Mobile Advertising: Leveraging Mobile Ads to Grow Your Business

If you're a business owner, you already understand the importance of advertising. Whether it takes the form of press releases, radio spots, or web content, getting the word out about your business is the only way to create growth. With the rise of mobile devices, a new form of advertising is available to business owners: mobile ads. This type of advertising is expected to become a vital part of any marketing strategy in the near future, with financial services corporation Morgan Stanley correctly predicting that mobile Internet use would surpass desktop Internet use by the year 2015. In order to stay competitive in the future marketing world, business owners will have to develop a mobile advertising strategy. Luckily, this form of advertising is easy to coordinate from your virtual office. Here are just a few different ways you could use mobile advertising to promote your business.

Create An App—If It's Right For Your Business

Depending on your industry and your target demographic, creating a mobile app could be a fantastic way to foster client engagement and raise awareness about your brand. The appeal of the app is multifold. First, it generates a unique user experience that lends itself naturally to creating a loyal client base. Second, it allows you to customize and control the user experience. Your app can include facts, games, quotes, maps, or any other relevant data. Creating a mobile app can be a great way to advertise your business via mobile devices, as your app provides your client base an opportunity to engage with your brand. There is, however, a caveat. Using an app for marketing your business only works when you have valuable content for consumers that easily makes use of the mobile format. Your primary aim should be functionality. If your app can provide users with a functional service that is relevant to your business, it can be a great mobile advertising opportunity.

Produce A Podcast

Nearly every mobile device has some form of audio storage and playback feature. This makes it easy for users to listen to any kind of music or content on the go. Podcasts are short (usually 15-30 minutes) audio (or sometimes video) recordings that are optimized for playback on mobile devices. Users can download these recordings and listen to them on computers, tablets, or smart phones. If you have the time and resources, producing a podcast can be a great way to leverage mobile marketing in a novel manner. For instance, if you operate a tax preparation firm, you could host a weekly 20-minute podcast where you clarify complex tax laws and answer listeners' questions about deductions and exemptions.

RSS Feeds Are The New Press Releases

If you have a company blog, you should already know how important it is to have fresh content. However, with mobile Internet use quickly growing and desktop use stagnant, it will be vital for you to go where your readers are going. In order to survive in this brave new mobile world, you should ensure that your company blog is mobile-optimized (that is, that it can be easily read on a mobile device) and that you offer an option for readers to subscribe to RSS updates on their mobile devices. An RSS feed is a web application that allows users to subscribe to various web sites, so that when those sites publish new information, said information is sent directly to the user's mobile device. If you want your audience to know that new content is available as soon as you publish it, an RSS feed is a great way to let them know. Mobile advertising can be a great way to inform potential clients about your business. You can design an app to provide a functional and relevant service, create a weekly podcast to distribute valuable content to prospects, or use an RSS feed to let your current clients know about new developments in your field. The era of mobile marketing is here—don't get left behind.