Mobile marketing now accounts for 49% of total digital adverting, and this number is expected to hit 72% by 2019 (Emarketer.com, 2015). Businesses left, right and centre have embraced mobile marketing and its too late to ignore its potential.

Consumers now have their phone on them for the entire day, with 79% of people only being away from their mobile device for 2 hours a day, and 63% of people being away from their phone for only 1 hour a day. It’s the first thing they do when they wake up, and the last thing they do at night (Stadd, 2013). Businesses like John Lewis have reported 3/4 of their Christmas browsing came through mobile (Atherton, 2014) and almost all companies have adapted to the mobile trend, expecting high returns thanks to a device which enables constant access to the internet almost anywhere in the world.

The success of smartphones has much to do with the fact that it can effectively replace a desktop computer. It has all the same capabilities and is able to fit in a pocket. Thanks to this movement, more and more media is becoming mobile only, such as Snapchat, which receives 100 Million active monthly users (Rusli, 2015), or Facebook who claim that 87% of its monthly active users come through mobile (Facebook Newsroom, 2004).

Figures like this prove the importance of mobile, and analysts predict that these numbers will only increase. To keep up with mobile technology, brands need to keep up with consumer trends and habits, in order to understand exactly what the consumer wants. The next three points are some of the main, upcoming trends at the moment.

1. These changes have made consumers more spontaneous  (Veeqo, 2013), and no longer does the consumer need to use a computer to make a purchase. This is aided in part by the average attention span decreasing, and people wanting to do lots of things immediately and very quickly. Reading 140 characters news stories or watching 6 second videos through Twitter and Vine have become the standard and most enjoyable way to consume media, and brands have had to adapt to this.
2. Another problem for advertisers is the relatively new concept of second or even third screening. It has now become the norm for consumers to watch TV whilst using a smartphone at the same time. Obviously this reduces advertisement recall, and brands are having to fight for the attention of customers which has been spread across multiple platforms. Some advertisers are trying to combat this by displaying the same advertisements across platforms, and they are receiving positive results (Timmerman, 2015).
3. Advertisers also need to be aware of the possibilities of personalisation on mobile adverts. With easy access to the sophisticated capabilities of smartphones such as GPS, advertisers can now tailor adverts specific to your location or what you’ve recently done. This has some moral implications, and advertisers need to be aware of privacy, but where attention span has decreased customers are also wiser than ever and know when they are trying to be sold something. Because of this, targeting customers more specifically to offer them something they really want can be the only effective way to break through.

A sponsored post targeting people in Brighton

Like the introduction of any new technology, marketers have a lot of change on their hands. Some of this helps to make their job easier and others create obstacles, but in most situations difficulties can be morphed into advantages very easily, and overall new technologies help advertisers get their message across in new and exciting ways.

References

Veeqo, (2013). 8 Essential Facts About Mobile Commerce. [online] Available at: http://blog.veeqo.com/mobile-commerce/ [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Timmerman. H, (2015). Multi-screen Video Campaign Strategy Increases Brand Recall. [online] Available at: http://www.previewnetworks.com/blog/multiscreen-video-campaign-strategy-increases-brand-recall/ [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Facebook Newsroom, (2004). Company Info | Facebook Newsroom. [online] Available at: http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/ [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Rusli, D. (2015). Snapchat Is Said to Have More Than 100 Million Monthly Active Users. [online] WSJ. Available at: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/08/26/snapchat-said-to-have-more-than-100-million-monthly-active-users/ [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Atherton, J. (2014). John Lewis Christmas sales rise nearly 7%. [online] Metro. Available at: http://metro.co.uk/2014/01/02/internet-visitors-give-john-lewis-a-mobile-christmas-4246705/ [Accessed 1 May 2015].

Emarketer.com, (2015). Mobile Will Account for 72% of US Digital Ad Spend by 2019 – eMarketer. [online] Available at: http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mobile-Will-Account-72-of-US-Digital-Ad-Spend-by-2019/1012258 [Accessed 1 May 2015].

A. Stadd, (2013). 79% Of People 18-44 Have Their Smartphones With Them 22 Hours A Day [STUDY]. [online] Available at: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/smartphones/480485 [Accessed 1 May 2015].