Paid Advertising

Mobile Advertising: Worth the Fuss?

5 minute read

Mobile advertising takes a little bit of time and effort to set up correctly, and a lot of measurement and management to stay relevant. Lots of businesses are questioning whether mobile advertising is really a necessary component of digital marketing, especially in the wake of AdGooroo’s report on the Top 20 Paid Mobile Search Advertisers. Many of the brands that dominate desktop search are doing terribly on mobile. Additionally, paid mobile search still controls only a small amount of total AdWords spend, 7.6 percent.

Who Should Make Mobile Advertising a Priority

So is paid search advertising on mobile even worth it for your business? We still say yes, but some industries should make it a priority, while others can wait a while. Who should make mobile a priority? Certain industries are better suited to the needs of the mobile user, including:

  • Automotive
  • Travel
  • Hotels
  • Lifestyle and Entertainment
  • Retail, especially brick-and-motars who offer coupons
  • Mobile apps
  • Small local businesses
  • Location-oriented businesses (for example, pizza delivery restaurants)

Although Google’s Enhanced Campaigns force all advertisers to use mobile search, search results on mobile only include 3 ads, while a desktop search has space for 12 ads. You’ll have to pay a premium price to get placement, so you have to make sure that mobile search is relevant to you and your customers. If you have a limited advertising budget, and your business doesn’t capitalize on mobile assets like these examples, it might be best for you to opt out of mobile advertising until you get a little more money to play with.

With so many changes, advancements, and trends in digital marketing, it can be touch to figure out when a tactic is really worth the investment. While desktop paid search –for now – still outranks mobile advertising, it makes sense for certain industries to put more budget into traditional paid search. But don’t get too complacent – things can change just like that. And no matter whether your ads are on desktop or mobile, you have to make sure your copy is on point.