Jacob Davis, Data Analyst & Content Strategist at Revuze, looks at the case for and against using a VPN in mobile marketing campaigns. 

Virtual private networks (VPNs) play a significant role in personal use and professional activities. Users can choose a paid or a free VPN for their needs due to the overwhelming number of options.

Most paid VPNs have additional or premium features. As a result, businesses prefer them in comparison to free options. Marketing is an important business activity that decides the future of a business organization.

Because marketing data is a vital form of business data, both individuals and companies do their best to secure it. Both entities primarily rely on VPNs for this purpose.

But just like other things, VPNs also have their share of both merits and demerits. Tossing both sides of the coin is necessary for a balanced opinion. This post will cover the role of VPNs in mobile marketing, plus the positives and downsides of using them in mobile marketing.

What is mobile marketing? 
Since its inception, marketing has been evolving as a core business concept from time to time. Digital marketing is all the rage these days. From cost savings to better lead generation, it beats the traditional approach to marketing on several fronts. Mobile marketing is a common form of digital marketing.

In simple terms, mobile marketing is a digital marketing strategy wherein a digital marketer targets the users of mobile devices. In this connection, they formulate and implement a strategy to collect business leads from smartphone users. These include the users of tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices.

Being portable, mobile devices can be carried anywhere with ease. Due to this feature, they are popular among users these days. The majority of them access the internet on their mobile phones. They use the latter to perform a long list of tasks that range from reading emails to browsing different sites.

The rising number of smartphone users translates into acquiring more business leads and converting them into sales. Digital marketers employ effective mobile marketing strategies based on research to achieve this objective.

What is the role of a VPN in mobile marketing?
No doubt, smartphone technology has evolved over the last few decades. Also, there has been a corresponding surge in the number of users who use it.  But often, new technology also brings certain challenges concerning security and other aspects. Business VPNs and other paid VPNs assume a central role in mobile marketing campaigns by addressing such challenges.

VPNs create a secure tunnel for data transmission through their secure servers. When a device connects to a VPN, the outgoing data from the former passes through a secure tunnel to reach one of the secure servers of the latter.

Thereafter, the VPN server reroutes the data obtained from the device to the intended server. Instead of viewing the IP address of the connected device, the trackers of the intended server get to see the IP address of the VPN server in question.

Aside from securing the connected device, it also protects the privacy and anonymity of users. Also, it enables them to bypass geo-restrictions that prevent access to the content of certain websites and platforms in a specific region. For instance, more than 40% of US new websites are blocked in Europe.

Most virtual private networks are tailor-made to bypass geo-restrictions due to licensing agreements and other factors. For these reasons, mobile users install VPNs on their devices. Just as iPhone users install an iPhone VPN, those with Android smartphones install a compatible VPN service.

These features also come in handy for mobile marketers, albeit in different ways. While VPNs benefit them, they also have some downsides. Read on to know more about the pros and cons of using a VPN in mobile marketing.

VPN-based mobile marketing: pros and cons
Mobile marketing is essentially a form of digital marketing that involves mobile devices and their users. As such, by and large, the role of a VPN in it resembles that of digital marketing.

Here are the pros and cons of relying on VPNs for mobile marketing.

Pros

• Privacy Protection: Websites have trackers that collect information about visitors. VPNs help digital marketers in bypassing the collection of data by trackers. This way, they help protect the privacy of mobile marketers.
• Data Security: The security of marketing data is necessary for business purposes. VPNs prevent unauthorized access to data by third parties or cybercriminals.
• Ability to Bypass Firewalls: VPNs give firewalls the impression of being on the remote servers by replacing the IP addresses of devices with that of their servers. Just like other users, this feature also enables mobile marketers to bypass firewalls.
• Ability to Change IP Addresses: Digital marketers who run global mobile marketing campaigns need to overcome geo-restrictions to engage with their business prospects. VPNs provide them with this feature through numerous servers.

Cons

• Risks: Some VPNs have the policy of using data logs and selling them to third parties. The way the definition of marketing is changing nowadays can be detrimental to marketers.
• Slow internet speed: Some VPNs also slow down internet speed which can impact the productivity of digital marketers.
• Subscription costs: Digital marketers operate with a budget in mind. Costly subscription fees for using a paid VPN service can put the finances of a digital marketer under strain.

Final thoughts
The above stands out that using VPNs in marketing has both merits and demerits. While there are different ways to benefit from VPNs in marketing, there are also some downsides. The prominent downside to using a VPN for this purpose is the slow internet speed which can slow down a marketing professional. But you can overcome it by choosing a VPN that offers a stable internet speed.