Advertising Dominates Mobile Marketing Mindshare Today

November 30, 2012 by Andrew J. Cass As we near the end of 2012, I came across these revealing Mobile Marketing statistics to give you an inside look at where companies are investing their money AND their attention on Mobile Marketing strategy…. With the number of mobile phones exceeding $6 billion globally, according to the United Nations, and smartphones taking a majority share in the US in 2012, mobile is by far the most ubiquitous digital medium. Few marketers, however, capitalize on the potential of mobile today. Marketers recognize the need for mobile in their marketing mix, but they still rely heavily on the (PC-based) interactive experiences and paradigms. Despite 82% of marketers having a strategy, only 34% were running marketing campaigns in alignment with that strategy — and 46% revealed that they were still in the “test and learn” phase. Our research found that: The majority of tactics employed fail to take advantage of the entire mobile funnel. At 90%, the adoption of upper-funnel mobile advertising tactics (e.g. display ads, search, QR codes) far exceeds that of lower-funnel marketing tactics (48%). Social media and display ads topped the list. The migration of familiar tactics from online (PC) interactive marketing to mobile devices is a natural progression that fits within the comfort zone of marketers. Among those not yet leveraging mobile tactics, “lack of expertise internally” was cited by 18%. The use of advertising tactics is not accidental – fewer inexperienced mobile marketers are pursuing lower-funnel objectives such as increasing customer satisfaction or improving customer service. In fact, “acquisition through sweepstakes and contests” is the only objective pursued by more less experienced marketers. More experienced marketers have moved on to more strategic tactics. Mobile targets are anonymous individuals within broader audiences – not customers. Marketers continue to rely on aggregate demographic data or paradigms carried from non-mobile media to target their audience rather than building profiles of individual consumers based on trust and offered utility. Among the marketers surveyed, 78% were using audience data and 71% individual behavior information for targeting, while only 64% were leveraging profile information unique to mobile devices. Looking to PC best practices falls within the comfort zone of interactive marketers. Naturally, when individuals first adopt new technologies, they do old things in new ways. It will take time for marketers to embrace mobile to leverage the unique opportunities offered. Mobile marketing spend is lower overall, with upper-funnel discovery claiming the largest portion. The average spend on mobile marketing media in 2012 is just over $500,000, with only 36% of companies surveyed spending more than $1 million. Furthermore, 12% don’t know how much they are spending on mobile. Marketers are allocating 49% of spend to upper-funnel objectives, with customer acquisition claiming the largest share with 23% of spend. Spending on loyalty is also high at 17%, but loyalty programs typically offer instant savings or after-the-fact accounting; they do not engage with the consumer either during the consideration phase or after purchase while trying to use a product or service. To find out how to double your customer base in 60-days or less with a simple, smart Mobile Marketing strategy, check out “The mCommerce Blueprint” video – The Ultimate Mobile Marketing Guide For Today’s Forward-Thinking Business Owner Who Wants To Get More Customers Faster In Today’s NEW Mobile Economy RIGHT HERE