Mobile Ad Formats

Mobile advertising is experiencing a boom alongside the ever-growing number of mobile consumers in the world, particularly those with smartphones and tablets. A mobile ad can be displayed to a consumer in many different ways. Text-based announcements are more common, possibly because of the evolution of mobile phones, although various forms of rich media are more effective at engaging mobile users and turning them into leads or sales.

There are 5 basic mobile ad formats your business can use to capture the attention of your target audience:

1. Mobile Messaging Advertising

Short Messaging Service (SMS) or text messages existed even before smartphones were invented and were an early format for mobile ads. To this day, mobile ads through text messaging continue to be popular particularly because they can reach a wider audience of practically anyone who has a mobile phone, whether or not it's a smartphone. The rich-media version of the SMS is the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) that can be used to advertise with images, audio and/or video in addition to text but is not supported by all mobile phones.

2. Mobile Web Display Advertising

The most basic form of advertising on the mobile web is the banner ad, which is commonly seen in the desktop version of the web. Interstitial ads that take up the full screen are increasingly employed on mobile phones since there is already so little space available compared to PC screens. Clicking on the mobile ad usually leads to a landing page, but mobile advertisers can take advantage of mobile-specific actions such as click-to-call and click-to-text functions. Rich-media campaigns can also be worked into the mobile ad such that clicking can lead to a slideshow, a 360 perspective of a product or an interactive interface.

3. Mobile Application Display Advertising

Businesses who don't have a mobile website typically interact with their mobile audience through a mobile application or app, which can also incorporate ads. Aside from standard and rich-media banners and interstitial ads in the manner of ads for the mobile web, advertising can also be integrated with the app or game. This is the best way for advertisers to benefit from the fact that mobile users are highly engaged and more interactive than desktop users.

4. Mobile Search Advertising

Searching the mobile web functions similarly to searching the Internet on desktop computers, only that search results are usually catered to the platform. Businesses bid to have their mobile ads rank higher in mobile search results for certain keyword phrases. Keyword research should be specific to the mobile audience who have different needs and priorities from desktop searchers. It's important to use Google's location extension, which includes a click-to-directions option and shows the customer his/her distance from your store, because mobile users often make local queries.

5. Mobile Video Advertising and TV Advertising

As a high percentage of people watch video on mobile phones and tablets, advertising through video clips and television is especially effective. A mobile video or TV ad can be a semi-transparent or opaque image or video clip similar to a typical TV commercial. Displayed at any time during the rich-media presentation, these ads may take up the full screen or appear next to the principal video content. They may also engage the user by allowing interaction through clicking or zooming.