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State Of Inbound Marketing

The document summarizes the results of a survey about inbound marketing in 2010. Three key findings are: 1) Inbound marketing channels continue to have dramatically lower costs per lead than outbound channels. 2) Social media and blogs are the fastest growing categories and have the lowest costs. 3) Over 40% of respondents have acquired customers through social media channels like Facebook and LinkedIn, showing they can directly generate leads.

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www.HubSpot.com The State of Inbound Marketing 2010 February 2010
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Contents Introduction ................................................................ ................................................................................................ ...............................................................3 Summary................................................................ ................................................................................................ .................................................................3 Overview of Inbound Marketing ................................ ................................................................................................ ............................................................3 The 2010 State of Inbound Marketing ................................ ................................................................................................ ......................................................4 Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatically Lower Cost Per Sales Lead Than Outbound Marketing Channels Do ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ..........................................4 Three Out of Four Inbound Channels Are Lower Cost Than Any Outbound Channel ............................................4 ................................ The Gap Widens: Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing While Outbound Marketing Budgets Are Decreasing ................................................................ ................................................................................................ ..............................................................6 Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Grow in Importance ................................................................ ............................................6 Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing ................................................................................................ ...........................................7 Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Going Up Based on Past Success ................................................................ .......................................8 Small Companies Continue to Focus on Inbound Marketing More Than Medium & Large Companies Do ..........8 Blogs and Social Media ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ..............................................9 Fastest Growing Marketing Category Is Blogs/So Blogs/Social Media - Budgets Are Up 67%..............................................9 ................................ Blogs Remain Most Important Social Media Channel ................................................................ ......................................................... 10 Social Media and Blogs Generate Real Customers ................................................................ .............................................................. 11 Facebook Is More Effective for B2C; LinkedIn Is More Effective for B2B............................................................ 11 ................................ Customer Acquisition Through Blogs is Direct Related to Frequency of Posts ................................................ 12 Directly ................................ Blog Post Frequency Relatively Steady................................................................................................ ................................................ 12 Conclusion and Additional Resources ................................ ................................................................................................ .................................................... 13 Appendix ................................................................ ................................................................................................................................ 14 ................................. Best Things People Did in Marketing Last Year ................................................................................................ 14 ................................... Worst Things People Did in Marketing Last Year ................................................................................................ 14 ................................ Respondent Profiles ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ............................................ 15 Sample Questions Asked ................................ ................................................................................................................................ 15 ..................................... HubSpot.com 2
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Introduction Summary This report is based on a survey of 231 professionals involved or familiar with their business’ marketing strategy their (for more information about the survey please see the appendix). Three of the key takeaways are: (1) Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatically Lower Cost Per Lead Than Outbound Channels Do Businesses spending 50% or more of their marketing budget on inbound marketing activities spent 60% less per lead than businesses spending 50% or more of their marketin budget on outbound channels. marketing This number is remarkably consistent with the 61% lower cost businesses reported a year ago. Clearly, inbound marketing channels are maintaining their low low-cost advantage. (2) Social Media and Blogs Are the Most Rapidly Expanding Category in the Overall Marketing re Expanding Budget Social media and blogs are becoming marketing powerhouses They are the fastest growing category in powerhouses. lead generation budgets and they continue to be ranked as the lowest cost lead generation channel. In lead-generation channel addition, more than any other channel, social media was ranked as a source of leads that has become more important in the last six months. (3) Businesses Are Generating Real Customers With Social Media and B Blogs Some organizations are still unsure about the utility of social media and blogs. Are potential customers really reading Twitter? Does Facebook do anything more than build brand awareness? The answer is, “Yes”! For Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and company blogs, over 40% of our respondents who use those logs, services for marketing have acquired a customer through each of those channels. Social media is not ces . just for brand awareness; it can be used to directly generate leads that translate into customers. Overview of Inbound Marketing This report is designed to help businesses and marketers understand the current usage and results of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers towards a business and its products. Inbound marketing is becoming widely accepted marketing because it complements the way buyers make purchasing decisions today -- using the Internet and related media to learn about the products and services that best meet their needs. Inbound marketers offer their audiences useful information, tools and resources to attract these people to their useful site, while also interacting and developing relationships with customers on the web. Inbound marketing tools include blogging, content publishing, search engine optimization, social media and social networks. media Inbound marketing contrasts with traditional outbound marketing, in which businesses push their messages at consumers. With techniques that include direct mail, telemarketing and trade shows, outbound marketing has become less effective over time as buyers have behaviorally and technologically (e.g., TIVO, spam filters, ‘do tive ‘do- not-call’ lists) tuned these interruptive campaigns out. call’ HubSpot.com 3
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING The 2010 State of Inbound Marketing Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatic Dramatically Lower Cost Per Sales Lead ost Than Outbound Marketing Channels Do hannels Respondents who spend more than 50% of their lead generation budget on inbound marketing channels report a significantly lower cost per sales lead than those who spend 50% or more their budgets on outbound marketing channels. Inbound marketing dominated organizations experience a 60% lower cost per lead than % outbound marketing dominated organizations. This continues with remarkable consistency the result from the study in 2009 that inbound marketing dominated businesses experienced a 61% lower cost per lead than ng % outbound marketing dominated organizations organizations. Average Cost Per Lead $350 $300 60% Lower Cost Per Lead! % Lead $250 $200 $332 $150 $100 $134 $50 $0 Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing Dominated Dominated Three Out of Four Inbound Channels Are Lower Cost Than Any Outbound Channel han Looking at lead generation channels more granularly highlights data consistent with the overall category averages. When asked to rank each lead generation category as “below average cost”, “near average cost”, or “above average cost”, businesses consisten ranked inbound marketing channels as having lower cost than consistently outbound channels (PPC was the only inbound channel that was ranked similarly to outbound channels) Social channels). media and blogs maintained the slot as the most cost effective with 63% of respondents estimating the logs nts categories as “below average cost” for lead generation generation. HubSpot.com 4
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Inbound Cost Per Lead Rating - Segmented by Channel Social Media - 2010 63% 27% 10% Blogs/Social Media - 2009 55% 34% 11% Blogs - 2010 63% 27% 9% Blogs/Social Media - 2009 55% 34% 11% Below Your Average Near Your Average SEO (organic / natural search) - 43% 40% 18% 2010 Above Your Average SEO (organic / natural search) - 48% 38% 14% 2009 PPC (paid search / AdWords) - 30% 35% 35% 2010 PPC (paid search / AdWords) - 32% 42% 25% 2009 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Outbound Cost Per Lead Rating - Segmented by Channel Telemarketing - 2010 34% 38% 28% Telemarketing - 2009 29% 48% 22% Trade Shows - 2010 22% 30% 48% Below Your Average Near Your Average Trade Shows - 2009 18% 26% 55% Above Your Average Direct Mail - 2010 37% 34% 29% Direct Mail - 2009 34% 41% 24% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% HubSpot.com 5
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING The Gap Widens: Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing While Outbound Marketing Budgets Are Decreasing Survey respondents were asked what percent percentage of their lead generation budgets would be spent on each of 9 marketing channels: “direct mail”, “telemarketing”, “trade shows”, “email marketing”, “PPC (paid search / marketing”, AdWords)”, “SEO (organic / natural search)”, “social media”, “blogs”, and “other”. Those nine channels were ords)”, ose grouped as follows (email marketing can be used both as an inbound or outbound marketing tool so it was not classified) : INBOUND CHANNELS OUTBOUND CHANNELS NOT CLASSIFIED PPC Direct Mail Email Marketing SEO Telemarketing Other Social Media Trade Shows Blogs As a percentage of the overall lead generation budget, inbound marketing expanded slightly from 2009 to 2010 and outbound marketing contracted. The net effect is that the gap widened from inbound marketing having a 9% greater share of the overall marketing budget in 2009 to a 15% greater share in 2010 2010. 2009 Lead Generation Budget 2010 Lead Generation Budget Not Not Outbound Classified Outbound Classified 29% 33% 24% 37% Inbound Inbound 38% 39% Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Grow in Importance Based on the data regarding lower average costs for inbound marketing, it is not surprising that inbound marketing channels continue to grow in importance. Looking at the last six months, businesses rate every inbound lead generation channel as being more important than any outbound channel. This is a continuing . trend from 2009. Here, again, social media is the dominant force in terms of gaining importance. Also of note is the fact that Pay-Per-Click (PPC) sources have gone slightly more out of favor than they were last year (perhaps Click than due to tighter marketing budgets). Note that the 2009 survey lumped social media and blogs into one category. HubSpot.com 6
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Sources of Leads That Have Become More Important in the Last 6 Months hat 60% 60% 59% Inbound 55% 50% 2009 2010 48% 46% 46% 40% 42% 40% Not Classified 32% 30% 2009 2010 22% 20% Outbound 19% 16% 2009 2010 15% 11% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 0% Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing re Businesses are not just ranking inbound marketing as important, they are also voting with their wallets. The majority of businesses we surveyed are increasing their 2010 inbound marketing budgets from 2009 levels. Fully 88% of those surveyed are either maintaining or increasing their inbound marketing budgets. 2010 Inbound Marketing Budgets Compared to 2009 60% 51% Percentage of Respondents 50% 37% 40% 30% 20% 12% 10% 0% Higher No Change Lower Change in 2010 Inbound Marketing Budget HubSpot.com 7
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Going Up Based on Past Success re For respondents who are increasing inbound marketing budgets, the most common reason cited was “past success with inbound marketing”. On the flip side, the small minority of b businesses decreasing inbound budgets ecreasing are doing so almost exclusively due to economic c ively conditions. Why Businesses Are Changing Inbound Marketing Budgets 92% Percentage of Respondents Citing Reason 100% 80% 58% 60% 40% 31% 28% Higher 2010 Budget 20% 12% 0% 0% 4% Lower 2010 Budget 0% Economy Change in Past Success With Past Success with Management Inbound Marketing Outbound Marketing Reason For Changing Inbound Budget Small Companies Continue to Focus on Inbound Marketing More Than Medium & Large Companies Do While comparisons between B2B and B2C companies do not reveal major differences between lead generation budgets, company size does play a large role. In a continuation of a trend identified in 2009, small businesses ny are attempting to level the marketing playing field by focusing on lower cost inbound lead generation techniques. For 2010, small businesses (1 (1-10 employees) plan to spend 44% of their lead generation budgets on ) inbound marketing while medium & large businesses (50 or more employees) only plan to spend 31% of their lead generation budgets on inbound marketing. Medium & large businesses also plan to spend dramatically large more on outbound marketing in general, especially trade shows. Medium & large businesses have allocated eral, large 21% of 2010 lead generation budgets to trade shows, whereas small businesses have only allocated 6%. HubSpot.com 8
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING 1-10 Employees 50 or More Employees (2010 Lead Gen Budget) (2010 Lead Gen Budget) Email Email Marketing Telemarketing Marketing Telemarketing 6% 5% 16% 11% Trade Shows Trade Shows 21% Other 6% 25% Other Direct Mail 21% 4% PPC (paid Blogs Direct Mail Blogs search / 9% 10% 4% AdWords) SEO (organic Social Media PPC (paid SEO (organic Social Media 9% / natural 11% search / / natural 4% search) AdWords) search) 15% 13% 10% Blogs and Social Media Fastest Growing Marketing Category I Blogs/Social Media - Budgets Are Up 67% est Is re Businesses are responding to the marketing success they are experiencing with social media and company blogs by increasing the percentage of lead generation budgets being allocated to the category. In 2009 blogs/social to media garnered 9% of the average lead generation budget. For 2010 blogs/social media has been upped to 15% of the average budget; the largest increase of any lead generation category. 61% of respondents reported that ; they publish a company blog now compared to 48% a year ago. Also of note is the decrease in both telemarketing (outbound) as well as the paid search (inbound) categories. Again, economic pressures may be conomic reducing budgets in categories that have direct c costs. 2009 Lead Generation Budget 2010 Lead Generation Budget Email Email Telemarketing 10% Marketing Telemarketing Marketing Trade Shows 12% 6% 14% Trade Shows 11% 11% Other Other Direct Mail Direct Mail 23% 21% 8% 7% PPC (paid search / PPC (paid Blogs Blogs/Social Adwords) search / 7% SEO (organic Media 11% SEO (organic Adwords) Social Media natural 9% natural 8% 16% search) search) 13% 13% HubSpot.com 9
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Blogs Remain Most Important Social Media Channel Looking at services that users ranked as “critical”, “important”, or “useful”, company blogs took the top spot for a second year in a row. Increasing in importance from 2009, fully 85% of users rated company blogs as “useful” or better in 2010. Twitter moved into the second spot with an astonishing gain from 39% of users rating it as “useful” or better in 2009 to 71% of users rating it as “useful” or better in 2010. Facebook also increased in importance to users, while StumbleUpon and Digg both had substantial drops in importance. Finally, MySpace mportance has virtually fallen off the radar with only 10% of users deeming the site “useful” or better. How Important Are These Services to Your Business? (2010 vs. 2009) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Company Blog - 2010 Company Blog - 2009 Twitter - 2010 Twitter - 2009 Facebook - 2010 Facebook - 2009 Critical LinkedIn - 2010 Important YouTube - 2010 Useful YouTube - 2009 Somewhat Useful StumbleUpon - 2010 Not Useful StumbleUpon - 2009 Flickr - 2010 Flickr - 2009 Digg - 2010 Digg - 2009 MySpace - 2010 MySpace - 2009 HubSpot.com 10
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Social Media and Blogs Generate Real Customers The use of social media and company blogs as marketing tools gets your company better brand exposure, but it e also generates leads that result in real customer acquisition. 41% of companies who use Twitter for marketing have acquired a customer from a Twitter generated lead. 41% of companies using LinkedIn for marketing have acquired a customer from that lead generation source. 43% of companies using Facebook have acquired a customer and 46% of those using company blogs have acquired a customer from a blog generated lead. blogs lead Percentage of Companies Using Specific Social Media Channels and/or Blogs Who Have Acquired a Customer From That Channel 44% 46% 50% 41% 41% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Company Blog Facebook Is More Effective for B2C LinkedIn Is More Effective for B2B B2C; The effectiveness of a particular social media channel depends upon the type of business. While both B2B and depends B2C companies are able to acquire customers through any of the four channels surveyed, Facebook is clearly more effective for B2C businesses and LinkedIn is clearly more effective for B2B businesses. Percentage of Companies Using Specific Social Media Channels and/or Blogs Who Have Acquired a Customer From That Channel 68% 70% 57% 60% 51% 45% 43% 50% 38% 40% 33% B2B 26% 30% B2C 20% 10% 0% Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Company Blog HubSpot.com 11
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Customer Acquisition Through Blogs is Directly Related to Frequency of Posts hrough An underutilized blog means customers are being left on the table. The survey this year shows a direct correlation between blog post frequency and the chance that a company has acquired a customer through that channel. Blog Post Frequency vs. Customer Acquisition 100% Acquired a Customer From Their Blog 90% Percentage of Businesses Who Have 100% 90% 80% 69% 70% 58% 60% 50% 38% 40% 30% 13% 20% 10% 0% Multiple Daily 2-3 Times Weekly Monthly Less Than Times a a Week Monthly Day Frequency of Company Blog Posts Blog Post Frequency Relatively Steady atively Despite the evidence showing that increased blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition, blogging frequency remained relatively steady between 2009 and 2010. Weekly blogging is still the most common update frequency. Frequency of Blog Posts 38% 33% 40% 29% 29% 35% 30% 20% 25% 17% 13% 20% 15% 2010 8% 6% 10% 2009 3% 3% 2% 5% 0% Multiple Daily 2-3 Weekly Monthly Less Times a Times a Than Day Week Monthly HubSpot.com 12
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Conclusion and Additional Resources Traditional outbound marketing techniques – including direct mail, print advertising and telemarketing – are becoming less effective. Buyers are not only finding ways to tune these messages out, but more importantly they now have the capability to evaluate the products and services they need on their own. As a result, businesses are transforming their marketing efforts to focus more on inbound programs that allow customers to find them. The State of Inbound Marketing report shows that businesses that more aggressively do report this are capturing leads more effectively. Given the digital nature of inbound marketing, the marginal cost per customer acquisition is typically close to zero, meaning that as buyers continue to shift how they make how purchasing, the cost/lead for a given business will continue to decrease. While it is clear that businesses are gravitating towards inbound marketing, some are moving more aggressively than others. Those that move first are more likely to reap the tremendous business benefits of this new era of marketing. If you are interested in learning more about inbound marketing and how to combine blogging, SEO and social media for results, click on the link below. http://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing marketing-kit/ HubSpot.com 13
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Appendix We asked respondents to name the best and worst marketing programs they’ve executed to drive leads and sales over the past year. Represented below are their answers in a word cloud, courtesy of wordle.net Best Things People Did in Marketing Last Year id Worst Things People Did in Marketing Last Year id HubSpot.com 14
THE STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING Respondent Profiles The State of Inbound Marketing report is based on a survey issued in early 2010. The survey was completed by 231 professionals involved or familiar with their business’ marketing strategy. These professionals included marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and salespeople in businesses of all sizes. 69% of these professionals worked in business-to-business companies and the range of industries varied greatly. Industries business represented in the sample included industries as diverse as real estate, higher education, healthcare /pharmaceutical, and retail/wholesale. The largest two categories of respondents were professional categories services/consulting at 22% and technology (software/biotech) at 15%. Sample Questions Asked The survey was designed to provide meaningful comparisons between the results of the survey conducted a year ago and the current survey. To deliver on that goal, most survey questions were the same as in the t previous survey. Respondents were asked a series of questions related to their business’ marketing programs. Most of the questions fell within three categories: - Marketing budget and sources of leads, including: dget o What percent of your sales leads come from each of your lead channels? o What percent of your lead generation budget do you spend on each of your lead channels? o Estimate the cost-per-lead for each of your lead channels lead channels. - Trends in ‘importance’ and ‘usefulness’ of marketing channels and leads, including o Which sources of leads have become MORE important to you over last six months? o Which sources of leads have become LESS important to you over last six months? o How useful are social media sources to your business? e - Focus on blogs and social media o Do you publish a blog? o How often do you publish a post? o Have you ever acquired a customer from the following social media / blog channels? HubSpot.com 15

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State Of Inbound Marketing

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    www.HubSpot.com The State of Inbound Marketing 2010 February 2010
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Contents Introduction ................................................................ ................................................................................................ ...............................................................3 Summary................................................................ ................................................................................................ .................................................................3 Overview of Inbound Marketing ................................ ................................................................................................ ............................................................3 The 2010 State of Inbound Marketing ................................ ................................................................................................ ......................................................4 Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatically Lower Cost Per Sales Lead Than Outbound Marketing Channels Do ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ..........................................4 Three Out of Four Inbound Channels Are Lower Cost Than Any Outbound Channel ............................................4 ................................ The Gap Widens: Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing While Outbound Marketing Budgets Are Decreasing ................................................................ ................................................................................................ ..............................................................6 Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Grow in Importance ................................................................ ............................................6 Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing ................................................................................................ ...........................................7 Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Going Up Based on Past Success ................................................................ .......................................8 Small Companies Continue to Focus on Inbound Marketing More Than Medium & Large Companies Do ..........8 Blogs and Social Media ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ..............................................9 Fastest Growing Marketing Category Is Blogs/So Blogs/Social Media - Budgets Are Up 67%..............................................9 ................................ Blogs Remain Most Important Social Media Channel ................................................................ ......................................................... 10 Social Media and Blogs Generate Real Customers ................................................................ .............................................................. 11 Facebook Is More Effective for B2C; LinkedIn Is More Effective for B2B............................................................ 11 ................................ Customer Acquisition Through Blogs is Direct Related to Frequency of Posts ................................................ 12 Directly ................................ Blog Post Frequency Relatively Steady................................................................................................ ................................................ 12 Conclusion and Additional Resources ................................ ................................................................................................ .................................................... 13 Appendix ................................................................ ................................................................................................................................ 14 ................................. Best Things People Did in Marketing Last Year ................................................................................................ 14 ................................... Worst Things People Did in Marketing Last Year ................................................................................................ 14 ................................ Respondent Profiles ................................ ................................................................................................................................ ............................................ 15 Sample Questions Asked ................................ ................................................................................................................................ 15 ..................................... HubSpot.com 2
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Introduction Summary This report is based on a survey of 231 professionals involved or familiar with their business’ marketing strategy their (for more information about the survey please see the appendix). Three of the key takeaways are: (1) Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatically Lower Cost Per Lead Than Outbound Channels Do Businesses spending 50% or more of their marketing budget on inbound marketing activities spent 60% less per lead than businesses spending 50% or more of their marketin budget on outbound channels. marketing This number is remarkably consistent with the 61% lower cost businesses reported a year ago. Clearly, inbound marketing channels are maintaining their low low-cost advantage. (2) Social Media and Blogs Are the Most Rapidly Expanding Category in the Overall Marketing re Expanding Budget Social media and blogs are becoming marketing powerhouses They are the fastest growing category in powerhouses. lead generation budgets and they continue to be ranked as the lowest cost lead generation channel. In lead-generation channel addition, more than any other channel, social media was ranked as a source of leads that has become more important in the last six months. (3) Businesses Are Generating Real Customers With Social Media and B Blogs Some organizations are still unsure about the utility of social media and blogs. Are potential customers really reading Twitter? Does Facebook do anything more than build brand awareness? The answer is, “Yes”! For Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and company blogs, over 40% of our respondents who use those logs, services for marketing have acquired a customer through each of those channels. Social media is not ces . just for brand awareness; it can be used to directly generate leads that translate into customers. Overview of Inbound Marketing This report is designed to help businesses and marketers understand the current usage and results of inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a set of marketing strategies and techniques focused on pulling relevant prospects and customers towards a business and its products. Inbound marketing is becoming widely accepted marketing because it complements the way buyers make purchasing decisions today -- using the Internet and related media to learn about the products and services that best meet their needs. Inbound marketers offer their audiences useful information, tools and resources to attract these people to their useful site, while also interacting and developing relationships with customers on the web. Inbound marketing tools include blogging, content publishing, search engine optimization, social media and social networks. media Inbound marketing contrasts with traditional outbound marketing, in which businesses push their messages at consumers. With techniques that include direct mail, telemarketing and trade shows, outbound marketing has become less effective over time as buyers have behaviorally and technologically (e.g., TIVO, spam filters, ‘do tive ‘do- not-call’ lists) tuned these interruptive campaigns out. call’ HubSpot.com 3
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING The 2010 State of Inbound Marketing Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Deliver Dramatic Dramatically Lower Cost Per Sales Lead ost Than Outbound Marketing Channels Do hannels Respondents who spend more than 50% of their lead generation budget on inbound marketing channels report a significantly lower cost per sales lead than those who spend 50% or more their budgets on outbound marketing channels. Inbound marketing dominated organizations experience a 60% lower cost per lead than % outbound marketing dominated organizations. This continues with remarkable consistency the result from the study in 2009 that inbound marketing dominated businesses experienced a 61% lower cost per lead than ng % outbound marketing dominated organizations organizations. Average Cost Per Lead $350 $300 60% Lower Cost Per Lead! % Lead $250 $200 $332 $150 $100 $134 $50 $0 Outbound Marketing Inbound Marketing Dominated Dominated Three Out of Four Inbound Channels Are Lower Cost Than Any Outbound Channel han Looking at lead generation channels more granularly highlights data consistent with the overall category averages. When asked to rank each lead generation category as “below average cost”, “near average cost”, or “above average cost”, businesses consisten ranked inbound marketing channels as having lower cost than consistently outbound channels (PPC was the only inbound channel that was ranked similarly to outbound channels) Social channels). media and blogs maintained the slot as the most cost effective with 63% of respondents estimating the logs nts categories as “below average cost” for lead generation generation. HubSpot.com 4
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Inbound Cost Per Lead Rating - Segmented by Channel Social Media - 2010 63% 27% 10% Blogs/Social Media - 2009 55% 34% 11% Blogs - 2010 63% 27% 9% Blogs/Social Media - 2009 55% 34% 11% Below Your Average Near Your Average SEO (organic / natural search) - 43% 40% 18% 2010 Above Your Average SEO (organic / natural search) - 48% 38% 14% 2009 PPC (paid search / AdWords) - 30% 35% 35% 2010 PPC (paid search / AdWords) - 32% 42% 25% 2009 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Outbound Cost Per Lead Rating - Segmented by Channel Telemarketing - 2010 34% 38% 28% Telemarketing - 2009 29% 48% 22% Trade Shows - 2010 22% 30% 48% Below Your Average Near Your Average Trade Shows - 2009 18% 26% 55% Above Your Average Direct Mail - 2010 37% 34% 29% Direct Mail - 2009 34% 41% 24% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% HubSpot.com 5
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING The Gap Widens: Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing While Outbound Marketing Budgets Are Decreasing Survey respondents were asked what percent percentage of their lead generation budgets would be spent on each of 9 marketing channels: “direct mail”, “telemarketing”, “trade shows”, “email marketing”, “PPC (paid search / marketing”, AdWords)”, “SEO (organic / natural search)”, “social media”, “blogs”, and “other”. Those nine channels were ords)”, ose grouped as follows (email marketing can be used both as an inbound or outbound marketing tool so it was not classified) : INBOUND CHANNELS OUTBOUND CHANNELS NOT CLASSIFIED PPC Direct Mail Email Marketing SEO Telemarketing Other Social Media Trade Shows Blogs As a percentage of the overall lead generation budget, inbound marketing expanded slightly from 2009 to 2010 and outbound marketing contracted. The net effect is that the gap widened from inbound marketing having a 9% greater share of the overall marketing budget in 2009 to a 15% greater share in 2010 2010. 2009 Lead Generation Budget 2010 Lead Generation Budget Not Not Outbound Classified Outbound Classified 29% 33% 24% 37% Inbound Inbound 38% 39% Inbound Marketing Channels Continue to Grow in Importance Based on the data regarding lower average costs for inbound marketing, it is not surprising that inbound marketing channels continue to grow in importance. Looking at the last six months, businesses rate every inbound lead generation channel as being more important than any outbound channel. This is a continuing . trend from 2009. Here, again, social media is the dominant force in terms of gaining importance. Also of note is the fact that Pay-Per-Click (PPC) sources have gone slightly more out of favor than they were last year (perhaps Click than due to tighter marketing budgets). Note that the 2009 survey lumped social media and blogs into one category. HubSpot.com 6
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Sources of Leads That Have Become More Important in the Last 6 Months hat 60% 60% 59% Inbound 55% 50% 2009 2010 48% 46% 46% 40% 42% 40% Not Classified 32% 30% 2009 2010 22% 20% Outbound 19% 16% 2009 2010 15% 11% 10% 10% 10% 10% 10% 0% Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Increasing re Businesses are not just ranking inbound marketing as important, they are also voting with their wallets. The majority of businesses we surveyed are increasing their 2010 inbound marketing budgets from 2009 levels. Fully 88% of those surveyed are either maintaining or increasing their inbound marketing budgets. 2010 Inbound Marketing Budgets Compared to 2009 60% 51% Percentage of Respondents 50% 37% 40% 30% 20% 12% 10% 0% Higher No Change Lower Change in 2010 Inbound Marketing Budget HubSpot.com 7
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Inbound Marketing Budgets Are Going Up Based on Past Success re For respondents who are increasing inbound marketing budgets, the most common reason cited was “past success with inbound marketing”. On the flip side, the small minority of b businesses decreasing inbound budgets ecreasing are doing so almost exclusively due to economic c ively conditions. Why Businesses Are Changing Inbound Marketing Budgets 92% Percentage of Respondents Citing Reason 100% 80% 58% 60% 40% 31% 28% Higher 2010 Budget 20% 12% 0% 0% 4% Lower 2010 Budget 0% Economy Change in Past Success With Past Success with Management Inbound Marketing Outbound Marketing Reason For Changing Inbound Budget Small Companies Continue to Focus on Inbound Marketing More Than Medium & Large Companies Do While comparisons between B2B and B2C companies do not reveal major differences between lead generation budgets, company size does play a large role. In a continuation of a trend identified in 2009, small businesses ny are attempting to level the marketing playing field by focusing on lower cost inbound lead generation techniques. For 2010, small businesses (1 (1-10 employees) plan to spend 44% of their lead generation budgets on ) inbound marketing while medium & large businesses (50 or more employees) only plan to spend 31% of their lead generation budgets on inbound marketing. Medium & large businesses also plan to spend dramatically large more on outbound marketing in general, especially trade shows. Medium & large businesses have allocated eral, large 21% of 2010 lead generation budgets to trade shows, whereas small businesses have only allocated 6%. HubSpot.com 8
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING 1-10 Employees 50 or More Employees (2010 Lead Gen Budget) (2010 Lead Gen Budget) Email Email Marketing Telemarketing Marketing Telemarketing 6% 5% 16% 11% Trade Shows Trade Shows 21% Other 6% 25% Other Direct Mail 21% 4% PPC (paid Blogs Direct Mail Blogs search / 9% 10% 4% AdWords) SEO (organic Social Media PPC (paid SEO (organic Social Media 9% / natural 11% search / / natural 4% search) AdWords) search) 15% 13% 10% Blogs and Social Media Fastest Growing Marketing Category I Blogs/Social Media - Budgets Are Up 67% est Is re Businesses are responding to the marketing success they are experiencing with social media and company blogs by increasing the percentage of lead generation budgets being allocated to the category. In 2009 blogs/social to media garnered 9% of the average lead generation budget. For 2010 blogs/social media has been upped to 15% of the average budget; the largest increase of any lead generation category. 61% of respondents reported that ; they publish a company blog now compared to 48% a year ago. Also of note is the decrease in both telemarketing (outbound) as well as the paid search (inbound) categories. Again, economic pressures may be conomic reducing budgets in categories that have direct c costs. 2009 Lead Generation Budget 2010 Lead Generation Budget Email Email Telemarketing 10% Marketing Telemarketing Marketing Trade Shows 12% 6% 14% Trade Shows 11% 11% Other Other Direct Mail Direct Mail 23% 21% 8% 7% PPC (paid search / PPC (paid Blogs Blogs/Social Adwords) search / 7% SEO (organic Media 11% SEO (organic Adwords) Social Media natural 9% natural 8% 16% search) search) 13% 13% HubSpot.com 9
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Blogs Remain Most Important Social Media Channel Looking at services that users ranked as “critical”, “important”, or “useful”, company blogs took the top spot for a second year in a row. Increasing in importance from 2009, fully 85% of users rated company blogs as “useful” or better in 2010. Twitter moved into the second spot with an astonishing gain from 39% of users rating it as “useful” or better in 2009 to 71% of users rating it as “useful” or better in 2010. Facebook also increased in importance to users, while StumbleUpon and Digg both had substantial drops in importance. Finally, MySpace mportance has virtually fallen off the radar with only 10% of users deeming the site “useful” or better. How Important Are These Services to Your Business? (2010 vs. 2009) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Company Blog - 2010 Company Blog - 2009 Twitter - 2010 Twitter - 2009 Facebook - 2010 Facebook - 2009 Critical LinkedIn - 2010 Important YouTube - 2010 Useful YouTube - 2009 Somewhat Useful StumbleUpon - 2010 Not Useful StumbleUpon - 2009 Flickr - 2010 Flickr - 2009 Digg - 2010 Digg - 2009 MySpace - 2010 MySpace - 2009 HubSpot.com 10
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Social Media and Blogs Generate Real Customers The use of social media and company blogs as marketing tools gets your company better brand exposure, but it e also generates leads that result in real customer acquisition. 41% of companies who use Twitter for marketing have acquired a customer from a Twitter generated lead. 41% of companies using LinkedIn for marketing have acquired a customer from that lead generation source. 43% of companies using Facebook have acquired a customer and 46% of those using company blogs have acquired a customer from a blog generated lead. blogs lead Percentage of Companies Using Specific Social Media Channels and/or Blogs Who Have Acquired a Customer From That Channel 44% 46% 50% 41% 41% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Company Blog Facebook Is More Effective for B2C LinkedIn Is More Effective for B2B B2C; The effectiveness of a particular social media channel depends upon the type of business. While both B2B and depends B2C companies are able to acquire customers through any of the four channels surveyed, Facebook is clearly more effective for B2C businesses and LinkedIn is clearly more effective for B2B businesses. Percentage of Companies Using Specific Social Media Channels and/or Blogs Who Have Acquired a Customer From That Channel 68% 70% 57% 60% 51% 45% 43% 50% 38% 40% 33% B2B 26% 30% B2C 20% 10% 0% Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Company Blog HubSpot.com 11
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Customer Acquisition Through Blogs is Directly Related to Frequency of Posts hrough An underutilized blog means customers are being left on the table. The survey this year shows a direct correlation between blog post frequency and the chance that a company has acquired a customer through that channel. Blog Post Frequency vs. Customer Acquisition 100% Acquired a Customer From Their Blog 90% Percentage of Businesses Who Have 100% 90% 80% 69% 70% 58% 60% 50% 38% 40% 30% 13% 20% 10% 0% Multiple Daily 2-3 Times Weekly Monthly Less Than Times a a Week Monthly Day Frequency of Company Blog Posts Blog Post Frequency Relatively Steady atively Despite the evidence showing that increased blogging correlates with increased customer acquisition, blogging frequency remained relatively steady between 2009 and 2010. Weekly blogging is still the most common update frequency. Frequency of Blog Posts 38% 33% 40% 29% 29% 35% 30% 20% 25% 17% 13% 20% 15% 2010 8% 6% 10% 2009 3% 3% 2% 5% 0% Multiple Daily 2-3 Weekly Monthly Less Times a Times a Than Day Week Monthly HubSpot.com 12
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Conclusion and Additional Resources Traditional outbound marketing techniques – including direct mail, print advertising and telemarketing – are becoming less effective. Buyers are not only finding ways to tune these messages out, but more importantly they now have the capability to evaluate the products and services they need on their own. As a result, businesses are transforming their marketing efforts to focus more on inbound programs that allow customers to find them. The State of Inbound Marketing report shows that businesses that more aggressively do report this are capturing leads more effectively. Given the digital nature of inbound marketing, the marginal cost per customer acquisition is typically close to zero, meaning that as buyers continue to shift how they make how purchasing, the cost/lead for a given business will continue to decrease. While it is clear that businesses are gravitating towards inbound marketing, some are moving more aggressively than others. Those that move first are more likely to reap the tremendous business benefits of this new era of marketing. If you are interested in learning more about inbound marketing and how to combine blogging, SEO and social media for results, click on the link below. http://www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing marketing-kit/ HubSpot.com 13
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Appendix We asked respondents to name the best and worst marketing programs they’ve executed to drive leads and sales over the past year. Represented below are their answers in a word cloud, courtesy of wordle.net Best Things People Did in Marketing Last Year id Worst Things People Did in Marketing Last Year id HubSpot.com 14
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    THE STATE OFINBOUND MARKETING Respondent Profiles The State of Inbound Marketing report is based on a survey issued in early 2010. The survey was completed by 231 professionals involved or familiar with their business’ marketing strategy. These professionals included marketers, business owners, entrepreneurs, executives and salespeople in businesses of all sizes. 69% of these professionals worked in business-to-business companies and the range of industries varied greatly. Industries business represented in the sample included industries as diverse as real estate, higher education, healthcare /pharmaceutical, and retail/wholesale. The largest two categories of respondents were professional categories services/consulting at 22% and technology (software/biotech) at 15%. Sample Questions Asked The survey was designed to provide meaningful comparisons between the results of the survey conducted a year ago and the current survey. To deliver on that goal, most survey questions were the same as in the t previous survey. Respondents were asked a series of questions related to their business’ marketing programs. Most of the questions fell within three categories: - Marketing budget and sources of leads, including: dget o What percent of your sales leads come from each of your lead channels? o What percent of your lead generation budget do you spend on each of your lead channels? o Estimate the cost-per-lead for each of your lead channels lead channels. - Trends in ‘importance’ and ‘usefulness’ of marketing channels and leads, including o Which sources of leads have become MORE important to you over last six months? o Which sources of leads have become LESS important to you over last six months? o How useful are social media sources to your business? e - Focus on blogs and social media o Do you publish a blog? o How often do you publish a post? o Have you ever acquired a customer from the following social media / blog channels? HubSpot.com 15