This is the age of technology. Over the last few years, we not only talked about artificial intelligence (AI) but also used it in businesses to boost market opportunities. The use of smartphones and laptops has increased significantly, encouraging the internet of things (IoT) network to establish at a rapid pace. With such surge in the use of novel technologies, the advertising industry is not far behind.
Today, mobile advertising is not merely a buzzword but it contributes a majority part of the total internet advertising revenue. According to Allied Market Research, the global mobile advertising market is expected to reach US$243.70 billion by 2022. Rising mobile device penetration, increasing awareness regarding mobile advertising, and a surging number of mobile internet users drive the market growth.
Today’s consumer world is continuously online and a good, eye-catching advertising campaign can go a long way to boost business and create a good consumer base. Thus, advertising agencies are focusing on targeting mobile phones. However, mobile advertising is not at all similar to traditional advertising methods; it reinvents the concepts of ad making itself.
Today, companies use a variety of sophisticated options, business patterns, analytics, and human behavior to create a user-friendly mobile ad that promotes the company’s name and business. This is instrumental to generate revenue and a steadily grow consumer base. Here are some of the major mobile advertising trends that would make a world of a difference in just a few months:
- Omnichannel advertising
As the name suggests, omnichannel advertising combines all marketing channels to offer one seamless experience. For this, advertising companies must have a clear idea about the demands of potential customers that use the digital space before purchasing anything. There are several channels for advertising a new product. Thus, one cannot ignore a single step or channel as even one missed step can destroy the entire campaign and create a negative customer experience.
- Social commerce and m-commerce
The boom of m-commerce has is at least partially due to the Covid-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, people seemed to use mobile more than ever for entertainment and shopping, despite being stuck at home. In fact, grocery shopping apps witnessed around 200% growth during the first phase of the pandemic due to fear of social interaction and strict government regulations on travel. Now, these apps have seamlessly become a part of people’s habits and even after the pandemic, they will continue to grow.
Advertising companies must leverage such selling opportunities on social media and adopt social commerce. Social media platforms have moved beyond a mere way of entertainment. It has become its own universe where an advertiser can catch customers’ eyes with their quirky, unique advertising campaigns.
- Augmented reality
The popularity of Pokemon Go is still fresh in people’s minds. The use of AR for mobile games allows displaying virtual objects in real-world surroundings with the use of a smartphone camera. AR technology is essentially more lucrative for mobile advertising than virtual reality (VR), which requires a special device to engage the customer. However, the use of AR for mobile advertisements is still an untapped market and not many companies have found a good way to fit it in the marketing world. But it’s certainly a good opportunity to gain customer attention. It’s useful for home décor companies such as IKEA where customers can pick their favorite furniture and place it in their house virtually and get an exact idea about the look of the room. Moreover, beauty companies have tapped into the AR world to give customers a precise idea about how their cosmetics can improve their look, hairstyle, or which kind of jewelry would go well with their attire.
Although AR technology does not offer a one-size-fits-all solution, it does make an appealing ad campaign. The use of the mobile camera without the requirement for additional devices offers an engaging consumer tool that can drive purchases.
- Online payment methods and Voice searches
Today’s fast-paced life demands flexibility and customers’ attitude towards brands has changed drastically over the last few years. Moreover, the search methods have changed. Today, the use of Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Google Assistant has increased, boosting the use of voice & visual searches.
A large part of the population uses voice searches for making shopping lists and purchases. In the case of visual search, one can point a mobile phone’s camera at an object to initiate web searches. Major search engines such as Google have invested a colossal amount of money in improving voice and visual searches.
In addition, the use of mobile wallets has skyrocketed. Scan-and-pay has become a routine. Google Pay and Apple Pay dominated the industry in the beginning but several new mobile wallets have entered the market, offering attractive discounts and cashback rewards to gain customer attention.
Such trends in mobile advertising could offer the necessary boost to a company’s business and put them on the map for new customers. In the future, the use of AI will become necessary in advertising, offering limitless opportunities if only the company succeeds in dealing with the massive amount of consumer data. But for now, these trends can help you gain a faithful audience using nothing but a customer’s mobile phone.
About the author:
Swamini Kulkarni holds a bachelor’s degree in Instrumentation and control engineering from Pune University and works as a content writer at Allied Market Research. She is deeply fascinated by the impact of technology on human life and loves to talk about science and mythology. When she is not glued to the computer, she loves to read, travel and daydream about her areas of interest.