In case you missed it, last Wednesday we launched The Mobile Playbook and held a mobile strategy panel via a Hangout on Air on the Think with GoogleGoogle+ page. The panel of leading mobile experts across multiple industries shared their perspectives on the 5 questions explored in The Mobile Playbook that every business should ask to win with mobile. On our panel we heard from:
Joao Machado - Director of Mobile, OMD
Michelle Ogle - Digital Marketing and Affiliate Strategy Manager, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Joshua Palau - VP of Digital Sales and Marketing, Comcast
Amit Shah - Director of Online, Mobile and Social Media, 1-800Flowers.com
Some of the key takeaways from the panel included:
Insights into how Comcast saw tremendous mobile traffic even before they built out a mobile specific experience
Tip’s from 1-800Flowers.com’s award-winning mobile website strategy
Starwood hotels’ insights from their successful hyper local marketing campaigns that explored the unique demands of mobile travelers
OMD’s perspective on the differences between tablets and smartphones
Insights from the group about how they have structured their organizations for success in mobile
Check out the highlights from our panel below and visitwww.themobileplaybook.com to explore these questions further and see how this panel and others are approaching and winning with mobile. If you’d like to view the entire panel discussion, you can do so here.
Click here to watch highlights from our Hangout on Air with mobile thought leaders
Posted by: Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales and Strategy
Mobile search is a powerful channel for businesses to engage with customers that are searching for them or for their application. Last year, we introduced improvements to click-to-download ads, and for publishers, launched Custom Search Ads for Mobile Apps. Today we’d like to share several new features that will make it even easier for AdWords advertisers to promote, track and monetize their mobile app. For the first time, businesses can use AdWords mobile search ads as a holistic solution to promote, monetize and track their app downloads. Promote your app using the new Mobile App extension All AdWords advertisers will receive the option to use a new Ad Extension - the Mobile App extension; a new way to promote their mobile apps. Not all mobile users searching for a business may know that the business has an app. The Mobile App extension allows advertisers to append a mobile app download link to their search ads. With this extension, advertisers can promote their mobile app to users who may simply be searching for their brand, product or service.
The mobile app extension gives advertisers a new distribution channel for their mobile apps and users a new discovery medium. Beta participants saw a 6% lift in CTR for campaigns using Mobile App extensions, compared to control campaigns.
The new Mobile App Extension found in the “Ad Extensions” tab. Use its new ‘app picker’ function to easily find your company’s app in Google Play Store or iTunes App Store
GrubHub, a web and mobile service that connects diners to restaurants and simplifies online ordering for delivery and pick up, was an early beta tester of the Mobile App extension. In addition to pointing mobile customers searching for food delivery services to their mobile website, they used the mobile app extension to add an additional link to their app download page. Abby Hunt from the GrubHub team explains the importance of reaching customers on mobile: “GrubHub is dedicated to feeding our diners anytime, anywhere - this is why it is important for us to reach our diners on their mobile devices. Hungry people are checking their mobile devices on the way home from work or walking to class, and we need to be where they are.”
GrubHub was an early tester of the Mobile App extension, allowing hungry customers searching for their business the option of accessing information on their mobile site or app via an ad.
Enriching click-to-download ads with more useful app information Advertisers running campaigns solely focused on promoting and driving downloads of their app will benefit from recent changes that add more useful information to their click-to-download ads. Last year, we added mobile app icons next to the text ad. We’ve now incorporated richer information about your mobile app right in the ad unit itself. When a user searches and your click-to-download ad appears, they’ll be able to see image previews, a description of your app, and when applicable, pricing and rating information.
All this new information in the click-to-download ad is automatically drawn from the Google Play Store and iTunes App Store. We hope that customers will benefit from recent changes that make click-to-download ads more engaging and for users searching on Google.
Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online home lender and a top five retail lender uses click-to-download ads to promote their Mortgage Calculator App. They’ve seen a rapid increase in the number of customer searching for them on mobile. Greg Broda, Paid Search Partner Manager at Quicken Loans explains: "When it came time to promote the new Quicken Loans Mortgage Calculator app, the decision to utilize Google’s mobile click-to-download ad platform was a no-brainer. The placement has allowed us to share the app with a very targeted and engaged group of users."
Quicken Loans runs click-to-download ads, now complete with app previews and pricing information, that point users to their app download page.
Track Android app downloads through AdWords Businesses will now be able to track downloads of their Android app from their AdWords campaigns as an AdWords conversion. This means that when a user downloads a mobile app from the Google Play store via a click-to-download ad or a mobile app extension, we will count their download as a conversion. For more information on how to set this up, visit this page.
Monetizing your mobile app with Custom Search Ads for Mobile Apps We’ve now brought Custom Search Ads to tablet apps via the recent launch of a new AdMob SDK. Tablet and mobile app users will receive ads relevant to what they're searching for inside an app, and businesses running mobile apps will have a new tool to monetize their content and services.
Mobile apps represent a significant opportunity for businesses to reach their customers, and mobile search is an important channel to reach these customers. We’re looking forward to bringing new products in the coming year that will help businesses grow by promoting, tracking, and monetizing their mobile apps with Google.
Posted by Anurag Agrawal, Product Manager, Mobile Search Ads
Yesterday we launchedwww.themobileplaybook.com, our new resource we hope will help business leaders understand how to strategically approach the mobile space in 2012 and beyond.
Today we thought we’d cut to the chase and summarize the action items we recommend in hopes this will jumpstart conversations you may be having internally about what to do in the mobile space. While we highly encourage you to pick up your tablet (or smartphone or laptop) and review the The Mobile Playbook in full, we wanted to boil down the content to the following straightforward recommendations:
Define your value proposition by determining what your consumer wants to do with your business in mobile. Benchmark against others in your industry for ideas.
Build a mobile website. Once you have a mobile website, check the stats and optimize based on consumer usage.
Build an app for a subset of your audience after your mobile site strategy is in place. Don’t forget to promote your app.
Assign a Mobile Champion in your company and empower them with a cross-functional task force.
Set up a meeting with your agencies about what’s working and what’s not for your brand on mobile and tablets.
Search for your brand in mobile, as a consumer would. Take 5 minutes and do this today. What’s working? What’s not?
Separate mobile-specific search campaigns from desktop search campaigns so you can test, measure and develop messaging specific for mobile.
Run rich media HTML5 ads to extend your branding message to reach the mobile audience.
Assign everyone in your marketing org the action item of reviewing their programs through a mobile lens.
Check out your tablet consumer’s experience with your brand. Take 5 minutes today and search for your brand on a tablet as a consumer would. What’s working? What’s not? Maximize the tablet environment with rich media creative.
Consumers have already embraced mobile but many brands are still playing catch-up. We encourage businesses to have a conversation internally about the current status of each of these items and create an action plan. Start by asking the the 5 key questions posed in The Mobile Playbook atwww.themobileplaybook.com. We hope you’ll visit it from your tablet today.
Consumers are in love with their smartphones. They used them for entertainment during the Super Bowl. They used them to find a restaurant on Valentine’s Day. But for their taxes?
Millions of consumers used their mobile phone to conduct tax related searches this year. In fact, tax related searches on mobile devices jumped by 206% year over year, outpacing growth in computer queries by nearly 20x. While this certainly reveals substantial mobile opportunity for businesses in the finance industry, it is indicative of the monumental shift in consumer behavior that mobile is driving.
US Search Volume for Tax Related Keywords 2010-2012
As seen in this graph, tax related searches coming from mobile devices extended across a three month period every year, showing that consumers used their mobile device at all stages of their tax preparation and filing process. At the end of January we see a huge spike in searches as consumers received their W-2 forms and used their mobile phones to find local or online tax filing services, download tax documents or even file their tax return early. Towards the end of the tax period another large spike in search volume signals a flurry of activity as people struggle to get their taxes filed by the April 17th deadline.
This year many consumers went a step further and completed their entire tax filing process on their mobile device. As one of the most complex and dreaded of human tasks, tax filing is certainly not an activity that intuitively lends itself to mobile devices. However, TurboTax identified this shift in mobile consumer behavior and created the easy to use SnapTax app, which allowed people to file their taxes on their phone by snapping a picture of their W-2 form. TurboTax then drove awareness and downloads for SnapTax by advertising the easy-to-use app across smartphone devices.
Tax filing is only one example of the huge shift in tasks and behaviors to smartphones. Activities such as finding a new dentist, planning a trip, or buying a new car are increasingly occurring on smartphones and are taking place on those websites and apps that make it easy for them. Businesses that understand consumers have gone mobile and adapt their core strategies around this change are the ones that will win. Three key actions all businesses must take to succeed on mobile are:
1. Make sure your websites are user friendly. Mobile optimized sites and apps are incorrectly perceived by businesses as being overly complex or expensive. The truth is that there are now so many developers out there that a mobile optimized presence is in reach for any sized business. For more information on mobile websites and even a free mobile website builder, check out www.HowToGoMo.com.
2. Develop a company level mobile strategy. It is no longer enough to think about how individual business initiatives can have mobile components. Instead, businesses need to have a concrete company-level strategy about how to win on mobile. This is the the focus of our recently published Mobile Playbook which discusses the 5 questions that business executives should be asking themselves about mobile.
3. Make sure your business can be found on mobile. This means establishing a clear advertising plan, social media strategy, and ensuring relevant and updated content. Learn more about mobile advertising on www.google.com/ads/mobile/ and stay connected with the blog for updates.
This tax season teaches us that mobile is no longer an industry specific outlet or a way to distinguish yourself from competitors. If a business can find a way to easily guide a user through the entire tax filing process on a mobile device, other industries will quickly follow with customized solutions for smartphones. Mobile is quickly becoming a mandatory channel for any business that hopes to stay relevant to their consumer base.
Posted by: Adam Grunewald, Google Mobile Ads Product Marketing
Were you aware that your business may be losing 40% of your users to competitors’ mobile-friendly sites? It’s time to step up to the plate: half of all Americans now own a smartphoneand your site needs an update to meet their expectations. Google’s here to help. We recently teamed up with DudaMobile to release its free mobile-friendly site creation tool. In four easy steps, you enter your site’s URL, customize and redirect mobile users automatically to the new mobile-friendly version. It’s free and takes just a few minutes to complete.
Join us on Thursday, May 10th at 1pm EST/10am PST and watch as Google showcases how two businesses go mobile and build mobile-friendly sites--live on air. You’ll have an opportunity to hear straight from the CMO of Dudamobile, Dennis Mink, on best practices when using the tool, and learn important questions to ask yourself when building a mobile-friendly site.
Details on how to tune in Want to see the tool in action? Tune in to theThink with Google Google+ page on Thursday May 10th at 1pm EST/10am PST to watch two live mobile-friendly site creations. Sign into Google+, go to the Think with Google Google+ page, and click to enter the live stream. If you have questions before or during the Hangout, post them with the hashtag #GoMoSite as a comment on the Google+ page.
Get your business showcased Ready to steal the limelight? Want to walk through your free, live mobile-friendly site creation with Dennis Mink, Chief Marketing Officer of DudaMobile? Answer these 7 quick questions to register your business for a chance to be featured today! Registration ends at 5pm PST on Monday, April 30th.
We’ve had conversations with hundreds of business leaders about mobile over the past year and two clear themes emerged from these discussions. Today, companies understand that they need to invest in mobile to engage with their customers on this platform. The problem is, most don't know where to start. To help address this issue, we’re launching a new resource: The Mobile Playbook. In this interactive guide, we pose 5 crucial questions all executives should be asking to win with mobile:
How does mobile change our value proposition?
How does mobile impact our digital destinations?
Is our organization adapting to mobile?
How should our marketing adapt to mobile?
How can we connect with our tablet audience?
Visit www.themobileplaybook.com from your tablet, PC or smartphone today. If you can, visit it from your tablet. Because The Mobile Playbook site is built with HTML5, we had the flexibility to customize the experience for different types of screens. We designed it for tablets first, then scaled the content up for the PC and streamlined it for smartphones. This way, we were able to ensure that readers will have an enjoyable browsing experience, no matter what context they’re in. We hope this resource will help you have productive conversations with your teams and agencies and ultimately help you adapt to the mobile consumer who is waiting to engage with you.
To hear from early movers in mobile about how they’ve approached these 5 key questions, please tune into our hangout on air today at 3pm EST. Make sure you’re signed into Google+ in order to watch the hangout.
Mobile represents a sociological shift with how users relate with both the digital and physical world. The companies that understand that all businesses are becoming mobile businesses will be primed to succeed today and in the years to come.
Posted by: Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales and Strategy
Just a quick reminder to tune in to theThink with Google Google+ page this Wednesday, April 25th, at 3pm EST/ 12pm PST for a special Hangout on Air mobile strategy discussion. We’ll be introducing our new resource, The Mobile Playbook, and talking about how mobile can help businesses win the moments that matter, make better decisions, and go bigger, faster. Our incredible mobile panelists have all been early movers in the mobile space, and we’ll be hearing their perspective on the 5 key questions we feature in The Mobile Playbook that every business executive should be asking today in order to win with mobile. We hope you’ll be there. Leave your questions for the panel in advance by clicking on the scrapbook photo at the top of theThink with Google Google+ page and leaving a comment on the photo.
When: Wednesday, April 25, 2012 3pm EST/ 12pm PST
How: In order to view the Hangout on Air, visit theThink with Google Google+ page at 3pm EST on April 25th, look for the stream post about the Hangout on Air, and click on it to tune in. Don’t forget to be signed into Google+! If you aren’t started yet with Google+, get started here with just your Google account.
On April 25, look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Think with Google +page and click to tune-in!
Posted by: Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales and Strategy
Mobile applications are now big businesses, but the developers behind them are forced to spend more of their time dealing with increasing complexity. They need to develop for different devices with different screen sizes, choose from a myriad of advertising networks, and manage varying rich media ad creative formats.
The new Google AdMob SDK 6.0 release for Android and iOS is designed to reduce the complexity that app devs are managing, freeing them up to focus on continuing to grow their great app into a great app business. With AdMob SDK 6.0, app developers can:
Use multiple ad networks We recognize that many app devs work with several ad networks to maximize fill rates, and ultimately, revenue. AdMob SDK 6.0 makes it easier to do this with our free AdMob Ad Network Mediation solution which allows app developers to allocate inventory across many top 3rd party ad networks on a country-by-country basis. App devs will retain full control and choice over the ad networks they use with a single UI that features the best-in-class AdMob reporting. For more information on AdMob Ad Network mediation, visit the AdMob Help Center.
Get banner ads to be smart, regardless of screen size New mobile device screen sizes pop up every day, but app developers shouldn’t have to worry about how banner ads will appear on different devices. AdMob SDK 6.0 eliminates this issue with the introduction of new banner ad formats that automatically expand to the full width of any smartphone screen, even in landscape mode. To learn how to implement these new banners, visit the AdMob Developer Site.
Serve more rich media ads The lack of industry standards for mobile rich media ads has been a barrier for advertisers and made it challenging to app devs to run more of these engaging ads in their apps. The new AdMob SDK 6.0 is compliant with Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions (MRAID), a common API for mobile rich media ads running in mobile apps. This is a big step forward in reducing complexity as it establishes a standardized set of commands for developers creating rich media ads. It also means that advertisers will be able to build mobile rich media ads that can be served across networks regardless of device platform, application or technology used to display the media.
As we announced several weeks ago, the iOS version of the Google AdMob SDK no longer uses the universal device identifier (UDID). We are working toward a long-term solution that will benefit users, app developers and advertisers.
To learn more about how app devs can work with AdMob to build a great app business through monetization and promotion of their app, visit our new AdMob website.
Posted by: Chrix Finne, Product Manager, Mobile Ads
We recently launched improved app promotion text banners for Google Play and iTunes Store apps on the AdMob network. These banners will now contain information about the app being promoted, such as the price, app title, and the user rating that come directly from the Google Play or iTunes store.
Here’s a sample of what these ads will look like:
By providing more details in the ad unit, we empower users to make more informed decisions about what they’re getting, what they have to pay for it, and how other users like the app. More informed users drive improved conversion rates, thus providing better value for advertisers and app developers when they promote their mobile apps on the AdMob network.
Keep an eye out for more improvements to our ad formats, as well as look out for more ways to improve advertiser value and provide users with more information to make better decisions on mobile. We’re looking forward to continuing to helping app developers grow their businesses with AdMob.
Posted by: David Lewis, Software Engineer, Google Mobile Display Ads
Over the past year we’ve talked to hundreds of CMOs and marketing decision-makers about mobile and we’ve seen a shift in the conversation: businesses are no longer asking “Why mobile?” With half of all Americans now owning a smartphone, the necessity for brands to be involved in the mobile space is clear. Today, we are increasingly hearing questions from executives related to the “How?” of investing in mobile. That’s why we are launching a new resource designed to offer our perspective on how to strategically approach mobile called “The Mobile Playbook”. On April 25th we will be hosting a live streamed discussion with an incredible panel of mobile thought leaders talking about how to strategically approach mobile including:
Joao Machado - Director of Mobile, OMD
Michelle Ogle - Digital Marketing and Affiliate Strategy Manager, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
Joshua Palau - VP of Digital Sales and Marketing, Comcast
Amit Shah - Director of Online, Mobile and Social Media, 1-800Flowers.com
Tune in to the Think with Google Google+ page on Wednesday April 25th at 3pm EST/ 12pm PST to learn how mobile can help businesses win the moments that matter, make better decisions, and go bigger, faster. These panelists have all been early movers in the mobile space and we’ll be discussing their perspective on the 5 key questions we feature in The Mobile Playbook that every business executive should be asking today in order to win with mobile. We hope you’ll be there. If you have a question for the panel, leave your questions with #playbookpanel as a comment on our hangout announcement post the Think with Google Google+ page.
Details on how to tune in: In order to view the Hangout on Air, visit the Think with Google Google+ page at 3pm EST on April 25th, look for the stream post, and click to tune in. Don’t forget to be signed into Google+!
On April 25, look for the Hangout on Air post like the image above on the Think with Google +page and click to tune-in!
Posted by: Jason Spero, Head of Global Mobile Sales and Strategy
Did you know that one in every three mobile searches has local intent? That means local businesses need to be prepared for more site traffic from mobile devices. An important first step to attracting customers on-the-go is creating a mobile-friendly website which can sometimes be complicated and confusing. We’re happy to announce that GoMo and DudaMobile have joined forces to make it even easier for small businesses to create a mobile-friendly website.
Starting today, you can create a free mobile site directly from howtogomo.comusing a tool powered by DudaMobile. This do-it-yourself site builder, customized specifically for GoMo users,easily converts regular websites into mobile-friendly sites in five simple steps. And it allows you to add features like a click-to-call button, mobile maps and Google AdSense. Sites that are created with the GoMo-DudaMobile tool will be hosted free for one year.
Dog Nanny’s website was not mobile friendly. Visitors had to pinch and zoom to read content.
Dog Nanny’s new mobile site - created in just a few minutes - looks great on mobile devices.
Please note that DudaMobile’s technology is best for converting simple sites. If your site uses a lot of Flash content, framesets or e-commerce, we suggest that you Go Mobile by talking to your agency or working with one of the developers here. Many small businesses are discovering that mobile sites mean more business. Now you have an opportunity to easily create a professional mobile site which will delight your customers when they visit you on the mobile web. Visit howtogomo.com/getstarted and build your site today. It’s time to GoMo!
Posted by Nabil Haschemie, Product Marketing Manager, Mobile Ads
Not only is WWF the world’s leading independent conservation organisation, measured by ad impressions it’s also one of the biggest online display advertisers in Sweden. In the beginning of 2011, WWF’s marketing team noticed the boom in smartphone usage and decided to get in on the action early, by running a test campaign over one month on a selection of mobile networks.
WWF’s digital mission is to recruit monthly donors at the lowest cost per order. The charity already has exceptionally high brand recognition in Sweden, so WWF’s debut mobile campaign wasn’t about building the brand or sharing values. Instead, the activity centred purely on direct response in the form of fundraising. The objectives were to test the charity’s online approach in a new platform, establish a performance baseline to inform future mobile campaigns and to achieve the most conversions at the lowest cost per click.
Simple banner ads encouraged users to adopt a polar bear or tiger; by clicking these ads users would be taken to a landing page on the WWF mobile site where they could sign up to make a monthly donation towards the animal of their choice.
AdMob was one of several mobile networks WWF put on trial. One of the largest of its kind in the world, AdMob gives advertisers the opportunity to reach and interact with customers on the mobile web by placing ads within its network of apps. In Sweden, it reaches around 3 million unique devices through thousands of premium in-app placements.
AdMob very quickly stood out with its high reach, low cost per order and impressive number of orders. WWF liked the fact that AdMob enabled them to buy on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis and delivered the lowest CPC of all the test channels by a factor of seven.
At the end of the month-long trial, WWF decided to drop advertising on the other more expensive channels, but they continued to advertise on AdMob for the remaining four months of the year, increasing their mobile investment by 400%. WWF continued to see good results during the months to follow, noticing that as investment increased, conversions increased too. At the end of the four-month campaign, mobile conversions had risen to represent almost 25% of WWF’s total conversions across all platforms. WWF’s next step was to triple their mobile investment as they put plans into place for the 2012. Not surprisingly, based on their success to date AdMob will continue to perform a key role in their approach.
Read the complete case study on WWF’s success with AdMob here.
Posted by Matt Brocklehurst, Product Marketing Mobile Advertising
If you’ve been scratching your head about how to advertise your business to the millions of people who use smartphones and tablets, then stop scratching and take a look at the new Google Mobile Ads website.
With a fresh look and new content, it is the place to discover how Google can make mobile advertising work for you. On the site you will find:
detailed information on Google’s search and display ad formats;
research reports and useful tools to build your understanding of the mobile audience;
As part of Google’s ongoing GoMo initiative, we hosted two live webinars to help advertisers and publishers learn the benefits of creating mobile-friendly sites, hear tips and case studies, and tap into new resources get started. If you missed the live webinars, no problem! You can watch the recorded videos and download the slides for either (or both!) webinars.
1. Mobilize your site. Understand what it means, learn the benefits and get started with GoMo. 2. Maximize your mobile ads. Hear why it’s important and learn practical how-to’s for making the most of your mobile investment. 3. Track, measure and iterate. Get tips and see helpful tools you can use today.
1. Why go mobile? Your users have gone mobile in a big way, hear why you must follow suit. 2. Tips for building mobile sites Mobile is different. Learn 10 practical tips for building engaging, uniquely mobile experiences. 3. Best practices in action Hear from web publisher FindTheBest about the success they’ve seen from going mobile. 4. How to get started Google is here to help. Learn about tools we’ve created to get you started on the path to delighting your users and maximizing your mobile revenue.
