According to the 2016 State of Lead Generation survey from Ascend2, improving the quality of leads generated is a top priority for 77% of marketing influencers. The quality of leads handed off to sales significantly impacts an organization’s ability to achieve the next most important goal of acquiring new customers. The average of all market segments responding to the survey finds that the most important goals in lead generation strategy are:

• Improving quality of leads   77%
• Acquiring new customers   50%
• Increasing quantity of leads   41%
• Measuring performance/ROI   32%
• Automating marketing process   29%
• Converting website visitors to leads   25%
• Reducing the cost to acquire leads   24%

The data in the Summary Report edition of the study is representative of B2B and B2B companies consisting of 36% more than 500 employees, 40% 50 to 500 employees, and fewer than 50 employees, 24%. 39% of marketing influencers describe their organization’s lead generation strategy as best-in-class, while another 21% consider it comparatively unsuccessful at achieving important goals: Lead Generation StrategyAchievement of Goals% of Respondents Very successful 39% Somewhat successful 40 Somewhat unsuccessful (below average) 20 Very unsuccessful 1 Source: Ascend2, August 2016 The most important goal for lead generation, improving the quality of leads, is also the most significant barrier to success. This confirms that the development of an effective lead generation strategy must focus on this critical issue, says the report. Goals and Barriers for Lead Generation (% of Respondents)Goal/BarrierMost Important GoalMost Significant Barrier Improving Lead Quality 77% 53% Acquiring new customers 50 24 Improving quantity of leads 41 36 Measuring lead performance 32 34 Automating marketing 29 32 Converting web visitors to leads 25 37 Reducing cost of lead acquisition 24 30 Source: Ascend2, August 2016 The report says that an 89% majority believe the effectiveness of lead generation is increasing, while the remaining 11% continue to struggle with lead generation effectiveness. When prioritizing tactics for an effective lead generation strategy, a balance must be struck between tactical effectiveness and executional difficulty, as a tactic will succeed only if resources are available to execute it effectively, concludes the report summary. Most effective tactic vs. Most difficult to Execute (% of Respondents)TacticMost EffectiveMost Difficult Email marketing 45% 28% Content marketing 45 47 Social media marketing 39 44 Landing page optimization 38 34 Search engine optimization 33 36 Source: Ascend2, August 2016 For additional information from Ascend2, please visit here.