The Future Is Mobile

Where is your phone right now? On your desk? In your pocket? Maybe it's in your hand and you're using it to read this article. More than likely, it's not too far away.

91% of people have their phone within three feet of them at all times (Ironistic).

That statistic may either scare you or excite you, depending on who you are. For marketers, it's pretty exciting. Roughly 77% of Americans own a smartphone; that's approximately 250,700,000 individuals that marketers now have near constant access to.

As usage of mobile devices increases, naturally so does the use of mobile marketing. Mobile advertising has surpassed $100 billion in spending and now accounts for more than 50% of all digital ad expenditure.

3 Mobile Marketing Trends To Watch:

1) Mobile Wallets- According to Techopedia, "A Mobile wallet is a type of payment service through which businesses and individuals can receive and send money via mobile devices".

Below is a graph of users who currently use mobile wallet.

Approximately one third of smart phone users are currently using a mobile wallet. 94% of mobile wallet users are likely to save personalized mobile wallet offers and coupons. This technology presents a new way for marketers to deliver offers, coupons, and loyalty cards to a consumer base that is looking for deals and is ready to shop.

2) Reward Based Mobile Advertising- Reward based mobile advertising was described by CEO of SessionM, Lars Albright, as a "form of native in-app advertising that is based on a value exchange between brands and consumers. Consumers opt-in to engage with a brand experience and, in return they get rewarded for their time and attention. The reward could be in the form of virtual currency, virtual goods, or even access to gated content or services." SessionM and joined with researcher Millward Brown to release a study which found that consumers react twice as often to mobile ads which offer something valuable, relevant, and/or engaging in exchange for time spent interacting with content. Reward based mobile advertising mutually benefits consumers and marketers, helping to build a strong consumer-brand relationship.

3) Mobile Messenger Marketing- Today more than 2.1 billion people use a social messaging apps such a Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. Users send about 30 billion messages per day. The wide usage of messaging apps offers a new platform for communicating with consumers. Many large companies are already taking advantage of the popularity of mobile messaging apps. According to Smith Brothers, Taco Bell uses Snapchat to make announcements to consumers. 80% of users open the brand's snaps and 90% of those who open the snaps will watch the video in its entirety, even if it is up to 5 minutes long .

The line between digital marketing and mobile marketing is becoming blurred as mobile devices slowly take over the digital world. In the future, it is likely that mobile marketing will no longer be a segment of a brand's digital marketing plan. Instead, the two will merge and become synonymous.

It is important that marketers stay on top of mobile trends and create marketing plans that reflect how consumers are interacting with the world via mobile devices.

"You either change or get left behind." -Carol Cunningham