B2B Marketers Bank on Email for Lead Gen and ROI

 

With 2017 well under way, email is continuing to prove its mettle for B2B marketers.

According to the latest State of B2B Digital Marketing Report from Demand Wave, email remains #1 on the list of top lead generation marketing channels, with 73% of U.S. B2B marketers surveyed saying that email drives the most leads for them. (Organic search comes in second, followed by paid search.)

Even more significantly, email is also positioned as the leading marketing channel for revenue generation, with 63% of B2B marketers calling it their top revenue-generating channel. On the flip side, social media did not score as well with B2B marketers – just over half (55%) rated social as a lead driver, while only 37% said it was a revenue generator.

As far as the type of content B2B marketers are relying on to drive engagement, topping the list are blogs and videos; each being used by 82% of responders. Interestingly, when it comes to the content that is generating the most leads and revenue, whitepapers and webinars emerged as the most successful content types.

Email Is Alive and Thriving

Despite long-standing rumors of email’s demise, it continues to thrive. What is behind its success? For starters, today’s B2B email marketers are advancing their skills. They are becoming more sophisticated, with 85% of those surveyed proclaiming they have an email nurture program for leads in place. Also, more than two-thirds have a marketing automation system in place.

Another reason email continues to reign supreme is that it has evolved just as digital marketing has evolved--in lock step with the many forms of digital transformation that pervade the business world today. And, one of its greatest strengths is that it serves as a unique identifier for an organization’s target customers and a constant thread in online activities such as ecommerce and social media. As a result, it provides a key to tracking customers’ actions throughout their buying journeys, and empowers marketers to build trust and strong relationships – an essential requirement for landing digitally-savvy customers these days.

Of course, email must be targeted correctly to be effective, and that means that the data that fuels customer acquisition campaigns should be licensed from a reputable vendor in order to be successful in turning prospects into customers.

The bottom line is that the numbers don’t lie: email continues to offer the highest return-on-investment for B2B marketers: the Direct Marketing Association estimates that email marketing delivers an ROI of 3,800%! Those are numbers that any B2B marketer can bank on.

 

 

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Outward Media’s accurate, targeted email data can help you achieve better email marketing ROI, and convert more prospects into customers. Ask us how. Also, take a look at our complimentary new e-book on building a successful B2B email marketing database.