Google Improving Mobile Ad Relevance

Google has just announced improvements in mobile search advertising. (See the Google Blog post for more information.) Apps that incorporate search capabilities will see more relevant ads appearing on their screens.

To date, mobile ads appearing on smartphones have not been particularly relevant to the nature of the apps displaying them. In contrast, desktop search ads are highly relevant to the search terms used. So, for example, if I'm searching for information on bicycles, I'll see ads related to this topic.

Making mobile ads more targeted should improve ad click through rates and improve user satisfaction.

If I'm searching on my smartphone for bicycles, I'll see ads related to bicycles, including information on bicycle shops near my current location.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Released

Google's latest Android release is now available. You can find a good summary on the Android website.

There are significant improvements/additions to:

• User Interface
• Multitasking
• Voice Input
• Control Over Network Data
• Social Networking Interfaces
• Camera Capabilities
• Gallery and Photo Editing
• Web Browsing
• Email
• Wi-Fi Connection
• Unified Framework for Phones and Tablets

Look for phone manufacturers and service providers to start releasing phones running Ice Cream Sandwich.

Mobile Internet Users to Outnumber Wireline Users by 2015

According to a new study by IDC, mobile internet access via smartphones and tablets will soon outpace wireline access via PCs and other fixed position devices. Mobile device use is growing rapidly and wireline use is expected to level off and then decline.

This is expected to alter the very nature of how the internet is used. Consider some characteristics of mobile devices that will contribute to this change:

• Location sensing.
• Touch screen.
• Device mobility.
• Always on status.
• App centric user interface.

It looks like the shift from fixed to mobile devices may be every bit as significant as the historic shift from mainframes to PCs.

Smartphones Becoming All Touch-Screen

According to a new report from ABI Research, 97 percent of all smartphones will feature touch-screens by 2016. In 2006, only 7 percent of smartphones were touch-screen equiped.

Although it seems likely that special purpose smartphones for gaming, etc. will continue to use physical keypads, the flexibility of touch-screens is hard to beat.

Newly Released Smartphone and Tablet Apps Cut Through Screen Clutter

Imagine being in a hurry between meetings and needing to find a nearby restaurant for a fast lunch. The QuickClick Restaurants app can locate and map places to go with one button tap. Or realizing that you're out of cash. A single click of the ATM app shows the nearest locations.

In developing software for the QuickClick Locale series, Marketimpacts.com took an approach different from other developers. "Many apps try to be too many things to too many people" said Don Cowan, the lead QuickClick apps developer and Director of Software Engineering at Marketimpacts.com. "As a result, it can take valuable time to scan through a sequence of app screens to find what you're looking for. We made speed and ease of use the top priority in our design."

See our press release.

The Software Revolution

As software transforms industry after industry, it's becoming apparent that the world is transitioning to a software driven paradigm that won't be denied.

Manufacturing, entertainment, journalism, music ... they are just a few of the business domains that have been dramatically altered by the power of software.

Software often gives an order of magnitude or two advantage to the new businesses that fully leverage its capabilities.

Some of the effects on society are profound:

• Radical lowering of costs.
• Shifting of the demands of labor from the physical to the intellectual.
• Increasing the rate of change.

What are some takeaways for businesses large and small?

• Embrace the change ... don't fight it.
• Try to get ahead of the curve instead of playing catch-up.
• Develop an understanding of the latest new technologies, which are, today, things like smartphones, cloud computing and tablet computing.
• Don't rely on yesterday's technology to carry the day. Witness the speed with which tablet computing is replacing PCs.
• Give some of the latest technologies a try. Test them. See what they can do for you.

Giving Up PCs for Smartphones and Tablets

The convenience of smartphones and tablets is causing an increasing number of computer users to ditch their PCs for these smaller, portable devices.

There are a number of advantages smartphones and tablets have over PCs:

• They're always with you.
• They're always on or very rapidly started.
• They have mobility related functionality such as position sensing and phone calling.
• Their touch screen user interface is well suited for internet and information access.
• Users like their app-centric design.

Of course, the PC won't be replaced for power developers of software and content. But the majority of PC users don't fall into this category, and for them, the movement to smartphone and tablet devices is likely not going to diminish any time soon.

Generation Smartphone

Could this really follow Generation Y to become the name of the newest generation? Some think so.

 

According to a number of reports, the young are foregoing other media for the smartphone. They tend to always have their smartphones with them. They use them more than many would like. And they are changing the nature of social interaction.

 

Many are ditching their televisions, computers, iPods, cameras, maps and address books in favor of the combined convenience of smartphones.

 

Some see this, in part, as a serious addiction problem. The trend, however, seems irreversible.

 

The young have always been obsessed with communicating. It's understandable why a device with so many ways of communicating would be a big hit.

Marketing and Technology ... Not So Far Apart Any More

Certainly traditional media such as newspapers, TV, radio and magazines are still very important to marketing products and services. But the newer, high tech, internet driven media and tools are playing an ever increasing role. Consider:

• Websites
• LPO (Landing Page Optimization)
• Internet Based Public Relations
• PPC (Pay per Click) Advertising
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Smartphone and Tablet Apps
• Weblogs (Blogs)
• Video (YouTube, etc.)
• Social Networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
• Web Analytics
• QR (Quick Response) Codes

And the list goes on. Some long for the 'good old days' as portrayed in the popular TV series Mad Men. Come up with a great angle on a product, buy a lot of space in paper media and watch the sales roll in. Technology was left up to the back room gnomes who would calculate results and play with budgets.

Today, technology is center stage in most marketing campaigns. There are, of course, challenges in the marriage of the two domains. Consider this list:

• Finding the right balance between the new and the traditional.
• Knowing how far to go with technology. Just like traditional media, it can get expensive.
• Getting the traditional media folks to interact with the new media folks.
• Not forgetting the importance of branding, positioning, images and other 'soft' elements when dealing with 'hard' technology.

So, how to deal with all this? Some thoughts:

• Technology can be applied incrementally. Small scale at first to judge results, then a broader roll out.
• Technology can provide a lot of detail about results and how it is working. It can be much more transparent than traditional media if reported correctly.
• Technology can provide two way dialogues with the audience. This can be informative and allow adjustments as time passes.

A good example showing that today's audiences want both old and new media is the YouTube phenomenon. People like watching moving images. It's been around for 100 years. YouTube provides audiences a new element of control and interaction that enhances their experience.

Find ways to marry the two like that, and you're on your way to success. 

A New Paradigm in Public Relations

Just as it has in a growing number of industries, the Internet is transforming the field of public relations.

Here is some of what's happening:

• The dividing line between marketing and PR is disappearing.
• PR is providing more useful information for consumers.
• New Internet focused PR companies are greatly lowering the cost of PR campaigns.
• Internet based tools are making PR campaigns easier to develop and manage.
• PR content is interacting with and feeding off of other content such as blogs, video, images, web sites and e-books.
• It is becoming cost effective to focus PR campaigns on smaller, niche markets as well as big, broad markets.
• Internet based PR is becoming a critical element in gaining search engine placement.

In short, an Internet based PR campaign is becoming an essential and growing part of selling products and services.