October 30, 2014
A recent report from ClickZ, a marketing news and information company, showed that business owners are increasingly turning to the mobile landscape for their marketing campaigns. According to the results of a survey conducted by IAB and Ovum, one significant sign that mobile marketing is on the rise is that budgets are on the rise.
"In 2011, 7 percent of marketers had mobile ad budgets of $300,000 or more and now 32 percent do," reads the ClickZreport. "That's huge. It demonstrates robust budget growth and shows that mobile ad revenue isn't just growing because more marketers are adding mobile to their ad budgets. It's also growing because existing mobile advertisers are increasing their spend."
Mobile marketing also helps business owners better target their customers. Of the respondents, 83 percent of marketers indicated that mobile targeting was important or very important to their mobile efforts. Furthermore, 54 percent said precise location capabilities was one of their top three device attributes for their mobile advertising.
Still, many are hesitant to implement digital marketing
Despite the clear increase in smartphone usage, many business owners are reluctant to implement a mobile marketing strategy. A separate study of 1,000 marketers conducted by Adobe showed that many marketers have little confidence in their ability to successfully market on the digital landscape. Of the respondents, only 40 percent believe their digital marketing was effective, while only 48 percent said they have a high degree of confidence in digital proficiency. Much of the marketers' concerns were due to wide array of options when it comes to choosing where to focus their digital marketing strategy including, social media, personalization, innovation, cross-channel marketing and other areas.
However, despite their lacking in confidence, 66 percent of markets say digital marketing is a critical to success. As a result, the money will continue to be spent on it.
"For 60 percent of the marketers surveyed, additional digital investment can be expected and 61 percent say that increased budget will most likely be used in a trial and error approach," reads the ClickZ article. "It seems we are resorting to applying more of the same behaviors, but throwing more money at them, because we don't have time or the appropriate personnel in place to think through a consolidated, relevant strategy to return results and on-going learnings."
It appears business-building will rely heavily on the ability to understand and successfully implement a digital marketing strategy that utilizes the mobile landscape.