Recent data shows 77% of business executives say they use their mobile device to research products and services for their business, and 75% watch business-related videos on the same device or smartphone. This rapid adoption among B2B customers not only reflects broader public trends, it also provides a clear direction for the future of your business’ marketing strategy on mobile marketing.

1. THREE COMMON B2B MOBILE
MARKETING CHALLENGES AND
HOW TO OVERCOME THEM
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2. 2
THREE COMMON B2B MOBILE MARKETING
CHALLENGES AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM
In today’s digital environment, the growing
use of mobile phones for more than just calls
and texts is obvious. Don’t believe us? Take
a look the next time you’re riding the subway
or walking to lunch; at least half of the people
around you are connecting to their social
networks, watching videos, writing emails,
even reading the newspaper – all from the
device in the palm of their hand.
And it’s not just young people. Recent data
shows 77% of business executives say they
use their smartphone to research products and
services for their business, and 75% watch
business-related videos on the same device.
This rapid adoption among B2B customers
not only reflects broader public trends, it also
provides a clear direction for the future of your
business’ marketing strategy.
Measured in clicks, calls, downloads, and hits,
the potential sales being driven by mobile
users alone is worthy of your attention. From
finding directions to a store to downloading
coupons, these always-on and always-with-us
devices have become a ubiquitous currency
for consumers and businesses alike. While
they may not yet be the preferred mode for
B2B transactions, mobile phones and tablets
are quickly becoming the tool that brings
people to your virtual doorstep.
However, despite this inevitable rise in
mobile technology among B2B businesses,
harnessing its potential and adapting to a
smartphone-centric user-base isn’t that easy.
Thankfully, there are a few simple strategies
for avoiding missteps and overcoming
common challenges.
INTRODUCTION

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I. BOUNCING PAST MOBILE BOUNCE RATES
One of the very first measures of success
in mobile marketing is also one of the most
frustrating: bounce back rates. Generally,
high numbers translate to low user
engagement. While this is almost always true
for your website, it’s important to remember
that mobile bounce rates are generally 10
to 20 percent higher than desktop. Now that
you’ve set expectations, there a number of
steps you can take to ensure that the users
you want to find your mobile content can, and
those who do, stay.
To begin, make sure your mobile site is
searchable and compliant with Google’s
current guidelines for mobile-optimized sites.
Measuring your compliance using free tools
like those available through Pure Oxygen is a
good starting point to identify whether bounce
back rates are truly indicative of engagement,
or simply the result of faulty redirects or
technical errors.
In addition to following standard guidelines,
testing your mobile site – including on iOS,
Android, and mobile browsers – not only
helps to ensure your compatibility across
multiple platforms, it also provides you with
“TO BEGIN, MAKE SURE YOUR MOBILE SITE IS SEARCHABLE AND COMPLIANT
WITH GOOGLE’S CURRENT GUIDELINES FOR MOBILE-OPTIMIZED SITES.”

4. a first-hand look at the user’s perspective.
Taking the time to understand how others
see and experience your business via
mobile can help you optimize your site for
engagement, and ultimately reduce bounce
back rates from the very beginning.
Once these basics have been established,
it’s important to get a clear picture of how
your mobile content is being accessed and
used. Taking a deeper dive into inbound
marketing allows you to identify areas
for improvement and adjust your mobile
strategy in response to real-time trends.
Free and easy-to-generate mobile reports
through Google Analytics provide a wealth
of information about who’s visiting your
mobile site, how they got there, and how
long they stayed. What’s more, consistently
reviewing your site’s statistics can help
to ensure that decisions and changes are
always data-driven.
On top of the nuts-and-bolts, there’s one
more element that drives mobile user
engagement and strongly determines
bounce-back rates: design. Potential
buyers aren’t going to stay on a site that’s
cumbersome or difficult to navigate –
especially on small-screen devices like
smartphones and tablets. When designing
your mobile website, the goal is to offer the
same selection of products and services
available on a desktop; the challenge is
to accomplish this with fewer features and
smaller word count. Investing in user-based
design that is specific to mobile devices is
one of the best ways to bring down your
bounce-back numbers and effectively
engage existing and future buyers.
Currently, there are a number well-designed
mobile websites that can offer inspiration
and guidance for your own efforts.
Understanding the unique limitations - and
benefits – of mobile design can also be
helpful in converting leads – we’ll get to that
in the next section.
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“POTENTIAL BUYERS AREN’T GOING TO STAY ON A SITE THAT’S CUMBERSOME
OR DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE – ESPECIALLY ON SMALL-SCREEN DEVICES LIKE
SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS.”

5. II. STOP CHASING LEADS; START SEEING RESULTS
Another common challenge among B2B
marketers is keeping up with web form leads.
As buyers increasingly move online for
business transactions and inquiries, web
forms – driven from both mobile and desktop
– have resulted in a flood of inquiries that
even major companies are struggling to
handle. The prevailing belief is that if you
don’t respond immediately, leads are being
wasted. Yet, without sufficient software or
sales expertise to keep up, meeting demand
is both unrealistic and unsustainable.
Research shows that reporting to leads in
less than 60 minutes improves the probability
of converting to a prospect by 36%. However,
if the trade-off is overwhelmed salespeople
and burnt-out customer support staff,
36% starts to look a lot less impressive.
Especially on mobiles, relying less on web
forms, and more on driving inbound calls
from smartphone searches, emails, texting,
mobile ads, and content campaigns can help
improve your overall conversion rate without
overburdening sales staff.
That’s not to say there isn’t a place for web
leads in mobile marketing. You can still
collect inquiries, email sign-ups, and contact
information using mobile forms, they just have
to be simplified. Given the smaller size of
smartphones and tablets, and the continuing
trend away from keyboards to touch screens,
filling out forms on mobile devices can be
extremely frustrating. Adjusting your lead
generation strategy for mobile and building
more user-friendly forms is essential. Fields
and content should be cleaner, shorter, and
more intuitive than web forms developed for
desktop. Though sales reps will have less
information to work with, if your forms are
designed to collect only the most important and
essential information, the trade-off between
quantity and quality should be mitigated.
B2B marketers can also optimize mobile
lead forms for higher conversions by using
tools like progressive profiling. This approach
allows form fields to be automatically filled-in
where information has previously been
entered. This means potential leads don’t
have to start from scratch the next time they
visit your mobile site, and provides more
valuable information for you in the long run.
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6. Forms should also be embedded directly
into key mobile landing pages to make them
instantly actionable.
Another strategy for capturing and converting
leads is adding a click-to-call option – a
feature not possible on desktops. Studies
show that 65% of tech consumers are
extremely likely to place a call if the capability
is available on a smartphone search. Adding
click-to-call offers a quick and personal way
for customers to connect to your business
without having to submit information manually.
Given the length and complexity of most
traditional web forms, it’s no wonder 70%
of mobile users choose to call a business
directly. Let the leads come to you by featuring
your phone number in a clear and clickable
way on mobile landing pages, ads, and social
media pages. This not only allows customers
to avoid the hassle of completing online forms,
it also allows you to capture those prospects
at the height of their interest.
B2B customers who access sites from their
mobile devices may also respond positively
to texting efforts. SMS campaigns are cheap,
simple to maintain, and make it easy for new
leads to get in touch with you. In fact, SMS
marketing allows you to engage with potential
customers faster and promises higher read
rates than any other form of communication.
Why? Because nearly all SMS messages
must be opened before they are deleted.
Instead of chasing web form leads, offering
a “text for more information” option in ads
or on your mobile site can create a stream
of opt-in alerts from potential customers.
And unlike email, it’s quick and easy for a
customer to reply to an SMS promotion or
engage in a two-way dialog. Once you’ve
gained that permission to text, you are
quite literally connected to your customer
24 hours per day. Even as far back as
2007, more than 96% of American business
professionals reported that they are within
3 feet of their mobile phone 24/7 and look
at their mobile device an average of 150
times per day. Opening the doors to this
type of communication allows marketers to
more easily find new leads, create stronger
customer relationships, and build brand trust.
SMS can also be used during trade shows
to extend staff capacity. Instead of in-person
networking, organizers can keep in touch
with convention-goers and exhibitors can
offer specials at their booths - all via text.
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SMS MARKETING ALLOWS YOU TO ENGAGE WITH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS FASTER
AND PROMISES HIGHER READ RATES THAN ANY OTHER FORM OF COMMUNICATION.”

7. III. CUSTOMIZING FOR CUSTOMERS
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To remain competitive, B2B marketers must
invest the time and energy it takes to get to
know their clients, both current and potential.
For mobile-based marketing in particular, this
means understanding how, why, and where
your customers use their mobile devices.
Luckily, the components and capabilities
already built-into most smartphones and
tablets can help with this.
Through GPS, time-tracking, and other
functions, you can easily and instantaneously
collect mobile user data - including date and
time of form completion, location, device
types, and more. This information can then
be used to help you design and your mobile
marketing strategy to meet the needs of
customers where they are. For example:
• Include more multi-media content
on your mobile site if you know
that many B2B customers are
watching how-to videos or tutorials
from their phone, even while
they’re at their desktop.
• Make your tools easily available via
mobile for individuals who may not
work in a traditional office settings
– perhaps they’re a contractor on
a remote job site looking for an
installation guide or video.
• If we know that 57% of B2B
users access work-related mobile
content outside of business hours,
consider scheduling email or
texting campaigns later in the day
or on weekends.
Making the mobile user experience as efficient
and enjoyable as possible also requires
B2B marketers to integrate social media into

8. their strategy. According to research from
Comscore, more than 72 million Americans
access social media sites or blogs on their
mobile device. Driving mobile users to these
public channels can help get prospective
customers – and their networks - engaged
with your brand. Creating the opportunity for
sharing can be as simple as adding a button
on your mobile landing pages that allows
users to distribute content to Facebook,
Twitter or Google+ in just one click. As Dell’s
Director of Global Social Media Richard
Margetic reiterates, “Social media has made
more of an impact, significantly on B2B than
B2C. For us, B2B is about relationships, and
social media is all about relationships.”
In addition to leveraging mobile to cultivate
new relationships and audiences, it is also
particularly useful for maintaining connections
with long-term customers who will enable
your business to thrive and grow. Given the
portability and constant connectedness of
mobile devices, they essentially provide a direct
line to your customers 24-hours a day. This
makes staying in touch with your user-base and
offering incentives for their continued business
easier than ever. Offering rewards and
discounts through tactics like mobile coupon
campaigns can help to encourage customer
loyalty and facilitate ongoing engagement.
Other examples, like allowing existing users to
scan QR codes and contracts, receive alerts
and calendar notifications, or instantly re-fill and
re-order on a mobile device not only make it
easier for smartphone users to do business, it
makes them more likely to continue to choose
your product or services over other businesses
that don’t provide the same efficiency.
As smartphone use continues to proliferate, so
too does our ability to share and communicate
in real time. For B2B marketers, the challenge
is not only how to keep up, but how to become
an active participant in the conversation.
Today, it’s not about the best sales pitches,
but rather who is creating the most engaging
and accessible brand encounters using the
devices that customers already have in the
palm of their hand.
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“IN ADDITION TO LEVERAGING MOBILE TO CULTIVATE NEW RELATIONSHIPS
AND AUDIENCES, IT IS ALSO PARTICULARLY USEFUL FOR MAINTAINING
CONNECTIONS WITH LONG-TERM CUSTOMERS.”

9. CONCLUSION
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Growing mobile saturation here in the US
and around the globe is undeniable. With
5 billion mobile subscribers worldwide,
72% of the US workforce already mobile
and 65% of decisions makers reading their
email on smartphones, these devices “are
no longer a ‘nice to have’ they are a ‘must
have’ for today’s business executives.”
Understanding how to harness this
powerful tool to the advantage of your
business is critical – not tomorrow, and not
down the road, but today. Smartphones
are already proving to be one of the most
transformative technologies of our time.
From remote healthcare applications to
mobile fingerprints - to B2B marketing - the
options for innovation seem endless. With
some strategic thinking, and a few careful
steps to avoid the pitfalls above, you too can
be a part of this exciting and emerging era in
business communication.
If you found this white paper
valuable, help us share and
spread the word:
“UNDERSTANDING HOW TO HARNESS THIS POWERFUL TOOL
TO THE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR BUSINESS IS CRITICAL – NOT
TOMORROW, AND NOT DOWN THE ROAD, BUT TODAY.”