By: Bob Kernen
EMarketer predicts that 2016 will be the year that ad spending on mobile surpasses spending on desktop. They also predict that mobile ad spending will equal 25% of all ad spending. Clearly, mobile is where the money is moving.
But a recent article in Ad Age questions the rush to “mobile first” as a strategy. And while there is no question that there are both major advantages and major challenges to marketing on mobile, they make a compelling point that effective mobile advertising should be just one part of the whole marketing picture. For radio, this is very good news if you can effectively bring together all of your assets – on-air, web, email and mobile.
The top categories according to eMarketer’s survey are retail at 23.2% of total spend, followed by financial services and automotive at about 12% each, and telecom at 11.4%. These are all categories where you probably already have strong relationships, so leverage those relationships to bring your mobile opportunities into the equation. If you haven’t already, check out our recent webinar on Monetizing Mobile.
Most of your advertisers are already working with the giants in the mobile space – Facebook, Google, etc. – and those companies do take a lion’s share of the market. Facebook alone takes almost 20% of the market. But buying Facebook isn’t really a complete strategy, and you should emphasize to your clients the things that are unique about your offering – brand association, fan passion, a local focus – in trying to carve off a piece of that mobile budget for yourself.
One of the most powerful tools you have is the ability to deliver rich media experiences – audio and video – to your clients on mobile. More and more marketers are seeing mobile not just as a search or transaction-driven platform, but as a place for strong branding. Here again, your ability to combine advertising elements such as on-air and mobile give you a unique value proposition that can lead the consumer from awareness to action.
Rest assured that your clients are already thinking about mobile, and for some of them, that means they already have an app of their own. In those cases, advertising on your app can drive consumers to that app in an easy, one-tap way. But for other advertisers having their own app doesn’t make sense. So come up with creative ways for them to have a presence in your app.
So whether or not 2016 is “The Year of Mobile” (again), make it the year of mobile for you by offering your clients solutions that leverage all your assets. That combination may be the key to unlocking new revenue sources through mobile.
To learn more about monetizing your mobile assets contact Alex Burnstein or me at 248-353-9030, or email sales@jacapps.com.
