Part of the Google mobile display ad network? You now have an option of making your business localized. This means your pin-pointed business will show up in local mobile ads, giving a reported 8% increase in click-throughs. AdMob discusses the new AdSense features:
This new ad format is available on mobile devices with full Internet browsers and allows you to expand your advertising campaigns to reach highly engaged mobile users with relevant local information as they use their favorite apps or websites to check the weather, read the news, play games or pursue other mobile interests. Advertising with location extensions on mobile devices is also great value because you’re only charged when a user clicks to call the business or clicks to visit your website. You are not charged when users click to expand the map or gets directions. The cost of a click to call your business will be the same as the cost of a click to visit your website.
Another feature upgrade in Google’s vast sea of features, but one plenty of marketers and businesses will play around with. Localizing data of any sort is the thing to do right now–it seems to be the sensible thing to do with all that information we’ve spent the past several decades collecting.
Social sites have pushed location-awareness into the limelight, with Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter all seeking ways to monetize geo-specific data streams. And the new ad feature isn’t Google’s first foray into location awareness. A recent update to its mobile Maps app has added Latitude and Places layers, incorporating social and other search-related information to a map query.
As far as mobile advertising goes, location-specific campaigns haven’t proven the highest yields compared to other forms of mobile marketing. Both Forrester and Millennial Media have demonstrated higher success with broader mobile targeting methods, dampening the hype around the new omnipresence of advertising real estate.
However, Google’s dive into localized mobile advertising could help carry this trend through to more marketers. A feature release, yes, but one that’s combined with all the other tools and outlets Google provides its advertisers. This allows Google to turn advertising into problem-solving for consumers, though Apple’s iAds are reaching towards similar recommendation features in the coming months as well.
