IAB produces its first Mobile Buyer's Guide for marketers

The use of mobile phones has rocketed in the last few years and now, in the US alone, 4 out of 5 people own a mobile phone. It should come as no surprise that interest in advertising on mobile devices is following suit, but it comes with a sharp learning curve.

by Helen Leggatt

iab black and red logo.jpg To this end, the IAB has produced its first Mobile Buyer's Guide, developed by the IAB Mobile Advertising Committee.

The 13-page guide (.pdf) touches on a variety of topics including an overview of the U.S. mobile advertising marketing, key definitions in mobile display and messaging campaign metrics and how to activate mobile from traditional media. In effect, it has been designed to provide "everything an agency or marketer would need to create a mobile advertising campaign," according to Jeremy Fain, Vice President of Industry Services at IAB. "Marketers and agencies are now creating multi-screen campaigns and mobile is playing an increasingly significant role as more advertisers use it to reach their customers."

However, while the mobile Internet is being referred to as "the Internet on steroids" by some, a recent Nielsen Norman Group usability study found it to be on a par with the Internet c. 1994. "It was that bad," said Jakob Nielsen, principal of Nielsen Norman and co-author of the report.

Simple tasks, such as sourcing information on a bottle of wine or looking up a flight time, were less likely to be successful and more likely to be frustrating using the mobile Internet, found the study, unless the websites were specifically tailored to those browsing via mobile.

Tags: IAB, Mobile Buyer's Guide, mobile Internet, mobile marketing, mobile phone, Nielsen Norman