Email is by far the most-utilized channel for demand generation — nothing else even comes close. But B2B brands may have to do some fine-tuning given the challenges they face, judging by The State Of Demand Generation, a study from HIPB2B and Ascend2.
Of the B2B marketers polled, 25% cite email as their primary channel. And most use it to some degree:
The top primary channels are:
And the top secondary channels:
Moreover, email also tops the sources from which brands now capture customer data:
That doesn’t mean brands are succeeding with their overall programs.
Only 24% rate themselves as very successful at meeting the goals of their demand-generation program. Another 61% are somewhat effective, and 15% are unsuccessful, with 4% saying they are very much so.
Their challenges include:
What’s more, while all marketers who have a unified view of the customer report demand-generation success, only 35% have such a view. In addition, 26% lack one, while 20% are planning to achieve one in the next 12 months, and 19% are unsure.
Overall, 75% need to generate more leads in the year ahead to achieve their goals. Here are their objectives for next 12 months:
Those are some tall orders: Perhaps this is why 58% are increasing their demand generation for the coming year, versus 14% who are decreasing it and 28% who are staying the same.
In the past year, 60% increased the leads generated, 27% stayed the same and 11% saw a decrease.
Here are the strategies they are now executing:
It's interesting to note that 49% of brands with successful demand-gen programs are utilizing an omnichannel approach, compared to 25% without them. And 99% of omnichannel users report some level of success with their demand-gen programs. They say:
Meanwhile, the money for increasing omnichannel budgets is coming from:
What is the state of the respondents' marketing stacks? They are:
Whatever their state, martech stacks need to improve in these areas:
Finally, here are the most effective KPIs for measuring demand-generation performance:
Of the marketing leaders who responded, only 37% see revenue as a most effective KPI.
Working with HIPB2B, a demand-generation provider, Ascend2 surveyed 183 B2B marketing professionals. Of these, 41% worked in firms with more than 1,000 employees, 16% in those with 500 to 1,000 employees and 43% in companies with 50 to 500 staffers.
In addition, 25% were at the owner/partner/C-level in their firms, while 45% were at the vice president/director/manager level and 30% were non-management professionals.