DIGITAL MARKETING

TARGETING AUDIENCES &

ADOPTING NEW STRATEGIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Introduction 25 Account-Based Marketing

4 Executive Summary 27 Digital Marketing Challenges

6 Digital Marketing Importance & Goals 28 Analyst Bottom Line

8 Digital Marketing Tactics 30 Acknowledgements

13 Digital Marketing Metrics 31 About Demandbase

15 Market Understanding 32 About Demand Metric

19 Market Targets 33 Appendix – Survey Background

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing has gone from being an exotic, new dish to a staple in every marketer’s diet. Every modern marketer knows
that most marketing is digital, and that the set of available processes and channels to promote a product or service, or to build a
brand, is vast. So vast, in fact, that even the term “digital marketing” has become too broad to represent all that happens under
its definition. Demand generation, social media, content marketing, web analytics and other areas are so important that
entire teams are being segmented from this broad category to provide the proper digital focus.

Marketers are faced with the challenge of keeping up with new, hopefully better, strategies that emerge at a rapid rate, while
cutting ineffective practices waning in popularity. It’s very valuable for marketers to have benchmark data about how the current
digital marketing landscape looks, what’s new, what’s working and what isn’t. Quite often, marketers can gain a competitive
advantage simply by being quick to adopt new digital marketing strategies in advance of mass adoption that eventually
dilutes the impact of new things.

This study, sponsored by Demandbase, took a close look at digital marketing to understand current practices, goals,
strategies, metrics and effectiveness. Furthermore, the study investigated how well organizations understand their chosen
markets, who in those markets they target as prospects and what their biggest challenges are in the pursuit of success.

Finally, this report investigates a digital marketing strategy that is in the early-to-mid stages of adoption: Account-
Based Marketing. This report details the findings and provides insights in each of these areas.

3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Today’s marketers have unprecedented challenges and opportunities when it comes to implementing digital marketing
strategies. This survey was conducted to get a detailed picture of the current digital marketing landscape, helping
marketers to make critical planning decisions and define areas for growth.

A majority of this study’s participants were marketers in B2B organizations that reported revenue growth in the most recently
completed fiscal year. Participants represented a wide range of industry affiliations and company sizes.

The analysis of this study’s data provides these key findings about the current state of digital marketing:

 New customer acquisition is the most common digital marketing goal. 84% of study participants, however, have multiple
goals for their efforts.

 The most frequently used digital marketing solutions are not the most effective ones. For example, analytics ranks first
in effectiveness but third in usage. Two solutions with known effectiveness – lead scoring and A/B testing – rank last in usage.

 Click-thrus and page views are the most commonly used metrics. The use of any metric is strongly related to better
digital marketing effectiveness.

 Better understanding of target markets relates to greater digital marketing effectiveness. 69% of study participants who
claim a higher understanding of their target markets reported digital marketing as effective or very effective, compared to 59%
with a lower target market understanding.

4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 Digital marketing effectiveness relates to revenue growth. 70% of study participants reporting effective digital marketing
experienced revenue growth in the most recently completed fiscal year. Only 49% of participants whose revenue was flat or
declining said their digital marketing efforts were effective.

 The most important market target identified in this study was “prospect title”, but participants are investing more
resources to target companies by industry or vertical than by prospect title.

 Almost one-third of participants were unaware of Account Based Marketing, but those who use it report much
greater digital marketing effectiveness.

This report details the results and insights from the analysis of the study data. For more detail on the survey participants, please
refer to the Appendix.

5
DIGITAL MARKETING IMPORTANCE & GOALS
Figure 1: Over 90% of organizations studies rate digital marketing’s importance high.

Importance of Digital Marketing One could safely assume that digital marketing is an
80% important strategy in most organizations for helping
them achieve their marketing objectives.
71%
60% This study measured that level of importance to establish a
baseline measure and provide context for the study.

It will surprise no modern marketer that digital marketing is

40%
perceived as important or very important, as Figure 1
depicts. The importance of digital marketing to achieve
marketing objectives is undisputed.
20%
20%
5% From a macro perspective: What goals do organizations
2% 2% have for digital marketing?
0%
Very Unimportant Neutral Important Very important
unimportant While the methods of and channels for digital marketing are
myriad, this study shows that the goals of digital marketing
fall into a few broad categories, as shown in Figure 2 on the
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239 next page.

6
DIGITAL MARKETING IMPORTANCE & GOALS
Figure 2: New customer acquisition is the most common goal for digital marketing.
Digital Marketing Goals
New customer acquisition
Branding
Lead nurturing
Participants were asked to choose any and all of the listed
strategies in Figure 2, which shows the different categories
and the percentage of participants that report having these
goals for their digital marketing efforts.
84%
While “New customer acquisition” is the top goal for
73% digital marketing in this study, 84% of the study’s
participants have multiple goals for their digital
marketing efforts, and over one-fourth list all the goals
59% in Figure 2, except “Other”, as digital marketing goals.

Participants who chose “Other” as a response option

Growth of existing accounts 49% shared this sampling of goals as write-in comments:

Other goals 11%  Lead conversion  Customer engagement

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%  Customer retention  Voice of the Customer

 Thought leadership  Drive traffic to retail location

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
 Building membership
& community
7
DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS
Figure 3: Social media marketing is the most frequently used digital marketing tactic by participants
in this study.

Digital Marketing Tactics in Use

Social media marketing
SEO/Organic search
Inbound marketing/content
creation/blogs
SEM/PPC
Display and/or banner ads
Content syndication
Mobile marketing
Other strategies 12%
0%
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
The array of tactics available to the digital marketer is
broader today than ever. Email has long been the most
80% frequently used digital marketing tactic, and despite the
68% increasing challenges of email marketing, surveys continue
to show it as the most common approach.
64%
What is the frequency of use for other digital marketing
55% strategies? Figure 3 shares this data.
51%
This data reveals that social media marketing is the
24% most frequently used digital marketing approach.
24%
Over two-thirds of this study’s participants are using
three or more of the strategies listed in Figure 3, and
just over one-third are using four or five tactics.
20% 40% 60% 80%
Digital marketing is clearly not a single-tactic or channel
endeavor for most organizations.

8
DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS
Figure 4: An email solution is the most heavily used digital marketing approach; A/B testing the
least heavily used.

Use of Digital Marketing Solutions or Approaches

Email marketing solution 88%

Content Management 88% Various digital marketing solutions and approaches often
Analytics 88% support the strategies and tactics listed in Figures 2 & 3.

CRM 85% The study survey collected data to provide a census of

common solution usage, and Figure 4 provides the
Business Intelligence 73% summary of this data.
Marketing Automation 61%
The three most heavily used digital marketing
Lead scoring 60% solutions/approaches are an email marketing solution,
a content management solution and analytics.
A/B testing 50%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

9
DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS
Figure 5: Solutions effectiveness, presented from bottom to top in order of increasing effectiveness.
Frequency of use is one side of a coin, and effectiveness is
Solutions Effectiveness the other. For each of the solutions listed in Figure 4, data
Effective Moderate Ineffective was also collected about how effective these solutions are.
43%
Analytics 47% A summary of the solutions effectiveness data is presented
10%
Content 30% in Figure 5.
58%
Management 12%
36%
Email marketing
solution
50% It would be ideal if the most frequently used digital
14%
25% marketing solutions (Figure 4) were also the most
A/B testing 58%
17% effective ones, but that is not the case. Analytics ranks
22%
Business
Intelligence
59% highest in terms of effectiveness, but ranks third in usage.
19%
Marketing 29% Email marketing solutions, which rank highest in usage,
50%
Automation 21% rank third in effectiveness. A/B testing ranks last in usage
33%
CRM 45% but fourth in effectiveness.
22%
17%
Lead scoring 53%
30% None of these discrepancies are alarming; and they
0% 20% 40% 60% probably reflect that marketers are busy professionals who
sometimes just continue to do what has worked in the past,
particularly when using a new solution or approach has a
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
learning curve associated with it. What these
discrepancies do represent, however, are
opportunities for improvement.
10
DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS
There’s another observation worth making about the results portrayed in Figure 5: just because a solution ranks lower in
terms of effectiveness, such as lead scoring, doesn’t mean the solution has no merit. More often than not, low
effectiveness is a function of immaturity in technology implementation. As in the lead scoring example, there is an
implementation of that solution that is very effective, but that doesn’t mean most organizations have mastered the process.

What is the connection between the goals in Figure 2 and the strategies in Figure 4? A correlation analysis reveals relationships
between the two. For certain goals, it is more likely for some approaches to see use and not others (Figure 6).
Figure 6: Summary of how digital marketing approaches and goals correlate.

GOAL: New customer acquisition GOAL: Lead nurturing GOAL: Branding

Display or Banner Advertising X

Search Engine Marketing/PPC X

SEO/Organic Search X X

Social Media Marketing X X X

Mobile Marketing

Inbound Marketing/Content/Blogs X X X

Content Syndication X
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
DIGITAL MARKETING TACTICS
It’s important to interpret the data in Figure 6 correctly. Correlation means that two things occur together; it does not
mean that one thing caused the other. With that understanding, when the goal is growth of existing accounts, it is likely that all
approaches but mobile marketing are present. The branding goal, however, only correlates to two strategies: social media
marketing and inbound marketing.

This data represents current practices, not recommendations. For example, even though the new customer acquisition or
branding goals don’t correlate to search engine marketing or PPC, they probably should.

Figure 6, therefore, is probably best understood as a census of strategies in use for these goals.

12
DIGITAL MARKETING METRICS
Figure 7: The most popular digital marketing metrics are also some of the easiest to track.
The most effective approach in Figure 5 is analytics. Any
Digital Marketing Success Metrics strategy, ideally, has a set of metrics to indicate results.
Figure 7 shows the usage of some common metrics.
Click-thrus 64%
Page views 55% To manage any initiative, metrics are imperative, but
not all metrics are equal when it comes to linking
Number of inquiries 54% activity to results that matter. For example, click-thrus
Revenue generated 49% and page views are both useful indicators of success.
Impressions 41% However, they are measures of volume, not true revenue
impact. One of digital marketing’s advantages is the
Marketing Qualified Leads 37% ability to more precisely target specific markets and
Sales opportunities identified 36% customers. Clicks and page views are fine metrics as long
Program ROI 33% as they are coming from the right targets, but the value of
these metrics is low when not associated with a source.
None 9%
Other 8% Companies are much better served by metrics that show
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% how digital marketing is influencing target accounts, and in
turn, what revenue impact is occurring. Therefore, using
metrics that link marketing engagement to revenue is
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
critical when determining program ROI. However,
Figure 7 confirms that the metrics that provide
these indicators are less frequently used.
13
DIGITAL MARKETING METRICS
Perhaps the most important aspect of using metrics and having an analytics process is the cultural dimension. A
willingness to capture and use metrics for process improvement represents a commitment to show proof of measurable value.
Figure 8 contrasts the digital marketing effectiveness mean scores for each metric listed in Figure 7.
Figure 8: The use of metrics increases the digital marketing effectiveness rating by an average of .45 on a scale of 1 to 5 where 5 = Very effective.

Marketing Sales
Number of Program Revenue
Impressions Click-thrus Page Views Qualified Opportunities
Inquiries ROI Generated
Leads Identified

Effectiveness
Rating (when metric 3.45 3.33 3.21 3.38 3.37 3.43 3.43 3.34
is NOT in use)

Effectiveness
Rating (when metric 3.78 3.78 3.79 3.74 3.93 3.84 3.86 3.84
is NOT in use)
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

In this study, the relationship between the use of metrics and effectiveness was powerful: the use of every success
metric identified in Figure 7 was linked to greater digital marketing effectiveness. Even though some metrics are better
than others at showing true revenue impact, the use of any of these metrics leads to better digital marketing performance.
MARKET UNDERSTANDING
Long before any form of digital marketing existed, a fundamental principle of marketing effectiveness was known: a better
understanding of chosen markets leads to more effective marketing to those markets. This study explored how well
participants claimed to know their target markets, and results appear in Figure 9.
Figure 9: Target market understanding is evenly divided across low and high groups.

Understanding Percentage

Low Market Understanding 48%

High Market Understanding 52%

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

Participant responses were almost exactly even between these two groups:

 Low market understanding: those who reported no or just a basic understanding of their target markets.

 High market understanding: those that reported a complete understanding of their target markets.

This even distribution serves as an excellent filter for comparing differences between these two groups, with the assumption that
the “High market understanding” (High) group should have better results, not just in digital marketing but other areas as well.

15
MARKET UNDERSTANDING
A better understanding of the ideal or target markets is related to some very important aspects of digital marketing. For example,
the study participants in the High group (56%) were more likely to track revenue generated as a metric, compared to those in the
Low group (43%). Better target market understanding leads to better understanding of revenue generated from those
markets through digital marketing.

Another key relationship exists between target market understanding and effectiveness using the solutions depicted in Figure 5.
Solution effectiveness was measured using a scale from 1 to 3 where 1 = Ineffective and 3 = Effective, as seen in Figure 10.

Figure 10: The average effectiveness delta between the low and high understanding groups is .25 on this 3-point scale.

\\ Business Content Marketing

Solution Analytics CRM Lead Scoring
Intelligence Management Automation

Avg. Effectiveness of Low

2.22 1.89 2.07 2.05 1.71 1.93
Understanding Group

Avg. Effectiveness of High

2.43 2.15 2.33 2.29 1.97 2.22
Understanding Group
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

The analysis presented in Figure 10 validates that the use of these solutions, individually or in combination, leads
to greater target market understanding.
MARKET UNDERSTANDING
Figure 11: Higher target market understanding leads to greater digital marketing effectiveness.

Digital Marketing Effectiveness

Low understanding group High understanding group

80%

Another thing that this study’s data analysis confirms is that

69% better target market understanding is related to greater
60%
digital marketing effectiveness.
59%
Figure 11 illustrates this analysis.
40%
41%
Organizations experiencing revenue growth are much
31% more likely to also report higher digital marketing
20%
effectiveness, as the relationship between them is
already strong.
0%
Neutral to Ineffective Effective/Very effective

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

17
MARKET UNDERSTANDING
Figure 12: Greater digital marketing effectiveness strongly influences revenue growth.

Digital Effectiveness & Revenue Growth

Declining or Flat Growth
Figure 12 illustrates the digital marketing effectiveness
80% differences between study participants that reported
declining or flat revenue, and those who reported revenue
70% growth during the most recently completed fiscal year.
60%
What’s represented in Figure 9, Figure 11 and Figure 12
49% are interesting as standalone data elements, but they are
40% best viewed holistically: the use of the right tools and
37% solutions leads to a better target marketing
understanding.
20%
20% That better understanding produces greater digital
14%
10% marketing effectiveness, which in turn, leads to higher
0% revenue growth. It’s important to see the relationships in
Ineffective Neutral Effective
this chain and not just one to the exclusion of the others.

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

18
MARKET TARGETS
Most organizations have some strategy for targeting prospects in their chosen markets. In the B2B world, common
marketing targets include: companies by industry or vertical, prospects by job title, companies by size (measured either in
revenue or by number of employees), prospects by the department in which they work, specific “named” accounts, companies
based on geographic location or other targeting criteria. Since digital marketing provides the ability to target prospects with fairly
high levels of precision, this study attempted to determine which target markets are considered most important, and in which
targets participants invest the most marketing resources. The rankings of most important market targets and where investment
is greatest in reaching those market targets are summarized in Figure 13.
Figure 13: The most important targeting criterion and the area of greatest marketing investment don’t match.

Companies by Prospect Companies by

Prospect Title Companies by Size Named Accounts
Industry & Vertical Department Geography

Most Important 1 2 3 4 5 6

Greatest Investment 2 1 3 4 5 6

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

The discrepancy in Figure 13 rankings seems subtle. Just the first and second criteria are switched between what
participants report is the most important market targeting criterion and where they are making the greatest investment
of marketing resources to reach those targets. Simply put, you can’t have your highest priority outcome be less than the
highest priority in investment – in marketing or anything else – if priorities are in the right place.
MARKET TARGETS
When viewing how study participants rank market targets using the market understanding groups from Figure 8, the
low target market understanding group ranks “Prospect job title” as the top targeting criteria while the high target
market understanding group ranks “Companies by industry/vertical” as the top targeting criteria.

This difference between the low and high target market understanding groups may also seem subtle, but it represents a
profound difference of understanding. Prospect job titles are the input to persona development. Personas are powerful and
highly recommended marketing tools, but they are far more valuable for guiding content development than as
targeting criteria for sales or overall B2B marketing programs.

Unless that prospect title is CEO, rarely does a single person have all decision-making authority, so targeting by prospect title is
incomplete. For this reason, the high target market understanding group has the right perspective on targeting: at the
company level.

20
MARKET TARGETS
Figure 14: Almost one-fourth of study participants are not using lead scoring criteria.

Lead Scoring Criteria

In an ideal world, lead scoring practices would match
Company industry/vertical 50% targeting criteria. This study, however, found they do not.
Figure 14 shows the target qualifications that participants
Prospect title 44%
are using for lead scoring, if they are doing it at all.
Company size 42%
The data in Figure 14 suggests some further lack of
Prospect department 35% integration in the targeting and investment priorities from
Figure 13, and the lead scoring.
Company geography 24%
None 23% Ideally, the same criteria would occupy the top position
in each of these rankings, and that is not the case.
Named account(s) 22% What participants said was most important – prospect title –
is not the top priority for either investment or lead scoring.
Other 10%
0% 20% 40% 60% Marketers should first ensure they’re using the right or
best criteria, and then prioritize its use and investment
around those criteria.
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

21
MARKET TARGETS
Figure 15: The focus on individual prospect types and/or buyer personas will increase the
most long-term.

Long-Term Increase in Focus of Digital Marketing

Individual prospect types/buyer

personas 38%

Industries or vertical markets 24%

Ironically, targeting individual prospect types or buyers
Named account lists/targets 13% personas is the area of highest projected increase in
long-term focus, as Figure 15 portrays.
Geographies 11%
The Demand Metric view is that the greater focus
Enterprise segment 9% should be on companies, either by industry, vertical or
named account. Prospect type or buyer persona then
SMB segment 3% becomes one of multiple, secondary, targeting criteria.
Other 2%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

22
MARKET TARGETS
As Figure 3 depicts, there are many strategies available to the digital marketer. Almost all of them rely on content to
fuel their effectiveness, either directly or indirectly via a link.

Because of the close relationship between content and digital marketing, the study survey asked participants to share which of
the following factors are considered during the content creation process.

 Thought leadership: content based on broad industry awareness.

 Business needs-based: content focused on specific business needs and solutions.

 Industry or company-based: content based on industries or specific, targeted companies.

 Sales-driven: sales enablement content such as ROI calculators or vendor comparisons.

 User profile or persona-based: content based on ideal/target users or buyer personas.

 Product-based: product descriptive content, brochures and guides.

These content creation factors are summarized in Figure 16, on the next page.

23
MARKET TARGETS
Figure 16: Over half the study’s participants consider business needs and thought leadership in
their content creation process.

Content Creation Factors

Thought leadership 61%

One of these content creation factors – User profile or
Business needs-based 55% persona-based – was related to digital marketing
effectiveness. This relationship seems to reflect the
Industry or company-based 46% main axiom of creating content: know your audience.

Sales-driven 45% While using personas isn’t recommended as the primary

market targeting criteria, it is absolutely the first and most
User profile or persona-based 41% important consideration when creating content. Using
personas in the creation process helps that content
enjoy maximum relevancy and usefulness to its
Product-based 34%
intended audience.
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

24
ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
Figure 17: Over two-thirds of study participants are aware of ABM, and over one-fourth have
begun using it to some degree.

Account-Based Marketing Awareness & Use

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a digital marketing
approach that focuses on targeting and marketing to
ABM is primary digital
approach 4% specific companies or segments based on their
Running many ABM
business attributes, such as industry, size, revenue,
campaigns 3% geography account status or other criteria. Recent
Running some ABM technology advances have accelerated the adoption of
campaigns 9% ABM in B2B environments.
Piloting ABM 11%
ABM works on the premise that most purchase decisions
Aware, considering using 16% are not made by individuals, but buying centers, and
therefore it’s important to target all members of the buying
Aware, not using 25% center. ABM uses technology like IP-based targeting to help
marketers reach buying centers in the accounts or
Unaware 32% companies where they work.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% This study investigated the awareness of ABM and how
well it is working for those that are using it. Figure 17
summarizes current ABM awareness.
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

25
ACCOUNT-BASED MARKETING
Figure 18: Even just awareness of ABM correlated to greater digital marketing effectiveness.
Effectiveness was measured on a scale from 1 to 5 where 5 = Very effective.

Account-Based Marketing & Digital Effectiveness

3.9
How is the use of ABM influencing overall digital marketing
3.8 effectiveness?
3.82
3.7 A significant relationship was discovered when analyzing
3.6
the ABM awareness data from Figure 17 with the digital
marketing effectiveness data used in Figure 11.
3.58
3.5
The results of this analysis are displayed in Figure 18.
3.4

3.3 3.37 The inescapable conclusion from the data in Figure 18

is that ABM directly or indirectly contributes to greater
3.2 digital marketing effectiveness. Directly through its use,
and indirectly through the level of digital marketing
3.1
Unaware Aware, not using Using ABM sophistication and prowess is implied by simply knowing
what it is.

Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239

26
DIGITAL MARKETING CHALLENGES
Figure 19: Lack of staff, technology and other resources are a perennial challenge for marketers.
Even with the many benefits and conveniences of digital
Digital Marketing Challenges marketing, it is not without it’s challenges.

Lack of staff, technology, resources 42% This study attempted to catalog the current challenges
Ability to better track & measure results 39% digital marketers are facing, and the summary of their input
Ability to precisely target prospects 37% is presented in Figure 19.
Developing effective content or creative 35%
Virtually every challenge identified in Figure 19 has a
Conversion rates 32% solution in technology. One study participant, however,
Cost 28% offered this comment that seems to represent the views of
Difficulty measuring ROI 25% many: “analytics tools are too pricey.”
Ability to market to prospects in real-time 25%
Whether the solution is an analytics tool or some other
Difficulty selecting optimal channel mix 19%
technology, vendors need to help their prospective
Difficulty integrating with key systems 14% customers make the business case for solutions that
Other challenges 4% measurably improve their performance and effectiveness.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Marketers, in turn, need to embrace the value of
showing the ROI for the investments they wish to
make. When they do and do it well, they’ll find very few
Digital Marketing Benchmark Study, Demand Metric, October 2014, n=239
of their funding requests get denied.

27
ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
Digital marketing isn’t new, but there’s always something new going on in digital marketing. One of its advantages has always
been the agility that digital marketing solutions and approaches provide, helping marketers move much faster than
traditional media to build brands and generate leads.

To be a proficient digital marketer also requires agility to discover, learn, test, deploy and exploit the vast and constantly
evolving array of solutions and approaches. That same agility is required to quickly retire methods that lose effectiveness and
move on to something better.

This study confirms some of what marketers know is true about digital marketing, challenges some assumptions and provides new
insight. To have digital marketing work as well as it can, marketers need to focus on these principles:

 Set goals. It’s easy to think of digital marketing as a panacea, and it can do many things well. It’s for this very reason that digital
marketing goals are imperative. Without them, digital marketers risk having their efforts diffused because of lack of focus. Set
specific goals, and revisit them regularly to ensure that the goals and the results are still relevant. Your approach to digital
marketing should not be “one size fits all goals.”

 Go multi-channel. Few digital marketers in the modern era use just a single channel, as this study shows. Most marketers use
multiple channels, and too often their selection is based on what’s easy or familiar. This results in a suboptimal or uncoordinated
channel mix. Do use multiple channels, but wisely. Make sure every channel is aligned with a goal and that its use
complements, not conflicts, with other channels. Optimize the entire channel mix, not just each channel in isolation.

28
ANALYST BOTTOM LINE
 Target wisely. Today’s digital marketing approaches provide the ability to precisely target an audience. While this capability
provides many advantages, it can erroneously lead to a belief that narrower targeting criteria are better. In reality, few individuals
in B2B organizations are solely responsible for purchase consideration and decisions. Digital marketers need to understand the
customer journey, because most of the time, it involves several players in a company. This is why targeting and lead scoring
at the company level instead of the prospect level produces greater digital marketing effectiveness.

 Measure. Any marketing initiative should have measurements to track and manage performance, particularly digital marketing
because the data is often easily obtained. While some metrics are better than others at showing how marketing efforts
influence revenue, the use of any of the metrics in this study all were linked to greater digital marketing effectiveness.

 Keep up. Things evolve very quickly in the digital marketing solutions space. Marketers cannot drag their feet on staying current
with new solutions for digital marketing, because the biggest advantages often go to the early adopters, those who are quick to
exploit something new before the rest of the marketing herd follows. In this study, even awareness of Account-Based
Marketing is an indicator of how effective an organization is when it comes to the digital marketing.

Digital marketing is not the same today as it was yesterday, and by tomorrow it will have evolved into something different. What
won’t change is the definition of success for digital marketing: it’s not measured by volume, but results. The principles
presented here will help organizations steer the right course for their digital marketing efforts, keeping efforts aligned with goals.

29
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Demand Metric is grateful to Demandbase for sponsoring this benchmarking study and for those participants that took the time to
provide their input to it.

Demand Metric acknowledges the advice and assistance of Dr. Tom Brown, Noble Foundation Chair in Marketing Strategy and
Professor of Marketing in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma State University, in facilitating and providing counsel on
the analysis of these survey results.

30
ABOUT DEMANDBASE
Demandbase is the first targeting and personalization platform for B2B, transforming the effectiveness of marketing programs and
marketing’s ability to impact revenue.

While personalization tools have long existed for B2C, until now, none were geared specifically to enable B2B marketers to make
online interactions more effective, delivering the right message at the right time. Demandbase’s patented identification technology
bridges the gap between known and anonymous web visitors by identifying and segmenting the companies visiting a website, and
providing detailed, targetable business attributes in real-time.

Demandbase integrates with other sales and marketing technologies to deliver unique intelligence about web visitors, and better
attract, convert and retain the right customers. Enterprise leaders and high-growth companies alike use Demandbase to drive
better marketing performance.

For more information, visit www.demandbase.com.

31
ABOUT DEMAND METRIC
Demand Metric is a marketing research and advisory firm serving a membership community of over 50,000 marketing
professionals and consultants in 75 countries.

Offering consulting methodologies, advisory services, and 500+ premium marketing tools and templates, Demand Metric
resources and expertise help the marketing community plan more efficiently and effectively, answer the difficult questions about
their work with authority and conviction and complete marketing projects more quickly and with greater confidence, boosting the
respect of the marketing team and making it easier to justify resources the team needs to succeed.

To learn more about Demand Metric, please visit: www.demandmetric.com.

32
APPENDIX – SURVEY BACKGROUND
This Demand Metric Benchmark Study survey was administered online during the period of October 2, 2014 through October 24,
2014. During this period, 268 responses were collected, 239 of which were complete enough for inclusion in the analysis. The
data was analyzed using SPSS to ensure the statistical validity of the findings. The representativeness of these results depends
on the similarity of the sample to environments in which this survey data is used for comparison or guidance.

Summarized below is the basic categorization data collected about respondents to enable filtering and analysis of the data:

Annual Sales: Primary Role of Respondent:

 $10 million or less (62%)  President, CEO or Owner (21%)

 $11 to $25 million (6%)  Marketing (61%)
 $26 to $100 million (14%)  Sales (5%)
 $101 to $500 million (8%)  Other (13%)
 $501 million to $1 billion (3%)
 Over $1 billion (7%)

Type of Organization:

 Mostly or entirely B2B (63%)

 Mostly or entirely B2C (17%)
 Blend of B2B/B2C (20%)

33
 Benchmark Report

For more information, visit us at:

www.demandmetric.com

Demand Metric Research Corporation

562 Wellington Street
London, ON, Canada N6A 3R5

© 2014 Demand Metric Research Corporation.

© 2013 DemandAll Rights
MetricReserved.
Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.