I read recently in the blogosphere that “The challenge for global brands in mobile is finding relevancy to the various activities a consumer may be performing at any given time”

While this is likely a fair assessment of the challenge that brands are perceiving, what I find surprising is that brands think that relevancy in mobile is a big challenge at all. For me it suggests that brands are perhaps overcomplicating the “challenge” and as a result missing the unique opportunities that mobile advertising represents.

Notwithstanding the mobile sphere’s unique ability to link to a consumer’s activities, just the statistics on the mobile revolution underway says that brands should be leaping at the opportunity mobile represents.

It’s been well stated that the number of mobile connected devices will exceed the world’s population within the next 2 years. Already its quoted that 4.8 billion people worldwide own a mobile phone and that as the smart phone revolution continues apace, a significant proportion of these devices will be more powerful that the leading computers of yore.

When you consider that tablets are taking over from desktops it’s clear that the inversion of first and third screen labeling is well underway with mobile the clear winner.

It makes sense, why rush home to check something online when you can do it right where you are standing. Where-ever that is!

And here’s the rub, where you are standing, right now in the midst of your activities is precisely the point of relevancy brands should be targeting. What could be more powerful than Nike ads when I’m at the tennis, Gucci ads while I am shopping and Starbucks ads whilst I am searching for coffee?

And it’s not even hard to achieve! Sure we can talk about clever targeting with geo-location and the like, but these miss the most significant phenomenon of the smart phone – Apps. Apps are the glue that drive relevancy. There are increasingly becoming the infrastructure that drives our lifestyles. How often have you heard people say – There’s an app for that.

But it’s more than brands building their own apps. It’s using the explosion of apps with their typical narrow application focus as a leverage point into the growing communities of users orientated around a particular lifestyle choice. This is incredible relevant to global brands.

It’s Nike dominating the advertising in the range of sporting apps available. It’s Gucci owning the ad space on the shopping comparison/preview apps and Starbucks right there on the daily deal apps just prior to that the coffee decision being made.

Brands are running behind but the mobile ad networks have already started building big app developer communities integrated and ready for innovative and successful ad type based campaigns. If they want to stay relevant, brands should be reaching out to users through mobile apps as a must-do item.

Back in February, a simple forum post set in motion a steam train that has resulted in a 30% decline in downloads from the top 200 Apps on the App Store.

Most of you would already be aware of the changes Apple has made to the way it calculates its top apps as well as its crackdown on download bots. A practice that Apple has apparently been aware of for some time, download bots artificially inflate the number downloads for the purpose of getting the app in the top 25 chart. At this point, the app begins getting real downloads and can be monetized effectively.

Apart from breaking all sorts of marketplace rules, it makes the marketplaces really unfair for those trying to get in through legitimate means. It is great that Apple has taken some action and the decline in volume shows how many downloads were being driven by this method.

There has already been a lot written about the importance of getting your app ranked in the top 25 or 50 charts in the relevant market place. Whether by geography or category, it has been suggested that 70%+ of users do not look passed the top charts when searching for new apps.

So how do you get your app ranked?

Well obviously, CPC/CPI campaigns, SEO / keyword search optimization, PR, discounting and getting it reviewed by popular blogs or new sites are all effective strategies. Another one for better known brands or niche apps may be to time the release with Trade Shows where you can make a big announcement and splash.

But the numbers required can be mind boggling. 25,000 downloads per day to be top 50 in US on the app store. 10,000 in China. 5,000 in the UK and South Korea. A little less in Germany, France and Australia. Obviously, the numbers reduce significantly when looking at the top 50 in a particular category.

There is also what day you want to feature. Weekends are busier, so getting into the charts is even harder, but then the rewards are greater as download volumes are 20%+ higher.

The other really effective strategy is burst campaigns. Running an intensive CPI (cost per install) campaign for a few days to get huge downloads can push you into the top charts where the 70% of users are searching. This drives organic downloads, where your ongoing and slightly less aggressive marketing program (which may include all of the above), may be able to keep you up there. Combine this with an effective monetization strategy and your app will begin making real money.

While this approach may sound similar to the download bots, the real difference is that your downloads will be real. Real users, finding the app on their own (as they do not have to click on your advertisement and then don’t have to download the app) You are assured that those downloading your app are interesting in doing so. And if your app is valuable, this will lead to great ratings and reviews, being shared amongst friends and family etc and therefore ranking even higher.

Then you can focus on what should be the most important area for you – making the app even more awesome and launching your next app (or five).

Of course, Leadbolt can help you achieve all these objectives from sustained to burst campaigns, so if you are serious about being number 1, then start running your campaign with us today.

Are you like me with a habit of remembering the big ticket ad types of last year. Do you remember them launching to great fanfares with stories of super eCPMs?  No doubt all your friends and every developer forum told you to move on up to these ad types. After all, why would you run banners at $0.10 eCPM when you could be making hundreds of dollars with each thousand impressions instead?

But 6-12 months on, are you still achieving those dizzy heights? Was it all just hype? Is there a way to understand the trends and therefore maximize your returns?

Over 15 years ago, Gartner began using a Hype Cycle to analyze the introduction of new technology. The hype cycle was designed to not only show the inevitable hype (and fall) surrounding new concepts, but the subsequent stages, when they move beyond the hype into long term benefit and wide spread acceptance. The key to understanding this can ensure you benefit from this cycle.

The cycle can be displayed using a simple info-graphic.

So referring back to the topic of new and advanced ad formats, there’s no doubt the promoted $100 eCPM lies at the top of the hype cycle and even though many developers reached those heights initially, many a developer subsequently found their ad revenue results dipping into the ‘valley of despair’, before flattening out into a ‘production reality’.

This production reality (long term stats) for high performance ad types is averaging $5 to $15 eCPM. Obviously, the more targeted and qualified a publisher’s traffic then higher values can be achieved but that is a good basis for our discussion.

So what does this hype cycle tells us about ad type performance, beyond some sales cynicism. I am going to suggest it tells us some very important things about user acceptance, customer expectations and can provide an indication into user responsiveness.

Here’s what the hype cycle teaches us in relation to high performance ads:

1. A new ad type is launched. Its new, fresh and attention-grabbing. Users respond positively, driving up ad revenues. The stage may take months as it has for our example, or years for examples like robotics.
2. Due to its success, the ad type appears more often, making it more commonplace/ discussed negatively, users respond less and ad revenue falls.
3. The ad type is optimized / reaches a level of status and delivers a stable revenue return.
4. Finally, adoption becomes so widespread the ad type becomes an increasingly invisible commodity and revenue eventually declines to almost nothing eg banner ads

Understanding the connection between the hype dynamics and users acceptance across multiple ad types can be the real key to consistently high revenue returns for app developers and publishers.

So, what are the practical learnings?

One, new ad types do deliver well in their first releases and early adopters can gain a lot. These developers exploit our natural curiosity to new things, so seeking out and testing new ad types is surely a way to revenue performance.

Two, beware of fighting against the curve. As the new technology moves beyond stage two, ad networks will continuously optimize the ad type to reignite the hype revenue and move it into stage three. However, it is at this stage that less than desirable practices are also likely to emerge as ad type implementer attempts to prolong the hype instead of moving the technology into productivity stage.

For the bigger picture, we can become much more sophisticated with our ad technology usage in several ways.

Savvy developers can recognizing the connection of the hype cycle with user acceptance, and in stage two introduce user friendly options with their ad type integrations to ensure the long term relationships with users and ride the hype wave successfully to the ‘production reality’.

In the final stage of the ad type lifecycle recognizing the emerging commodity effect gives you time to ensure you have a new strategy already in play. We can liken it to surfing a set of waves rather than crashing with the first wave’s drop.

Finally, the hype cycle/user acceptance connection teaches us that ad technologies are not immune to the hype curve and that an effective strategy is to combine different ad types at different phases in the hype cycle. This way you can benefit from the hype, not be too affected by the inevitable crash, and continue to maximizing your returns through the (hopefully) long productivity stage.