Optimizing Affiliate Campaigns for Mobile

Whether you choose to believe it or not, demand for mobile advertising is definitely on the rise. According to eMarketer “Mobile Advertising: After the Growing Pains”, US mobile ad spending is projected to reach $6.5 billion in 2012, a far cry from the $878 million reported in 2007. As you can see, the opportunity is growing for marketers to create a more engaging and interactive experience for the consumer. For affiliate marketers looking to get into the space, here are a few things to consider.

It is imperative to grab the end user’s attention and retain it.

A text message is read within four minutes on average, compared to traditional emails which are generally read in the first 48 hours. While consumers are quick to read a message on their phone, they are equally quick to discard it. Marketers should use text messages sparingly (and with permission) to give a quick, clever message and drive the user to a mobile-friendly landing page via a shortened URL.

Focus on generating leads, not selling products.

Campaigns requiring a purchase on mobile phones do not work as well as lead generation campaigns, as consumers are less likely to fill out a form that contains too many fields or requires their credit card number. They are, however, more likely to complete a short form to receive more information. Focus on offering a short-form/lower CPA campaign geared towards getting more limited information, but enough to re-market at a later date.

A mobile-friendly page can make or break your campaign.

If your site cannot be read on a mobile phone, your campaign will undoubtedly fail. It is vital to develop a landing page that is optimized for a smaller screen. Advertisers would find it more beneficial to create landing pages that are optimized for specific devices; the major platforms —Apple, Android and Blackberry— have different capabilities that should be kept in mind when developing a campaign. Also make sure to auto-detect your landing pages by user agent to automatically direct the consumer to the best page possible.

Mobile should be a part of the mix, not the end-all solution.

Just because everyone else is embracing mobile, don’t naturally assume that you should join the bandwagon. Mobile should be a part of your overall marketing strategy, in addition to the other channels such as email, display, social media, etc. An effective and multi-pronged campaign will utilize those channels that best reach your target audience.

Research suggests that the number of respondents to mobile campaigns is staggering, and will continue to rise as the adoption of such devices becomes more widespread. As more and more attention is placed on the mobile device as a replacement to the personal computer, there will be a heavier push for mobile campaigns and subsequently even greater opportunities for marketers to acquire revenues amongst this user-base. Make sure your network partner is poised and ready to help you exploit this latest trend.

This guest post was written by Greg Bayer, who is the General Manager at Adknowledge Affiliate, which specializing in performance-based marketing for both advertisers and publishers.