Nearly half (45.4%) of B2B marketers plan to increase spending on lead-generation programs in the second half of 2008, according to a recent survey of marketers by BtoB magazine and the Sales Lead Management Association.
Just 10.3% of marketers say they plan to spend less on lead-gen efforts in the second half of the year.
The online survey of 273 corporate marketers, conducted in May, also found that of those planning to increase spending the majority (39.4%) plan an increase of 11-20%.
Half (49.9%) of marketers say increasing lead-generation activities is their top priority, followed by proving the ROI of marketing expenditures (27.1%):
Asked what percentage of their marketing budget will be spent on lead gen, the largest proportion (28.6%) say 11-25% will be:
Though budgets for lead-gen programs are rising, the biggest obstacles for increasing spend on such programs, the majority of respondents (47.2%) reported, was that they do not have reports to show the ROI for what they are spending.
Moreover, 41.8% cited sales management lack of follow-up impeding their ability to show ROI; and 11% said the biggest obstacle was their agency’s not knowing how to prove ROI.
More charts available from BtoB as part of its lead-gen guide.