Convergence in B2B and B2C mobile marketing?

July 1, 2009

Christopher Carfi is CEO of Cerado. Photo: Doc Searls, Creative Commons

By Christopher Carfi

On the surface, there are stark differences between business-to-business marketing and business-to-consumer marketing: audience size, volume of sales and magnitude of purchases. But as mobile becomes ubiquitous for connecting with customers, are we starting to see a convergence between the two?

I would contend that the answer is, yes -- if we have the courage to think creatively and move beyond the already-tired clichés of mobile marketing such as text campaigns and mobile couponing.

In fact, with a bit of creative thought, the opportunity for connecting with new customers in both audiences is quite remarkable if we concentrate on the experiences that can be provided with today's mobile devices.

So what are the ways that we can get creative?

Let's look at the root of that word, "creative" for a second. It stems from create.

Every one of our prospective customers -- both B2B and B2C -- has not just a tiny screen onto which we can foist our message, but now has the ability to create things as well -- photos, videos, conversations and relationships.

Let's look at the taken-for-granted camera phone capabilities.

Again, why not think about how we can bring prospects into the process by enabling and encouraging them to be a creative part of the sale, instead of a passive recipient?

In the B2C case, we can, for example, encourage contests and participation where customers take their photos with the most interesting/scenic/extraordinary usage of our products and submit them to a community site.

Similarly, we can encourage B2B customers to send their sales reps photos of their unique environment/circumstance/prickly problem so that the reps can better understand the situation and propose an insightful solution.

In the B2C case, we could encourage video testimonials to be pulled into a powerful montage.

In the B2B case, we can gather videos of customer best-practice tips to illustrate how our products perform in the real-world and how they are being used to solve real problems in an efficient manner.

But, more important than the technical tools, why not enable prospects to easily connect with the people and information they need to make a decision to buy?

It is all about the connections and the relationships.

In the B2C case, a great example of this would be making it easy for customers to locate and, after the initial sale, create reviews of their experiences with a product from other customers.

Similarly, in the B2B realm, this entails providing tools to connect the prospect with other similar past customer references, testimonials, case studies or a knowledgeable sales associate.

The upshot is that for both B2B and B2C we have a real opportunity with mobile: the opportunity to differentiate based on how we encourage, empower and enable active, social customers instead of passive targets.

The organizations that crack the code on this are going to be the winners in using this medium.

So let us use mobile to bring both B2B and B2C customers into the process, instead of simply throwing marketing messages at them.

Let's challenge ourselves to start conversations, and enable prospective customers to engage with us and with each other, regardless of what bucket -- B2B or B2C " in which they have historically been classified.

Christopher Carfi is founder CEO of Cerado, Half Moon Bay, CA. Reach him at .

Comments on "Convergence in B2B and B2C mobile marketing?"

1. Jay Donovan says:

   July 1, 2009 at 12:50pm

   Christopher,
   Your article seems to indicate that many of the contests and approaches you suggest are not already happening in the mobile world, but I challenge us to see the past and present germs that are the foundation of the “brave new mobile world” you suggest. It’s already out there, albeit in a somewhat more organic form than the “agency initiated” approach you suggest, but it’s out there nonetheless. Creative thinking and implementation, with regard to mobile, are still going on in the B2C worlds at least and have been.
   
   Save Benji’s and SCAN, two mobile apps for price comparing, (http://www.savebenjis.com/index.php , http://scan.jsharkey.org/) are a few great consumer tools that spawn conversations with traditional Brick and Mortar stores. In many cases these tools are being welcomed by brands like BestBuy (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105656435) as a way to work with consumers and keep the conversation going.
   
   Speaking of BestBuy, the launch of their own mobile app is doing many of the things you are talking about too (http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/3592.html) like offering access to wider arrays of content. In the short term it will no doubt be a good way to spawn more of those “conversations” with store associates and will likely lead to digital conversations in the future. You are correct that that has yet to come, but it is close and already on the minds of brands out there. I hear it a lot.
   
   But this stuff didn’t just happen overnight. What we have already seen is a testament to the fact that it has been on the minds of marketers, consumers and businesses for some time. AND the technology is almost in place to move more rapidly in the direction we all want it to go.
   
   Additionally, I have already seen many mobile contests and mobile conversation generators out there. A few worth noting are:
   http://yellowarrow.net/v3/index.php
   http://www.boston.com/travel/gallery/mobile_phone_contest_winners/
   http://www.slashphone.com/lg-viewtyful-world-online-photo-contest-14182
   
   …and even the montage-maker you suggest (while not mobile in its own, likely supported by lots of mobile content)
   http://www.zoogami.net/beer/
   
   As for the B2B side I think you are correct that there are opportunities there. And there are a lot of communities out there for which mobile access could really help and add value. Take SERMO for example… (http://www.sermo.com/) mobile access and interaction could really help here. This is just one example.
   
   One last comment and then I’ll stop “bustin’ your b*lls.”
   I think it’s important to remember that while text campaigns and mobile coupons may seem “tired” to us in the mobile and advertising world, for most users it is still a new way for them to be engaged and is really part of the foundation on which the big ideas you are calling for will be built. Each opt-in campaign…each coupon brings the collective comfort of people out there into the realm of adoption of advanced services.
   
   BUT…
   
   Over all I agree with you, my friend, that where we are today is not even close to the portrait of what can be! Your big ideas are good to hear and I really appreciate your Call to Action for creative thinking! It takes passion to move the movement and these conversations are required! Bravo!
   
   Jay
   http://twitter.com/getdonovan