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"The Mobile Content Series is supported by Mygazines, the better way to enhance and distribute brochures, catalogues, newsletters and other documents on every device. To complement this post, view an exclusive videocast, \u201CMobile Content Delivery: Native App Vs. Web App\u201D.\nIt\u2019s no secret that mobile is the future. While ownership of TV sets in the U.S. fell for the first time ever, smartphone ownership continued to explode \u2014 it's up 60% versus a year ago. Marketers who had traditionally focused on getting their message across through broadcasts on television and radio or in print magazines and newspapers are quickly working to adapt their messages for mobile.\nMobile is a new paradigm. It has its own rules, standards, technologies, and challenges. Here\u2019s how marketers are working with designers and developers to optimize branded materials for these new platforms.\nPare Down\nThe golden rules of mobile: simplicity, brevity, accessibility. The screens are small, the Internet connections slow and people don\u2019t have a lot of time. The best mobile experiences are those that condense the bigger picture into a bite-sized chunk, friendly for on-the-go consumption.\n\u201CSuccessful mobile websites and applications will do fewer things, but do them better,\u201D says Daniel R. Odio, CEO of PointAbout. On mobile especially, it\u2019s important that things 'just work.' \u201D\nPurpose-Driven\nThink about the use cases for different consumer devices. Nicole Amodeo, director of creative products at the mobile ad platform company Medialets, stresses three key points for anyone creating content for mobile: \u201CWhy, when and where does your consumer use a device?\u201D When exploring answers to these questions, it\u2019s important to allow \u201Cyour target audience and their particular use cases to dictate the experience, the content, the features and utilities,\u201D Amodeo adds.\nBefore deciding on a platform for mobile marketing material, think more about what makes the most sense for the user and use cases. For example, does it make sense to create create an app, or phone- and tablet-optimized website?\nMobile Sites\n\n\n\n\nThere are two key points for designing for mobile: speed and usability. Content on a mobile is commonly created for an \"on need\" basis. A user browsing for online content on a mobile device is generally searching for something specific, not just casually surfing the web.\nA user will need to gather the data they are after, quickly and easily without having to wait a long time for a page to load on a 3G connection. Therefore, when converting a traditional website into a mobile version, it\u2019s important to make sure a number of things happen:\n\nAuto-Detect Mobile Phones. Mobile-friendly websites automatically detect that users are on a mobile device and then display the appropriate version of the site.\nClear Calls to Action. The most important features of the site should be the at the top of the page and should include clear calls to actions.\nAvoid Mobile-Unfriendly Elements. The design should avoid mobile-unfriendly elements such as Flash, large images, video, and complex layouts.\nFluidity. Design with a fluid layout that will gracefully adapt to a range of typical mobile screen resolutions.\nTouch Interface. Touch screens don\u2019t have hover states \u2014 it\u2019s all about fingers tapping, so don\u2019t build a site that requires users to move their mouse over menus or other elements. Also, make sure links and other clickable elements are big enough to tap with a fingertip.\nScrolling. Limit scrolling to one direction \u2014 the site should only scroll vertically. Having to manage a page that scrolls horizontally and vertically is difficult to navigate.\nOne Window. Avoid pop-ups and new windows. A user\u2019s entire experience should take place in a single window.\nSimple Navigation. Simplify your navigation. Typically, a site\u2019s traditional navigation is too complex for a mobile site.\nClean Code. Most desktop web browsers allow a lot of leeway when rendering HTML and will usually display a site correctly, even if the code has flaws. Mobile browsers usually have less room for error, so there is an added value to having clean, simple code.\nUse Alt Tags. Sometimes images won\u2019t load, either because of issues with the mobile browser or because a user\u2019s connection is too slow. Always include descriptive alt tags for images, in case they don\u2019t appear.\nLabel Forms. Some modern websites embed form labels inside the form field. On mobile, it\u2019s much more difficult to keep track of the fields, and users often make use of \u201Cnext/previous\u201D buttons built into they keyboard. Without clear labels alongside the form fields, it might be impossible to know what information is supposed to be in which field.\nEscape Hatch. Sometimes users just need to use your normal site. If possible, always have a link back to the original, unoptimized site.\n\nResponsive Web Design\nOne of the largest challenges in designing for mobile is the vast amount of devices to cater to. Rather than designing a mobile-specific website, responsive design allows websites to automatically adjust to a devices resolution, orientation and feature set. \nThe technology behind responsive websites is a relatively simple mix of CSS and a flexible grid-based layout. The best responsive websites even take into account device rotation, displaying different content depending on if the phone is in landscape or portrait mode. Taken to the extreme, a responsively designed site might even use GPS to display content relative to a user\u2019s location.\nMobile-Friendly Calls To Action\nThe world hasn\u2019t completely transitioned to mobile (yet). Until that day, one important way to leverage traditional media is to tie it into mobile. What are an ad's viewers being asked to do, and can they do it on mobile? If an ad is going to be seen by consumers on the go, making mobile-friendly calls to action is important. If an ad asks users to check out a website, make sure the website loads well on a smartphone. \nEmbrace mobile technology. Instead of asking users to call a phone number or visit a website, use a QR code to let consumers quickly learn more about a product or even receive some sort of exclusive content, such as a free MP3 or other product tie-in.\nApps\n\n\n\n\nSometimes the best way to optimize marketing materials for mobile is to create an app. Users expect apps to complete simple, narrowly defined tasks quickly and easily. Think about how simple many popular mobile apps really are \u2014 they do one thing and they do it well.\nThe most successful way to market through an app is to create some sort of branded experience, tool, utility or game that both transmits a marketing message but still provides a level of utility and enjoyment for users.\nA fantastic example would be the toilet paper brand Charmin\u2019s app, which helps users locate the nearest public restroom.\nConclusion\nThere are many design and development tips to keep in mind when optimizing marketing \u2014 or, for that matter, any \u2014 content for mobile. But it all comes down to leveraging design and technology to keep things simple, clean, fast to load and easy to digest on the go.\nKeep it simple.\nSeries Supported by Mygazines\n\n\n\n\nThe Mobile Content Series is supported by Mygazines, an interactive marketing solution that lets you enhance, distribute and track your content on any web enabled device, including desktop, iPad, iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones. To complement this post, view an exclusive videocast, \u201CMobile Content Delivery: Native App Vs. Web App.\u201D Keep informed by following Mygazines on Twitter."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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