Mobile devices are all the rage, of course, but still have a relatively low share of advertising dollars devoted to the Web. U.S. mobile advertising spending in 2011 was just 4.7% of total ad spending online, according to eMarketer. However, time spent with mobile phones jumped 30% in 2011, compared with 2010, per eMarketer. “The forward-looking B2B marketers are certainly recognizing this and are viewing this not as nice to do but an urgent to do,” said Jason Young, CEO of Crisp Media, who will take part in a panel discussion on mobile at the BMA’s annual conference. “We certainly are expecting those percentages to increase rapidly.”

BMA Buzz: You will be participating in a discussion at the BMA’s annual conference titled, "From Advertising to Apps to Activation: Mobile’s on the Move in the B2B Mix." What insights will you bring to the table?

Jason Young:  I hope to bring a good perspective on how marketers, publishers and everyone in the advertising ecosystem can benefit from the incredible opportunity that exists in mobile today.  The fact that, as we all know, users are increasingly spending their time and consuming their content via mobile devices — that’s the given in the equation. 

The tougher issue is, how do you take advantage of the opportunity to market to audiences when they are on their mobile devices? What are the technologies and best practices that we can pull from to understand how premium, B2B brand marketers can effectively communicate their messages and drive awareness and consideration of their products and services through these new platforms.

BMA Buzz:  What are the most effective ways that B2B marketers can develop a mobile marketing strategy?

Young: Step number one is just being there.  If we look at the actual amount of marketing dollars, time and resources being put toward mobile — vis-à-vis the audience opportunity — we are way, way out of scale.

Within step two, you have a number of things that you can learn from desktop digital advertising, which is, be in front of the right audiences; be in front of those audiences with high engagement and be in front of them with messages where there is strong share of voice and an ability to capture attention.

BMA Buzz: What are the biggest challenges in building and sustaining a mobile advertising strategy?

Young:  One of the key challenges is building ads that are compatible and will work properly across multiple devices, multiple operating systems and multiple platforms.

You also need to find inventory that is compatible with the creative, so the ad will serve properly. [Another challenge is] effectively measuring how prospective buyers engage with the message and what they are doing with the information presented to them