12 Must-Know Stats From The State Of Inbound 2016 Report
Have you ever read a company blog, been on a landing page for an eBook, or clicked a link in an email? Then inbound has [metaphorically] made contact in your life. These are just a few parts that make up the entirety of inbound.
HubSpot’s The State of Inbound 2016 report contains a global survey of over 4,500 respondents who are [mostly] non-HubSpot customers to evaluate where it is now as well as where it’s headed.
We thought we’d give you some highlights from the report, as it exceeds 100 pages. (Psst. You’re welcome.)
The Must-Know Stats are Here!
Try to withhold your antici... pation as I give you some highlights from the report below. Some of these really surprised me, so I hope you find it just as insightful as I did!
- 73% of organizations use inbound as their primary approach to marketing (How swell!)
- 66% of survey respondents’ top priorities lie in growing SEO/organic presence
- 47% of respondents struggle with proving ROI of marketing activities
- For sales, 40% are challenged with getting a response from prospects more so than 2-3 years ago
- Inbound organizations were 4 times as likely to rate their marketing strategy highly and be satisfied with the tactics their organizations are prioritizing
- “Clearly, the leads sourced by Marketing aren’t favored by Sales, even if Marketing is none the wiser.” This means communication, or a feedback mechanism needs to be built into the Marketing and Sales relationship (Check out this blog on smarketing to learn more)
- The 2 biggest challenges for using a CRM are “Lack of integration” and “Manual data entry”
- Most company’s top sales priorities, whether Ecommerce, healthcare and medical, or industrial and manufacturing, center around closing more deals
- Paid advertising is the most overrated marketing tactic by every job position (from C-level executive to individual contributor) – 31% for outbound, and 33% for inbound
The Future of Inbound
- 48% of respondents voted YouTube would be a channel they were planning to add to their marketing efforts
- “The majority of respondents have plans in place to iterate and adjust their strategy based on data, and trial and error.” (This is fantastic!)
- 42% of buyer respondents said they communicate via social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter (This is why it’s essential to get in the conversation via social media and incorporate this into your company’s marketing strategy)
How This Compares to Last Year's Report
Although there are some marked changes (such as sales continuing to shift and change much like marketing did 10 years ago), many obstacles and takeaways remain the same.
Paid advertising is still seen as the most overrated marketing tactic, and proving ROI remains one of the top challenges.
We haven’t given away all of the secrets – there’s tons more geographical and sales data you can use to improve your business. You can access the report here if you’d like to get your very own shiny copy!
You can also check out our recap post from last year's report if you want to cross-reference inbound's progress.
What’s been your biggest marketing challenge so far this year? Leave your answer in the comments or feel free to tweet me @shelby_catalano!
Original Article