In these early years of mobile advertising it’s not uncommon to come across marketers repurposing online marketing strategies in planning for mobile.  It’s easy and tried and true within the desktop/online world, so why wouldn’t it work in mobile? What most mobile marketers are missing is what makes the medium unique. Mobile is so much more than ensuring that a mobile program fits on the smaller screen…  It is about the information users are demanding and how then engage with a mobile device in order to do so. But most importantly is effectively translating a brand’s content and convenience factor into a mobile strategy that not only provides a service, but one that can track mobile-specific insights as well as ROI.

Branded App Fever
Today, many advertisers are caught up in app fever, convinced in their highly branded success when the truth is that many apps get very little usage continued usage and are either abandoned or deleted. Google recently reported the average smartphone user has 28 apps downloaded, yet only 11 have been used within the last 30 days. When turning to an app, consumers want information that helps them navigate their lives, make, decisions or use as a tool that allows them to perform tasks conveniently. These experiences can come from either a branded mobile app or a more general utility app – but it’s important to understand which will see the greater continued usage, for example, a utility app such as Urban Spoon will see more action over an Applebee’s app because Urban Spoon aggregates information for thousands of restaurants, vs. just one specific brand. So before you spend a nice chunk of money building a branded app into your mobile plan, make sure you understand the mobile consumer and your piece of that audience.

Measuring Mobile Success
In reaching today’s smart, savvy mobile user the most important question to ask is… how are you measuring success?  Just as traditional online strategy is often applied to building a mobile campaign, the CTR (click thru rate) has made the transition as the most important metric in measuring most mobile campaigns. And while that metric is still important the focus should be on the engagement activities that make mobile a unique marketing venue – secondary actions including a click to call a local business or downloading walking directions to the nearest location. Because mobile is in its still early stages, measuring the  success of a program based on what has been the industry up to this point  leaves opportunity untapped. Marketers turning to mobile have a far greater opportunity to discover new and effective strategies and provide an education to their company or clients as well as the entire industry.  For example, if a program drives a great cost per download for an advertiser, but consumers never use the advertiser’s app is that ultimately a successful mobile program?  The purpose of advertising in any medium is to drive sales leads, but as the mobile user base and smartphone industry expand, measurement of how users are engaging is essential to prove value in the medium.

For a growing majority, smartphones are the first screen consumers turn to in accessing quick, relevant and often local information.   For these reasons and more, marketers and advertisers are making room for mobile strategy more and more every day. But appropriate planning and measurement for mobile will mean the difference between a successful program or an un-optimized, repurposed campaign.