85% of agencies set to increase inbound marketing to meet client demands

Content is playing a dominant role in lead generation and campaign outreach for business in the communications and PR industries, pushing inbound marketing techniques to the forefront of strategies and budgets.

Results from the latest Inbound for Agencies 2014 Benchmark Report found that 70% of marketing agencies have increased their leads from inbound marketing techniques while as many as 85% of agencies are looking to expand their inbound marketing options in the year ahead to meet client demands.

Apart from lead generation, the survey found that inbound marketing, effectively assists in increasing overall brand awareness and aligning sales and marketing efforts within a company.

The report produced by HubSpot and DigitalDoughnut, surveys 370 marketing agencies and successfully uncovers key insights on how content is being used by agencies to retain and win clients.

The results show that social media (85%), followed by SEO (73%), email (72%) and blogs (61%) are the most popular channels, while ‘driving product enquires’ is the primary reason agencies use inbound marketing techniques.

However, 17% of respondents expressed dismay on measuring and proving ROI on inbound marketing activities for clients, making it harder to prove the business value of content generation to senior management that have control over the purse strings.

Meanwhile, a lack of skills and technology were some other obstacles in the adoption of more inbound marketing formats.

However, when it came to future plans, agencies surveyed were more optimistic. According to the report, 76% of respondents said their clients were asking them for more inbound marketing services and to meet the demand almost three-quarter of respondents said they were looking to hire more digital marketing specialists in the near future.