B2B Marketers Falling Short in Demand Gen Best Practices

B2B enterprise marketers are falling short in demand generation best practices such as content marketing, buyer personas, and data analysis, according to a new study by Annuitas.

The study, which focused on marketers in the B2B enterprise space (companies with more than 2,000 employees and $250 million in annual revenue), reported nearly 45 percent of B2B marketers are not using buyer personas in demand gen programs and almost half are failing to align content to their buyer’s pain points.

When it comes to content marketing, 75 percent have a strategy in place, but are not applying all the best practices to address buyer’s needs. For example, more than 65 percent said they don’t create content that speaks to every member of the buying committee.

Despite the size of the businesses surveyed, only half had a dedicated demand generation department and just 13 percent said their marketing teams were effective in implementing demand gen strategies. About a quarter of the respondents said they don’t define the purchase process of the buyer and less than half put lead scoring value on their content based on where it falls in the purchase process.

“This is the second year we have conducted this survey and again we have discovered that enterprise-level companies are struggling to effectively use and apply demand generation strategies and technology,” said Carlos Hidalgo, CEO and Principal of ANNUITAS.

Content a Growing Influence on B2B buyers’ decisions

Development of targeted content for buyers is an essential component in today’s sales funnel. A Demand Gen study from March 2015 reported that 67 percent of B2B buyers rely more on content to research and make purchasing decisions than they did a year ago.

White papers, case studies, and e-books topped the list for the types of content most used. About 70 percent of buyers said they go to social media and peer recommendations for these resources.