The core goal of any B2B marketing has to be to generate leads and to deliver a positive return on investment.
Often though it has been difficult to measure revenue impact. That is until now.
B2B Marketing has changed and now marketers can use sophisticated data analytics, marketing automation alongside their content Marketing and digital Marketing to adjust and adapt their marketing. Importantly digital marketing can be measured.
Return on investment (ROI) is no longer a loose term it is a real and viable objective.
#1 – B2B MARKETING CHALLENGES
- According to B2B International (2014), marketing campaigns utilising traditional channels will continue to decline as B2B marketers continue to redirect their funds towards digital channels. By 2017, over 50% of B2B marketing spend will be allocated to these channels.
- Search engine results are crucial for building brand awareness among B2B buyers: 83% of them go online to find their supplier and 51% of them start their online search by going to search engines. Out of those, 77% use Google.
- Due to faster internet and the proliferation of mobile devices, digital marketing expenditure is increasing, “particularly across mobile and social media platforms, with this particular sector of the B2B marketing industry observing year-on-year double-digit growth between 2009 and 2013” (Business Wire, 2014).
- 61% of businesses in the UK cite countering the competition as one of their biggest challenges yet just 37% of respondents carry out competitor analysis benchmarking.
- 57% admit they are struggling to build an effective communications strategy and a strong brand, yet only 45% have processes in place to measure the strength of their brand.
- 81% of marketers said that they struggle to create appealing content (Research by Starfleet Media and Integrated Marketing Summit)
- 50% of B2B marketers have difficulty proving ROI on their social media spend (CircleResearch)
- Only 35% of B2B marketers have a content marketing strategy (Content Marketing Institute.com)
Working with Circle Research and The Marketing Society, Omobono conducted the study in which 115 business marketers were asked in depth questions about their marketing objectives and activities.
