One of the challenges with “mobile” is understanding what it is, and what it’s not.
Try this: ask people in the B2B space to list different types of marketing, and you’ll probably get a list something like:
- email marketing;
- direct (print) marketing;
- online marketing;
- offline marketing;
- mobile marketing;
- organic search marketing;
- PPC marketing;
- and there are others.
But the problem with this is that (pardon the cliché) we’re mixing apples and oranges here. Some items on this list are general categories while others are specific strategies. Organic search and PPC marketing, for example, are specific strategies in the general category of online marketing.
So what is mobile? Is it a category? Or is it a strategy? The answer is . . . “yes”.
Mobile marketing is still very immature – so much so that many terms just don’t have universally accepted definitions yet. To some, mobile marketing is a specific strategy of creating specific campaigns for mobile devices. Others believe mobile marketing is a general category, wherein one includes a mobile component to all existing marketing.
At a recent online gathering, several B2B advertising executives were asked how they defined mobile for marketing purposes: the answers ranged across the spectrum. Some thought it was enough just to be reading email on a mobile device. Others thought there had to be some sort of mobile-based interaction with a customer.
This variety of opinions makes it even more difficult for businesses that are trying to embrace mobile. Everywhere they turn, they’re getting all sorts of advice for mobile marketing. However, how can they make any sense of it all when there’s no general agreement of what mobile marketing actually “is”? Even more important, how do they incorporate mobile in such a way that it helps their ongoing marketing efforts, and not sabotages them? How do they choose the “right” advice – for them?
Even with something as unsettled as mobile, the basic tenets of marketing still apply. Here are four key questions – the answers to which will help you set your mobile priorities:
1) Who is/are my primary audience(s)? While we want out websites to be appealing to as many visitors as possible, the reality is that most B2B companies have defined target profile(s) of their customers. An aircraft fastener company, for example, knows that most of its customers are parts managers of aircraft maintenance shops and larger flight departments. Flocculant suppliers know their customers are intermediate- and senior-level municipal and industrial water treatment facility engineers.
2) What are the habit patterns of my primary audience? By this I mean, how do my customers research, shop for and ultimately choose my product? How do they prefer to interact? Is my audience primarily composed of engineers, researching at work on the company computer? Or am I targeting the busy mid-level manager who looks for options late at night on her Blackberry? (Note: apply this question to each level of your B2B buying cycle.)
3) If I don’t know, how can I find out their habit patterns? You know the answer to this one: talk to them! Engage your customers in a conversation! Ask them how you can make their buying experience simpler, more efficient, and a more profitable use of their time.
4) Knowing this, where can I use mobile to provide a more pleasant experience to my customers? If I know that engineers are using powerful PCs to so their research, then I can address that. Perhaps engineers prepare information, then pass it on to their managers via presentations on tablets. Or maybe most of your customers are sales reps that run everything through their iPhone. The point is – don’t guess.
With mobile devices becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives, it makes sense that we incorporate a mobile element into our marketing efforts. However, just because your customer owns several mobile devices, this does not mean he’s using all (or any) of them in his work. But once you understand how your customer uses his available technology, you’ll be much better equipped to decide where/how to integrate mobile into your marketing efforts.
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