B2B Digital Sales Generation Explained -- An Interview with Ruth Stevens

Stevens39 work has taken her on a global journey and has given her great perspective on the ins and outs of the digital business She is a sales and marketing veteran with a corporate career spanning Time Warner Ziff Davis and IBM Her specialty is in B2B sales lead generation quotbecause it39s a category less well served than consumer marketing and also because it39s more complex and thus more funquot she explainedCharlene Weisler How has digital marketing changed over the course of your careerRuth Stevens Speaking to the B2B side digital has changed everything first by becoming the dominant channel for marketing communications although business events are still an essential element of the marketing mix and second by changing B2B buying behavior Buyers are increasingly comfortable buying for their companies from someone theyamp8217ve never met which was unheard of in the pastWeisler What are the most important best practices for advertisers now For companies nowStevens B2B customers are so valuable and with the number of individuals involved in the purchase decision continuing to expand B2B marketers need to pay close attention to the accuracy and completeness of the data they collect about customers and prospects Sadly many marketers have not grasped this principle yet They may delegate responsibility for data maintenance and hygiene to a data administrator But I urge them to take responsibility and get deeply involved itamp8217s that importantWeisler How can a company best build its digital marketing side of the businessStevens Weamp8217re lucky in a way that new entrants to the marketing profession are generally very familiar with digital media and practices So the future is bright A judicious combination of inhouse and outsourcing is what I recommend Digital marketing communications programmatic buying search optimization for example change so fast itamp8217s probably best to deploy outside expertise in such categories But the company website arguably the single most important digital channel should be maintained in house to ensure itamp8217s on brand and serving the needs of the company and the customers perfectlyWeisler Has B2B changed during the pandemic Now that we are more postpandemic where do you see the landscape in the future Stevens I mentioned above the changes in buying behavior thanks to improved ecommerce functionality This accelerated dramatically during COVID and is here to stay Marketers have become very deft at breaking down the B2B buying process and moving pieces of it online like delivering a quote or submitting a purchase order Another example is event marketing which consumes on average 24 of the B2B marketing budget The introduction of virtual events has taken root and while we all want to get back to inperson events hybrid and virtual will continue to add value in providing access to international buyers and lowering the cost per contact in our marketing mixClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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B2B Digital Sales Generation Explained -- An Interview with Ruth Stevens

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Charlene Weisler

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