Book Publishing Execs Share 21 Tips For Developing Your Mobile Game Plan

By Noelle Skodzinski

Mobile Ready:  Get Your Search Strategy Straight

How SEO and SEM can impact your mobile book sales.

“Last year, less than 10 percent of a brand’s overall traffic came from mobile, per [Rachel] Pasqua, vice president of mobile at iCrossing, New York. So far this year, the number is closer to 20 percent, and iCrossing expects it to reach 30 percent by the end of the year,” according to an article, “Growth in Mobile Search Influencing Desktop Strategy,” in Mobile Marketer magazine.

In addition to consumers searching more via their mobile devices, consumers conducting a desktop search on a search engine “are more likely to be making a purchase decision in the next 30 days,” while those conducting a mobile search are more likely to “make a purchase within the next 24 hours,” reports Mobile Marketer.

This sense of urgency on mobile devices, and the fact that consumers have proven their willingness to pay for content on mobile devices (unlike the Web), makes search engine marketing strategies all the more important.

19. As Chantal Tode wrote in the Mobile Marketer article, “Marketers have to have a separate search strategy for each,” with different keywords for mobile content than Web content.

20. Mobile strategies should focus much more on “action-oriented activities,” suggests Tode, such as enabling consumers to make a hotel reservation right then, compared to a desktop search approach, which might be helping a consumer decide where to stay during an upcoming vacation.

As the mobile industry grows, and consumers use their mobile devices more and more for searching for information, products, stores, etc., it’s no surprise that mobile searches are increasing significantly. And the stats support the “ready-to-purchase” mindset of the mobile consumer. “Mobile searches for travel-related terms increased 12 times, and searches for specific hotel terms increased 30 times from 2009 to 2010, according to Google,” Tode wrote.

Another example Mobile Marketer cited is an analysis by Digitas and Google on mobile trends: “Digitas analyzed mobile searches using Google data and found that 11 percent of searches related to general food-related items came from mobile. However, when you look at much more specific terms like ‘Chinese food’ or ‘Chinese recipes,’ the number jumps to 35 percent.” In the article, Chia Chen, senior vice president and North American mobile practice lead at Digitas, commented, “This shows that consumers are much closer to the point where they are making a decision and are going to be more specific in what they are looking for.”

So what does this mean for book publishers? Book Business sought the insights of Mobile Marketer Editor-in-Chief Mickey Alam Khan. “It would seem that book purchases are impulse-oriented and influenced by contact with some media or word of mouth, so a search conducted right after that activity carries a sense of urgency. If the mobile search doesn’t fulfill that urge pretty quickly, the moment is passed, and the book publisher and the retailer have lost that opportunity,” says Alam Khan.

“Also, if the consumer is searching for a book on her mobile device, it could also mean that she is ready to browse or buy in a neighboring bookstore before making a commitment. She may also want to find inventory availability,” he notes.

21. “So,” says Alam Khan, “it boils down to this: A mobile search has to yield a result that the book is interesting to read, priced competitively and available to buy [immediately] on mobile or in-store.”

Looking out at the mobile playing field can be overwhelming to say the least—from deciding whether your best bet is to create a mobile version of your website or mobile apps to navigating the file format landscape to marketing and pricing your products. Book Business asked several industry executives who have hiked the mobile mountain successfully to share their insights on how to develop a successful mobile strategy. These 21 tips will hopefully give you some guidance, whether you're still in the "should I or shouldn't I" phase, or whether you've already launched mobile products, but feel your strategy is not necessarily concrete or working as you had hoped. A few are just extra tips you'll need to know to help ensure your products reach consumers easily and are priced to sell.

Tips from …

Michel Kripalani

President, Oceanhouse  Media, Inc.

1. How to decide on which  platforms to launch.

As of today, there are really only two platforms of significance. You have to be on iOS (Apple devices), and you may want to be on Android. Other platforms are gaining significance quickly, but starting with an initial focus on these two will get revenue flowing.

Ultimately, your decision of where to go first (between the two) will be based on the software expertise that your team has.  Apple is undoubtedly a fantastic platform for developing apps. It provides great tools and has implemented a very effective worldwide distribution network. Publishing apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch can be a lucrative market, and the ability to develop apps that are universal (buy once and then use on all your Apple devices) is a big plus, particularly for children's book apps. With Apple, all apps must meet the App Store Review Guidelines and are reviewed before they are published. This is a good way for Apple to regulate what is on the App Store, eliminating apps that either crash or have content that is objectionable. The primary downside to iOS is that the Apple App Store is extremely crowded. It is tremendously hard to get visibility for new apps. For those looking to have fewer rules and a larger target market, Google allows you to publish anything you choose on the Android Market with no review process. The catch is that with the large number of devices from different manufacturers that support a variety of operating systems and hardware specs, Android makes app development much more complex and expensive. Testing Android apps alone, for example, can be a nightmare. That said, the Google Android market is growing at a quicker pace than the Apple market, and industry sources predict this will continue for the next several years.

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