Mobile marketing in Russia
The number of mobile Internet users in Russia continues to grow. Nearly half of Russians use mobile devices to surf the net and make purchases. About a third of them, i.e. 20 million people count to so called mobile-only users – they don’t use PCs for Internet access preferring mobile devices instead, as stated in the recent survey of Mediascope.
In this article we will talk about mobile marketing in Russia as it is one of the most important part of promotion strategy for those who want to start their business in Russia.
Some statistics
Smartphones are Russian’s favorite gadgets. They have outrun tablets and neared desktop computers as the most frequently used devices for Internet access. About 54% of Russians browsed the Internet from their smartphones – more than twice as many as from tablets that own 19%. Experts point out that the preference for smartphones for surfing the net could be explained by low costs of mobile connectivity in Russia, numerous possibilities for free WiFi access in public places and by relatively low costs of high quality mobile devices.
As a result, users prefer to purchase on the Internet from the smartphones. About 35% of all online purchases are made from mobile devices.
So what do Russians usually buy on the Internet:
- 1. Children’s goods (30%);
- 2. Beauty and health (24%);
- 3. Electronic devices and household appliances (16%);
- 4. Furniture and household goods (9%);
- 5. Garden utensils (8%);
- 6. Food (5%).
All these statistics show that users in Russia will continue to make purchases from the smartphones. So brands should also build their marketing strategies based on this information.
Mobile advertising in Russia
The growth of mobile Internet and the flourishing of m-commerce in Russia caused the growth of mobile advertising as well. The market of mobile advertising in Russia is estimated to increase by 30% every year.
The strategies of mobile advertisers are designed by mobile users’ behaviour. Big Data are the key words in mobile advertising in Russia as well as worldwide. The possibilities to gain and process huge amounts of data lead to a significant transformation of advertising techniques.
Advertising is getting particularly targeted at the audience which is potentially interested in an offered ad. This narrows down the target audience and helps to make mobile advertising more effective. As Russian giant Mail.ru reports, narrow targeting has become a prevailing trend in the Russian mobile advertising. It enables to display advertisements to a certain small group of people or even to a singular person.
What instruments of it should you use?
There are numerous formats of mobile advertising available in Russia. We will describe just some of them.
Contextual advertising
This type is context-based ad adapted for screens of mobile devices. It is one of the most popular in mobile industry in Russia. The context of search on mobile Internet, i.e. search conditions, semantic features, keywords etc. defines the selection of ads shown on the device. While looking for products and services which meet their needs, Russians use their smartphones to get quick information about possible solutions, read descriptions and compare prices.
The reaction of Russia’s leading search engine Yandex to such behaviour was creation of a new feature allowing mobile device targeting. There are two types of targeting available on Yandex.Direct, the search engine’s service for mobile contextual advertising: advertising on mobile websites and in-app ads.
As well as on desktops, contextual ads on mobile devices are displayed on Yandex’s search page as results of a user’s search query on Yandex.
The difference is only in the number of ads which is slightly larger on desktops than on mobile devices. Besides adverts can also be displayed on Yandex ad networks and ad exchanges.
In-app advertising
Yandex also offers three formats of in-app advertising for iOS and Android operating systems:
- 1. Banner – a special ad slot integrated into the app’s content or displayed above it.
- 2. Interstitial – a mobile RTB slot with Yandex contextual, display or video ads placed on top of the app’s content.
- 3. Native ad – a slot with Yandex.Direct ads perceived by users as the app’s original content.
SMM
Russia’s biggest social media offer advertising in their mobile versions as well. Ad formats are the same as on Instagram or Facebook: video ads, carousel, banner etc. For example, VKontacte and Odnoklassniki have recently launched a new advertising format for all mobile platforms – promotion of posts. Such adverts are displayed directly in a user’s newsfeed which is expected to reach greater ad awareness and attract more potential customers.
Targeted advertising
In VKontacte or Odnoklassniki you can set up ads especially for the mobile devices.
Mobile targeting involves addressing certain target groups on mobile devices. The ads are based on user-oriented criteria and are adapted to the technical requirements of smartphones.
These are just some of methods of mobile marketing in Russia. If you want to develop your business there and you are interested in this area of advertising, contact us, and we will help you with an effective promotion strategy!