3 Reasons Mobile Optimization Should Be in Your B2B Marketing Mix

The mobile platform is something that marketers are beginning to catch hold of, but haven’t quite fully embraced yet. Unlike most social media platforms, mobile is something that any industry, especially B2B, can fully embrace and have success with. Below are some of the reasons why mobile strategy should have a place in your B2B marketing efforts.

Mobile is The Fastest Growing Niche

Two years ago, mobile became the fastest growing media sector for marketing and advertising, a trend that is likely continuing today, due to smartphone use. According to MarketingProfs, out of social media, mobile ad/marketing, and mobile content, the advertising/marketing sector brought in the most revenue for marketers. There has been an increase of almost 54% every year since 2006 in this sector, bringing to almost $4 billion in annual revenue.

In order for marketers to get a piece of this revenue, it’s important to start advertising with your regular PPC provider, like Google Adwords. Most advocate creating separate campaigns for mobile and online ads. Google claims that 90% of consumers move between devices before accomplishing a (purchasing) goal, so it’s important to reach customers on all the platforms they are frequenting.

Smartphone Use Continues to Grow

The exponential growth in mobile use in the decision-making process is largely due to the ever-increasing smartphone use by consumers. According to eMarketer, global smartphone use is increasing 25% just in 2014, which will surpass 50% total smartphone penetration around the world. By 2018, eMarketer projects that almost 37% of the entire world population will own a smartphone- that’s almost 3 billion people.

And just because not everyone has a smartphone, it doesn’t mean consumers aren’t accessing your website on other devices besides a computer. According to Pew Research, as of January 2014, 90% of all Americans have a cell phone, 32% have an e-reader, and 42% have a tablet.

Because a growing majority of the population is doing their web browsing on a variety of different devices, it’s important for your website to be responsive and optimized for every platform. Users are less patient when it comes to poorly designed websites. According to HubSpot, a survey from Google’s Think Insights reports that 61% of users stated they would leave a website if they don’t immediately see what they are looking for. Furthermore, 67% reported they would buy a product or use a service from a company that gives them a positive mobile experience.

Larger Screens

The mobile experience has changed significantly from just five years ago. As smartphone screens get larger (the just announced iPhone 6 Plus will have a 5.5 inch screen, and the popular Samsung Galaxy S5 has a 5.1-inch screen. Samsung also offers a variety of screen sizes in their Note series, which range from a 5.5 to 10.1 inch screen size. The iPhone 6 Plus and Notes’ large screens put them in the phablet territory, which gets its name from a mashup of phone + tablet.

As more users are turning to larger screens in order to have a better mobile experience, it’s important for B2B marketers to have a strong presence on these devices, which users are interacting with up to hundreds of times per day. According to the Daily Mail, the average person checks their phone 110 times a day, up to nine times per hour. The constant checking is compounded with the fact that most people always have their phone with them at all times: MediaBistro reports that 79% of people aged 18-44 have their phone with them 22 hours a day.

Final Thoughts

This overwhelming connection to our smartphones and other mobile devices provides a wealth of engagement opportunities for B2B marketers to connect with their target audiences, as business users not only use their phones and devices during the day, but also during their off hours (which has been shown by studies that report higher social engagement on content published in the evening).
So what are you waiting for? Take advantage of these opportunities by running mobile advertising campaigns, making your website responsive, and being everywhere your consumer’s phones are going online so they can access you as easily as possible.

First two images via Pixabay and phablet photo credit: Janitors via photopin cc