Proving ROI is the #1 Marketing Challenge and 9 other Interesting Findings

Every year, HubSpot surveys thousands of the world’s foremost marketers and salespeople -- HubSpot customers and non-customers alike. They poll them on their most pressing priorities, the challenges they face, and the tactics they’ve used to meet those challenges head-on. - State of Inbound '15

I've compiled what I found to be the most interesting or surprising findings from the report. You can also download the entire report at the end of this post. 

1. Demonstrating ROI is the #1 challenge marketers face. Securing enough budget and managing the website come in at #'s 2 and 3.

2. Increasing revenue derived from existing customers is not a priority for B2B marketers (say, what?!). However, it was a priority for both B2C companies and nonprofits organizations

3. Companies are worried about increasing leads and conversions, but lowering the cost of generating those leads is not a priority

4. Training the marketing team has become both a greater challenge and priority over the past year  

5. Paid advertising (on and offline) and social media are considered to be the most overrated marketing tactics 

6. 10% of companies use an agency partner to write their content, up from a year ago

7. Marketers who check their metrics 3X+ a week are over 20% more likely to achieve positive ROI

8. Marketers who get involved in sales tech decisions get higher marketing budgets

9. Those who use marketing automation software were 11% more likely to see greater ROI across all marketing activities

10. Past success and change in management are the primary reasons for a budget increase