This document summarizes key points about digitizing B2B structures. It discusses how the B2B buying process is transforming online and the importance of digital marketing strategies. Content marketing, search engine optimization, and marketing automation are emerging tactics. E-commerce platforms are also important for B2B companies to capture customer identities and increase loyalty. While technology enables opportunities, content remains essential for differentiating brands. Overall, the document advocates for B2B companies to embrace digitization through online strategies and tools.

1. DIGITIZING YOUR B2B STRUCTURE
THE ESSENTIALS

2. Indubitable evidence suggests that the B2B buying
process is slowly, but surely, transforming into
an online process.
The following presentation is meant to inform B2B
marketers still left in the dark about the enabling
effect of digital marketing strategies using
actionable insights and suggestions as to how
budgets should be spent.
This summary is based on the effectiveness,
relevance and ROI for B2B organizations of the
suggested top digital trends.
2

3. Introduction
Executive SUMMARY
1
3
Emerging Marketing Tactics
2
Importance of E-commerce / E-business platforms
3
Final Note
Technology enables, it’s not a panacea4
5
7
8

4. I. Introduction
4

5. 5
B2B Industry Growth1
Online sales are not marginal anymore
Forrester research, among others, points out that B2B
E-commerce will account for more than 12% of all B2B
sales by the year 2020.
Substained growth is forecasted
Put simply the B2B E-commerce industry will grow ca.
7 to 8% every year
>> It’s time to jump onto the bandwagon!
https://www.forrester.com/report/US+B2B+eCommerce+Forecast+2015+To+2020/-/E-RES115957

6. 6
B2B companies’ digital maturity is below par across
all industry segments
http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-b2b-digital-leaders-driv
e-five-times-more-revenue-growth-than-their-peers
2
DQ score is calculated on a scale of 0 to 100 as the average score of Culture,
Strategy, Capabilities & Organization.
AVERAGE B2B
score

7. 7
Why the rapid growth?3
- Industry “push” > some customers can only be
efficiently supported and found online. For
instance, permitting buyers to make all their
purchases online is evidently more cost-efficient
and can aid growth. Ultimately this allows B2B
digital leaders to turn in a stronger financial
performance.
- Preference of buyers to buy online. Even B2B?
56% of buyers already do!

8. 8
B2B digital leaders’ financial performance across all
in industry segments
http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-b2b-digital-leaders-drive-five-times-more-revenue-growth-than-their-peers
4

9. 11
Continuous digitization5
Necessitates
- The need to pay attention all the time and stay
ahead of the game!
- Adopt smart new digital marketing tactics!
- Utilize transformative digital technologies to
radically reinvent E-commerce platforms!

10. II. Emerging Digital Marketing
10

11. 11
Importance of Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises1A
Content marketing is shaping up to become the most
influential & significant digital tactic as
● The sales process is moving more and more
online, as people
○ search for new products and services
online
○ learn about new trends using blogs and
search engines
○ make a first evaluation of a company
according to the quality of their digital
assets (website, whitepapers, customer
experience, mobile,...)

12. 12
→ The creation of relevant content is one of the
biggest obstacles. The most common mistakes are a
lack of strategic investment and the absence of a
holistic method.
Importance of Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises1B
● New digital technologies enables to nurture leads
and convert them overtime into customers using
qualitative content (I.e. Hubspot, Selligent)

13. 13
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for B2B Enterprises2
Using SEO to be found is still is as important, BUT the
methods used to analyze and achieve top rankings
have changed considerably;
● SEO has become less technical but more a
question of content. Meta code and the creation
of backlinks is not enough anymore. Therefore,
has become qualitative blogging essential for
B2B.
Note : Outsourcing to cheaper overseas enterprises is
an option but might generate more work in the longterm
as content still needs to be checked and edited.
>> Don’t do this properly and you will virtually disappear
from Google Search results.

14. 14
CRM & Marketing Automation for B2B Enterprises3
It is believed that marketing automation is most likely
to deliver quantifiable ROI for B2B organizations in the
future.
Marketing automation software is a huge investment,
especially for small enterprises, making measurable
ROI a critical necessity.
Current technologies allow companies to do just that
as they are able to track digital investments back to
the leads they generate and more. It used to be only
available to large corporate conglomerates as they
were able to cover the costs but nowadays it is
affordable to businesses of almost any size.

15. 15
Notable takeaways4
- Email is here to stay. One simply cannot
overlook it’s importance ahead of content
marketing, SEO as well as lead nurturing.
- Marketing automation is costly but can best
articulate ROI.
- Video might still be seen as inferior to
whitepapers and webinars but it is the rising
of the moment.
- Lead nurturing is central to any marketing
automation software and is predicted to
become another important digital marketing
tactic.

16. III. Importance of E-commerce /
E-business
16

17. 17
Primary Reflections1
The B2B buyer journey is more complex as it is
more layered than B2C consumer journeys. As
we’ve discussed earlier this requires more
advanced, read digitized, CRM.
Several principles can logically be adopted from
B2C platforms such as;
- Intuitive navigation
- Filtering by multiple attributes
- HQ visualizations
- Product bundling
- Responsive design
- Easy searching
- ...
→ However, B2B E-commerce requires a powerful
feature-heavy platform.
DO
MORE
WITH
LESS

18. 18
Key Features2
Running a succesful B2B E-commerce platform requires
know-how and expertise. Moving your customers online can
and will unlock a huge number of opportunities with huge
potential;
- Allows the capture of transparent user identities, simplifies
onboarding processes and makes the customer experience
more customized and therefore more personal.
- Optimized lead generation and increased customer acquisition
through proven visual merchandising and marketing tactics
already adopted in the B2C sphere.
- Implements a flawless cross-channel browsing experience,
including mobile.
→ Respecting the essentiality of these features is highly
likely to lead to an increase in customer loyalty!

19. IV. Technology enables,
it’s not a panacea !
19

20. 20
Final Note
Industry leaders have already revolutionized their B2B
business through an adoption of the new digital technologies.
B2B oriented enterprises should best take both content
marketing, E-commerce and marketing automation seriously.
The learning curve is steep but never unsurmountable.
As internal and external best practices have been optimized to
such an extent, businesses are only able to differentiate
through image. This image is supported by the creation of
relevant content. This dynamic is the same for B2B ventures
and can be reinforced using marketing automation and
advanced CRM to adequately link marketing with sales
departments.
Technology is valuable. It speeds things up, brings efficiency
to repetitive tasks and illuminates patterns too hard to spot
with the naked eye. Digitization should be embraced.
But first ask – What is the question I’m trying to answer?

21. WE BELIEVE LIFE SHOULD BE MADE OF
GREAT DIGITAL EXPERIENCES
Lorenzo del Marmol
Co-Founder & Manager
ldm@worldofdigits.com
+32 477 720 430
Contact us for more information
Written by:
Maxime Van der Aa
Digital Project Manager