Commentary

Global Mobile Marketers Need To Hone Strategies, Localization Efforts

The power of mobile marketing grew significantly in the last year.

In 2015, brands must leverage mobile further in order to achieve even higher levels of success and return on investment, and to ultimately capture consumer attention. This is especially true for developing nations (locations such as Brazil, India and Africa) – home to the quickest growing, and therefore most promising consumer segments. A recent Gfk forecast predicts that India will continue to display impressive growth in 2015 with a 16 percent increase in device sales.   

With mobile adoption increasing yearly, marketers will need to determine how best to reach consumers via their personal devices. In fact, according to Gartner, more than 50% of users in emerging markets will primarily use a smartphone or tablet for all online activities within the next three years.

This widespread adoption of mobile devices across the globe will demand critical consumer-targeting strategies in the year ahead. To achieve success (and profit), brands must strive to achieve the following:

Increased mobile advertising

In the year ahead, brands must make an effort to conduct further messaging and consumer targeting via mobile and personal devices. As seen in 2014, Facebook’s global ad revs in the third quarter jumped 64% to nearly $3 billion, two-thirds of which was from mobile.

Mobile ads are therefore especially useful for brands that are marketing to consumers in developing nations, especially as device adoption continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Research firm GfK’s forecasts shows that seven of the top 10 smartphone markets in 2015 are all emerging markets; their growth by value has surpassed developed markets. While Westerners generally react negatively to mobile advertising, failing to interact with such ads, in its 2014 “The Next Mobile Frontier Report,” Upstream found that 93% of Nigerians enjoy receiving direct mobile advertisements to their devices. This serves as a lesson regarding most global markets — culturally, consumers respond differently to different marketing tactics. Mobile marketers must take this into account when strategizing for 2015.

Focused localization efforts

In order for brands to successfully reach mobile users in the New Year, they must increase localization efforts. If messaging does not cater to the local language or customs, it becomes difficult for brands to efficiently communicate with potential consumers, and therefore impossible to effectively capture user attention. Upstream’s mobile report also found 20% of consumers in emerging markets, such as Brazil, are highly frustrated that mobile messaging is not transcribed into their local language. In addition, 24% of survey respondents said they find it difficult to find relevant content. 

For mobile marketers to succeed in 2015, they will need to appeal to the individual countries they are working in.

In 2015, localization will not be limited to content alone. Localized payment solutions will partner with service providers in an effort to become more accessible to consumers in the developing world. In countries such as Nigeria, many consumers use their mobile phone providers primarily for payment purposes because credit cards are not feasible.

With more than 21% of consumers in developing countries unable to access credit or banking facilities, this is a major barrier to entry, and as a result, payment services will need to transform their business model to reflect individual markets. By localizing payment methods as well as content, brands will be better able to effectively reach customers.

1 comment about "Global Mobile Marketers Need To Hone Strategies, Localization Efforts ".
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  1. Vanessa Horwell from ThinkInk Communications, January 14, 2015 at 9:44 a.m.

    Marco Veremis highlights a number of key challenges and opportunities for mobile marketers in 2015, especially around the issue of localization, because the definition of “local” can vary greatly from country to country, mobile user to mobile user.

    Mobile marketers will need to develop and sharpen engagement-focused messaging strategies that are timely (by time zone or country), relevant (by language, user interests, location) and personalized (based on the mobile interaction itself and other available data about that particular mobile user).

    Mobile industry clients with whom we work and represent already understand the challenges of deploying mobile marketing messages that reach the right person with the right message at the right time, and they understand the need to connect with mobile users in ways that engage rather than frustrate them. It’s often a fine line, but one that mobile marketers in 2015 (and beyond) will be wise to heed.

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