[Guest Post] The mobile web is the answer

By , 10 December 2012 at 16:41
[Guest Post] The mobile web is the answer
Insights

[Guest Post] The mobile web is the answer

By , 10 December 2012 at 16:41
Tags:
OPINION

Russell Buckley (@russellbuckley), founder, Ballpark Ventures and Springboard Accelerator mentor (Buckley launched mobile ad network Admob into Europe before its acquisition by Google)

Most advertisers have now woken up to the fact that mobile marketing has firmly arrived and that it’s going to become increasingly important. But many are still far too slow in executing plans and in many cases they take the wrong first steps when they do start to implement a strategy.

The classic wrong first move is to develop an app. In practically every case, this is simply wrong. Let’s look at why.

Firstly, yes, apps are sexy and command a lot of media attention and coverage. You’d have to have been on another planet not to notice the fuss about Angry Birds or Cut the Rope and their millions of downloads and dedicated players. So when a marketer or their agency comes up with the classic line “Let’s YABA Do” aka let’s build Yet Another Branded App, it does sound a plausible approach.

Except it rarely is.

Nowadays there are well over 1 million apps competing for consumers’ attention. So even if you do stumble across a great idea, you still need to let people know about it. Since 80% of apps are downloaded as a result of being in the Top 10 of their category, much of this promotion is often out of your control. The best you can hope for is to use a burst of mobile advertising to take the app into the Top 10 and that the app is good enough to stay there.

Apart from the big issue around discovery, the vast majority of apps are never opened after the first download.

In fact according to Flurry, only 50% of the very best apps are still in use a month after download and that’s for apps with high utility such as weather. The chances are that your app won’t even be this good and thus most of the downloads you’ve fought for will have been wasted.

Meanwhile, while you’ve been draining your energy and budget on something almost guaranteed not to work, at least 15% and maybe as many as 50% of your existing customers are already visiting your website on their mobile phones.

If you haven’t optimised for mobile, the consumer experience will be poor and they won’t be able to do what you want them to. It’s worse if you’ve paid to send them there in the first place, when a missed opportunity actually becomes a waste of money. Nearly 80% of Google’s top advertisers are making this naïve mistake today – make sure that you’re not one of them.

Once you have a great mobile experience available on your website, you’re ready to start thinking about implementing the next of the Four Pillars of mobile marketing success – promoting the mobile website via search, mobile display advertising, developing a one-to-one mobile strategy via SMS, MMS and email.

So, the next time some bright spark starts talking about building a mobile app for your brand, you know what to say – “Let’s YABA Don’t!”

 

 

previous article

The future of hardware is incredibly hackable

The future of hardware is incredibly hackable
next article

Policy Exchange’s ‘Sharing in Safety’ roundtable raises critical issues on keeping our children safe online

Policy Exchange’s ‘Sharing in Safety’ roundtable raises critical issues on keeping our children safe online