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Advertising in Mobile Publishing Market

May 24, 2011

Advice for publishers and advertisers who are ready to get off the sidelines

by Carrie Hartin

Moving away…far, far away…from single channel content delivery? Association publishers are evaluating content delivery and member readership across multiple products — mobile apps, custom magazine websites, mobile websites, digital magazines, video channels, to name a few. This revolution impacts readers, editors, association executives and advertisers. Many associations need to “wait and see” where some of the ad dollars are going land before creating new vehicles. Similarly, many advertisers are crowding the sidelines waiting to see where readers are going for trusted, timely, relevant information in this emerging mobile era. This is not positioned to end well, is it?

Industry leaders can’t stay in wait-and-see mode forever when there is endless opportunity for market share to be won. While advertisers are struggling with the lack of industry standards and expectations, there are advertisers (industry leaders and new businesses looking to break in) who are willing to develop an evolving strategy that puts their company, brand, and marketing budget out there to see what is working.

A few suggestions for getting advertisers excited about your newest mobile product:

1. Develop one or two new mobile or digital ad options for advertisers to target members.  Preferably a valuable, niche market of members. Be prepared to tell prospects about the content strategy, the marketing strategy, and the ad strategy. New products need to tell a story and need to fill a defined gap in content delivery. This will build confidence in your offering, which has no stats and no track record.
2. Keep an eye on IAB. Ad standards include sizes, pricing, measurement terms, contractual language. Standards are slowly emerging and should be kept in mind when building ad positions and revenue models for new products.
3. Talk to your advertisers. How accessible does their product or brand need to be in your space? Details on how they plan to drive sales, develop brand awareness, and accelerate the sales cycle in a slowly recovering market can help identify the businesses that need mobile ad offerings to a specific audience.

It is clear that we are at the forefront of the mobile revolution. Content delivery is changing. Advertising is changing. The way businesses develop a relationship and trust with your members is changing. Find the suppliers who are ready to move off the sidelines. They are out there with an entrepreneurial spirit and a modest budget (but money none the less) and are ready for a great publishing partner.

–Carrie Hartin is Chief Operating Officer at Network Media Partners. Follow her at @CJHartin or @Network_Media.

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