By Christina Spinell

Overall time spent on mobile devices has continued to increase throughout the past several years, pushing mobile advertising to the forefront of the digital conversation. Whether we care to admit it or not, our society is glued to our phones and as a result we spend an average of 10 hours per day interacting with our small, but mighty devices, according to eMarketer. Some may describe this amount of tizme looking at a screen as problematic, but in the digital world, we see this as an enormous opportunity to get our message into the literal hands of our audience.

It is because of today’s interconnected world that it has become crucial to ensure our media plans have the flexibility to be mobile-friendly. According to eMarketer, mobile has over taken desktop in ad spending. With ad dollars following consumption, determining a mobile ad strategy is more important than ever.

Mobile devices give us access to location based data opening the door to greater consumer insights on interests, behaviors and intentions. Basis DSP allows you to find users based on where they are, where they’ve been and where they’re going. Many people ask how location based data is captured and some are surprised to find out that many popular apps are collecting location based data all the time. Many apps have functionality that rely on the sharing of location, so the collection of that data is agreed to by users upon installation. There are a variety of ways that we can use location data to reach desired audiences. Using hyperlocal targeting, you can reach an audience based on their current location. An advertiser may utilize this tactic to reach people who are within a relevant distance to their storefront/location. Other advertisers may find their audience by targeting specific areas away from their storefront/location, like a college campus or competitor’s locations. While current location tells us a lot about a user, our past locations can offer just as much insight. Using mobile location retargeting we can reach people based on their past locations. For example, a retailer may want to reach users who frequently shop at specific locations, like a Macy’s or Nordstrom’s. A local health store may want to reach an audience that has recently been to a fitness center or gym. Our past locations tell a lot about who we are as a person and consumer and we can now use that location data to reach our ideal customers.

With people spending so much time on mobile, it is no surprise that brands are releasing and improving apps in order to improve the user experience on these devices. The apps on a person’s device can tell us a lot about their interest and intent, and now, we are able to target a user based on those apps. An advertiser may want to reach an audience that is interesting in food and dining. They could use mobile app ownership targeting to reach users with food apps, like Food Network, Grub Hub, or epicurious, on their devices. Similar to location targeting, this gives us a great, real-life understanding of how a user is interacting with certain brands.

There is no denying that mobile is a huge part of our everyday lives, so ensuring it’s a part of every meeting and brainstorming session is imperative. Regardless of the strategy you chose to implement, it is vital to implement a variety of tactics to reach a desired audience. This gives you the flexibility to make changes and optimizations throughout the campaign leading to a more successful campaign. zp-pdl.com