People these days spend more time than ever looking at the world through their cell phone screens. Since the pandemic, thousands of workers have transitioned to work from home, telecommute, or remote work platforms. That means that employees of companies large and small are spending more time online- and most of that time is spent on the phone. Reports show that most people spend about four hours each day on their smartphones.

The lasting effects of the global coronavirus pandemic have really brought into focus the significance of targeting potential clients using mobile marketing strategies. The specific branch of eCommerce that takes place on smartphones is known as “mCommerce”, or mobile commerce. It is becoming increasingly clear that mCommerce will soon be indistinguishable from other forms of eCommerce. So it is vital for any B2B marketer to pay attention to mobile phones when shaping their marketing strategies.

In this article, we will take a look at specific mobile marketing strategies that can be used to effectively target a B2B audience.

Utilize Social Media

Social media should be at the core of your mobile marketing strategy. While it may seem that social media advertising is appropriate only for B2C marketing campaigns, this is no longer the case. As mentioned above, most people are spending hours each day on their smartphones. And most of that time is spent browsing through social media feeds, on apps like Instagram, Youtube, and even TikTok. While plenty of content on social media is geared towards entertainment or education, things that people might be expected to watch and interact with in their free time, employees are also using social media apps to find new businesses to work with.

In fact, social media is an even more valuable asset for your mobile marketing campaigns when you really consider who your target audience is. Millennials, people born between 1981 and 1996, officially, now make up about 35% of the workforce, and most of those millennial employees are in positions where they are responsible for making decisions for their company. This is true of self-employed millennial business owners, and also of companies that employ a whole team of B2B scouts. So when you hone your social media ads, make sure they are accessible and relatable to millennial audiences.

Format For The Screen

One of the most straightforward ways to tailor your marketing campaigns to the mCommerce audience is to make sure that all of your content is formatted correctly for the screen. As people sift through huge amounts of data and visual information online, they are looking for clear, concise content. They should be able to understand just exactly what your company is called, what services and products you have to offer, and, ideally, what values your brand is representing. The colors, font choices, and diction of your ads will go a long way towards communicating your type of business and what kinds of values you seek to share. So pay careful attention to the graphic design choices your ad team is making.

Beyond that, check, double check, and do several test runs of your company’s website and every social media profile. You want to make sure that your audience is not put off by having to scroll past an image that goes way off the boundaries of their mobile phone screen, or search for a clear menu or textual guidance. If they have to spend more than about 30 seconds looking for information, most prospective clients will lose interest, assuming that your company is either unprofessional or not contemporary enough to provide high quality service.

B2B teams are made up of individuals, and each of them will come to the table with their own prejudices and perspectives. But each member of those teams is seeking to solve a problem for their company. You don’t want to alienate your audience by creating more problems for them to solve; especially not when a simple formatting adjustment can ensure that all of your content is ready to be viewed on any size screen, from mobile phones to tablets, laptops, or desktop screens.

Play For The Long Haul

As compared to straight to consumer marketing, where the main goal is usually to maximize the number of conversions, B2B marketing is a lengthy, multi-step process. Incorporating steps that help funnel your initial interactions into an ongoing business relationship is significant when it comes to crafting your mobile marketing campaigns. Optimize tools like Calendly and Linktree to encourage a direct initial connection from your social media campaigns and keep all your information accessible and organized. The easier and more concise the process is, the more likely your B2B audience will be to interact with your con- tent.

Make sure the goals of your mobile marketing campaigns are clear from the get go. Since your ad campaigns should be structured towards a lengthy investigation process, your goals will more likely be met if you keep this in mind. Reports have shown that the B2B contact to conversion process, which has traditionally always been a long haul, is only get- ting longer. The pandemic and related factors have lead to an increase in B2B conversion times, so crafting your campaigns for the long conversation is wise.

B2B is B2C

One key takeaway you should keep in mind is that the way we look at B2B marketing is changing. With more business taking place on social media, and with the rise of mCommerce due to the pandemic and advanced smart phone technology, B2B marketing is starting to look a lot more like B2C. Millennials in the office want to know that yours is a brand they can trust and work well with. And by targeting your B2B audience on social media, you are crafting a campaign that not only addresses the larger concerns of companies, but also connects with the individuals who work at those companies. At the end of the day, every B2B research time is comprised of individuals, so reaching each of them will help you build a strong case.