A Guide To Effective Mobile App Advertising

A Guide To Effective Mobile App Advertising

If you’re reading this article, then maybe you’ve recently gotten your first mobile app and want to get it noticed by people. Or perhaps you just want to find out whether mobile ads are worth the money. This guide isn’t going to give you any magic tips; no “click here, make $5000 in 10 seconds!” articles on the web (that’s probably a scam anyway). But what it will do is highlight some things that every good advertiser should know about how mobile ads work and why they’re effective. By the end of this article, I hope that after having read over these points yourself that you’ll be able to understand how all these factors come together and start putting them into practice in your own campaigns.

After researching online and speaking to a few marketing and developer professionals I’ve come up with 10 reasons that describe why mobile ad campaigns are successful. These points should work for all forms of mobile ads, including banner ads, in-app ads, and video pre-rolls (although each type will be affected differently by these factors).

First off though I want to say what this guide isn’t: it’s not going to tell you how much money you can make from installing an app or tapping on the occasional banner; the amount of money you could make is entirely reliant on your own product or service. There are so many variables involved that it’s impossible to predict how much you’ll get if anything at all aside from some very tips about how to go about it at the end. The other thing this article won’t do is tell you how to set up your own ad campaign; there are plenty of guides out there on how to do that and I’m certainly no expert, so go online and read one of those instead if you want a step-by-step guide. But hopefully, after reading over these points below about why mobile ads work so well you should be able to get started with the basics and then further improve yourself by looking into more advanced tactics (see “Tips for Advanced Users” section for some ideas).

Most importantly though: mobile ads aren’t going to make you rich overnight; it takes time and dedication to see success from your campaigns, and don’t expect all of them to be a success, either. But if you follow this guide hopefully, you’ll have the knowledge to make it work well for your product or service.

10 Reasons Why Mobile Ad Campaigns Are Successful

“What gets measured gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

1. Reach – There are almost one and a half billion smartphone users worldwide, which is an incredible number of potential customers within arm’s reach every day! And that’s not including tablet users! So even if your app isn’t suited for mobile ads at all then it might be worth getting some exposure by working with other apps who do use them; better yet, see if you can get some cross promotion going where both apps benefit from each other’s exposure (i.e., “Install our app and we’ll give you bonus coins in ours”, or vice versa with the bonuses swapped).

2. Targeting – Mobile ads allow you to pinpoint exactly who your target audience is, with such ease that it almost feels like cheating! With most apps now using an ad supported model, where 50% of users don’t have to put any money into the app but the other 50% must pay for something, you can easily see where your target market stands by just looking at what percentage of people spend money. From there you can focus all your efforts on getting exposure from users who are more likely to make a purchase or sign up, and gradually work out what works for your product with time.

3. Interest – With so many paid ads being displayed to potentially interested users, yours is bound to be seen by someone unless you don’t have a budget at all. In fact, mobile ads work well for those without much money to spend as the cost per click or impression is so low that even if you get virtually no exposure from your ad at least it doesn’t cost too much.

4. Timely – You can get your ads displayed when it’s most appropriate for them to be seen; if you’re targeting people who use the app at night and your ad is displayed between say 8pm and 7am then it’s more likely to be noticed by people who use the app during those hours, and the chances of them clicking on it will be higher as well.

5. Easy – A lot of people underestimate just how easy mobile advertising is; all you really need to get started is enough budget, an ad campaign ready for it (which isn’t anything special), and the app metadata and app store listing ready for the ad. The last part is so important as it will help you to get your ad seen more because you can optimize it for the right keywords, making sure that it has a better chance of being found in search results.

6. Possibilities – With mobile ads there are a plethora of options available – banners, interstitials, video – and it’s only going to get better as time goes on. Just look at Google’s AdWords and you can see how much potential there is for your app to get in front of the right audience with mobile ads!

7. Fun – Who says you can’t advertise your app and have some fun? What mobile ads allow you to do is add a bit of personality to your ad, as well as interactivity with a call-to-action button that makes the user do something straightforward and simple. Look at these great examples:

8. Good Value – Unlike some promotional channels that charge you a hefty fee and give you little in return, mobile ads give you a lot of bang for your buck. With CPC being as low as $0.006 for some search ads, CPMs of just $1-2 for some video ads, you can get a lot of exposure without having to pay through the nose.

9. Low Risk – There are very few risks involved when it comes to mobile ads with the only real downside being that your ad isn’t displayed but this is also a plus point as it means that your target audience don’t see the ad and then ignore it.

10. Tracking – You can track a whole lot of information about your ad campaign, from where your users come from to what they do on the app. It’s a great way of seeing if mobile ads are working for you and how well they’re doing.

Overall mobile app advertising is an excellent way to broadcast your product and to generate more leads. With so many different types of ads available and a low barrier to entry, there is no reason not to dive right in and start using mobile app advertising.