Or do we? Has the answer been in front of us the whole time? Maybe.

Advertisers will save publishing. That is a statement I will get behind. What will save publishing is giving advertisers compelling reasons to spend money. (Side note: by publishing I am referring to any media company that drives a significant portion of their revenue through advertising)

I don’t work for a content producer, but I have in the past.  I’m on the agency side and work with publishers on mobile advertising campaigns. What I’ve experienced has led me to two conclusions:

1. Mobile Publishing monetization models are still being worked out. (This is not what I want to talk about today but it’s a huge issue in mPublishing. And the crux may be what advertisers need to bring to the table vs. what services and solutions publishers should or can offer.)
2. Campaign analytics and reporting are still too shallow or are rarely packaged in a way that gets agencies – and by extension their clients – as excited as they should be.

Here’s my argument:

Publishers need to deliver targeting capabilities and usage analytics robust enough to allow media buyers to make intelligent campaign planning decisions. Otherwise, monetization attempts will mostly fail as marketers search for solid foundations for calculating customer targeting, engagement and acquisition ROI.

That sounds awfully grim. The good news is that the higher than web click through rates and the ‘innovation’ play will likely be sufficient to deliver enough revenue to keep everyone pretty happy – for now, that is.  So, before that, here is my take on merging analytics and targeting in a way that makes everyone look and feel good.

I’ve broken the analytics scope into four domains: Connectivity, Consumer, Content and Conversion. Each of these domains has multiple dimensions and for the purposes of this piece I’ll keep it pretty high level.

Domain # 1: Connectivity

This is one area where most publishers are doing a good job for the most part.  That may be largely to do with the approach many have taken in offering up OS-specific native applications. I’ve found it’s rare for a publisher not to be able to execute device targeting. Many can even target specific models within a family of devices (e. g. differentiate Blackberry 9700 from 8900). Increasingly, OS and device targeting should be the minimum expectation.

The second connectivity dimension is geo-targeting. Again, most publishers seem to grasp the inherent importance of location and context in mobile and have built-in capabilities to target location to some degree.

What’s critical here is the increasing granularity in OS, device and geo-targeting to enable messaging and offers that are relevant to device capabilities and user habits and preferences.  Check out Google’s location powered AdWord units.

Domain # 2: Consumer

You could make the case convincingly that location is a consumer domain but here the consumer domain also involves demographic and behavioural dimensions.  Publishers need to know who their audience is by age, gender, income, and so on. This is a stock media targeting request and it’s what advertisers expect. Admittedly, the personal nature of the device can make this information more difficult to gather as privacy hawks circle. But it’s not insurmountable.

The Weather Network in Canada asks for, but doesn’t require, age and sex information upon app activation. That’s a good start.  The mobile ad network JumpTap has created an ad preference manager where consumers can select the types of products and services they receive ads for – and that’s even better.

If location is the ‘where’ and demographic data the ‘who’, then the next ask is the ‘when’. Publishers need to be able to deliver sophisticated day parting options to allow advertisers to heavy up-spend at those times when consumption is heaviest or when their message will have the greatest currency.

Domain # 3: Content

This is basic. Publishers need to have visibility into what content is being consumed and to what degree. Beyond that, there has to be insight into how that differs by OS, device, demographics and geography.

Of course, there’s room for conventional reporting like total unique visitors and page views in aggregate. What’s more powerful, however, is knowing page views by content category, time per visit, frequency of user visits and duration of each visit, content viewed per visit, and content sharing. Each of these represents a potential targeting opportunity and the ability to deliver this data and wrap a story around the implications of these insights will make the case more compelling.

Domain # 4: Conversion

This final domain is a little harder for publishers to report on as they might lack the downstream visibility.  The CPM monetization model also lets a lot of publishers off the hook due to its diminished focus on performance.  The other challenge is the desire to manage advertiser expectations. Committing to a click through rate or conversion percentage is more risk than most publishers could stomach.  However, I’d urge more publishers to meet advertisers half way and offer CPC or CPA models to demonstrate more tangible returns from advertiser campaigns. This suggestion might be driven by a personal bias for mobile advertising as a very compelling direct response tactic than a pure brand play. We’ll see if the iAd changes that view.

The promise of being able to deliver micro-targeting reporting is the ability to have an analytics dashboard that tells when a 34 year old male using an Android device, clicked on an ad about Offer X, while viewing a specific piece of content and a certain time of day at a specific location and then moved through to conversion.

By and large, this is possible. There are privacy and permission issues that must be respected, especially with the location dimension but such nuance is very real. And to be fair, location is not always relevant. However, layering in some of the content dimensions I outlined would create a more powerful story.

The gap is what advertisers and their agencies seem to ask for and how it’s being packaged by publishers.  If publishers are serious about maximizing revenue from the mobile channel, they need to start offering reports at that level of detail, packaging it in a way that makes is clear, compelling and actionable without having to be asked for it or it being an exercise in pulling teeth.

It may sound like I’m being too tough on publishers here. However, I do believe most publishers are working hard to figure out the space and overcome the challenges. If anything, I have sterner words for agencies and advertisers that don’t ask for or mine for valuable data to optimize their buys or deliver device- and consumer- unfriendly post-click experiences.  I still see mobile ad campaigns that click through to a wired web experience or just offer banal product information without any clear or compelling follow-on call to action. It’s shocking!

My closing call to action: If information is power, then the power of the mobile channel is potentially unprecedented. The unique, personal and contextual dimensions of the device enable a granular picture of ad interaction and response. And it shouldn’t require a multi-million dollar budget (I’m looking at you iAd…). The data exists and we should use it wisely and in a way that benefits all parties – consumers, advertisers, agencies and publishers.

NOTE: As I’m in Canada, this is mostly directed at my fellow Canucks. Publishers and agencies in other parts of the world seem to be more on top of things (correct if that’s wrong…). But if anyone gets something out of this piece, I’m happy.

I’d also really welcome dialogue on the topic from publishers. I’ll admit to not having seen the full scope of every publisher’s mobile advertising and analytics offering. If you’re a publisher and are taking steps or have solutions to bridge these gaps, please share.

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The blog is the work of our demand generation team and the subject matter focus is SEO/SEM, social media and mobile. I’m contributing the latter…surprise!

I’ve four posts up there that you might find interesting:

1. Ready, Set, Go! A DC Mobile Kickoff

In this post, I outline the Digital Cement mobile practice, our philosophy, a bit on the service offering and some questions we use to frame all mobile marketing discussion.

2.  Does Your SEM Strategy Include Mobile?

This post talks about a stat Google released about the connection between mobile search queries and location. I’ve added some content and outline two important distinctions between web and mobile search. Nothing ground-breaking, but some hopefully useful ‘get -started’ stuff.

3.  Mobile Marketing: Toronto Public Health and SMS Success

Here I look at a recently launched program aimed at helping youth discuss sexual health issues and providing discreet ways to access sexual health resources.  I share some the program experience and discuss the reasons why I feel this is, strategically and tactically, a very solid program. Hint: It’s got something to do with how much teens text.

4. Canadians, SMS and Sore Thumbs

The CWTA has released numbers for the volume of text messages sent by Canadians. They show impressive growth in both peer to peer and short code messaging and I offer some brief comments on considerations for SMS as a customer acquisition and CRM tool.

Hopefully something catches your eye.

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Here’s a snapshot of some of my tweets and some back channel conversations:

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JohnMcCauley66: RT @JCDunn: I guess its now a compliment to have ppl pecking away at mobiles during a conference presentation #mixxcanada #twitterholics
about 5 hours ago from UberTwitter · Reply · View Tweet

The rest of my coverage can be found here and you can get the full picture via a Twitter Search on #mixxcanada.

PS. Yes, this may be the easy way of doing this, but after a day of live tweeting, I have thumb fatigue. It’s a legit condition…

PPS. If you know how to embed a Twitter search into a blog post, I’m interested.

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For agencies, it makes the most sense in full-service, promo and direct response/relationship marketing shops. Digital agencies also need to understand mobile at the very least for mobile web and application builds. Having in-house mobile expertise won’t be right for every company, but any youth-focused brand, consumer packaged goods firm or publisher should be taking mobile very seriously.

There are plenty of reasons why having a mobile subject matter expert, product and/or project manager makes sense. Not the least of which are: defining brand mobile objectives; conceiving, developing and managing mobile programming; managing vendor relations and; acting as a mobile advocate both internally and externally.

In an encouraging sign, I found the following job description posted for a major Canadian publisher:

This role will require tight coordination with the Creative, Marketing, Brand Management, and Project Management teams in order to meet business requirements for each initiative. It will also require the management of external partners who have been selected for the development of the mobile initiatives.  A deep understanding of mobile content and mobile devices will be a success factor, as well as experience in implementing best practices in terms of Product Development including both product planning and product marketing.

Responsibilities:

The Product Manager is expected to:
1. In collaboration with Marketing, Brand Managers and the creative team, contribute in defining the product strategy and roadmap for mobile development
2. Develop the core positioning and messaging for mobile products and manage all aspects of execution
3. Primary point of contact on Mobile for Transcontinental constituents
4. Manage day-to-day activities on Mobile initiatives
5. Work with external third parties to assess partnerships
6. Support sales teams on proposals that include mobile
7. Develop appropriate sales tools and train as necessary
8. Be an expert with respect to the competition and keep abreast of latest trends
9. Perform product demos to customers
10. Set revenue model to meet revenue and profitability goals
11. Deliver a monthly P&L forecast
12. Set rate card pricing for Mobile products & services
13. Service external clients on mobile projects
14. Act as a gatekeeper, working with Brand Managers, Product Directors or other internal departments to capture, consolidate and manage the implementation of Mobile initiatives

For me, this description makes a lot of sense and covers the core functions and responsibilities of a mobile subject matter expert/product manager. A final job description for your organization or agency will likely differ slightly, but using this as a template will go a long way for defining the role of a mobile marketer in-house and setting key deliverables.

What do you think?

Possibly Related Posts:

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• 3 Mobile Marketing Nuts For Brands to Crack
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