INTEGRATION, INTEGRATION, INTEGRATION.
When done right, mobile can be one of the most effective mechanisms in a marketer’s toolbox — just consider, who gets a text message and doesn’t open and read it? However, it would be foolish to think that mobile can reach its full potential without the influence of other more traditional channels. Generally speaking, mobile can be added to existing marketing efforts for very little added cost — you were already paying to write, design, and print that brochure, right? Why not add a QR code or SMS call to action to that same design and production process? For example:

• Direct mail: As marketers, it can be a challenge to bring excitement to direct mail. But, add a QR code or SMS promotion to a piece and your audience will want to engage — and you might just see a spike in response rates.
• Print advertising: Have a fancy new iPhone app in the iTunes App Store that nobody knows about? Spice up your magazine or newspaper ads with a screen shot and basic directions for how and where to download.
• On-site displays: What customer is more loyal than the one that’s already standing at your dealership? Give your customers a fun way to stay connected with your brand or learn more through engaging mobile-centric signage.
• Trade shows: Building the perfect booth can be labor-intensive, time-consuming, and expensive — so make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Mobile can maximize these efforts by efficiently capturing leads and giving customers an easy and user-friendly way to collect the information they need and stay in touch with your brand.
• Social media: We know that Facebook is already one of the (more…)

BE CONCISE.
With mobile, shorter is better — your customers will use their Kindles if they want to read a novel. As a general rule, marketers should aim to get the main point across in one mobile screen length above the fold, which requires a finely focused messaging strategy. SMS lends itself nicely to limiting wordy marketers, by transmitting a maximum message length of 160 characters. The mobile Web requires more diligence on the marketer’s part to keep messages concise.

With SMS, the best approach is to present a straight-to-the-point offer or sales message, letting customers know what the deal is, how to redeem, and when it expires. It is also imperative to allot five to 10 characters to identify your brand at the beginning of every SMS message. While you obviously know who you are, a consumer that is signed up to receive text messages from numerous brands otherwise may not be able to differentiate your message from a competitor’s.

To date, B2B marketers have found the greatest mobile marketing success when using the mobile Web or in-app banner advertising mechanisms. These tactics allow brands to capitalize on existing traffic to mobile-optimized sites and specific applications, which proves to be a cost-effective targeting strategy. The same “be concise” rule of thumb definitely still applies in these cases: the fewer the words, the better.

CASE STUDY: Colorbiotics Mulch Tools – iPhone App

An overview:
To support its product line of mulch colorants, Colorbiotics teamed up with Two Rivers Marketing to launch an iPhone application targeting landscapers and “do-it-yourself” homeowners, to help calculate the amount of mulch required to complete landscaping projects. The app also includes a mulch selector tool, which assists in coordinating mulch color with the house or building’s exterior color. Colorbiotics also released a version of this free app that is optimized for iPad.

Keeping it simple:
This app scores high for being concise and keeping it simple — giving users exactly what they need and nothing more. One user posted a comment on the app’s page in the iTunes store, “I never seem to purchase the correct amount of mulch for my home projects. This helps take out the guesswork.” Once the app has been downloaded onto the user’s selected device, an Internet connection is not needed to utilize its functionality. This contributes to ease of use, as the app can be referenced when working outside and also in the home improvement store when purchasing materials.

The B2B tie-in:
While the Mulch Tools application is certainly useful for end consumers, it is also designed to be a valuable tool for landscape contractors. Rather than hauling mulch samples around to show their customers which colors would look best next to a particular house or building’s paint color, a landscaper can instead reach for his or her iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad and show the customer a preview of the finished result. Then, the user can take some simple measurements and plug those numbers into the calculator tool, which will specify exactly how many cubic yards of mulch are needed to finish the job.

Mobile Marketing in a B2B World — Read what you’ve missed in the series so far, or check back in the coming weeks for more:

• Part 1 — Introduction
• Part 2 — Keep it relevant
• Part 3 — Optimize content for user experience
• Part 4 — Be concise
• Part 5 — Integrate with other channels
• Part 6 — Rich offers or no offers

OPTIMIZE CONTENT FOR USER EXPERIENCE.
It is difficult to know exactly who is going to access information about your brand digitally, or what device or means they will be using to do it — but when they do, shouldn’t you be prepared to put your best foot forward? Even on the most sophisticated mobile devices, content consumption varies drastically from other digital channels. What you see on your computer screen may look fine on an iPhone, but could be illegible on a BlackBerry or standard flip phone — or vice versa. It’s important to remember that only a minority of Americans own a smartphone. While adoption continues to grow each day, we must remember that MOST consumers are still navigating all mobile content from non-smartphones, and marketers need to tailor content accordingly.

Here’s the reality: It is NOT safe to assume that your content will render appropriately on all consumer devices, including PCs, Macs, iPads (or other tablets), and mobile phones. In fact, don’t even assume that it will render appropriately on ANY of these platforms without performing robust testing across multiple devices and platforms. When a consumer is actively seeking information about your brand on the go, nothing turns them toward your competitors faster than receiving unusable or impractical content. If content requires non-streamlined navigation or an otherwise undesirable user experience, consumers are much more likely to abandon ship than invest time to sift through the mess.

Think about it: if an equipment manufacturer employee, using his BlackBerry, navigates to a well-known engine brand’s website to read about the company’s plan for emissions compliance, and the page renders a distorted screen with 4-point font that is almost impossible to read—is he going to keep trying to read the page and look for a work-around? Or is he going to pop a competitor’s website into his browser and look for the exact same information on a mobile site that works? Here are some key points that marketers should consider, broken out by mobile mechanism (more…)