Brands Increase Mobile Marketing Spending with a Local Focus

November 24, 2011

Each quarter, Millennial Media releases a report that tracks mobile marketing campaigns. The 3rd quarter 2011 report states that mobile advertising spending has grown across all verticals with 6 verticals growing over 140% in the past 12 months.

Fueling that growth during the past quarter was a 50% increase in local market targeting and a 78% increase in “post-click” options like the ability to watch a video.

The 6 verticals seeing the most growth in mobile marketing spending during the past year were:

Technology = 687%
Consumer products = 378%
Finance = 356%
Retail and restaurants = 184%
Pharmaceuticals = 163%
Entertainment = 145%

Looking at actual mobile advertising spending during the third quarter of 2011, the finance vertical topped the list in the United States followed by entertainment and retail/restaurants. Internationally, the entertainment vertical came out on top.

Location-based marketing and targeting really is the hot thing for mobile marketers, and the Millenial Media report found that campaigns which allowed consumers to view a map (for example, to find the location of a store to purchase a product) grew by 27% during the third quarter of 2011.

Furthermore, consumers are interacting with mobile marketing campaigns while they’re shopping. During the third quarter of 2011, the top activity among consumers in this study was searching for specific items in order to find a better price. Also, while shopping consumers use their mobile devices to search for product reviews.

The take-away from this study is simple. Brands are not only investing more money into mobile advertising and marketing campaigns but they’re also actively testing a variety of tactics to drive brand awareness and sales. Consumers are actively using their mobile devices to find information about brands both before and during their shopping excursions.

Brands want to find ways to tap into the “always on” consumer population who always have their mobile devices with them and use those devices all the time. It’s time to get on board and start conducting your own experimentation with mobile marketing before it’s too late and you’re left desperately trying to catch up.

Image: Flickr

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Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.