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Did you know that as of July 2015, there were over 3.13 billion people using the Internet worldwide? And the most prominent driving force behind this 43% growth is mobile access to the Internet. There are 7 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide although this does not mean there are 7 billion people in the world. The last global population estimate made in July of this year pegged it to be 7.3 billion which would suggest that the number of mobile subscriptions is owned by a small percentage of the population or less than 30%. For example, an American family of 4 children would probably have 8 mobile subscriptions total (6 mobile smartphone subscriptions and an extra 2 for iPads).

Mobile growth can be explained easily:

• Mobile gadgets are cheaper than ever before and postpaid plans make them even more affordable
• Almost 2 billion use their mobile devices to access their social media accounts
• Two million smartphones are sold daily worldwide
• There are approximately 1 million new mobile users daily or 12 new mobile users every second

And because of this phenomenal growth, you and thousands of other business-minded entrepreneurs have ventured into app development. The question now is: how to monetize the app by using mobile advertising?

What is Mobile Advertising?

Mobile advertising is putting ads that can be viewed on mobile devices. Although it sounds simple enough to work on, the trick is getting past the very personal nature of mobile devices. People love their smartphones and other mobile devices. They would literally be lost without them so most people will not be willing to share their devices with others much more allow strangers to access them through their mobile devices. Not long ago, there was much ado made about mobile ads especially on social media. Users were furious that social media was being commercialized calling it a breach to what they perceived to be sacred grounds. The mobile ads still went through and is now accepted although users have some control over what ads they want to see.

Thus creating the mobile ad is the easy part – getting through becomes the challenge. Before any monetization can take place, you need your app’s mobile ad to be seen and appreciated. The best to approach mobile advertising is to work on the ad simultaneously with the app development. You can have advance marketing on the app to create a buzz as long as the anticipation period is not way ahead of the app’s launch date.

Advantages of Mobile Advertising

• More affordable than traditional forms because it has a lower CPM or Cost Per Thousand
• Easier to create because the elements are simpler than the larger screens
• Faster to make, quicker results so you can launch daily promos or use geomarketing (location-based marketing) to the hilt
• Easier to track responses because mobile phone numbers are not changed as quickly as email addresses
• Mass communications is simpler and ads can go viral in minutes
• Mobile payment is now available which negates the need for physical currency to complete a purchase

What is App Monetization?

Contrary to common belief, app monetization is not the same as app advertising. In the first place, advertising does not necessarily mean exchange of monies. Advertising can be used to raise awareness, promote events or causes, and introduce ideas or products not yet in the market. Monetization is converting your product into cash through sale of the app, subscription to the app, and its add-on features.

In May of this year, the results of 2 surveys from Forbes and Global Web Index came out revealing that while 30% of Internet users’ time was spent on mobile devices, 86% of the time spent on mobile devices were on mobile apps and only 14% was spent on mobile web. Fascinating, right? People would rather be on apps than browsing the Internet when using their mobile devices.

Before you get down to actual strategies and figures on monetizing your app, you need to understand 3 basic metrics:

1. Visit duration or what is the average time spent on your app?
2. What is your bounce rate; the lower it is, the better
3. What is the page per visit ratio?

Getting the answers to these 3 questions will establish traffic percentages and you can find these out by using something like Google Analytics which can display an overview of your audience from the 3 primary sources: desktop, tablet, and mobile gadgets.

Then, using analytics you can check conversion of mobile ads to revenues through click rates, click revenues, and overall earnings. If the discrepancy between the first analytics (first 3 questions) is far off from the second analytics (conversion rates and earnings profile), then there is a lot of work that has to be done to improve monetization. Fortunately, it sounds harder than it actually is.

Monetization Through App Advertising

First of all, there is a difference between monetization for Android and for iOS. Android monetization focuses more on in-app ads while iOS seems to prefer in-app purchases. Thus, planning your app advertising strategy, you have to give special attention to a strategy that is based on the operating system you are using and adjust the variables like download rate per OS and target audience accordingly.

In addition, in-app advertising is used mainly for those who use the app continuously regardless of other apps downloaded. In app advertising is best for generating passive income. In app purchases are those who use the app and buy add-on features to improve enjoyment of the app like buying coins to level up or gain an advantage over other players.
You can also run a non-incentive, incentive or combination of both ad strategies. To monetize using these, you need to focus on getting a high rank on app stores first by offering incentives like short-term discount prices or special bundles. Once you have the new users in, you can launch a non-incent campaign to keep them on as active app users. A non-incent campaign’s main goal is to establish loyal users for income that isn’t based on a one-time transaction.

Final Tips on Monetization and App Advertising

The thrill of seeing your hard work turn into profits and high user activity is indescribable. It is definitely a dream fulfilled. To help you realize this dream, here are a few final tips to take note of.

• Don’t forget to reward your users if they share information about your app with their social network
• Offer special promotions for use of the app during special events and holidays
• Keep your users in the loop about the app’s growth and expansion
• Make sure you test and retest the app before launching it formally because a failed app will have 99% chance of not getting a second chance
• If you want global users, make sure your app and monetization strategy is applicable with the different GEOs across the globe. And always plan around your target market so make sure to work closely with your iOS app development company because they have the experience, insight, and mindset to get your app to a great start.