As people are slowly moving from Internet to Mobile Internet due to the high cost, marketing guru’s and the ad networks are preaching Mobile Advertising as they see the new holy grail (for their own benefit).

However there are several reasons why mobile advertising will never take off :

1. Mobile Internet is expensive
The Mobile Internet is still an expensive medium for most people, whereas the Internet has become affordable for many.
Until cheap flat rates are offered: forget about Mobile Advertising: it costs them money each time they click on your ad.

2. Browsing versus action
Internet users browse for information
Mobile Internet users want to do something instead.

If the ad consumes 25% of the tiny screen people are likely to be turned off.

3. Intrusive Mobile Ads
As the mobile screens are small, popup ads or banner ads just become too intrusive.
The mobile phone is considered more personal as the LCD screen of a PC.

4. Limited ad message
Due to the limited space, the ad message needs to be short – very short.
Just hope they understand it.

5. User experience of Mobile Internet
Working on a small screen is harder than using a large LCD monitor.
Accidentally clicking (touching) an ad link will open a website the user didn’t want. This will confuse the user and will decrease the users’ experience.

6. Visibility
In many cases – especially outdoors in the sun – the mobile screens are hard to read.
Cluttering the information screen with an ad will kill even more the user experience of the service.

7. Compatibility
Mobile screens come in all sizes and can be hold “portrait” or “landscape” (and moved around – your ad will be confused).
Getting your ad message correctly on the screen is a real hassle which drives up the costs.

8. Measurability of Mobile Ads
Measurability has become the holy grail of Internet marketing.
On the Internet online ads are easy to measure mainly thanks to cookies.
Not all mobile Internet browsers support cookies.
The mobile Internet adds location to the information for the advertiser but that is just a part of the total information needed.

9. Location Based Mobile Ads
Currently Location Based Mobile is all the hype
Will people actually look on their screen when a local store sends a message to their mobile or changes their screen saver ? If so will they grasp the message which is likely to be out of context and time. Will they take the desired action (change the agenda of the day) ? Probably not.

10. Opt-in for ads / newsletters
People do opt-in for newsletters on the Internet. Not for advertising.
People won’t opt-in for newsletters on their mobile as that is disturbing and intrusive for the limited capacities of their mobile.
Getting big newsletter files will increase the monthly bill.

11. Push Mobile Ads
Do people still want push advertising ? No.
Marketing just started the pull era on the Internet: content marketing – inbound marketing.
Getting advertising pushed onto their mobile will disgust people quickly.
Ad blockers will become widely used.

12. Bounce rate
Even if people click on the mobile ad, how many pages are they going to see or will they bounce immediately ? Spending time on the Mobile Internet costs money which will increase the bounce rate significantly.

13. Distractions of the environment
Sitting in front of their PC they are focused on their screen without any distractions.
People using their mobile phones for Internet are likely in an environment with many more distractions as people are passing by or sounds are around.

14. Demographics
Currently the Mobile Internet is being used by a selective minority group of people who have the money and time to use it (or their company pays for it).
They are strongly engaged, techies or need the Mobile Internet for their ego.

The way these people use the Mobile Internet can be completely different from how the masses will (ever) use the Mobile Internet.

Are you using Mobile Advertising with any success ?

If currently your company or website makes revenue from online ads like Adwords, AdBrite, Bidvertiser, InfoLinks, Chitika, Exit Junction, Clicksor, AdToll, Pogads or Adsense then your business will be doomed as there is a shift from the Internet to the Mobile Internet.

The three facts:
1. Less ads on mobile screens
There is a shift going on from Internet to Mobile Internet use.
However less advertising can be crammed upon a tiny mobile phone screen

2. Limited time for ad exposure
The amount of spare / free time for people to stare at their 19” monitors and 3.5” smart phones is limited as people do need to work, eat and sleep.
Limited means no growth possible and the available ad exposure time gets split-up over Internet and Mobile Internet.

3. Interruption marketing (advertising) is loosing ground
- People are clicking less and less on ads.
- People and technology have become efficient in blocking ads.

Changing to the Mobile Internet is not the solution
Even if you manage to shift your content offering and business from Internet to the Mobile Internet you will be making less money as your operating costs will go up and the number of ads will go down.
At the same time the value of advertisements will decrease as interruption marketing is being overhauled by pull marketing (inbound marketing) and content marketing which are the new kids on the block playing a whole different game.

Even Google
Instead of relying upon ad income you will be forced to change your business model – probably a subscription model for your content ?
Even Google will come under pressure.

What’s your take on this ?

Vehicle branding is low cost with high visibility
On trucks, vans and company cars companies mention their business which is a good idea as your car park is present on the roads of your county or country throughout the week. Vehicle branding or advertising can’t be switched off or turned out as with broadcast media.
On average a vehicle can be seen by about 3,000 people every hour which makes vehicle advertising the least cost advertising. Low cost with high visibility

Effective vehicle advertising
Just having the company name on display is not enough if you are not a household well-known brand name as is with most businesses. Nobody knows what you are selling.

Question is what to present on the cars as, except on the trucks, the problem is the minimal space available to stick on many words.
However you see addresses, telephone numbers and even email addresses of companies – in relatively small print on readable up to 10 foot from your van or car – but no message or indication of what the company supplies or its’ services.
So why having an address, a telephone number or an email address, if people don’t know why they should call your company ? Why should they write down your contact data if they have no clue what your business does ?
So at least the van or car should display one keyword or a short description of your business (max. 3 words).

Even the company name is questionable: Why having the company name on display if the domain name is similar but points directly to the most important information source: your website.

Some go as far as describing extensively all their services making it too hard to read all the “small” print. Your service description needs to be read in a blink of an eye as people won’t take time to read your extensive list.

Website and keywords
Having the domain name of the company and the main keyword or short description of the business is probably the best you can do as then the company name and the business service are linked together. Having these on your company trucks, vans and cars will make a clear statement, helping the brand naming and chances are people will remember about your services or supplies.

Do you use your vehicles for your marketing or just as means of transport ?

Comparing conversion rates of online websites is more complex than just comparing the conversion rate numbers of the websites.
Typically B2B websites have conversion rates between 1.5 and 3.0 percent, however some website have conversion rates up to 7 percent (in 2007 before the financial crisis).
That is quite a difference.

Many factors have an influence n the conversion rate from SEO to website design.
However one of the most important factors is overlooked in many cases: where the funnel starts.

The start of the funnel is determined by how and why the visitor lands on the website and where did the visitor originate from with what kind of intention.
In many cases the funnel starts before your website.

Extended funnels
The funnel of a website gets extended by the sites previously visited by the visitor:
- The visitor has clicked on an online advertisement or banner
- The visitor has read a convincing blog post or editorial about your product or solution
- The visitor has investigated in a review of products
- The visitor has clicked on a link in your email from your campaign
- The visitor has seen a print advertising and has taken the effort look-up your website
- The visitor has followed the recommendation of a friend or colleague (word of mouth)

The funnel also gets extended by the intention of the visitor:
- The visitor was actively seeking for a solution you provide
- The visitor is already a customer
- The visitor is a customer of your competitor

Shorter funnels
A funnel should be shorter when the visitor accidentally lands on your website looking for something that is related to your business but not directly the services or products you offer.
In this case the visitor first needs to find and understand your offering and then get interested in them. If you take out this part of the website visit your conversion rate will be much higher as many will leave your website earlier (or even bounce).

Comparing conversions
When you compare conversion rates between different websites it is important to know how or why people actually landed on the website.
If there are many visitors coming from blog posts that promote your products or coming by advertising links, you should extend your funnel as these websites are part of your funnel.
This longer funnel will decrease your total conversion rate to the actual conversion taking into account all those visitors that have visited the other website, but haven’t clicked on the link provided.

On the other hand when most of your visitors accidentally land on your website, even if your conversion rate is low, it is quite an achievement to get any of these accidentally visitors converted into a lead, a sign-up for a free trial or becoming a customer.
These visitors first need to understand what your website is all about and then get interested to stay on your website in order to find out.
Only after having interest generated your funnels starts which can be several pages after landing on your website – or even on a next visit.

So don’t be disappointed if your conversion rate is low compared to some Internet stars with high conversion rates.
These typically have many blog posts or editorials preaching the benefits and advantages of their products or services, whereas your website has to attract and convert on its own.

What is your online conversion rate and where does your funnel start ?

The hate of ads
We all hate ads for their interruption, attention grabbing and disturbance.
Even worse: the blatant lies – the portraying of fake life styles – for selling them something they don’t want have made people hate ads even more.
We even have developed an ad-adverse attitude due to this, which has brought us to filter out the ads or to click them away or even to leave the website instantly.

The luring SEO
However when we get lured by SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to visit a website that was not our intention, we don’t care.
We seem to find it normal that the links provided by the search engines can sometimes end up on a less interesting site. This happens to us all several times a day.

Still irrelevant search results suck as we probably waste at least as much time visiting the wrong websites as with ads, but we seem to perceive this differently.

Probably because ads are intrusive, whereas clicking links in a search engine result page (SERP) is upon our own decision as we have a need for this type of information or information related to these links.

The perception differences of ads and SEO
Ads are intrusive – SEO is part of the canvas of the Internet: invisible.
Ads are aimed at a large audience or the ‘average’ potential buyer, whereas SEO is almost personal as it matches your personal search.

Put time, effort and money into SEO instead of spending it on ads as you will gain in appreciation or even popularity.

Do you hate ads and don’t care if you get lured by SEO ?

Pull marketing
In his latest book “PULL” David Siegel predicts the change from a lead-push model to a pull-follow model of interacting with customers is coming.
In the pull era customers will pull everything to them on demand: information, knowledge, products, services and advice and be based upon the semantic web. A semantic web has an “unambiguous” structure for its data.

This change implies also the change from:
- Interruption marketing to content marketing
- Pushy boring advertising to entertainment advertising

Disruptive changes in marketing
These changes are dramatics and very disruptive for most marketers as previously they were used to order and pay for:
- Creativity for creating and designing the advertising
- Advertising space
This was almost a straight forward process with a very predictable outcome.

Soon or in some cases already these same marketers have to:
- Create interesting content
- Publish the content preferably in the right context
- Get the attention of the potential customers
- Converting potential customers interested in the content into customers
Inbound marketing which is a much more complex process with an unpredictable outcome.

Whereas previously spending money or more money could solve most problems, in the pull marketing era and the semantic web it is no longer money that is the main factor.
This is due to our complicated real-life social interactions on the Internet. The Internet is changing from a web of documents to a web of human interactions.
Over the Internet people are connected, relate to and influence each other.
The interactions on the web are changing from individuals to communities.

Unpredictability of pull marketing
All these challenges, the different content, publishing the content in the right context, and the interactions with individuals and communities will play an important role and make the outcome very unpredictable.
Most components and processes are beyond the control of the marketer.
No longer can marketers predict the effect of their marketing campaigns which will make it harder to get budgets.

Even in case the marketing campaign was successful for pulling visitors and interested parties to your website, another challenge presents itself: to know who is visiting, their interest and how strong is their interest in your products or services.

The change to the pull era is disruptive; the challenges to book success have become very different and unpredictable. Many marketers will be lost.

Are you ready for the pull marketing era ?

Inbound marketing is about getting people to call or contact your company or visit your website.
This instead of outbound marketing where your sales people cold call or marketing sends out email campaigns.

Although inbound marketing seems as simple as harvesting, the hard part is the seeding of the content on the Internet, in magazines or editorials.

This seeding of content implies many challenges for marketing:
- Creating interesting content: what to write about
- Distributing the content: publishing on many places
- Marketing the content: letting the world or target group know about your content
- Getting the content found on the Internet: by searches, links or referrals
- Getting people to click on links to get them on your website
- Converting from people interested in your content to people interested in your products or solutions

In the best case the content gets distributed by your audience reaching further than you ever could achieve.

Inbound marketing brings on many changes as marketers are used to push and interruption marketing that imposed itself by buying advertising space or air-time.
The change to pull or inbound marketing is especially felt as it is needed to beg for attention instead of buying attention.
The currency has changed from money to interesting, unique or remarkable content. In inbound and content marketing you pay your potential customers with entertaining content and no longer with money that brings the entertainment.

The harvesting with inbound marketing can be easy; it is the seeding of interesting and remarkable content that is hard to do.

The big ad
In order to attract more clicks it seems logical a bigger ad should do the job.
Simple: more surface – more striking.
However a bigger ad indicates more money being spend on advertising. Advertising expenses need to be calculated into the sales price. The price the customer pays for.
Some people will avoid products with the bigger ads just for that.

The small ad
A smaller ad might not be as impressive and overwhelming, but could eventually generate more clicks as it:
- can generate more sympathy as the underdog
- will deter less people
- can state the message more accurately using fewer words
- will only focus on the important items

As smaller ads are less costly to place hence more ad space locations can be bought for the same budget.
More ad placements will get more eyeballs which should normally lead to more leads.

Not money – creativity is required
Spending money on a bigger ad is just too simple.
The better investment to make is in your creativity. More creativity should bring an attention capturing headline and a better message. However this creativity will take more time and effort due to more iteration.

Making the ad bigger will not always generate more interests and leads than the smaller ad.

And as with all marketing efforts: test and measure.

Has your company big or small ads ?

Is Facebook redefining the way people go about obtaining information and news?

Facebook provides every member with a social stream containing the events and news of their friends. Effortlessly the stream comes to them.

Information is becoming less of a destination that people seek online.
The social stream of information comes to the people instead of them reaching out to a search engine to find news or information.

Social stream versus search engines

For a start people no longer seek. They expect the information or news to come to them in a social stream.
This is probably due to their laziness as:
- a stream is convenient and is automatic,
whereas
- search using search engines require some inspiration for keywords and the effort of narrowing down the result by multiple searches.

The Recommender model of trusted parties

In a social stream all their friends are trusted parties, because they belong to their network.
The friends have evaluated the web page or content and recommend it to their friends.

In search the search engines are certainly not trusted parties as they are sponsored by advertising and can have higher goals (like Google). The top links are not always the better or higher value links. It is not because many people have previously clicked upon certain good looking links that the information or content on those high ranking pages are the best.

The problem with the “Recommender model“, using friends as trusted sources, is the biased and limited information that will be generated.
A lot of information will be missed due to the friends only receiving a small part of the information available on the Internet. The friends will be filtering and gathering only this limited amount information.

What will be retained is not necessarily the most important news, but is likely to be the most sensational news.

On the other hand a lot of not relevant or not interesting information will be filtered out by the friends thus saving time for the person using the stream.

An additional benefit is that all the friends get the same information which gives again a basis to be part of the group and to discuss about events and news they are all aware off.

Social stream beating up the search engines

Is Social stream becoming competition or a challenger for search engines?
Probably this has already happened.

Can the conquest of Social stream on the Internet go fast?
Anything can happen fast on the Internet especially as there are already so many people using it: Facebook.
This type of Social stream is not limited to Facebook: LinkedIn and others provide it too.

The search engines have a serious issue with Social stream as:
- It will decrease their advertising revenue significantly over a short period of time.
- They cannot deliver a social stream due to the fact they don’t have members with friends.
Hence the end of the hegemony of the search engines is near.

Of course for searches on specific information or news, search engines are the specialists.

The Social stream becomes a marketing challenge

The repercussions of this “Recommender model” od Social stream on marketing can be important as the commercial messages need to get into the stream of the trusted friends.
How to get advertising into recommendations and messages of friends ?

Thus instead of getting a high SERP (Search Engine Results Page / Position) by SEO, SEM, link building and all the black hat SEO tricks available, the fact of getting included in the Social stream of friends becomes important.

This is whole different game as this model of Social stream nears the Word of Mouth model.
However it is still different as Social stream is emitted by only one person to influence many.
The Word of Mouth repeats itself by communication from one person to another to another.

Should we forget about search engines, links and SERP?
No – as recommenders still need to find the original information, news or event.
Should we find methods to get inserted into social streams ?
Yes – as their importance is rising due to the convenience and the adoption.

The new game and rules of the Social stream are a problem for marketing to be solved.

If you know the answer or solution please let us know.

The world leader in …
The Fortune 500 companies are our customers.
The company is leading in this business for over 25 years.

You have seen these tag lines on trade shows or used in advertising or even have used them yourself).

Why should any potential customer be interested in becoming a customer as such a tag line doesn’t tell anything about how the company will:
- Solve his problem
- Improve his operations
- Decrease operational costs
- Save money
- Increase potential sales

These tag lines are to impress the potential customer.
However this type of impressing the potential customer will lead nowhere:
- Why should he be interested in the first place as nothing addresses his objectives or solution he is looking for?
- The projected high profile will put off many potential customers due to the high price tag associated
- A vendor dealing with large companies is unlikely interested in small or medium sized businesses
- The past successes are not a guarantee for the future
This type of marketing will not bring in leads.

Instead being humble could generate sympathy for your company.

However after the interest is generated by the main benefits, advantages and other messages, then you can mention:
“We are the world leader in …”
“The Fortune 500 companies are our customers”
“The company is leading in this business for over 25 years”
In order to overhaul the suspect as these will enhance your message by building trust.

Did you ever used such tag lines as first statement?