How to Take Advantage of Mobile Marketing


Over at VentureBeat, Mobclix writer Megan Berry poses the question “does your business have a plan for mobile?” She provides some solid advice for any marketer or company looking to test out the mobile waters.

Berry writes that you don’t need to go “charging in” to develop your own iPhone app to get the benefits of mobile marketing.

Her recommendations for getting into the mobile boom are as follows:

1. Mobile Advertising and Marketing
With mobile advertising networks and exchanges offering highly accurate targeting for mobile campaigns, this provides an unprecedented opportunity for you to reach your customers with as little as one ad buy.

2. In-App Advertising
Ideal for reaching the smartphone audience, there are plenty of apps available to advertise in — just chose from Apple’s 115,000 apps and Android’s 13,000. “In-app advertising can allow in-depth targeting based not only on application, but by behavior, demographic information, and location,” writes Berry.

3. Advertising on the Mobile Web
There are still plenty of phones on the market that don’t support apps, but do support the mobile web. Berry notes that while with mobile web advertising you can reach a larger audience, it will be much harder to build ads that will appear like they’re designed properly for all devices.

4. Sponsoring an App
This is a good way to associate your company’s name with a top app. Berry highlights the example of the Vitamin Water-sponsored 50 cent “Baby By Me” sound lab which allows the user to remix 50 cent’s latest song. This option may be pricey, but can your brand in front of eyeballs with a top app.

5. Create a Mobile Version of Your Website or a Mobile App
If you really want to dive into mobile, you can create a mobile version of your website. Since mobile internet usage is growing at a rate of 20 percent a year according to Mobile Marketer, this isn’t a bad idea. Building a mobile version of your site is a cheaper option than building a full mobile app for your brand. Building a successful mobile app is more challenging, writes Berry.

For more of Berry’s mobile marketing wisdom, read her full post on VentureBeat: How to get in on the Mobile Boom.