We’re over a quarter of the way through 2015 already (crikey), and as time flies so do our strategic marketing goals, lead generation targets and department budgets as well.
But when it comes to that all-important quarterly review, are you ready to smash the socks off your planned vs actual marketing results? Or do you break out in a sweat over the idea of saying them out loud?
If you’ve reviewed your marketing strategy and it hasn’t gone to plan so far, don’t sweat it, there’s still time recover your lead generation activity. Before you send out your SOS, pull up those marketing socks and follow these 3 practical steps.
1. Take an ROI reality check
Marketers that measure ROI are 12x more likely to generate a greater return from their marketing… if you feel like your strategy is sinking, take an ROI reality check and identify where in the funnel you’re losing those leads.
Revise and review your strategic goals for each marketing channel and incorporate conversion objectives for every stage of the sales cycle. This way, you can identify where there are gaps in your lead generation activity and find those hidden opportunities to generate the best possible ROI from your current marketing activity.
With digital intelligence making lead attribution much easier, strategic insight beyond the top-of-the-funnel is becoming more accessible and valuable in order to understand and drive marketing performance and as a result, deliver supercharged ROI.
Identify opportunities within your existing channels and forecast performance in the next quarter by downloading the free Digital Marketing ROI Forecaster – grab it here.
2. Audit your resources (quick)
It’s a busy B2B world these days, and if you asked any marketer what their biggest challenge is right now, chances are they’d name lack of budget or resource as the result.
Investing budget in the right resources for your team is essential if you want to recover your lead generation strategy over the next few months. This is especially true as businesses that make use of digital tools and marketing automation can increase their channel conversion rates by up to 50%, and increase lead generation as a result.
Now is the perfect time to work with your team to audit your current digital tools and resources. Are there any key processes or activities your team could refine or automate with the right tools moving forward?
If you’re thinking of investing in new tools, then check out this article from Smart Insights highlighting the 30 cutting-edge digital marketing tools and techniques to help recover your lead generation activity this year.
3. Explore the unknown (channels)
Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And the same goes for your lead generation strategy, if you aren’t testing new marketing channels to move your lead generation strategy forward, you won’t see success.
Native advertising and paid social media are some of the newest channels at the forefront of B2B industry discussion – will they really generate more leads and a healthy ROI? If you’re thinking of testing out new digital channels, take a look at our digital ad decisions article reviewing whether these new channels are really worth their weight in gold.
Even if your lead generation plans haven’t rolled out quite how you expected them too, don’t be disheartened B2B marketer. There’s plenty of time for you to pull back those results. By following these 3 steps to recovery you should be well on your way to lead generation success this year.