News
 What
are the Challenges Facing B2B Marketers?
Business-to-business marketing is growing at a rapid
pace, but there are still some kinks to work out. A
recent report from Alterian states that B2B
technology and services are still “underdeveloped.”
Alterian, a database marketing provider, conducted
this study on marketing service providers (MSPs).
According to the report, 88 percent polled say
they’ve expanded their services to include B2B
marketing. About 76 percent of this group also plans
to increase their emphasis on B2B services.
Yet, there are some challenges associated with B2B
marketing’s growth. The study reveals that several
hurdles limiting the success of B2B marketing
include analytics, data acquisition, database
management, lead management and tracking ROI. It
looks like marketers will have to find ways to
improve these areas in the long run.
“Given the protracted sales cycles and lack of data
insight, B2B organizations must rely on marketing
even more than B2C organizations to establish a
dialogue with prospects and customers,” said David
Eldridge, Alterian’s chief executive officer.
The survey also focused on broader issues facing
MSPs and their clients – such as the use of email as
a bonafide direct marketing tool. While 90 percent
surveyed said their clients use email for customer
retention and cross-selling, 72 percent state their
clients do so for customer acquisition. And 48
percent report their clients use email for
transactional communications. The report also
reveals that about 50 percent confirmed that email
is a part of combined online and offline tactical
mix, while only 14 percent of marketers say they use
email as a stand-alone effort.
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