BII MOBILE INSIGHTS: Localized Mobile Marketing Is On The Rise

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National Brands Find Local Affiliates Lacking In Mobile Marketing (eMarketer)
National brands’ investment in local digital marketing is on the rise. According to local-marketing automation company Balihoo’s September survey of marketers in North America, 35.9% planned to boost their local digital dollars in 2013; just 6.8% planned to decrease spending. Most marketers reported already investing in common digital marketing tactics such as Facebook marketing (69.3%), search engine optimization (SEO) and display advertising (50.3%) for purposes of local marketing.

digital marketing tactics

In the coming year, the greatest number of respondents said they planned to implement digital tactics such as local blogs (31.5%), online customer reviews (31%) and mobile marketing (35.4%).

digital marketing tactics wanted

Specific areas in which brands felt their affiliates lacked expertise included mobile marketing, which is not surprising given the newness of this marketing medium.

Localized Mobile Ad Market To Reach $5.8 Billion In U.S. By 2016 (Search Engine Watch)
Mobile local ad revenue in the U.S. will grow by 54% by 2016, according to a new study by local media advisor company BIA/Kelsey. Mobile is projected to account for over 3% of local ad revenues by 2016. The mark would represent an increase from the 0.6% market share represented by mobile local ad revenue in 2011. The company says that mobile local ad spending will outpace mobile national ad spending and will account for 58% of total ad spending ($9.92 billion) by 2016.
mobile vs local mobile ad spend

According to the company's figures, mobile ad spending is projected at $2.7 billion for this year, with $1.2 billion spent on mobile local ads and $1.5 billion spent on national mobile ads.

Mobile Web Design Checklist (GoDaddy)
While the term "mobile friendly" may be subjective, there’s no denying that there is legitimate and ever-increasing value in making your web-based products and services friendly to your mobile audience. The first step in providing your users an improved mobile experience begins with asking the right questions:

Design strategy - Who's your target audience?
Optimal resources - Is your website fast enough?
Navigation - Can I find what I'm looking for?
Context aware - Is my website convenient?
Touch aware - Does my website feel tailored to mobile?

A good mobile design is very subjective and should be catered to the needs of your audience; not simply follow a blanket set of rules.

Walk In A Mall, Receive A Mobile Coupon (The New York Times)
Smart online shoppers always search the web for a coupon before they make a purchase. RetailMeNot, a coupon web sites, is also trying to offer coupons for mall shoppers via their cellphones. It has signed on more than 275 merchants, and, in time for the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving start to the holiday shopping season, it will work at 500 malls. The app uses geo-fencing, which takes a cellphone’s location data to send alerts when someone walks across a virtual perimeter. The notifications appear even if the app is not open. People show cashiers the coupons on their phones. An average RetailMeNot user will see 38 coupons from 25 stores upon stepping near a mall. For retailers, these mobile coupons are one of many experiments they are doing to figure out the best way to target mobile consumers.

MasterCard And ING Group Demoing Another Mobile Payment Option (TechCrunch)
As if there wasn’t enough going on in the mobile payments space already, now MasterCard and ING Group have teamed up on a payment trial that mixes mobile and Internet payments to support shopping scenarios involving a mix of devices. One scenario involves using a mobile device to purchase an item the shopper is looking at on their PC or tablet. The trial is also considering a second scenario whereby shoppers might want a simple click-to-buy option when shopping online on their phone. The technology makes use of the Secure Element on the phone to support "a comparable level of security" to in store purchases. It builds on MasterCard’s existing NFC-based PayPass technology for mobile payments but does not utilize NFC to function. The trial kicked off in mid-October and is due to run through the first quarter of next year.

Six In Ten Convenience Store Shoppers Willing To Use Mobile Wallets (CSP)
Seventy-one percent of convenience-store shoppers would be willing to use mobile wallets to pay for items using their mobile phones and tablets, according to a mobile survey by market researcher Paradigm Sample. "Increasing consumer receptivity, and a greater sense of security when using their mobile devices for financial transactions, has radically shifted," said Sima Vasa, president of Paradigm Sample. "C-store shoppers are already comfortable making online purchases, so using their mobile phones as a mobile wallet just doesn't faze them."

SANDY AFTERMATH: The Future Of Disasters Is Mobile (VentureBeat)
When disaster strikes, fewer things are more important than your smartphone. So says mobile website platform Usablenet, which reported that mobile traffic to websites of utility companies like ConEdison increased by 16,000 percent both during and after hurricane Sandy. It shows just how important the mobile web has become for finding information about natural disasters both before and as they are happening. The trick, then, is to ensure that people can access that information quickly and easily. "The ability to access the mobile web becomes even more essential during times of crisis," according to Usablenet marketing chief Carin Van Vuuren. All of this underscores one main conclusion: Investing in mobile infrastructure is the most important thing the government and utility companies can do to prepare for future disasters.

ELECTION BONUS: How Mobile Is Transforming Political Engagement (Mashable)
There’s no denying that we’re a much more mobile nation than we were four years ago. That switch to mobile is affecting not only how we communicate with each other, but also how we engage politically. As of late September, a reported 88% of registered voters had a cell phone of some kind, with 53% of those voters toting around smartphones. For this year’s election, one in 10 voters made a political contribution via text message or a mobile app, and 37% of voters used their mobile phone for political information and discussion with others. Payvia, a company that powered political contributions for the Obama and Romney campaigns, created this infographic breaking down some of the numbers from this year, and making some predictions on what we can expect with the 2016 election. Take a look at their findings below:

mobile political engagement