We surveyed 200 business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals in order to understand which channels, offers, content types and technologies they were using to fuel their demand generation programs—and which they found most effective.

1. Software Advice IndustryView:
B2B Demand Generation
Trends and best practices from the industry

2. Abstract
We surveyed 200 business-to-business (B2B) marketing professionals in order to
understand which channels, content types and technologies they use to fuel their
demand generation (or "demand gen") programs—and which they found most
effective.
• Trade shows, referral marketing and in-house email marketing were the
channels most commonly cited as generating a high volume of quality leads.
• 92 percent use videos, which were also the content type most often cited as
producing a very high quantity of leads.
• 79 percent of B2B marketers use at least 11 different marketing software
applications to execute demand gen programs.

3. Demand Generation Channels Used
70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% 100%
Percent of sample
In-house email marketing
Organic search
Social media (non-ads)
Trade shows & events
Search engine advertising
Referral/advocate marketing
Third-party email marketing
Display advertising
Direct mail
Other
The vast majority of marketers reported that they used all 15 of the demand gen
channels we listed, with each being used by at least 85 percent of respondents.

4. Quantity of Leads, by Channel
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Trade shows & events
Search engine advertising
In-house email marketing
Print, radio & TV advertising
Referral/advocate marketing
Third-party webinars
Organic search
Social media advertising
Third-party lead originators
Social media (non-ads)
Very high Somewhat high Somewhat low Very low
77 percent said trade shows generate a “somewhat” or “very high” quantity of
leads, with 63 percent saying the same about in-house email marketing.

5. Quality of Leads, by Channel
Trade shows & events
Referral/advocate marketing
In-house email marketing
Retargeting advertising
Telemarketing/cold-calling
Search engine advertising
Organic search
Third-party webinars
Social media advertising
Third-party email marketing
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Excellent Good Fair Poor
82 percent of marketers singled out trade shows as generating leads of “good” or
“excellent” quality, with 78 percent saying the same about referral marketing.

6. Cost-per-Lead, by Channel
Social media (non-ads)
In-house email marketing
Organic search
Referral/advocate marketing
Social media advertising
Telemarketing/cold-calling
Third-party webinars
Third-party email marketing
Third-party lead originators
Direct mail
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Very low Somewhat low Somewhat high Very high
34 percent and 30 percent, respectively, described social media marketing (outside
of ads) and in-house email marketing as having a “very low” cost-per-lead.

7. Types of Content Used for Demand Generation
70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95%
Percent of sample
Videos
Surveys
White papers
Case studies
Video demos
Product comparisons
Toolkits
E-books
Video was the content type most commonly leveraged for demand generation
programs—used by 92 percent of B2B marketers.

8. Quantity of Leads, by Content Type
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Videos
Surveys
Product comparisons
Toolkits
Video demos
White papers
E-books
Case studies
Very high Somewhat high Somewhat low Very low
When asked to evaluate content types, marketers most commonly cited B2B videos
and surveys as generating a “very high” quantity of leads (23 percent).

9. Quality of Leads, by Content Type
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Toolkits
Surveys
Videos
Case studies
Video demos
Product comparisons
E-books
White papers
Excellent quality Good quality Fair quality Poor quality
Toolkits, surveys and videos were the types of content most commonly described
as generating leads of excellent quality.

10. Offers and CTAs Used for Demand Generation
70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% 100%
Percent of sample
"Contact us" buttons
Price-quote buttons
Live demos with reps
Video demos
Webinars
Free trials
Nearly all B2B marketers use calls-to-action such as “contact us” buttons (96
percent) and price-quote buttons (89.5 percent).

11. Quantity of Leads, by Offer/CTA Type
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Live demos with reps
Free trials
Webinars
Price-quote buttons
"Contact us" buttons
Very high Somewhat high Somewhat low Very low
Twenty-seven percent and 22 percent, respectively, described live demos with sales
reps and free product trials as producing a “very high” quantity of leads.

12. Quality of Leads, by Offer/CTA Type
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Live demos with reps
Price-quote buttons
Free trials
"Contact us" buttons
Webinars
Excellent quality Good quality Fair quality Poor quality
In addition to generating the highest number of leads, live demos with sales reps
were also the offer or CTA most cited as generating "excellent" leads (45 percent).

13. Software Solutions Used
Email marketing
CRM
Marketing automation
Web analytics
Business intelligence
Social media monitoring
Social media management
Content marketing
Search engine optimization
Referral marketing
PPC
70% 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% 100%
Percent of sample
Nearly all (97 percent) used email marketing software, with 96.5 percent using
customer relationship management and 96 percent using marketing automation.

14. Number of Software Solutions Used per Company
79%
2% 3% 01
3%
3%
4%
4%
2*
34
5*
6789
10
11
*Denotes an option offered in the survey, but not selected by any respondents
Altogether, most marketers (79 percent) used all 11 of the software solutions we
listed.

15. Value of Software Solutions to Demand Gen Success
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
CRM
Business intelligence
Web analytics
Email marketing
PPC
Marketing automation
Social media monitoring
Search engine optimization
Social media management
Referral marketing
Content marketing
Extremely important Very important Moderately important
Minimally important Not at all important
Most (72 percent) described all 11 of the listed marketing software applications as
at least “moderately important” to the success of demand generation programs.

16. Performance vs. Expectations, by Number of Solutions Used
All 11
Fewer than 11
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Far above Slightly above In line with
Slightly below Far below Not sure
Marketers using all 11 technology solutions were more likely to say their demand
gen programs performed “far” or “slightly above” expectations (37 percent).

17. Demand Gen Performance vs. Expectations, by Business Size
Small
Midsize
Large
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Far above Slightly above In line with
Slightly below Far below Not sure
Small businesses were most likely to say their efforts performed below
expectations (44 percent), compared to 28 percent of larger companies.

18. Plans for 2015 Demand Generation Spending
4%
13%
43%
36%
5%
Much more
Somewhat more
Same amount
Somewhat less
Much less
Forty-one percent of marketers said they would increase their spend, 43 percent
said they’d spend the same and 17 percent said they would decrease spend.

19. Plans for 2015 Demand Generation Spending, by Channel
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Percent of sample
Search engine advertising
Social media (non-ads)
Trade shows & events
Telemarketing/cold-calling
Social media advertising
Retargeting advertising
Print, radio & TV advertising
Third-party email marketing
Referral marketing
Direct mail
Much more Somewhat more Same Somewhat less Much less
Search engine advertising was the most common area for increased spending, with
42 percent planning to spend at least “somewhat more.”

20. Demographics: Respondents by Job Title
8%
12%
12%
29% Manager
16% 23%
C-level executive
Director
Senior vice president
Vice president
Coordinator/specialist
Most of the marketers in our sample held senior positions, with 63 percent having
a director-level title or above.

21. Demographics: Business Size by Number of Employees
13%
12%
15%
10%
29% 1-99
22%
100-499
500-999
1,000-4,999
5,000-9,999
More than 10,000
Many respondents (40 percent) represented big businesses with 1,000 employees
or more, with 13 percent representing businesses with over 10,000 employees.

22. Demographics: Business Size by Annual Marketing Budget
6%
8%
5%
4%
11%
7%
17%
6% 12%
12%
12%
Less than $250,000
$250,000-$500,000
$500,000-$1 million
$1 million-$2.5 million
$2.5 million-$5 million
$5 million-$10 million
$10 million-$30 million
$30 million-$50 million
$50 million-$100 million
More than $100 million
Not sure
Forty-one percent had a budget of under $1 million, and 40 percent had a budget
of $1-50 million, leaving 19 percent with a budget over $50 million.

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