ANNUITAS – A Decade in Demand

August 26, 2015 Business Leave a comment

As ANNUITAS, a demand generation and marketing strategy firm, celebrates its 10th anniversary, it takes a look at how demand generation has evolved over the last decade, and the most important milestones that influenced business along the way.

Approaching the last quarter of 2015, the one thing that B2B marketers can be assured of is that today’s business buyers are more sophisticated than ever, and that condition will continue to evolve! Looking back over the last ten years, the demand generation market and the approach our buyers took to purchase not only progressively changed, it became all the more sophisticated. Moving forward, marketers will continue to be challenged to keep pace with these advancements and will need to do more in order to connect with their buyers and show demonstrable ROI as a result of their Demand Generation and Content Marketing Strategies.

In the ANNUITAS B2B Enterprise Demand Generation study, participants were asked to rate the skill set of those who are responsible for Demand Generation and only 7.5% rated themselves as highly skilled. Buyer-centric Demand Generation is surely one of the areas that “marketing must do,” yet the vast majority lack the skills to do it effectively. The education and enablement of personnel is key to any success organizations want to have in Demand Generation.

The biggest improvement then that we must see from B2B marketers moving forward is the commitment to change. If B2B marketing departments are going to deliver on the promise of Demand Generation, this is not something that can be done half-heartedly, it requires a commitment to change within the organization. This change, while at times uncomfortable, will lead to marketing being a strategic role in the organization and ensure the dollars that are invested in Demand Generation in the coming years deliver revenue and maximize Customer Lifetime Value, something that any B2B marketer should aspire to.