DemandBase: Study shows gap between strategy, ad budgets

The study also found that one-third place the value of leads on targeted and named accounts, but only one-quarter are actually contacting those named accounts.

Moving forward, the study suggests brands need to lessen the gap between what they are currently doing and what will help to grow the business.

"As we enter 2013, marketers must get smarter in the face of continued budgetary and resource restrictions, bridging the gap between their ongoing goals and the practices necessary to achieve those goals," said Jason Stewart, director of marketing at Demandbase. "B2B marketers are under pressure to take advantage of new strategies to stay competitive, but long term success will only be achievable if businesses are marrying their short-term strategies with long-term priorities."

"Perhaps the most shocking statistic of the study is that 50 percent of respondents admitted that they only have a basic understanding of their target markets and who they can sell to. There is a process step in the creation of understanding the buyer that many B2Bs are skipping," said Craig Rosenberg, sales and marketing consultant and Funnelholic blogger. "Overall, the study demonstrates that, while marketers have multiple new strategies at their fingertips to better target their prospects and customers, they continue to struggle with how to select the types of companies they should be targeting in the first place."

Other interesting findings include:

• 63% of respondents leverage SEO/organic search
• 60% are leveraging social media
• 53% are looking to inbound/content marketing
• 41% are using SEM/PPC strategies

Tags: advertising strategy, advertising trends, DemandBase, online advertising