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Mobile marketing strategies crucial in 2013

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 16 Jan 2013
More people are going online via mobiles, making mobile marketing more important than ever, says InMobi.
More people are going online via mobiles, making mobile marketing more important than ever, says InMobi.

Companies must start looking at innovative mobile marketing strategies if they want to ride the mobile wave this year.

So says independent ad network, InMobi, which notes that 2013 will see more smartphones and more tablets being sold, and device wars will widen with the recent rollout of Windows 8 and the expected unveiling of RIM's new platform, BlackBerry 10.

According to InMobi, 2012 saw profound growth across all mobile ecosystems - mobile apps, mobile social media, data traffic and mobile advertising.

"We saw unprecedented competition with the launch of smartphones and mobile operating systems. Mobile advertising turned mainstream and budgets have had to keep pace with smartphone and tablet adoption," the network says.

Analyst firm Gartner says mobile is among the top 10 strategic technology trends for 2013.

Fellow research firm, eMarketer also predicts that the rapid expansion of smartphone and tablet user populations will cause marketers to shift their ad spending from more traditional media to mobile at an increasing pace.

"Mobile devices are known to surpass desktops as the most common ways to go online - making mobile marketing more important than ever," says InMobi.

With an optimistic eye on the future, the ad network has highlighted a few key mobile trends for marketers in the coming year.

Mobile search

According to InMobi, consumers are increasingly using smartphones to search the Internet and to access local information.

Location-aware queries, such as searches for restaurants, ATMs and fuel stations, are becoming more common on mobile devices; this trend will expand to other services and advertisers need to deliver relevant ads based on keywords, it adds.

Location services

InMobi says most devices have GPS transmitters and can track where users are when they post online. It explains that many consumers now willingly use this functionality to check into places to share their locations.

It believes this offers an opportunity for targeted marketing where ads can be targeted based on a set radius. People can also be profiled and targeted based on their travel and location patterns.

Mobile shopping

Last year, retailers began incorporating mobile solutions into their sales strategies by offering special discounts, mobile coupons, mobile shopping, etc, with targeted advertising, the ad network points out.

This trend will grow in 2013 with retailers looking at new ways to attract and retain customers, it adds.

NFC

InMobi notes that many mobile devices now have near-field communications (NFC) units that are used to send data from mobile devices to another device supporting NFC.

It also points out that the use of this technology is gaining momentum in mobile payments and related services.

"This provides a great opportunity for marketers to create discount coupons and distribute them via mobile, which makes them more convenient for consumers to carry and redeem."

Real-time bidding

The ad network states that real-time bidding (RTB) is emerging as the dominant way to buy mobile media with instant auction.

It adds that RTB is outperforming traditional ad buying with the ability to apply market dynamics to mobile advertising. As a result, advertisers get more access, targeting and transparency, while sellers generate higher eCPMs (effective cost per mille) and have greater control over their inventory.

Mobile apps

With the rise in smartphone adoption year over year, says InMobi, mobile apps exploded in 2012 with app stores promoting thousands of different applications.

These trends are very important for mobile marketers to target the type of applications based on the popularity of apps, it notes, adding that app developers get a greater chance of generating more revenue via in-app advertising.

Cloud

Cloud storage and cloud-based services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Evernote, will become more important in the coming years, as they allow users to access and share information anywhere, the company notes.

It believes users will be able to capture and edit data from multiple channels, such as desktops, smartphones and tablets, and any changes will automatically be pushed to other devices.

Multi-screening

Says InMobi: "There has been a growth in multi-screen users in 2012 with consumers progressing their day on multiple devices such as smartphones, tablets and desktops.

"This provides a great opportunity for advertisers to connect the dots by following the consumers across these channels and delivering consistent and relevant messages, bringing the strength of each of the channels."

The ad network believes mobile continues to be a key and growing strategy for many companies as browsing, shopping and networking all go mobile. The growing percentage of Internet traffic from various devices alone should be convincing for marketers to increase their mobile marketing budgets, it concludes.

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