We’ve talked about how digital advertising budgets are going mobile as more marketers recognize the need to be where their customers (and prospects) are. And research proves it’s working. As consumers get more comfortable with both seeing and acting on mobile advertising, clicks are skyrocketing and outpacing those on desktop. But clicks aren’t the only action that’s increasing. BIA/Kelsey predicts advertising viewed on smartphones will drive 162 billion calls to US businesses by 2019. It makes sense. Smartphones have a distinct advantage over desktops: calling a business is as simple as hitting a click-to-call button.
So how can marketers drive more calls from mobile? Check out 4 new rules that will help marketers drive more calls from their mobile marketing and how calls are growing across every channel.
Rule 1: Focus on Click-to-Call Ads on SERPs
Search call volume: 16% increase from 2015 to 2016.
Greater adoption of PPC search ad opportunities will help drive the 40.5 billion calls expected from smartphone searches in 2016. There are now two primary ways marketers can optimize their PPC ads on Google and Bing to make it easier for mobile searchers to click to call their business.
Call Extensions
Searchers are given the option of clicking to call from the search ad.
Call-Only Ads
Calling is the only way for searchers to convert with a call-only ad.
Rule 2: Optimize Landing Page Content for Mobile
Landing page call volume: 16% increase from 2015 to 2016.
It’s not surprising to see a similar percentage increase in call volume for both landing pages and search in 2016. Search results drive a large portion of landing page traffic. But there are still ways you need to optimize your landing pages to drive calls.
It’s a given that you need to have a mobile optimized website and landing pages. It’s essential to a good user experience. What you also need to think about are shorter forms that are easy to fill out, concise content, and a prominent phone number. With click-to-call you give your visitors a much simpler way to convert and receive the answers and information they need.
Rule 3: Shift from Display to Native Advertising
Display call volume: 1.4% increase from 2015 to 2016.
Calls generated from mobile display will only increase to 28.4 billion in 2016, and we’ll actually see this number trending down in the following years. While this is largely due to the success of search and social on mobile, native advertising will emerge as a display alternative. It’s ability to blend into the stream of content lends itself to how people digest information on their smartphones – not to mention it feels more like a search or social ad. Keep an eye out for opportunities where native advertising would be a good fit for your brand.
Rule 4: Take Advantage of New Social Ad Opportunities
Social call volume: 74% increase from 2015 to 2016.
The largest increase of any channel year-over-year, social advertising on smartphones will drive 12.2 billion calls to US businesses next year. Social media users are mobile. Period. 80% of Twitter users and 88% of Facebook users are mobile. New calls to action from both platforms underscore how important calls are to mobile marketers (even from social media).
Facebook “Call Now” Button Twitter Click-to-Call Button
As call volume increases across channels, a mobile marketing blind spot has emerged – and it’s costing marketers. How much? This infographic does a good job of outlining that, but it comes down to this: call attribution technology is now essential to the success of our mobile marketing and understanding of true ROI.
Or you can learn more data-driven strategies to drive clicks, calls, and sales in this on-demand webinar, “The New Mobile Rules for Search, Social, and Display.”
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: 4 Rules to Drive More Inbound Calls from Mobile Marketing
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