Marketing software company Hubspot conducted an interesting study earlier this year, comparing the effectiveness of a wide variety of lead-generation methods, including blogs, direct mail, paid search, SEO, social media, telemarketing and trade shows. The study yielded some revealing findings, among them:
• From 2009 to 2011, the percentage of businesses with a blog grew from 48% to 65%.
• Among businesses with a blog, 55% report that blogs deliver a below average cost per lead.
• 54% of companies surveyed are increasing their budgets for “pull” marketing techniques such as blogs, social media, and SEO. The biggest reason given for the increase is past success with these techniques.
• There is a direct correction between blogging frequency and customer acquisition.
• Compared to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and other popular social media, company blogs were deemed far more important. 35% of respondents rated their blog as “important” to their business, and 27% as “critical.”
Judging from this survey, frequent blogging is quietly gaining ground as one of the most productive marketing methods around. To read more, download the full report, The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing, at the Hubspot website.
