Top 10 Takeaways from the “Rethinking the Role of Marketing” Report as Tweetable Stats

There’s a problem in the way B2B companies engage customers today. Marketers in many organizations are intently focused on building awareness and acquiring new customers, which makes sense – it comes with the job description. But while this strategy does a great job generating new leads and keeping the sales pipeline full, it’s missing out on several vital parts of the engagement lifecycle.

Gleanster and Act-On surveyed 750 mid-size B2B companies to learn why the most successful organizations are taking a holistic approach to the customer engagement. The report, Rethinking the Role of Marketing, reveals that top performing marketing teams are taking full control of the customer journey – beginning with awareness and customer acquisition, and also encompassing the more lucrative customer retention and expansion stages.

The results of the survey are a rallying cry for marketing leaders to stand up and seize the opportunity to own the customer lifecycle.  What are some of the key insights from the report?

Here are the top ten takeaways in tweetable format:

1. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]#B2Bmarketers fail to manage end-to-end customer engagement. 90% spend 2/3 of time & budget on acquisition efforts  #RethinkMarketing[/inlinetweet]
2. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]8 out of 10 average #B2B firms generate 60% of revenue from new customers #B2BMarketers #RethinkMarketing[/inlinetweet]
3. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]The average #B2B marketer estimates just 68% of customers are satisfied & ~30% of revenue comes from existing customers #MarketingFail[/inlinetweet]
4. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Marketers don’t jump at chance to own #customerlifecycle – accountability & compensation aren’t in line w/ responsibility #RethinkMarketing[/inlinetweet]
5. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Managing the #customerlifecycle is broken–it’s fragmented between departments & systems. The #CMO can change that #CMO #RethinkMarketing[/inlinetweet]
6. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Successful #B2B firms use full potential of #MarketingAutomaton by personalizing campaigns by stage in the buying cycle & prospect behavior[/inlinetweet]
7. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Top performers are 2x likely to map #Mktg objectives to the entire #CustomerLifecycle via metrics that relate to revenue #MarketingMetrics[/inlinetweet]
8. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Top performing #B2B companies invest 52% of marketing budget on customer retention & expansion vs. 44% for the avg. firm #B2BMarketing[/inlinetweet]
9. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]Marketing is the only function w/technology infrastructure to transform the concept of #CRM into actionable customer engagement #CustExp[/inlinetweet]
10. [inlinetweet prefix=” tweeter=” suffix=”]The #CustomerLifecycle needs a leader! Marketing is only function that supports customer engagement across lifecycle #CRM #RethinkMarketing[/inlinetweet]

Read the full report from Gleanster and Act-On to learn more about what’s changing for businesses today, and to discover why so many marketers think customers are happier than they really are. Plus, get success strategies from top performing organizations: Learn what sets them apart from average companies, and learn how to use their strategies gain a significant competitive edge.

Marketing’s Role in the Transformation

The results of the survey clearly demonstrate that the world is shifting to a customer-centric focus. And that means that companies must treat the entire end-to-end customer lifecycle of engagement as a continuum, not a series of handoffs. Marketing automation technology is the key to sharing customer intelligence among all customer-facing functions. This in turn makes it possible to manage the entire customer relationship lifecycle is a holistic way.

In the course of analyzing survey results and developing the Rethinking the Role of Marketing report, it became obvious that Top Performers were making better use of certain tactics than Average companies. Which teams are guiding the customer journey? Who is ensuring satisfaction during every stage of the lifecycle? What does it take retain lasting, profitable relationships with customers? Average performers are having trouble coming up with the answers to these questions.

This new Act-On eBook, Marketing: The New Stewards of the Customer Relationship, serves as a companion piece to the Gleanster/Act-On report. Read it to discover success strategies from top performing organizations, and get four concise recommendations for improving customer engagement and re-defining marketing’s role in CRM:

• Create a customer journey map and assign accountability
• Pay more attention to how you engage with existing customers
• Partner with an agency to create ongoing customer engagement
• Segment, so you can target and personalize communications

Read it to get the tips, tools, and real-world tactics from Act-On customers for managing change and transforming marketing’s approach to the customer lifecycle.