The eighth installment of State of the Inbound report showed that only 24% of the survey respondents used outbound marketing for their company’s first marketing. The three insights of the report are maturation, effectiveness, and adoption by industries.

Maturation

The top priorities of marketing and sales team of the surveyed company included lead generation/conversion, increased web traffic, and upselling. Initially, inbound marketers initially focussed only on web-based content and SEO. As time passed, the companies shifted from attracting customers to converting them to a satisfied customer. The report shows evidence of the holistic approach of the marketing and sales team to generate measurable ROI.

Effectiveness

The report noted that the respondents of organizations with inbound marketing strategy were four times as compared to respondents of organization with outbound marketing. During the survey, the respondents were asked if their organization’s marketing approach was practical. 81% of the interviewees who replied “yes” were working for companies that followed inbound marketing.

Companies often face issues in lead generation. The surveyors were asked which marketing strategy provided the highest quality of leads. 59% of the marketers believed that inbound marketing attracts more leads compared to outbound marketing. It is reported that only 19% thought in outbound marketing.  Both inbound and outbound oriented organizations agreed paid advertisement as the poorest marketing tactic.

Adoption by Industries

According to the report, the adoption rates of inbound marketing varies at a fairly wide range. The industry adoption is listed in the below table.

Industry	Inbound Marketing	Outbound Marketing
Consumer Products	59%	39%
Education	66%	30%
e-Commerce	89%	8%
Financial Services	62%	35%
Healthcare and Medical	57%	39%
Industrial and Manufacturing	59%	39%
IT and Services	72%	27%
Media and Publishing	76%	21%
Marketing Agencies	84%	12%
Non-profit/Government	76%	20%
Software	78%	21%

The above table indicates that the tech-centered industries such as IT, software and e-commerce invest heavily in inbound marketing. Traditional industry segments such as financial services, industries & manufacturing, and healthcare & medical lag behind when it comes to inbound marketing. However, inbound marketing approach is the primary marketing approach of most of the companies across the 12 sectors of industries mentioned in the report.

The Bottom Line

The continued maturation of inbound marketing is impressive. The widespread usage of inbound marketing proves that is most cost-effective and efficient marketing methodology for all industries and companies of all sizes.