SnapApp's new Campaign Confidence Gap Report reports challenges with traditional B2B marketing campaigns, particularly with how bullish marketers feel about using non-integrated techniques. In fact the study found that 82% of B2B marketers report feeling "not very" or only "somewhat" confident in their traditional marketing strategies.
With only 18% of B2B marketers "extremely confident" about their work, the Campaign Confidence Gap Report identifies four major challenges for B2B marketing:
- Identifying new leads
- Creating and sourcing content offers to support campaigns
- Scaling leads to make sales targets
- Developing compelling calls to action
The study defines a content-enabled campaign as essentially a campaign including conversational or interactive marketing, rather than one that simply offers PDF files in exchange for lead generation input. A content-enabled campaign is designed to inform and also to capture individual responses. Content-enabled marketing uses empathy, an approach where marketers talk with customers instead of just advertising, and where companies try to match the passions and concerns of a customer base.
"B2B Marketers have fallen into a 'lead-gated PDF rut,'focusing too much on creating static eBooks, case studies and white papers to drive leads into the funnel," says Aaron Dun, Senior Vice President of Marketing for SnapApp. To break through, I see marketers getting outside of their comfort zones in 2017 and focusing on developing content experiences that facilitate more meaningful and engaging conversations with prospects."
The study also spends time looking at results, showing how content-enabled campaigns can provide benchmarking data and address pain points. The company provides analysis of how content-enabled campaigns can improve metrics like open rates and click-through rates. SnapApp researchers defined common customer goals for new campaigns including:
- Capture more leads - 74%
- Move prospects through the funnel - 68%
- Educate our audience - 68%
- Specifically convert MQL to SQL - 31%
- Accelerate deal velocity - 26%
In continuing to address a confidence gap when it comes to B2B marketing, the SnapApp research team showed how the majority of surveyed respondents are already thinking about how to integrate content in new ways, and even using multi-channel campaigns, while many are still not entirely confident of their campaign designs. The study also points out that content for content's sake is not innately useful in a campaign. In order to be effective, good content has to be based on an approach that adopts the potential customer's way of thinking, that meets the prospect where they are and leads them toward solutions for their problems.
Study writers identify the biggest challenges with the campaigns being used today. They talk about identifying new leads, scaling leads appropriately, and developing great calls to action that really reach audiences. Engagement with social media, budgeting that helps marketing campaigns work and the effective use of lead generation forms, as well as the availability or lack of key business intelligence data were also critical success factors.
Other results from the study include:
- Many marketers also struggle to balance a mix of short form and long form content, while nearly one fifth of respondents struggled with how to target content.
- 1/3 of respondents reported trying to improve calls to action to make them more effective.
- 66% of those adding a content-enabled campaign generated greater top-of-funnel lead generation
- 37% improved conversion rates with content
- 34% reported a higher quality of leads
- 22% improved validation and sales enablement metrics
According to the SnapApp researchers good initial content helps potential leads to essentially pre-qualify themselves early in the process, by answering questions and creating a closer bond between potential customers and marketers. Download the study to learn more about the use of new content campaigns to drive better results in your B2B marketing campaigns.