Faith Murphy of Yahoo shared a lot of data on why mobile marketing is so important to SMB’s in the business of local.  2015 will be the first year that searchers do more searching on mobile devices over desktop. Mobile users rely heavily on their devices to help make local shopping decisions because they bring utility, convenience and locality to search:

• 73% of mobile searches trigger follow up actions such as further research, a store visit or a purchase.
• 50% of users say mobile search ads remind them of brands to consider
• 60% said mobile search introduced them to new brands
• 70% say mobile search helps make better buying decisions
• 83% research products on mobile weekly
• 24% make a purchase on their device

Mobile searchers take follow up action:

• 79% visited retailer website
• 69% checked prices online66% continued research
• 65% discussed info with someone else
• 50% shared info
• 28% found directions
• 18% called a business

Mobile search ads also result in increased brand awareness and consideration:

• 40% of users were more likely to recall a brand when exposed to both search ads and organic than if they were only exposed to organic
• 46% say search ads can persuade them to consider new brands even when they had other brands in mind

And mobile ad prices are relatively inexpensive because the mobile ad market has not yet caught up to usage.  With that here are a few mobile ad best practices:

• Objective: First develop an objective for your mobile campaign. Do you want users to visit your website, know your brand and/or download your app?
• Targeting: Based on your objectives, you should target using audience data that focuses on location, search terms and interests.
• Costs: Analyze your bidding strategy so that it’s set to hit your goal. Set a competitive bid by monitoring your performance and using bid tools. Know what happens after your ad gets clicked with conversion tracking.