B2B Sales Pros Not Satisfied with Content in Campaigns
RESEARCH BRIEF FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH
According to a survey from Corporate Visions, 80% of B2B marketing and sales professionals say their demand generation campaigns are ineffective to semi-ineffective, Among those, content is the biggest challenge. 37% say the single most important factor hampering successful demand generation campaigns is “… (it) isn’t engaging or provocative,” while 31% cite a lack of sales and marketing alignment, and 12% cite budget constraints.
| Reasons For Ineffective Demand Generation Campaigns (Of Those Responding Ineffective) | |
| Reason | % of Respondents |
| Content isn’t engaging or provocative | 37% |
| Lack of marketing/sales alignment | 31 |
| Budget constraints | 12 |
| Not enough content | 9 |
| Lack of executive buy-in | 8 |
| Source: Corporate Visions, July 2012 | |
Moreover, campaign messaging lacks a customer focus, says the report. 60% of B2B marketing and sales professionals say their organization’s demand generation campaigns focus solely on their own company’s products, features, and services, rather than focusing on their customers’ pain points.
As a result, nearly two-thirds (65%) of sales-specific respondents say their sales teams use less than one-half of the demand generation content their marketing department produces.
Tim Riesterer, chief strategy and marketing officer for Corporate Visions, concludes that “… survey results… show us that organizations are facing serious challenges when it comes to creating and executing effective demand generation campaigns… creating engaging content and developing messages that clearly address customer pain points… “
About the data: Findings are from Corporate Visions’ Q2 2012 Sales and Marketing Messaging Report, based on a poll of more than 440 B2B salespeople and marketers in the second quarter of 2012.
Notes from Christina: If you have an internal sales team that interacts well with your customers you are doing yourself a disservice by creating and executing programs and marketing campaigns without their input. Although it’s often a hard tablet to swallow, a savvy internal sales team will know more than anyone in your business about the nuts and bulbs of your brand. Let them participate and soak in the success that will surely follow. Let’s be clear, your internal sales team isn’t always packaged as such – it can be your employees on the floor everyday, staff directly interacting with customers, your volunteers and even your board of directors.
