The B2B Marketing Statistics Advent Calendar 2014Count down to Christmas with our carefully curated collection of marketing statistics.

Have a Merry Marketing Christmas!

186%of B2B marketers are using content marketing, but only 38% rate their content marketing as effective.

Source: Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

271%of marketers say content marketing is critical.

Source: B2B Marketing

3

The five biggest content marketing challenges cited by B2B marketers are:

54%50%49%

42%41%

Four

of B2B marketers are creating more content now than they were last year. Just 5% are producing less.

Source: Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

554% of the most effective B2B marketers publish content daily or multiple times per week.

Marketers who have prioritised blogging are 13 times more likely to enjoy positive ROI.

Source: Hubspot, Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

655%of B2B marketers aren’t achieving maximum ROI from their content.

Source: Tomorrow People/B2B Marketing

Seven

ROIwas the top challenge for marketers in 2014.

(Just like it was in 2013)

Source: Hubspot

8Marketers who measure inbound ROI are 17 times more likely to see the same or greater ROI over the previous year.

Source: Hubspot

9

Source: Hubspot

In 2014, more than twice as many marketers cited inbound marketing as their primary source of leads versus outbound techniques.

Inbound Outbound

Ten84% of inbound marketers (compared to only 9% of outbound marketers) cite organic, top of funnel sources like social media, blogs and SEO as rising in importance.

Source: Hubspot

11 Source: Hubspot

In 2014, inbound-sourced leads were consistently more knowledgeable about the company prior to speaking with a rep than leads sourced through outbound means.

12

The top goal for B2B content marketing in 2015 is brand awareness, closely followed by lead generation and customer acquisition.

82%

Brand awareness

Lead generation

Customer acquisition

74% 71%

Source: Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

13of B2B marketers are dissatisfied with the number of leads their content marketing is generating.48%

Source: Tomorrow People/B2B Marketing

14

Source: Hubspot

In 2014, leads sourced through inbound practices were consistently less expensive than outbound leads, regardless of company size.

15

The most important lead sources for marketers over the last 6 months were:

Email marketingSocial mediaBlogsSEO

Source: Hubspot

16

of the most effective B2B marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.

Source: Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

17B2B marketers cite the characteristics of a successful content marketing plan as:

Relevant to audience

Engaging content

Appropriate channels for

audience

Source: B2B Marketing

18

Source: Salesforce

86%of senior-level marketers agree that it’s very important to create a cohesive customer journey.

19 Source: Tomorrow People/B2B Marketing

51% of marketers mark themselves below average at producing the correct content for every stage of the customer journey.

TwentySource: Hubspot

Data-driven marketing was the top priority for marketers in 2014.

2183% of B2B marketers who fully integrate their customer data across their organisation said they were effective at creating a cohesive customer journey across all channels.

Source: Salesforce

22of marketing leaders reported an increased need for data and analytics expertise over the past 12 months.

Source: Salesforce

46%

23

of B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing spend in 2015.

Source: Marketing Profs/Content Marketing Institute

55%

24Source: Hubspot

85% of marketers practice inbound marketing. (You should probably join them)

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leads this Christmas.