Any marketer will tell you that monitoring a campaign is essential, and this holds just as true when it comes to mobile marketing campaigns. However, many brands are still struggling with collecting and analysing the data their efforts produce in order to see if the campaign is operating effectively.

This is partly down to the many changes in the constantly-evolving mobile arena; it can be difficult to keep up with what is happening. New methods and technologies are entering the market all the time, not to mention new handsets, apps and ways of building mobile sites. For many brands, it is a challenge in itself trying to understand in what way to enter the mobile space, let alone ensuring that it is effective and being utilised to its full potential, but a one-dimensional strategy – ‘Build an app and they will come’ – is not going to bring about the desired results.

Ensure success
Tracking mobile activity can ensure success, and will underline the incredible opportunities available. It may seem like an insurmountable task, but it’s one well worth tackling if your brand is to make a real impact in the space.
Tracking is essential to a mobile campaign for two main reasons. Firstly, it gives the brand and agency insight into how effective their advertising is, and enables them to tailor campaigns accordingly. Secondly, it proves that mobile as a marketing tool really is effective.

The good news is that tracking in mobile has moved on from simply being able to see if your app has been downloaded via a UDID (Unique Device Identifier). Thanks to advances in the technology and a better understanding of how mobile marketing works and what it can do for brands and consumers, there is much to be learned and gained from tracking.

With the right methods, it is possible to see events within an app or mobile site, including, for example, which sections were visited’ how many videos were watched; how long was spent on the app or site; and, vitally, whether anything was bought, or a subscription taken out.

But all this is still of little use unless it can be linked back to where the user came from – did they arrive through a banner, SMS communication or a specific creative? What network or publisher delivered what conversions, what was the time of day, what topic of interest or genre of sites were the clickers coming from? This level of insight can ensure that success can be optimised, delivering an optimal campaign where the results are on brief and hitting all the objectives. 
For our clients, we run trackable campaigns that allow us to plan on clicks through to an event in an app. These events could be the viewing of a video, the search for a certain product, or even a purchase or subscription. Once we know the ‘who’, ‘what’ and ‘where’ of our audiences, we are able to do two things: plan our campaigns on a virtual cost-per-acquisition; and continually optimise on all the mobile media activity. This allows us to continually make effective tweaks and changes to the campaign. By capturing these events and sources, it then becomes possible to respond to the data and optimise targeting to ensure the mobile campaign is as effective as possible.

Thorough analysis
From this, we can see that mobile marketing is about much more than simply building an app and sending it out into the ether. Success will only come through thorough analysis and the appropriate application of this data to modify or update the campaign. After all, you wouldn’t spend thousands on a print campaign only to have it published in a magazine that is not generally read by your target audience, so why create a mobile site or app that will not get to your market or is impossible to use?

Whether you are creating a mobile site or app, looking to place banners or pop-up adverts, or planning when and where your campaign will be seen in other outlets, tracking is the key to success. Knowing how and when people click through or make a purchase ensures you can focus on the markets with the most potential, and not waste money on those which are not going to work for your campaign. It’s about learning how to implement mobile marketing and making the most of technology to ensure a holistic, multi-dimensional and coherent approach.

Act now
If you are still not tracking your mobile campaigns, then now is the time to act. The basic rules of marketing apply to mobile too, and there is much you can do immediately to boost your campaign. Identify your target audience, set goals, and meticulously plan the whole process to give your campaign the best possible chance at success. And don’t forget about it once it has been launched – track and monitor and use the information you get to update and revive your efforts. Mobile marketing is highly measurable, so get on board with the results and make it work for you.

Mick Rigby is the managing director and co-founder of Yodelmobile