…And It’s Called ROI.
SalesStaff put out a great article highlighting a recent report that surveyed more than 600 United States digital marketers in both the B2B and B2C space. If you haven’t already, give the report a read. It’s filled with excellent nuggets of information, like:
- Lead generation is still cited by B2B marketing pros as their primary marketing objective
- B2B marketers use marketing automation at a greater rate than B2C marketers (65% vs 55%)
- Both B2B and B2C marketers agree that video is the most effective tactic
- 32% of B2B marketers are not sure what digital marketing tactic is their primary revenue generator…
…Tire Screech.
Hold up. Did I just read that correctly? As of February 2015, almost one out of every three B2B marketers (32%) doesn’t know which of their digital marketing tactics is the primary revenue generator. B2B marketers: when asked which digital marketing tactic is your biggest revenue generator—email, SEO, paid search, social media, display— “Not sure” is not a tactic, so it certainly shouldn’t be your answer to that question.
Misconceptions About Digital Marketing Tactics
Misunderstandings about which digital tactics offer the best ROI are common.
For instance, while social media is popular, it doesn’t always yield the highest returns.
The effectiveness of a tactic often hinges on the industry and specific audience.
Research thoroughly to decide which tactics align best with your goals.
So what does this tell us? The #1 challenge for B2B marketers in 2015 and for the foreseeable future is proving ROI. The article also contends that generating and converting leads is as much a priority as ever, but our goal needs to be to prove that those leads were generated and guided down the sales channel through specific digital marketing tactics (email, Search Engine Marketing, display ads, and so on.)
Here are a few tactics you can use as B2B marketers to prove ROI:
- Invest in sophisticated marketing automation platforms and continually measure your results as part of your process.
- Include metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and customer lifetime value (CLV) when assessing your marketing efforts. These metrics offer insights into how well your automation drives profitable growth.
- Buy media that is easily trackable, and track everything! (Include tracking codes and numbers wherever possible)
- Before starting a campaign, set objectives and plan how you will track ROI prior to the launch.
- Set a timeline for reporting, and stick to it.
For more insights from the report, click here to read the full article!
