Savvy business professionals are adopting the latest smartphones, media tablets and cloudbooks at a faster rate than the mainstream American population. These early-adopters are driving a trend with huge long-term implications for all marketers.
They've embraced these mobile devices with the anticipation of increased productivity. According to the latest market study by eMarketer, there will be a multitude of opportunities for creating new marketing content that's specifically targeting the business to business (B2B) decision maker.
"Given the near complete penetration of smartphones and high adoption rates of tablets among this key target audience for B2B marketers, it's no surprise these devices have infiltrated the B2B purchase decision-making process. They are now used in all major phases of the buying cycle to save professional's time," said Lauren Fisher, analyst at eMarketer.
By establishing a mobile web presence and optimizing that presence to provide business professionals greater efficiency, B2B companies can more effectively reach and resonate with this decision-making audience.
According to the results of market research by Oracle and Endeca, already in November 2011, nearly one-quarter of B2B ecommerce professionals around the world said the mobile web was one of the most influential touch-points for their customers.
In June 2011, Compete and Google found that 28 percent of U.S. B2B C-level executives used a mobile phone to research business purchases, compared to 25 percent of those outside the C-suite. On media tablets, those numbers were 21 and 12 percent, respectively.
"This activity is significant for B2B marketers looking to capture potential buyers and decision-makers in the early stages of the purchase funnel," said Fisher.
But simply solidifying a mobile presence isn't enough for competing companies to win the consideration of B2B decision-makers. It is a mere springboard into the purchase funnel, where buyers will spend much time consuming this newly acquired information.
eMarketer believes that mobile device usage is additive, and marketers should look to build experiences that can easily transition across multiple screens.
Each activity should enable the movement from mobile to the desktop -- where business professionals are still more inclined to perform late-funnel activities such as reading longer-form content or vetting vendors.
I believe that video content is the digital media with the greatest potential for sharing useful and compelling insight that could guide and inform buyers during the typical procurement process. It's also the B2B media segment that's often the most engaging -- if it's produced with the buyer's primary information needs in mind.
