Nearly half (45.4%) of B2B marketers plan to increase spending on lead-generation programs in the second half of 2008
According to a BtoB magazine survey, nearly half (45.4%) of B2B marketers plan to increase spending on lead-generation programs in the second half of 2008. “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%).
According to the survey, even though the 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.”
This is a very interesting survey. We often find that a few simple suggestions to our Lead Buyers in terms of Sales Approach can make all the difference in the world. For many companies, it is not about lead quality, as much as it is about the quality of their Companies Sales Cycle.
It’s not a surprise since the Sponsored Links in the major Search Engines are all crowded by few Nationwide corporates. They will continue spending more in the lead-gen space because they have no choice. The small companies will become frequent users of the Lead Exchanges. As I mentioned in my previous post as well (Lead generation – an added value) they can’t afford anymore spending on PPC, it’s just becoming too competitive and they realize the tremendous business they can get by buying the exact lead they want for the price they can afford.
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