If your company is like ours, you've probably had your share of annual marketing planning meetings. You know what you need to do, but the how isn't always clear—or it's continually changing.

Our team at UpCity surveyed 600 respondents from small businesses across the United States and Canada to gather more insight on where they stand with their marketing strategies and how they feel about current digital marketing trends.

Two-thirds of businesses surveyed said they believe that their current digital marketing strategies are effective in achieving their 2022 goals. Which raises the question: Why is the remaining one-third lacking confidence in their digital marketing?

Well, the answer isn't exactly black and white; it's a combination of several reasons. As a marketer yourself, you might relate to the pains of constantly changing algorithms, the need for a bigger budget to keep up with ever-increasing digital demands, and of course the numerous challenges brought on by the pandemic.

It's worth noting that defining marketing success can be subjective. Success can vary considerably from business to business, depending on its overarching goals. So, although our respondents may have improved their brand, achieved higher SEO rankings, or received more engagement on social media, for our survey we defined marketing success as directly related to market expansion.

What's Hindering Businesses' Faith in Their Marketing Strategies?

Most survey respondents reported that they believe their current marketing strategies work, so overall confidence is high. And though the remaining one-third may be only somewhat confident in their marketing approaches, the doubt comes from not hitting all of their goals.

Fully 59% of marketers said they feel they do not have the data they need to feel confident about which marketing campaigns are working, research published by the American Marketing Association has found. What's more, 37% said one of their top issues is lead generation.

Increased sales may be a goal of marketing, but the marketing and sales departments aren't always aligned, so it can be tough to measure success in dollars.

Digital Marketing Lead Gen Tactics to Use

Lead generation is a beast in and of itself, intersecting Marketing and Sales. If increasing leads and expanding your reach are among your primary business goals, here are four tried-and-true methods to continue investing in, no matter your industry.

1. Organic Search

The rise of paid search makes it understandable why some would question whether organic search still has value.

It does. An organic search strategy may take more time and patience to deliver desired results; however, it's more likely to generate high-quality leads and revenue because it's a nondisruptive form of delivering content, according to HubSpot.

Think about it: People don't like being sold to. Although paid search certainly has its benefits and pays off in its own way, most Internet users don't want to be bombarded with ads.

Organic search helps, but that alone won't accomplish all your business objectives. You can't forget about SEO and content production.

2. SEO

Your organic traffic won't find your content without implementing SEO best-practices. Pay attention to search intent for target keywords, optimize your on- and off-site content, and keep boosting your online reputation by getting verified on third-party sites.

At UpCity, we emphasize visibility by having an incredibly strong SEO presence; as a result, our lead generation team is fortunate to have a great deal of inbound traffic, which has helped us expand outside of the North American market.