More and more smart phone and tablet users are using mobile applications these days. Apps are the programs that you download to your smart phone and include a variety of utilities and games. Examples of popular mobile apps include Facebook, Firefox and Angry Birds. Many of these apps, especially the gaming apps, offer free versions that rely on banner advertising for their revenue. Users can download these apps free of charge, but they do have to deal with banner ads either during game play, such as in Angry Birds, or after they take a turn in the game, like with Words with Friends and other turn-based games.
According to a recent survey, mobile banner ads are eight times as effective as online banner advertising, so now is the perfect time to capitalize on this still growing form of advertising. Before you launch your mobile banner advertising campaign, you should take a few minutes to determine what you want your banner ad to say and where you want it to direct viewers. Typically, when a mobile banner ad is clicked, the phone’s default browser launches and the URL from the ad is loaded.
You know that all of the users who view this URL will be doing so on a mobile device, so you’ll want to create a page designed specifically for mobile viewing. Mobile Web sites typically have less clutter and smaller or fewer graphics to help the pages load more quickly. Make sure you direct mobile banner ad viewers to a mobile page within your site for the best return on your advertising investment.
Another thing to consider is the message itself. You want to identify the company in the banner ad, either with a logo or plain text so people know what company is being advertised. The amount of space available for some mobile banner ads is quite small so you want to think about the most effective way to get your message across. You can’t use too much type or readers won’t be able to read it, so you should experiment with just a few keywords and some eye-catching graphics.
Consider offering a special promotion, coupon or deal to users who click on your mobile banner ads, then track the promotion or coupon use to judge how well your ad campaign is working. Many smart phone users are more likely to click on a link that will earn them some sort of special offer than on a standard advertisement.
If your company engages in advertising campaigns involving any time of media, you really should consider mobile banner advertising. You’ll pay a fraction of the cost of a television or radio commercial and you can track the results of the ads using our comprehensive analytics that we offer. Check it out!
For Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) guidelines on mobile ads and sizes click here.
