7 Marketing Stats Every Business Owner Should Know

I’ve seen a lot of marketing statistics over the years. While there’s something to learn from every statistic, I’ve aggregated a list of seven that I find particularly compelling, including my thoughts on each. Following are seven statistics that every business owner should know — simply stated, they can help business owners make smarter marketing decisions. 

1. SEO leads have a 758% higher close rate than outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising).

— SearchEngineJournal

The takeaway: This statistic is staggering, but it makes sense if you think about it. Outbound marketing is paid promotion and paid leads are understandably much harder to close. Who likes being pitched to, right? On the other hand, SEO is essentially word of mouth or referral marketing that organically draws leads to your business (through valuable content that an inbound marketer generates). When consumers are naturally drawn to your brand, they have a higher chance of converting (or closing) because there is more established trust. Additionally, clients who are drawn to your brand (as opposed to paid leads) have a much higher probability of becoming a lifetime customer.

2. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional, outbound marketing. (For outbound, the average cost/lead is $373. For inbound, the average cost per lead is $143.)   

— Hubspot

The takeaway: If you enjoy saving money in both the short and long term, it’s worth considering an inbound marketing strategy. So what exactly is inbound marketing? It’s essentially the opposite of outbound marketing, which is how we traditionally experience marketing (through TV, radio, and print advertising). For cost reference, 15 local radio spots can run around $2,000 on average, and a half-page ad in a local magazine usually costs around $1,500 (depending on your market, of course.)



So that’s pretty straight-forward. Inbound marketing, however, isn’t quite as black and white — it’s essentially data-driven marketing that includes SEO, content marketing and social media. With SEO, you can bring customers to your website by identifying relevant keywords that your audience searches for, and optimizing your website for those keywords. Content marketing involves creating, publishing, and sharing content that’s targeted to your audience, which includes articles, infographics, case studies, videos, etc. Not only does this content help you more genuinely interact with your audience, it also establishes value and authority in your industry, leading to consumers naturally being drawn to your brand.

It usually takes longer to see the ROI from an inbound strategy, but from this statistic it’s clear that inbound is worth a hard look, especially considering the strategy’s long-term value.

3. More than 60% of all online traffic now comes from a mobile search (e.g. smart phone or tablet).  

— Comscore

The takeaway: You better make darn sure your website is built with responsive design. Honestly, you’re losing new clients if it’s not — especially when you consider the fact that Google is now penalizing sites that aren’t mobile friendly. You may ask, “why would Google do such a thing?” Well, it’s because Google is in the business of promoting websites that provide a good user experience (and therefore value to searchers). If Google is directing traffic to sites that aren’t mobile friendly, it isn’t providing the most value to their searchers. A responsive website is a one-time investment, but the value you bring to your current and potential clients is ongoing. You will provide a much better experience, which will undoubtedly benefit your brand as well. Your website is the face of your business, and it should provide a pleasant experience no matter how it’s being accessed.

4. 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

— BrightLocal

The takeaway: Consumers are now reading reviews as a step in the purchasing cycle. Based on the statistic above and others like it, consumers really trust reviews from other consumers. If you don’t have enough good reviews or if you have too many poor reviews, you are offering very little social proof of your competence to consumers who aren’t familiar with your business. Without that social proof, there is little reason for someone to begin the trust process and ultimately they may see little reason to purchase your product or service.

5. 76% of all clicks in search engines go to the first five listings in the search results. 

— Chitaka

The takeaway: Most business owners know how important it is to be on the first page in search results… but did you know that the last listing on the first page only gets about 2% of all clicks? If you have a product or service that people are searching for, you should definitely consider investing in SEO and content marketing to improve your rankings. (Advice: Make sure you work with a firm that is very experienced in both on-page and off-page SEO. We’ve run into several situations where a client went with “cheaper” SEO firms and then came back to us needing help to repair the damage the inexperienced group caused, such as a Google penalty.)

6. 79% of leads never convert into sales.

— MarketingSherpa

The takeaway: Just because you’ve got leads, doesn’t mean those leads are going to turn into sales. In truth, this isn’t a shock at all to us at Lift Division. We own a site called ServiceNoodle.com, and I can’t tell you how many leads we’ve generated for local service providers who ultimately drop the ball when we’ve hand delivered a hot lead to them. Whether offline or online, make sure leads are properly taken through an organized conversion funnel until a buyer makes a decision (one way or the other). Having a process in place is crucial to converting a prospect into a client. 

7. Companies that blog generate 126% more leads than ones that don’t.

— Hubspot

The takeaway: Based on these statistics, it’s wise to consider spending some time and resources creating blog content others would find interesting. If you don’t have time to blog (or don’t know how to blog with SEO and conversion in mind), find an inbound professional who is experienced with content marketing. Creating content that is helpful to searchers not only shows off your expertise, but also adds value to consumers and searchers that will return through sales and conversions.

I hope you find these statistics as valuable to your organization as we have. If you want to know how an inbound marketing strategy can add value to you and your business, we can help. Simply fill out the Audit Request below and we will create a personalized Aerial Snapshot that outlines opportunities for your business.