Hotspot’s 8th Annual State of Inbound Report gives the full picture of the workings of inbound marketing.
Whilst it’s no secret that inbound marketing has become a rapidly growing trend over the past few years, and will likely to continue to skyrocket into the foreseeable digital future, businesses and marketers alike are still finding themselves hesitant to take the leap. Thankfully, HubSpot’s Inbound Report of 2016 may just be enough to give businesses that push.
After surveying over 4,500 businesses, the report gives an insight into the genuine importance of inbound marketing and how companies across the board are primarily utilising inbound marketing.
The Comparison
Inbound marketing is ultimately superior in terms of effectiveness and measurability. In the survey, 64% of marketers thought that their organisations marketing strategy was effective. Of that, a staggering 81% primarily conducted inbound marketing, with only 18% of marketers conducting primarily outbound marketing believing it to be successful. This makes inbound marketing based organisations 4 times as likely to rate their marketing strategies as effective, and satisfying their prioritised tactics.
Furthermore, it was found that organisations operating cohesively with their sales division whilst running an inbound marketing campaign were far more likely to believe that their marketing strategy was effective. A massive 84% of businesses with an aligned marketing and sales division and inbound strategy believed their marketing strategy to be effective, whilst an organisation with an outbound strategy and misaligned business structure only achieved a 15% approval rating.
It’s clear from these statistics alone that success is far more likely to occur within an organisation that understands the importance of effective communication between divisions, and one that employs an inbound marketing strategy. This stands true for all industries. From education to IT, more and more organisations are implementing primarily inbound based marketing strategies and seeing effective results.
Challenges
Naturally, not every marketing strategy is perfect, and inbound focused one’s are no exception. The most common problems faced by marketers using inbound marketing in 2016 were:
- Growing SEO/ Organic presence,
- Converting contacts / leads to customers,
- Closing more deals,
- Generating more traffic and leads,
- Proving the ROI of marketing activities,
- Getting a response.
Interestingly enough, those that calculated their ROI within their organisation were 72% more likely to agree that their marketing strategy was effective, developing a clear link between budgeting and successful marketing decisions.
The Future
YouTube. According to majority of marketers surveyed, the future is YouTube. In fact, almost half (49%) intend to add YouTube to their marketing plans in the next 12 months, closely followed by Facebook Video (39%) and Instagram (33%). There definitely appears to be a distinct shift towards growing audiences organically through video content.
Overall, inbound marketing is most definitely becoming a force to be reckoned with. Aptly put by Brian Halligan, HubSpot’s CEO; “The world is becoming more inbound. It’s growing more authentic, less interruptive. And with the findings of this year’s report, I think it’s safe to say that over the next ten years we’re going to see an even more inbound world.”
For more information, you can find the entire report here.
Author: Matthew Mortimer