Almost three-quarters of businesses worldwide depend on inbound marketing as a primary marketing approach in 2018, with 71% of surveyed marketers consider their organization’s marketing strategy is effective. Review some of the myriads insights revealed in the “State of Inbound 2018 Report” launched by HubSpot.

The State of Inbound Marketing in 2018

• Converting contacts/leads to customers is the top marketing priority for 69% of respondents, followed far by grow traffic to websites with a rate of 54%.
• In terms of the inbound marketing goals include SEO, content creation/automation and growing SEO/organic presence ranked at the top with a rate of 61%.
• That’s why generating traffic and leads is the top marketing challenges for 61%.
• Although only 39% of respondents consider proving the ROI of marketing activities as one of their top challenges, 53% indicated that the inbound marketing gives the higher ROI.
• 46% of businesses have increased their inbound marketing budget in 2018 compared to the last year.
• In terms of the planned investment of next 12 months marketing efforts, video channels such as YouTube will hold the highest share, followed by professional networks (LinkedIn or Xing) and Facebook videos.

The State of Sales in 2018

• Closing more deals is the major priority for three-quarters of businesses worldwide, ahead of improving the efficiency of the sales funnel with a rate of 48%.
• In another side, getting a response from prospects is considered the most difficult thing to do in sales.
• Telephone (36%) and email (30%) are the most successful channel for sales representatives to connect with a prospect.
• Referrals (32%) and leads from marketing (28%) are the top sources of leads for sales organizations.

A Graph Shows the Top Marketing Priorities for Companies Worldwide in 2018 (By Region)

Methodology:

Data were driven from more than 6200 respondents in 99 countries from a mix of industries, company sizes, and levels of seniority. The survey was conducted from February till March 2018.