B2B Mobile Marketing – Are we there yet?
At the April 2012 BMA Atlanta keynote event, mobile marketing expert and Go Mobile author, Jamie Turner, said YES we are there. These unprecedented stats and projections show revolutionary growth in smart phone usage:
- 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide (ITU/2010)
- 60 million U.S. smartphones in 2010, 110 million by 2015 (eMarketer/2011)
- 5 billion mobile apps downloaded in 2010 (Apple/2010)
- $15 billion in apps sales in 2011 (Gartner/2011)
- Enterprise Mobile apps to surpass traditional apps by 2015 (IBM/2010)
- $5 billion in iPad sales in 3 Quarters (Apple/2011)
- 70+% of executives under 40 classify mobile as primary communications tool (Forbes/2010)
B2B companies have been slow to move into mobile. Oddly, mobile is the one medium that is most used by the B2B target market. In a Turner anecdotal examination, most people will not return home for a forgotten wallet, but will always return for their mobile phone.
From Go Mobile, Turner suggests that B2B marketers ask themselves these questions and consider these answers to get off to the right start with a B2B mobile marketing strategy:
Why should I care about mobile marketing for B2B now?
Because the mobile marketing arena is new and fresh, now is the time to capitalize before it becomes mainstream. Early adopters have the edge to get in front of new prospects now.
This is just another marketing channel; it really doesn’t replace any initiatives that businesses use currently, right?
A paradigm shift is in place. TVs and PCs are being replaced by smartphones and tablets. In 10 years, PCs could be obsolete. So that website should be redesigned for mobile. Your web-based marketing channel could change very quickly to solely mobile marketing.
Are B2Bs really using mobile today?
Yes, they are and use rate is growing exponentially. With an estimated usage 5.3 billion, it’s larger than PCs already and growing at an astronomical rate. With travel, town to town, meeting to meeting, customer to customer, mobile is what B2Bs do all day. Mobile marketing just makes sense for B2Bs.
What are sound B2B mobile marketing approaches that really work?
Region-specific info and alerts, immediate notification of order status, replenishment reminders, new product updates, sales specials or announcements or coupons. Businesses have shown success with presentations, trade show campaigns, and customer service requests.
Will business’ customers be ready?
Review your web analytics to see current metrics for mobile devices to gauge what your customers are using. You may be surprised by the number of Androids, iPhones and iPads that are accessing your site.
What key elements should be part of a B2B mobile marketing plan?
Establish a vision statement for your mobile marketing strategy. Research then select which mobile approach to implement first. Don’t forget to include a plan to measure your successes. Allow for flexibility with this rapidly changing technology. Keep trying new approaches and keep the content fresh.
Here’s a quick video where Jamie shares three takeaways for B2B mobile marketing:
