Learn To Generate More Leads With Hubspot’s State of Inbound 2016 Report

Converting visitors into leads is the biggest challenge for marketers, according to HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016 report. With 78 percent of marketers saying generating leads is their top challenge, the competition is

Here are a few key lead generation strategies based on the data found in HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016 report.

Generating leads with the power of social.

Social media encourages traffic, generates leads, and informs your traffic and potential leads what your company is about. Social selling, or using social media to interact with prospects, will be a valuable marketing tool in the years to come.

With all of the scattered information on the Internet, it can be difficult for a marketing team to make it clear to potential consumers specifically what kind of services they provide. This is where the power of social comes in.

With more than 2 billion people using Facebook each day, it’s not a surprise that the State of Inbound 2016 report found a 6 percent increase in social selling over last year.

Social media is important for lead generation, because it gives buyers a chance to get to know a company and the services they provide. Successful companies use social media to share links to their blogs and other content, which drives traffic. As you publish more articles and use your content to generate interaction and engagement with prospects, you can turn them into leads.

The State of Inbound also found increases in the usage of social media tracking software. Tracking your social media allows you to identify which social media platforms, topics, blog posts, and hashtags are generating the most leads for your brand. This creates a clear picture for marketers and can help you to plan where to invest your resources in the next year.

Video Marketing

According to the State of Inbound 2016, many companies plan on investing more time and money into social media campaigns that include video marketing. Facebook and YouTube are the most popular social media sites this year, and both contain video as a large part of the draw for users.

According to the State of Inbound report, 48 percent of marketers are planning on using YouTube in their marketing mix, and another 39 percent are planning to implement Facebook video in the coming year.

Implementing video for inbound marketing is another way to reach potential customers and inform them about your brand. As video continues to grow and become an even more prominent part of social media, it will continue to be an important part of the lead generation process.

Sales and marketing disconnect

According to the State of Inbound report, a service level agreement (SLA) between the sales and marketing departments is key to generating leads. The most successful marketing firms saw their performance increase when sales and marketing teams worked together towards the same goal.

When sales and marketing teams work together to create cohesive social media strategies, landing pages, CTAs, etc. they are more successful. The companies that report the most effective inbound marketing programs also reported a strong relationship between the sales and marketing teams. When there is a disconnect between these two teams, lead generation was hindered according to the report.

Inbound organizations that have an SLA between sales and marketing are 5 times as likely to rate their marketing strategy effective, compared to organization that have a disconnect between marketing and sales, according to the state of inbound. The disjointed relationship between sales and marketing needs to go. Communication with the sales team and working together will in turn generate more leads and create better inbound marketing campaigns.

Download HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016 Report for more insights into using Inbound Marketing to generate leads and business for your brand.