Today Hubspot released their 2013 State of Inbound Marketing Report, shedding insights into what inbound marketing means to marketers and their companies. In this fifth anniversary edition, they asked 3,339 marketing professionals from 128 countries to share their perspectives on everything from strategy and organizational alignment to budget and channel management.
Overall, marketers are increasing their inbound spending nearly 50%, for the third year in a row! No question, the marketing mix has has significantly changed, shifted, and evolved from traditional marketing to Internet-centric approaches. Below are Hubspot’s 10 key takeaways from the State of Inbound Marketing 2013 report.
1. Inbound marketing is gaining traction
- 58% of companies plan to execute inbound marketing strategies in 2013
- 48% of marketers plan to increase their inbound marketing spend this year
2. Inbound marketing is effective
- 41% of marketers confirmed that inbound marketing produces measurable ROI
- 82% of marketers who blog see positive ROI for their inbound marketing
- Twice as many marketers say inbound marketing delivers below average cost per lead versus outbound strategies
- Inbound marketing is estimated to deliver 54% more leads into the marketing funnel than traditional outbound methods
3. Inbound costs less than traditional outbound tactics
- 2x as many marketers say inbound delivers a below average cost-per-lead vs. outbound methods
- 17% of marketers say both traditional advertising and direct mail have become less important in the past six months
4. So marketers are investing more
- 48% of marketers will increase inbound spending in 2013 – the third year in a row inbound budgets have grown substantially
5. It’s a great time to be a customer
- 50% of companies consider themselves to be customer-focused
6. It’s a great time to have a customer-focused website
- 100% more website conversions result from inbound marketing vs. outbound tactics
7. Inbound marketing is starting to see love across the company
- 11% of executives lend full support to inbound marketing, and 1 of 4 companies align marketing with sales.
8. But there’s reason to establish even more “smarketing” alignment
- 200% cheaper cost-per-leads were driven by organizations with formalized marketing-sales handoffs.
9. Inbound marketers are in demand
- 125% growth in inbound marketing hiring is expected in 2013.
10. Talent is being deployed against inbound channels
- 44% of full-time marketer hours are being dedicated to inbound efforts (social media, SEO, blogging, and content creation) this year.
To see the ten key takeways, including ways to ADAPT YOUR MARKETING, view this presentation:
To see ALL RESULTS, download the full report by visiting this page.
Or, check out our Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing Infographic.
