The Most Pressing Issues Facing B2B Marketers
B2B marketing is in a state of transformation. Just as CEOs and CFOs are held accountable for the accuracy of their public financial statements, Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are now also being held accountable for the dollars they spend. When they cannot demonstrate marketing ROI, the consequences can be swift and severe. Indeed, the average tenure of top CMOs is now less than 23 months. |
The growing emphasis on accountability presents some very critical and demanding challenges for B2 B marketing organizations to overcome:
1. Reaching the right prospects in a relevant and effective way.
Almost two thirds of B2B marketers agree that engaging key decision-makers is their top challenge, according to Forrester Research.2 But they can’t engage in an effective dialogue if they lack understanding of a prospective customer’s priorities and preferences. Unfortunately, critical customer data is often locked in silos throughout the organization. It must be unlocked and integrated in order to engage prospects in a relevant way, earn their trust and build relationships.
Consider one B2 B marketer’s insight into the linkage between relevant data and relevant communications
"We’ll do follow-up e-mails thanking them for coming to the event, or send them a white paper. If they click on the white paper, we may ask them if they’d like to see a demo. If they watch the demo, we could have a sales rep call them. We’ll say right away, ‘Can we help you?’ and they may say yes or no. But when they’re ready to buy, we’re back there right away. And I think that’s how customers want to buy, to be helped through the buying process, but not be badgered." − CMO, SourceFire |
2. Generating and managing qualified leads.
The sales funnel is fueled by leads. It depends on a cascade of conversions that must be managed effectively to generate business: from inquiry to lead to qualified lead to opportunity to sale. Yet, too few companies have defined, documented and agreed-upon marketing and sales processes. The result? Constant mistrust between sales and marketing units – and a failure to build a strong pipeline of opportunities.
The competitive consequences of such problems are all too clear. According to research conducted by CSO Insights,3 companies with mature, defined lead generation and management practices have a 9.3% percent higher sales quota achievement rate than companies that do not, a 16.5% percent higher conversion rate of leads to first calls and a 7% higher sales win rate. In other words, marketing can significantly and measurably drive sales results by rigorously managing the entire demand generation process.
3. Measuring the impact and demonstrating the business value of marketing.
Fifty-three percent of B2B marketers report that measuring results is a key issue, according to Forrester Research.2 Without credible measurement, performance improvement remains out of reach and marketing’s true impact remains in question.
Compounding this problem, marketers too often make the mistake of reporting the wrong numbers. For example, marketers who use e-mail develop very interesting e-mail response data. But measuring one channel in isolation is misleading. Not only are e-mail metrics such as opens and click-throughs irrelevant indicators of revenue generation, they fail to quantify the degree of influence a single touch has in the context of a long, multi-stage, considered purchase. Marketers need a comprehensive, comparative and integrated view of performance across channels if they are to accurately and effectively measure performance.
Marketers need a comprehensive, comparative and integrated view of performance across channels if they are to accurately and effectively measure performance.
4. Automating marketing processes.
Due to the creative nature of marketing, personnel often accounts for the majority of B2B marketing budgets. To fully stretch precious program funds and achieve scale, successful campaigns must be automated – especially in high growth companies that must continuously acquire new customers.
Visionary marketers are relying on marketing automation to establish consistency and predictability. They are improving lead management with programs for nurturing and scoring leads, managing events, up-selling and cross-selling additional offerings.
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