44 B2B Marketing Facts & Trends You Need to Know in 2016

44 B2B Marketing Facts & Trends You Need to Know in 2016

So, as we sit here in June, the sun not shining and the birds not singing, we thought what better time to curate the ultimate list of new B2B marketing facts and trends that have emerged in 2016? And let’s be honest, it’s a bit faux pas to be citing stats from 2012 (we’ve all been there).

Content Marketing
85% of B2B marketers state that lead generation is their primary goal. [via Content Marketing Institute]

Blogs and videos are rated as the most indispensable content formats in 2016. [via Marketing Charts]

More than 8 out of 10 B2B marketers around the world invest in content marketing. [via Regalix]

Only 30% of B2B marketers claim to be effective at content marketing in 2016, a decline from last year of 38%. [via Content Marketing Institute]

Only 32% of B2B marketers have a detailed documented content strategy. [via Content Marketing Institute]

Over half (55%) of B2B marketers are unsure what a successful content marketing strategy looks like. [via Content Marketing Institute]

51% of B2B businesses want to create more visual content. [via Top Rank Blog]

Only 5% of B2B marketers say their strategy is very effective. [via Top Rank Blog]

60% of marketers create at least one piece of content per day. [via eMarketer]

66% of marketers say that webinars are the most effective content formats. [via Top Rank Blog]

2 out of 3 marketers are expanding their marketing budgets in 2016. [via Gartner]

76% of B2B marketers produced more content in 2016 than they did in 2015. [via Content Marketing Institute]

29% of leading B2B marketers strategically reuse and repurpose content. [via Curata]

47% of B2B buyers digest 3-5 pieces of content before communicating with a sales person. [via DemandGen]

The top B2B marketing challenge is producing engaging content (60%) followed by measuring the effectiveness of content (57%). [via DemandGen]

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SEO
54% of B2B marketing teams are increasing their SEO spend in 2016. [via Regalix]

Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links than those who don’t. [via Stratabeat]

SEO and social media were regarded as the most difficult digital marketing tactics to execute. [via Ascend]

62% of companies outsource all or part of their digital marketing tactics, especially the most difficult types to execute. [via Ascend]

Integrating SEO and PPC campaigns together gives you 25% more clicks and 27% more profit than you would if you run them separately. [via Business2Community]

Search conversion rates are 10% higher than they are from social on desktops, and 15% higher on mobile. [via Business2Community]

Mobile search ads drive 4 store visits for every conversion. [via Google]

Half of all search terms contains 4 or more words, emphasising the necessity for long tail keywords. [via Wordstream]

2nd, 3rd and 4th listings on Google get 63% of clicks, leaving only 4% for listings that are below. [via Business2Community]

62% of users will leave a mobile site if the navigation isn’t clear or easy to use. [via Search Engine Watch]

72% of users will leave a mobile site if it loads too slowly. [via Search Engine Watch]

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Social Media
There are 1.968 billion active social media users. [via We Are Social]

305 million of those are in Europe. [via We Are Social]

52% of small businesses regard social media as a critical tactic in marketing their product or service. [via Salesforce]

Private platforms such as WhatsApp and Snapchat continue to grow. [via Sproutworth]

Fewer personal stories are being shared on Facebook and Twitter. [via Sproutworth]

80% of LinkedIn members want to connect with a company to boost their professional decision making. [via Sproutworth]

Half of all LinkedIn users are likely to buy from a company having previously engaged with them on the platform. [via LinkedIn]

78% of people watch online videos every week whilst 55% watch videos everyday. [via Hubspot]

77% of Twitter users feel more positively about a brand when their tweet has had a response. [via Twitter]

Email Marketing
Last year, 21% of marketers claimed email was the most indispensable platform to utilise, but in 2016 it’s dipped to 13%. [via Marketing Charts]

Personalised subject lines are 22.2% more likely to be opened. [via Adestra]

16% of marketers claim their best leads come from email marketing. [via Formstack]

The average open rate for UK SMEs is 22.87%. [via Smart Insights]

27% of people use Apple iPhone to read emails. [via Smart Insights]

Email is the top source of analytics for marketers. (41% of marketers) [via Forbes]

89% of marketers claim that email is the top channel for lead generation. [via Mailigen]

65% of people prefer emails that contain images. [via Hubspot]

Adding video to your emails can increase click-through-rates by 300%. [via Emma]

Since we’re on the topic of numbers and stats, you should download our Metrics That Matter guide to see whether you’re still resonating with your target audience in light of the changes in the digital landscape.

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