Over time, the entire user space has become overwhelmingly dominated by mobile. From 1995 to 2014, individuals with mobile phones in the global population have increased from 1% to 73%. In just under ten years, mobile phone users have grown from 80MM to a tremendous 5.2B.

Not only is the amount of mobile users increasing, but there is significant engagement growth on these devices as well. This means that people are utilizing these devices to access the internet in greater numbers than ever before. The average adult on a mobile device for at least three hours per day is increasing at a rate of 11% year over year in comparison to only five years ago. Users are on-the-go and, to date, more time is spent engaging with mobile digital media than with digital media on a desktop, laptop or any other connected device.So while these statistics are significant and provide a reasonable amount of data for brands to realize the importance of mobile, how can companies leverage this growth to benefit their overall business plan?

Three new marketing initiatives have been introduced and can make exponential differences to your brand’s ROI if they act as a critical component to your mobile strategy. From location-based marketing to engaging content and one-click purchase options, these innovative approaches will undoubtedly help to round out the effectiveness of your mobile marketing campaigns.

Instagram Ads for Everyone

Instagram is a global, visually-captivating social media platform that attracts an immense number of users each day, fostering engagement that is expanding at an incredibly impressive rate of 108% year-over-year. Finally, after more than a year’s wait, this social media channel has made advertisement offerings available to everyone.

The advertising platform allows you to target people based on Facebook demographics and Instagram behavioral data so that you can reach the right audience, at the right time, with the right content. You can look at things like what accounts your users follow, which profiles they are most frequently hitting the “Like” button on, and even what hashtags they are using. This information can then be integrated into a strategic approach where brands can optimize the content that they serve their audience to be relevant to specific needs. The ads are clickable, direct-response ads that feature a call-to-action such as “shop now” or “sign up” and take potential customers directly to the point of conversion. By directing users to the product page or sign-up page, you’re able to streamline the process, increasing the likelihood that a conversion is completed.Instagram allows you to include four images in each advertising campaign through a carousel format, maximizing effectiveness and exposure of the visual. Brands can use compelling imagery through this new advertising channel to reach their audience in an innovative way that’s tailored to their individual interests and behaviors. Best of all, it works on a cost-per-click basis, keeping expenses down and making this a viable option for even small budgets.

Mobile eComm That Works

A positive user-experience is crucial to the success of any marketing campaign — mobile or not. However when you’re buying something through an e-commerce site on your smartphone, it can be especially frustrating if the company has not optimized their site for the devices you’re using. The checkout process for a lot of companies can be almost 10-steps long and require zooming in, zooming out, or excessive scrolling up and down because you’re using a touch screen instead of a mouse and traditional keyboard.

Now, there is a mobile ecommerce platform that truly works and can alleviate any negative user-experiences with mobile purchases. Stripe, the payment Application Programming Interface (API) company, has released Relay. This program is the most forward thinking API to hit the world of ecommerce in years. With Relay, any merchant can sell their product directly in mobile applications. Users can complete purchases without going to the merchant’s platform, improving both the quality and timeliness of the buying process. This option truly creates one-click purchasing options.Mobile product ads for all businesses can then generate far more ROI with Relay due to a massively improved user-experience and simplified checkout process. Relay has partnered with Twitter, SPRING, ShopStyle, and inMobil for its launch, but the program can be built into ANY app, presenting a myriad of opportunities. This program puts the user top of mind, and ensures that any purchase experience is as simple as possible for mobile customers.

Beyond Geo-Fencing

Marketers can now go beyond geo-fencing to reach their audience. The integration of hyper-targeted advertisements into mobile marketing strategies allows companies to more effectively tailor campaigns to reach specific users based on location. By utilizing GPS technology, where true longitude and latitude are identified (as opposed to cell tower and Wi-Fi triangulation as geo-fencing does), you can target individuals and optimize the content you’re delivering accordingly.

With this innovative technology, you can define your reach based on whatever hyper location you want and use defined geo-location ads. For example, if you have a woman in a Target store shopping for her three children, you can serve her with an ad for your brand if that shopper is part of your target audience. As long as users are consuming content in some way on their mobile phone, they can be reached. If there are multiple locations you’re targeting, that’s no problem. You can optimize per location in real-time, and move your budget based on individual grid points.

Tools for the Success of Your Mobile Marketing Campaign

All in all, these initiatives are enabling marketers to reach their audience like never before. Mobile’s influence and ubiquity is finally on-par with its performance, allowing brands to target users as individuals wherever they are located. Not only will these efforts benefit companies, but the improved user-experience will provide customers with content that is more fitting to their needs. Brands will see a rise in sales generated and even an enhanced brand reputation as their users are reminded through targeted marketing tactics that these companies truly understand their unique interests and purchasing behaviors.