5 Mobile Ad Tools for Very Small Businesses

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iphone-mobile-advertisingWhy should the big guys get to have all the fun? When it comes to mobile advertising, most vendors are still targeting their offerings at major brands and brick-and-mortar chains. However, a growing number of hyperlocal vendors are beginning to develop mobile ad products aimed squarely at the small business community.

Eighty-five percent of small businesses now fall into the “very small business” category, with fewer than five employees. By tailoring their mobile ad products to meet the needs of merchants in this category — with self-serve tools and straightforward pricing structures — vendors are opening themselves up to a much larger market. Here are five mobile ad tools built for VSBs.

1. Adagogo: Run ads on local news, weather, and sports apps.
Adagogo was built specifically with VSBs in mind. Businesses can create their ads in minutes using Adagogo’s mobile tools, entering just a few basic ad details and merchant contact information. Merchants decide whether their ads should be shown to everyone in a certain region, or only smartphone users within a selected radius of a specific address. These mobile ads are then pushed onto local news, weather, and sports apps. Adagogo’s ads are sold as packages, with 1,000 views starting at $25.

2. Moasis: Send mobile flyers to local smartphone users.
There was a day not too long ago when VSBs regularly posted flyers to promote sales and events. Moasis has developed a mobile solution for businesses that would otherwise invest in printed products. The company’s mFlyer tool allows merchants to design digital flyers on the fly, and then put those flyers in front of smartphone users in specific locations. Merchants can change their flyer parameters at any time based on where their campaigns are performing best. mFlyers are distributed on media channels like Pandora, The Weather Channel, and Loopt. Monthly plans start at $15 per month.

3. AdLeads: Pay only for customers who sign up for your ads.
AdLeads offers a unique proposition for local business owners. The ad platform encourages businesses to run mobile signup ads, and then charges merchants based on the number of consumers who sign up for their ads. Local merchants design their own ads using AdLeads’ self-serve tools, and decide where their ads should run. Mobile ads can be targeted at the neighborhood, city, state, country, or worldwide level. These ads appear in mobile apps across all categories. Merchants pay based on the number of consumers who sign up to hear more about their brands.

4. DropIn: Create mobile campaigns from a Facebook page.
DropIn is a mobile advertising platform built for small businesses. The platform ties in with local business Facebook pages and generates mobile ads automatically using a business’ own images and words. DropIn’s mobile ads appear on weather, sports, news, and entertainment apps, and they’re targeted at users located within selected geographic areas. DropIn customizes each advertiser’s distribution areas based on the information it has about the business, however, merchants can also add or remove towns or zip codes to customize the area where their ads are distributed. DropIn’s pay-as-you-go pricing plan starts at $5 per 1,000 impressions.

5. Promote: Quickly boost your company’s mobile presence.
Promote takes a different approach to mobile marketing than its competitors. The company starts by building mobile landing pages for very small businesses, and then uses those landing pages as a jumping off point when building ad campaigns that deliver primarily on mobile devices. Campaigns can be set up to ensure ads only run during the hours when a business is open, and they can be targeted at customers within 20 miles of a business location. Merchants can expand or shrink their targeted radius at any time. Businesses set their own campaign budgets and pay for clicks rather than views. Promote’s entry-level package comes with $100 of ad spend.

Know of other platforms that VSBs can use to run mobile ads? Leave a description in the comments.

Stephanie Miles is an associate editor at Street Fight.

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Stephanie Miles is a journalist who covers personal finance, technology, and real estate. As Street Fight’s senior editor, she is particularly interested in how local merchants and national brands are utilizing hyperlocal technology to reach consumers. She has written for FHM, the Daily News, Working World, Gawker, Cityfile, and Recessionwire.