According to a recent survey we conducted on Google Consumer Surveys, chances are that you haven’t! From 1,002 responses, we found that an overwhelming 88%% of respondents have not heard of inbound marketing. After the raw data was weighted to more accurately match US Census data on the population, we still found that 88.4% of respondents have not heard of inbound marketing. However, for the 11.6% who have, there are a few insights we can still gain.
Who Uses “Inbound Marketing?”
After breaking down the data from the respondents, there were some demographic differences that told who was familiar with the term “inbound marketing.” Slightly more male respondents had heard of inbound marketing, at 13.1% to 10.2 % of female respondents.
Male and female “Yes” responses
Most people who have heard of inbound marketing are also 25-34 at 20.4%, a relatively young working group. The groups who have the least familiarity are 18-24 year-olds at 3.0% and 65+ year-olds at 4.9%.
Age-based “Yes” responses
There’s an interesting shift between males and females by age, though. For females the age group with the highest percentage aware of inbound marketing was 25-34 (32.1%). For males, that group shifted upward to 35-44 year-olds (17.6%). However, the male responses are much more evenly distributed across all ages compared to female answers, which show a steep rise and fall.
Female by age “Yes” responses
Male by age “Yes” responses
Demographics for income level are a bit scattered. About a quarter of respondents in the $75,000-$99,999 range have heard of inbound marketing. However, instead of having a gradual lead-up, familiarity actually decreases as income rises until the $75,000 group.
Income-based “Yes” responses
Why Target “Inbound Marketing?”
Even though “inbound marketing” isn’t widely familiar to a broad spectrum of people, it still is a valuable keyword to target in your content creation. It is just a relatively narrow industry term. However, according to Google AdWords, “inbound marketing” receives 49,500 global monthly searches, and Google Trends has shown its steady rise in content and search since 2007.
Trend in interest for “Inbound Marketing” from 2004-2013, including projected interest for 2014
Note: the values on the left are not absolute search terms, but the value relative to the highest point of interest, illustrating the development of the trend over time.
With the obvious rise of the term, it’s hard to argue against its importance for marketing firms.
About Google Consumer Surveys
Google Consumer Surveys was rolled out March 2012, and since then business owners and market researchers have been using it to test customer satisfaction and gauge the market. When users on the web want to access premium content, such as restricted articles and videos, they can opt to answer 1-2 survey questions instead of paying for the content themselves. The survey owner pays 10¢ for every response (total costs for an 8-person focus group + facilities may run up to $6,000), and the content provider is paid as users respond to the questions.
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Briana van Craeynest
Director of Content Development|Briana is the Director of Content Development at Eyeflow. Her professional background includes copywriting and marketing in the US and China. She currently lives in great little suburb south of Pittsburgh.
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