Our Love for Mobile Device's Effect on Marketing

By: Ian O.

     With the ever growing amount of mobile devices in the current age, companies everywhere are searching for ways to adapt to this recent trend. Some might see this as premature, but as this graph done by Mary Meeker shows, time spent on digital media has involved mobile devices more and more in the coming years, even passing desktops and laptops as of 2014. With this kind of trend only growing, developing tactics and measures to utilize mobiles has become a top priority for many businesses, whether that means changing small things or completely revamping their model.

                    Now in what kinds of things do businesses change you might ask?

                                  -  Content/websites are tailored for mobile use -
    This one is essential for companies who are only based online. What this essential means is that when you will go on a website using your mobile, the website will have specific programming and formatting so that it can be accessed easily with your phone. These "Mobile Versions" of the site might not seem like a lot, but it greatly decreases confusion and frustration and has even gone to apps being made specifically for sites like Reddit, Facebook, Google, and many others.

                              - The type of content and advertising be displayed -

      This one has a huge effect on advertising. Due to mobile devices having smaller screens but still high quality graphics and data, advertisers are ditching the banner ads, or strips of text on the side of the screen ads, and switching to almost only using videos. The main benefit from this, from an advertisers perspective, is that it is much harder to ignore a video advertisement, with many having time limits until you can skip past and having the video take up the entire screen, as seen on the right. Text and those types of things in general are so much harder to read and make eye catching on mobiles, so even content creators have gone away from this to a more appealing video style.

                                              -  Location base advertising -
     This one is beneficial for both sides, but for different reasons. What this means is that because most phones or devices have a location tracker on them, when they search for things online in their locale area, companies can see this and be able to know WHO to advertise to. This means no more shooting in the dark to hopefully advertise to the right people, but instead they get to know what devices and locations are more likely to be their target market. It is beneficial for the customer as well, for now their ads pertain to things they could actually enjoy, even if they are still advertisements.

     These changes to how we view digital media are amazingly quick, considering how not long ago digital media wasn't even around. This means that businesses and companies need to be that much more diligent with new technology, trying out new methods to make the viewing process that much more easy. Not adapting to these changes, even if they seem small or insignificant, can be the undoing of even the strongest of competitors.

Citations:

 Chaffey, Dave. "Marketing Trends for 2016 - Will We Be in a Post-digital Era? - Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice." Smart Insights. Smart Insights, 08 Feb. 2016. Web. 03 Apr. 2016. <http://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/marketing-trends-2016/>. 

 Davis, Jessica. "How Smart Phones Have Changed Content Marketing." Get Busy Media. 11 Nov. 2013. Web. 03 Apr. 2016. <http://www.getbusymedia.com/how-smart-phones-have-changed-content-marketing/>. 

 Meeker, Mary. Time Spent With Digital Media Graph. Digital image. Http://www.smartinsights.com/. Smartinsights, 8 Feb. 2016. Web. 3 Apr. 2016. 

 Scheinfeld, Hillel. Advertisement on tablet with man and dog. Digital image. Www.thevideoink.com. 12 Dec. 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2016. <http://www.thevideoink.com/features/voices/video-ad-engagement-matters-skip-button-doesnt-count/#.VwG78vkrJD8>.