Email is a close second to social media as a productive B2B lead-generation tactic. But it is first in lead nurturing, according to Generating and Nurturing Lead Survey, a study by Ascend2.

Of the 229 marketers polled, 47% say email is an effective nurturing tactic, followed by content or video marketing (45%), social media (40%), web personalization (33%) and search engine optimization (33%).

In contrast, social media is rated as an effective lead-generation tool by 47%, and email by 46%. In addition, 39% feel that content or video is productive, and 38% cite SEO. 

Their goals are different at each stage of the process. The respondents list their lead-generation priorities  as follows:

• Improve the quality of leads — 48% 
  
• Increase the number of leads — 46%
  
• Improve strategy effectiveness — 37%
  
• Improve lead data analytics — 36% 
  
• Improvise ROI measurability — 32%
  
• Increase web visitor conversions — 31%

Their lead nurturing priorities are different:

• Increase sales opportunities — 55%
  
• Increase customer conversions — 53% 
  
• Increase brand awareness — 35% 
  
• Improve personalization — 31%
  
• Decrease sales cycle time—30%
  
• Improve lead data segmentation — 29%
  
• Improve strategy effectiveness — 28% 

Overall, 58% rate themselves as very successful in demand creation, or best in class. And 35% see themselves as somewhat successful. Only 7% say they’re failing at it.

In addition, 46% agree their digital demand generation is improving moderately and 38% significantly. Only 12% feel their effectiveness is worsening moderately, and 4% that it is significantly down.

Only 8% rely entirely on in-house resources to generate and nurture leads. Some 56% combine outsourced and in-house resources, and 36% rely totally on outsourced specialists.