Marketing Automation Software

A Quick Overview of the State of Inbound Marketing Report and Marketing Automation Software

There is no doubt that the inbound marketing movement is ever expanding with each passing day. In HubSpot?s State of Inbound Marketing 2014, they survey thousands of marketers to compile trends in the industry, going well beyond marketing automation software itself.

There are many key findings which are well worth the read, but since you are a marketer, time is likely of the essence. To help, we have put together 25 tweet stats from the State of Inbound 2014 report:

Inbound marketers who measure ROI are more than 12 times more likely to be generating a greater ROI as opposed to lower year-over-year return.
Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13X more likely to enjoy positive ROI
Marketing agencies are outpacing vendors by sourcing nearly half (47%) of all leads through inbound channels.
More than 25% of respondents reported that their organizations? sales teams practice inbound.
Marketers concluded that content marketing is a subset of inbound at nearly twice the rate (59% to 33%) as all other options combined.
More than 5 times as many marketers reported higher budgets than claimed budgets that had been cut this year.
The majority of B2B companies surveyed are enjoying a lift in budget, with 74% reporting the same or increased budget this year.
If your marketing budget exceeds a half-million dollars, then you are expected to have a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with sales.
Running inbound positively correlates to higher marketing budgets for mid-sized companies.
The next time someone says, ?Europe trails North America in inbound marketing by about a year,? don?t nod in agreement.
The number of marketers who state they are practicing inbound rose from 60% last year to 85% this year, while the percentage of marketers who concede they don?t run inbound has nearly halved to 13%.
80% of companies with an annual marketing budget below $25,000 practice inbound marketing.
The concentration of inbound marketers peaks (93%) at companies with a marketing budget between $1M and $5M annually, before dipping moderately (7%) at enterprises with the largest budgets.
For the first time in the past four years, outbound as a primary lead source has dropped from 34% to 22%.
In 2014, more than twice as many respondents cited inbound (45%) as their primary source of leads versus outbound (22%).
Half of marketers across B2B, B2C, and nonprofit sectors ranked inbound as their primary lead source.
ROI is the top challenge indicated by marketers, though it is incongruously ranked as a relatively low priority.
While ROI tops marketing challenges, the number one marketing priority is lead generation (24%) followed by lead conversion (21%)
Inbound-sourced leads are consistently more knowledgeable about the company prior to speaking with a rep than leads sourced through outbound means.
84% of inbound marketers ? compared to only 9% of outbound marketers ? cite organic, top of the funnel sources (social media, blogs, SEO) as rising in importance.
B2B companies appear to place a higher value on educational formats (like webinars), whereas consumer businesses are slightly more willing to experiment with advanced digital formats (interactive content, online tools).
Smaller companies tend to produce more of their own content, whereas larger budgets allow enterprises to source content from specialists and agencies.
Marketers that measure inbound ROI are 17 times more likely to see the same or greater ROI over the previous year.
Given nonprofits? success at inbound lead generation, it?s natural that they would also outperform B2B and B2C companies in ROI growth.
Leads sourced through inbound practices are consistently less expensive than outbound leads, regardless of company size.

As you can see, the benefits of inbound have far reaching benefits. One of the most important decisions with inbound marketing is choosing a marketing automation system. Because there are many software leaders other than HubSpot, it is important to make a decision that best fits your needs. Below is our eBook comparing some the best marketing automation systems to help with your analysis.

Marketing Matters Inbound?is an inbound marketing firm specializing in online conversions, content?strategy, call-to-action mapping and traditional media placement. Our experience in?B2B digital?marketing?and?traditional media allows us to deliver results through a strategic media mix. We believe in?aligning and merging marketing and sales/operations for optimal return on your marketing investment.