Some 3 in 10 (31% of) B2B marketers are aiming to increase their revenue by more than 20% this year, with many marketing teams stepping up their quotas for opportunities generated and revenue generated. This is according to the 2022 Demand Generation Benchmark Survey [download page] from Demand Gen Report and ON24.
The report sees the goal of increasing revenue by more than 20% this year as a sign of their confidence in their demand gen strategies, as only a year ago the plurality of respondents was shooting to increase their revenue by 1-10%. To better their chances of achieving their revenue goals, the more than 100 B2B marketing practitioners surveyed say their top demand gen goals include improving conversion rates/campaign results (38%), generating increased lead volume (34%) and focusing on lead quality over quantity (30%).
In order to achieve these demand gen goals, respondents have set out specific priorities. The most cited priority for this purpose is to better align marketing and sales departments around go-to-market initiatives (42%). This may present a particular challenge considering recent research from Cooper and Outfunnel that shows only 4 in 10 senior-level B2B sales and marketing leaders were able to rate their organizations’ sales and marketing alignment as very good or excellent.
A full 4 in 10 respondents are also making nurturing leads to avoid missed opportunities a prerogative, while others are prioritizing increasing conversion rates on MQLs to opportunities (38%) and better measuring the ROI of their demand gen initiatives (36%).
In terms of measuring campaign attribution and influence, about half (49%) are already actively measuring campaign attribution and influence, while more than one-third (37%) plan to start doing so in the next 12 months. However, about 1 in 10 (8%) say they don’t plan to measure campaign attribution and influence within the next year.
Tools and Tactics Being Tested or Deployed This Year
Two-fifths (39%) of B2B marketers surveyed are planning to test marketing automation this year. Research from last year shows that many B2B marketers are already using technology such as marketing automation scoring to qualify leads.
This more recent survey also indicates that respondents are planning to either test or deploy social analytics (32%), ABM (32%), intent/signal data (31%) and multi-channel lead nurturing. Fewer plan to test out retargeting (22%) and competitive intelligence/tracking (22%).
The full report can be found here.
About the Data: Findings are based on a survey of 116 B2B marketing practitioners, almost half (47%) of whom work in the software/technology industry.
