Most marketers agree that lead generation is a top priority because it’s a way to tie hard numbers to their web marketing work. However, the way they collect and treat lead gen data might be shooting their efforts in the foot, according to the results from the Ascend2 Lead Generation Strategy Summary Report.
In this year’s Trends report from the Content Marketing Institute, 83 percent of B2Bs said lead generation is a top goal (second to brand awareness), and 69 percent of B2Cs also listed it as a top priority. While marketers are definitely trending toward strategies that can put impressive numbers on the board, they need to make sure the data they’re working with is reliable.
Ascend2 asked marketers to elaborate on their lead generation goals, and found most are looking to improve lead quality, followed by upping the number altogether. This sounds right – more leads is great, but higher-quality leads is better.
So what’s the problem? According to 35 percent of marketers, the issue is data quality. They said a lack of data quality and list resources are the biggest challenges they face in terms of reaching their goals. Here’s the hitch: While marketers know they need better lead data to up the ante on their email and content marketing campaigns, few seem interested in fixing it.
Just 8 percent said improving the accuracy of marketing data was an objective for the next year.
What they need to realize is that without reliable contact information, updated job titles and demographic data, the messages they send to their database will likely miss the mark and might even deteriorate trust. Check out this example of missed opportunities with email targeting.
The point is: It doesn’t matter how great the web content is if the data isn’t correct. To get the most out of content marketing (which is seen as the second-most effective way to generate leads), companies need to overcome their data challenges and use accurate information when reaching out to prospects and evaluating their efforts.
For more on the importance of data-driven web marketing strategies, check out these related resources:
