Every digital marketer is well aware of the rising adoption of mobile across the globe.
In early 2015, Google announced that in many countries, including the United States and Japan, there are more searches performed on mobile devices than on desktop or laptop computers. Mobile adoption has changed the way marketers approach websites, landing pages, conversion forms, and ads. Nobody is going to argue that mobile is changing the search landscape, including how and when people use search engines. What seems to be less accepted, however, is that mobile can be a productive channel for B2B marketers targeting key decision makers at medium to large businesses. It has been argued that popular B2B lead generation tools such as white paper downloads and software trials are just not conducive to mobile, and that users looking for business products and services will be anchored to a traditional desk in an office building somewhere.
This could not be farther from the truth!
As far back as 2011, Google and Compete found that 28% of C-level executives in the United States used a mobile device to research business purchases. Fast forward to 2015 and we see that 42% of people use a mobile device when researching a business decision, and 49% of those mobile researchers do so while actually at the office.
Another B2B assumption hurting the adoption of mobile is that all decision makers are C-level baby boomers who may be slow to adopt new ways of doing business. Again, this could not be farther from the truth. Google and Millward Brown found that in 2014 nearly 50% of business decision were made by millennials. The same study revealed that while 64% of the C-suite have final decision making power, so do 24% of everyone else. An expanding audience of decision makers is good for business. Limiting B2B marketing to the C-suite is dramatically limiting sales potential. Even when targeting the C-suite is the correct strategy, assuming they aren’t using mobile devices to make business decisions is just plain wrong.
Now that we know our target audience is moving rapidly towards full mobile adoption we need to find better ways to capture interest and provide immediate value on these devices. Instead of an immediate white paper download, a mobile landing page could offer that same content in an email that can be digested later. White papers and product brochures can now also take the form of great mobile videos. That same Google/Millward Brown study found that 70% of business buyers are turning to video as part of the decision-making process! Create a short, effective video highlighting product features and benefits to capture these valuable leads, and watch the sales from mobile devices roll in.
Many B2B marketers will claim to have already tried mobile with little success. It’s time to try again.
