Holger Schulze and the Everything Technology Marketing blog conducted a survey of B2B marketers in the B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn.
I asked Troy Burk, CEO of Right On Interactive – a marketing automation platform that’s been identified as a leader in the industry – to provide feedback on the survey results.
The survey was nicely done and provides some good metrics on how a subset of B2B marketers are leveraging marketing automation. Kudos to Holger and the team that pulled this together. Of the 909 responses, the majority of the responders were from software, high tech and marketing industries with fewer than 100 employees. For companies that fall into this category we have seen similar trends, obstacles, and goals. These companies are working hard to acquire new customers, as fast as possible, with a limited budget in which to work. Most are focused on lead generation, cost is an important factor, and ROI measurement unfortunately is based campaign response (opens and click-thrus).
Marketing Automation done right equals greater financial return, more engaged relationships, improved internal efficiency, and creating a more relevant and rewarding customer experience.
Additionally, Troy commented that while the recipients spoke of budget throughout the survey but over half, 57%, measured effectiveness by open and click through rates. Concurrently, 37% said that budget was the biggest constraint and most hoped for more inexpensive solutions. It begs the question of whether or not marketers are actually measuring their marketing automation platform correctly. You shouldn’t be measuring any marketing platform based on cost… you should be measuring your marketing automation investment based on the returns!
It’s a murky bottom line: Recipients want more leads, an inexpensive marketing automation solution, with a flat or declining budget for marketing automation. And they measure success on open and click-thru rates.
Related Martech Zone Content
