With the continued increase in the use of smartphones and the development of mobile-optimised sites and apps, mobile advertising is now a key component of the marketing mix. This allows companies to promote their brand proactively to their target audience.

Here, EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta talks to Tim Finn, Head of EMEA at mobile advertising start-up StrikeAd, about mobile advertising strategy, budgets and real-time bidding.

EFT: How has consumers’ evolving behaviour pushed the case for mobile marketing in the UK?

TF: There is no doubt that the UK has become addicted to smartphones. In a new Ofcom Communications Market Report, people confessed to using smartphones everywhere from the dining table to the bathroom! Over a quarter of adults (27%) and almost half of teenagers (47%) now own a smartphone and these users are making significantly more calls and sending more texts than regular mobile users.

At StrikeAd we’re seeing travel marketers develop apps specifically to drive mobile advertising – and travel operators from British Airways to easyJet are helping to lead the way.

EFT: What is the best way to allocate budgets?

TF: We would urge travel marketers to allocate their budgets to include all mobile devices. iPads and other tablets offer a more conventional web-browsing experience, while smartphones require a more dedicated end-to-end solution. Rather than simply driving mobile users to normal websites, travel marketers need to consider the mobile channel as an entire solution, just on a smaller screen. A mobile-optimised site is essential to enable customers to complete their transaction via their mobile device.

EFT: How should marketers approach their mobile advertising strategy?

TF: Search is definitely the biggest slice in the mobile advertising pie, just as it is on the web. Travel marketers should think about budget allocation between search and display advertising.

With mobile search being fulfilled almost entirely through Google, and with rich media becoming a key part of digital marketing campaigns, travel marketers need to understand what their audience is looking for, and create their ad campaigns on the mobile accordingly.

EFT: How should mobile advertising work as part of an integrated marketing effort?

TF: On the PC, you can target someone sitting at their desk, but on a mobiledevice you can target the right person at the right time, who has the right intent and who is exactly where you want them to be. This makes mobile advertising an extremely effective method of targeting consumers.

And this is all possible with Real-Time Bidding (RTB) – a key development in mobile advertising. Advertisers can now buy mobile ad space in real time and deliver ads instantly to specific areas, times and devices. Link this with the rise in location-based advertising, and travel marketers are uniquely placed to target consumers with highly relevant offers.

EFT: In what ways can mobile PPC be compared with desktop PPC?

TF: Mobile advertising is relatively inexpensive compared with desktop advertising, as mobile PPC is much lower in cost. And, whilethere has been a rapid increase in the supply of mobile inventory, there is still a gap between mobile supply and spend but,with developments in RTB, we expect this to change.

Mobile is a particularly cost-effective way to gain reach from a PPC perspective, however, there can be significant data download cost issues which travel marketers need to be aware of.

EFT: How should Mobile PPC be treated in the overall integrated marketing plan?

TF: Travel marketers need to observe how much of their traffic is coming through mobile devices. This will show how much budget to allocate to mobile in the marketing spend, and where to allocate it.StrikeAd has a platform that helps to simplify what can be a highly complex and fragmented process and makes sure that the right ad reaches the right devices and people at the right time.

EFT: Should much importance be placed on attribution?

TF: Attribution is critical in mobile buying. In this market, so much of a campaign is driven by app downloads. Naturally, it is important for marketers to attribute downloads to the correct media, and to track overall campaign activity effectively. That's why we have developed our own software development kit (SDK) in a bid to attribute the correct media which drove users to download a particular app.

Armed with this information, the SDK then goes out and finds more of the same kind of media to drive further downloads. This enables us to tailor campaigns based on the data collected, and we can track and report on this,rather than simply assume which media drove which particular download. Travel marketers certainly need to start to becoming experts in attribution.