(Note: This post first appeared yesterday at Minnov8.com.)
What if you could post an ad in three minutes and geo-target it to
mobile users in a given radius around you — or across an entire network
of 45 to 50 million of them — then start seeing results minutes after
that? Well, you can — I know, I did it, with a new self-serve ad
service called Adagogo, soft-launched in recent days by mobile app platform company DoApp Inc. (www.doapps.com), based right here in Minnesota (Rochester and Minneapolis).
DoApp founder Joe Sriver began working at Google in early 2001 and
knows a thing
or two about online advertising. "After joining Google, I
found out that I'd been about the 20th advertiser to sign up for
Adwords. Also, I learned that Adwords was the reason my hire date was
pushed a few months, as they were so heads-down developing it." As
Google's first UI designer, he soon became steeped in AdWords himself.
"It's a great product, and I'm proud to have been part of its history,"
he said. However, it's become complex, really complex. It's gotten so
new users either need to spend days trying to understand all the options
it now offers, or hire a professional to manage their ad campaigns." He
doesn't think that's right.
"What's
been missing in all this," says Sriver, "is an easy method to just get
your web site, business, blog, or app in front a lot of people quickly."
(Hello, startups!)
"I think we've developed the simplest way to quickly place your ad within
thousands of local and national apps, on all the major mobile app
platforms," said Sriver, "Our network of users today is substantial,
between 45 and 50 million people, and it will continue to grow rapidly."
Because
you can target locally or advertise across the entire network, DoApp
says Adagogo is "great for everything from getting
traffic to local
garage sales to building
national brand awareness."
How's that for a bold addressable market?
Sriver
recounted how he experimented with a lot of new ideas since he launched
DoApp in early 2008. The company's main app platform business (both Mobile Local News and Real Estate) continues to grow rapidly. (See my previous coverage of the company here, here, here, and here.)
But, of all the new side-project ideas he's played with over the years,
Joe says Adagogo is the one he realized had the most potential to get
traction.
How to Post an Ad with Adagogo:
> Choose geographically where you want your ad displayed
> Enter your ad copy and add a picture
> Select the amount of ad impressions you want to display
> Add a web site URL, phone number, and/or location
> Enter your credit card info
> DONE!
I Did My Own Self-Serve Ad Test
I set up an ad on Adagogo the other day just to experiment with it
myself. And I must say, it was quite easy. Nice, intuitive UI — really
simple and clean. My ad is the shown here with the headline, "Learn About
Big Data." The goal was to drive traffic to a Flipboard magazine
— which I had launched a while back on a lark — just to see how many
people I could get to subscribe with a mobile ad. Joe told me that 1000
ad impressions, the option I chose (price: $25) would go quickly on the
DoApp network — in about 2-3 minutes. He was right. I watched as my
subscriber count went up 20%+ almost before my eyes. Once my ad
impressions were used up, my click-through rate was 1.2%. Not bad, as
the ad was just promoting a web site — to get people to subscribe to a
free mag — not some giveaway, coupon offer, or contest.
So,
across what geography do users see the ads? "Many of our apps are local
or regional news apps," says Sriver, "but we do have a number of
national and international news apps as well. You can either choose to
advertise locally within a 5, 10, or 50-mile radius around a location
specified by you. Or you can have your ad displayed 'Everywhere,' which
means wherever our apps are used around the world." One of DoApp's
widely distributed news apps, with a worldwide footprint, is called Headlines.
"Across iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and mobile web, we currently have more than 1500 apps," says Sriver.
"That
number will be going up significantly, as all our real estate apps will
soon have access to the Adagogo network. So our total number of
available apps where Adagogo ads appear will grow a ton – stay tuned!"
Seriously,
I can see Adagogo used for garage sales, fundraisers, local mom &
pop stores, online businesses — even big brick-and-mortar retailers
and, heck, ecommerce giants, for that matter. A Best Buy, for example,
could advertise individual store deals using local-radius targeting, but
could also do general brand advertising across the entire 50-million
user base – say, to hype a Super Bowl commercial, or a contest or
sweepstakes. No special expertise required — really anyone can use the
simple Adagogo interface.
"From our start, DoApp's mission has
been to help in the growth and success of communities and local
businesses through new technology," says Sriver. "Adagogo builds on that
mission."
A Special Offer This Month
In announcing the Adagogo
soft-launch, Joe offered up a special promotion.
With any ad package you purchase, the company will double your number of
impressions. For example, buy the 1000 ad impressions package, get an
addition 1000 for free (2000 total). Buy 5000, get a total of 10,000.
This "buy one get one deal" is available only until October 31, 2013,
and is for ads that are specified to run "everywhere," as opposed to a
specific location. Just place your ad before midnight Central time on
October 31 and you'll automatically get double ad impressions.
—————-
Postscript: See DoApp at MobCon
Wade Beavers, CEO of DoApp, will be speaking at a mobile technology conference coming up in Minneapolis, Nov 7-8: MobCon. (Online registration still open.) His session and description: "It's all about your latitude and longitude. How location is changing mobile."
"Location
and mobile are a perfect match. Learn more about how device latitude
and longitude are changing the mobile game for advertising, social,
commerce, personal data, and content distribution. A recent study showed
that 43% of users were willing to provide their location to companies
compared to less than 11% willing to share their browsing history. Has
location information become the new cookie? You will learn: Location
Data Trends, Effective Location App Offerings, Location Data Use,
Consumer Behaviors, and Location Best Practices."
Minnov8 will be reporting from the MobCon event, so look for us there!
—————–
Disclosure:
DoApp is one of the companies in my client equity portfolio. I helped
launch the firm in 2008, serving as its VP Marketing.
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