Greg will be speaking about “Mobile Marketing Strategies & Tactics” at SearchFest 2011, which will take place on February 23rd at the Governor Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Tickets are available now. To purchase, please click the following link.
1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living.
I wear several hats. I run my own consulting business; I’m an analyst for Opus Research in San Francisco and I’m an editor at Search Engine Land.
Here are the blog links:
https://Searchengineland.com
https://Internet2Go.net (Opus Research)
https://Screenwerk.com
2) What’s the best way to convince C-level executives that there is ROI for mobile-focused search marketing efforts?
There are many ways to show the value of search in a mobile context. On the display side mobile ads consistently outperform online according to all standard measures (i.e., brand recall, etc.).
People using mobile search are often much closer to purchase decisions and spending money than people on PCs. For example, Microsoft reported that 70% of mobile search tasks are completed in one hour (vs. one week for a comparable percentage on the PC). When I look for a store location or restaurant on a smartphone it usually means I want to go there and potentially spend money. Mobile queries about about the point-of-sale.
Google also previously stated that its mobile search traffic grew 50% in first half of 2010 (and in Q3 130%). Search queries coming from Android handsets “tripled” in 2010 according to the company.
Mobile campaigns are cheaper than comparable PC campaigns right now because they’re less competitive. Consequently they can have a higher ROI than on the PC even though the query volumes aren’t there yet.
Here’s another big one: eventually there will be more internet access and searches coming from mobile devices than the PC. And the mobile device will be the preferred method of internet access for many people.
These are just a few reasons to take mobile very seriously and start testing and trying campaigns now.
3) Are mobile “check-ins” here to say or just a passing fad?
Checkins as a social phenomenon probably won’t go away while the analytics and loyalty marketing dimensions of checkins will also likely remain. Checking in may become more “automatic” or “automated” in a number of ways. However, the behavior and concepts behind check-ins — alerting people to a my presence in a location or verifying my presence for the merchant, in exchange for some benefit — are here to stay and will probably evolve and play out in various ways over time.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.