2017 Resolution: Bring More Meaning To Your Mobile Marketing

Mobile devices have become an intimate part of people’s lives. Brands must respect that intimacy by creating campaigns that are suited to these hyperpersonal uses.

In a few short decades, the internet has revamped or replaced every technology on which marketers once relied. These days, mobile viewing has become people’s preferred consumption method.

Indeed, mobile devices have become an intimate part of people’s lives. Consumers rely on them for keeping in touch with loved ones, ordering dinner, and buying holiday gifts. It’s the first screen they check in the morning and the last one they see at night.

Never before has a device been so tied to people’s existences. Brands must respect that intimacy by creating campaigns that are suited to these hyperpersonal uses.

You achieve intimacy, of course, by understanding consumers’ needs and preferences. If you want people to become avid followers, your content should be relevant to their lives and easy for them to access. The tone and format of your articles, videos, and whitepapers should reflect your values and those of your customers. They should also be contextually relevant.

For instance, location targeting engages people when they’re most likely to respond. A generic ad announcing a 25% off sale might be forgotten by the time a consumer is ready to go shopping. But a targeted offer as she approaches your store is a great incentive to come inside and buy.

Contextual marketing also accounts for people’s past behaviors and what they’re likely to do in the future. When you target people based on their actions and interests, they feel like you’re paying attention—and that you value them as customers.

Cultivating Meaningful Marketing

In 2017, relevance should be your No. 1 priority. Consider these methods to offer value:

1. Embrace native advertising: The typical banner ad campaign needs a reboot. Native ads are designed to blend in with the sites on which they run, so they’re more engaging than banner ads by nature. Advertorials and other placements read like traditional copy, and they provide useful insights in addition to being promotional. They’re win-wins—brands get to showcase their products while consumers gain new knowledge or are entertained by the ads.

Facebook Audience Network and IHS estimate that native ads will be responsible for 63% of mobile display ad revenue by 2020. Visual-based apps, such as Snapchat and Pinterest, will play a particularly significant role in this trend. People love to share photos and videos, so brands that can engage users visually will see the greatest success with native ads.

2. Incorporate vertical video: If there’s one thing Snapchat has taught us, it’s that vertical video holds the key to people’s hearts (or at least their eyeballs). The app boasts 150 million daily users around the globe, and its success motivated Facebook to launch a vertical video option for advertisers.

The increase in vertical videos is attributable to the proliferation of smartphones, given that users hold the devices vertically 94% of the time. People have become so accustomed to this orientation that they’re nine times more likely to watch a vertical video ad all the way through than they are a horizontal one on Snapchat.

Video drives increased engagement, click-through rates, and conversions. The popularity of vertical content makes it an even more critical component going into 2017.

3. Advertising opportunities in messaging apps: Mobile messaging apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and Snapchat offer unprecedented marketing opportunities. There are nearly 1.5 billion mobile messaging users worldwide, and that number keeps growing. However, the private nature of these apps requires a different type of marketing.

When you’re tracking social conversations, you can see and respond to what people are saying publicly about your brand. There’s no such access when you’re targeting people through chat apps. Word-of-mouth is incredibly valuable in that space. You must create such impressive experiences on other marketing channels that people will be compelled to talk about your products in private discussions with friends and family. Not only are you connecting with people on their most intimate devices, but you’re also trying to enter private conversations. You have to give more than banner ads before people allow you to engage.

AI-powered chatbots also can be part of the messaging equation as a complementary tool that allows a brand to respond to, interact with, and engage with customers at all hours. A properly programmed chatbot can deliver an engaging customer experience by handling basic questions and concerns rapidly. Additionally, brands can leverage automated processes via chatbots to push out messages at a scheduled pace, informing customers of special offers or new products or services. The key will be to ensure the bot is knowledgeable, helpful, and conversational enough to seem human.

TV and desktop display ads aren’t going away, but consumer engagement with media is evolving. Mobile technology is changing the way people communicate and consume media. Marketers are well-advised to be open to experimenting with ways to connect to consumers meaningfully in this fast-paced, ever-evolving era.