you get going. I had a talk with Cindy Krum at SMX Advanced recently about mobile. Cindy is one of the leading experts in the mobile sector and is a regular speaker about all things mobile at pretty much every show I go to. So here are some of the major talking points I took home with me.
Mobile PPC
Mobile PPC is growing pretty rapidly. It has lots of pretty unique advantages too.? Remember, mobile searchers are coming in from a little different angle than traditional search people. Mobile searchers aren’t browsing around, their searches are highly directed and targeted. As Cindy says; “they know where they want to go. They know what they want… they just need to get there”. So keep that in mind when crafting your mobile PPC ad copy and when you choose a destination URL.
One of the coolest parts about mobile PPC that I hadn’t previously considered was the fact that you don’t even have to have a mobile friendly website – or even a website at all – to take advantage of it. You can send your Mobile PPC traffic all kinds of places. Google Maps, YouTube, Your App Store page… all viable destinations.
Speaking of Apps… there are all kinds of people out there building apps and turning a decent profit in the process. According to Cindy Mobile PPC is perfect for this segment. If you are an App builder, sending searchers directly to your app store entry doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all – and it doesn’t even require them to worry about hosting their own landing pages.
>>> Got Mobile in your PPC campaign?
Mobile Doesn’t Stand on it’s Own
Another solid point Cindy made in Seattle was that mobile won’t stand on it’s own. You need to think about ways to integrate mobile into your existing infrastructure. Mobile is a supplement to your business. If you have a successful website, you can use mobile to add to your traffic stream. If you have a brick and mortar, mobile is still a good idea as we mentioned earlier as a tool to get people into your doors. You need to dedicate some attention and time to mobile, but you need to have something working for you already that mobile can add to. It’s not your starting point in other words.
Cindy made the point that mobile is a good way to give your loyal users and people that may already be evangelizing your brand an easy avenue of spreading the good word about you. Facebook usage is up some 700% this year, Twitter is a monster… if people can answer the question of ‘what are you doing now’ with “shopping for blue beach widgets at your (site/store)”… that’s a good thing.
Mobile = Viral
Finally, mobile is inherently viral. Personally, this is another aspect of mobile that hadn’t really occurred to me before, but it does make sense. Cindy says; “you may not be sitting next to me at my desk where I can show you what’s on my monitor, but you may be sitting next to me on the bus and I can show you what’s on my iPhone.”
This is just another aspect of what you should be seeing as a recurring theme with mobile. Mobile is an emerging, growing, easy way for you to gain additional exposure for your brand. Mobile is about ‘getting yourself out there’ and increasing the accessibility of your business to your existing and potential customers. In that regard, it’s really not a whole lot different than anything else, but it is one of the fastest growing segments of the marketplace with a huge amount of upside. If you haven’t started thinking a lot about it yet, it’s time to start.
Which is bigger: Mobile or Social? Sound off in the comments.
