How much wood can a woodchuck chuck? How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Add to these eternal questions one for the B2B marketing crowd: how many ideas do marketers need to be successful? Now, we’ve got an answer. It’s 67.
That’s how many ideas per quarter B2B marketers estimate they need to be successful, according to the first-ever research on B2B marketing ideation, published this month. Clearly, ideas drive creativity and innovation. And the good ones lead to the content that fuels marketing.
But to get 67 fresh ideas, you can’t just rely on one person or even one function. Ideas need to come from all over an organization, and that’s where most folks struggle. And sourcing ideas internally is not as easy as simply asking everyone to drop them in a suggestion box.
In fact, two-thirds of the B2B marketers surveyed said they don’t have a good process for gathering ideas internally and nearly 70% said they wanted to be able to crowdsource ideas internally. Providing tools and a process for unearthing ideas internally needs to become a priority within organizations, particularly as they grow and become more complex.
Two-thirds of B2B marketers don’t have a good process for gathering ideas internally
Because in many cases, ideas don’t get far—especially when it comes to content. A lack of visibility into how to submit ideas, how those ideas become actual content, and the inability to easily provide feedback end up shutting down good ideas before they get off the ground. As a result, those with ideas—those colleagues that really know the needs of customers—give up and keep them to themselves.
The industry needs better insight into ideas inside their organization. Marketers need to invest in an ideation process if they’re going to reach that magic number: 67.