US-based lead management specialist Genius recently published the results of a survey in a report titled ‘B2B Marketing Skills Survey’. In this report, Genius takes a look at the evolving role of the B2B marketer.
It is evident that this role is evolving. It is even inevitable with the increasing focus on customer-centricity, the rise of social media, and the shift in buyer behavior. However, the economic changes along with the growing attention for the ROI of marketing, cause changes as well.
The survey, which marketing automation vendor Genius carried out in cooperation with BtoB Magazine, points out that B2B marketers generally make little use of tools to expand their reach and build (online) relationships with customers and prospects.
They rather turn to marketing analytics to measure their campaign results and the lifecycle and digital footprints of their customers, which translates into a growing adoption of marketing automation tools, amongst others. More than 1 out of 10 respondents spends over an hour a day on their marketing automation solution.
Marketing analytics tools are being used by 94% of the participants.
Blogs, SEO, marketing automation and social: where is inbound in B2B?
For B2B marketers, all of these tools (by the way, also think of CRM and other platforms) are important.
Thanks to analytics and marketing automation platforms, you can reach your clients and prospects in a more relevant and targeted way.
But unfortunately, it seems that many B2B marketers focus so much on these necessary activities, that they forget an another important dimension: the importance of inbound marketing, “being found”, and “personal” relationships in the digital world.
For instance, only half of the participating B2B marketers are blogging, 32% don’t even make use of search engine optimization, 25% don’t use LinkedIn, 42% don’t use Facebook, 38% don’t use Google AdWords, and 49% don’t use Twitter.
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