Tomer Zuker of D-ID: 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy

An Interview With Rachel Kline

Know Your Product — Really knowing your product is crucial. The role of a product marketing manager is incredibly important here — they should be the best allies of the product managers. They need to understand the key differentiators from the product point of view, focusing on features and the tangible benefits of the product, not just the brand.

The B2B marketing landscape is a complex and evolving space, with unique challenges and opportunities. Navigating it effectively requires well-thought-out strategies and insightful tactics. With a myriad of digital channels available, what are the best ways to connect, engage, and convert potential business clients? As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tomer Zuker.

Tomer Zuker is VP of Marketing at D-ID, the leading platform for the generation of Digital Humans. A strategic marketing expert with extensive experience in global growth and go-to-market strategies, he has led marketing initiatives at tech giants like AWS, Microsoft, and IBM. Tomer also co-founded the vibrant “Linkers” community on LinkedIn and co-hosts the Market Trip podcast.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share your personal backstory with us?

Certainly! I began my career in a tech role at a startup, specializing in quality assurance and data analytics which gave me a technical foundation. I then embarked on a long journey with Microsoft, where I had numerous roles including working as an account manager in sales. This was a very enlightening experience that allowed me to understand how customers think, and navigate backend processes in the sales cycle. It also provided me with valuable insights into the relationship between sales and other departments, especially marketing.

After some time in sales, I transitioned into product marketing and afterwards became a business group lead at Microsoft, managing marketing operations and leading a team. Eventually, I returned to sales as a partner account manager, representing Microsoft in Israel and working with multinational companies like HP, Lenovo, Samsung, Dell and others across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C segments.

My next role was with IBM where I worked as a marketing manager and then as a business unit manager in the cybersecurity domain, managing a team of sales, marketing and customer success personnel. Following that, I joined AWS as part of the EMEA partner marketing team, focusing on partner marketing operations in Israel. My responsibilities included developing the ecosystem from a marketing perspective, working with mature startups, unicorns, top tech companies, and global consulting firms like KPMG and Deloitte, as well as national system integrators and resellers to help customers transition to the AWS cloud. I also mentored entrepreneurs through the AWS accelerator program..

After spending almost 20 years in the corporate world, I decided to return to the startup scene, working at numerous successful startups, leading me to my current role as VP of Marketing at D-ID.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

As a young and eager marketing manager, I was determined to tackle every task, large and small, with enthusiasm. In theory, I had the right idea. But my manager at the time pulled me aside and said words I’ll never forget: “Time is your most precious asset.” He taught me the importance of dedicating my time to areas where I add significant value and delegating tasks that don’t require my specific skill set. This lesson is critical when working with a team and resonates even more in this era of generative AI. There are tasks that humans need to do, and there are tasks that can be quickly and cost-effectively handled with the help of technology.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

One of my favorite life lesson quotes is, “Your network is your net worth.” This became incredibly relevant to me early in my sales career. I joined a seasoned account manager at a large conference, someone who had been with the company for years and managed significant clients. Throughout the event, I noticed how existing and potential clients were drawn to her, engaging in conversations effortlessly. She knew almost all the participants by name, acted kindly yet professionally, advanced her goals, and made connections between people seamlessly. It was like watching an artist at work. I realized then that our professional network is an asset that needs to be developed and nurtured. It’s a talent and skill no less important than negotiation, presenting, or campaign management. This lesson has stayed with me, reminding me to always invest time in building and maintaining strong relationships within my professional network.

Can you share with us three strengths, skills, or characteristics that helped you to reach this place in your career? How can others actively build these areas within themselves?

Sales Background — Having a background in sales has been instrumental in my marketing career. Sales taught me the art of persuasion, understanding customer needs, and the importance of clear communication — skills that are directly transferable to marketing. To cultivate these skills, immerse yourself in customer interactions and practice active listening. Learn to read between the lines to gauge deeper customer motivations. Also, refine your communication skills through regular training and real-world practice. This foundation has not only helped me design effective marketing strategies but also to execute them with a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior.

Delegate — Transitioning from sales to marketing underscored the vital lesson of delegation for me. It’s essential to acknowledge that time is your most precious asset. Delegate tasks that do not fall within your core responsibilities or where you cannot add significant value to the organization. Safeguarding your time should be a priority. Learning to delegate effectively can free up your time for higher-value activities and foster team growth.

Curiosity — One of the most important traits critical to advancing your career is curiosity — especially about your industry. Make sure you like what you do and constantly work on expanding your knowledge. Read a lot — industry reports, articles, and books. Attend conferences, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, take courses. These habits I developed early in my career helped me craft a strong personal brand and differentiate myself from the crowd.

Which skills are you still trying to grow now?

Bureaucracy, honestly. I don’t like it, which is funny coming from someone who spent 20 years in large corporations. But I’m working on it! I’m trying to learn how to manage it more efficiently and find ways to delegate. It’s all about empowering the people around you.

Let’s talk about B2B marketing. Can you share some insights into how you perceive the current landscape of B2B marketing?

B2B marketing isn’t new; it’s been around for decades. I think the main shift over the past 15–20 years has been moving from traditional tactics to more detailed, data-driven approaches. With the evolution of digital marketing, data-driven strategies, and social selling — establishing relationships via LinkedIn, for example — the modern salesperson can increase their impact.

This shift has moved us from transactional marketing to “always-on” marketing. The emphasis is on ongoing engagement with prospects and customers. It’s not just about acquiring new customers anymore; it’s about nurturing existing relationships. Today, you can connect with customers all day long with relatively low effort, unlike 20 years ago when you could only meet new customers one-on-one or at events.

This kind of marketing requires a different skill set: you need to be more social and more data-driven.

How have recent market trends and changes influenced your approach to outperforming competitors?

The use of generative AI and its adoption has become a significant competitive edge. With AI, we can analyze data and generate content much faster and more efficiently, scaling our efforts at reduced costs. For example, in Q1, I was able to triple the amount of content we produced at D-ID.

Personalization and localization have also become crucial. Think about the impact of language. Now, we can create a high volume of personalized videos at scale in numerous languages within 24 hours. My team is doing that now, something that would have been prohibitively expensive just a year and a half ago. This ability to quickly and affordably produce personalized content is a game-changer.

B2B buying cycles can often be lengthy and complex. How do you maintain engagement and nurture leads throughout the various stages of the buyer’s journey?

Not all leads are created equally, so segmentation is crucial. Are these leads requiring high-touch treatment, or are they more suited to a low-touch approach? For small businesses, we might adopt a one-to-many strategy, while high-touch enterprise leads need a more personalized, one-on-one approach, possibly involving a sales executive. These fundamental questions guide our strategy.

Another critical factor is data. Managing the lifecycle of a prospect or buyer depends heavily on the data we collect. We need to gather as much information as possible to recognize the intent and address leads with relevant marketing touchpoints. For instance, we run multiple email marketing sequences tailored to the customer’s profile, transitioning them from trial users to paying customers and then nurturing them towards upselling, cross-selling, and expanding their use of our services.

Additionally, it’s essential to engage customers through multiple touchpoints. We aim to connect with them in various venues — product interactions, emails, communities, social media, trade shows, and podcasts. This multi-layered approach ensures we maintain a surrounding presence with our buyers.

Ask your teams: do we understand our customers’ preferred way of consuming content? Do they prefer written reports or videos? Understanding buyer behavior allows us to adjust to their expectations and manage a multi-touch program that meets those expectations effectively.

Personalization is gaining prominence in B2B marketing. What are some ways marketers can effectively leverage data to deliver personalized experiences?

Building off of what I mentioned earlier — we’re in the video business, and we use the D-ID platform to run highly personalized video campaigns, like our Christmas campaign from this year. These campaigns are tailored to the persona, language, and specific offers for each target audience, significantly impacting our outcomes. Leveraging data allows us to customize these experiences more precisely. By understanding our audience’s preferences and behaviors, we can create content that resonates on a personal level. This data-driven approach enables us to deliver more relevant and engaging experiences, ultimately driving better results in our marketing efforts.

ABM (account based marketing) has also gained traction for its personalized approach to targeting high-value accounts. What advice would you give to fellow B2B marketers looking to adopt this strategy?

My advice would be to have a strong alignment with your sales team. This is a prerequisite for running any ABM campaign. You need to work closely with sales to decide and agree on the targeted accounts, personas, and preferred messaging. Understanding the specific competitors around each account and mapping out all the stakeholders involved in the buying decision is essential.

For example, in one campaign for a huge customer — one of the biggest banks in the world — we mapped out a few hundred people involved in the buying decision. Some were decision-makers, others were influencers, but they were the only ones exposed to our campaigns. We created a very specific set of assets that ultimately contributed to their decision to purchase our product.

So, it all starts with sales alignment. It’s super important.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are 5 Tips for Your B2B Marketing Strategy to Help You Beat Competitors? Please share a story or example for each.

1. Know Your Product — Really knowing your product is crucial. The role of a product marketing manager is incredibly important here — they should be the best allies of the product managers. They need to understand the key differentiators from the product point of view, focusing on features and the tangible benefits of the product, not just the brand. For example, when we launched our latest AI tool, our product marketing team worked closely with the development team to highlight unique features that our competitors lacked, which became a major selling point in our campaigns.
2. Know Your Competitors — Invest in competitive intelligence. Understand their strengths and weaknesses through SWOT analysis, product testing, and customer reviews. Without this understanding, you can’t create an effective competitive strategy. Around 70% of the buying journey happens before a customer reaches a salesperson, so it’s vital to know your competitors’ strategies. For instance, we conduct regular competitive analysis at various levels, ensuring our marketing messages are grounded and free from fluff, resonating well with informed customers.
3. Define Your Unique Sales Proposition — Your unique sales proposition should leverage your competitive differentiators and tell a compelling story that sets you apart from competitors. This involves identifying “blue oceans” where you can differentiate yourself. It’s all about storytelling and messaging. For example, our AI-driven personalization feature was a key differentiator that we highlighted, which helped us tap into new markets and expand our reach effectively.
4. Deliver a Marketing Strategy That Leverages Your Unique Message — Choosing the right channels is essential. You can go head-to-head with competitors or shift your focus to less saturated verticals, industries, or markets. Establish a marketing program that leverages all the parameters you’ve identified. For instance, when we noticed intense competition in one market, we shifted our focus to a niche industry where our solution had unique advantages, allowing us to penetrate the market more effectively.
5. Optimize and Track Intelligence Constantly — In a dynamic market like AI solutions, you must stay aware of your competitors’ movements and always be a step ahead. This involves continuous tracking and adaptation. There’s a lot of “co-opetition” where partners can become competitors. For example, some of our partners could potentially develop similar AI solutions, so we track market behavior closely while aligning with our internal goals. This dual focus ensures we maintain our competitive advantage without losing sight of our strategic objectives.

How do you utilize data or AI to refine your B2B marketing approach, and what tools have been particularly impactful in gaining a competitive advantage?

I truly believe in a GenAI-first marketing approach. I preach it and I walk the talk. Anything our marketing team can do with GenAI tools, we’ll do with GenAI tools; otherwise, we’ll use traditional methods. We use AI for many things, but primarily for content creation. We map out the available tools in the industry, with D-ID being one of them. I allocate a budget to acquire these tools and train our team to use them effectively. This ongoing investment helps us produce content efficiently.

For us, using AI is fundamental. We’re an AI company, so integrating this technology into our operations is crucial. We’re producing marketing videos at a more rapid pace because we use AI tools for scripting, generating images, animating, adding sound, creating scenes, and telling stories. Some people might think that using AI can damage creativity, but we’ve seen — and studies show — that it actually enhances creativity. The combination of humans and AI yields the best results. It’s our responsibility to train ourselves in AI tools and methodologies to stay competitive and innovative.

Which digital channels have you found most effective in reaching your target audience, and how do you optimize your presence across these channels to outshine competitors?

LinkedIn is definitely the most effective digital channel for us as a B2B company. Our ICP is there, and the platform’s evolution allows us to tell our story more effectively. We use LinkedIn’s sales and marketing solutions as a core part of our stack, both for inbound and outbound efforts. It’s instrumental in hitting our target markets and personas.

We also use LinkedIn to track how customers are engaging with our platform, getting involved in posts and threads where people share their experiences. Our customers are proud of what they’re doing with D-ID, creating AI videos that tell their companies’ or personal stories. We strive to stay on top of this, reacting to posts and participating in discussions. We really prioritize giving a human touch to AI.

By humanizing D-ID and being active on LinkedIn, we build an emotional connection with our customers.

Are there any underrated skills or qualities that you encourage others not to overlook?

We talk a lot about hard skills and soft skills, but I think calling them “soft skills” is misleading. It implies they’re not important, but it’s actually the opposite. As we move into an AI-driven world, interpersonal skills are becoming the most important. The ability to collaborate with others, use imagination and creativity, and maintain cross-cultural awareness — these are skills where humans can really stand out compared to technology.

For example, take keyword research, which is a hard skill. ChatGPT can do this faster and often better than most people. If you rely solely on these hard skills, like keyword research, you’re going to face challenges. It’s crucial to rebrand yourself as a professional in the AI world by emphasizing interpersonal skills. They’re no longer “soft” skills — they’re essential skills.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

I would love to inspire a movement focused on leveraging AI for the good of humanity. By harnessing the power of AI for social good, we can make a real, positive impact on society, and I believe this movement can bring the most good for the greatest number of people. Personally, I’ve seen firsthand how technology can transform lives, and I am passionate about pushing these boundaries further to create a better world for all.

At D-ID, we are dedicated to using our technology for social impact campaigns, such as battling domestic violence, finding missing children, raising awareness of HIV, and teaching about history. For instance, in the “Listen to My Voice” project, we helped relay messages from victims of domestic violence who can no longer tell their own stories. Additionally, our partnership with the Holocaust education program “International March of the Living” brought to life heroes from the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to celebrate their bravery.

We’ve also extended our innovative use of AI in various awareness campaigns, including World Theater Day, Autism Spectrum Disorder Awareness, and Earth Day. We created specialized conversational AI agents that users could interact with face-to-face, providing tailored information, and engaging users in meaningful discussions about each cause.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

Wow, what a question. I’d have to go with Satya Nadella. I spent so many years at Microsoft in a different era. The company’s culture and strategy changed dramatically and is reflected in Microsoft’s leadership position in cloud computing and now with artificial intelligence. This is a fantastic case study. I think it would be a very interesting lunch.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.