BOSTON, April 27, 2016 – B2B content marketing for lead generation is personalized and mature. It’s when a lead has already been generated, however, that content marketing leaves a lot to be desired, according to “Content Can Close,” the new study by leading enterprise-grade sales enablement solution Seismic and MarketingProfs.

The study, compiled from a survey of more than 200 B2B content marketers, finds that, while 72 percent of B2B content marketers are personalizing content on a persona-based or industry-specific level, only 18 percent are equipping their sales team with that content in an effectively organized manner and are ensuring that such content remains updated and on-brand.

In place of a complete and effective sales enablement process, respondents cited having to create content in response to one-off requests from sales (16 percent of respondents) and hosting content in various disconnected siloes (23 percent) as the main way of providing sales with the content needed to close deals.

Meanwhile, 13 percent admitted to having no sales enablement process at all, and an additional 11 percent did not know if they had one.

“Our new study indicates that the next step for B2B content marketers is to take their mature and personalized content marketing initiatives and equally apply them further down the purchase funnel,” said Doug Winter, CEO of Seismic. “By focusing on implementing an effective and efficient sales enablement process, B2B marketers will not only be able to improve sales teams’ effectiveness, but they will also be able to directly tie their efforts to new sales.”

Despite a majority of respondents indicating that their sales enablement processes are underdeveloped, 64 percent still said that they consider their team’s influence on the bottom line as being very or somewhat important. When asked how they would measure their content’s influence on revenue if they could, top responses include:

  • Which pieces of content were reported as the source of the opportunity (51 percent of respondents)
  • At what stage in the sales cycle a piece of content was used (48 percent)
  • How soon after a buyer engaged with a piece of content did they advance to the next stage in the sales cycle (47 percent)
  • At what stage in the sales cycle was most content used (36 percent)
  • How many times a piece of content was used during the sales cycle (36 percent)

“There is clearly a desire among content marketers to better connect their efforts to the company’s bottom line, and the great news is that platforms like Seismic offer the exact reporting technology to do so,” said Winter. “The bad news is that the study also shows that 24 percent of respondents are planning on implementing a sales enablement tool in the next six to 12 months, meaning that those who aren’t will soon be at a serious competitive disadvantage when it comes to equipping their sales teams with the right content to progress and accelerate the sales cycle.”

For a deeper look into the results of Seismic and MarketingProfs’ “Content Can Close,” visit Seismic’s new slideshare here.

Looking to see where your sales enablement efforts stand? Check out Seismic’s Sales Enablement Benchmark Assessment here.

About Seismic
Seismic is the leading end-to-end sales enablement solution for enterprises that increases sales productivity and marketing effectiveness by delivering the right content at the right time on any device. By creating, customizing and analyzing sales materials with Seismic, customers dramatically increase time spent selling and improve win rates. With offices in San Diego, Boston, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Melbourne, Seismic is privately held by its three-time serial entrepreneur executive team and investment firms JMI Equity and Jackson Square Ventures.