Recently, HubSpot launched our first edition of the State of Inbound UK report: Inbound Insights UK – 2014. We surveyed marketing professionals across the UK, both leaders and practitioners, to find out what the current trends in marketing are. This extensive research aims to specifically help marketers in the UK set realistic benchmarks as well as focus on issues where they may be lagging behind on. For example, the relationship between sales and marketing is ever-increasing and the data indicates strongly that businesses that align these two departments outperform those that don’t by a significant margin. We came up with many fascinating facts on the state of inbound marketing in the UK. The nine most remarkable discoveries were rolled into this SlideShare

1. 2014 Edition
Revealing Inbound
Marketing Insights
From the U.K. 9
A Publication of

2. HubSpot surveyed
Marketing Leaders and Practitioners
in the U.K. …

3. … to find out what’s trending,

4. and to enable you to benchmark your
company against others in the U.K.

5. We created our first annual U.K. report:
INBOUND INSIGHTS U.K. - 2014

6. Here are of the
report’s most
remarkable
discoveries.

7. Adoption of inbound in the
U.K. is growing at a similar
rate to that in the U.S. (Fast.)

8. 79% of U.K. companies
implemented inbound
inbound marketing
strategies in 2014.

9. This is a year over year
growth of 25%

10. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Inbound services have certainly increased. To be frank, we are seeing most
businesses go for content provision rather than a cohesive strategy as they think
content publishing without a purpose is enough to generate results, but the
execution needs to be revisited for many businesses. The main thing missing is the
focus on ensuring the content production is aligned to the media instead of what the
organisations think the target audience & media require. Think channel first, then
about what you have to say. Combining that with a creative experience to cut
through the content ‘white noise’ will stand you in good stead.
Alistair Norman, @AlistairNorman
CEO, Tomorrow People, Internet Marketing Agency

11. Lead generation is the
number one marketing
goal in the U.K.

12. 1 in 4
Companies under 200
employees selected lead
generation as their
top priority.

13. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
B2B marketers are using inbound or content marketing to address both the brand
and demand generation challenges, but they’re also increasingly using it to address
other marketing-related challenges. In any instance where an organisation needs to
communicate specific information to a specific audience or group of stakeholders,
like recruitment and HR or customer service, there is the potential for inbound to
play a role. In this day and age, we expect the information (of any kind) that we want
to be freely available and accessible via search engines. The challenge for B2B
brands is to present it in an attractive and digestible format.
Joel Harrison, @Joel_B2BEditor
Editor-in-Chief, B2B Marketing

14. Successful inbound
marketers are
focusing on SEO.

15. Of respondents who already see
positive ROI from inbound are
focusing on SEO and growing their
organic traffic as top priority.
43%

16. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Despite the fact there is a lot of noise around ‘content marketing’ or ‘data’ right now,
the inescapable fact is that organic search is still THE most important channel for
almost all brands and industries in ROI terms. Social is catching up relatively quickly
and paid search is a profitable tactic but long term, brands need to grow an ‘owned’
audience if they have any ambition to truly grow value. Speak to any brand
spending big across all digital ‘channels’ and they will always tell you that organic
search is the most profitable for them if the strategy and execution is right.
Simon Penson, @simonpenson
MD & Founder, Zazzle Media

17. Hiring top talent is
not a priority for
marketers in the U.K.

18. 3%
Only of marketing
leaders placed hiring top talent as
a top priority.

19. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Hiring talent is essential for the on-going success of a marketing team and should be a
strategic priority. The team needs to be made up of key players who work together to
achieve results and individuals with varied talents, from writing to PPC and SEO. Building a
network of talented employees attracts other talented individuals to want to become a part
of the business and networks. It can be a difficult process but the key is not to be narrow in
the recruitment funnel as you run the risk of rejecting talented people. It’s better to ask
‘killer’ questions and make sure that you’re getting the right people in the right roles. Hiring
right the first time can save a lot of pain further down the line.
Hiring
talent
is
essen,al
for
the
on-­‐going
success
of
a
marke,ng
team
and
should
be
a
strategic
priority.
The
Team
needs
to
be
made
up
of
key
players
who
work
together
to
achieve
results
and
individuals
with
varied
talents,
from
wri,ng
to
PPC
and
SEO.
Building
a
network
of
talented
employees
aDracts
other
talented
individuals
to
want
to
become
a
part
of
the
business
and
networks.
Bryan Adams, @Bryan_phc
CEO & Co-founder, PH Creative

20. Proving ROI is a
challenge, but not a
priority.

21. Proving the ROI of inbound marketing
activities was rated as the
29%
top
challenge
for of U.K. marketers.

22. BUT …

23. Only rated it as a top priority
for their company. 13%

24. The majority of content is
being created internally.

25. Companies in the U.K. who have
been successful with inbound
marketing place content creation
responsibility with their staff.
1 in 2

26. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Small businesses should aim for content self-sufficiency. I believe that, and I’m the
chairman of a content agency. Clever content marketing can really accelerate
business growth but to crack this, you have to build an internal culture for content;
one where everyone contributes. You want people generating great ideas every
day and being committed and competitive about their input. You want an
environment where your owned media are seen as valuable business assets, and
people are proud to be part of the publishing process. What SMEs should look to
outsource in the early stages, however, is some content strategy support, to help
them establish guiding principles, set up editorial processe,s and determine content
guidelines.
Catherine Toole, @CatherineToole
Chairman, Sticky Content

27. Social and email are the
top lead sources for UK
marketers. 7

28. Of Marketers said that email has
become more important as a lead
source over the last 6 months. 71%

29. Of Marketers said that social has
become more important as a lead
source over the last 6 months. 82%

30. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
With 1.8 billion active social network users and the number growing rapidly by the
day, social media has transitioned to a mature and essential marketing channel.
Social media is such a rich source of information about what potential customers
really need, their interests, and what motivates them. I don’t think any other channel
provides such actionable intelligence. In the same way analytics revolutionised
planning and deployment of PPC campaigns, data and insights gathered from social
media are now the game changer in the industry. Social media enables a new level
of dynamic targeting. Marketers can identify opportunities and act on them
immediately, not just through social channels, but right across the marketing mix.
Javier Buron, @JavierBuron
CEO & Co-founder, SocialBro

31. Sales values inbound lead
sources more than
outbound sources. 78

32. Of salespeople believe social
media has become a more
important lead source in the
last 6 months. 64%

33. Salespeople believe that
tradeshows have become a
LESS important lead source in
the last 6 months. 1 in 2

34. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY:
Although it’s refreshing to see social media playing a key role in sourcing leads, we
still have a long way to go with brands and marketers using social media effectively.
There is still far too much broadcasting and explicit selling, which will not convert
your target audience into customers. Businesses need to be a lot smarter. Social
media takes time; building trust and loyalty doesn’t happen overnight. It’s about
connecting with your target audience and showing a brand’s human side. People
buy from people after all.
Lilach Bullock, @LilachBullock
Co-founder & Director, Comms Axis

35. Better alignment is
required between
Sales and Marketing. 9

36. Of companies in the U.K. did not
have a formal agreement
between sales and marketing to
determine responsibilities. 1/3

37. BUT …

38. There is a clear correlation
between having an SLA in place
and having a larger budget for
inbound marketing.

39. Of companies who have an SLA
in place also have a higher
inbound marketing budget than
last year. 63%

40. Download the full
report for more
insights on the
inbound marketing
trends in the U.K.: