Facts and Stats from HubSpot's State of Inbound 2017 Survey

Each year, HubSpot conducts a survey of 6000+ executives in companies across the globe to learn their marketing challenges and priorities. The State of Inbound 2017 report is chock-full of stats and facts that will inform your own marketing, making you more effective. Here's a summary.

Top Marketing Priorities

• 70% say converting leads to customers is a priority (top priority)
• 55% say growing traffic to website is a priority (2^nd highest priority) 

The Most Overrated Marketing Tactics

• 32% say paid advertising is overrated (highest response)
• 13% say social media organic is overrated (2^nd highest response)

Company’s Top Sales Priorities

• 72% say closing more sales is a priority (highest response)
• 54% say Improving the efficiency of the sales funnel is a priority (2^nd highest response)

Company’s Top Marketing Challenges

• 61% say generating traffic and leads is a challenge (highest response)
• 45% say proving the ROI of marketing activities is a challenge (2^nd highest response) 

Company’s Top Sales Challenges

• 49% say getting a response from prospects is a top challenge (highest response)
• 36% say connecting via phone is a top challenge (2^nd highest response - tie)
• 36% say engaging multiple decision makers at a company is a top challenge (2^nd highest response - tie) 

Top Struggles of Sales Representatives

• 38% say prospecting is a top struggle of sales reps (highest response)
• 28% say closing is a top struggle of sales reps (2^nd highest response)

Biggest Challenges in Using Company’s Existing CRM

• 23 % say manual data entry is a big challenge relative to CRM (highest response) 
• 17% say lack of integration with other tools is a big challenge relative to CRM (2^nd highest response)  

Most Successful Channel to Connect with Prospects Used by Sales Representatives

• 36% say telephone is the most successful way to connect with a prospect (highest response)
• 26% say email is the most successful way to connect with a prospect (2^nd highest response)

Effectiveness of Company’s Marketing Strategy

• Across all levels, 61% say their company’s marketing strategy is effective.

Sales and Marketing Relationship

• 44% say that marketing and sales are generally aligned (highest response)
  • 66% of these respondents say that their marketing is effective
• 22% say that marketing and sales are tightly aligned (2^nd highest response)
  • 81% of these respondents say that their marketing is effective

Top Sources of Sales for the Sales Organization

• 38% say leads sourced by sales is the top source for leads (highest response)
  • 56% rate leads from sales sources as being very high or high
• 33% say leads from referrals are the top source for leads (2^nd highest response)
  • 45% rate leads from referrals as being very high or high
• 25% say leads from marketing are the top source for leads (3^rd highest response)
  • 27% rate leads from marketing as being very high or high

Best Marketing Approach for ROI

• 46% say that inbound marketing gives them the highest ROI (highest response)
• 23% could not calculate their ROI (2^nd highest response)
• 12% say that outbound marketing gives them the highest ROI

Source Providing the Highest Quality Leads for the Sales Team

• 59% say that leads from inbound marketing practices are the highest quality (highest repose)
• 66% of tightly aligned sales/marketing organizations say that inbound delivers the highest quality leads
• 26% say that leads sourced by sales are the highest quality (2^nd highest response)
• 16% say that leads from outbound marketing practices are the highest quality (3^nd highest response)

B2B Communications Preferences

• 86% say they prefer email as their top communication preference (highest response)
• 60% say they prefer face to face as their top communication preference (2^nd highest response)
• 56% say they prefer phone as their top communication preference (3^rd highest response)
• 39% say they prefer social as their top communication preference (4^th highest response)

Armed with this new information, you should be able to create more effective strategies and campaigns!