How to Create An Effective B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy
The number of searches done through mobile devices has long taken the first place from desktop computers. This means it’s only natural that B2B mobile marketing is on the rise, steadily getting more and more of the total search interactions. Thus, online businesses are in a situation where they have to adapt their B2B mobile marketing strategy in order to get the edge in today’s highly competitive industries. With more than half of the B2B decision makers using mobile devices for research purposes, you can’t really afford to pass on that huge market share anymore.
In this article, we will take a quick look at some of the best tactics to adopt when creating an effective B2B mobile marketing strategy. Let’s get started.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Focus on User Experience
When it comes to developing an effective B2B mobile marketing strategy, it’s important to know your audience. Being professionals, your audience is made out of busy decision makers who most likely have a great understanding of what they want. So what you need to do is provide a website that is going to be ahead of the competition.
Ever since Google’s Mobilegeddon algorithm update was released in 2015, it has become really important to have a mobile-friendly website for mobile SERPs. This is most often done through responsive web design, which allows your website to adapt to the device it’s being viewed on. The easier your site is to interact and navigate, the better effect it will have on your potential B2B buyers.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Targeting Users on the Move
High-quality content that is created for a specific audience is always going to drive traffic to your website. Not only will you have enough visitors from your niche, but they’ll also spend quite a while reading through it, which is important since time spent on a page is also a ranking factor. But having content is one thing, and having content optimized for mobile devices is another. That’s why you need to:
- Optimize your content campaigns for all devices
- Know the audience in your niche. This will make it so much easier for you to target them and get them to read your content on their screens.
- Interlink your own posts so as to get more traffic on all your site pages, thus improving your ranking and making you more visible.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Reconsider Your Content Strategy
Reading an article is quite a different experience on mobile devices when compared to desktops. Most of your B2B buyers won’t have the time nor will read through thousands and thousands of words you might have on your website. When it comes to mobile devices, having content in the form of videos and images can be extremely valuable and this is something you might have to consider as you move forward with your B2B mobile marketing strategy. The thing is, you can’t really go wrong with it, since people will be more likely to watch a video even on a desktop. So try and implement video marketing into your B2B mobile marketing strategy.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Set Up a Mobile Marketing Budget
Mobile marketing takes about one third of all money spent on digital marketing. Even more important, all digital growth now comes from mobile users. Mobile users want answers and they want them now, and it’s up to you to provide them with an answer. Having an allocated budget for your mobile campaign will also show your B2B buyers that you’re serious about what you do. You can’t run on fumes and expect to join the big league. This isn’t to say that you should forfeit any efforts with your normal digital campaign, but dedicating resources to a mobile marketing campaign should be a priority.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Local Mobile Search Optimization
Mobile devices are the go-to option for local searches, mostly because mobile searches are initiated later on in the purchase funnel. On the opposite end, desktop search is mostly used by people who aren’t motivated into purchasing something, but rather for information. Google is constantly working on local searches as a ranking factor, so being optimized for them is extremely important for any business. That’s why you’ll see most of the B2B companies with increased visibility on mobile, profiting from the local queries in order to increase their click-through rates.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Social Media Optimization
The fact is that most B2B buyers are actively using social media in order to make their purchasing choices. And not only that, social media searches are becoming more and more popular with billions of searches running through Facebook and Youtube on a daily basis. Companies like GWM Sydney insist on content as the strongest factor for SEO ranking, so can you imagine a bigger content library than Youtube? Here are some of the reasons why you should use social media for your mobile campaign:
- Having your content shared is something every B2B marketer should strive towards. That said, you should know that most of the shared content wasn’t even read by the users who shared it. That’s why you should invest most of your efforts into having a superior featured image, so that your content gets shared even if without a click-through. Remember, it’s much harder to copy a URL and paste it in a browser for mobile devices. So include social media share buttons next to your content, so that your users can share content without even leaving the page.
- It extends your reach while being cheap. You’re basically using a free platform to promote your business, which is great when you know how many mobile users spend hours per day on social media channels.
- Social media helps with mobile apps downloads. If you have your own app, you can advertise it through social media and teach your followers how it’s used.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Voice Searches are Gaining Popularity
With the release of Google Now, Siri, and Cortana, mobile users started interacting with search engines in a completely different way. Think about it, would you ask Cortana a question like “Birthday cakes downtown” or you’d rather ask a complete question? The only reason people use keywords is because it’s easier to type them in than typing the whole sentence, but with voice search that’s no longer an issue.
With the further development of language processing software, it’s likely that SERPs are going to shift towards question-answer type of thing, rather than a list of links you can choose from. This is even more important for B2B buyers, as they are likely to be doing something else while interacting with the search engines.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Consider Using an App
First thing, not every business needs to have an app to be competitive in their niche. There’s a rule here that says that an app is only needed if it solves a problem that a website can’t. No one wants a useless app, it will disappear from their mobile devices faster than it got there. So always make sure that you’re adding an app to your B2B mobile marketing strategy for a specific reason. Take these things into consideration:
- Do your biggest competitors have an App?
- If yes, can you do it better than them?
- If not, can you develop yours first and take a valuable piece of the market?
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – Email Campaigns Optimized for Mobile Devices
Alright, we’ve covered the part why your website needs to be built through responsive design, but now you need to apply the same philosophy to every aspect of your digital campaign. Today, the big majority of emails are read on mobile devices, and you can’t have your email content non-optimized. The same rule about the wall of text applies especially for mobile email campaigns. So go with something short and catchy and make sure to analyze email marketing data as that’s the most important aspect of running a successful email campaign. Email marketing is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to B2B companies, especially if you’re using email automation and segmentation properly to target your audience.
B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy – SMS Marketing Isn’t Dead Just Yet
While definitely on the decline, SMS marketing can still prove to be a valuable tool to consider for one important reason. With extremely high open rates on SMS messages, you can be sure that your ad reached at least a part of your targeted audience. They are also very short, forcing you into a simple and entertaining format (much like Twitter) to deliver your message. You can inform your users about new promotions, or offer them rewards for joining you on your social media channels. Either way, you can use it to your advantage.
Final Words
B2B mobile marketing is constantly evolving and you need to follow the latest trends if you’re to stay ahead of the curve. When it comes to mobile marketing, it’s all about identifying your customer’s needs and providing them with a clear answer or a solution. The steps we outlined in this guide are a strong foundation for your future mobile marketing campaign, but you’ll need to work hard and invest a lot of time, effort, and money into it if you want to see a great ROI.
Helen Bradford
Latest posts by Helen Bradford (see all)
- How to Create An Effective B2B Mobile Marketing Strategy - September 16, 2017