Enterprise Demand Generation: How Are You Doing?
There are a few B2B surveys and benchmarking studies that I refer to again and again … DemandGen Report’s Buyer Behavior Survey and Content Preferences Survey and the Content Marketing Institute’s Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends to name a few. There are some great studies out there focusing on content strategy (specifically) or buyer behavior, but nothing that really shines a light on how large companies run Demand Generation … with an emphasis on large.
That’s why ANNUITAS has launched a study aimed at gaining a better understanding of the Demand Generation strategies used by B2B enterprise organizations.
This survey will limit all respondents to B2B companies with $500M in revenue, which is unusual for a survey like this. When you dig deep into the demographics of most surveys of this nature, the lion’s share of respondents are from SMBs and startups. It’s not that there is not value in seeing how SMB’s run Demand Generation … a study focused on the unique (and wide-ranging) challenges of the SMB would also be fascinating … it’s that the challenges at the Enterprise level are typically under-represented in surveys like this. ANNUITAS wants to change this.
B2B marketers are a unique group who are continually looking to innovate in order to keep pace with the complexities and sophistication needed for today’s modern buyer. However, the reality in many organizations is that the approach to demand generation is often more tactical than strategic. The goal of this study is to get to a deeper understanding of the ‘how and why’ behind how B2B marketers execute demand generation.
Featuring questions covering a variety of B2B marketing topics, including content strategy, lead management, lead nurturing, buyer persona development, and the marketing technology stack the survey has already garnered interest from a variety of places. We have partnered with the forthcoming VB Intel (a division of VentureBeat) for the survey, and will be working with them to reveal the results when the survey is completed. The Content Marketing Institute has also partnered with us, as respondents will get a chance at a complimentary pass to Content Marketing World, the largest content marketing event on the planet, from September 8-11th in Cleveland, OH.
This year’s event features a keynote from Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey (House of Cards, American Beauty, The Usual Suspects) and speakers from SAP, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, GE, Progressive, EMC Corporation, Facebook, and more. “The importance of content marketing strategy has been gaining such incredible momentum over the past two years, and yet effectively matching content marketing strategy to B2B demand generation goals continues to be a challenge,” said Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute. “That’s why we are so interested in learning the results of the ANNUITAS survey, especially since it is focused so specifically on the enterprise.”
The research survey is targeted to those in the demand generation function in large, enterprise B2B organizations. Qualified survey respondents will receive a copy of the final report when released and be entered into a drawing for a free conference pass to the Content Marketing World. Take the survey here, and stay tuned to the blog as a source for up-to-date information about the survey and the findings.
Author: Jason Stewart @jstewart_1 VP Demand Generation, ANNUITAS
