B2B Survey: Online-Offline Mix Used to Corral Leads

As a B2B lead seeker, you may want to check out what's working for fellow marketers. According to a November survey by Eloqua, CMO.com and Software Advice consulting, B2B marketers are saying it takes a mix of tactics, digital and offline, to maximize lead capture. While nearly all B2B marketers in the survey reported maintaining e-mail lists and doing search engine optimization (SEO), most also reported experimenting with nearly every marketing tactic listed in the poll — from trade shows, to telemarketing, to social media ads, to behavioral re-targeting. Among the tactics best suited to high volumes, B2B marketers most frequently (34%) cited the work of third-party lead generators. Other trusted sources for maximizing lead generation included paid search advertising and e-mail marketing. But in-person marketing, such as trade shows and events, came in fourth, with 66% of B2B marketers saying such events brought in a high or medium quantity of leads. When it came to the quality of leads, in-house e-mail marketing and search engine optimization were favored, with 40% saying e-mail campaigns produced high-quality leads and 36% citing SEO as a high-quality lead source.  If you are disappointed in your social media marketing results, you are not alone. Only 10% in the survey reported getting a high quantity of leads through social media posting, and just 5% saw a high quantity of leads from social media ads. For more detail on the survey results, see the emarketer.com article athttp://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mix-of-Digital-Offline-Tactics-Yields-High-Quality-B2B-Leads/1009664

B2B Study: Organic Search Leads All Traffic Drivers

If b-to-b lead generation is on the agenda this year, consider the key findings of the "2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report" just released by Optify, a marketing software firm. First, you better not ignore the online megastar: Google was the single most important b-to-b referral source in 2012, responsible for 36% of all visits and the lion's share of organic traffic (over 90% in November last year). When it comes to traffic driving in general, organic search was tops, with 41% of all traffic, while paid search showed a constant decline in 2012, with more than 10% of b-to-b companies reporting discontinuation of paid search campaigns. Meanwhile, social media was barely on the radar in terms of traffic and lead gen, contributing on average less than 5% of all b-to-b traffic and leads. That said, it's interesting to note that while Facebook created the most visits from social media (54%), Twitter was the king of conversion (82% of social media leads). If conversion is the goal, bet on e-mail, however; e-mail ranked No. 1 for all traffic sources in terms of engagement and conversion, with an average 2.9% lead conversion rate. Thinking of a shift in your lead-gen budget based on those findings? Better move quickly for maximum impact. The study also uncovered clear seasonal trends, with the hottest traffic periods in the current quarter (January to March) and then the back-to-school/pre-holiday time frame (September to mid-November). For more highlights, go to http://www.optify.net/business-to-business-marketing/the-highlights-2012-b2b-marketing-benchmark-report