Marketers might think they’ve finally got a grip on “regular” PPC, but throw mobile PC into the mix and suddenly it’s an entirely new game. That might be why so many marketers are choosing to stick their heads in the sand instead of getting up to speed with mobile PPC best practices. The mobile future is already here, and mobile readiness is no longer optional. Just two years ago, mobile was a small amount of the spending fraction but now companies are reporting up to half of their customers are spending on mobile devices.
Compared to this time last year, mobile spending has grown 98 percent. If you’re a marketer without a mobile strategy, you’re on your last leg and have little time to catch up. You already know when it’s or not and other desktop-ready PPC strategies, and now you need to hone your mobile PPC game. Anyone’s mobile performance can improve. Start now.
The downside to mobile advertising
Every business wants their account to be as efficient as possible, and they also want it to grow. However, it’s easy to get account growth tunnel vision, which means your original perspective on mobile advertising will be off. The average marketer can plug in the top 20 keywords for any particular brand, and on average 20 percent of the search volume is going to be coming from mobile gadgets. That’s traffic you’re missing out on, and you can enjoy a 25 percent traffic boost with virtually no work at all.
Also know that mobile advertising isn’t going to lead to converted traffic, even though it seems like it should. It’s helping in the conversion process without mobile advertising, with the Path-to-Purchase report noting that 46 percent of people say they use mobile devices “exclusively” when they’re researching products they eventually buy. If you don’t advertise with these types of users, you’re skipping a sales funnel.
If you only measure conversions directly, your scope needs to be broadened. You also need to measure conversions via phone calls (call tracking software exists for a reason). If this isn’t an option, then think about this: Maybe the website isn’t mobile ready. That’s an issue you need to fix immediately.
When PPC doesn’t work
Once a site has been improved and conversion rates are on the upswing, don’t forget about a lackluster PPC performance. The more mobile sitelinks you have, the more attention you’ll garner. Ensure there are at least 12 characters so that they display well on mobile and get as many as you can. Be wary of app traffic and think about using something like AdSense for Mobile Apps for those display campaigns. Use the mobile preferred ads, which lets you funnel consumers to pages that are optimized for mobile and have calls to action.
If your mobile-preferred ads have clear calls to action and can point users towards sites that are mobile friendly, you can enjoy an enormous spike in CTR. There’s no getting around the fact that mobile isn’t going anywhere, but the good news is that you’re not the only company that needs a makeover. However, growing PPC accounts isn’t going to happen magically. It’ll take work.
Priorities
It’s not wise to ignore any aspect of marketing campaigns or PPC, but for now mobile PPC needs to take precedence. Spend some time both perfecting your mobile site(s) and re-strategizing PPC with a mobile angle. Just like when email began to take over postal marketing campaigns, there are some approaches that play for both teams, but otherwise it’s a brand new strategy that’s needed. Don’t take the shortcuts.
