The most challenging obstacles facing lead generation success and how SMB and enterprise marketers plan to overcome them in the year ahead.

2014 Lead GenerationBenchmark Survey:Trends by Company Size

Research provided by Marketing Advocate in partnership with Ascend2

Lead Generation Benchmark Survey: Trends by Company SizeResearch conducted by Marketing Advocate in partnership with Ascend2.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. You may adapt, copy, distribute and transmit this work. However, you must attribute the work as produced by Ascend2 and its Research Partners but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work. You may not use this work for commercial purposes.

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Table of Contents

Nothing pumps new life into sales like lead generation 4Resources used for lead generation campaigns 5Most important lead generation objectives 6Rating the success of your lead generation strategy 7Lead generation’s most challenging obstacles 8Most effective lead generation tactics used 9Most difficult lead generation tactics to execute 10Types of sales cycles and number of decision-makers 11Marketing software usage for lead generation purposes 12Lead segmentation fields in marketing databases 13Research methodologies and survey demographics 15About Marketing Advocate 17About Ascend2 18

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Nothing pumps new life into sales like lead generationLead generation may be the lifeblood of sales, but this research report reveals a serious problem; only 8% of respondents rated their lead generation strategy as “very successful” in achieving their important objectives.

Which led us to this one question...

As a marketer, what are the most challenging obstacles to your lead generation success in the coming year, and how do your SMB and Enterprise peers plan to overcome them? To find out, Marketing Advocate (in partnership with Ascend2) fielded the Lead Generation Benchmark Survey, completing interviews with 445 business leaders and marketing practitioners from around the world. This insightful report is full of graphs, charts, and comparison statistics that contrasts the strategies, practices, and trends of large enterprise organizations to their SMB counterparts to determine which marketing mix is used to develop the highest quality lead generation.

Please know that this exclusive research has been produced for your use. Put it to work in your own marketing strategy planning and presentation materials. Clip the charts and blog about them online, or socialize the findings via your social media channels. Please use and share this research credited as published.

Lastly, we thank the marketing professionals who shared their opinions and insights. We appreciate your time.Enjoy!

Paying it forward,Courtney WileyVice President, MarketingMarketing Advocate

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About two-thirds of enterprise organizations outsource all or part of lead generation campaigns, gaining higher levels of expertise and performance, compared to a minority of SMBs.

Marketing Advocate Tip

How can you generate high-octane channel demand generation in 2014? Combining outsource and in-house resources is key.

The Marketing Advocate Success In 6 program includes:1) Partner Recruiting2) Partner Activation3) OEM-led Demand Gen4) Partner-led Demand Gen5) CRM/PRM Integration6) Branded + Content Marketing

Enablement

Download the free infographic for more details.

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Improving the quality and increasing the quantity of leads generated are top objectives for companies of all sizes.

Marketing Advocate Tip

Increase the quality of leads generated with a high-quality lead nurturing campaign.

Here are three tips from our Top Ten Best Practices list:Tip #1: Select asset types that speak to the specific stage of the buyer’s journeyTip #2: Don’t over email. At a maximum, send an average of 9-12 emails per quarterTip #3: Make sure each call-to-action is clear and concise

Get tips 4-10 here.

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Mediocrity best describes lead generation success for about eight out of ten companies. 12% of enterprises are very successful versus 15% of not successful SMBs.

“Adequacy is the enemy of excellence.”

Peter Drucker

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Lack of in-house resources for creating original and compelling content may be the weak link in an otherwise effective lead generation strategy, particularly for SMBs.

Marketing Advocate Tip

Yes, content is king. So how can you be king? Here are the five stages in the buyer’s journey and the content needs associated:

Stage 1: Unqualified SuspectNeed – brand awarenessStage 2: SuspectNeed – educational toolsStage 3: MQLNeed – solutions contentStage 4: SAL/SQLNeed --- targeted solutions contentStage 5: Customer!Need: commitment to their success

Download the complete infographic.

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Email marketing and Content marketing are still the top performers for companies of all sizes, while direct cost tactics like paid search and telemarketing are preferred by enterprise size companies.

Quick Tip

Here are a few email marketing rules you simply have to implement today:

1) Always take into account local time when sending emails.

2) Never be verbose in email copy. Keep your body copy to 145 words or less.

3) Always keep your email subject line to 50 characters or less.

4) Never send more than one email to your recipients per day.

For the entire list of email rules, visit our Resource Center.

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The two most difficult lead generation tactics (social media marketing and content marketing) are completely reliant on each other. Without one, the other would not succeed.

Marketing Advocate Tip

What are the channel marketing technology trends for 2014?

Listen to one industry expert discuss:1) What’s the next generation

technology that I should look to invest in to set my firm up for success?

2) To what trends of channel demand generation should I pay attention?

3) How can I increase the quality of my demand gen efforts?

Listen to this two-minute Skype interview.

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Leads generated in a long and complex sales cycles require nurturing to build relationships with multiple decision-makers, a challenge more likely to be faced by enterprise companies.

Marketing Advocate Tip

The free whitepaper Lead Nurturing Guide: 7 Rules for Increasing Qualified Leads offers these best-practice guidelines:

#1: Educate prospects throughout the buyer’s journey#2: Automate lead nurturing#3: Customize your email campaigns#4: Implement multi-touch marketing#5: Drive prospects to customized microsites#6: Implement lead scoring#7: Measure your nurturing campaigns

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While enterprises and SMBs use marketing software to a similar extent, enterprise marketing operations are more complex, often supporting the needs of channel partners.

Marketing Advocate Tip

In your day-to-day prospecting activities, do you subscribe to a “one size fits all” or “spray and pray” methodology?

To extend beyond unsolicited email and cold calling to a truly integrated lead-to-revenue process, your business could benefit from Through-Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA) software.

Successful TPMA software helps to develop quality demand generation, convert prospects, and speed the conversion velocity of leads.

Download this whitepaper to learn more:5 Signs You Need Through-Partner Marketing Automation

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Without lead segmentation, campaign targeting and relevancy are diminished. Enterprises are twice as likely to have a comprehensive set of segmentation fields as SMBs.

Marketing Advocate Tip

Your database is the foundation for all of your marketing.

The free whitepaper 4 Steps to Building Your Ultimate Contact List gives these four steps to building your ultimate database:

#1: Know your buyer#2: Augment, append, Acquire#3: Segment#4: Select the right partner

Download your complimentary copy to read more.

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Notes

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Research methodologies

Surveys are conducted online from a panel of more than 50,000 Ascend2 research subscribers representing a range of marketing, sales and leadership roles, company types, sizes and geographic regions.

The questionnaire used is standardized to incorporate our methodologies across all studies while maintaining our proven 3-Minute Survey format. Survey findings are examined in a quantitative context by experienced analysts and reported objectively.

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Survey demographics

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About Marketing Advocate

Marketing Advocate accelerates revenue growth through the channel with its Through-Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA) software. The company's industry-leading TPMA solution drives effective B2B channel marketing for many of the world's largest brands, including HP, IBM, Microsoft, and NetApp. By maximizing lead efficiency, generating sales-ready leads, and building pipeline, Marketing Advocate helps global organizations turn channel marketing into a revenue driver. The company was recently recognized as a 2013 Gartner “Cool Vendor” and showcased as a corporation that is innovating sales and marketing techniques to help global IT providers go to market more effectively. For more information, visit MarketingAdvocate.com

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About Ascend2

Marketing software firms and marketing agencies partner with Ascend2 for reliable research-based demand generation. Our integrated research, content creation and demand generation programs are transparent – putting the spotlight on your brand and the interests of your audience. Learn more at www.Ascend2.com

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Corporate HeadquartersCenterville, MA 02632(508) 775.9064 +1 (855) 623.1356www.MarketingAdvocate.com

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