Inbound marketing channels are proving their value in lead generation and customer acquisitio

HubSpot recently published their 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Report. Based on a survey of 972 professionals in both small (1-5 employees) and large (500+ employees) businesses, the report is designed to help business and marketers understand the current usage and results of inbound marketing.

The report identified 5 key takeaways to look for in 2012 that are important to aviation marketers:

1. Low-Cost Leads – Inbound marketing-dominated organizations experience a cost per lead 61% lower than outbound marketing-dominated organizations.
2. More Spending on Inbound Channels – The difference between inbound and outbound marketing expenditures grew by 50% from 2011 to 2012.
3. Social Media Growth – 62% of companies said that social media had become more important as a source of leads in the past six months.
4. The Rise of Google+ – Within six months of its launch, over 40% of marketers consider it “useful,” “important” or “critical.”
5. Increasing Value of Blogging – 81% of businesses rated their company blogs as “useful,” “important” or “critical.” 25% rated their company blog as “critical” to their business.

Inbound marketing in the form of company blogs and organic search, combined with social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter is demonstrating its marketing ROI by producing high quality leads as compared to traditional outbound marketing channels.

The research looked at a sample of 150 businesses using closed loop marketing analytics, and found the median lead-to-close rate of 16% for each business by the lead source.

• SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound source leads have a 1.7% close rate.
• SEO leads are 8X more likely to turn into customers than outbound leads.
• Leads for inbound links (referrals) are 5X more likely to become customers than outbound leads.

Company blogs continue to generate brand exposure but also generate leads that result in real customers.

• 57% of the companies reported that they have acquired a customer through their blog channel.

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are becoming more useful ways to acquire customers with positive growth projected for 2012

It’s no surprise that LinkedIn showed stronger results than Facebook for customer acquisition in the B2B market segment.

Customer acquisition by channel B2B companies

• 65% of the companies reported acquiring a customer through LinkedIn.
• 43% of the companies reported acquiring a customer through Facebook.
• 40% of the companies reported acquiring a customer through Twitter.

The implications for aviation component and systems manufacturers are clear. Inbound marketing channels are viable means for lead generation and customer acquisition.

Click on the following link to read Hubspot’s 2012 State of Inbound Marketing Reportphoto credit: Gavin Llewellyn via photo pin cc