CONTENT vs. CONTEXT in Mobile Marketing

Which one is the key to success for mobile marketers ?

I read an article recently that talked about content vs. context in mobile marketing. This article comprehensively discussed the importance of content and context in today’s mobile marketing atmosphere.

Is content always the king ?

Ian Harris pointed out that if content is the stunning work of art for a mobile ad, context is where, when, and how this mobile ad will have the most impact on users. In other words, if content is the king, then context the queen. Nowadays, most of people are paying too much attention on the ad’s content, but not enough attention on the context. When marketers do not pay enough attention on the context, it might not be optimally placed or connect with your target audiences.

Balancing creative content with placement context

In order for marketer to perfectly place a content, he or she must first understand the difference between four in-app placement types.

1. Reward Placement

Reward placement refers to when ad is placed during in-app event. For example, when a person is using a dating app, he can watch an ad that unlocks his ability to “swipe” back to the profile of a potential future partner. Therefore, this type of ad is usually unskippable, which makes the user “active” in the ad experience. In this case, the marketer can make an ad longer because the longer the ad, the more chance he can tell a story.

2. Interstitial Placement

Interstitial placement refers to when ad is placed between states. For example, when the user goes to another level during an app game, it shows an ad during the loading screen. In this case, the user is automatically opted-in. This type of ad is skippable but shown in effective context. However, this type of ad usually disturbs user’s experience.

3. in-feed ads

In-feed ads refers to ads that appear within a content feed. Usually the app user sees the ad after seen a certain amount of content already. This type of ad is very easy to convert or to analyze because the marker never know if the user is actively consuming content or passively scrolling through.

4. Banner Placement

Banner placement ads are shown as a thin strip at the bottom of the screen. This type of ad also has low convert rate because users usually pay more attention to the content surrounding it. Marketers call banner ads as “mini billboards”. In order for banner ads to stand out, it has to be interesting, focused on concise message, and easy to understand.

Overall, it is important for marketers to acknowledge the difference of four ad placements in mobile marketing, and also the importance of knowing which content should be placed within which context. As Iran Harris said, all marketers should pay more attention to the queen of marketing — context, even though content is always the king.

Thank you for reading !