What do the very best mobile ad creatives look like, and what kinds of results can they drive for in-app marketing campaigns? For a deep dive on creative best practices, the in-app mobile advertising experts at InMobi teamed up with the creative teams over at Celtra to take a deep dive on the role of creatives in mobile marketing and how an ad creative, working in lockstep with other key components to in-app ad campaigns, can drive key results for in-app marketing teams.
Download this report, titled Understanding Quality Ad Creative for Mobile Screens, today to learn:
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What does a successful ad look like? How do brands know if their ads had a positive impact on their target market?
In the past century, answering these kinds of questions was relatively straightforward. Marketers had developed some benchmarks to determine if a radio, newspaper, or television ad worked, or if a billboard or bus stop ad had its intended effect. Over the decades, advertisers had templates in place for all these media.
But then digital happened. First in the browser world and then later to mobile and apps, marketers now have the ability to more accurately measure their ads to determine if they were effective. They don’t need only focus groups, surveys or guesswork to determine if their campaigns were successful. They now have data at their fingertips.
The emerging world of mobile advertising and in-app advertising has created tremendous opportunities for marketers in terms of measurability, reach and targeting. But it comes with its fair share of challenges.
How can marketers capture attention with a smaller screen and shorter attention spans? With far more data coming through, what should be tracked closely versus what’s just noise? And, how can marketers stay on top of everything when campaigns are transacted programmatically in mere fractions of a second?
In the world of in-app advertising, old ideas about the marketing funnel are falling away. Today’s consumer journey is far more convoluted, with touchpoints across media potentially working together in unexpected ways to drive sales and influence consumer actions.
As a result of all this, what does an effective mobile app ad actually look like?
That’s what we wanted to definitively find out.
To resolve still-lingering questions and concerns regarding mobile in-app ad creative best practices, InMobi’s in-app advertising experts teamed up with the creative production experts at Celtra. We looked at the creatives used with some of the top mobile in-app advertising campaigns, to see how the ad itself impacted campaign performance.
Mobile in-app advertising can go beyond brand awareness as well and is proven capable of driving measurable business success – so long as the right creative is deployed, of course. When optimized ads are deployed intelligently and thoughtfully, brands can successfully drive new signups, new app downloads and new business through mobile app-led campaigns.
In the in-app world, bottom-funnel performance campaigns have long been measured on a pure install basis. But this provides only limited information. After all, just because someone installs an app doesn’t mean they’ll be a loyal, valuable customer. And, of course, not all brands have apps.
So what’s a better way of measuring performance for these kinds of campaigns? Increasingly, savvy brands are thinking beyond the event and taking steps to understand how someone who interacts with an ad is later impacting the business and its bottom line. Metrics like post-click conversion rate and acquired user lifetime value thus become what is tracked, as opposed to only raw installs.
Some brands are even taking this mentality a step further by only buying against these kinds of metrics. Many advertisers are now embracing Cost per Action (CPA) advertising, wherein they only pay when a high-quality user is obtained through advertising. For example, instead of buying on a Cost Per Install (CPI) basis, a food delivery app may prefer to buy on a Cost Per First Order (CPFO) basis, so that they only pay when someone both downloads the app from an ad and then actually uses the app to order food.
As a marketer or advertiser, how can you use these examples in your own future in-app efforts? The key is to always think about what your intended audience wants to see and what will convince them to take a desired next step.
Mobile in-app advertising has many advantages, but also some downsides. The ability to target and segment audiences is unparalleled, and the features that can be leveraged are wide-reaching. But mobile attention spans are short, and smartphone screens don’t offer a lot of real estate.
The key, as always, is to offer the right creative to the right person at the right time. This is, of course, easier said than done. But, by developing a key understanding of your audience and what they need to see from you, you can then develop a wide variety of ad creatives to effectively capture their attention and drive desired outcomes.
To see continued success, it’s helpful to measure quickly and then to iterate off that data as soon as possible. The mobile in-app space moves quickly, and so it’s important to move in tandem with it. A creative that works really well for one week could fall flat next week.
Take a look at the data at least once a day, and dive into what you’re seeing. Why are some creatives working better than others? Why are some audiences responding better to the campaign versus others? With a close eye and an understanding of mobile in-app advertising best practices, you can be sure that your creatives are always leading to campaign success.
Want to go beyond what’s covered in the report and gain further knowledge on what the best ad creatives should look like in mobile apps that aren’t owned by Google and Facebook? Check out the below resources today:
Of course, don’t forget to pair these resources with your complimentary copy of Understanding Quality Ad Creative for Mobile Screens!
Note: A big thanks to the folks at Celtra to help this report come alive! Brands and advertisers featured in the report include Abu Dhabi Tourism, Alfa Romeo, Asian Paints, Buavita, Clear, CooperVision, Etisalat, Expo 2020 Dubai, Foxtel, Lifebuoy, Philips, Ponds, Rusky Bakes, Subaru and Wendy’s.
Celtra is the Creative Management Platform (CMP) for digital advertising. Celtra’s creative production automation software helps creative and marketing teams design, scale, and deliver creative across channels, formats, and languages. Celtra is headquartered in Boston (MA), with offices in New York City, San Francisco, London (UK), Singapore, and Ljubljana (SI). For more information, visit Celtra at www.celtra.com or @Celtra on Twitter.
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