Top 5 Mobile Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2015
By Michael Essany / MobileMarketingWatch
The following is an exclusive guest contributed post to MMW from Hanit Marinov, VP of Marketing at Perion Network.
“Mobile-first” has become a mantra for most businesses and mobile marketing has become a top strategy for acquiring and engaging customers.
How exactly will we see the mobile marketing industry grow in 2015?
Here are the top 5 trends to watch for:
1. Display and Video Will See the Most Growth
Mobile ad spend will continue to increase over the next several years. Research group Magna Global predicts that digital expenditures will reach nearly a third of all ad spend and overtake TV by 2019.
And within the mobile advertising sector, video and display are seeing the fastest explosion. At the end of 2014, video ad spend will have more than doubled.
Mobile consumers spend the vast majority of their mobile internet time in apps and viewing video content. In 2014, YouTube, for instance, garnered 40% of its views from mobile devices, up 15% from the previous year. Around 15% of all online videos are viewed on tablets and smartphones.
These trends and data make it clear to many marketers that mobile video is the way to go when it comes to display advertising. In 2014, many major social networks jumped on board the video advertising train, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr.
2. Content Marketing Will Go Mobile…Even More
Many content marketing programs are realizing the value of the mobile marketplace. Websites are being built with responsive designs to accommodate the mobile customer, emails are being designed responsively, and content formats are being adjusted accordingly.
So what trends will we see when it comes to mobile content in 2015?
· As with advertising, content marketers will adopt mobile video. Mobile video isn’t just for advertising – many online tools make it easy for companies to create their own videos for content marketing purposes. The mobile-savvy content marketer will ensure that these videos are optimized and available for the mobile customer.
· New delivery channels will become the norm. “Content” doesn’t just refer to blog posts. Everything from video to emails, apps, and slideshows are also content. Content marketers will exploit new delivery mechanisms as they become prevalent, such as apps and wearable technology.
3. Marketers Will Realize the Importance of an Omnichannel Approach
Adaptation to a constantly changing marketplace has been a challenge for many marketers. After all, keeping up with the industry requires vigilant attention to trends, technology, and marketplace events.
Mobile-first is a convenient marketing slogan, but it’s not entirely accurate. The omnichannel approach, which is already being pushed by Google and adopted by major retailers, will become more popular in 2015.
Rather than focusing on mobile devices because they are popular or trendy, the savvy marketer will focus on their audience. And the likelihood is that most audiences will be coming from multiple devices, from tablets to smartphones, laptops, and desktops.
Omnichannel marketing will accommodate for users no matter which direction they come from or where they are in the marketing funnel.
4. Mobile Marketing Platforms Will Enter the Spotlight
Mobile marketing has become a bit of a mess. The current fragmented state of the industry shows us countless ad networks, ad exchanges, and a complex advertising process. These obstacles make it difficult for mobile advertisers to keep up with the industry, reach their customers, and calculate returns.
To meet the need of the complicated advertising world, we’ve seen the rise of programmatic ad buying. Real-time bidding, as it is known in the advertising industry, allows advertisers to find the best placement and price via algorithmic ad purchasing.
One-stop shops such as GrowMobile solve these problems. These software tools consolidate multiple marketing sources and tasks into one dashboard.
In 2015, these platforms will come into their own and quickly become necessary for those mobile advertisers that wish to stay ahead of the competition.
5. As Mobile Growth Slows, the Focus Will Shift Towards New Technology
Mobile won’t grow forever, for the simple reason that the industry isn’t infinite. As the marketplace becomes more saturated, the customer base will plateau. So too will ad spend.
Expansion is expected to continue as the mobile market expands to wearables and emerging markets that are still adopting the technology. However, Magna Global expects growth in 2015 to drop to 45%, from 72% in 2014.The focus, instead, will be on new technology and new data.
In conclusion
New gadgets, such as wearable technology and beacon technology, will offer more insight into customer behavior. This will add more data to the marketers’ plates, and allow advertisers to create highly targeted, highly personalized campaigns.