As an Inbound Marketing agency, it’s our job to come up with ideas, websites, posts, campaigns, and so much more for our clients. One of the questions we hear most frequently is, “ What’s that for?” or “Why do I need that”. Well, ladies and gentleman, we now have the most up to date Inbound report available! We’re proud to be a partner of HubSpot. Each year, they interview and collect statistical data from 4,500 marketers, sales people, and other companies, crunch some numbers, and provide us with one all inclusive report. This not only lets us better analyze our results from the previous year, but most importantly, look, learn, and share the direction of Inbound for the year to come. Sales teams, entrepreneurs, marketers, and more; here’s what you need to know! Grab the rest of the stats from HubSpot!

Outbound Marketing Is Overrated

It comes as no surprise that Outbound Marketing, (where the customers find you, mostly through various paid and natural search engine marketing efforts), has become the most overrated marketing tactic. The downfall fall is the lack of qualified leads that actually come through the doorstep. Inbound Marketing allows for content to be created, in order to capture the attention of a pre-determined audience, therefore allowing a greater volume of qualified traffic to enter the funnel towards your conversion goal. As you can see below, 65% of marketers stated that generating traffic and leads was their biggest challenge over the past year.

While Outbound may be on a faster decline than ever before, Inbound is certainly on the rise! Due to the decrease in print and outdoor advertising, more and more companies are rerouting the ways in which they distribute content. Social selling and brand awareness has become a powerhouse!

Smarketing

Smarketing is the Inbound Marketing method of combining both your sales and marketing processes of a business. This allows for an integrated approach at selling and producing the most qualified results. (If this is your first time hearing the word, you may want to check this out). According to HubSpot, “When we asked marketers where they got their best leads, the majority said inbound-sourced leads were the highest quality. However, salespeople who participated in our study rated marketing-generated leads last, behind self-sourced leads and referrals.”

A high volume of inbound based leads properly combined with a salespersons’ direct leads, creates an equation for successful conversion and prospering business. A well-constructed SLA (Service Level Agreement) will improve the all around daily tasks of both your marketers, and your salespeople.

Brand Communication

The way in which your brand communicates and sells itself is more important now than ever. In the group of influencers interviewed by HubSpot, e-mail was the number one preferred method of contact across all levels on seniority, with face-to-face coming in second over phone, video conferencing, social media, and messenger apps. Results showing that it may be best for salespeople to initiate an initial buyer relationship via e-mail, or face-to-face at an event, before attempting to reach out or sell in other methods.

Key Takeaways

We gathered a TON of great information from “The State Of Inbound 2016” report posted by HubSpot. The statistics gathered from their survey helps our team both market the customer, as well as our own brand using today’s most effective methods. We learned that Outbound is still well; on it’s way out. Inbound is becoming more and more content based, with a specific target on video marketing. Our industry decision-makers are best reached by e-mail, and the importance of Smarketing is not to be overlooked.

 Inbound Marketing | ImageWorks, LLC

Inbound marketing is content that works to earn the readers attention, not just asks for it. While video marketing is on the rise, that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop paying attention to your blog. In fact, it’s more important than ever to have an effective blog, utilized in more ways than one, to help drive traffic to your other marketing efforts.