State of Inbound 2017: Your Go-To Business Report for Marketing and Sales Research [New Data]

Generate more traffic, more leads, more customers. That's always been the purpose of marketing and sales.

But while the goal remains the same, the audience -- and their preferences and behaviors -- has not. People don't want to just read content anymore. They want immersive video experiences. When it's time to research a purchase or service a product, they don't want to wait to talk to a rep on the phone. Instead, they'll turn to an artificial intelligence-powered bot.  This shift underscores the importance of inbound marketing, where meeting customers on their preferred platforms with engaging, interactive content is key.

The way your customer shops and buys is drastically changing.

And in the age of the buyer, it's up to businesses to adapt. That's why we produce the State of Inbound research report each year: to help you stay up-to-date on all the marketing and sales changes that matter for your business.

But for a moment, let's dig deeper. While last year's State of Inbound report introduced the growing disconnect between businesses and their customers, this year we look at what causes this divide in the first place.

There's a corporate chasm forming between executives and their employees, and when misalignment forms inside the four walls of a business, that can impact everything from employee retention to customer satisfaction. Consider these discrepancies:

• 69% of executives believe their organization's marketing strategy is effective, but only 55% of individual contributors in marketing agree.
• 31% of executives believe that there's tight alignment between their marketing and sales teams, but only 17% of both managers and individual contributors agree.
• This trend continues on the department level: 45% of sales reps say they spend over an hour performing manual data entry, yet only 21% of executives said this is so.

In the 2017 State of Inbound report, we'll break down the divide, as well as uncover international marketing priorities, new content distribution trends, and buyer communication preferences. Download our most data-packed edition of the State of Inbound today.