AdWords, Bing Recommend Separate Ad Campaigns to Target Mobile Users

Posted by Shawn Friesen on Apr 12, 2012

RV dealers can potentially lower their advertising costs and boost lead conversions by creating separate ad campaigns to target mobile users. Pay-per-click management teams at both Google AdWords and Microsoft adCenter for Bing are recommending that advertising customers target mobile and desktop users separately in marketing campaigns. Creating separate mobile and desktop advertising campaigns allows advertisers to maximize the return on their pay-per-click investment by accommodating the differences between the two platforms and capitalizing on each platform’s strengths. In most cases, RV dealers should realize a lower cost per click while still experiencing strong lead-conversion rates. Testing to validate the effectiveness of a split campaign in your RV market is strongly recommended.

Adjusting your desktop pay-per-click ad campaign to work effectively on mobile platforms will require some adjustments primarily necessitated by the smaller screen size and shorter user-interaction period typical of mobile devices. Follow these tips when targeting mobile users:

• Use shorter keywords in your ad program to accommodate the shorter search query on mobile devices.
• Because smaller mobile screens display only a few ads, it is critical in mobile marketing to bid for the first or second position in keyword ad groups.
• Flash-heavy material does not convert well to mobile platforms. Use HTML5 to format animation and interactive features.
• Create a mobile-friendly version of your website formatted to accommodate the special needs of mobile users.
• Before going live with mobile websites or ad campaigns, always check functionality on both iPhone and Android devices. You can test mobile rollouts and see how they’ll look on mobile devices at HowToGoMo.com.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to create separate mobile and desktop pay-per-click ad campaigns. Simply mirror your standard campaign on both AdWords and AdCenter. Set up your campaign to display on both iPhone and Android mobile phones with full internet browsers and tablets. Then change the settings on your original campaign to display only on laptops and desktops. It’s a quick fix that allows you to minimize marketing effort while maximizing advertising effectiveness.