When it comes to lead generation, there are many studies and resulting statistics available online. There are even a number of different definitions of a lead. How about thinking of a lead as an identifiable person who has expressed interest in your product or service.
Here, we use some of them to tell a current story about the trends in B2B lead generation.
Lead generation is the most important goal of B2B content marketers in 2016. — B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America
"93% of the B2B buying process begins with an Internet search." — Pinpoint Market Research
"76% of B2B buyers leverage three or more information channels when researching a purchase." — Blue Nile Research
"78% of marketers rely on Google Adwords and social media advertising to raise awareness of their brand." — Formstack
"B2B companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than those that do not blog." — Openview
"70% of people would prefer to learn about a company through articles (rather than an advert)." — Demand Metric
"64% of B2B marketers have generated leads via LinkedIn, 49% through Facebook, and 36% through Twitter." — Pinpoint Market Research
"31% of B2B marketers say sales lead quality is the most important metric used." — B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America
"67% of B2B marketers say their primary goal in measuring efforts is better quality leads." — Formstack
"Businesses with websites of 401-1000 pages get 6x more leads than those with 51-100 pages." -Hubspot
"SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate." -Search Engine Journal
"60% of all organic clicks go to the organic top 3 search results." -Business2Community
Brands relying on inbound marketing save over $14 for every new customer acquired. — Openview
61% of effective marketers meet daily or weekly to discuss progress of content marketing program. — B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America
62% of B2B companies outsource their content marketing. — Demand Metric
Sources
B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: North America (2015, Sept. 15). https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2016_B2B_Report_Final.pdf
Blue Nile Research’s Safran, B. & Allswang, G. (2015, Oct. 19). The Content that Compels People to Buy. https://bluenileresearch.com/compeltobuy/
Demand Metric’s Content Marketing Infographic. (n.d.) https://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographic
Formstack’s Work Smarter, Accomplish More Report. (2016). https://www.formstack.com/report/lead-capture-2016
Pinpoint Market Research & Anderson Jones PR’s Jones-Mitchell, J. (2015, June 27). Social Media Stats for B2B Lead Generation. https://www.slideshare.net/JenniferJonesMitchell/social-media-stats-for-b2b-lead-generation
Openview’s The State of B2B Content Marketing: 25 Need-to-Know Stats. (2015, July). https://labs.openviewpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Content-Marketing-Infographic.png
Hubspot, Lead Generation Lessons from 4,000 Businesses, 2011