Imagine if your ads missed 50% of your potential audience. That can be the reality for businesses that fail to run ad campaigns designed for smartphones and tablets, which now account for more than half of all global web traffic. There are many ways mobile advertising can reach segments of your audience who might not see your ads elsewhere.
What is mobile advertising?
Mobile advertising is marketing that targets phone and tablet users through mobile browsers, apps, social media platforms, text messages, and more. You can use mobile advertising to target your demographics based on precise location, search and browsing history, and mobile device usage.
Mobile advertising operates via a network of advertising providers, like Google Ads, which lets you create and upload image or video ads, then places those ads across ad networks to reach your target audience. For example, a company that sells dumbbells for weightlifting can create a mobile advertisement for a flash sale, upload it to a mobile ad platform, select demographic filters, and have it show up on mobile apps and websites in areas with few public gyms—all in the space of a few hours.
Types of mobile advertising
Mobile advertisements can appear on apps, browsers, messaging platforms, mobile games, and social media sites. The best mobile ad campaigns incorporate various types of mobile ads to maximize touchpoints with their customers. Below are some common mobile advertising examples:
Banner ads
A banner ad is an image displayed on the top, side, or middle of any website page or app. Mobile banner advertisements are rectangular or square images, some of which stay on the screen even when the user scrolls—these are known as sticky ads.
Push notifications
A push notification is a message that appears on a mobile phone or tablet’s lock screen (or at the top of the screen when the device is unlocked). These are most commonly sent from apps the user has downloaded (some websites also push notifications to a desktop as well). In all cases, users must give consent for push notifications to appear.
Social media ads
Social media ads appear in between posts as app users scroll on social media platforms like Instagram or Facebook. These native ads are often visually similar to regular posts, though they will have a tag indicating that the content is sponsored. Every platform has unique ad formats, ranging from static image ads to videos or GIFs.
Interstitial ads
Interstitial mobile ads are pop-up ads that fill the entire screen as the user scrolls. These rich media ads (a term for ads with audio, video, or interactive features) typically activate when a user scrolls to a specific point on a page on a mobile app or website. Interstitial ads can be static images or video, and they often require users to tap an exit button to close it.
Optional ads
A newer ad type typical of gamified mobile apps, optional ads let users opt in to video ads to earn in-game points or currency. Users watch the ad, often with a countdown timer, and can either click through or exit the ad. These ads either have incentives for watching or are placed strategically where the player will wait, such as between game levels.
SMS ads
These are text ads sent directly to the user through their chosen messaging app. Users must opt in to these messages and can opt out at any time.
Mobile advertising vs. mobile marketing
Mobile advertising refers to paid promotional ads that target mobile phone users, primarily through social media platforms, mobile apps, and mobile web browsers. Mobile advertising strategies are usually part of a company’s overall digital advertising strategy.
Mobile marketing encompasses mobile advertising and other activities geared toward boosting mobile engagement and conversions. These can include in-app optimization, organic social media strategies, and search engine optimization (SEO). While mobile advertising focuses on short-term gains—to convert clicks into purchases—mobile marketing often has more long-term goals, such as building brand awareness and customer loyalty. Mobile marketing analyzes every step of the buyer’s journey on mobile phones and tablets, from first impression to first purchase and beyond.
Benefits of mobile advertising
- More touchpoints with your audience
- Increased targeting accuracy
- Reach consumers any time of day or night
- Cost-effective
Mobile ads make the advertising industry more accessible to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Here are a few benefits of mobile advertising:
More touchpoints with your audience
Mobile ads reach your target audience in multiple locations and multiple times. This means your audience gets repeated contact with your brand, boosting awareness of your products and services. After seeing your ads repeatedly, your brand will come to their mind the next time they need what you offer, a phenomenon known as brand awareness.
Increased targeting accuracy
Although users stay on desktop sites for an average of 14.7 hours per month, they stay on mobile sites for a whopping 79.3 hours per month. This can let you gather a lot of data about users of mobile devices and target ads to them based on spending behavior, on-the-go geotargeting information, and demographic details.
Reach consumers any time of day or night
Mobile users have their phones on or near them essentially every hour of the day, so your ads follow them wherever they go. Mobile advertisements like banner ads and social media ads find them where they already are, and push notifications and SMS ads can reach people even when they’re not browsing online.
Cost-effective
Compared to traditional advertising on TV, radio, and billboards, a typical mobile advertising campaign is much less expensive, which is a big plus if you have a limited advertising budget. If you use a platform like Google Ads, you can see the cost per click for your ad campaign. This lets you manage how often and where to place targeted mobile advertisements, giving you the option of adjusting your mobile ad spend on the spot.
How to create successful mobile ads
- Determine how your target audience uses mobile devices
- Optimize formatting for mobile
- Geotarget
- Keep it visually simple
- Track clickthrough and conversion rates
- Dovetail with desktop
Unfortunately, you can’t just upload your ad to a mobile advertising platform and hope it succeeds. If you want effective mobile ads, you need to consider variables like ad formats, your budget, and how to optimize for the mobile platforms where your audience spends the most time. Here are a few ways you can craft a successful mobile advertising strategy:
1. Determine how your target audience uses mobile devices
Knowing how your target audience uses their phones—what mobile apps they have downloaded, what social accounts they use the most, even where they check the weather—will help you choose where your mobile ads should live. For example, many app developers know their potential customers use Apple’s App Store, and therefore invest in Apple search ads that appear there.
2. Optimize formatting for mobile
Every mobile ad platform has unique requirements for file size, dimensions, and media type. Plus, you’ll want to make sure the places you’re sending users—whether landing pages or product pages—are suited for mobile, tablet, and other mobile devices. If you want user-friendly mobile ads and websites, properly format your media, trim text to the essentials, and use large, attractive buttons that direct traffic exactly where you want, such as a landing or product page.
3. Geotarget
Are you a small business serving a local area? Is your product only available for shipping in the US? Is your product more popular with people who live in cities? Geotargeting will pinpoint where your shoppers live and filter out regions where you likely won’t have customers.
4. Keep it visually simple
Site visitors who click on your ad will probably stay on your page for just 10 to 20 seconds, so you need to quickly get them the information they want so they follow up with a purchase. Mobile phone screens are small and sometimes hard to see, so toss out your complicated graphics and stick to the essential details in an attractive, easy-to-read design. Most importantly, put your unique value proposition where customers will see it right away.
5. Track clickthrough and conversion rates
Two key performance indicators (KPIs) can tell you a lot about the efficacy of your ad campaigns: clickthrough rate and conversion rate. Clickthrough rate is how many people viewed your ad and also clicked on it, while conversion rate is how many people clicked through and took some action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. Track these metrics and adjust your mobile ad campaign to boost these numbers.
6. Dovetail with desktop
Although mobile is making huge strides in purchasing and checking out, it still lags behind desktop: the average mobile conversion rate is about 4%, while the average desktop rate is roughly 6%. Rather than hope and pray that mobile users press the Buy button, create a seamless shopping experience between mobile and desktop. For instance, let mobile users quickly save items to their carts so they can easily pop over to their desktop and complete their purchase.
Mobile advertising FAQ
What is meant by mobile advertising?
Mobile advertising describes an ad campaign that focuses on targeting users on their mobile devices through in-app advertising, video advertising on social media, or any other mobile advertising formats. Mobile advertising costs are generally lower than traditional marketing campaigns, and the setup is fairly easy for first-time users.
What is the most common form of mobile advertising?
Banner ads are the most common mobile ads because they’re easy to format and cost less than conventional ads.
What are some examples of mobile advertisements?
Examples of mobile advertising include banner ads that appear on websites and apps, push notifications from downloaded apps, native ads on social media platforms, and interstitial ads that appear as users scroll through websites and apps.
