According to eMarketer, businesses will spend more than $100 billion on mobile advertising this year. That’s more than half of all digital ad spending. This level of ad spend clearly demonstrates the power of mobile advertising.
By now, most small businesses understand that mobile is mission critical. It requires refining and retargeting to ensure ads are making the biggest impact to the bottom line. The core of this approach is identifying and directing mobile ads to the best converting audiences.
We’ve identified three key ways business owners are utilizing the latest in location targeting technology to maximize the effectiveness of their mobile ad campaigns.
1. Competitor Conquesting
If you’re a successful business you already have a keen eye focused on your competition. Why not enhance that effort by using mobile ads to target those consumers who frequent or are interested in the competition right when they’re at or near your competitor’s location?
Restaurants and auto dealers have been early adopters in employing the conquesting strategy. They’re simply geo-targeting competitor locations within a mile radius or two and running compelling offers to entice potential customers to come their way. This has proven to be an effective means to drive new business for many small business owners.
2. Audience Targeting (College Campuses)
Identifying your targeted audience is supremely important when driving response rate and ultimately revenue generation. Recently, we ran a campaign for a brand that knew its audience was found on the campus of a certain university. They developed a compelling offer geared toward this audience and we geo-targeted the campus with their ads and they experienced engagements 50% greater than industry averages.
On the flipside, hundreds of community colleges across the country are running geo-targeted mobile ad campaigns to drive student enrollment. These campaigns have been wildly successful and are delivering on average a 25:1 return-on-investment. Student recruitment campaigns mostly target nearby high school students, adults working with job placement centers, and some utilize conquesting to target potential transfer students from competing colleges.
3. Find Your Next Employee with Targeted Mobile Ads
One strong way to increase sales is to grow your team, a great way to uncover hidden talent is to run a robust mobile ad campaign. Mobile ad providers can assist you in targeting potential employees based on the profiles you desire. Here’s a couple of examples, a small company looking for drivers ordered an ad campaign specifically seeking to recruit truck drivers, another mid-sized marketing agency ran campaigns to secure new sales talent.
Recently, a staffing solutions provider said their mobile campaign was a great way to reach folks on their devices. The company has purchased traditional advertising through outdoor billboards and television, and in their words the mobile ad was “dollar for dollar the most cost-effective advertising” that they’ve experienced.
One Last Thought… Companies today that aren’t immersing themselves in mobile marketing are not only missing out on a huge opportunity to drive more awareness and revenue, they are also decreasing the potential of their current marketing efforts. Mobile marketing amplifies other advertising efforts and definitely should be included in the marketing mix.
