How to Create Mobile Ads That Will Make Your Business Money

With mobile advertising becoming so popular, advertisers are increasingly using the mobile web as platform to reach consumers. Banner advertising is seen to be the most cost-effective and efficient way to draw in customers towards you. The most prevalent advertising units on the mobile web are graphical banner advertising and text links. Here are a few things to keep in mind when getting started with mobile ads.

1.
Compatibility. Your mobile ads need to be able to accommodate a wide range of mobile phone capabilities since mobile phones vary in resources. Text and graphics have to be optimized to match the specific screen resolutions and browser capabilities of each user’s mobile phone. It is recommended that advertisers produce and provide ad creative that will be compatible for all mobile phones.
2.
Banner Ads. Mobile web banner ad is defined as a still graphical image intended for use in mass-market campaigns that offers a good user experience across all mobile phone models, network technologies and data bandwidths. The banner ad can be placed in any location on a mobile website. The banner ads must be clickable by the mobile user and can be followed by a text tagline in case the banner is not viewable on certain mobile phones.
3.
WAP. WAP 1.0 banner ad is a still graphic that is black-and-white. WAP banner ads are used in campaigns that target older mobile phones and can contain a supplemental text tagline to emphasize the clickable character of the ad unit.
4.
Text Ads. Text Ad is an ad unit displaying only text and is used in older mobile phones that are not capable of supporting graphical images. Publishers tend to prefer the use text ads over graphical ads on their mobile sites since they are simple and inexpensive to produce.
Many mobile ad companies publish versions of the banners that are tailored directly for a user’s specific device since mobile devices have such small screens. You may have to provide the ad in multiple formats (such as BMP, JPG, GIF, and PNG), sizes (usually 120, 168, 216, and 300 pixels wide), and aspect ratios (usually 6:1 and 4:1). Also contact mobile service providers, many of the large providers will have a mobile advertising unit to help you understand the process of creating and distributing ads over their network.
5.
Ad Graphic and Copy. It is always important to create engaging ad content with eye-catching graphics that are colorful and interesting. Banner advertising should not only create awareness to the fact that your product exists but also draw the customer to take a closer look at what the particular product can do for them. This can be achieved by using good images and simple text inputs. Be sure to spend ample time thinking about what would interest the customer, but be sure to keep it short and simple. The text should support the banner punch line and should be informative and practical, making the viewer curious. Also promoting new promotions and mobile coupons on banner ads, such as a % off or free shipping, have been extremely successful in engaging customers.
6.
User Friendly. Your banner ad should behave in ways that is expected by the customer. A few things that should be a default for all your ad displays is to make sure that when clicked your ad jumps to a standard landing page that offers the customer an opt-in for e-mail, SMS, or MMS. The page should also display the company address and a “click to call” which connects them to a number for more information.
Tips
Since only one ad is displayed at a time, mobile banner ads have the advantage of being center stage and commanding the customer’s attentions. Business owners should view mobile advertising as another opportunity to strengthen their relationships with their customers in an increasingly competitive market. Also be sure to check out The MMA’s Mobile Advertising Guidelines documents that contain detailed information about technical specifications for banner ads. As with any form of advertising, you’ll want to constantly evaluate how successful your ads have been in reaching users and adjust your ad campaigns to improve their success rates.

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