Contributor Joyce Schwarz discusses how a Bango/Yahoo! webinar sheds light on mobile search advances.
Mobile marketing campaigns all too often ring in more buzz than bottom-line results. Yet, stats from big research continue to forecast a bright future for mobile as a way to tout brands. Informa recently revealed projections that mobile ad revenues will grow in the next five years from $871 million in 2006 to an astounding $11.3 Billion in 2011. And search-related mobile ad revenue is set to climb to $1.5 billion.
That's why when iMedia Connection asked this contributor to cover the webinar "Web Marketing Meets Mobile" sponsored by Bango and moderated by Fierce Wireless, I was eager to attend and provide you with an update on the mobile marketing landscape and advances in paid mobile search. After all, that same Informa report forecast that search-related mobile ad revenue is set to climb from just under $3 million this year to $1.5 billion in 2011.
Webinar presenters Michael Bayle, senior director business development, Yahoo! and Anil Malhotra, SVP, Global Alliances, Bango were already in the news since Yahoo unveiled a deal with mobile services provider Bango that touted it would make it easier for businesses to buy paid search listings on cell phones. Most sophisticated brand marketers already know the value of keyword marketing in web search but few are unable to unravel the complexities of the nascent paid mobile search market.
Next-gen mobile apps heating up across the ecosystem
Although the webinar focused on Yahoo and Bango, it's important to note that most of the other major search engines are venturing into paid text ads and other next-gen mobile marketing apps. Google is rapidly expanding its mobile offerings to include a U.S. test of a service that allows paid search marketers to distribute both pay-per-click and pay-per call text ads to mobile phones. Ask.com introduced its own custom search engine for mobile phones, and Microsoft adds to the fray with click to call ads on its MSN Windows Live Search for Mobile Service, and Nokia and Warner Bros move forward with downloadable content through the Warner Bros website and handsets that use Nokia Content Discover.
Other recent developments include Sequoia's funding of Ad Mob, a mobile ad network said to have deals with eBay and Nokia. Some carriers already have deals with Google and Yahoo to provide search tools. I've seen Helios handsets that feature Yahoo, and that app seems simple to use. In September Alltel announced it would be using JumpTap to build its own mobile search too. InfoSpace and Medio are vying for some of the same opportunities.
In retrospect, the Bango/Yahoo webinar provided a quick overview of where we've been and where paid search could take us, especially when coupled with back-end analytics. So no matter which search engine you choose or which combination of search services you sign up for, the webinar info should prove helpful especially since the mobile ecosystem is constantly in flux.
One of the most interesting aspects of that Yahoo Bango alliance is that Bango will offer marketers the ability to create mobile ad campaigns on Yahoo, even if the brands don't already have a web presence for wireless. In other words, Bango will help create your WAP (wireless application protocol) page. Plus Bango will deliver content and perform back-end web analytics using its own proprietary tools-- functioning almost like an SEO and campaign analyst too.
Current status of mobile search fragmented
Prior to the webinar, I researched the current status of mobile search and found that it's a very fragmented opportunity. Yet during the workday the ratio of computer-versus-mobile usage is about 20/80 since on average we are usually about 20 minutes away from a computer. It makes sense that advanced Mobile search could link us to the ultimate convergence. Users want their content personalized, localized and real-time, and wireless offers the fastest delivery. One of the biggest questions is whether or not the same best practices in web marketing are moving to mobile, like the webinar promo said. Or will there be customized mobile marketing apps and geo-search that evolves just for wireless?
The webinar did a great job of recapping what's been happening in the mobile marketing eco-system to date. From European SMS marketing to the arrival of test messaging in the USA and premium text campaigns that were flashy but required extra fees and all too often did little to enhance untrusted subscription models for content delivery. Even website promos for wireless content were complicated and required users to input both carrier and handset info, and if you were promoting content not on the carrier deck, you were basically out-of-luck in terms of options. WAP Push, popular in Europe never took off here in the USA …in fact, what the webinar didn't say that the best wireless promos in the USA were ones tied in to cross-platform content like the "American Idol" mobile voting system.
New content discovery methods
One of the most fascinating aspects of the webinar was its brief look at alternate content discovery methods. The presenters talked about such developments as Near Field Communication -- the use of camera phone on barcodes on posters, print or IQ codes on products to link to info -- and something called a "Web trigger" where you enter your mobile number on a website field and trigger content to your handset, and of course they mentioned the increasingly popular low-tech versions of viral marketing, or "tell a friend."