Consumers spend over three hours every day on their mobile devices. That likely explains why mobile ad spend exceeded $40 billion last year.

In fact, it’s expected to exceed $65 billion by 2020.

Are you thinking about expanding your company’s digital reach with mobile advertising? Smart move! More businesses are now taking their advertising online to expand their reach.

Businesses who aren’t advertising online, however, are losing their competitive edge.

Don’t let competitors snag all your customers! Instead, keep reading for our comprehensive guide on mobile advertising. With this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know as you develop your mobile strategy.

Let’s dive in!

What Is Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising involves displaying ads on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets that are using a wireless connection. Mobile ads can range from SMS text ads to the banners you see on your favorite mobile websites. They even appear in apps and games.

Today, many businesses are using platforms such as Google and Facebook to create their ads.

Mobile advertising allows these companies to target customers based on their location, demographics, and even their browsing history.

Since mobile ads appear on smaller screens, it’s not always effective to duplicate the same ads used for print advertising. Rather, these ads require concise messaging. Otherwise, you’re missing out on an opportunity to reach potential customers.

When done correctly, mobile advertising can create a seamless experience between a customer’s phone and your store.

Different Types of Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising used to only involve banner ads. Now, there are many different types of mobile advertising formats you can choose from to engage customers! Here are a few to get you started.

Native Ads

Native mobile ads appear within an app’s natural flow. Using a native app will allow you to avoid disrupting the user’s experience. These ads also have the same overall appearance as the main app, so they look natural.

In order to create the most effective native ads, you’ll need to include your brand name and logo. You’ll also need an eye-catching headline, description, and your website’s URL.

These are the ads you’ll often see in apps like Facebook and Instagram.

You can also use mobile geofencing so these ads appear when customers are in close proximity to your store. Using geofencing can help you attract mobile and foot traffic, so you can boost sales.

Full-Screen Ads

Instead of a tiny mobile ad, full-screen ads stretch to fill a phone’s screen. These ads are an effective way for companies to demand attention. Otherwise, users might scroll right past your ad.

These ads are often used during transition points within an app. For example, users might see this ad when they’re transitioning to a new level in a game. While these ads disrupt the user’s experience, they also dominate screen space.

It’s important to remain wary about using full-screen ads. Since they’re disruptive, they can sometimes can a negative user experience.

Gamified Ads

Make your mobile ads a little more exciting. With gamified ads, consumers can interact with your ads to give products a test drive. For example, many mobile apps now use gamified ads, allowing users to play a demo of their games.

Gamified ads allow companies to interact with their customers.

In addition to catching the user’s attention, you can also gain more qualified leads. As you enhance customer engagement, you’re also boosting conversions and improving your ROI.

Gamified mobile advertising is an effective strategy for driving interest online.

Video Ads

Video ads are a great way to grab someone’s attention, tell a story, and immerse customers in your brand. Video content delivers rich, detailed visuals that are easy for consumers to digest. As a result, they can increase brand awareness and help you attract more leads.

Benefits of Mobile Advertising

Mobile advertising grew from $7 billion in 2013 to $70 billion in 2018! As more companies invest in mobile advertising, they’re also reaping these benefits (and more)!

Accessibility

While we don’t sit in front of a computer all day, we almost always have our phones on us. Mobile advertising allows companies to reach potential customers whenever, wherever they are. Instead of hoping someone looks up in time to see your billboard, you can improve brand awareness with mobile ads.

These ads can also generate more excitement and engagement.

Since these ads link to your website, you can also encourage viewers to complete a sale within seconds after seeing your ad. With traditional advertising methods, such as flyers, you lack this convenience.

Time Relevance

One of the major benefits of advertising on mobile devices is timing. You can set mobile ads to appear when a consumer searches for a specific product or service. At this point, they’re already thinking about making a purchase.

When your ad appears, it’s relevant to the buyer’s needs.

Timing your ads to appear when the timing is right for your consumers can increase sales.

You can also create ads with time-sensitive language. If you’re hosting a sale this weekend, you can advertise the event easily. You can also use the fear of missing out (FOMO) and urgency to drive people to make a purchase before the sale ends.

Cost Efficiency

Other advertising channels such as TV or radio ads aren’t always cost-effective. You can spend thousands without experiencing your desired return on investment.

Mobile advertising, on the other hand, is ideal for companies with a tight budget. You can set how much you want to spend, and make changes on the fly. Instead of wasting money, you can improve your ROI.

Personalization

Using mobile advertising, you can tailor messages for your customers, creating a sense of intimacy. Instead of a single, blanket message, you can even create different ads for different buyers. That way, you can connect with your customers and improve customer loyalty.

Made for Mobile: The Ultimate Mobile Advertising Guide

As more people depend on their smartphones every day, you have more opportunities to reach prospective buyers! Use this ultimate mobile advertising guide and start reaching your customers today.

Check out the Marketing section of our blog for more great advertising guides!