STEPHAN WENGER

B2B Marketing Expert

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Learn B2B Marketing

Born in 1985 in Austria, Stephan Wenger is a marketing expert in the B2B environment. The focus of his work is the ever-growing importance of the digitalization of the value added chain. With almost a decade of experience in marketing, he provides practical, result oriented know-how.

Stephan Wenger works as Senior Marketing Manager for the high-tech Austrian company AVL which is the world’s largest independent company for the development, simulation and testing of powertrain systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, construction, large engines and their integration into the vehicle. Prior to this, Stephan worked as Head of Marketing & Communications for Anton Paar,a global company which develops and produces highly accurate laboratory instruments and process measuring systems.

In addition, Stephan shares his practical knowledge as a marketing expert with students and business professionals. He lectures at the    University of Applied Sciences CAMPUS02 in Graz and frequently speaks at B2B marketing events.

FOCUS AREAS. (click to enlarge)

The specifics of marketing activities in the business-to-business environment are multifaceted, from basic print productions to events and exhibitions, And from basic sales support to eCommerce and Lead Management. B2B companies often lack the digital know-how and the commitment to grow with the opportunities that digitalization provides. The consequent reliance on defined Key Performance Indicators as well as marketing performance measurement are a structural USP of high developed B2B marketing organizations. For high-tech leaders, the world is their marketplace. Global, niche-oriented services and products require a global brand with consistent localized marketing activities. A global marketing team is necessary in order to have a good relationship with customers and to meet customers’ know-how intense needs.

B2B marketing distinctively differs from B2C marketing. The reason? Unlike B2C marketers, B2B marketers actually need to understand their products and services. How do they achieve this? By being the interface between product management and sales. They need to be both centralized and decentralized, national and global.

Over 7 years of B2B marketing experience in two world-leading high-tech companies has equipped me with the necessary skill set to handle these challenging conditions.

Online marketing for B2B companies differs from that of B2C companies. B2B online content is likely to be much more complicated and needs much more details and explanation than a standard B2C product. In many cases, the purchasing process for B2B companies is defined by a buying center. The content therefore should focus on facts rather than on branding.

Educational types of content like webinars, whitepapers, fact sheets, application reports, use cases, advertorials, scientific publications, customer success stories and infographics are vital to prove the competence promised by the glib marketing claims in advertisements. These content pieces are the added-value for a user on the corporate website. All online activities should focus on creating a lead and a prospective customer. The focus lies on transactional call-to-actions (CTA).

The quintessential brand is built competence. Not by advertised promises.

B2B companies have no choice: eCommerce and online purchases bound to be part of their future business. Independently of whether the sales channel mix changes to online sales in the next 5 or 10 years, a future oriented company will act now. Millennials are already in leadership roles; Generation Z will be there in few years. In 2030 we will have digital natives in C-level management and throughout all levels of decision-makers. If not now, online lead generation, online purchasing and a complete online sales process will be a daily reality by then at the latest.

eCommerce can be defined in many ways. It does not matter what it’s called; it is more important to digitalize the whole sales process, not only parts of it (like a spare parts business), from the first informational query on search engines to the after-sales service requests via the users’ online accounts. B2B companies need to catch up.

The most important job of a B2B marketing organization is to fill the lead pipeline. Lead management is the measurable interface between classic marketing actions and sales. Having the proper lead management in place ensures that all actions are consequently aligned with sales. Leaving branding aside for the moment, all marketing actions must be lead-centric to ensure that the sales team is equipped with prospective customers at all times.

Lead management requires a good understanding of the sales process, the targeted market, the customers and their buying behavior. One might say that lead management is part of sales. This might have been true years ago. However, today, and tomorrow, with digitalization becoming a reality, marketing is also responsible for lead-generating channels. Big data coming from online channels is typically not accessible by the sales force in the field. Marketing, together with the back office sales, is responsible for making use of visits, impressions, clicks, downloads, subscriptions, registrations and all other ways a user expresses interest in the company’s services and products.

Lead management is therefore a vital part of every B2B marketing organization – maybe even the most important one. Hands down, what could be a better argument for marketing resources than turnover from marketing qualified leads?

If online marketing and lead management are vital for B2B Marketing, then marketing controlling is equally important.

Making marketing efforts measurable helps. As simple as it seems, identifying, defining and implementing reasonable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is the basis for future decisions. Marketing managers need to know the return on every marketing Euro spent. For B2B companies, with limited budget and resources, this is even more important. The challenging task is to link marketing KPIs with sales KPIs. In some cases, this requires comprehensive preconditions to measure KPIs at all. It is the marketing department’s task, for instance, to make sure that all interactions at a busy and sometimes chaotic exhibition booth are tracked and transferred to the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. This is only one example of an offline channel which is harder to measure than online channels.

A modern B2B marketing manager is an experienced user of analytic software, Excel, CRM and ERP tools and has the ability to make use of big data, depending on the context, for optimization as well as for reporting to executive management.

MARKETING SPEAKER

I am happy to connect with you and speak at your marketing event. I am also available for guest lectures on my focus areas. See details here

Let us talk!

SKILLS.

This is what you can expect from me. Don’t be put off by the buzzwords; I actually deliver on what I promise.

  • Online Marketing Concepts & Implementation

  • Global Marketing Organization Development

  • Lead Management & Output-Oriented Marketing

  • KPI-Based Marketing

  • Talks on Marketing Practice

TOOLS & SYSTEMS.

Google Analytics & Google AdWords
Pivot based Dashboards using Microsoft Excel
Customer Relationship Management from SAP and Salesforce
Web Content Management System Typo 3 and WordPress
Ticketing System JIRA
eCommerce System Magento
Amazon Affiliate Program
Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro

TOOLS & SYSTEMS.

  • Google Analytics & Google AdWords

  • Pivot based Dashboards using Microsoft Excel

  • Customer Relationship Management from SAP and Salesforce

  • Web Content Management System Typo 3 and WordPress

  • eCommerce System Magento
  • Ticketing System JIRA

  • Amazon Affiliate Program

  • Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere Pro

EXPERIENCE.

Working at two globally acting, high-tech, business-to-business companies has provided the perfect playground for me to develop my marketing and management skills. From Junior to Senior level – working in marketing for over 10 years is still just as much fun as it was on the first day.

AVL List GmbH
Graz,  Austria

10/2018 – today
www.avl.com

Currently working as Senior Marketing Manager for AVL’s strategic business unit, Powertrain Engineering. AVL is the world’s largest independent company for the development, simulation and testing of powertrain systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, construction, large engines and their integration into the vehicle.

Global responsibility for the B2B marketing of AVL’s strategic business unit, Powertrain Engineering. Automotive B2B marketing. Budget responsibility. Leading the Powertrain Engineering marketing team at AVL headquarters and working with local marketeers worldwide. Part of the marketing leadership team. Final responsibility for all marketing actions in print and digital. Interface between engineering, business development and sales. Close cooperation with the marketing agency Scoop&Spoon as well as the management of all outsourced activities. Budget planning and controlling. Reporting to marketing director and executive vice presidents.

AVL List GmbH
Graz,  Austria

10/2018 – heute
www.avl.com

Global responsibility for the B2B marketing of AVL’s strategic business unit, Powertrain Engineering. Automotive B2B marketing. Budget responsibility. Leading the Powertrain Engineering marketing team at AVL headquarters and working with local marketeers worldwide. Part of the marketing leadership team. Final responsibility for all marketing actions in print and digital. Interface between engineering, business development and sales. Close cooperation with the marketing agency Scoop&Spoon as well as the management of all outsourced activities. Budget planning and controlling. Reporting to marketing director and executive vice presidents.

Anton Paar GmbH
Graz,  Austria

06/2011 – 08/2018
www.anton-paar.com

Worked over 6 years in different jobs at different levels up to Head of Marketing & Communications. Anton Paar develops and produces highly accurate laboratory instruments and process measuring systems. It is the world leader in the measurement of density and concentration of CO2 and in the field of rheometry.

Senior Management. Global responsibility for the B2B marketing of the Anton Paar group. Budget responsibility. Managed two departments with 30 employees.

Final responsibility for the corporate design as well as all end-customer-oriented communication channels. Consequent realization of global multi-channel marketing campaigns in close cooperation with product management and local marketing manager. Led the in-house marketing agency and realized print, layout, photo, video, rendering, texting and translation.

Built a global online presence via multiple websites: www., blog., shop., wiki.anton-paar.com. Search engine marketing (SEO, SEA) as well as press relation management with global acting portals and magazines.

Conception and implementation of a live chat system for first-level support and sales lead generation. Definition and successful realization of the global marketing structure with regional and local subsidiary marketeers.

Budget planning and performance measurement of the Anton Paar headquarters and consolidation for the whole Anton Paar group (30 subsidiaries).

Management of the global online sales project. Budget responsibility. Execution of the Anton Paar Webshop, shop.anton-paar.com, from first ideation to successful go-live.

Conception and implementation of all interfaces to existing systems such as SAP ERP, SAP CRM, Payment Service Provider (credit card acceptance), and worldwide export and shipping. Definition of global online product and price guidelines for online sales. Managed the decentralization for all EU countries and the USA after a successful launch of the centralized system.

Junior Management. Trainee program for product management. Passed multiple trainings in various departments such as engineering and production, product testing. Actively worked on the product launches and product portfolio strategy together with senior product management. Worked in the biggest product department – Lab Density and Concentration.

Anton Paar GmbH
Graz,  Austria

06/2011 – 08/2018
www.anton-paar.com

Senior Management. Global responsibility for the B2B marketing of the Anton Paar group. Budget responsibility. Managed two departments with 30 employees.

Final responsibility for the corporate design as well as all end-customer-oriented communication channels. Consequent realization of global multi-channel marketing campaigns in close cooperation with product management and local marketing manager. Led the in-house marketing agency and realized print, layout, photo, video, rendering, texting and translation.

Built a global online presence via multiple websites: www., blog., shop., wiki.anton-paar.com. Search engine marketing (SEO, SEA) as well as press relation management with global acting portals and magazines.

Conception and implementation of a live chat system for first-level support and sales lead generation. Definition and successful realization of the global marketing structure with regional and local subsidiary marketeers.

Budget planning and performance measurement of the Anton Paar headquarters and consolidation for the whole Anton Paar group (30 subsidiaries).

Management of the global online sales project. Budget responsibility. Execution of the Anton Paar Webshop, shop.anton-paar.com, from first ideation to successful go-live.

Conception and implementation of all interfaces to existing systems such as SAP ERP, SAP CRM, Payment Service Provider (credit card acceptance), and worldwide export and shipping. Definition of global online product and price guidelines for online sales. Managed the decentralization for all EU countries and the USA after a successful launch of the centralized system.

Junior Management. Trainee program for product management. Passed multiple trainings in various departments such as engineering and production, product testing. Actively worked on the product launches and product portfolio strategy together with senior product management. Worked in the biggest product department – Lab Density and Concentration.

INTERNSHIPS
USA / Austria

Worked as an intern for different sized companies in different industries, both in Austria and the USA. In addition to the below mentioned marketing-specific jobs, there were a few more – mainly the classic bartender jobs during studies.

Starting during my civil service, my duties as a volunteer for the Red Cross continued for over 5 years. I worked as a paramedic and ambulance driver and have served over 10,000 hours and in over 1,000 emergency situations. In addition, I worked with worked with paramedics to train the general public in first aid procedures.

Bittner America Inc. (no longer acting) was a U.S.-based company importing Austrian food and specialties. My job was to rework the website and establish social media channels as well as create basic print material. The more challenging part of this 4-month internship in Naples, Florida was to handle the import processes to the U.S. Dealing with food and wine, which are among the most regulated goods, gave me good insight into the import-export business between the two continents.

Emcools Med is an Austrian-based medical engineering company. It produces pads for human application to cool patients with cardiac arrest. The pads were also used by the Emergency Medical Physicians and Red Cross Bruck/Mur. My job was to follow up on leads from exhibitions and to work on customer stock by cold-calling potential users of the emergency products.

INTERNSHIPS
USA / Austria

Starting during my civil service, my duties as a volunteer for the Red Cross continued for over 5 years. I worked as a paramedic and ambulance driver and have served over 10,000 hours and in over 1,000 emergency situations. In addition, I worked with worked with paramedics to train the general public in first aid procedures.

Bittner America Inc. (no longer acting) was a U.S.-based company importing Austrian food and specialties. My job was to rework the website and establish social media channels as well as create basic print material. The more challenging part of this 4-month internship in Naples, Florida was to handle the import processes to the U.S. Dealing with food and wine, which are among the most regulated goods, gave me good insight into the import-export business between the two continents.

Emcools Med is an Austrian-based medical engineering company. It produces pads for human application to cool patients with cardiac arrest. The pads were also used by the Emergency Medical Physicians and Red Cross Bruck/Mur. My job was to follow up on leads from exhibitions and to work on customer stock by cold-calling potential users of the emergency products.

EDUCATION.

My education is a mixture of technic, sales and marketing with a focus on international operations. This combination has given me the necessary basics to grow into the business-to-business marketing area in high-tech companies.

Master’s Degree Program in International Marketing at the University of Applied Sciences FH CAMPUS02 in Graz, Austria. The program has a strong international marketing focus combined with extensive personal development programs. Part of the program included attending summer school in Alicante, Spain. I wrote my Master’s thesis on the Internationalization Strategies of Austrian-Born Global Companies. The thesis covered all aspects of Austrian Hidden Champions, having global niches as their home market.

Bachelor’s Degree Program in Marketing & Sales at the University of Applied Sciences FH CAMPUS02 in Graz, Austria. The program had a three-column base – Marketing, Sales and Personal Development. I wrote my Bachelor’s thesis on Austrian Hidden Champions: companies which are mainly unknown to the broader public, but are world marketing leader in their specific niches.

High school diploma in Engineering. My basic education consists of a 5-year technical engineering program at the Höhere Technische Bundeslehranstalt in Kapfenberg, Austria. I received a classic engineering education with a strong practical and hands-on component.

CONTACT.

GET IN TOUCH!

Do not hesitate to get in touch with me via the contact form or my various social media profiles. I am explicitly looking for a strong network of business professionals and students in the business-to-business marketing field.