B2B brands are better than average at applying marketing automation to reach their business goals, judging by The State of Marketing Automation, New Research for the B2B Marketer, a study by Ascend2 and Act-On.
Of those polled, 62% are somewhat successful, while 22% best in class and 16% are unsuccessful. In contrast, only 17% of marketers in general see themselves as best in class.
Moreover, B2B firms are at least slightly more integrated than marketers in general, with 10% saying they are entirely there, 28% saying they are mostly there, and 39% somewhat so, while 23% say not at all. In comparison, 7% of businesses overall are entirely integrated, with 29% saying mostly, 39% somewhat and 25% not at all.
But only 20% of B2B brands feel they are using their automation tools to their fullest potential, versus 59% who say no and 21% who aren’t sure.
The biggest obstacles are:
Why do B2B brands implement marketing automation? The reasons are:
Here are the areas where they currently utilize marketing automation:
These are largely in line with general results. But there are some differences—for example, 71% of B2B marketers employ automation for email marketing, versus 65% in general.
In the next 12 months, B2B marketers plan to implement automation in these areas:
How do B2B companies amplify their marketing automation tools? Here’s what works:
Ascend2 and Act-On surveyed 163 B2B marketing professionals, 18% working in companies with more than 500 employees 24% in firms with 50 to 500 and 58% in those with fewer than 50.