From the boardroom to the bus stop, you need only look around to see that smartphones are everywhere. "Sent from my iPhone" email signoffs are ubiquitous, and major corporations are integrating mobile apps like Periscope into their marketing strategy to boost customer engagement.

Like it or not, mobile has surpassed print, TV, and desktop as the primary mode of communication between companies and consumers.

The upside for advertisers is that when mobile consumers never—or rarely—go fully offline, they become more accessible and more engaged than ever.

But here's where things get tricky: Mobile consumers also behave quite differently. They are more deliberate, focused, and resentful of interruptions. They use their devices differently than desktop consumers, and they want to get something different out of the information they consume on those devices.

Often, that something different is in the "real-world." The mobile device is a bridge between the Internet "online world" and the physical world, and it is changing how consumers are purchasing products and services.

In fact, smartphone-influenced offline purchases (made in stores or over the phone) are 20 times greater than smartphone-influenced online purchases (m-commerce).

For advertisers, adapting to this shift and optimizing campaigns for mobile could be the difference between barely staying afloat and becoming industry leaders.

Here are four ways to boost your mobile ROI.

1. Craft your communications with context in mind

Compared with the desktop, mobile is an entirely different animal. On desktops, the most common response to an online search or advertisement is a website visit. On smartphones, the most common responses to a mobile search are offline—either a phone call or an in-store visit.

As a result, new mobile advertising formats have emerged, such as click-to-call buttons. When Google first launched "call extensions," its click-to-call ad unit within mobile search advertisements in 2010, it was immediately popular with consumers and advertisers and generated millions of phone calls each month. In 2015, we expect call extensions will produce nearly one billion phone calls.

Furthermore, in a study released last September, Google found that nearly half of mobile consumers searching on their smartphones are more likely to explore other brands when they can't call a business directly from their search results. Ads that have been optimized to allow click-through calls are simply more effective.

The bottom line? Advertisements that ignore a consumer's desire to interact with a brand "offline" are likely missing the boat.

2. Consider the real-world 'clickpath'

When a consumer visits a website, marketers use analytics tools to show us how consumers traverse that online experience, or clickpath. But, for mobile, the clickpath resides in the real-world. To use the phone call as an example: a consumer might press "1" for sales or "2" for customer service; tracking that information is critical for a marketer, as it conveys whether a campaign is reaching prospects or loyalists.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of John Busby

John Busby is SVP of customer insights at Marchex, a mobile advertising technology company.

LinkedIn: John Busby

Twitter: @JohnMBusby