5 tips on finding a mobile advertising partner

This week I’m pleased to publish an op-ed from Nathan Ward, Director & Co-Founder of Mapp Media on a rather challenging topic for many mobile companies, developers and content producers a like: Finding the right mobile advertising partner.

Over to Nathan:

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We all know that mobile usage has exploded over recent years and we also know that for many businesses mobile revenues, especially through advertising, have become an important part of their business plan. Yet the businesses themselves are often not best placed to maximize on the revenue opportunities themselves.

What we’re finding is that it’s becoming more and more important for platforms and publishers to work with the right mobile advertising partner to help them create the best revenues and the best approach for their business.

But how do you know what to look for in a partner? And how can you succeed with mobile advertising?

Here we’ll give you 5 great tips on how to find the best partner to help you get the best results with your mobile advertising:

1. Research – Look around and research the potential partners you could work with. One good way to research is to take a look on other platforms, see what you and your users will like and then contact those sales teams for an intro.

2. Build Relationships – get to understand the challenges facing a sales team working on your behalf. Your love your platform, but not all advertisers will and sometimes the sales team will have to work hard for you. Provide them with all the tools they need to succeed and start with a trial period to make them earn your long-term business.

3. Don’t ruin the user experience – The right partners will work with you to improve the user experience. Don’t be afraid to speak to them, ask advice and listen to what they have to say. You don’t have to agree with it all – but if you’re talking to the right people they’ll have the experience to back up their advice.

4. Create experiences not advertising – Focus on the experience that your users will have when they see an ad. The advertising you’re offering should fit within the user journey and be relevant to the environment.

5. Take the lead – don’t always wait for your sales partners to come to you. Send ideas, set up regular calls, keep an eye on what brands and solutions other platforms are seeing and demand transparency on how you are being pitched and how you can help to drive interest in your product.

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Nice one Nathan. Thank you very much for that. And here’s a bit of context on Nathan: He is the Director and Co-Founder of Mapp Media. His career started with building web and wap sites for a variety of publishers, but soon expanded to work on the commercial side of the business. Nathan has worked on projects such as Perform’s ePlayer, Waitrose’s e-commerce site, Virgin Media & Getty Images. He now advises Mapp Media’s clients on how to strike that balance between content and revenue, whether that be for web, social media or mobile platforms, to help drive both user engagement and income.