7 Marketing Takeaways from Mary Meeker’s State of the Internet Report

“Queen of the Internet” is the name they gave to Mary Meeker in the late 90s for being one of the loudest, earliest voices on Wall Street to say, “Guys, this Internet thing is going to be big,” and creating some data-packed presentations to prove it. She has since moved to Silicon Valley venture capital firm KPCB, and continues to issue her book-length pronouncements on the “State of the Internet.” This year Meeker’s report weighs in at a forest-felling 196 slides, each packed with more data than a geek at a Star Trek convention.

It’s worth going through the full report if you have the time. But if you don’t and you still want to look like an ace in front of your CMO or CEO, here are 7 marketing takeaways to remember.

7 Marketing Takeaways from Mary Meeker’s State of the Internet Report

1. When reaching your customers, think mobile first.
In 1995 less than 1 percent of the world’s citizens were on the internet. In 2014, 39% were. That’s impressive, but not nearly as impressive as the rate of mobile phone adoption — from less than 1% in 1995 to a stunning 73% of the world today. Or smartphone penetration: 76% of Internet users are on smartphones. Mobility is the big story here: yes, we loved having access to the Internet. But even more so we love the ability to be connected on the go. There are 2.1 billion people in the world with smartphones today. Zoom in on just the U.S. and the picture is just as dramatic: only 18% of us had smartphones in 2009, but today that figure is 64%.

2. Creating visual media? Think vertically.
If more time is being spent on smartphones, what does that mean for the dimensions in which we view content? One oddball stat that Meeker highlighted is on how much time we spend viewing vertical content due to the rise of smartphones. In the U.S. we’re spending 10 hours a day looking at all our screens — TV, desktops, etc. And for about 3 hours of those 10 hours we’re doing this:

This is a bit overstated because it doesn’t take into account our ability to flip our phones into landscape orientation. But when we’re surfing with just one hand, it’s likely to be in portrait mode.

The reason this matters is that other anecdotal evidence from Snapchat showed that ads that aligned with the app’s native vertical orientation performed 900% better on completion rates than ads that were presented horizontally. So creating content that goes with the flow of how users are already viewing that all-important smartphone screen might be the smartest bet. And what kind of content should that be? Steve Smith of Mediapost has some notion:

The vertical format changes the way we think about the simulated sight of video. Rather than orient perspective by the horizon line, it tends to fit the human face and full body figure. It is closer to the portraiture tradition in painting than it is to TV and film.

3. Video is the current (but not final) frontier
Video traffic is growing year-over-year, even while total consumer internet traffic is down slightly. And, again, mobile is the big player here: these days video is 55% of total mobile internet traffic. While producing videos is time- and labor-intensive, these figures should give every content strategist pause.

4. Whatever ad budget you are currently spending on print, you may want to reconsider.

Other experts have aired some valid issues with the methodology of this slide vis-à-vis its implications. They argue that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison because it simply costs more to advertise in the traditional channels, resulting in their ad spend being overstated. Fair point. But it’s curious that, of all the old media channels, the amount of eyeballs on print vs. the cost of advertising is most out of whack.

4. Where does mobile messaging stand in your marketing mix?
Of the top 10 smartphone apps used the most around the world, six are messaging apps. Despite their popularity, not every brand will benefit from having a “Snapchat strategy.” It absolutely depends on who you are and who your customers are: if you are a general or youth-focused brand, you will be advantaged by having a messaging presence. If you are neither of those, you need to be open to the possibility of at least using it for customer service and SEO.

5. If your marketing task is to keep up with teenagers…I am so sorry.
Say goodbye to 8 hours of nightly sleep and feeling like you have a handle on things, because look at how quickly their allegiance shifts, and also the growth of “Other”:

For teens it’s a fragmented, faddish world out there. Good luck keeping up with them.

6. If you’re a retailer, there’s good news and bad.
It all depends on whether you’re selling online or whether you’re offline-only. Today only 9% of retail sales in the U.S. happen online. This means there is a staggering amount of upside left for reaping more e-commerce sales. If you’re in e-commerce that’s fantastic news, but if you’re not it means you will see even more online competition for your sales. Why should people come into your shop? It must be for an experience, value or utility they simply can’t get online.

7. And if you are in e-commerce, what’s your Alibaba strategy?
We’re so accustomed to thinking of eBay and Amazon as the place to sell wares. But Alibaba trounces eBay, Amazon and all other global, public competitors when it comes to gross merchandise volume: over $350 billion in 2013 vs. Amazon’s ~$120 billion and eBay’s ~$90 billion. If you’re selling goods online having a presence on Alibaba may really allow your sales to take off.

Tell us, have you seen Meeker’s presentation? What did you find most interesting?

Photo credit: Flickr – r. nial bradshaw