Proving ROI has never been a simple task for B2B marketers nor has it ever been so vital to their careers, especially in today's shaky economy. To add gasoline to the fire, at the helm of many businesses and corporations are sometimes short-term focused c-suite executives who don't necessarily view marketing as a vital investment that drives brand preference, revenue growth, and customer loyalty. These same executives often view marketing in simple tactical terms such as PR, events, and advertising. So how can B2B marketers educate and convince these executives, who frequently climbed the ranks through roles in finance or sales, of marketing's strategic value and contribution to both the top and bottom lines of the company? Actionable data.
 
Traditionally, it's been hit-and-miss or educated guess, but nothing accurate when B2B marketers have tried to show a return on the marketing investment (ROMI). According to Forrester Research, $24 billion will be spent on interactive marketing this year. But 48 percent of interactive marketers-nearly half-say that their interactive marketing organization struggles to prove the ROI of its efforts, and 69 percent agree that their organization is understaffed. Essentially, this means marketers today are overwhelmed by the volume of possible metrics available to them and fail to combine metrics to get a holistic understanding of the success of campaigns. B2B marketers are often fooled into thinking lead management technology solutions equipped with dashboard reporting features will automatically give them accurate metrics. In fact, it's the data and analytics in the dashboard reports that make them accurate, and not all dashboard reporting features are created equal.
 
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