"But he isn't wearing anything at all” a child exclaimed in the 1837 Hans Christian Andersen story The Emperor’s New Clothes. The child, unlike the rest of the loyal subjects was unaffected by the words of the crafty tailors. They let it be known that the nonexistent fabric was so fine and perfectly woven that anyone not worthy of their class, or too stupid could not see it.
That is quite the same situation currently with mobile advertising! People all over the marketing world are afraid to say that mobile ads are much like the emperor's new wardrobe. Mobile does have its place. About one year ago (December 2014) a study revealed that when "shopping" 51 percent of people will use a mobile device in the process. But 68 percent of sales were made on a PC. Specifically, smartphones were used 36 percent of the time to shop but only racked up 14 percent of the sales. Tablets did a bit better on the sales at 15 percent and 18 percent respectively
.jpg)
A World Wide Marketers (www.eMarketer.com) survey showed that 37 percent of marketers said mobile performed much worse than desktop and only 2 percent thought it did better. So why did marketers spend $28.5 billion in 2015 and project that increasing to $40.2 billion in 2016 for mobile advertising? Basically it is those crafty tailors at work!
Everything you see, hear or read about mobile advertising is being put forth by enthusiasts. These people love the technology. Most can type 80 words a minute with their thumbs! They live with their mobile devices. They are the center of life for music, entertainment, non-verbal communications and every once in awhile, a phone call. But for now, the majority of consumers are not that dedicated to their mobile device. According to Comscore, the usage patterns for mobile tell a lot. Mobile dominates travel time, midnight until 10 a.m.; PCs take over the dominant position during working hours from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and tablets kick in from 5 p.m. until midnight. All pretty logical.
But here is the problem – ad delivery during travel time, the daypart mobile dominates, is nearly zero except for those on public transportation. This is not something those crafty tailors seem to mention. Without a doubt, smartphones of any size are better and more useful than what came before them. My first "cell phone" made and received phone calls. But then idealist enthusiasts saw the mobile device as the key to everything amazing – including advertising delivery. The technology expanded (along with the size of the phones) and mobile advertising budgets grew.
H. L. Mencken noted that, "An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than cabbage conclude that it will also make better soup." So too the tech idealists believe that the latest technology will always be better than what came before – and it eventually might be, but mobile is not there yet.
So how will you spend your marketing budget and how will you recommend that your customers invest theirs? Will they follow the conventional wisdom and continue to move their marketing money from established methods into mobile? With your example and help, your customers can get a much bigger bang for their marketing bucks. Promotional specialty advertising is the most economical and can be the most successful way to deliver an ad message. If you use our media to deliver your message, your customers will see promotional advertising in action. Help your customers see past the conventional. John Kenneth Galbraith said, "The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking." Helping your customer with a successful promotion will take that pain away fast!
When a person asks their mobile device what the local weather forecast is, will they really be influenced by the ad for the car dealer that pops up? Will they even see it when their device tells them out loud what the forecast is and the screen is never looked at? But if it starts to rain and their umbrella has the logo and phone number for ABC Roofers – the message can't be ignored.
I am not saying that mobile isn't up and coming, it is. Things like proximity ad delivery (you ask for driving directions and ads for restaurants along the route show up) or shopping apps that would let a retailer deliver ads or coupons for items in the aisle you just walked down certainly will increase the ad delivery success for mobile. Loyalty programs for fast fooders and gas stations are also making mobile ad spends better investments. But as things stand now, a promotional ad message on an appropriate item is still more effective and at a lower cost. If an advertiser wants people to visit their mobile optimized website – let that be the message on the specialty advertising item and the quality of the traffic to the site will go way up.
Everyone who invests money in delivering marketing messages has to decide if they want to be a trailblazer or a quick follower. All the results from mobile suggest that the quick follower route is the one to take even if those crafty tailors keep telling you to be a trailblazer.
Gregg Emmer is chief marketing officer and vice president at Kaeser & Blair, Inc. He has more than 40 years experience in marketing and the promotional specialty advertising industry. His outside consultancy, providing marketing, public relations and business planning consulting to a wide range of other businesses, has been a useful knowledge base for K&B Dealers. Contact Gregg at gemmer@kaeser-blair.com.