5 Mobile Marketing Tips from Google Experts

The mobile economy is booming! More than half the world now owns a mobile device, and over 90% of Americans are using mobile technology. That means there’s a wealth of mobile advertising and consumer engagement opportunities for marketers. However, many brands are not yet utilizing or perhaps even comprehending the array of mobile marketing tactics available and how to cross-pollinate their mobile marketing strategies across multiple channels or multiple engagement points. This gap was the focus at Learn with Google at SES San Francisco this year—a full-day conference wherein participants could interact with the innovative leaders at Google about new technology and mobile marketing trends. Across four sessions throughout the day, Google representatives covered various mobile advertising topics, giving advice and insight around a number of useful tips, including the utilization of mobile apps, SEM for mobile and maximizing AdWords profit, and optimizing mobile displays.

The following were 5 of the most important mobile marketing tips discussed:

1. Be There For Your Customers

Matt Lawson, Director of Search Ads Marketing at Google, encourages marketers to develop a profitable mindset when it comes to mobile marketing. For instance, a brand should always “be there.” In other words, have a constant presence via mobile technology for consumers that want to find you at the most appropriate times and geo regions. One important way to achieve this is for marketers to use bids, not an ever-increasing budget, to manage spend. Adjust and optimize bids by monitoring performance based on location, time of day, mobile device, and other analytics for serving appropriate ads to targeted consumers. Ad performance is best when companies serve the right ads to the right people at the right times and locations.

2. Measure Everything

Lawson also stresses the importance of siphoning through the available data via analytics to understand the most useful aspects of this information and how best to utilize this data to optimize advertising tactics. Playing with analytics and making adjustments via test campaigns is a smart ongoing practice. Lawson suggests monitoring conversion information and transferring lifetime value data from a CRM system to a company’s AdWords account. This will help develop a more comprehensive understanding of how customers engage.

3. Make Mobile Easy

Google Product Marketing Manager Adam Singer stressed the importance of making conversions and purchasing easy in a mobile app. The simpler it is for a customer to purchase or enter their information via a mobile app, the more successful the app will be in growing the brand’s customer database and revenue stream. Singer recommended that marketers develop their own apps and begin monitoring analytics. Measuring app performance and making adjustments where necessary is key, not just for monetizing the app but for better understanding customer behavior and how best to engage with them in the future.

4. Consider the Customers Journey

Matthew Eichner, Managing Director at DoubleClick Search Americas for Google, emphasized the need to understand how customers engage across a variety of platforms in order to fully track and optimize mobile marketing campaigns. Marketers must assure that product feeds, search platforms, CRM systems and all additional tools and platforms integrate seamlessly. This way, companies can gain a more complete understanding of their consumers’ needs, wants, and habits. Providing value-added engagement tools along every step of the customer’s journey is a significant element in developing a strong mobile marketing strategy.

5. Utilize Mobile Ads

Google offers a variety of mobile advertising opportunities, including click-to-download, mobile ad site links, click-to-call in-app ads, and extensions for offers, calls, location, and more. It’s imperative for advertisers to become extremely familiar with all of Google’s products in order to provide the most relevant types of ads to interested consumers. More information on each ad category is available on the Google Think Insights website.