Lead Generation Is the Top Objective for 54% of B2B Digital Marketing Programs

A recent survey from Webmarketing123 found that generating leads is the top objective for more than half of B2B digital marketing programs. The survey also found that the majority of digital marketers measure the effectiveness of SEO programs by overall volume of traffic.

According to the “State of Digital Marketing: 2012 Report,” 54 percent of B2B digital marketing programs said that generating leads is their top objective, followed by 28 percent who said increasing awareness is their top objective, and 10 percent who said increasing sales is their top objective.

“While lead generation is by far the most common objective for digital marketing campaigns, brand and product awareness has nearly doubled in importance since last year. as budgets continue to grow, marketers are expanding their focus to include earlier stages in the sales cycle,” according to Webmarketing123.

Meanwhile, the study found that 33 percent of B2C digital marketing programs said that increasing awareness is their top objective, followed by 26 percent who pointed to increasing sales and 22 percent who said generating leads.

Webmarketing123 notes that last year, increasing sales was the top priority for B2C online campaigns.

In response to the question “Which makes the biggest impact on lead generation?” 59 percent of B2B marketers said SEO, followed by 21 percent who said social media and 20 percent who said PPC. The response for social media is nearly 50 percent larger than it was last year.

For B2C marketers, 49 percent said SEO had the biggest impact on lead generation, followed by 26 percent who said PPC and 25 percent who said social media.

Regarding SEO specifically, 51 percent of respondents said they measure the effectiveness of SEO programs by the overall volume of traffic, followed by 49 percent who said the volume of organic traffic, 47 percent who said the number of keywords on page one, 36 percent who said the number of qualified leads, 34 percent who said the leads or sales attributable to organic search, and 10 percent who said they weren’t sure what to measure.

More than 3 in 10 respondents to the survey said the difficulty with measuring SEO results was their biggest frustration with SEO, while 7 in 10 said they are unable to accurately attribute leads or sales to organic search, and 1 in 10 said they have no measurement system in place.

Webmarketing123 also found that satisfaction with SEO, PPC and social media efforts are notably higher when working with agencies rather than tending to those areas in-house.

Facebook generated leads for 39 percent of B2B marketers, while 44 percent generated leads thanks to LinkedIn. Facebook generated leads for 67 percent of B2C marketers, while Twitter generated leads for 43 percent of them.

One major challenge for marketers when it comes to social media is attributing sales or deals specifically to social media marketing, with 4 in 10 respondents noting this issue.

Sources:

http://go.webmarketing123.com/rs/webmarketing123/images/DMR%202012%20FINAL.pdf