Companies that want to succeed in direct-to-consumer e-commerce must have top leadership that is fully committed to its prioritization. To do this, they need to clearly define the strategic role and ambition of D2C, as well as set guardrails for the value proposition that needs to be designed and delivered. successful e-commerce company must be able to operate at scale. Hiring the right talent and building a new technology infrastructure requires any organization to undergo large changes, and doing so while also managing an e-commerce business automatically leads to higher complexity and risk. Strategic choices should lean toward e-commerce.
To overcome a lack of talent in e-commerce, organizations should consider several methods. The first is to promote or rotate top performers from other areas into e-commerce roles. An organization can also identify suitable candidates by assessing their skills and mindsets. Finally, incoming leaders can benefit from structured training programs to help them understand the scope of their new roles and succeed in them as quickly as possible.
Business-to-business Marketing automation platforms have traditionally been the domain of B2B firms, due to their small, focused target markets, multi-stage procurement processes and continual relationships with clients. These factors make B2B a relationship-driven environment where product education, awareness building and lead nurturing are vital. Business procurement is not impulsive; rather, it's considered and rational, often involving more than one person. Marketing automation software is well suited for B2B companies because it can generate multiple data points from customer research that can be analyzed over the long marketing-to-sales cycle required by business-to-business transactions.
B2C and B2B Marketing automation both involve tracking potential customer behavior to decide a messaging strategy. However, the big difference is that consumer campaigns need to gain the customer’s interest very rapidly, with the road to checkout kept short and simple. In contrast, B2B campaigns use longer-term strategic approaches to build brand loyalty and trust. Market education is also vital for B2B companies, but this takes a different form than consumer education programs. When a B2C customer is handed over to sales after completing an online purchase, they should ideally have familiarity with the brand and product set; this allows salespeople to focus on closing deals instead of educating customers about products.