Increase Mobile Spending in 2011
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The vast majority of client-side marketers, some 88% – say they will utilize mobile marketing in 2011, with 75% planing to increase their spending on mobile marketing initiatives by an average of 59% percent versus 2010, according to a survey from the Association of National Advertisers in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association.
In 2010, 62% of marketers used some form of mobile marketing for their brands. An additional 26% plan to begin doing so this year.
Respondents cited two companies as being particularly successful with mobile marketing: Coca-Cola for its mobile advertising and Target for its integration of mobile web, rewards and wish list registry. However, most respondents are less enthusiastic about their own mobile initiatives. Only 25% rate their efforts as ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ successful, while 53% say their efforts have been only ‘somewhat” successful.
Those marketers claiming above average success rates have the following traits in common:
- They’ve been using the medium longer;
- They tend to use more of mobile’s individual platforms;
- They Integrate platforms with each other;
- They measure mobile efforts with a wide array of metrics.
“Mobile is clearly a fast-growing platform for marketers, but it has yet to attain its full potential,” says Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO. “With the anticipated increase in adoption this year, we expect to see fresh, innovative approaches, increased brand-building success, and better accountability for this exciting channel.”
More than a dozen distinct interactive mobile platforms are currently being used by marketers, according to survey findings. The five with the highest adoption levels – at least by one-half of the firms surveyed –are the following: Mobile websites; Mobile apps; Mobile messaging/SMS; Mobile display ads; and Mobile search.
“The results of the ANA-MMA joint survey strongly indicate that we will continue to see increased adoption and spending this year across all mobile marketing platforms,” says Greg Stuart, global CEO, MMA.
In the survey, respondents noted several specific advantages of mobile marketing, including:
- Portable web access;
- Ability to deliver content/promotions to on-the-go consumers;
- Convenience for immediate consumer support/sales support/loyalty.
Conversely, the research found numerous barriers to the adoption of mobile marketing by client-side marketers, including:
- Lack of metrics to properly allocate mobile marketing within the overall marketing mix;
- Inability to prove ROI;
- Lack of mobile marketing understanding by key people at the brand/company.
To date, most companies – 71% – have assigned responsibility for mobile marketing to an existing internal group. Only 19% say their companies have created a new internal group to manage the mobile marketing function. In most cases this group reports to the digital marketing team.
This survey was conducted online during Sept.-Oct., 2010
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