The notion that the current year is ‘the year of mobile’, is becoming very real.
Predictions revolutions on how we will interact with our mobile devices and how they will interact with us, are often overplayed or take many more years to come to fruition than at first thought due to unforeseen market forces, technology constraints or poor user adoption.
It’s time to start asking, will 2015 be the year of mobile?
A recent report by eMarketer predicted mobile usage worldwide to reach 25% in 2014. Looking forward, OVUM predicts that 13% of us (1 billion people) will connect to the web exclusively by mobile devices by the end of 2015. Whatever landmarks are reached and bridges crossed in the intervening period, you can make no mistake that progress on several fronts is speeding up.
Here is a infographic from wearesocial.com that provides some perspective on the scale of mobile in a social and mobile web world.
Let’s look forward to the year ahead in mobile and explore the new opportunities and challenges that are opening up for consumers, developers and marketers. Here are 7 mobile marketing trends you need to know about.
1. Mobile security rises up the agenda
With some very high profile hacks this year (Sony’s email leak and the Snapchat hack spring instantly to mind) security is going to be at the forefront in the minds of consumers and developers alike. Expect passwords to continue to be replaced – or at least used in conjunction with – other forms of security like biometric identification and a push towards tightening up security around cloud based services. With the growth of Internet of Things connected devices set to rocket as well, 2015 could be the most critical year yet for addressing the issue of mobile security.
2. 4.9 billion connected devices by the end of 2015
With Tech Crunch predicting a phenomenal 4.7 billion ‘things’ connected to the internet by the end of 2015, expect to see the term ‘Internet of Things’ surface more and more in the popular press as well as the tech press, as we enter this brave new world of interconnected devices and massive data. This is a world that goes far beyond thermostats that turn themselves on before you get home. Expect cars, white goods, a whole host of new wearables and even children’s toys, to start changing the way we live and connect, as well as opening up huge new opportunities for ever more targeted marketing as third parties begin to collect more and more data about our daily habits. On the heels of these new devices you can expect the debate around security to start hotting up as well.
3. Wearables to take-off
We’ve long been promised a world of wearable tech but as of yet it’s failed to materialise. From the faltering Google Glass to devices like the Apple watch, it’s become easy to write wearable tech off as a fad. But as mobile technology and infrastructure improves, so to do the opportunities these devices present begin to diversify. Ever more detailed health and fitness stats will help us to constantly monitor our own heart rates, blood pressure, skin temperature and breathing rate, or perhaps more importantly those of elderly or infirm loved ones who are living on their own. There are also numerous of B2B applications here with Google Glass potentially seeing a renaissance in business applications.
4. Mobile payments could begin to gain traction
Driven in large part by millennials who are spending more than any other demographic using their smartphones, expect to see a sharp boost in mobile payment from digital wallet services. Apple Play may well succeed where Google Wallet failed, due in part to the fact that so many of its customers already have their credit card details stored on their iTunes accounts and the consensus it has gained from the big three payment companies (Visa, American Express and Mastercard).
5. Proximity technology and smartphones as ‘bridges’ to omni-channel marketing
The use of proximity technologies, like beacons and near field technologies, could see mobile marketing campaigns become more intimate and personalised than ever before. As marketers become able to “follow” consumers around the world and understand more about their purchasing habits, so they can target advertising at them in more effective ways. Through the combination of sophisticated joined-up datasets and imaginative non-linear content marketing campaigns across multiple devices, marketers can understand and interact with their key audiences in real time and in a way never seen before.
6. Mobile marketing and advertising spend increases
In 2014 mobile e-commerce overtook traditional desktop e-commerce, accounting for 22% of online sales. This trend will continue unabated in 2015 and as a result you can expect to see increased investment in mobile web spend in 2015. The UK is expected to be the first country in the world where advertising spend on digital tops 50% and 29% of this will be on mobile. Display advertising is set to take up 20% of this budget, with 37% of that being on mobile. Finally, on the subject of advertising, expect to see a continuing rise in programmatic ad buying on mobile. In a study conducted by IAB with MTM, 37% of mobile digital display spend was spent programmatically in 2013, with forecasts of a rise to 60% in 2014. The IAB predicts that programmatic ad buying could rise to between 60 and 75% by 2017, so expect to see a continued surge in 2015, as more and more advertising is purchased using ever more sophisticated software instead of humans.
7. Non mobile optimised sites will be at a disadvantage
Many businesses slow to adapt to mobile will feel more pressure to adapt in 2015, as Google announces a new mobile friendly label in its search results pages on mobile devices. Perhaps more tellingly, it also announced that this would soon become a ranking factor. Unresponsive or mobile unfriendly websites could therefore start to lose out to their mobile friendly rivals in the near future, forcing more and more companies to invest in mobile website optimisation.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 7 Predictions On Mobile Marketing Trends In 2015 You Need To Know
More Technology & Innovation articles from Business 2 Community:
- How To Make The Most Of Google Hangout For Your Business
- Shark Tank: An Intense Shark Fight Over Scholly And The Lessons We Can Learn From It
- Mobile Web Design For The Mobile Business
- 9 Tips For Taking Top-Notch Smartphone Photos
- Data Visualization: Providing Data Insights that Cause Change
