Talk for the Digital Marketing Dialog Benelux, Amsterdam, October 2015. What does it mean to be a digital pioneer in B2B? Innovation is not anymore only product innovation. Digital changed the costumer experience and the relationship between marketing and sales. As B2B company you should understand in which area of the customer experience you can be part of the conversation.

1. The B2B digital pioneer
"
Digital Marketing Dialog Benelux
October 13th, Amsterdam
!
!
Luisella Giani
!
@luisella
#DM_Dialogue

2. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
What does it mean Pioneer in B2B?

3. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Innovation in B2B is often
equal to Product Innovation.
Product Innovation considered by
B2B companies as the only key
differentiator and USP.

4. Time to wake up
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
What your customers think? !
Digital is changing B2B marketplace in a disruptive
way, NOT product related.!
89% of B2B researchers use the internet during the
research process. Radical SHIFT in: !
How purchasing decisions are made !
Who is responsible for them?!
!
Source: Think with Google"
B2B Path to purchase 2014 Google Millward-Brown 2014

5. TRUST
SHARE
PEER
REVIEW
COM
PARE
PURCHASE
DECIDE
EVANGELIZE
RESEARCH
SHARE
DISCOVER
SEARCH
RESEARCH
TRUST
AWARENESS
CONSIDERATION
PURCHASE
BUYER
INFLUENCER
Digital
Peers
Email
Events
Social
Web
Company
websites
Sales
PREFERENCE
LOYALTY
ACTION
AWARENESS
CONSIDERATION
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
From Funnel to Complex Customer Experience
INBOUND

6. “Our customers do research on their work computer”. You’re wrong. Your customers are
connected to their work throughout the day: commuting, waiting for coffee, in meetings,
during meals. They consume information from email, text messages, social media,
publishers, Google searches. Not all of this information is relevant to a specific customer
journey, but there are micro-moments where this may apply to your business.
micro-moment !
[mahy-kroh] - [moh-muh nt] !
!
a series of fractured, intent-driven moments
that costumers find themselves in
throughout the day when decisions are
being made and preferences shaped.!
!
The raise of Micromoments (as well for B2B)
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

7. Listen to your customers, don’t rely on the average data to understand them. Go beyond
NPS. Create a consistent and useful customer experience. Match all the possible data to
deliver the right message at the right timing, offering the right content fitting with the
device he/she’s using. Campaigns are dead. CONTEXT and CONTENT are the fuel for
engaging your prospects and customers.
Context Matters. It can change the eXperience
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

8. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Is the C of CX meaning Company or Customer?
"
82% sellers are OUT OF SYNC with their buyers.
They pitch the product, they don’t listen to the
customer.
Being a B2B Digital Pioneer means shifting from
Product Centric to a
truly CUSTOMER CENTRIC approach.
Source: salesforce.com report
#1

9. Multibrand/
multicountries
eCommerce
CMS
ANALYTICS
PIM
Translation
SILOS APPROACH
Middleware
Single sign
on
Customized
services
elearning
Merchandise
webshop
Country
webshop
Direct
emailing
ERP
CRM
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Brands and
corporate websites
– multibrands/
multicountries
ANALYTICS
Translation
CMS
DAM
Technical
info DB
Translation
Dealing with a complex and fragmented infrastructure?

10. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
#2
Don’t be stuck focusing on
building the perfect
infrastructure…technology and
consumers are evolving faster
than your infrastructure.
Accept it.
Find a good compromise
between one enviroment and the
best in class tools. Avoid tools
customization.
Focus on flexibility and agility.
Clouds, virtualization, API.
Entreprise infrastructure will be
composable.

11. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Culture eats (digital) strategy for breakfast.
Technology for lunch, and products for dinner,
and soon thereafter everything else too.
(P. Drucker)
(B. Aulet)

12. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Cross teams engagement
Chicken or pig?
Build the strategy involving and engaging different teams and key stakeholders.
Digital transformation means to change IT, business models, marketing, sales channels,
distribution… and people mindset. It is a complex change management exercise.
Once the vision is built share with the rest of the company.
Everyone must be aware of the strategy.

13. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
If you want to suceed in
pioneering digital be aware
of the company culture.
Culture is the DNA of a
company.
#3

14. Marketing
Sales
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Company material, training,
interaction with sales reps
Contact with the brand starts early in the process.
The B2B company can control the journey through the sales
reps.
Print, banner ads, PR, tutorial,
OOH, fair and events, training…
Where you can be part of the conversation?
Past

15. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Prospects contact the brand after as much as 80% of
the buyer journey is completed.
Marketing owns a much bigger piece of the lead to revenue.
Search, company websites, social media,
email marketing, blogs and forum,peers
reviews, banner, fair and events, PR, ads,
training…
Where you can be part of the conversation?
Present!
Marketing
Quote,
ecommerce,
sales reps
Sales
Post-purchase
experience
Peers reviews,
blogs, forum,
WOM…

16. 25%
Contacted the
manufacturer
42%
Compared
features
43%
Read product
info
48%!
Compared
prices
What B2B buyers do online?
Source: Think with Google"
B2B Path to purchase 2014 Google Millward-Brown 2014
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

17. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
71% start a search with a generic query
Looking for product first, not for your brand

18. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Go beyond your brand
B2B companies commonly fail in producing the basic content that provides education on
the solution they are providing. Companies typically gear their content to customers that
already know what they want, and position their products with brand names and
incomprehensible jargon.This content doesn't properly educate the consumer and
doesn’t reach them when they are still impressionable.

19. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
It's not enough just to
bid on your brand
terms. Influence and
decision making are
happening earlier on
in the purchasing
path. Go beyond your
brand.
#4

20. Winning vendor
content and presence
on digital had an
impact on the buying
decision
64%!
Agrees that the
number of sources to
search and evaluate a
vendor increased
68%!
Waited longer than a
year to initiate a
contact with a vendor
40%!
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Source: Demand Gen The 2014 B2B Buyer Behaviour Study
Digital Content impact on vendor selection
9 out of 10 B2B buyers say when they’re ready to buy they’ll find you.
81% start the process with a web search

21. Maersk Line to Track Refrigerated Container with AT&T Technology
Maersk Line said it would equip 290,000 of its refrigerated containers, known in the industry as reefer boxes,
with the AT&T technology. The containers will be equipped with a temperature SIM card, a GPS unit and a
radio and antenna that will monitor their condition aboard vessels or on land.
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Social media strategy defined in October 2011. Now active in 9 channels
Facebook (+1.1mio fans) focus on pictures, video, timelapse, hashtag. Twitter
118K followers. Instagram 38K followers.
Linkedin: logistic groups, trade events, fairs.
B2B marketing can be fun and entertaining

22. Leverage content created not for digital. Break
down the walls between Marketing, PR and sales.
Identify the experts in your company. Involve your
colleagues in content creation, leverage their
expertise. Try new formats like “how to” video.
You do have inhouse content. Yes, you do.
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

23. Content marketing strategies
REASONTO
SHARE
High
Low
REASON TO CARE
Low
High
Conversational"
Let’s talk about us
Publicity
Real time, social media, it can become viral or
convictional.
Viral"
Let’s talk about we Provocation
Contain 2 strong motivators: reason to share
and reason to care
Vanity "
Let’s talk about me
Propaganda
Traditional mktg, TV, PR, product placement,
outbound mktg.
Convictional"
Let’s talk about you
Personalization
Storytelling, company transparency, humanizing
brands. Evoke emotional responses, often start
with a conversation leading to action
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

24. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
MOST
EFFECTIVE
OVERALL
AVERAGE
LEAST
EFFECTIVE
Has a documented CONTENT
STRATEGY
66%
44%
11%
Has someone who oversee
content and marketing strategy
86%
73%
46%
Average numbers of tactics used
15%
13%
10%
Average numbers of social media
platforms used
7%
6%
4%
Percent of marketing BUDGET
spent in content marketing
39%
30%
16%
Challenged with producing
engaging content
35%
47%
61%
Profile of best in class B2B content marketer
Source: B2B content marketing 2014 US

25. Communication is interactive, 2 ways
Communication is one way
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Inbound
Outbound
Costumers come to you via search
engines, social media, referrals…
Marketers provide value. Marketers
seek to entertain and educate
Costumers are sought via print, TV,
banners, adv, cold calls
Marketer provides little to no added
value. Marketers seek rarely to entertain
and educate
Earns their way in
Buy, beg or bug their way in
Most effective tactis of inbound marketing: CONTENT MARKETING and
SOCIAL MEDIA PARTICIPATION. White papers, how to video, ebooks,
infographics, blogs. Content sharing through social media facilitates VIRALITY.
Content syndication help to optimize RANKING on search engines. Content can
create massive buzz, driving leads and improving sales.

26. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
Inbound Marketing: any tactic to earn
people interest instead of buying it.
Consider it like dating your costumer.
Create quality content that pulls people
toward your company and product,
where they naturally want to be. By
aligning the content you publish with
your customer’s interests, you naturally
attract inbound traffic that you can then
convert, close, and delight over time.
#5
Focus on InBound marketing

27. Professional buyer
Expert
Well trained, rational
Not professional buyer
Knowledge gap
No formal training, Emotional
BUYER BEHAVIOUR
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!
B2B
B2C
Large quantities
Volume discount
Customized solutions
Sales reps main driver for promoting the
product, for looking for prospects and
closing the deal.
Small volumes
Discount based on mktg campaign
Standardized solutions
Sales reps less important for promoting the
product
Buyers engaging with the vendors later in
the process.
PRODUCT
PROMOTION

28. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
For certain common scenarios now, self-service
eCommerce websites can serve B2B buyers more
effectively than salespeople can. Educate the
salesforce to improve f2f sales pitch. To move some of
the f2f interaction to online /chat service should not
only be considered as cost saving but as an
opportunity to grow and serve.
The evolution of sales representatives

29. #6
Convergence between B2C and B2B
Convergence between B2C and B2B driven by
DIGITAL TRANSPARENCY, real time access to information….
B2B brands can EXPLORE NEW CHANNELS !
and content formats that were previously out of their reach.
Digital gives B2B brands a cheap, mass reach channel.
CONTENT and SUPPORT SERVICES are the new
differentiators.
PRODUCT: B2B going into standardization
PROMOTION: B2B sales rep less important for promoting the
product. Close can happen via sales rep or via ecommerce
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!

30. #dm_dialoge, @luisella!
#6
#5
#4
#3
#2
#1
Customer centric approach
Convergence between B2C and B2B
Inbound marketing
Dare to change company culture
Infrastructure: smart compromise
Go beyond the brand

31. Luisella Giani!
luisella.giani@gmail.com!@luisella! linkedin.com/in/luisellagiani!
#dm_dialoge, @luisella!