As we roll into the second half of the year, you should have one goal for your digital ad strategy.
Finish the year strong. Seriously, nothing else matters when you look at your digital ad strategy other than that. Don’t worry about how well (or not) you’ve done with the first half of the year, and don’t even think about resting on your laurels if you have been going great guns. Nope, not at all.
If you happen to be in the retail (or any other customer facing) business, you surely, by now, understand that the bulk majority of your traffic – foot or otherwise – is going to hit you like a freight train in the last 3 months of the year. And you need to be prepared – that means have a plan, understand how to execute the plan, and be able to explain your digital ad strategy like it’s a start up elevator pitch to anyone who will listen.
[LISTEN: Why Mobile Advertising Works – Part 2 – PODCAST EPISODE]
On the off chance you don’t quite grasp the reason behind and the growing power of having a good digital ad strategy, let us school you (with a little bit of help from Digiday):
The major takeaways
- Mobile-based impressions and clicks are primary growth drivers for digital advertising.
- Social video grew immensely in the U.S. last year.
- Mobile will remain a key driver of programmatic advertising’s growth through 2018.
The key numbers
- 71 percent: The majority of overall internet consumption that will be mobile in 2017, according to Zenith Media.
- $80 billion: The size in 2016 of the global mobile advertising market, which is expected to grow by 31 percent this year, according to Magna Global.
- $215 billion: The size of the global mobile advertising market by 2021. This will represent 72 percent of total digital budgets, according to Magna Global.
- $2.1 billion: The size in 2016 of the social video market, which grew 140 percent year over year in the U.S., according to Magna Global.
- $18.9 billion: The size of Google’s dominant share of the U.S. mobile ad market this year, followed by Facebook ($14.4 billion) and Yahoo ($1.3 billion), according to eMarketer.
- $24 billion: In 2017, programmatic mobile ad spend in the U.S. will grow 34 percent, from $18 billion last year. By year-end, mobile will account for around 75 percent of the $32.6 billion programmatic display ad market, according to eMarketer.
That’s a LOT of zeros, when you look at all those big B’s in those counts. How does this affect you? What can you do to leverage trends to create a more effective digital ad strategy and how can you tailor your advertising campaigns to take advantage of what other, bigger companies are working on?
[DOWNLOAD: 3 Steps to Creating an Effective Mobile Strategy – FREE WORKSHEET]
Many companies aren’t really doing mobile.
They’re still trying to convert their full screen experience into a miniaturized version; this little tiny replica of the desktop sized browser window is not only a terrible idea, it’s a super unfriendly one for users and the entire user experience.
Rather than trying to serve screen blocking ads that are being hammered by ad blockers, spend your time, energy and creative talent figuring out other ways to get noticed on mobile – you’re really just pissing users off when they can’t read an article because there’s a giant ad covering it and they can’t find the X button to get rid of it.
Be creative. Think outside the box. Location, proximity, time based notifications – these are here, they exist in fine form today, and you don’t need to blow a bundle on a stand alone app that no one will ever use in order to get them.
As always, we’re espousing the mobile wallet platform as a marketing and advertising centerpiece for the digital merchant who really wants to succeed.