Creating an Effective Multichannel Marketing Strategy Remains the Biggest Challenge for B2B Marketers
Only a quarter of B2B marketers say their multichannel marketing strategy is mostly or fully automated.
- B2B marketers use various data sources and channels to connect with potential customers and grow business.
- But how successful are they in executing a multichannel marketing approach, and where are the growth opportunities? This study by Ascend2 and ZoomInfo tries to shed light on it.
Today, B2B marketers use various data sources and channels to gain customer insights, engage consumers, and win faster. But how effective are these marketers at executing a multichannel approach? And where are the biggest growth opportunities? Ascend2 and ZoomInfo conducted a study to answer these questions. The following are a few findings from the study.
Multichannel Marketing Has Room for Improvement
Many marketers realize the importance of multichannel marketing, as it has become a standard practice in B2B marketing. Further, they also recognize that having a well-thought-out and effectively executed strategy is necessary for success. About 89% of the respondents said having a cohesive multichannel marketing strategy is essential.
That said, the study found room for improvement in the overall success of B2B multichannel marketing strategies. While 75% of the respondents reported experiencing some success, only 20% considered their multichannel marketing strategy very successful. Another 5% felt it was unsuccessful.
Creating an Effective Strategy Is the Biggest Challenge
B2B marketers face several challenges when implementing a multichannel marketing strategy. According to the study, the biggest challenge is creating an effective strategy, as reported by 57% of respondents. This is followed by insufficient resources/budget (46%) and collecting high-quality data to fuel the strategy (44%).
The greatest challenges to executing a successful multichannel marketing strategy
Source: The B2B Perspective on Multi-Channel Marketing Report
Tools and systems that can support marketing and sales alignment are critical to executing an effective go-to-market (GTM) strategy. However, only 19% have their GTM strategies aligned across channels with their sales team. About 49% said their GTM strategy is somewhat aligned across channels with sales. About 20% said their strategy is very little aligned across channels with sales.
See more: 3 Best Practices for B2B Product Marketers To Navigate Today’s Business Landscape
Marketers Have Partly Automated Their Multichannel Marketing Strategy
Automating a few aspects of a multichannel marketing strategy can improve workflows and efficiencies. However, many marketers said that most programs are either partially or not automated. For example, 32% said they partially automated their strategy, while 26% said their strategy was very little automated. About 17% said their multichannel strategy was not at all automated. Only 25% said their strategy was mostly or fully automated.
Lack of Resources or Expertise Is a Top Data Challenge
Part of implementing a successful multichannel marketing strategy is being able to utilize data across the relevant channels to deliver a seamless customer experience. However, only 19% strongly felt that their company could do this. About 57% said their company is somewhat able to do it, while 24% reported that their company faces difficulty using multichannel data in this way.
As companies collect and use customer information to improve their multichannel marketing strategy, they face several challenges. According to 42% of respondents, a lack of resources or expertise in data analysis is a top challenge. For 36%, difficulty tracking and consolidating data from various sources is a significant challenge; for 34%, inaccurate or incomplete data is a major challenge.
How B2B marketers use data to personalize multichannel marketing efforts for customers
Source: The B2B Perspective on Multi-Channel Marketing Report
While B2B marketers face challenges, they also use data to personalize their multichannel marketing efforts for customers. About 47% use data to personalize product promotions and recommendations, while 42% use data to segment audiences and create targeted campaigns. About 40% use data to create personalized email campaigns. About 39% use it to personalize website content and messaging.
A Little Over One-Third of Marketers Customize Messaging for Each Channel
Regarding customizing their message across channels, only 35% said they customize their messaging on each channel. About 23% said they use the same messaging across all channels, while 16% said they customize the messages based on the customer personas they target. About 22% reported using a combination of the above approaches.
Invest in Automation and Data Analytics
B2B marketers can implement a multichannel marketing strategy by taking a few steps. Of them, a few important ones are implementing automation and investing in the right data analytics tools and resources. Marketing automation helps personalize marketing efforts to customers, while the right analytics tools and resources help gain insights into customers and the marketing strategy’s success.
What best practices have you implemented to improve the success of your multichannel marketing strategy? Tell us on Facebook, X, or LinkedIn. We’d love to hear from you!
Image source: Shutterstock
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