10 Common Mobile Advertising Mistakes To Avoid

You come to our blog because we usually describe old and new techniques, giving you all the details on how to apply them in the best manner for advertising your app. You probably are familiar with our style by now. Well, surprise! Today we are going to tell you what not to do when it comes to build a successful plan for your business.

10 Mistakes To Avoid For Utilizing Great Mobile Ads

Even though we are not talking about deadly sins, most of the errors highlighted below could be considered determining factors for the trajectory of your campaign. Let’s see why you must avoid them and, obviously, how to do that.

1. Following Online Advertising Habits

It is essential to understand that customers’ behavior on mobile devices in general, and especially inside apps is different than on desktop computers or laptops. In mobile it is all about catching the momentum without being too prominent. You have to offer value if you want to receive the wanted response. Take a closer look to your users’ characteristics and understand them because this is the only way to figure out the right path for your strategy.

Image Source: https://www.pinterest.com/imcyclopedia/mobile-marketing/

2. Concentrating On Web Rather Than In – App Ads

Knowing that the digital time spent by users inside apps is definitely higher than on mobile web is a good reason to take advantage of this landscape and to present your customers more in – app ads than web ads. We actually did an article where we compared them and we explained the advantages and disadvantages of each method. We won’t say which one is better; we just want to make sure that you don’t focus only on mobile web ads, missing the opportunities provided by in – app ads.

Image Source: http://marketingland.com/report-50-digital-media-time-now-spent-within-five-mobile-apps-222543

3. Not Considering Viewability

When users get the feeling that they need a magnifier for reading your ad then you are doing something wrong for sure. Always remember that mobile devices have different sizes and screen resolutions. Therefore, you must be careful to make your ad visible in every situation. In the same time, you should know that the impressions gathered depend on the ad size, its position and how relevant is the content for your target audience. As you can see, every detail counts for receiving the best results.

Image Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/10/02/ad-blockers

4. Overpassing User Experience

Not considering your users when you try to succeed with your advertising campaign it is definitely the wrong way to proceed. In fact, you don’t need us to tell you that. You probably observed them abandoning your app and you wonder why this happens. Because you destroyed their enthusiasm with your badly placed ads, that’s why! Don’t worry, there is still hope. With our 5 Tips For Effective In – App Ad Monetization With Great UX, things will get better in no time.

Image Source: http://blog.soom.la/author/y_nizan

5. Reformatting Desktop Ads

Again, you have to make the difference between desktop and mobile when you present your users specific ads. Moreover, think about the accidental clicks gathered just because you didn’t pay attention to the way your ads are received on mobile devices. You must choose responsive format because users are smart and they will trust your brand only if you offer them a seamlessly experience suitable for their needs.

Image Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/07/13/facebook-ad-types-cheatsheet

6. Targeting Wrong Audience

Well, showing your ad to somebody who doesn’t care about that product is one of the worst things you can do. Not only that you will lose your money but you can be sure that your app will lose its users. You have to analyze your data and to make sure that the ad is seen by the right people. Serving relevant content is the solution for the growth of your app and also for increasing your revenue.

Image Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/07/mistakes-content-marketing-strategy/

7. Not Caring About Measurements

How can you know if the technique applied is working? How can you optimize your ROI without the necessary information? You can’t figure out the right solutions if you base your strategy on guessing. Always keep an eye on your data and calculate each step you make. Additionally, make sure that you track the most important metrics and that you are not impressed by a few clicks while your app is uninstalled as fast as you gain your new users.

Image Source: https://www.slideshare.net/JohnMNBarnes/google-analytics-john-barnes-mobile-marketing-measurement-research-report

8. Making Ads Too Obtrusive

What are you trying to do? In case you want to annoy your users, you did a great job so far with those intrusive ads. Now, if you want to join our group when we fight for minimizing the ad blockers’ usage, try some user – friendly formats as we explained in previous articles. There are plenty of options for you to choose from, but for the moment, native ads are the most efficient in your situation.

Image Source: https://venturebeat.com/2016/05/05/open-letter-to-cmos-stop-all-mobile-advertising-immediately/

9. Not Including A Strong CTA

On the other hand you must make sure that you obtain the wanted results. Don’t leave your users waiting and wondering what to do next. A clear call to action which follows the general theme of your ad is what you need for guiding your customers which are probably confused by the fact that they don’t know what to do after they see the ad.

Image Source: http://www.cpcstrategy.com/blog/2017/04/facebook-ad-types/

10. Poorly Designed Content

Listen to us when we say that you don’t need to make your users go blind in order to observe your ad, but avoid to display plain and boring ads. Don’t get us wrong, we still recommend you to choose a simple and elegant design but it is better to find a sophisticated layout that matches your app style than to try to grab your users’ attention with unseemly elements.

Image Source: http://www.marketing-interactive.com/omnicom/

FINAL THOUGHTS

Some of the ideas described above are so common that many advertisers don’t even realize what causes a certain failure. Therefore, the first step in avoiding a pitfall is to be aware about the mistake you are about to do. Read carefully our list and make sure you keep your app away of those wrong habits. Of course, in case we missed something please let us know.