Targeting: A Mobile Audience
In today’s agile technology industry , we strive for ways to target audiences. In the advertising sector we usually hire others to do the work for us (Google AdSense). We invest a portion of our expenses towards advertisements, wait for revenue to start rolling in, and eventually repeat. On the other hand, if we’re not trying to sell anything and want to spread a message or promote ourselves, a paid option might not be feasible.
In my eyes there’s a way to do both, in your own time and without expensive overhead. In this part of my “Targeting” series, I want to share some advice on targeting a mobile audience.
I’ll start off by saying I’m not an a paid professional in this field, but I have worked around it long enough to know what I’m talking about. And as a consumer, I know what works when I’m being targeted via mobile. So let’s get started.
From a Computer
Just because you’re targeting a mobile audience, does not mean you should forget about the home computer. Often times when a user has an option to try out a feature for their phone when the exact same feature exists on their computer, they will try both. Take Mint.com for example; In addition to having an excellent web service to keep track of spending, they have expanded their market by reaching out to iPhone users. I’d recommend a cross platform web app, but I’ll get to that later. In order to push their mobile app, they use their homepage to showcase the available features and benefits of using their mobile app. Truth of the matter is, Mint.com makes money through through their application (by way of referrals to banks etc.) all the while saving the end user money. The more platforms they can target, the more money they are going to make. Brilliant.
QR 2D barcodes are sweet! The whole idea is a fun concept, and even better in practice. Create a barcode that a user can scan with their phone, then store the information for future use. This works for business cards, URL’s, or “secret codes” to enter into a website to use as a coupon or to participate in a contest. I want you to share this article with a friend and send the link immediately. Simply scan the following barcode with your QR enabled phone (Symbian, Android, iPhone, WinMo) and text/email it off to a friend. All the big phone manufacturers have free QR reading applications, and now that you know what that crazy barcode means, start using it!
On the Device
Don’t go platform specific. It’s a waste of time, and the professionals are going to beat you up for it. In a day where our mobile browsers have HTML5 and CSS3 support, there is no reason to build a platform specific application. You can connect all of your web services and databases the same way in a mobile app as you do in a web app. You can engage users with a sleek mobile site as long as you have relevant content. Any device specific features can be accessed via PhoneGap, which for even the most remedial developers provides an easy to use javascript framework.
One way where I would encourage going platform specific is advertising. An example is the ESPN mobile website. As I was browsing scores, I came across a small advertisement for ‘Visa Mobile for Andorid ‘. This was the first time I had seen an advertisement direct itself towards my phone, and it linked me to the app store. I actively use this application now, and they’re not selling anything. The application is just a spending tracking application, sound familiar? As well as advertising, you can track trends of users based on their device. Do iPhone users click more gaming advertisements over Android users?
Bridging the Gap
There’s an in-between step that facebook seems to do pretty well. Facebook integrates mobile uploading of photos and status updates, which enables a user to interact with the website more often and also enourages other users to visit the website more frequently for updates. This results is higher traffic to their site and more views of their advertisements. Yes, 90% of the ads I see are for dating websites and none of them get clicked (or so I say), but the point is that I do notice them when I’m checking what my friends are up to. I have yet to see any ads on thier mobile site, but it’s only a matter of time.
Facebook Connect is also worth a mention here. This goes beyond just facebook, but via web and mobile applications, it enables a user to use their facebook account to log in to an application and provides user authentication. This is benificial in the sense that you obtain real user information, due to the fact that users list their real names on facebook and (usually) age. One login, for all of your web and mobile apps, sounds like a fantasy.
Twitter is another site, albeit with a questionable business model for profit, that integrates mobile interactivity with web presence. It seems to be slowly threading its audience into an addiction that at anytime could be injected with advertisements, leaving its users with no choice but to take the hit.
Final Thoughts
As far as advertising goes, don’t over think it. The most simplistic solutions are always the ones that pay off in the end. Target you audience in a meaningful and useful fashion and the user will respond positively. If your user feels like they’re being rattled and shaken down for their money, they’re more likely to turn a negative opinion towards you than ignore you.
If you’re a casual blogger, interested in networking or looking for a job, use some of these tools to put yourself out there. A good example is having a QR code on your website. As well as having a prominent LinkedIn tag, WhatAnExperience author Dave Meeker uses a giant QR code to grab the readers attention and in my case enticed me to capture the link. Find out where it goes, it’s not a link to his site…
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