8 charts to combat your boss's skepticism of inbound marketing
TRANSCRIPT
8 C h a r t s t o C o m b a t Yo u r B o s s ’s
S k e p t i c i s m o f I n b o u n d M a r k e t i n g !
D a t a t o B a c k Yo u r A r g u m e n t
77%
83.40%
34%
41.80%
10.80%
8.60% 6.40%
7.40%
Percentage of Online B2B Research!
Google Search
Supplier's Website
3rd Party Website
User Review of Products
Blogs
Social Media
I do not participate
Other
Source:2014 State of B2B Procurement Study, Aquity Group
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
By now, your boss has likely used online search for personal purchases. However, when it comes to your
company (assuming you are B2B), he/she is reluctant to invest in inbound and search engine marketing because the common myth is that B2B purchases aren’t the same as B2C. You know, though, that this is a false assumption,
and the chart on the previous slide shows that Google Search is utilized 77% of the time for online product
research even for B2B.
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Content markeCng is a subset of inbound
markeCng
They are synonyms Inbound markeCng is a subset of content
markeCng
The two are fundamentally different
Rela%onship Between Inbound Marke%ng & Content Marke%ng According to HubSpot Customer/Non-‐Customer Survey
HubSpot Customer
Non HubSpot Customer
Source: State of Inbound, HubSpot, 2014
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
While your boss may not be completely familiar with inbound marketing, content marketing is something that’s
surely come up in the board room. Since content marketing is likely more familiar to your boss, it may be easier to combat skepticism by explaining that content marketing is really just one tactic important to inbound marketing. And, your company will have an edge over
competitors who have yet to take advantage of all tactics of inbound marketing.
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Native Advertising vs. Inbound Marketing ROI!
Buzzfeed's NaCve AdverCsing Campaign
Fractl's Content MarkeCng Campaign
Source: “The Reach, Engagement, and ROI of Content MarkeCng vs. NaCve AdverCsing (New Research)”, MoZ, 2015
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
In a 2015 report from Fractl and Moz, the ROI in terms of shares, links and traffic generated from native advertising vs. inbound marketing was compared. Considering the high cost of native advertising, the chart on the previous
slide from this report shows that there is a higher ROI potential with content marketing, especially if your
company’s goals are to increase organic search rankings, drive brand awareness, and optimize for conversions.
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Per
cen
t o
f R
esp
on
dan
ts
Inbound Marketing ROI
Inbound Marketing ROI!
Great ROI than previous year
Lower ROI than previous year
About the same as previous year
State of Inbound, 2014, HubSpot
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
Of course, because marketers haven’t always had the best reputation of successfully proving the ROI of campaigns,
your boss’ main line of skepticism is going to be whether or not inbound marketing will be worth the investment. For
marketers already adopting it and surveyed in the State of Inbound Report, the evidence is clear that inbound
marketing produces a higher ROI than the previous year.
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0-‐1K 1K-‐10K 10K-‐50K 50K-‐100K 100K-‐1M 1M-‐5M 5M+
Website Visitors per Month by Revenue Achievement
Not Achieving Revenue
Achieving Revenue
Exceeding Revenue
Demand GeneraCon Report 2014, HubSpot
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
One of the main goals of inbound marketing is to increase visitors to your website. While your boss may push back
and say that website visitors do not equate to sales because not all visitors are your ideal buyers, you can
push back with this chart that shows revenue is correlated to the total number of website visitors.
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1-100 100-500 500-1,000 1,000-2,500 2,500-5,000 5,000-10,000 10,000 +
Leads per Month by Revenue Achievement !
Not Achieving Revenue Achieving Revenue Exceeding Revenue
Demand GeneraCon Report, 2014, HubSpot
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
Another main goal of inbound marketing is to increase lead conversions from your website. The chart on the previous
slide shows what your boss probably already knows – more leads means more revenue. What your boss may not
know, however, is that inbound marketing delivers 54 percent more leads into the funnel than outbound
marketing.
14.60%
1.70%
0.00% 2.00% 4.00% 6.00% 8.00% 10.00% 12.00% 14.00% 16.00%
SEO leads
Outbound leads (e.g. direct mail or print advertising)
Close Rate of SEO Leads vs. Outbound Leads!
Source: The UlCmate List of MarkeCng StaCsCcs, HubSpot
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
Not only does inbound marketing convert more leads than outbound marketing, but a major channel in inbound
marketing, SEO, actually has a 14X’s higher close rate than outbound marketing leads.
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st
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Company Size
Cost Per Lead!
Inbound Outbound $70
$37 $27
$102
$220
$45
51-‐200 1-‐25 1,000+
State of Inbound, 2014, HubSpot
Your argument for the previous chart . . .!
By now, you’ve likely combatted your boss’ skepticism about inbound marketing, but if he/she is not convinced
yet, the cost per lead comparison should do the trick. For companies of any size, the cost per lead for inbound marketing is lower than outbound marketing, but the
biggest impact of inbound marketing on cost per lead is for companies between 51-200 employees.
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