B2B Chicago 2025 Blog

A surprising number of B2B companies still struggle to generate data-driven insights and use them in their sales and marketing processes. Our latest article explores what data-driven sales and marketing campaigns should look like and provides some ideas on how to use different types of data to enhance business results.

The landscape of B2B sales and marketing has evolved significantly over the years. Personalization is now critical to maintaining prospects’ interest and delivering on customer expectations, even in B2B transactions. This article explores data-driven strategies for personalized communications, product recommendations, and relevant content in the B2B space.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the B2B landscape, bringing unprecedented opportunities for automation, personalization, and data-driven decision making. Our latest article delves into how AI is driving transformation in B2B operations, enhancing customer experiences, and improving business outcomes.

B2B businesses have been discussing omnichannel marketing for years, but it has quickly become imperative for companies to master omnichannel if they hope to grow. In this article, we’ll explore how omnichannel marketing has changed and what B2B companies like yours can do to stay on track.

Popular eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba have begun tapping into the B2B market, providing a place for B2B businesses to showcase their products to prospective buyers. If you and your company haven’t begun exploring marketplaces as an option for your products, now is the time to get started. This article explores how B2B businesses can leverage online marketplaces for wider reach and an efficient buying process.

A slew of technological solutions are helping B2B organizations better connect with these audiences and provide them with those experiences in a manner which meets them where they are and leverages the technology they already possess – i.e., doesn’t require significant investment from the buying side to leverage its benefits. Read on then dear subscriber as we present some of the top B2B ecommerce experience technology trends which will continue to dominate the industry as we make our way through the first quarter of 2023 and beyond.

As one of the world’s premier designers, manufacturers, and suppliers of airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles, Arlington Virginia based Boeing understand all too well the potential of the latest technology to guide companies into the next generation of their evolution.

We have been championing the cause of digital transformation for some years now. The days of the travelling sales rep are behind us and B2B buyers are increasingly leaning towards brands which can offer a digital experience more in line with what they’d expect during B2C interactions. However, it can still be a challenge to effectively communicate to leadership the benefits of fully embracing digital transformation in the B2B space.

It’s true that the last few years have provided significant challenges to businesses all over the world. What with the global COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK’s exit from the European Union, and many other geopolitical events, it’s hardly surprising that other concerns can slip down the list of priorities for B2B businesses. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t concerning that, according to the 2022 Buyer’s Journey Survey from Forrester, diversity, equity, and inclusion only ranked at number 14 in terms of business priorities.

The B2B shopping experience is irrevocably transformed. After years of being spoiled by the superior customer experiences being offered by the B2C brands they shop with, B2B buyers are now increasingly expective the same treatment in their professional lives. According to recent research, 80% of B2B purchases are impacted by a client’s customer experience!

Now the worst days of that crisis are behind us, we still find ourselves assailed on all sides by ongoing geopolitical events, from the Russian invasion of Ukraine to the UK’s exit from the European Union, which are still conspiring to make the business of getting shipments where they need more challenging than at any other point in living memory. Delayed shipments, rising prices, increasing regulations, and more are leading many B2B business leaders to reconsider the way procurement is overseen and to weigh up the advantages of switching from a reactive supply chain model to one which is more proactive.

Valvoline is leveraging customer satisfaction data to make sure its customer journey was the best it could be and make any improvements it thought were necessary. What VP of Corporate Operations Tony Puckett knew was that he wanted the organization to shift from one which focused on transactions involving vehicles, to one which was more concerned with building relationships with people and marked this culture shift as the starting point

As the healthcare arm of one of the world’s biggest and most well-known brands, GE Healthcare has certainly been in the trenches of the COVID-19 crisis and has been developing its marketing to keep its messaging on point.

The lines between B2B and B2C are undeniably blurring and one brand which has been making serious gains in this department is The Home Depot, which has been blending its B2B and B2C operations with an innovative omnichannel marketing and distribution strategy.

In 2021, the traditional practices of B2B selling are finally starting to evolve, and brands are waking up to how wasteful – both in terms of time and money – the old ways of doing business can be. GE Healthcare is one such brand and has been demonstrating this realization by further expanding its B2B ecommerce medical device procurement operation into new markets.

As one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer equipment, Hewlett Packard understands that social media has found renewed relevance in the face of the pandemic and has been leveraging the power of social media influencers to reach a new generation of B2B movers and shakers.

The plant-based lifestyle has been receiving a significant amount of attention over the last few years and more people than ever are trying to cut animal products out of their life – either entirely or to some degree. At time of writing, January is just around the corner, a month which has been co-opted by the Veganuary movement, which seeks to challenge omnivores and vegetarians to try going vegan for 31 days.

The energy sector is a massive source of concern when it comes to our impact on the planet and many brands operating in this space are working hard to discover new ways of keeping our society powered up and running in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Despite the enormous gains in digital transformation achieved by many industries, a considerable number of businesses still rely heavily on outdated manual processes when it comes to handling form filling and other paperwork. The mission to do away with these outmoded practices has multiple benefits for businesses. These benefits are inspiring many companies in various industries to revolutionize their manual process and bring them kicking and screaming into the digital realm.

While the worst of the pandemic has [hopefully] past, the rise of the Omicron variant in South Africa and now spreading across the planet is causing some governments to reintroduce restrictions to try and mitigate its impact. This mean we’re likely going to be living in the shadow of COVID for a while yet and B2B brands need to settle in for a longer ride than we possibly predicted.

Whether or not cryptocurrency will prove to be the next evolution of finance remains to be seen, but there’s no getting away from the fact that blockchain technology has many applications outside of the financial space. Supply chains, pharmaceuticals, and, yes, even B2B ecommerce can be supported by this enigmatic technology.

One channel available to digital marketers which seems to get relatively little attention can be found in podcasts. These audio-based episodes of content have great entertainment value, it’s true, but they can also provide an excellent channel through which to reach an existing or new audience.

ThruleConnect's strategy to differentiate from the competition.

In this trend report, WBR Insights identifies key internal strategies and investments that are shaping successful B2B content marketing strategies in 2020.

Avoid lagging behind on customer-experience index rating and refine your core business strategies with customer-centric approach to create better values.

AI is one of the most popular buzzwords in B2B marketing, but not all marketers are bridging the gap between its potential and its best practices. Successful companies are laying a foundation with internal education, embedding knowledge about AI and using AI to increase their marketing effectiveness.

Voice search is skyrocketing in 2020 – are your SEO strategies ready for this new trend?

Learn how your company can stay competitive in a growing market of young B2B buyers.

Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba is opening its B2B platform to American B2B buyers and sellers.

AI and machine learning powers B2B marketing through data science and task automation, although their uses are still within limitations.

GE Healthcare upgrades its Online Service Shop with eCommerce features to provide an "Amazon-like" buying experience to its customers.

TE Connectivity's entertaining video series engages its engineering millennials and GenZers for long-term brand loyalty.

B2B computer equipment supplier HPE is moving all its products to a cloud-based subscription model with an online marketplace by 2022.

MSC Industrial Supply is adding value to its eCommerce offering with educational content and the ControlPoint mobile app for a streamlined purchasing process.

With a restructured marketing team, the US Army is grabbing the attention of GenZers through memes, short videos, TikTok, and other social media platforms.

Dell is leveraging the power of social media influencers to inspire the sales of its products and services.

Beacon Roofing Supply supports veterans by hosting Beacon of Hope contests and employing over 240 veterans across its infrastructure.

The senior population issue in China presents a growing healthcare market, and medical tech provider Siemens is developing market-orientated products for it.

Gender issues are big news right now, with societally-conscious brands all trying to do their bit to create a fairer and more equal world for everyone regardless of their identity.B2B marketers can help get this message out there is to use the power of storytelling to simultaneously promote equality and the brand itself.

By opening an omnichannel showroom innovation center specifically catering to B2B clients, complete with a training academy, LG achieves this goal and boosts awareness of its commercial offerings greatly.

Fostering customer loyalty is more challenging today than it ever has been before. The nature of B2B ecommerce market is that it's a matter of simplicity to switch to another brand. Expanded choice, price comparison sites, and more have made the need to go the extra mile to retain your customers.

Food trends can be as fleeting and short-lived as those of the fashion industry, piling enormous pressure on restaurants and other food outlets to stay current if they want to continue to attract diners through the door.

Social media platforms such as Instagram the have the power to exert influence over buying decisions. 71% of marketers believe influencer partnerships are good for business, and 70% of millennials - trust social media influencers over traditional celebrity recommendations.

As manufacturers and distributors transition to digital sales environments, personalization needs to be a top priority and tech investment. Research shows that most buyers now expect all of their interactions to be personalized.

Digital transformation is finding its way into almost every marketplace, enabling work to become more efficient and profitable by automating core processes and activities, freeing up human staff to concentrate on those parts of the business that machines are unable to handle.

B2B salespeople continue to use traditional methods of selling, such as engaging buyers via phone calls or even face to face. But time has become a constraint for buyers, and new digital purchasing channels have emerged to speed up the buying process. In this report, we explore the B2B buyer demand for those digital channels versus traditional channels.

In this study, we analyze industry pain points and directly consult B2B sales leaders to understand how they are approaching their digital transformations. Then, we uncover how the direct attention of salespeople will remain relevant in a complex, technology-driven sales environment.

B2B and B2C marketing strategies are often quite different. However, Hewlett Packard (HP) is bucking the trend with an innovative B2B multichannel marketing strategy.

Content marketing is the cornerstone of any modern company's strategy, and SupplyHouse.com is plumbing new depths with theirs.

You can't afford to customize your e-commerce platform until you know what you should be customizing according to your expected return on investment.

Elevate & PURE are using their digital presence to fight back against 'Greenwashing', when companies make misleading claims about the sustainability or eco-friendliness of their products or packaging.

When it comes to industrial inspections, the minutest attention to detail could make all the difference.

How to do it right, when most do it wrong.

We get her thoughts on the changing digital world and customer experience model, and what that means for the future of B2B.