What Is Mobile Advertising?

By Chris Carol
In the marketing world, mobile advertising is the way of the future. In 2009, the number of mobile phones in the world totaled over 4.6 billion. Currently the amount spent on mobile advertising is only around 1% of total advertising budgets. Media for mobile phones is quickly evolving. Mobile advertising has really taken off in countries like Spain, France and Japan. In Japan, 44% of mobile phone users click on ads they receive via their phones. There are several forms of mobile ads from web banners to SMS advertising to advertising within applications and games. You can get free instant access to the best mobile marketing newsletter.
According to Mashable, an online guide to social media and one of the top ten blogs worldwide, trends to watch in mobile advertising include:
- Innovations through SMS
- Advancements with rich forms of media like sound, gaming and video
- Mobile applications or mobile websites
- Geo-location as an advertising tool
- The role of mobile video
Of the available mobile phone models, 98% are capable of short message service, or text messaging. Text messaging is easy to use with a low-cost. Service providers offer a range of options from unlimited plans to plans that give up to 250 messages per month. Statistics show that in late 2008, the average American user sent 357 text messages per month. Advancements with Rich Media
With the number of smartphones saturating the market, rich media will begin to have a stronger foothold in the mobile advertising industry. Consumers prefer engaging, interactive ads, designed through rich media like gaming, sound and video. A drawback to this form of mobile advertising is that skills and time are necessary to create ads. Mobile Applications or Mobile Websites In Advertising
Advertisers have to decide if they are going to create a mobile application or a mobile website. Certain factors like operating systems, types of devices, and screen size all play a role in how they will present mobile marketing. Internet giant Google is taking the mobile web road while Apple is going the application route. In an April 2010 survey conducted by eROI, trends in mobile marketing, less than a third of marketers in the United States consider the mobile marketing experience important to their customers. Only 23% of the respondents reported having an optimized website for a mobile device. Advertising with Geo-Location
Geo-Location is one of the newer trends in mobile advertising. Some concerns with geo-location based mobile advertising centers around privacy issues. When companies customize ads, they use personal behavioral data, user profiles, and other data mind information. This consent will override many privacy issues. The Role of Mobile Video
Internet video consumption has experienced a huge growth with today's internet users. Because of this trend with internet video, marketers assume that mobile video will also experience a huge growth. Mobile advertising has definitely caught marketers attention and the amount spent on advertising is growing. Swedish analyst, Berg Insight predicts that by 2014, mobile marketing will represent 11.7% of the total digital advertising market.
Your business can flourish by getting some information on mobile advertising.