New Research Reveals Breakdowns Between Buyers & Marketers Around Social, Content
- Written by Andrew Gaffney
- Published in Feature Articles
As marketers look for new ways to stretch their investments, new research shows there are some missed opportunities that could help improve conversion rates with prospective buyers. A new survey conducted by DemandGen Report revealed 
significant disconnects between the strategies of today’s marketers and the shifting behaviors of BtoB buyers.
The “Mapping Marketing to the Transforming Buying Process,” report, which was sponsored by Genius.com, surveyed over 70 BtoB marketers to determine how well marketers were keeping up with the changing influences and research patterns of buyers. The “Mapping Marketing” survey was a follow up to the “Transformation of the BtoB Buyer” survey, which DemandGen Report conducted in April 2010, and revealed a significant shift to buyers dictating the rules of engagement.
Uncovering several opportunities for marketers to improve early stage engagement with prospects, the data showed alignment breakdowns around social media, the use of content and measurement. For example:
- While only 10% of recent buyers said their initial engagement was from a cold call by a salesperson, 35% of marketers said their sales team contacted the prospect via a cold call;
- 93% of buyers said the solution provider they chose supplied ample content to navigate through each phase of the buying process; but only 50% of marketers said they are currently mapping content offers to the buyer’s information needs at different phases of the buying cycle;
- 65% of buyers indicated they used social media in their research and vendor selection process, yet 62% of marketers still DO NOT have budget for social media initiatives;
- Nearly 80% of buyers indicated “timeliness of response” was an influential factor in selecting their vendor; but only 50% of the marketers using social media are measuring the impact of their efforts.
“With buyers clearly stating they want to control the engagement process, it is even more imperative for marketers to have the right messaging on their website as well as in their outbound lead nurturing campaigns,” said Scott Mersy, VP of Marketing at Genius.com. “Those companies that are still relying on the sales team to bring in 1/3 of their new leads, are likely spending too much time dialing for dollars rather than reading and responding to the signals of viable, interested buyers.”
“It is no longer enough to have great product or even great content to support your value proposition,” said Mersy. “Marketers now need to have mechanisms in place—such as web forms to capture personal information-- once a prospect is engaged. Then, once they are engaged, marketers need to help nurture and move the prospect through the buying process. Finally, it is crucial to be able to identify qualified prospects and get them into the hands of the appropriate sales rep in a timely manner.”
DemandGen Report is currently hosting a webinar series titled “Marketing Misalignment,” providing deeper analysis of the two complementary surveys. Part 2 of the webinar series, which will look at ways marketers can improve their campaign ROI through better metrics, will be held on Wednesday, August 3, 2010 at 12 pm EST.