From Attribution to Trust: Relationships as the Real Pipeline Driver

When the data gets blurry, relationships become the clearest metric. These leaders prove that human connection — through client outreach, community building, or simple in-person trust — still drives more pipeline than any attribution model ever could.

“One of the most effective things I’ve done is focus on building strong, authentic relationships with our clients and partners. Rather than relying solely on trackable campaigns, we’ve invested time in being a trusted resource—sharing insights, providing value beyond the immediate project, and showing up consistently. Over time, that trust has led to a steady stream of referrals and introductions that fuel our sales pipeline, even if they don’t tie back neatly to a single campaign or touchpoint.”
— Eryn Veronesi, NDC, Inc.

“[What we’ve done in 2025 and it worked really well in driving sales pipeline is] Reaching out to previous clients. I think we did quality work and the clients don’t remember PR/marketing until it is mentioned.”

— Catharine Montgomery, Better Together Agency

“One of the best things I have ever done was, in 2025, building a private LinkedIn group for decision-makers in our target markets. We did monthly live Q&A sessions with guest experts and never sold our product. Instead, we had problem-solving discussions that established us as a trusted partner.”
— Robert Grunnah, Austin House Buyer

“[What has worked best for us to build trust and drive business is] In-person events, because we do construction and the in-person trust is so important.”

— Naomi Stringfield, Paradigm Energy Services

The Rise of Community-Led Growth

Dark social isn’t a black box — it’s where the real conversations happen. Slack groups, founder communities, and peer networks are now the beating heart of GTM success, where credibility is earned through contribution, not conversion tracking.

“I think partnerships and networking have far exceeded any other channel apart from referrals. We’ve seen how going to certain events and joining some communities for founders specifically has worked really well and driven pipeline well above the rest.”
— Kelsey Donn, UNTAMED

“In 2025, the biggest pipeline driver from community/social marketing has been participating in niche Slack groups and private founder communities. Not pushing services—just giving valuable input. That visibility and trust lead to DMs, referrals, and warm intros.”
— Victor André Enselmann, Modeva

“Invite-only Slack groups centered on engagement have provided the best-quality leads of the year. By being heavily engaged with high-value feedback and contributing original research, I’ve gained credibility that has led to direct inbound messages from decision-makers.”
— Moattar Ali, HARO Link Builder

Founder-Led and Humanized Content Wins the Feed

People trust people, not brands. GTM teams are shifting visibility to founders, subject-matter experts, and customers — using narrative-driven posts, authentic storytelling, and thought leadership to replace click tracking with real engagement.

“In 2025, we’ve leaned heavily into founder-led content on LinkedIn, and it has become one of our most effective pipeline drivers, even though we can’t track every interaction with perfect attribution.”
— Martin Hadzhiev, Lumina Studio Marketing

“[How we’ve adapted our strategy to stay effective despite declining SEO traffic is] A shift to founder-led content, more storytelling and increasing investments in video, email marketing and distribution through a network of partner sites is where we are placing our bets.”

— Jordie van Rijn, emailmonday

“[What’s been driving our best engagement and pipeline results is] Team and customer organic thought leadership content on LinkedIn. People listen to people more than companies.”

— Allie Smith, Sequel.io 

“I think our increased presence on preferred social platforms has directly contributed to increased pipeline, but with the rise of no-click content it’s nearly impossible to directly source what’s happening.”
— Megann Coleman, Root3 Labs

The Return of Quality, Not Quantity

Marketers are trading high-volume activity for high-intent precision. Whether through ABM, strategic partnerships, or meticulous ICP alignment, the focus has shifted from chasing leads to designing scalable, measurable impact.

“After baselining the ICP, Positioning, and Messaging, I focused on enabling the right inbound and outbound through eight strategic tracks — from website redesign to strategic partnerships — ensuring sequencing and execution were perfectly timed.”
— Dinesh Gurupur, Yeedu

“As paid PPC costs rise we have found success in generating high quality search traffic which has led to an offset in costs. It has taken time but we are now seeing good results.”
— Manav Mehra, Wagman Digital

“One of the most effective things we’ve done recently has been doubling down on Account-Based Marketing (ABM), events, and strategic gifting. Rather than relying on broad outreach, we’ve focused on being hyper-personalized and creating meaningful, one-to-one connections with decision-makers.”
— Karie Barrett, QAT Global

“Marketing is shifting to hyper-personalization. What we at DesignRush do is test every process manually before finding an automation tool to scale it. For cold sales pipeline, it’s important to follow the basics, but fact-check every part of the process and pay attention to utmost detail: Define ICP, create contact lists that MAKE SENSE and templates that are short & simple, but provide enough value to create a hook.”
— Gianluca Ferruggia, DesignRush

Dark Social and Untrackable Influence

Marketers are embracing what they can’t measure. Whether it’s webinars, conferences, or AI-driven visibility, these leaders show that trust built in unseen channels is increasingly the source of the strongest, most qualified pipeline.

“Way back in 2025, doubling down on thought-leadership webinars to niche buyer communities has been one of the most effective things I’ve done to drive sales pipeline.”
— Ryan Whitcher, Harmony Home Buyers

“Attending conferences has been a huge win for us, but I cannot prove the exact numbers. Quite a lot of people tell us they saw us at a conference half a year ago or heard one of our C-level speakers during an event.”
— Austin Heaton, Riseworks

“This year we implemented AI-driven optimization of our website, and it turned out to be one of the most impactful steps for driving pipeline. We focused on adapting content and metadata for AI search engines (like ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity), not just traditional Google SEO. Even though attribution is not always perfect — many leads come in saying they “found us through AI tools” without specifying the exact query — we could still trace a noticeable increase in inbound requests and higher-quality opportunities after rolling out these changes.”
— Daria Holoskokova, Whimsy Games Group LTD

“I leaned in most heavily this year into interacting with niche online communities where my target audience was already congregated. Instead of pushing hard-sell messages aggressively, I responded to questions, provided relevant case studies, and introduced individuals to valuable resources.”
— Adam Watson, Hollywood Mirrors

The Power of Alignment and Consistency

The most effective GTM teams aren’t chasing one-off wins — they’re building unified systems where marketing, sales, and content reinforce each other. Alignment is now the new growth engine.

“[What’s worked well to align our GTM motion is] Aligning sales efforts with the content efforts. The content speaks to our ICP, LinkedIn outbound/social selling to nurture and drive ICP to realm of influence, and then do multi-touchpoints with a cold call.”

— Manny Jassal, Extra Sauce Agency

“In our marketing, we’ve been laser-focused on getting our GTM messaging tightly focused on problem-solution awareness for B2B company marketing campaigns.”
— Paul Clinton, The Write Way, Inc.

“Over the past 8 years, we primarily relied on inbound marketing to generate leads and drive revenue. However, starting in 2024, we made a strategic investment in outbound efforts—targeted outreach, ABM campaigns, and personalized messaging.”
— Jonathan Aufray, Growth Hackers

“Tracking engagement volume between conversion stages has helped us prioritize leads and deals. We’ve analyzed historical averages for Won and Lost deals, so we can compare and focus on prospects that are engaging above historical averages.”
— Alex Lee, Intellect

Authenticity Still Converts

Even as attribution fades, authenticity cuts through. From raw customer videos to unfiltered honesty, the most credible marketing right now comes from being real — and audiences reward it.

“One thing I’ve done that’s really moved the needle for our sales pipeline at my company is leaning hard into short, raw video testimonials from happy customers. I can’t track every click or conversion perfectly, but man, it’s worked like a charm. I think people trust real people nowadays.”
— Rich Kingly, Driveway King

“[When asked what worked to drive pipeline in 2025, the honest answer is:] Honestly, not much. This year and last year realllly sucked.”

— Tommy Walker, WalkerBots Content Studios LLC

Conclusion

If there’s one throughline in 2025, it’s this: when attribution gets fuzzy, trust, relevance, and presence do the heavy lifting.

Founder-led storytelling. Precision over volume. Communities over cold clicks.
And orchestration that respects how people actually buy.

The post Beyond Attribution: 25 Experts on How Go-To-Market Teams Are Tracking Metrics in a Zero-Click Buyer Journey appeared first on Databox.

Thanks to generative AI, search behavior is changing fast, and marketers who cling to outdated playbooks are already feeling the squeeze.

Instead of just typing queries into Google and scrolling through ten blue links, users are increasingly relying on AI-powered platforms like ChatGPT, Bard, and Perplexity to get instant, conversational answers.

Meanwhile, SEO professionals are scrambling to figure out how to optimize for AI algorithms, whether traditional keywords still matter, and how to stay visible when search engines give direct answers instead of sending traffic to websites.

So, what’s actually working in this new reality? How are successful SEO professionals changing their approach?

That’s what we set out to discover through our latest Databox research. We surveyed 90+ SEO professionals and digital marketers to understand how generative AI is changing their work and what tactics actually get results in 2025.

Here’s what we found out:

• Key Takeaways from Our Research & DBUG Experts
• Biggest SEO Strategy Opportunities As AI Keeps Evolving
• Potential Downsides of Relying on AI-Driven Content for SEO
• How Will Marketers Adjust Their SEO Approach Going Forward
• Track Your SEO Performance Through AI Changes with Databox

Key Takeaways from Our Research & DBUG Experts

Our survey results and DBUG discussions revealed several important takeaways about how marketers are approaching SEO today.

From practical tactics to big-picture insights, here are the key points that stood out.

• About Our Respondents
• Research Takeaways
• DBUG Insights

About Our Respondents

We surveyed a diverse group of marketers and SEO experts to get a clearer picture of how businesses are responding to the changes in search behavior. Most respondents have 50 employees or fewer, which shows especially how small and mid-sized companies are handling the changes.

When it comes to company size, 65% of the respondents have less than $5 million of annual revenue. This is particularly valuable because smaller businesses often feel the impact of search algorithm changes more immediately than larger enterprises with bigger budgets.

About half of the respondents are marketing or advertising agencies. This perspective is important since agencies work with multiple clients across different industries and have a front-row seat to see how AI and changing search habits are playing out across various sectors.

Research Takeaways

Let’s start with what tools companies are actually using. Most survey respondents use multiple AI tools for SEO – ChatGPT (86.21%), Ahrefs (64.37%), and Semrush (56.32%).

This shows that marketers aren’t just sticking to one tool, but they’re experimenting with different options to stay competitive.

When we dug into why companies are bringing AI into their SEO workflows, we found three main motivations that are pretty evenly split.

For about 1/3 of respondents, the main reason for implementing AI tools into their SEO workflows was “to improve the depth and quality of content”. Another 30% voted for “to gain better data-driven insights” (e.g., keyword trends, user intent) as the primary reason, and for 29%, the primary reason was “to produce content more quickly at scale”.

Despite this widespread adoption, most companies aren’t going all-in just yet. They’re being smart about their approach.

About 50% of the respondents describe their overall approach to using AI for SEO as “Moderately proactive: We use AI tools but remain cautious about investing heavily.”

When it comes to where they see the biggest opportunities, content remains king.

Most companies see the highest potential value for AI in their SEO strategies in Content optimization (e.g., refining existing content for SEO) and Content creation (e.g., drafting or rewriting long-form content).

Of course, all of this AI implementation is still serving traditional SEO goals. For most, the primary goals for SEO strategies are increasing organic traffic (82%) and generating leads (72%).

Most commonly used AI-driven activities or tools to support SEO efforts include:

• ChatGPT or similar large language model tools for brainstorming or outlining (75%)
• AI-powered content creation (e.g., blog posts, product descriptions, images) (67%).

The good news is that companies are seeing real results from their AI investments. Most companies reported that adopting AI increased the speed, volume, and quality of their content output for SEO, as well as content variety.

But it’s not all smooth sailing. There’s one major challenge that keeps coming up.

For more than half of the respondents, ensuring accuracy and factual correctness in AI-generated content is the most challenging aspect of AI adoption when it comes to SEO.

Most companies have noticed changes in their audience’s search behavior since the rise of generative AI, with about a third mentioning that users are spending more time on AI-powered chats or direct answers, which is reducing traffic to their websites.

To adapt, most companies are taking action. Some common strategies are:

• Using schema markup and updating site structure or metadata to improve AI-driven search visibility (64.20%)
• Creating specialized content for AI-generated overviews and niche topics, including formats like Q&A and listicles (59.26%)
• Optimizing content for voice and conversational AI queries, including the use of long-tail keywords (50.62%) are common strategies

When we looked at where traffic is actually coming from right now, traditional SEO is still the clear winner. About 84% of the overall website traffic comes from SEO efforts vs. AI-driven search/answer engines.

The same pattern holds true for conversions. About 86% of the conversions is attributed to traditional SEO-driven traffic (compared to AI-driven traffic).

However, when it comes to which AI platform is driving the most traffic, there’s a clear leader.

About half of the respondents stated that ChatGPT is the generative AI-driven search or answer engine currently driving the highest traffic to their websites.

As for the most frequent challenges in implementing strategies to optimize content for AI-driven search engines, the lack of clear guidelines or best practices for AI-driven optimization and uncertainty about AI-generated content accuracy and brand control are the biggest concerns.

Finally, visibility in AI-generated overviews and an increase in AI-driven traffic are how companies usually measure the success of their GEO efforts.

DBUG Insights

To get deeper perspectives on how AI is changing SEO, we spoke with several industry experts during our recent DBUG event. Their insights show both the practical realities and philosophical debates happening in the SEO community right now.

Catherine Richards kicked off the conversation by mentioning the constant challenge of optimizing content for changing algorithms while staying focused on human audiences. Reflecting on past experiences with Google’s rules, she expressed a familiar frustration:

“We are creating content and experiences for both humans and AI… and there was some skepticism around, based on historical experience with Google. You do a whole bunch of stuff, and then they change the rules, and then you have to do a whole bunch of other stuff, and why are we doing that?”

The takeaway is that while AI is changing search, there is still a need to balance strategy between machines and humans.

Tyler McConville highlighted that while AI can be powerful, it’s not always perfect:

“There isn’t really a single AI for a single use, and people have naturally learned over the years—or even in the past little while—that a specific AI is really good at a certain function but really bad at another. All AIs are extremely bad at doing data processing as well as understanding historical concepts and naturalized concepts that exist in real time, and that causes them to hallucinate.”

His point reminds us that human oversight and strategy are still essential, even as AI tools grow more advanced.

Ann Smarty, a veteran SEO, pointed out that while AI may feel new, many tactics being used today are familiar:

“I don’t think there is anything unique that we are doing for AI optimization. We have been doing stuff like building the brand, co-citation… but keyword optimization is still key. Whether those are questions or keywords, they still give us an idea of what people want to know. So, it’s still SEO, and we are lucky to have the huge experience and deep knowledge of how to optimize for the machine because we are going to do the same. But the tactics, the fundamentals, are the same. We’re just a little bit changing priorities as we see AI platforms developing.”

Ann’s view shows that the fundamentals of SEO (understanding what audiences need and delivering value) haven’t changed, even though the tools might be new.

Stuart Derman talked about a practical issue many businesses face with AI adoption, and that’s balancing speed and scale with accuracy:

His insight shows that even with powerful tools, maintaining large-scale websites still requires careful planning and resource commitment.

Kashmala Malik offered a sharp observation about the future of informational queries: “Websites that are targeting informational intent queries are really struggling to survive on search engines. You cannot survive on search engines solely if you are, in the upcoming year, solely targeting informational intent queries. You must have some utilities on your websites, on your platforms, which have some edge on the LLMs.”

Her point underlines the need for differentiation right now. Markers need to move from static content and start offering interactive tools and more unique value.

Declan Dunn shared a candid perspective on the hype around AI and the need for deeper thinking:

“We’re being fed a PR game by big tech. Unlike anything else, what’s the truth? It’s 100% opinion. There’s not a single fact. If you’re waiting for AGI to take over, it’s never going to happen because it would cost too much. We need to realize we have to approach things differently. And what none of us, or at least not just the SEO folks, are doing is thinking like data people, those who understand data, get more from data, listen, and create richer experiences. That’s what AI is meant to do as well. But I think we’re too focused on just creating content.”

He says that marketers simply have to prioritize user experience and meaningful insights over simply churning out content in 2025.

Ramon Khan offered a hands-on example of how AI can be used creatively to support SEO efforts:

“I was able to take a full-page screenshot of my website and then say, can you see the whole page? And then it’s like, okay. Based on our page, what are the different areas where you can create schema? And it was amazing at creating schema… I was able to use it to create a whole calculator without a developer, and he was able to code it, design it, and do everything. And it’s live and ranking number one on Google right now.”

Biggest SEO Strategy Opportunities As AI Keeps Evolving

While everyone’s worried about AI stealing their traffic, smart marketers are using these same tools to create better content faster and dominate search results.

Based on what we learned from our research, here are the strategies that are actually working right now:

• Automate Content Creation
• AI-Driven Topical Clustering
• Focusing on Video Content
• Easier to Create Detailed Content Frameworks
• Personalized Content Creation

Automate Content Creation

With tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and specialized content platforms, companies can generate various content types based on specific prompts and guidelines. You can automate meta descriptions, FAQ sections, product descriptions, and even long-form articles with the right setup.

The biggest advantage is speed and consistency. What used to take hours can now be done in minutes, so content teams can focus on strategy and optimization rather than basic content production. If you need production-grade workflows an n8n agency can design and maintain them end to end.

Mark Howser of Digital Snowstorm says that his top priority right now is “building a multi-step n8n workflow to automate content creation. Once that’s in place, I’ll develop a second workflow to scale it across the entire content roadmap for each client. The potential with AI-powered workflow automation is enormous; it just takes time to master the setup.”

PRO TIP: Is Instagram a part of your content marketing strategy? If so, you can use our free Instagram Business Post Performance Dashboard to get a clearer view of how your content is performing and whether your AI-driven posts are working. It’s all in one place and in real-time.  

AI-Driven Topical Clustering

Instead of just focusing on individual keywords, businesses are using AI to find groups of related topics that can be covered together.

This makes it easier to plan content that naturally connects, which can improve internal linking and give search engines clearer signals about what your site is about.

For example, instead of writing a single article on “SEO basics,” you’d also create supporting content on related areas like keyword research, link building, and technical SEO. AI tools can suggest these clusters based on real search behavior and gaps in your content.

Sheraz Ali of HARO Links Builder says that they’re “already using AI to identify long-tail variations and semantically related subtopics at a scale that would be humanly impossible. This allows us to build highly strategic content silos that closely mirror the way users express search queries in conversational search.”

Focusing on Video Content

Google loves video, users engage with it more, and AI tools are making video creation way easier than it used to be. And you don’t need a Hollywood budget anymore.

AI can help you create video scripts, generate voiceovers, and even produce simple animations. Tools like Loom for screen recordings or AI-powered platforms can turn your existing blog posts into video content in minutes.

“One of the biggest opportunities is video content showing in these results, which is already starting to happen. I’ve seen a video included in Google AI Overview results that took me directly to that YouTube video’s timestamp to continue watching the video.”

Josh Phillips

SEO Manager at Seismic Digital

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Easier to Create Detailed Content Frameworks

AI makes building content frameworks incredibly fast. Marketers don’t have to stare at a blank page wondering how to structure a 3,000-word guide anymore since you can get a detailed outline in seconds.

You can feed AI your topic and target audience, and it’ll deliver a comprehensive framework with main sections, subheadings, and even suggested points to cover. These content briefs include keyword suggestions, target word counts, and internal linking opportunities.

Colton De Vos of Resolute Technology Solutions talked about how “AI-based SEO tools do an incredible job of creating content frameworks with guidelines on the right content length, number and type of keywords, and general direction on writing.”

“When combined with a writer who has a good background in the source material and a flair for writing in an engaging manner, it can greatly expedite the SEO writing process.”

Personalized Content Creation

You can feed customer data, personas, or specific use cases to AI tools and get personalized content for each group. And this goes way beyond changing a few words here and there.

AI can adjust tone, examples, pain points, and solutions based on who’s reading. For example, a SaaS company can create the same product guide for startups, enterprises, and mid-market companies, with each version hitting the specific concerns and language that resonates with that audience.

Ryan McClellan of Character Counter is one of our respondents who talked about personalized content being a major opportunity for SEO right now:

“AI has the ability to analyze user intent and behavior, which can help us tailor content to individual preferences on a much deeper level. This can lead to improved user engagement and higher rankings.

Additionally, AI can help us automate parts of content creation, allowing us to scale our efforts and create more targeted, relevant content faster. There still must be a human at the centre of this, I believe it is important for connection to the audience, but AI can help guide, and even brainstorm.”

Declan Dunn of The AI Optimist also says that “personalization is a big opportunity right now. Onboarding and retention increase how many of the converted stay, and the old conversion-centric metrics don’t tie together the entire customer experience like AI and scales.”

Potential Downsides of Relying on AI-Driven Content for SEO

While AI can help speed up content creation, it’s not without its drawbacks. Here are some of the biggest challenges companies are facing with AI content:

• Accuracy Is a Major Concern
• Lack of Originality and Depth
• Content Sounds Too Generic and Lacks Nuance
• AI Can’t Share Human Experiences
• Training Data Lags Behind a Few Months

Accuracy Is a Major Concern

AI gets things wrong. A lot. And when you’re publishing content at scale, those mistakes can seriously damage your credibility and search rankings.

The problem is that AI confidently states incorrect facts, outdated statistics, and sometimes completely made-up information. It can’t verify sources in real-time, so it might reference studies that don’t exist or quote statistics from years ago as if they’re current.

Donna Duncan of B-SeenOnTop went into detail on how “accuracy and verifiability continue to be a problem. Too many authors quote sources, that quote sources, that quote sources with few digging deep enough to find the original source and confirm its truth and accuracy. I’m seeing that pattern continue with AI-assisted content creation.”

Rinea Blanchard of Superior Contract Cleaning also mentioned how “AI can’t fact-check, as it’s trained on data from the internet, which we all know has both facts and inaccuracies. This is why we don’t scale with AI, especially with data-driven articles. It’s simply not accurate a lot of times.”

Scott Benson of Benson SEO added that “the accuracy of AI-generated content must be heavily reviewed by SEO and content teams. SEO and content creators must become adept at creating highly informative prompts to create AI content to avoid the accuracy issues.”

“Hallucinations are particularly worrying, especially in niche industries. I also notice that much content follows standard and bland AI templates, which don’t address readers’ questions and pain points.”

Žiga Lesjak

CMO at Tridens

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Lack of Originality and Depth

AI content often feels shallow and generic. It regurgitates the same information that’s already ranking, just rearranged with slightly different words. This creates a sea of sameness that doesn’t help anyone.

A major problem is that AI simply can’t share personal experiences, run original research, or offer unique insights from years of industry experience. When every company uses AI to write about the same topics, you end up with dozens of articles that say essentially the same thing.

Blake Smith of ClockOn talked about how “the biggest concern with AI-driven content is lack of originality and depth, which can weaken EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) and reduce rankings over time.”

“AI-generated content often lacks nuance, first-hand insights, and unique value, making it harder to stand out. Over-reliance can also lead to algorithmic penalties if search engines prioritize human-created, high-quality content.”

Content Sounds Too Generic and Lacks Nuance

AI content has a specific “AI voice” that readers can spot from a mile away. It tends to be overly formal, uses predictable phrases, and lacks the personality that makes content actually engaging.

The writing feels like it was created by a committee – technically correct but sterile. AI doesn’t understand subtle humor, industry inside jokes, or the casual tone that builds real connections with readers. It defaults to safe, corporate language that doesn’t offend anyone but doesn’t excite anyone either.

Ryan McClellan of Character Counter talked about this and added that “while AI can produce content quickly, there’s always a risk of it sounding too generic or missing the nuances that give a brand its unique tone. It’s important for us to balance AI automation with human oversight to ensure content is both accurate and reflective of our brand identity.”

AI Can’t Share Human Experiences

AI has never actually used the software it’s reviewing, failed at the strategies it’s recommending, or learned hard lessons from real business mistakes. It can’t share the behind-the-scenes stories that make content genuinely useful.

When someone writes about building their first email list, they can share the specific moment they realized their subject lines sucked, or the exact mistake that tanked their open rates. AI can only regurgitate best practices without the context of why those practices actually matter.

Krupali Gohil of Meetanshi says that “failing to share a human experience is a major problem right now. With AI-driven content, we can, of course, change the content tone and make multiple edits to make it sound right, but a human experience is missing.

The way a human would use a tool and share its view would be completely opposite of what AI can do. Where a human experience can touch the real issues, AI can leave us with a generalized view without digging deeper.”

Sonja Panic of Modern Talking also talked about how important human experiences can be in her language school business:

“AI-generated content can be helpful, but it often lacks the personal touch that makes language learning truly engaging. I’ve seen this first-hand as the owner of a Serbian language school for the diaspora—students connect best with real-life stories and cultural nuances that only a human can provide.

AI might be able to translate or generate text, but it can’t replicate the warmth of a shared experience or the authenticity of someone’s journey. That human element is essential when you want to build trust and get a deeper understanding in language learning.”

Training Data Lags Behind a Few Months

Most large language models are trained on data that’s already a few months old, meaning they can’t accurately discuss the latest regulations, news, or updates in fields like healthcare, law, and politics.

This lag can lead to outdated or even incorrect information being presented to readers, which can damage credibility. In areas like patient care guidance, legal advice, or political reporting, this can be very risky.

Andrew Clark of CallTrackingMetrics also mentioned how “AI proves repeatedly to be limited by its training data, which usually lags behind by a few months at best and a year plus at its worst.”

“This delay in information may produce outdated or completely false outcomes when a prompt is entered. This situation is especially dangerous when the topics may be focused on sensitive topics, such as healthcare, laws, or politics.”

How Will Marketers Adjust Their SEO Approach Going Forward

The marketers we surveyed aren’t just sitting around waiting to see what happens with AI. They’re already switching up their strategies to stay ahead.

Here’s how they plan to approach SEO tactics going forward:

• Adding More Videos and Interactive Elements
• Leveraging More Human Insights
• Focusing More on Structured Data and Schema Enrichment

Adding More Videos and Interactive Elements

Marketers plan on doubling down on video and interactive content because static text just isn’t as useful anymore. Users expect richer experiences, and search engines are rewarding sites that deliver them.

Video content keeps people on your page longer, which sends strong engagement signals to Google. A five-minute explainer video can increase your average session duration way more than a 2,000-word blog post.

Interactive elements are also becoming new differentiators. Tools like cost calculators, quizzes, or comparison widgets give users a reason to stick around and interact with your brand.

Sonu Kalwar of Digital First AI shared his action plan on this:

“In the next year, I’ll change how I do SEO. I’ll make content that answers questions quickly (like AI responses in Google’s SGE) but still keeps depth for readers. I’ll add more videos and interactive elements to stand out. I’ll use AI tools to check trends and automate updates, but I’ll keep refining the strategy with human insight to stay authentic.”

PRO TIP: Are you having trouble making sense of your YouTube content performance? If you want an easier way to do it, you can always download our free YouTube Channel Performance Dashboard and get an all-in-one overview of your most relevant metrics, in real-time.

Leveraging More Human Insights

Marketers are realizing that human experience and expertise are their competitive advantages against AI-generated content. Personal stories, real case studies, and expert opinions can’t be replicated by algorithms.

Companies are pushing their subject matter experts to share more personal insights in their content. Instead of generic “how-to” articles, they’re publishing pieces like “What I learned after analyzing 500 failed product launches”.

Industry interviews and expert roundups are also becoming more valuable. When you get real practitioners to share their specific tactics, failures, and wins, you create content that stands out from the flood of AI-generated advice.

Blake Smith of ClockOn shares that “over the next year, my SEO approach will focus on leveraging more human insights to invigorate content and differentiate it from AI-generated summaries.”

This means incorporating first-hand expertise, unique case studies, and real-world examples that AI can’t replicate. Prioritizing thought leadership, interviews, and experience-driven content will help maintain credibility and engagement as AI-driven search evolves.”

“We plan to use original data, case studies, and expert opinions to differentiate content. Create longer, in-depth content that satisfies search intent better than AI-generated summaries. Include authentic human insights, personal experiences, and brand storytelling (things AI can’t replicate well).”

Kendall Barker

SEO Specialist at Amplifyed

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Focusing More on Structured Data and Schema Enrichment

Schema markup helps search engines understand exactly what your content is about, which makes you more likely to appear in rich snippets and AI-powered search features.

The payoff is immediate and visible. Products with proper schema markup show star ratings, prices, and availability right in search results. Articles with the right markup can appear in featured snippets, while events and FAQs get their own special display formats.

AI-powered search engines rely heavily on structured data to understand and categorize content. When ChatGPT or Google’s AI features pull information from websites, they’re often using schema markup as a guide. Sites with clean, comprehensive markup might have a better chance of being cited as sources.

Kiersten Thompson of Sales MVP mentioned how they will “prioritize structured data and schema enrichment to keep up.”

“We will focus on schema markup (FAQ, How-to, Product) to ensure AI agents can parse and leverage content for AI-generated answers. This includes embedding metadata, entity relationships, and contextually rich snippets to enhance machine readability.”

Track Your SEO Performance Through AI Changes with Databox

The AI revolution in search is happening whether you’re ready or not.

However, you can’t optimize what you can’t measure, and most companies are flying blind when it comes to understanding how AI-powered search affects their traffic.

Our research showed that about half of the respondents are struggling to measure ROI from AI-driven search tactics. They know traffic patterns are changing, but they can’t pinpoint exactly where their visitors are coming from or how these new search behaviors impact their bottom line.

Databox can help you get clarity on these changes.

We’ve built an AI (Generative Search) Traffic Overview Dashboard specifically for this challenge.

You can track sessions, signups, bounce rates, and landing page performance from AI search engines all in one place. So, instead of guessing whether ChatGPT or other AI platforms are actually driving valuable traffic, you’ll have the data to prove it.

Plus, you can join our Content Marketing and SEO Benchmarks for All Companies group, where you can explore current metric values and compare your performance against industry standards. You’ll see exactly how your SEO performance stacks up against other companies dealing with the same AI-driven changes.

Then, with Databox Dashboards, you can track all your key metrics in one place and get a birds-eye overview of what’s happening in real-time.

With 130+ integrations, you can connect all your data sources and track everything from organic traffic trends to conversion rates in real-time. No more piecing together data from multiple tools or wondering if your SEO strategy is actually bringing results.

If you’re already a Databox user, you can reach out to your account manager and mention the DBUG session or the AI traffic dashboard to get set up.

If you’re new to Databox, book a free demo today to see how we can help you track, optimize, and grow your SEO performance (even as the rules of search keep changing).

The post Impact of Generative AI & Changing Search Habits in the SEO Industry appeared first on Databox.

Managing multiple client projects, coordinating between different departments, tracking billable hours, maintaining consistent quality… these are just some of the daily challenges agencies face while trying to stay profitable.

And as agencies scale, these operational challenges often compound, making it increasingly difficult to maintain the same level of service and profitability without proper systems in place.

So, what are the most successful agencies doing differently? And which operational improvements actually move the needle?

We surveyed 40+ agencies to understand how they’re optimizing their operations, what tools and processes they’re implementing, and which changes have had the biggest impact on their efficiency.

• Our Key Findings on How Agencies Approach Operational Efficiency in 2025
• 7 Strategies to Improve Agency Operational Efficiency
• Software and Tools Agencies Rely on for Productivity
• Stay on Top of Your Agency’s Performance with Databox

Our Key Findings on How Agencies Approach Operational Efficiency in 2025

35% of the companies we surveyed have between 2-10 employees.

First, we looked at how agencies structure their modern work environments. The majority of respondents (51.11%) operate on a hybrid model (office + remote), while 40% are fully remote.

This likely plays a role in how teams collaborate and deliver services efficiently.

Speaking of services, we also explored which offerings agencies handle in-house versus outsourcing.

Of the 25 services listed, only two are not offered in-house by the majority – Affiliate Marketing and Gaming Marketing.

This suggests a strong preference for maintaining control over most services while outsourcing niche areas.

Looking at client portfolio size, our research revealed healthy client bases across surveyed agencies. To be specific, most respondents have more than 30 clients per year.

Additionally, more than half of the respondents stated that more than half of their clients are on long-term retainers (over 6 months).

In terms of revenue per client, we found that most agencies work with mid-market clients. For most respondents, average clients pay less than $30,000 in a year.

Examining pricing models, agencies are split almost evenly between two dominant approaches.

For 44.44% of surveyed agencies, a fixed-fee project is the dominating model, followed closely by a fixed-fee retainer (42.22%).

When asked about their operational efficiency, most agencies acknowledged room for improvement. Over 70% of the surveyed agencies rated their overall operational efficiency as moderately efficient.

Among internal functions, one department stood out for its efficiency. Our respondents rated project management as the top internal function/department.

We also investigated what specific steps agencies have taken to optimize their operations.

Most agencies we surveyed have done the following to improve their operational efficiency in the last 12 months:

• Conducted quarterly planning sessions to review company progress and metrics (57.89%)
• Found ways to automate simple tasks (57.89%)
• Developed and followed an annual strategic plan (52.63%)
• Set agency financial and performance metrics (52.63%)
• Documented all of our processes for delivering services (50%)

We also examined how agencies handle their analytics and reporting processes.

When asked about the analytics and client reporting processes they have implemented, most surveyed agencies mentioned creating reusable dashboards and report templates to quickly implement reporting for new clients and monitoring performance across all clients in real-time on a single platform.

The top 3 tools agencies use and that improve operational efficiency the most are Project Management Software (e.g., Teamwork.com, Monday), Communication Platforms (e.g., Slack, Microsoft Teams), and Dashboard and Reporting Tools (e.g. Databox).

Finally, when it comes to measuring success, agencies focus on key financial and performance indicators.

Profit margins, revenue growth, client retention rate, and overhead cost are the most regularly used metrics to measure and monitor operational efficiency.

7 Strategies to Improve Agency Operational Efficiency

Every agency has its specific challenges, but some strategies consistently drive operational success across organizations of all sizes.

We asked our respondents to share some of their best-working strategies and here’s what they said:

1. Using Project Management Software
2. Hybrid Work Model
3. Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
4. Leveraging AI for Content Marketing
5. Using Automation Tools
6. Rotating Specialization System
7. Optimizing the Sales Process

Using Project Management Software

Agency workflows live and die by how well teams coordinate deadlines, client feedback, and shifting priorities.

So, it’s not surprising that project management software was voted as the top tool for improving agency operational efficiency in our survey.

Tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday can centralize communication, automate repetitive processes (e.g., status updates or client approvals), and provide real-time visibility into team bandwidth.

Natasha Rai of Explainerd said that “Asana has been particularly helpful. It has streamlined task tracking, improved team collaboration, and helped us meet deadlines more effectively, boosting productivity by around 30%.”

Ruhi Khan of Acodez also talked about how project management tools helped “improve team collaboration and ensure deadlines are met.”

“This has led to a significant reduction in miscommunication and project delays, allowing us to deliver better results to our clients more consistently.”

Cindy Steward of Brand Extract pointed out one specific feature of project management tools that has been particularly helpful:

“We have started using linked spreadsheets from our project management software. This gives us a real-time overview of many different aspects of our agency. It could be budget-based, project-based, or even timelines.”

PRO TIP: Want to track your software development process and team productivity in one place? Download our free Jira Dashboard Template and get all your most relevant project metrics in one place, with real-time insights into key performance areas.

Hybrid Work Model

We saw that over 51% of surveyed agencies are operating on a hybrid model, so it’s clear that combining office and remote work has become more than just a temporary solution – it’s now a strategic approach to operational efficiency.

The hybrid model offers the best of both worlds – the flexibility and work-life balance of remote work, alongside the collaboration benefits of in-person interaction.

Most importantly, the hybrid model can help agencies attract and retain top talent who value flexibility in their workplace.

Sumeet Anand of Marveta is one of our respondents who talked about this strategy:

We believe that a happy team is a productive team. That’s why we’ve embraced a hybrid work model—our employees work at their convenience, and we only call them into the office when it’s truly necessary. It’s a win-win for everyone.

We keep our team motivated with incentives and monthly fun activities that reduce stress and strengthen the bond between colleagues.”

Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

Standard operating procedures serve as the backbone of consistent service delivery and ensure that every team member knows exactly how to handle specific tasks and situations.

Well-documented SOPs help agencies maintain quality standards across all client accounts, reduce training time for new employees, and minimize errors that could impact client satisfaction.

They’re particularly valuable for agencies operating with hybrid or remote teams, as they provide clear guidelines that can be followed regardless of location.

But SOPs only stick if teams use them. Remember to involve employees in refining processes (“What slows you down?”) and schedule quarterly reviews to see if any adjustments are needed.  

Shannon Trimble of The Search Cure talked about how they’ve “relied on SOPs (standard operating procedures) to quickly scale up while maintaining quality.”

“These docs exist for every procedure you could possibly think of – from writing guidelines to how to invoice for our freelancers. This way, we save tons of time answering FAQs, and any new queries can just be added to the docs. They’re flexible because we’re always trying to iterate and improve our efficiency, and service.”

Leveraging AI for Content Marketing

While AI tools can’t completely replace human creativity, they can improve content marketing operations and optimize agency efficiency.

Modern AI platforms can help streamline various aspects of the content creation process – from research and ideation to content optimization and performance analysis.

Teams can use AI to quickly generate content outlines, create first drafts of routine content, and scale content production without sacrificing quality. AI tools can also assist with SEO optimization, keyword analysis, and finding content gaps.

Velin Dragoev of Era Locums mentioned that his agency is “making heavy use of AI to write and optimize content, as well as analyze data. This has helped us focus on the biggest drivers of revenue within our sales process.”

PRO TIP: Are you using LinkedIn for your content marketing efforts? If so, you can download our free LinkedIn Company Page Engagement Dashboard, where you can track your key performance indicators in one centralized location and check your performance in real-time.

Using Automation Tools

Smart automation can eliminate repetitive tasks, reduce human error, and free up valuable time for strategic work that truly requires human creativity and expertise.

Agencies are using automation across various functions – from social media scheduling and email marketing to invoice generation and expense tracking.

Client reporting, in particular, has seen major efficiency gains through automation, with agencies creating reusable dashboard templates and automated performance monitoring systems.

The key is to find tasks that are repetitive, time-consuming, and rule-based – these are prime candidates for automation.

Umesh Baraiya of Meetanshi Technology says that they used automation tools to “streamline repetitive tasks like social media scheduling, email marketing, and client reporting.”

“By using tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite, we scheduled posts in advance, ensuring consistency and saving time. Automated email campaigns also helped reduce manual work, allowing the team to focus on more strategic initiatives. This enhanced overall productivity and improved client results.”

Lee Wilson of Vertical Leap talked about the importance of “focusing on where technology in all its forms can help remove the mundane from specialists so they can concentrate on the expertise, experience, and human elements of delivery.”

“A starting point is frequently asking ourselves – where are we spending most of our time? How can we automate some of that process? This is followed by objective self-assessment of which items are essential for the expert, those that should sit with technology, or collaborative tasks which require a combination of both.”

Rotating Specialization System

This approach allows team members to develop deep expertise in specific areas while maintaining broad knowledge across multiple disciplines.

The system works by assigning team members to focus on particular specialties for set periods, and then rotating them through different areas of expertise.

This not only prevents knowledge silos from forming but also ensures the agency has backup coverage for every crucial function. When one specialist is unavailable, others with rotational experience can step in, maintaining service continuity.

“Our teams cycle through focused periods where they concentrate on specific aspects of email marketing. This approach has led to some innovative solutions and a significant boost in our overall productivity.

It’s not just about individual skill improvement; it’s created a culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing that’s really transformed our operations.”

Scott Cohen

CEO at InboxArmy

Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

Optimizing the Sales Process

A well-designed sales process can dramatically improve an agency’s operational efficiency by focusing on the right opportunities and reducing time wasted on poor-fit prospects.

The key is to build a system that quickly spots ideal clients while streamlining the path from prospect to paying customer.

Start by creating detailed client success profiles based on your best current clients – what makes them profitable, what problems you solve best for them, and what characteristics indicate they’ll be good long-term partners.

Then, use these insights to develop a targeted qualification process that helps your sales team quickly spot similar opportunities.

Dmitry Shamis of The Creative Brand says that “the biggest lever has been implementing new technology to optimize the sales process.”

“I’m a marketer and creative by trade, sales isn’t my strong suit so adding tools that help me identify the right prospects and perform outreach has been really helpful because it was taking too long on my own (if happening at all).”

Software and Tools Agencies Rely on for Productivity

An agency’s operational efficiency is often directly tied to its technology choices.

From project management to client reporting, here are the key tools that form the backbone of modern agency operations:

• Asana
• Clay
• Monday.com
• Slack
• ClickUp

Asana

Asana is one of the most dominant project management solutions in the market – and for good reasons.

Agency leaders are often particularly impressed with its intuitive interface and comprehensive feature set that scales seamlessly from small teams to large organizations.

Asana’s key strengths include visual project management capabilities, which allow agencies to map complex client workflows and campaigns through customizable boards and timelines.

The platform’s flexibility in supporting both agile and traditional project management methodologies makes it particularly valuable for agencies juggling multiple clients and project types.

There are also robust collaboration features, including task dependencies, custom fields, and real-time updates.

Jonathan Staley of EMBER says that “Asana is our number one efficiency booster. We use templates and automations to take a bunch of the repetitive and manual tasks out of project management. Tasks can also be added directly to the correct Asana project from Gmail and Slack.”

Daniella Pozzolungo of PupDigital shared that their agency uses Asana to “manage our client projects and business administration.”

“It allows us to set up recurring tasks for regular campaign management, ad-hoc tasks for anything that needs to be actioned outside of our regular management. It enables us to prioritize and schedule our workload across our teams, as well as acts as a communication platform so all client discussions are kept in the one place.”

Clay

Clay has completely changed how agencies handle their B2B prospecting and relationship building.

It’s an AI-powered tool that excels at automatically updating and filling in contact information, which keeps your database fresh and accurate.

Agency teams can use Clay to build targeted prospect lists and stay on top of important company changes that might lead to new business. The Chrome extension makes it super easy to save contacts while browsing LinkedIn, company websites, and other professional networks.

The platform can also automatically keep your contact information up to date and ping you when something important changes with your target accounts.

Dmitry Shamis of The Creative Brand says that “Clay has been really helpful in identifying prospects. It shortened the time frame for finding potential customers and enabled much faster outreach. It saves me 5-10 hours per week easily.”

Monday.com

Monday.com has earned its spot as a favorite among agencies for making complex project management feel surprisingly simple and visual.

Many agencies switched to Monday.com from more traditional tools and haven’t looked back.

The platform is particularly known for its colorful, customizable boards that help teams track everything from client projects and content calendars to resource allocation.

Teams also appreciate how easy it is to get a birds-eye view of all ongoing projects while still being able to dive deep into individual tasks.

Plus, its built-in time tracking and workload management features help agency managers ensure their teams aren’t overloaded and projects stay profitable.

Andre Oentoro of Breadnbeyond says that they “implemented Monday.com a few years ago, and it’s been a game-changer for our productivity.”

“It streamlined our project management, allowing the team to collaborate more efficiently. I’d say it boosted our overall productivity by about 30%, as we’ve cut down on miscommunication and improved task tracking.”

Slack

Slack has become the digital headquarters for agencies, fundamentally changing how teams communicate and collaborate.

Teams particularly value Slack’s ability to organize conversations into dedicated channels for different clients, projects, and departments. This structure helps keep discussions focused and makes it easy to find important information later.

Slack also offers deep integration with other tools like Asana, Google Drive, and Adobe Creative Cloud. Teams can share files, approve designs, and get project updates without leaving their conversations.

Natasha Rai of Explainerd also mentioned how “one tool we’ve implemented that significantly boosted productivity is Slack.”

“It has streamlined internal communication, reducing email clutter and allowing real-time collaboration across teams. By integrating it with other tools like Asana and Google Drive, we’ve seen a 25% increase in project turnaround times and overall team efficiency.”

ClickUp

ClickUp is a versatile all-in-one productivity platform that agencies use to consolidate their workflows and eliminate tool sprawl.

One of the tool’s main benefits is its flexibility – teams can view their work as lists, boards, calendars, or timelines, switching between views based on their needs.

Agencies particularly appreciate the custom fields and statuses that let them track client-specific requirements and project stages without being locked into rigid templates.

The platform’s doc collaboration features have also become a go-to for agencies, replacing separate wiki tools and letting teams build their knowledge base right where they work.

Here’s what Johannes Klupfel of Cloud Clicks shared:

“We use ClickUp to track tasks, forecast hours per project, and prioritize tasks within projects. By adding templates to streamline similar projects, we have achieved more consistency in project delivery.

This implementation has boosted our efficiency by approximately 30%, allowing us to better manage our time and resources, leading to improved project outcomes and client satisfaction.”

Stay on Top of Your Agency’s Performance with Databox

Having the right tools is crucial for agency efficiency, but tracking performance across all these platforms can quickly become overwhelming.

You’re juggling data from project management tools, CRMs, and multiple client accounts—but how do you know if your agency operations are actually delivering the results you need?

This is where Databox steps in.

Our Agency Benchmark Groups cover essential metrics from tools like Asana, HubSpot, Google Analytics 4, and many more. Join these groups to instantly see how your agency stacks up against others in key performance areas—from project profitability to client retention rates.

With Benchmark Groups, you can instantly compare your KPIs—like client acquisition costs or campaign ROI—against anonymized data from thousands of companies.

You can see where you excel, find hidden bottlenecks, and replicate what’s working for top performers in your niche.

There are also Databox Dashboards that let you centralize metrics from every tool your agency uses—project management platforms, CRMs, Google Analytics, or ad accounts—into a single, visual interface.

You can track real-time progress for every client, team, or campaign without jumping between apps. With 130+ integrations, you can pull data from Asana, HubSpot, QuickBooks, and more, then build custom dashboards that align with your agency’s specific goals.

Want to track billable hours against targets? Monitor project margins? Keep an eye on client satisfaction scores? It’s all possible in one place, with real-time updates that keep your finger on the pulse of your agency’s performance.

Why settle for fragmented insights when you could have clarity? Stop wondering and start knowing how your agency stacks up—and where to optimize next.

Sign up for a free Databox trial today, and turn your operational data into your most powerful asset. No spreadsheets, no chaos—just results.

The post How to Improve Agency Operational Efficiency [Insights from 40+ Agencies] appeared first on Databox.

If this sounds familiar, your go-to-market (GTM) strategy—or lack of one—might be the culprit.

A well-crafted GTM strategy doesn’t just get your product into the hands of customers—it builds momentum, aligns teams, and creates a blueprint for sustained growth.

But what separates an average GTM strategy from one that drives real results?

To find out, we teamed up with multiple partners and surveyed more than 50 companies.

We dug into the tactics, challenges, and successes behind GTM strategies that drive growth to find what works and what might be a waste of time.

This survey is also connected to the Benchmark Group Google Analytics 4, HubSpot Marketing, HubSpot CRM, and Stripe Benchmarks where you can check performance data from more than 740 companies.

Here’s what we found.

• Our Key Findings on the Impact of a Go-To-Market Strategy on Business Success
• The Role of a Go-To-Market Strategy in Driving Team Motivation and Performance
• The Benefits of Early Adoption of a Go-To-Market Strategy
• Stay On Top of Your GTM Strategy Performance with Databox

Our Key Findings on the Impact of a Go-To-Market Strategy on Business Success

Let’s begin with the who – for this research, most of the companies we surveyed have 50 employees or less.

For these smaller companies, having a well-defined GTM strategy is critical to maximize limited resources and achieve growth in competitive markets.

This necessity for structure is also reflected in how these businesses approach funding—42% of respondents plan to raise capital from professional investors to support their growth efforts, while 30% have already secured external funding.

Many businesses also recognize how important early planning is. In fact, 43.75% of respondents formulated their GTM strategy before even launching their companies and 37.50% did so within six months of launching.

This early adoption demonstrates how proactive planning can lay the foundation for growth and help avoid common pitfalls later on.

Speaking of motivations, the reasons for adopting a GTM strategy are diverse:

• 27% of respondents sought a definitive approach to their market launch
• 25% admitted it was simply “the thing to do”
• 17% turned to GTM strategies after struggling with traction
• 17% adopted them to overcome difficulties in penetrating the market

For lead gen, inbound (SEO, content marketing, etc.) is currently the primary means of generating new sales leads for 45.83% (the largest portion of the respondents).

These methods also deliver the best results in terms of spend-to-revenue ratio, confirming that inbound-led GTM motions are among the most cost-effective growth strategies.

When it comes to challenges their businesses faced, the most frequent (selected by 42% of the respondents) was ‘difficulty gaining traction’.

At the same time, inbound-led GTM is the best-performing motion for half of the companies we talked to.

Measuring the success of a GTM strategy often comes down to tangible results. Revenue growth rate (43.75%), customer base growth rate (39.58%), and annual recurring revenue (35.42%) are the top metrics companies use to evaluate their efforts.

On a final note, 62.50% of the surveyed companies stated that their post-GTM adoption has been significantly better than their pre-GTM adoption – showing just how important a well-executed GTM strategy really is.

The Role of a Go-To-Market Strategy in Driving Team Motivation and Performance

A strong go-to-market strategy doesn’t just define how to win customers—it shapes how teams work, collaborate, and stay motivated to achieve ambitious goals.

Let’s check out how it helped our research respondents:

• Better Customer Segmentation and Personalization
• Teams Meet Goals Easier
• Focusing on Revenue-Driven Metrics
• Increased Customer Engagement
• Marketing and Sales Alignment
• Clarity on How to Get Results that Matter

Better Customer Segmentation and Personalization

With proper target market analysis, a GTM framework helps teams find the most profitable customer groups, their preferences, and behaviors. This makes it easier for marketing and sales teams to create messages and offers that feel personal and relevant to each group.

Instead of sending out generic campaigns, teams can deliver tailored experiences—like targeted ads, customized onboarding, or product suggestions that match customer needs.

Wayne Mills of Seven Seas Worldwide talked about how “one aspect of our GTM Strategy that has significantly impacted our team’s drive to meet company goals is the increased focus on customer segmentation and personalization.”

“Before, we adopted a more one-size-fits-all approach, which limited our ability to truly resonate with our diverse customer base. Now, our strategy emphasizes understanding the specific needs and motivations of our different customer segments, such as holidaymakers, expats, and students. This allows us to tailor our messaging, pricing, and services to each segment, resulting in a more targeted and impactful approach.”

For Andrew Johnson of Giveaways.org, a GTM strategy has also helped them “identify the target market, customer segments, and key value propositions.”

“This allows us to focus our efforts on reaching the right audience. When teams know exactly who they are targeting and why, it makes our efforts more impactful.”

Teams Meet Goals Easier

A good GTM strategy makes it easier for teams to hit their goals by giving them a clear plan to follow.

With a GTM strategy in place, every team—whether it’s marketing, sales, or customer success—has a well-defined roadmap that outlines roles, responsibilities, and objectives.

This alignment eliminates confusion, reduces wasted effort, and ensures that everyone is working toward the same outcomes. Hitting targets becomes less of a struggle and more of a structured process.

Jonathan Rosenfeld of Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers is one of our respondents who talked about how big of a role a GTM strategy plays in helping their team meet company goals.

“It covered how our product stands out, who our ideal customers are, how we reach them, and how our team sells. A good GTM plan boosts market awareness, making sure we don’t waste time and money on a product people don’t want. It’s also useful for launching in a new market, changing our brand image, or improving existing product sales.”

Garrett Yamasaki of WeLoveDoodles also said how a GTM strategy has “significantly impacted our team’s drive to meet company goals.”

“This strategy has provided a clear roadmap for launching new products and entering new markets, aligning all departments around a cohesive plan. This clarity and direction have greatly enhanced team motivation and focus, as each member understands their role in the broader context of the company’s objectives.”

PRO TIP: Want a better way to keep track of how your sales reps are performing in the early days of growing your company? Here’s a free HubSpot Sales Activity Dashboard that you can download and start using in literally minutes. Just pick which metrics you want to track and get every data point you need in one centralized view.

Focusing on Revenue-Driven Metrics

A GTM strategy ensures teams focus on metrics that directly tie to revenue – like customer acquisition cost (CAC), customer lifetime value (CLV), win rates, and average deal size.

Instead of chasing surface-level numbers, such as website traffic or social media impressions, the focus is on metrics that show real business impact.

For example, by analyzing CAC, teams can figure out where marketing or sales spend isn’t efficient and adjust campaigns to lower costs while still driving high-quality leads. Similarly, tracking CLV alongside acquisition efforts helps determine whether resources are being directed toward customers who deliver the highest long-term value.

“I don’t really create GTM Strategies for companies, but as a channel expert in SEO and Paid Search, companies work with me when they want these channels to be a part of their GTM.

When it comes to achieving goals, the reality is that companies don’t measure marketers based on how much traffic comes from Google, whether paid or organic. They measure marketers based on pipeline generated from search.

It always looks cool to show screenshots of traffic going up, but this only creates superficial excitement. What matters most is overall channel performance, and if pipeline/revenue numbers are steadily increasing over time.”

Gaetano DiNardi

Growth Advisor at Gaetano DiNardi Hands-On Growth Consultancy

Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

Increased Customer Engagement

When teams understand their audience, they can create offers, campaigns, and touchpoints that feel more relevant to customers. This makes your customers feel seen and valued, and keeps them coming back.

When you engage customers in ways that speak to their needs—like sending tailored product suggestions, creating interesting content, or following up at the right time—they’re more likely to engage and interact with your brand.

Aysem Zorlu of UKCV said that “one area where we noticed a considerable change was in customer engagement.”

“Our targeted approach, informed by data analytics and strategic planning, allowed us to engage more effectively with our audience, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. This, in turn, translated into a more motivated team, as they could see the tangible results of their efforts.”

Marketing and Sales Alignment

A go-to-market strategy also helps align marketing and sales teams so they can work better together to achieve shared objectives.

Instead of working in silos, both teams share the same goals and use the same framework to guide their efforts.

Marketing focuses on bringing in leads that match the ideal customer profile, while sales uses that information to close deals more effectively. When both teams understand each other, it leads to better results and smoother collaboration.

Natasha Rai of Explainerd says that their GTM strategy is “fostering clarity in roles and responsibilities, enhancing collaboration, and creating a seamless customer journey.”

“The alignment of marketing and sales efforts has notably improved lead generation and conversion rates, contributing to successful client acquisitions.”

Debbie Moran of RecurPost also mentioned how “one significant impact has been the enhanced coordination among different departments, like having a roadmap that helps us all move in the same direction.”

“One big change we’ve seen is in getting more customers. The way we talk about RecurPost and the special things it can do has made more people notice us. When new users start using RecurPost, they find it easy to get started because our messages clearly show what makes RecurPost special.”

PRO TIP: If you want a clear view of how both your sales and marketing teams are performing in one place, you should use our free Marketing and Sales Deals Overview Dashboard. You can get a live view of both your top and bottom funnel activities in a single interface and keep track of what’s happening in real-time.

Clarity on How to Get Results that Matter

A GTM strategy lays out specific goals and actionable steps, and focuses on what’s truly important, so teams don’t waste time or energy on things that don’t move the needle.

Whether it’s finding the right customers, choosing the best platforms, or creating tailored messages, every action has a purpose and aligns with the company’s big-picture goals. It also makes it easier to track progress and tweak strategies when needed.

Amy Bos of Mediumchat Group explained how “our GTM has given my team the clarity and deep understanding they lacked before.”

“They really hit the floor running when we roll out new services, knowing exactly what is required and how to achieve the results we’re looking for. The biggest change has been in the monitoring. Following specific metrics have allowed us to pivot where we are not getting the results we expected.”

The Benefits of Early Adoption of a Go-To-Market Strategy

Starting with a go-to-market strategy early can mean the difference between reactive problem-solving and proactive success.

Here’s how early adoption sets businesses up for long-term gains:

• Overcoming Market Penetration Challenges
• Reduce Spend on Marketing Activities that Don’t Bring Results
• Easier to Achieve Sustainable Growth
• Alignment of Technological Capabilities with Commercial Objectives

Overcoming Market Penetration Challenges

Whether it’s dealing with tough competitors, understanding customer needs, or figuring out the best way to get noticed, a GTM strategy provides a clear plan to navigate these obstacles when entering a new market.

With early planning, companies can use market research to find gaps in the market or underserved customer groups. This helps them position their product or service in a way that stands out, even in crowded industries.

“We would have adopted a GTM strategy even earlier because it has proven to be a pivotal factor in overcoming market penetration challenges.

With its structured approach, we believe that an earlier adoption would have accelerated our initial traction and provided a more streamlined path to success. The hindsight of its impact makes it clear that the strategy is not just a necessity but a catalyst for sustained growth.”

Pascal Culverhouse

Founder & Managing Director at Electric Tobacconist UK

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Pascal Culverhouse of Electric Tobacconist UK said that they would have adopted a GTM strategy even earlier because it has “proven to be a pivotal factor in overcoming market penetration challenges.”

“With its structured approach, we believe that an earlier adoption would have accelerated our initial traction and provided a more streamlined path to success. The hindsight of its impact makes it clear that the strategy is not just a necessity but a catalyst for sustained growth.”

Reduce Spend on Marketing Activities that Don’t Bring Results

Creating a GTM strategy early helps businesses avoid wasting money on marketing activities that don’t work. With a clear plan in place, teams can focus on strategies and channels that actually deliver results, rather than guessing or spreading resources too thin.

A GTM strategy uses data and customer insights to figure out where your audience is most active and what campaigns drive the best outcomes.

Plus, with regular tracking and analysis, it’s easier to spot underperforming campaigns and adjust quickly.

Billy Lee of Billy Aircon says that a “meticulous plan that needs to be developed in order to bring a product to market successfully is dubbed a go-to-market strategy.”

“If your business doesn’t have one, you run the danger of spending money on subpar marketing that frustrates you and doesn’t draw in your potential clients. Customers that don’t use your goods will purchase from you, and you’ll be chasing your tail nonstop.”

PRO TIP: Are you using LinkedIn as a content marketing channel as part of your GTM strategy? You should check out our LinkedIn Company Page Engagement Dashboard for an easier way to track your performance metrics. It’s easy to set up and you can start monitoring your LinkedIn engagement in just a few minutes after downloading it.

Easier to Achieve Sustainable Growth

With a clear plan, it’s easier to align efforts across teams and focus on actions that drive long-term success and achieve sustainable growth. It’s easier to understand the target audience, choose the best channels, and deliver the right messaging.

Starting early also makes it easier to build processes that can scale. For example, if a certain customer segment responds well to specific campaigns, you can apply those same strategies in new markets or regions.

Michael Branover of Branover Contractors explains how they “adopted our GTM strategy after noticing a lack of growth. We have been able to achieve a higher growth rate. Our social media pages see a lot more engagement. Adopting this strategy earlier would have helped us achieve sustainable growth earlier.”

Alignment of Technological Capabilities with Commercial Objectives

A GTM strategy makes sure that the tools and systems teams use—like CRMs, marketing platforms, or analytics software—are chosen because they directly support key objectives, not just because they’re popular or trendy.

For example, a GTM strategy might show you that your team needs a robust CRM to manage customer relationships and a marketing automation platform to streamline campaigns. These technologies, chosen with commercial priorities in mind, ensure that every team has the right resources to deliver results.

Simon Ryan of Firstwave says that, for their team, “the decision to adopt a go-to-market strategy sooner would be based on the alignment of technological capabilities with commercial objectives.”

“If, in retrospect, the technology team had a solid set of creative solutions that could have been strategically leveraged in the market, implementing a go-to-market strategy early could have hastened the monetization of these intellectual assets.

A CTO must analyze if the company’s technology stack, development processes, and overall innovation readiness are at a place where they can effectively support and strengthen the company’s market positioning. Early adoption may result in faster realization of technological advantages, market leadership, and expanded revenue streams.”

Stay On Top of Your GTM Strategy Performance with Databox

Building a successful go-to-market strategy isn’t just about choosing the right tactics—it’s about aligning your team, targeting the right market, and consistently measuring the impact of your efforts.

But how do you know if your strategy is actually driving growth or holding you back?

Databox can help.

Databox offers a comprehensive Google Analytics 4, HubSpot Marketing, HubSpot CRM, and Stripe Benchmark Group that covers key GTM performance metrics from all of these tools.

You can join this group and get instant access to industry-specific benchmarks, so you can compare your performance against similar companies. This comparative analysis helps you see what your strengths are, spot areas that need improvement, and refine your GTM strategy accordingly.

That’s just one small fraction of our Benchmark Group product – there are 50+ groups you can join for free, all based on some of the most popular tools today in areas from marketing to accounting.

And that’s just the beginning. With Databox Dashboards, you can consolidate all your critical metrics into one centralized view, making it easier than ever to track your progress in real-time.

We have 130+ integrations – all you have to do is select the key metrics you want to track and generate one-click visuals that will make the data start working for you.

So, why guess when you can know?

Sign up for a free trial and finally get the insights you need to develop a GTM strategy that works and delivers results.

The post How Go-To-Market Strategies Drive Success for Growing Businesses [Research Insights Based on 50+ Companies] appeared first on Databox.

While we don’t have a crystal ball to tell for sure, we can guess what direction marketing will head based on current marketing strategies and expert insights. That’s why we teamed up with Scribewise and other partners to survey more than 110 companies about the B2B marketing trends they see in the future and how they’re adapting.

This survey is linked to our LinkedIn Company Pages, Google Analytics 4, and HubSpot Marketing Benchmarks for B2B Benchmark Group. Here, you can check B2B marketing performance from more than 4,500 companies.

Here’s what we found out using data from the survey and Benchmark Group:

• B2B Marketing Performance in October 2024
• Current Trends in B2B Marketing
• 3 Ways Companies Are Adapting Their Marketing Strategies for 2025
• 3 Future B2B Marketing Trends to Look Out for

B2B Marketing Performance in October 2024

The LinkedIn Company Pages, Google Analytics 4, and HubSpot Marketing Benchmarks for B2B Benchmark Group shows how B2B companies perform on LinkedIn, Google Analytics, and HubSpot Marketing. Let’s look at a few of its October 2024 metrics to see what current tactics and metrics look like.

Based on data from 1069 contributors, the Benchmark Group had a median of 2.09K unique impressions on LinkedIn Company Pages.

117 contributors published a median of three blog posts through HubSpot.

In Google Analytics, 4552 contributors had a median of 7.36K views.

Current Trends in B2B Marketing

More than 110 companies took our survey on trends in B2B marketing. We had these takeaways from the closed-ended part of it:

• About Our Respondents
• B2B Marketing Trends

About Our Respondents

The companies that took our survey are mainly small businesses with their sights set on growth.

Most respondents have 50 employees or fewer.

48.60% of survey participants reported that their internal marketing teams grew over the last 12 months.

Looking towards the future, the companies that took our survey mainly have demand generation/brand building (41.12%) and lead generation (41.12%) as their main focus.

B2B Marketing Trends

While the companies that took our survey have faith in time-tested tactics, they’re also optimistic about newer technologies.

Most companies agreed that content marketing and social media platforms became more effective over the past three years – especially LinkedIn.

We found no clear consensus among the companies on gated content – about an equal amount voted on each degree of importance.

When asked how they are using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, the largest group of respondents (36.45%) said they’re experimenting with it.

Around half of companies stated they expect to achieve more results with fewer resources compared to past years.

3 Ways Companies Adapted Their Marketing Strategies in 2024

In the open-ended section of our survey, we asked respondents how they evolved their marketing strategy to adapt to recent shifts. AI was a hot topic that shaped many companies’ responses. To keep up with the marketing world as AI changes it, respondents counted on strategies such as:

1. More Interactivity
2. Person-Focused Marketing
3. Ungating Content

1. More Interactivity

Some respondents focused on increasing the interactivity of their marketing to improve its potential for social proof. By getting customers involved, you can get more recommendations from them and demonstrate how customers feel about your product.

This was the play at Spacelift. Kate Wojewoda-Celinska says, “We’ve noticed that today’s buyers increasingly look for social proof and peer validation. In response, we launched a ‘Customer Spotlight’ series on our website and social media channels. This series, written in collaboration with our clients, highlights their unique use cases and the successes they’ve achieved with our platform.”

Wojewoda-Celinska adds, “We also introduced webinars, in which customers share their experiences and use cases firsthand. These sessions offer an interactive format in which prospects can ask questions directly to our clients, gaining deeper insights and practical advice from real users.”

The results?

“Both of these initiatives have helped us move beyond traditional sales narratives, positioning our clients as advocates for our platform and creating credibility and trust that goes beyond anything we could achieve with standard marketing materials.”

Kate Wojewoda-Celinska

Content Manager at Spacelift

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2. Person-Focused Marketing

AI’s new prominence in content has some companies going for a person-focused approach to stand out. By highlighting specific experts’ opinions and personalities, these companies aim to give their marketing a human touch.

“We have seen a growing demand for authenticity when it comes to marketing from customers. While this demand has always been there, the rise of AI-generated content has cluttered the web with large swathes of text that are basically lifeless, impersonal, and create no impact. In the B2B space, this becomes a bigger issue as business owners can easily identify boilerplate content that lacks depth and understanding of their specific industry challenges,” says Farhan Siraj from EmailBulkSender.

Siraj continues, “Keeping this into consideration, we have instructed our marketing teams to prioritize genuine human connection, storytelling, and engaging content. Beyond this, we have a clear AI use policy in our organization where we encourage our content team to use AI strategically and without compromising the brand voice and other factors that make us unique and human.”

Holden Advisors takes a multimedia approach to this strategy. After noticing that buyers gravitate more towards individuals than brands, the company applied that rule to its marketing. Tracy Dent says, “Our entire leadership team is publishing and doing speaking engagements. We strategize thought leadership opportunities for each of them as individuals rather than the umbrella of our corporate voice. Especially in professional services with C-level buyers, people want to see and know who they’re paying to solve their problems.”

Dent adds, “So we started a podcast, and we put everybody on camera. We show our raw, unscripted conversations and brainstorms about business problems and product launches. We open the curtain so you can get a genuine sense of our team and how we think. Often, by the time we get on a call with a prospect, they feel like they already know us. It goes a very long way in the relationship and in the trust we can build as partners.”

3. Ungating Content

Even though respondents had mixed opinions on ungating content in the closed-ended section of the survey, companies that supported ungated content were especially vocal in the open-ended section.

At Heretto, Sarah Cuellar saw better performance after ungating content:

“One big shift that we’ve seen in B2B is the customer’s desire to self-nurture. We have prioritized this by ungating most of our content and being very selective about the pieces we choose to gate. This has been a significant shift in our marketing strategy, and we have seen an increase in content downloads because of it.”

Sarah Cuellar

Content Marketing Manager at Heretto

Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

Hannah Lydford reports a similar strategy at Headley Media. Lydford says, “As a marketing department, we have put a much bigger emphasis on ungated content to generate demand and raise our brand awareness, recognizing the importance of distributing our content as far and wide as we can. However, the need to generate a continual stream of new leads continues to remain important to our strategy, particularly when reporting our department’s success to the rest of the business.”

One concern that can come up when talking about ungating content is how to track its performance and attribute it. Check out our Content Snack on the subject to learn how to analyze ungated content in Databox.

3 Future B2B Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2025

AI also influenced many answers when we asked respondents what trends they predict for B2B in the next five years. These companies believe it will shape our technology, habits, and marketing collateral through trends like:

1. Brand-Led Growth
2. Micro-Influencers
3. Niche, Opinion-Focused Content

1. Brand-Led Growth

Look out, product-led growth: Brands are becoming an avenue for growth as well. In this part of the survey, companies brought up the importance of building a brand in future progress.

“In the next five years, B2B marketing is going to embrace brand-led growth (BLG) like never before.”

Stephanie Bowker

Chief Marketing Officer at Defacto

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Let Stephanie Bowker from Defacto explain. “With the rise of AI churning out generic content faster than you can say ‘clickbait,’ originality and authenticity are what will truly cut through the noise. Community-building will also take center stage. Let’s be real: people trust recommendations from those they know and respect far more than from some algorithm,” Bowker says

Bowker continues, “As AI makes it harder to trust information, I predict a surge in private, invite-only channels. These exclusive spaces will be the breeding grounds for authentic word-of-mouth marketing, allowing brands to forge deeper connections and drive genuine engagement. In a world dominated by automation, the human touch will be the ultimate game-changer.”

SingleOps’ Cat Urbanski says, “In the next five years, I feel like marketing to B2B companies will be a lot more complex because people don’t just buy your product anymore or your software – they buy the brand. Even for B2C marketing. Obviously, that’s a big stand out, but it’s becoming even more important for businesses as well as businesses who are buying other businesses and their reputation.”

“Having a great product just isn’t enough anymore. You have to have morals and values and stand for something that people can relate to. I think due to AI being more prominent, it’ll actually push people to look for more human, natural interactions. That’s a trend that we will see. People will be able to spot AI quite quickly and we’re going to need to counteract that with emotive marketing, which people trust,” Urbanski concludes.

2. Micro-Influencers

Going back to current practices of interactive and person-focused marketing we explored earlier, one company sees them continuing in the future through micro-influencers. Your existing customers can help you get new customers by influencing their peers, friends, and family.

Kurt Uhlir from ez Home Search says, “The importance of long-tail, micro-influencers continues to increase. While we see a large interest from potential customers from our content marketing and lead gen, our best source of new customers increasingly is our existing customers. We’re using a variety of tools to source case studies and the stories of our customers, highlighting them as the superheroes of their own stories.”

Funnily enough, we saw B2B companies invest more in influencers and sponsorships over ads in 2023. Now, companies like ez Home Search are turning to their own customers to have a smaller, but incredibly impactful, boost to their marketing.

3. Niche, Opinion-Focused Content

With the rise of AI-generated content, companies are looking for ways to stand out. Two tactics respondents brought up for achieving this goal are to lean on a niche or opinion that only people can tap into.

Brett McGrath of Stacking Slabs LLC says, “I believe there will continue to be a greater emphasis on content differentiation and content distribution. The most effective teams will understand that it’s not about the quantity of people that you reach with your content, but quality. The idea of niching down and focusing will be scary to most, but those who incorporate niching down right now will understand how to grow in the future.”

“In the coming years, B2B marketers will focus on developing their company’s point of view,” Beam Content’s Samantha Hembree says. “They’ll do that through actually listening to and talking to their audience and creating content that makes their audience the stars of the show. With a better understanding of their audience, they’ll build their brand accordingly.

Hembree adds, “Brand is becoming more valuable than everything else with the rise of content creators, evangelists, and partners. Your brand has to have a solid foundation—something authentic that people can get behind. We’ll see a dramatic shift from cookie-cutter content to research-driven, expert-led content.”

Related reading: Content Ideation: Best Practices and Tools for Content Marketing Success

Monitor Trends in Your Industry With Databox Benchmark Groups

One more way to keep up with trends in B2B marketing is to see what and how other businesses are doing. Databox’s Benchmark Groups do just that by giving you a look at the performance of companies like yours. Submit your Databox metrics anonymously, and in exchange, you’ll get insights into groupwide performance.

We recommend keeping an eye on the LinkedIn Company Pages, Google Analytics 4, and HubSpot Marketing Benchmarks for B2B Benchmark Group this year to see where companies like yours find success. Add your most important metrics from LinkedIn Company Pages, Google Analytics 4, and HubSpot Marketing and compare them across the group. It’s anonymous and free with a Databox account.

Interested? Sign up for a free Databox account if you haven’t already, then join the group.

The post Key B2B Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2025 [Research Insights] appeared first on Databox.

You should understand what’s bringing people in, what’s driving them away, and—most importantly—how to get them to stay and convert

So, what metrics should you actually pay attention to? And how can you leverage those insights to consistently bring in new customers?

That’s what we set out to discover in our latest Databox survey. We partnered up with Analytics That Profit, Business Builders, and other partners and surveyed 100+ companies to see if and how companies leverage their website analytics to improve their marketing and sales performance.

We also had a DBUG session where dozens of professionals gathered to discuss these survey insights. The live session featured four experts and delivered numerous insights that we will also cover. 

Here’s what we learned:

• Key Website Analytics Trends among Marketers: Insights on Usage, Satisfaction, and Impact
• Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 Benchmarks
• Success Stories: How GA4 and Search Console Improved Marketing and Sales
• 6 Tactics to Improve Future Marketing and Sales Campaigns Using GA4 and GSC
• Get the Most Out of Your Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console Data with Databox

Key Website Analytics Trends among Marketers: Insights on Usage, Satisfaction, and Impact

Let’s first start with the who – most respondents we talked to work in companies with 50 employees or fewer. It seems like small to mid-sized teams are the ones who are increasingly using analytics to compete.

We also found that 94.29% of surveyed companies are currently using Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to track user interactions and website performance.

For many, GA4 has become indispensable and it’s still the go-to tool for businesses that want comprehensive user insights and conversion tracking.

In addition, 93.33% of respondents use Google Search Console to gain insights into how users find their websites through online searches. With Search Console, these marketers can actively analyze how keywords and search behaviors drive visitors to their sites.

Marco Giordano, one of our DBUG experts, shared a strategy to maximize the power of these tools:

“I recommend for both data sources to use a BigQuery connector because you get much more data, especially with Search Console. Google likes to hide some of your data, and BigQuery just gives you more.”

Regular analysis is also essential for these companies. Most respondents review GA4 and Search Console data at least on a weekly basis to stay on top of website performance and understand user behavior.

Furthermore, 77.14% of respondents are using ‘Custom Events’ and ‘Conversions’ inside GA4.

This advanced feature helps them closely track specific user actions and personalize marketing activities to meet specific engagement goals.

In our DBUG session, Phil Wiseman of Analytics That Profit talked about the importance of this advanced feature, noting that while his organization finds it essential, many others have yet to catch up:

“80 percent of businesses they work with don’t have custom events or ROI measurements, which often creates baseless numbers rather than meaningful metrics.”

Phil Wiseman

Founder at Analytics That Profit

Want to get highlighted in our next report? Become a contributor now

Another key insight is that 69.52% of surveyed companies believe assigning a monetary value to conversions in GA4 has helped them measure the direct impact of online efforts on revenue.

By assigning these values, marketers can link website interactions to revenue outcomes.

Finally, we found that the average satisfaction rating for the combined capabilities of GA4 and Search Console stands at 7 out of 10.

This suggests that while these tools help with marketing and sales, they don’t quite deliver everything marketers need.

Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 Benchmarks

Our survey results are connected to the Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 Benchmark Group, which provides performance data from a broad sample of ~8,000 companies.

This benchmark data shows you how companies across different industries are performing, so you see where your own metrics stand compared to others.

In October 2024, benchmark data showed a median of 1.22K clicks across 2,920 contributors.

However, top-performing companies reached a median of 5.6K clicks, which shows how big of a difference in user engagement high-performing sites can achieve.

Conversions show an even more striking contrast. Median conversions in October stood at 232 across 5,559 contributors, but companies in the top quartile had a median of 1.71K conversions—7x higher.

If you’re using GA4 or GSC, we invite you to join our exclusive benchmark group – Google Search Console and GA4 Performance Benchmarks.

Once you join, you’ll be able to anonymously compare your website’s performance against thousands of other companies—at no cost.

Simply connect your account to the group (it’s 100% anonymous) and start getting insights that can help you optimize your strategy.

Not using these specific tools? You can still explore our Benchmark Groups tool and find cohorts that match your industry and goals.

Success Stories: How GA4 and Search Console Improved Marketing and Sales

GA4 and Search Console don’t just provide data – they drive strategy.

Here’s how top brands are turning these insights into measurable wins:

• Leveraging Cornerstone Content for Traffic Fluctuations
• Using Keyword Insights to Optimize Blog Content
• Optimizing Landing Pages with GA4 Conversion Tracking
• Fine-Tuning Landing Pages to Match Search Intent
• Using GA4’s Advanced AI Metrics to Predict Who Might Make a Purchase
• Tracking KPIs to Get Actionable Insights with GA4 and Google Search Console
• Enhancing Content Strategy with GA4 and Search Console Integration

Leveraging Cornerstone Content for Traffic Fluctuations

Cornerstone content is the high-value pages on your site—product pages, key service guides, and long-form articles—that directly drive customer conversions and revenue.

Instead of chasing every traffic fluctuation, focusing on cornerstone content helps brands zero in on what truly impacts the bottom line.

Matt Edens of Knowmad Digital Marketing explains how they use cornerstone content to “avoid reactionary responses to shifting traffic trends. With GA4 and GSC integrated through Screaming Frog, we monitor the performance of high-value URLs that drive commercial and transactional traffic, ensuring our efforts are tied to client business goals.”

“For instance, following Google’s March 2024 Core & Spam Updates, a waterproofing client in North Carolina experienced a 40% drop in new users quarter-over-quarter. By analyzing cornerstone content, we found that while overall traffic decreased, impressions and clicks to key commercial pages had actually doubled.

This insight reassured our client that high-value traffic remained strong, even as informational page traffic dropped. This approach underscores our shift away from prioritizing high-volume informational content and toward content that builds topical authority and directly engages target audiences.”

Using Keyword Insights to Optimize Blog Content

Google Search Console (GSC) provides insights into which keywords are leading people to your site, so you can get a direct view into what topics and terms are resonating with your audience.

You can then combine this data with tools like Semrush to find keyword gaps, new content opportunities, and make tweaks to existing blogs.

While this process often involves some trial and error, markers use it to refine their content based on real search data.

Adam Bockler of ONEFIRE explained how they use GSC to “track keywords people are searching to find our clients’ sites. Then I’ll use that in combination with Semrush to improve a blog post using that information. But it’s a bit of a guessing game, if I’m being honest.”

For Sonika Mehta of Zonka Feedback, integrating GA4 with GSC added another layer of insight.

They examined keyword-driven traffic and behavioral data together to find high-performing keywords they can direct to surveys and feedback tools, which led to a 40% increase in website visits.

Here’s what they shared:

“Integrating Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with Google Search Console has greatly enhanced Zonka Feedback’s digital marketing strategy. By leveraging insights from both platforms, we identified high-performing keywords that drove organic traffic to our surveys and feedback tools. This optimization led to a 40% increase in website visits and a 25% improvement in conversion rates.”

John Reinesch of Exponential Growth also shared how, with these two tools, they are able to “get a good picture of which keywords are driving the most organic traffic and which pieces of content are driving the most conversions. We used this integration with our own website and were able to reallocate some of our marketing budget towards content creation since we were able to determine our blog was our biggest source of new leads.”

PRO TIP: Want to stay on top of your blog’s performance in real-time, without having to sift through mountains of data from GA4 and GSC? Download our free Blog Performance Tracking Dashboard where you can directly track metrics like page views, blog engagement, CTR, and more.

Optimizing Landing Pages with GA4 Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking captures key actions visitors take on your site, like filling out forms, making purchases, or clicking on contact links. These actions reveal where your high-value interactions are happening and which pages and tactics are actually driving engagement.

What’s more, GA4 conversion tracking doesn’t just show you where users are landing, but also how those pages support—or hinder—their journey toward conversion.

Marketers can find top landing pages and track conversion rates on those pages to quickly see where there’s potential to turn more visitors into leads or customers.

Marcie Lord of Digital Dynamo LLC shared their process:

“If you want to use GA4 to improve customer acquisition, you must have conversion tracking set up. This is a non-negotiable. At a minimum, you need to have conversion tags set up that track website engagement that’s most important to your business – examples include form fills, product purchases, and clicks on the phone number.

One of the obvious ways where you can use GA4 data to improve customer acquisition is by examining the top landing pages on your website, and then looking at the conversion rate on those pages for the most important tracked engagements. If the top landing pages have a very low conversion rate, examine them to make sure: – do they have a clear call to action? – is the content designed to answer user questions? – is the content easy to read, or does it make the user read too much? – do all the elements on the page work, or is functionality broken?

Adding more prominent, easy to access calls to action has been one way we’ve improved conversions for top landing pages. Instead of burying the conversion opportunity, we make it the first thing users see when they hit the page. This tactic has doubled conversion rates for many of our clients.”

Fine-Tuning Landing Pages to Match Search Intent

Disconnect between user intent and page content leads to high bounce rates and missed conversion opportunities.

You need to examine which search terms bring visitors to specific landing pages, so you can properly assess whether the page content aligns with the user’s expectations.

If users frequently bounce from a particular page, it could be a signal that the content doesn’t address what they’re looking for.

Avinash Chandra of BrandLoom Consulting shared how their team helped a client with this issue:

“For one e-commerce client, I noticed users landing from specific branded searches were bouncing right off. Why? The landing pages weren’t aligned with the searcher’s intent. We made a quick fix—optimizing the landing pages to match user expectations. The bounce rate dropped by 15%, and average session duration increased by 22%.”

PRO TIP: Are you running Google Ads and want to stay on top of your landing page performance, but struggle with their confusing reports? Here’s a Google Ads Dashboard Template where you can monitor key performance indicators like impressions, CPM, conversions, CPL, and more.

Using GA4’s Advanced AI Metrics to Predict Who Might Make a Purchase

For marketers, GA4’s advanced AI metrics provide a whole new way to connect with customers at just the right moment.

Google Analytics can now analyze past behavior to predict whether someone is likely to buy or might drop off, so companies can prioritize those who may be ready to make a decision.

Khunshan Ahmad of EvolveDash says that his team “uses this data to target the customers who are likely to purchase in the next few days based on past behavior.”

Tracking KPIs to Get Actionable Insights with GA4 and Google Search Console

Tracking KPIs with GA4 and GSC is one of the best ways to see how visitors arrive on your site and what they do once they get there.

You can get KPIs that provide a snapshot of site health and traffic sources—such as increases in direct or organic traffic—and how well specific keywords are performing.

For instance, if a blog post or landing page experiences higher-than-average traffic, you can use this data to create more content or social media promotions on similar topics.

Kameshia Ingram of BrandExtract shares their approach to leveraging KPIs:

“At our company, we like to leverage KPIs when looking at the data coming to our site with GA4 and Google Search Console. We like to see where people are coming from.

• Are we seeing an increase in direct traffic or organic traffic?
• If there is an increase in organic traffic, what keywords are driving the most clicks and what is our average position on SERPs?
• How they used the site once they get there?
• Are they filling out form submissions?
• Are they viewing a particular page more than some of our other pages?

By looking at this data and presenting it to the client or the team, we might suggest ways we can capitalize on the increase of traffic. We might suggest posting about that particular subject on socials, making sure our SEO tactics align with this strategy.”

During our DBUG session, Craig Hall said that “when you’re talking to CEOs and founders, they start to nod off when you’re talking web metrics…they want to know how it ties to revenue.”

PRO TIP: If you use HubSpot alongside Google Analytics 4, then you already know how time-consuming and tedious it can be to extract insights from the tools. But there’s an easier way to do it with our free Marketing Overview Dashboard Template (HubSpot & Google Analytics 4). Connect your most important insights from these two tools into one dashboard for actionable insights at your fingertips.

Enhancing Content Strategy with GA4 and Search Console Integration

These two tools also open up opportunities to refine your content strategy based on actual search behaviors and traffic patterns.

You can combine GA4’s page traffic insights with Search Console’s search query data, to identify keyword gaps and understand which terms have untapped potential to bring more visitors to their site.

One tactic is to focus on non-branded keywords that may have high search volume but aren’t yet driving significant traffic. These keywords often represent topics or questions that prospective customers are searching for, but where the site lacks sufficient or optimized content.

Lindsay Moura of SilverTech shared her strategy:

“One specific instance where the integration of GA4 and Google Search Console made a notable impact was when we analyzed GA4 page traffic data alongside Search Console search query data, we identified key opportunities to optimize their content strategy. We focused on non-branded search queries that were driving little to no traffic but had decent volume potential.

This led us to uncover a list of relevant keywords that were underutilized on their site. By creating new blog posts and optimizing existing content around these keywords, we significantly increased their organic search visibility and traffic to their website.”

Neil Shapiro, another expert from the DBUG session, advised that:

“You cannot analyze every single page. You must analyze groups. You should find groups based on some conditions, namely events, financial metrics, if available, and traffic, to define how to split these pages into groups.”

Neil Shapiro

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6 Tactics to Improve Future Marketing and Sales Campaigns Using GA4 and GSC

So, what’s next for our respondents?

Based on their insights, here’s a look at how they plan to continue using these two tools in the future to further optimize their campaigns:

• Using GSC and Screaming Frog to Focus on High-Impact Pages
• GA4’s Predictive Metrics to Personalize Campaigns for Higher Conversions
• Building Topic Clusters with AI-Powered Search Query Analysis
• Tracking Engagement with Scroll Depth and Google Looker Studio Dashboards
• Leveraging Search Intent Trends to Expand Multilingual Content and Social Promotion
• Using GA4 Event Tracking to Boost Customer Acquisition with Meta Ads

Using GSC and Screaming Frog to Focus on High-Impact Pages

Focusing on the pages that truly impact sales can make all the difference between hitting your business goals and chasing vanity metrics.

One tactic that can be effective is to integrate GSC with Screaming Frog to zoom in on specific, high-impact web pages rather than looking at traffic in broad strokes. You get a granular view of page performance, so you can see how changes in traffic influence client outcomes.

Marketers can avoid the common pitfalls of aggregate traffic analysis, which often leads to knee-jerk reactions or unnecessary optimizations that don’t support the objectives.

Matt Edens of Knowmad Digital Marketing is one of our respondents who talked about this approach:

“Integrating GSC with Screaming Frog has been one of the most beneficial strategies we’ve used to optimize digital marketing campaigns for sales growth. This integration allows us to stay laser-focused on work on web pages that drive impact on client sites, helping businesses achieve targeted outcomes.

Prior to implementing this strategy, traffic was viewed through more of an aggregate lens, which can lead to erroneous insights and assumptions, broad or over-implementation efforts, and/or work that simply doesn’t help the client’s business. By keeping the data specific and granular, we know when shifting traffic behavior is truly a concern and when it’s an opportunity. This has been a huge aid in achieving exceptional organic search outcomes for our clients that go beyond simple vanity metrics.”

PRO TIP: Want an easier way to track which of your pages perform well and which search queries drive traffic to your website (among other things)? You can use our free Google Search Console Queries and Page Overview Dashboard Template to get your GSC data into a single dashboard for streamlined analysis.

GA4’s Predictive Metrics to Personalize Campaigns for Higher Conversions

With tools like purchase and churn probability, you can use GA4’s predictive metrics to pinpoint which users are most likely to convert and focus on those high-value segments.

To get started, set up predictive audiences in GA4 to zero in on people likely to take actions like making a purchase or interacting with your campaign.

You can use this data to personalize messaging, offers, or content for these users. For instance, if a certain group has a high chance of buying, you could offer them a limited-time discount or a special product recommendation.

Gary Hemming of ABC Finance says that “for future campaigns, I plan to leverage GA4’s predictive metrics to tailor content based on specific audience interests. With this data, we’ll segment campaigns to create personalized follow-up interactions that strengthen engagement and drive higher conversion rates.”

Khunshan Ahmad of EvolveDash also talked about how they plan to use “revenue prediction feature of GA4 to help us get better at inventory management. This data will be useful in identifying peak customer engagement. Therefore, we will be able to increase the stock when customers are likely to increase their shopping habits. Similarly, we can either cut down on stock or create custom funnels when the activity is low.”

Building Topic Clusters with AI-Powered Search Query Analysis

Marketers can use the AI feature to analyze search queries and find the different ways people phrase similar searches. You can then build topic clusters based on this data to cover a central subject more comprehensively.

With AI-driven query analysis, marketers can see more than just individual keywords to map out the broader context of user intent.

Phil Wiseman of Analytics That Profit shares how they “use AI to analyze search queries to explore different ways people search for the same information. This approach allows you to build topic cluster easily.”

Tracking Engagement with Scroll Depth and Google Looker Studio Dashboards

To understand how users engage with blog content, you need to track more than just page views.

In GA4, scroll depth tracking offers a great way to measure how far users are scrolling through an article, so you can see which sections hold attention and where readers might drop off.

Using Google Looker Studio to visualize Google Search Console data can take this analysis further.

Looker Studio dashboards help marketers represent GSC data in a clear, visually engaging format, so it’s easier to spot trends and analyze performance across different pages and keywords.

Ruslan Konygin of Triodox explains that for “blog content analysis, you can configure GA4 to track scroll depth—analyzing how deeply (in percentage) users are scrolling through each article, how many read the article to the end, and how many click the link to the contact page. For Google Search Console, I recommend using dashboards in Google Looker Studio to better represent Search Console data.”

Leveraging Search Intent Trends to Expand Multilingual Content and Social Promotion

Are you crafting content that fits language preferences?

This is one tactic that some of our respondents plan to use to connect with new audience segments and strengthen their presence in different markets.

To make this work, content and marketing teams need to team up. Content teams can focus on creating high-quality blog posts in the chosen languages, while marketing can increase the reach by promoting it on social media channels tailored to each language group.

This way, language-specific content doesn’t just match search trends—it also finds the right audience on the platforms they use most.

Simon Bacher of Ling says that “if we see a trend in search intent for specific languages, our content team will produce more blog content on that topic and our marketing team will promote these languages across socials.”

Colton De Vos of Resolute Technology Solution also talked about this tactic:

“By regularly reviewing Google Search Console data for which search terms are driving traffic and cross-comparing that against geographic traffic, our team has been able to tweak how certain pages rank in countries.

We were able to identify several pages that were driving lots of international web traffic but few local leads and take measures to rank these pages better locally – Google Maps insertions, more local backlinks, and aligning keyword focus to what terms people are using in our area.”

Using GA4 Event Tracking to Boost Customer Acquisition with Meta Ads

GA4’s event-based tracking gives marketers deep insights into what users are doing—product views, form submissions, and cart abandonment.

If you monitor these interactions, you can group audiences based on specific actions and use the data to create more relevant Meta Ads campaigns.

For example, users who leave items in their cart could see retargeting ads with a discount to nudge them to finish their purchase.

Ronald Dsouza of Fit You Today went into detail on this tactic and shared his specific plan:

“I’m leveraging GA4 to drive customer acquisition through Meta Ads. I’ve set up event-based tracking in GA4 to monitor key actions on my website, like product views and form submissions. This data helps me create custom audiences based on user behavior, which I then use for targeted retargeting campaigns on Meta Ads.

I also use GA4’s insights to build lookalike audiences, targeting potential new customers who share characteristics with my most valuable existing customers. This has helped me increase my reach while maintaining relevance, leading to better conversion rates.”

PRO TIP: Do you run ads on Facebook and have trouble making sense of their confusing reporting interface? Use our free Facebook Ads Campaign Performance Dashboard Template instead, where you can connect your data in one easy-to-understand dashboard. Track everything from amount spend to conversion rates by creative in one comprehensive screen.

Get the Most Out of Your Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console Data with Databox

Turning your website into a customer acquisition powerhouse starts with understanding what drives engagement—and what doesn’t.

Sure, it’s easy to gather traffic numbers, bounce rates, and session times, but without context, those metrics don’t reveal much about how effectively you’re attracting potential customers.

This is where Databox comes in to make more sense of your GA4 and GSC data.

Our Benchmark Groups give you direct insight into how other businesses are performing on similar metrics, so you can see where you’re ahead, where there’s room to improve, and what’s working best for others in your industry. You’ll get real-time insights into whether your organic traffic is on par with industry leaders.

And it doesn’t stop there. There’s also Databox Dashboards, where you can bring all of your essential GA4 and GSC data together in one place, making it easy to track, visualize, and act on it.

From acquisition metrics like traffic sources and click-through rates to deeper insights into user behavior, every detail is right at your fingertips.

You can quickly connect your data sources (we support 130+ integrations), select key metrics, and generate visual reports that make the data actionable.

Plus, by linking your Benchmark Group data directly to your dashboards, you gain a real-time comparison view without any extra setup—you can identify patterns, spot gaps, and refine your strategies with precision.

Sign up for a free Databox trial today and start making more sense of your GA4 and GSC data – without any complex setups, spreadsheet headaches, and manual reporting.

The post How to Leverage Your Website Analytics to Acquire New Customers? [Research Findings Based on 100+ Companies] appeared first on Databox.

By understanding how businesses use HubSpot, we can learn where they get the most value from it and areas where they’re missing out on growth. So, we teamed up with SmartBug Media and other partners to perform a HubSpot survey of more than 165 companies to uncover how they set up, use, and get value from the product.

This survey is connected to the Benchmark Group HubSpot Benchmarks (Marketing and Sales) for All Companies featuring data from around 2,000 HubSpot CRM and Marketing users. It also sparked an October 2024 DBUG session where dozens of professionals discussed the survey insights.

Using all of the above sources, we put together some observations on the following areas:

• HubSpot Performance Benchmarks for All Companies
• About the Companies We Surveyed
• HubSpot Setup and Onboarding
• HubSpot Management Practices
• Analytics and Reporting Habits
• HubSpot Usage Across Features and Hubs
• Impact on Business Performance and User Satisfaction
• 3 Favorite Features Among Regular Users
• 3 Current and Future Limitations for Businesses Using HubSpot

HubSpot Performance Benchmarks for All Companies

Before we dig into the survey results, let’s look at data from one of our HubSpot Benchmark Groups for context. In HubSpot Benchmarks (Marketing and Sales) for All Companies, businesses anonymously share their HubSpot Marketing and CRM metrics to get group-wide benchmarks in return.

In October 2024, 221 companies had a median of 26 new leads – a consistent number with the monthly median throughout the year.

616 Benchmark Group members earned a median of $164.58K through October 2024 closed won deals.

980 participants created a median of 28 deals in October 2024.

About the Companies We Surveyed

Now that we know how companies that use Databox perform in HubSpot, we can get the background of the 165+ businesses that participated in our HubSpot survey.

Most respondents (64.5%) have 50 or fewer employees, indicating that our survey covers a lot of small business usage.

You can see a similar trend in annual recurring revenue (ARR) – 56% make less than $5.99 million per year.

Our survey participants lean toward the business-to-business (B2B) sector, with 64% reporting they mainly sell to businesses.

More than half of the companies reported they don’t sell products online when we asked them what e-commerce tools and integrations they use.

Companies with a wide range of experience in HubSpot answered our survey. Most respondents have anywhere from one to nine years of experience with the product.

HubSpot Setup and Onboarding

Since HubSpot handles so much business data, it can take time to set up the tool and teach employees how to use it. One part of our survey’s closed-ended questions examined this setup and onboarding process.

The majority of respondents took three months or shorter to completely set up their HubSpot portals.

Their setup processes most frequently included these steps:

• Setting up general settings (77.24%)
• Importing contacts (62.76%)
• Setting up marketing emails (62.07%)
• Building calls-to-action (CTAs) (57.93%)
• Creating email templates, sequences, or snippets (56.55%)
• Connecting social accounts (55.86%)
• Creating forms 51.72%
• Building dashboards and custom reports (51.03%)

HubSpot Management Practices

We also explored how companies manage their HubSpot instances in our survey.

More than half of the companies we consulted manage HubSpot in-house – and those are non-agencies. Over 30% of all companies are agencies that also manage HubSpot in-house.

This ownership over management goes further. Over two-thirds of respondents report that the person who manages HubSpot for them does it full-time.

Analytics and Reporting Habits

Our survey’s questions on analytics and reporting were some of the most fascinating to the experts in our DBUG session. They reveal how companies use HubSpot reporting and work with its data.

The top three HubSpot reports companies used in the last quarter were:

• Campaign Analytics
• Sales Anayltics
• Traffic Analytics

Most of the businesses we consulted go over their performance and make decisions based on that data at least once a month.

This result stood out to Simple Strat’s Ali Schwanke. After Rick Kranz of Weidert Group gave her the floor, she pointed out the link between analysis frequency and feature usage. While the participants in the survey review their data quite often, they might not always be looking at every aspect of their HubSpot anayltics. “[If] you’re not reporting on the feature and how it’s working with the other parts of the system, you may be actually missing out on things,” Schwanke said. 

HubSpot data matters to many participants, with most at least considering it one of the factors in their decision-making.

The companies in our survey only have a moderate level of comfort with HubSpot’s custom reports. When we asked them to rank their comfort from one to five, the average value was 3.

Seth Tilli of The Hypergrowth Project noticed this trend during the DBUG session, mentioning hearing of people’s discomfort with the tool in feedback. He attributed some of it to not everyone holding all their data in HubSpot, meaning they don’t use it as their main reporting tool. However people use their data in HubSpot, Tilli recommended that more people try it because he considers it easy and intuitive once you start using it.

HubSpot Usage Across Features and Hubs

A large part of our survey looked at how companies use HubSpot’s different features and Hubs. We asked questions about each Hub and a few features outside of them.

Many survey participants don’t use one or more of HubSpot’s Hubs. Around half don’t use Operations Hub, 44.14% don’t use Service Hub, and 41% don’t use CMS Hub.

The integrations respondents like to use with HubSpot skew toward Google, with a majority choosing Gmail.

About 30% of respondents use a HubSpot chat solution on their website.

Around half of companies have tried using HubSpot’s new AI tools.

Feature usage was a hot topic at the DBUG session. Chris Carolan from Conveying Your Message considered the links between feature usage, HubSpot plans, and awareness. Companies with certain HubSpot plans might avoid some parts of HubSpot due to a lack of available features. Plus, outside of the Marketing Hub, features can get more ambiguous and lesser known, leading to a lack of awareness among companies.

Let’s go deeper by looking at the Hub-specific questions we asked:

• Marketing Hub
• Sales Hub
• Service Hub
• CMS Hub
• Operations Hub

Marketing Hub

The Marketing Hub is one of the most popular among HubSpot’s hubs. Here are some insights into the way companies use it.

Most of the companies we surveyed have fewer than 10 seats in their Marketing Hubs.

According to our respondents, the most-used features in the Marketing Hub are:

• Landing Pages
• Marketing Analytics & Dashboard Software
• Email Marketing
• Worfklows

When we asked participants to name the most important feature in creating a marketing campaign, email automation won out at 30%.

Speaking of email, most companies we surveyed have between one and 10 lead nurtures.

On top of those nurture emails, most companies send a one-time email through HubSpot at least once a month.

Around a quarter of respondents use HubSpot Ads to manage their paid media.

About 20% of the companies we surveyed use Marketing Hub as part of their public relations strategy.

Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is another prominent hub in the tool. Here’s what companies are doing with it.

About 44% of respondents have five or fewer seats in the Sales Hub.

The most used Sales Hub feature for respondents was email integration last quarter, making up 41.27% of responses.

Respondents consider meetings the most important HubSpot Sales Hub feature.

Service Hub

Now we’ll explore lesser-used Hubs and their importance to companies that do use them, starting with the Service Hub.

When we asked companies what Service Hub features they use, 44% of respondents stated they don’t use HubSpot Service Hub at all. Out of those that do, Automated Customer Service was the top feature in the last quarter.

Most HubSpot Service Hub users do take advantage of its ticketing pipeline.

Respondents consider service and support analytics the most important Service Hub features.

At the DBUG session, Service Hub’s lower usage sparked much discussion about why users don’t take advantage of it and other lesser-used parts of HubSpot.

Tony Dowling of Real Inbound Marketing also sees a lower focus on Service Hub in his work as a consultant. He only recently took on his first ever deal centered on Service Hub. This experience led him to agree with the data we see from the survey.

But how can companies become more aware of HubSpot’s full kit? Christopher Nault of Growth considers this an opportunity for consultants to introduce more options to clients. Consultants can present different HubSpot features and listen closely to client users asking for more features.

Kristeen Romero of RevPartners also sees a lack of Service Hub adoption among clients and attributes it to a lack of strategy. Users either don’t go into HubSpot with a strategy related to service or already use another service system. Integrations also come into play, with certain integrations, such as Salesforce and HubSpot, working best if you start with a plan.

CMS Hub

We briefly examined companies’ use of CMS Hub with a few questions.

When we asked companies whether they use HubSpot CMS Hub to host their websites, the top answer at 39.52% was “no” with no plan to use it in the future. The next most common answer was “yes” at 38.71%.

The most important requirement HubSpot CMS Hub users had in mind when choosing it was ease of use (47%).

Among respondents who use the CMS Hub, the website builder was the most used feature in the past quarter.

Operations Hub

One question in the survey focused on Operations Hub usage.

More than half of respondents answered they don’t use Operations Hub when we asked what features they used in the past quarter. Among those who do, the data quality software was the top feature.

Impact on Business Performance and User Satisfaction

To get an understanding of HubSpot’s effect on businesses, we included questions about its relationship to business performance and users’ satisfaction with it.

Respondents ranked deal and pipeline management (49.18%) and sales activities such as calls, meetings, and emails (43.44%) as having the highest contributions to their revenue generation and sales goals.

They then ranked the following tasks as the top contributors to that performance:

• Managing sales activities through HubSpot CRM (58.20%)
• Leveraging the integrated platform & tools (48.36%)
• Launching marketing campaigns through HubSpot (45.90%)

Respondents were overall satisfied with HubSpot, with 84.4% telling us they would recommend it to another organization like theirs.

3 Favorite Features Among Regular Users

In the open-ended part of our HubSpot survey, we asked respondents to name their favorite features out of the entire platform. One of the experts in our DBUG session also brought up on of their own.

Three features came up among these people:

1. Workflows
2. HubSpot CMS
3. Task Call Queue

1. Workflows

Workflows were a popular mention among survey respondents. This feature automates tasks among the HubSpot Hubs and other software.

“HubSpot workflows are my favourite feature since they are easy to use, make our jobs easier, and give customers and prospects better experiences,” says Kevin Lamberth from Central Carolina Scale. “Our business has been able to scale as our teams and responsibilities have increased thanks to the automation of previously manual chores made possible by workflows.”

Lamberth continues, “HubSpot workflows have been used to do tasks once or repeatedly as contacts or businesses match the required criteria. We route leads to sales, construct lists and segment them, and run email nurturing programmes all using HubSpot workflows. We can now instantly alert our team members to updates, such as new leads or chat chats, thanks to the Slack integration.”

At Zopto, Abhi Bavishi likes to combine workflows with data enrichment:

“My favourite feature of Hubspot is definitely the ability to enrich data-points in the background, and then build workflows on top of it. That way, I can use Hubspot as my database, enrich the information using external APIs like Apollo, and build highly profitable lead acquisition or nurturing funnels that run on auto-pilot.”

Abhi Bavishi

Growth Marketer at Zopto

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2. HubSpot CMS

Despite many respondents reporting no current or future use of HubSpot CMS, a few who do use it named it as their favorite feature in the open-ended section. These users consider it the best fit for their needs regardless of fewer people using it.

One of these users is Edwize’s Layla Acharya. Acharya says, “As an educational website, we aim to provide engaging and informative content to our readers. However, content creation and organization can be time consuming. HubSpot’s CMS has enabled us to streamline our content production and keep our site organized. The taxonomy features have transformed how we categorize our library.”

Acharya adds, “Keywords, topics, and tags allow visitors to easily explore related material. Internal linking and cross-promoting similar content is simple with HubSpot. So, the CMS has been instrumental in developing our educational website in a structured, yet creative manner. It has helped us scale our content operations and keep readers engaged with fresh, relevant material.”

3. Task Call Queue

During the DBUG session, Seth Tilli mentioned HubSpot’s task call queue. This feature organizes call-related tasks into a group for faster management.

Tilli says: 

“For me, the, task call queue is super valuable, being able to to update information and reach out more efficiently, get, more calls done in less time, as well as the the integration with Aircall. I don’t think there’s enough information about that, being able to take advantage of that feature set with it being implemented with Hubspot. Someone calls in, you have their full profile right away, and just another point to reduce some friction in your outreach and your customer service.”

Seth Tilli

Founder at The Hypergrowth Project

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3 Current and Future Limitations for Businesses Using HubSpot

We also asked survey respondents about their current top limitations with HubSpot and what limitations would cause them to stop using HubSpot in the future. Three trends appeared among the answers to these two questions:

1. Integration Challenges
2. Barriers to Entry
3. Budget and Pricing

1. Integration Challenges

Respondents commonly brought up integration problems as a current or future limitation in their HubSpot usage. These issues include incompatibility with other tools and issues integrating data from multiple platforms.

At Bin There Dump That, integration issues are both a current and potential future limitation. Luke Hancock says, “Our top challenge has been integrating HubSpot with our other systems, specifically our customer relationship management software. Since we have thousands of existing customers, we need a seamless way to import these contacts into HubSpot, assign them to the appropriate stages in our sales funnel, and then sync any updates or new information between the systems automatically. Manually uploading and maintaining customer records across multiple programs is time-consuming and prone to errors.”

Hancock adds, “We would love to see HubSpot offer more robust application programming interfaces and out-of-the-box integrations with the top CRM platforms, including the one we currently use.”

If the Bin There Dump That team can’t find a solution to this issue as the business grows, they may switch to an enterprise CRM with better data integration.

Lucy Fitzgerald from CoolPlanet would also like better data integration between HubSpot and other platforms, specifically Google Analytics. Fitzgerald says, “We extract a lot of value from our daily use of Hubspot, but one of the limitations is the disconnect between the inbuilt traffic analytics reporting and that of our external Google Analytics data. Though we realise there are different attribution models at play and it’ll never fully sync, it’d be great if we could find a way to interweave both datasets for a more singular ‘source of truth’ in our traffic performance analytics reporting.”

2. Barriers to Entry

HubSpot’s complexity and plans can also create barriers to entry for smaller businesses. Some businesses get confused with it from the beginning or can’t do as much as they thought they could on the plan they can afford.

“Honestly, we just didn’t know where to start!” Kendall Stempel from DocStation says. “No one at the company was familiar with personas, sequences, or workflows. We hired an agency to get us set up with inbound but that pretty much failed. It would have been great to better customize our subscription and dashboard to better suit our needs.”

At Cloud Campaign, Kurt Miller had issues with plan features. “Hubspot’s Pro plans are packed with powerful features, but periodically we find shocking limitations in terms of capabilities that either do not exist or are gated in much more expensive plans. This is definitely the case with their custom report builder, it can sometimes take comparing two reports side by side to gather the insights you need,” Miller says.

3. Budget and Pricing

Respondents frequently brought up cost as a limitation, whether it stopped them from adopting HubSpot fully or could cause them to drop it in the future.

FlexiPCB’s Philips Ziano sums up this sentiment in this insight: “The only reason that would make me leave HubSpot for another company is it they increase their membership plans. Times are hard these days and it is affecting sales revenues for every company. Companies are cutting cost in all their departments.”

Related reading: How to Set a Marketing Budget for a Small Business: 20 Tips

Get the Most Out of HubSpot With Databox and Benchmark Groups

One of the best ways to improve your HubSpot usage is to see what other companies’ performance looks like. When you understand what metrics look like at other businesses, you can get a better grasp on your marketing performance and how you’re using HubSpot’s features.

The HubSpot Benchmarks (Marketing and Sales) for All Companies offers a great opportunity by showing you group-wide benchmarks. In exchange for anonymously sharing your Databox metrics, you’ll get a look into the median numbers for everyone else in the group. You can compare numerous metrics from HubSpot Marketing Hub and Sales Hub.

It’s free with a Databox account connected to the metrics you want to compare. Create a Databox account and join the group today.

The post How Companies Use HubSpot to Drive Growth and Value [Insights from 160+ Teams] appeared first on Databox.

With these two departments teaming up at many companies, aligning them helps you get the most out of their efforts. In an aligned organization, their goals and strategies should serve the same purposes, and they should each know what the other department is doing.

In partnership with Knowmad, Growth, Resend, and other partners, we surveyed 170+ companies to find out how B2B companies align their sales and marketing teams. This survey is connected to the Google Analytics 4, HubSpot CRM, and HubSpot Marketing Benchmarks for B2B Companies Benchmark Group.

We also ran a live DBUG session in September 2024 where seven experts analyzed and discussed the survey results.

These two initiatives gave us insights into these topics:

• How Do Companies Handle Sales and Marketing Alignment?
• 4 Effective Tactics for Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams
• 6 Challenges in Sales and Marketing Alignment (And Possible Solutions)

How Do Companies Handle Sales and Marketing Alignment?

Before we can find ways to better align sales and marketing in B2B, we need to understand what B2B companies are currently doing to achieve this alignment. So, the closed-ended questions in our survey focused on current alignment strategies and results, covering three areas:

• Business Size and Operations for Respondents
• Communication Between Sales and Marketing Departments
• Sales and Marketing Alignment Strategies

Business Size and Operations for Respondents

For context behind further answers, let’s explore how the responding businesses operate.

Most of the companies in our survey are on the smaller side and have 50 or fewer employees.

The sales teams among our respondents tended to be slightly bigger than the marketing teams. While the average size of sales teams is 18, the average size of marketing teams is 15.

HubSpot is the top choice of CRM among respondents, with 48.70% of them naming it their go-to software.

About one-third of respondents report that 50% to 80% of their lead generation comes from digital marketing.

Communication Between Sales and Marketing Departments

With all of the above in mind, how do respondents’ sales and marketing departments communicate with each other?

When we asked companies about which areas their sales teams provide input for marketing activities, the top answers were:

• Target market selection (73.38%)
• Pricing strategies (62.99%)
• Product/service positioning (56.49%)
• Content creation (50.00%).

Most respondents rate the effectiveness of their sales and marketing teams’ communication as good to excellent, showing a high degree of satisfaction among them.

Sales and Marketing Alignment Strategies

Even when communication is already good, sales and marketing alignment requires ongoing work. What do respondents do to promote alignment, and how do they measure it?

The top answers companies gave when we asked about their current alignment strategies were:

• Regular sales and marketing meetings (77.27%)
• Shared goals and metrics (69.48%)
• Integrated CRM and marketing automation tools (66.88%)
• Collaborative content creation (50.65%)

Respondents then measure the success of sales and marketing alignment through these metrics:

• Better lead generation and qualification (69.48%)
• New customer acquisition (68.83%)
• Increase in sales revenue (64.29%)

4 Effective Tactics for Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams

The closed-ended questions in our survey covered common ways to align sales and marketing, and we explored those tactics further in our open-ended questions. Some of the highlights covered both time-tested and unconventional tactics such as:

1. Sharing Data Platforms
2. Performing Regular Check-Ins
3. Spending Time in Each Other’s Shoes
4. Finding Common Ground Through Analytics

1. Sharing Data Platforms

Many survey participants brought up data platform and CRM sharing as a strategy for sales and marketing alignment. Using the same data between the two departments allows for more cohesive performance tracking and goal setting.

“We’ve implemented a practice that focuses on data-sharing between our sales and marketing teams. By using a shared platform where both teams can access customer data, campaign performance, and feedback, we support real-time collaboration,” says Manoj Kumar from Orderific.

Kumar shares an example: “For instance, our sales team can provide insights into customer needs and concerns, which helps marketing create more targeted campaigns. As a result, we’ve seen a 25% increase in lead conversions over the last six months. This initiative not only aligns our teams but also enhances our understanding of our restaurant owners’ needs.”

Cache Merrill describes similar success with this strategy at Zibtek. Merrill says, “We’ve found that integrating our sales and marketing efforts through a shared CRM platform has been particularly effective in fostering collaboration. This platform allows both teams to access and analyze customer data in real-time, ensuring that marketing campaigns are aligned with sales goals and customer needs.”

Merrill continues, “The practice has led to more targeted and effective marketing efforts, resulting in higher conversion rates and better customer retention. Additionally, the shared platform has improved communication between the teams, allowing for quicker adjustments and more agile responses to market changes.”

If you already use this strategy, you can make it more effective by building a CRM KPI dashboard to share between the two departments. This dashboard will help everyone focus on the same metrics and goals.

2. Performing Regular Check-Ins

The most typical strategy for keeping sales and marketing aligned is to hold regular meetings. But, the quality of these meetings determines exactly how effective they’ll be. The following respondents ensure that sales and marketing actually help each other during meetings for better alignment.

Jarret Austin shares that Bankruptcy Canada runs cross-functional workshops rather than just meetings: “One particularly effective practice we’ve implemented to foster collaboration between our sales and marketing teams is our regular cross-functional workshops. These workshops are designed to create an open dialogue where both teams can share insights, challenges, and success stories.”

Austin adds:

“We’ve found that when sales teams share feedback from clients directly with marketing, it helps fine-tune our campaigns to better address the needs of our target audience. As a result, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in lead quality, which has directly contributed to higher conversion rates. This collaborative approach has also strengthened interdepartmental relationships, creating a more cohesive company culture.”

Jarret Austin

Owner at Bankruptcy Canada

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According to Carmen Mendoza, the Booking Agent Info team zones in on one aspect of lead generation – lead magnets – to bring marketing and sales together. Mendoza says, “Our most successful effort has been weekly ‘Lead Magnet Meetings’. Every Monday, the sales and marketing teams meet to discuss the latest marketing campaigns, analyze lead generation data, and develop creative strategies to turn leads into paying clients.”

“For instance, in one recent campaign aimed at corporate event planners, the marketing team released a targeted e-book on ‘Engaging Virtual Events with Top Talent’. The sales team used that resource as a ‘lead magnet’ during outreach calls, generating not only high-quality leads but also positioning Booking Agent Info as a thought leader in virtual entertainment. Since these meetings began, lead conversion rates have jumped by 15%,” Mendoza concludes.

If you don’t feel like your alignment meetings have the impact you’d like, look for ways to get more collaborative and follow our general tips for successful weekly meetings.

3. Spending Time in Each Other’s Shoes

Sales and marketing can have very different day-to-day tasks, which can lead to a disconnect between the two teams. Firsthand experience with these duties can help them understand what the other team is going through.

Bartosz Wrobel shares one activity Gorrion ran that helped sales and marketing understand each other better: “During one of the company meetings, we had a fun activity, which also helped enhance the partnership between sales and marketing. Each department had some ‘special tasks’, and we thought that it would be a great idea to swap teams. So the people responsible for marketing had to come up with some marketing strategies, and the marketers were supposed to prepare sales propositions.”

Wrobel adds, “It was great fun, everyone liked that approach, and even the other departments wanted to stay longer and see how the situation unfolded. However, the second goal of this fun activity was met. Both teams understood [each other’s struggles] better and saw how their decisions impact the other team.”

4. Finding Common Ground Through KPIs

One of the most difficult aspects of alignment to deal with is managing disagreements between teams. When sales and marketing have different ideas of the right path to take, it becomes challenging to please both sides. You can mitigate this issue from the start by giving both teams the same KPIs to work with.

James Hook explains how Neurogan Health’s shared KPIs between marketing and sales promote unity. Hook says, “What we have found works best when fostering collaboration between sales and marketing is metrics. Shared metrics seem to drive these departments to unnatural highs. By establishing shared KPIs and regular tracking of their performances we were able to create a cross-functioning department. Creating a truly unique collaborative environment is almost like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.”

Hook continues:

“By sharing KPIs, both teams support each other in reaching goals, focusing on areas for improvement, and then of course the joint celebration when they succeed. This approach has skyrocketed our sales and increased creativity in our marketing campaigns. Salespeople generally know what clients want, and how they want it. Marketing teams are brilliant at setting up sales pitches. These two departments should always work together.”

James Hook

Consulting Chiropractor and Vendor at Neurogan Health

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6 Challenges in Sales and Marketing Alignment (And Possible Solutions)

Another question we explored in the open-ended part of our survey is what the top challenges companies face in sales and marketing alignment are and how they plan to address them. Many of these challenges and solutions also came up in our DBUG session when marketing and sales leaders discussed the survey results.

The following challenges and solutions came up in our survey and the DBUG session:

1. Differences Between Perception and Reality
2. Inconsistent Product Knowledge
3. Lack of Alignment on Lead-Driving Tactics
4. Different Ideas of Alignment Between People and Departments
5. Top-Down Structural Issues
6. Differing Goals and Metrics Between Teams

1. Differences Between Perception and Reality

During the DBUG session, three experts noticed that companies’ perception of their alignment and their actual alignment might not match. The high satisfaction that companies shared in the survey didn’t line up with what they saw in their work.

William McKee from Knowmad Digital Marketing noticed the huge influence sales has on marketing and how it could affect alignment. Previous parts of the discussion highlighted how hard it can be to get sales to engage with marketing. “Marketing sometimes doesn’t even have a seat at the table where decisions are getting made,” he says. So, if sales calls all of the shots, is it actually aligned with marketing?

Rick Kranz of Weidert Group added that he and others in the profession don’t see as much alignment in B2B companies as the survey suggests. Even when a company might report good alignment on an intake survey, these consultants hear a different story when they get on a call.

Christopher Nault of Growth vouched for this observation, saying, “When I’ve sent the survey, I always offer up the option to take the survey without meeting with me. I wanna make a safe place for them to answer honestly, and for those that do, the result is, oh, we’re super aligned. Cool. Everybody that’s taken the time to meet with me has shared some level of lack of alignment, usually high.”

Christopher pointed out that bringing in a third party can help, based on his experience as a consultant. Employees might be reluctant to share any issues they have with others in the organization but feel safer with someone outside of the business. 

2. Inconsistent Product Knowledge

One problem that came up in the open-ended answers to the survey was inconsistent product knowledge between marketing and sales. The companies that experienced this issue put more effort into knowledge sharing among departments for better marketing and sales results.

“One of our biggest challenges is aligning the legal knowledge needed for our marketing content with the sales team’s approach to client engagement. Ensuring that our marketing materials are both legally accurate and persuasive can be a complex task,” says Jonathan Feniak of LLC Attorney.

Feniak continues, “To address this, we’ve implemented a review process where our legal team collaborates with marketing to vet content before it’s published. This ensures that our messaging is compliant while still being compelling. The result has been a more trustworthy brand image and a reduction in the number of legal inquiries during the sales process, streamlining operations.”

MIRA Safety’s Roman Zrazhevskiy faced a similar problem and solution. Zrazhevskiy says, “The biggest challenge we face in aligning our sales and marketing strategies is ensuring that both teams are equally informed about the technical aspects of our products. Given the specialized nature of our safety gear, it’s essential that both sales and marketing have a deep understanding of product features and benefits.”

Zrazhevskiy continues, “To address this, we’ve implemented joint training sessions where both teams are educated on new products and industry trends. This initiative has helped bridge the knowledge gap, leading to more informed marketing campaigns and a more confident sales force. The result has been improved customer satisfaction and increased sales.”

3. Lack of Alignment on Lead-Driving Tactics

Another issue that came up in the DBUG discussion was a lack of alignment on the tactics that drive leads due to confusion on the customer journey.

Eddie Reynolds of Union Square Consulting emphasized that shared KPIs and data don’t automatically equal alignment:

“You have shared goals and metrics, but what does that mean? Are we all driving towards a revenue number, or is it that we agree that marketing should hit this MQL number, and then we’re arguing about why sales isn’t following up? How well have we defined what [a marketing qualified lead] is, what [a sales accepted lead] is, what a qualified sales opportunity is? If we go and ask everyone on the team from marketing to sales, do they have the same understanding of what that is? Is there actually a document that shares what that means?”

Eddie Reynolds

CEO and Revenue Operations Strategy Consultant at Union Square Consulting

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As a result, Reynolds sees sales and marketing teams talking about high-level tactics rather than what each team can do to drive leads and conversions. They can’t “get into the weeds” of how to generate revenue.

Fortunately, this problem has a clear solution: Developing a customer journey map that defines what each stage looks like so sales and marketing can define leads. You can use Databox’s customer lifecycle framework as inspiration.

4. Different Ideas of Alignment Between People and Departments

The DBUG discussion also covered the issue of different ideas of alignment between the people involved. In addition to sales and marketing having different alignment goals, people within each team can have separate ideas.

Michael Maximoff from Belkins mentioned that in his personal experience, companies that focused on retention and a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) had the best alignment. But conversely, not having an alignment goal to agree on can have the opposite effect.

Maximoff agreed with earlier points in the conversation related to the importance of working out smaller disagreements. Rather than stretching out alignment meetings with individual disagreements, sales and marketing team members should have frequent informal discussions so everyone can have a broad goal to work towards in meetings. “So that there are a lot of things that both teams can argue and can align on behind closed doors, and then only go back to [their] teams with a united front rather than discussing and arguing during the open conversation,” Maximoff says.

5. Top-Down Structural Issues

Sometimes, the problem with alignment lies in the company structure itself. You may need to consider how your company structure affects your alignment to get sales and marketing working in harmony.

For example, Henry Pellerin from VantagePoint Marketing brought up that alignment can look different in various industries. He works a lot with B2B manufacturing companies, where marketing is often siloed from sales. Looking at the survey had him discussing with other experts ways to achieve alignment in this industry, such as bringing the CEO in to change priorities.

Caroline Smith from Smudged brought up that a company’s country can affect its structure, too. Just between the United Kingdom and United States alone, you’ll find different titles and structures among sales and marketing departments. With so many companies going global, where can they find proper alignment? She agreed with Henry that the solution to this kind of alignment issue is to promote alignment from the top down.

Easy Mode Media’s Ben McLaughlan discovered that alignment also requires buy-in from leadership from personal experience. “As the Founder/CEO who oversees all operations, I thought I had a good handle on the process of information from the sales process to influence the marketing strategy. I was wrong,” McLaughlan says.

So, McLaughlan turned alignment into a team effort rather than a solo job. “Our sales team now writes all questions down, word for word, they get on phone calls and document them. This allows us to see common patterns over time and develop better objection responses and content marketing. This took our ads from failing in months one and two to generating 11.5x ROI for the year. The process and communication between these two departments are incredibly powerful and the process can always be better,” McLaughlan says.

6. Differing Goals and Metrics Between Teams

One of the most common sentiments shared in the open-ended section of the survey was that sales and marketing teams had different metrics and goals, making it difficult to align them. Here are two companies that shared that problem and how they’ve handled it.

“Right now, the main problem is that marketing is focused on the sales pipeline, while sales cares about actual revenue,” says Alan Muther from Ardoz Digital. “In meetings, marketing talks about the pipeline, and sales talks about not making enough money. Marketing is too caught up in whether they’re hitting their pipeline targets. Today, marketing and sales teams face lots of challenges, but for us, the biggest issue is sometimes the lack of both internal and external transparency. Even though a lot of people know this is a problem, there’s still not enough openness about planning and changing strategies, aligning with revenue goals, and being responsible for costs. And while our marketing budgets are growing fast, even more than technology budgets.”

Muther continues, “So, it’s becoming really important for marketing to show how it’s helping to increase overall sales. We think tools that can show how marketing contributes to making more money are really important for this. In our B2B agency, we’ve made a joint ROI (Return on Investment) dashboard with the sales team. This is another way that Account-Based Marketing (ABM) helps bring marketing and sales closer together, especially when it comes to measuring success.”

Made Online’s Iva Jovanovic says, “The greatest challenge in aligning our sales and marketing strategies is the disparity in metrics and goals. The sales team typically prioritizes immediate revenue generation, whereas the marketing team wants brand awareness and long-term engagement.”

Jovanovic adds, “Because of this, we established a shared KPI framework to keep both teams focused on the same goals. This framework includes metrics that can be influenced by both teams, such as customer lifetime value and lead quality. As a result, we have seen a more cohesive strategy, resulting in a 25% increase in overall sales performance over the last six months.”

Improve Your Sales and Marketing Alignment With Databox and Benchmark Groups

You might have noticed that many of the challenges and solutions related to sales and marketing alignment have to do with metrics and goals. As you set KPIs and goals for these departments, clarity is key to progress. But, if you don’t know how your company’s marketing and sales performance compares to similar businesses, it’s hard to evaluate that performance in the first place.

That’s why we created the Google Analytics 4, HubSpot CRM, and HubSpot Marketing Benchmarks for B2B Companies Benchmark Group. When you join this group, you can compare these metrics to other companies in exchange for anonymously sharing your data:

• Conversions (Google Analytics 4)
• Engagement Rate (Google Analytics 4)
• Session Conversion Rate (Google Analytics 4)
• Contacts (Marketing)  (HubSpot CRM)
• All Deals  (HubSpot CRM)
• Deals Closed Won (HubSpot CRM)
• Emails Sent (HubSpot Marketing)
• Emails Unique Clicked (HubSpot Marketing)
• New Leads (HubSpot Marketing)

…and more!

It’s free to join as long as you have a Databox account with the metrics you want to track. Sign up for a Databox account and join the group here.

The post How to Align Your Sales and Marketing Teams in B2B in 2025 appeared first on Databox.

But like any other form of content, you can’t make podcasts just for the sake of making them – you need them to work with the rest of your marketing. To help businesses like yours make the most out of their B2B podcasts, we partnered with John Bonini and other partners to survey more than 100 companies about their podcasting strategies and tactics. This survey is connected to our Content Marketing Benchmarks Benchmark Group.

In September 2024, we also gathered more than 70 professionals for a live DBUG discussion on B2B podcasting to gain even more insights. 13 podcast experts lent their knowledge to this session.

We brought together knowledge from all the above sources to bring you this report on B2B podcast marketing. Today, you’ll learn about these insights pulled from our research:

• Today’s B2B Podcast Marketing Strategies and Practices
• 5 Ways to Repurpose Your B2B Podcast Episodes
• 4 Types of Podcast Growth Strategies From Real Businesses

Today’s B2B Podcast Marketing Strategies and Practices

Our survey of more than 100 businesses explored how brands plan, create, and promote their B2B podcasts.

Most of the businesses we surveyed have 50 employees or fewer.

The top goal businesses named for their podcast was thought leadership at 40.15%.

The majority of the brands we consulted have podcasts three years old or younger.

As you keep this context in mind, our survey covered the following elements of these businesses’ podcast marketing strategies:

• Podcast Formats and Production Approaches
• Guest Recruitment and Pre-Show Preparation
• Podcast Promotion and Distribution Strategies
• Measuring Podcast Success and Tackling Common Challenges

Podcast Formats and Production Approaches

While there’s no one answer to the right format and production for a B2B podcast, you can look at what other businesses are doing to gain inspiration.

Most respondents run episodes that last between 15 minutes and one hour rather than incredibly short or long episodes.

Almost 60% of survey participants use an interview format for their podcasts.

This answer reflects one of the discussions from our September 2024 DBUG session. James Carbary of Sweet Fish and Mario Martinez Jr. of Vengreso debated the merits of the interview format. Carbary pointed out that interviews could overshadow the host’s voice, making the guest seem more like the main thought leader. Meanwhile, Martinez stressed the benefits of interviews, especially how they build a solid network for the podcaster. Consider the pros and cons of your podcast carefully as you plan it out.

Topic planning tends to happen internally for survey respondents, with the two top ways to identify topics being internal brainstorming (77.87%) and observing industry trends (63.93%).

The production of the podcast itself, including, planning, interviewing, and post-production, usually takes up to 6 hours for the brands we surveyed.

Most respondents take care of production themselves, with 72.13% reporting they handle all production internally.

Guest Recruitment and Pre-Show Preparation

Most of the companies we surveyed take a straightforward approach to recruiting guests and preparing for an episode.

About 82% of respondents mainly recruit guests and schedule episodes in-house rather than using software or external help.

Most companies involved in our survey typically research the episode guest (77.63%) and share questions with the guest ahead of time (61.84%) to prepare for an episode.

Podcast Promotion and Distribution Strategies

The businesses in our survey count on a wide range of channels and networks to promote their podcasts.

When we asked companies how they distribute their podcast episodes, they answered with a healthy mix of channels:

• Sharing clips of the episode on social media (84.43%)
• Promoting the podcast episodes via an email newsletter (65.57%)
• Creating blog posts summarizing and exploring key points from the episode (61.48%)
• Leveraging the guest’s networks for promotion (61.48%)
• Repurposing content into short videos or animations (52.46%)

When measuring these kinds of tactics’ success at generating play and downloads, respondents notice that these options are the most effective:

• Sharing clips of the episode on social media (62.30%)
• Repurposing content into short videos or animations (54.10%)
• Leveraging the guest’s networks for promotion (52.46%)

Meanwhile, when it comes to driving podcast subscribers, brands sharing the podcast through other channels (59.84%) and getting more prominent guests (53.28%) were the two most effective tactics.

The participants in our survey take repurposing seriously. More than half stated they frequently repurpose their podcast episodes into content for other channels.

Most respondents have an episode marketing cycle shorter than a month. 45.08% of them promote an episode for a week, while 32.25% promote it for two to three weeks.

Measuring Podcast Success and Tackling Common Challenges

Content attribution for podcasts can be tricky. While you can monitor plays or downloads as a metric, you’ll need to connect them to other steps in the customer journey to tell how they drive conversions.

This issue came up during our DBUG session. Cultivate’s Justin Brady noticed that while many companies in our survey wanted to measure their podcasts’ return on investment (ROI), they didn’t set specific goals. Tony Dowling of Real Inbound suggested tying podcast goals to broader marketing objectives and ensuring that each episode has a defined purpose to avoid this issue.

Fractional marketing director Leanne Dow-Weimer highlights the importance of the ways they measure ROI:

“We need to think about how we define and report our data. Often, what we find is that podcasts are a long-term play, building on multiple assets and touchpoints, not just one-to-one measurements. This often means conversions are not included in the attribution model, even though there are many tangible and anecdotal outcomes proving success from a business standpoint.”

Leanne Dow-Weimer

Independent Marketing Advisor at Leanne Dow-Weimer

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This is just one aspect of measuring your podcast success and dealing with potential challenges. We also discovered other ways companies gauge their results, the challenges they face, and whether they follow best practices for lead generation.

Most of the businesses we surveyed mainly measure success within the podcast, with 34.43% mainly looking at their number of downloads or listens.

ROI comes into play with their top challenges, too. Measuring ROI effectively, a lack of resources, and building a consistent audience were the top three issues the companies we surveyed deal with when creating and promoting their podcasts.

When asked how they leverage their podcast for lead generation, more than half of the surveyed companies reported they don’t do it at all.

In a similar vein, more than 70% of survey participants told us they don’t sponsor other podcasts when we asked what their sponsorship budget was.

Related: How Are Companies Measuring Podcast Success? 8 Successful Brands Share Their Frameworks, Best Practices and Tips

5 Ways to Repurpose Your B2B Podcast Episodes

Repurposing came up frequently in our survey as a practice for promoting podcasts and integrating them into a content marketing strategy. It showed its impact in our survey and our DBUG session.

During the DBUG session, Content Brands’ John Bonini and consultant Max Traylor emphasized the importance of repurposing your podcast. Bonini sees many companies only promote their latest episodes, even though the real magic happens when you repurpose them into other types of content. Traylor added that repurposing keeps podcasts and their surrounding content fresh and engaging.

But if you aren’t familiar with repurposing, it can be easy to fall into the trap of simply sharing your podcast episodes elsewhere without reimagining it. So, we asked survey participants about their most successful repurposing tactics, and they shared these five ideas:

1. Incorporate Your Repurposing Into Your Content Strategy
2. Set Your Episodes Up for Repurposing Success
3. Repurpose Within Your Episodes
4. Embrace Your Differentiators
5. Take Advantage of Video

1. Incorporate Your Repurposing Into Your Content Strategy

When you take a strategic approach, podcast repurposing can actually improve your content marketing strategy by giving you content ideas and supporting your broader goals. Two respondents integrate their podcasts into their content strategies for better marketing overall.

At InboxArmy, Scott Cohen hosts the InboxArmy Podcast, which covers the latest topics in email marketing. Cohen repurposes each episode into a blog post and distributes it through social media to make an impact through multiple channels.

“One of the most creative ways I’ve repurposed podcast content is turning key insights from each episode into detailed blog posts,” Cohen says. “After recording, my team and I take the most valuable points and expand on them in a way that adds real value to our audience. We then share these posts on social media and feature them in our email newsletter. This strategy has been double beneficial—increasing the number of podcast listeners and producing a lot of activity on our website.”

Rather than driving listens, Eric Doty prefers to use Dock’s Grow & Tell podcast to establish the company and its founder as thought leaders. The Grow & Tell podcast showcases stories from revenue leaders in sales, marketing, and customer success.

Doty says, “We’re less interested in promoting the podcast itself vs. using the insights/topics/guests from the podcasts to establish Dock and Alex (our founder) as thought leaders in the revenue/growth space. We’re really only just getting started with this, but for example, in this more SEO-focused blog post, we use a clip from the podcast to explain a concept in the blog. Not only does this improve the content, but it adds an element of social proof to our content as being truly expert-driven.”

Related: 10 Ways to Use Your Blogs and Podcasts Together

2. Set Your Episodes Up for Repurposing Success

This repurposing tactic happens before you even create an episode. The discussion in our September 2024 DBUG session turned to question crafting, which has more to do with repurposing than you might think.

Ali Schwanke recommends considering how a question will turn out in repurposed content when you create it: “You can’t create impactful social media clips from rambling questions—they need to be concise to capture essential, engaging points.”

Amanda Smith agreed, stressing how important it is to set up your podcast for extracting insights that work with multiple platform formats. Smith said, “Before you even pose a question, consider its relevance and potential impact on your audience.” According to Smith, this approach sharpens focus and saves editing time.

3. Repurpose Within Your Episodes

Repurposing can happen within channels as well as across them, as John Tyreman of Red Cedar Marketing brought up in our DBUG session and survey. You can repurpose content from past episodes in your new podcasts to give them new life and attention.

“Podcasters often fall into the trap of monotony,” Tyreman said during the DBUG session. “One effective strategy to keep content dynamic is repurposing. Take clips from past episodes and blend them with new commentary to introduce them to new listeners or refresh them for regulars.”

Tyreman explains how he uses this strategy in his podcasts, Breaking BizDev and Podcasting in Professional Services, in his survey response:

“I use what’s known as ‘throws’ in the radio world. I record a monologue episode where I ‘throw’ to 2-3 minute clips of past guests. I shoot for 3-4 clips in these episodes. It’s a way to repurpose and refresh older content and cross-promote those episodes so listeners can go back. New subscribers today didn’t hear what you published 6 months ago.”

John Tyreman

Founder at Red Cedar Marketing

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4. Embrace Your Differentiators

With B2B businesses often looking to one another for podcast and content ideas, it becomes even more critical to double down on what makes your podcast stand out. If you have a unique segment or approach in your podcast, look for ways to highlight it in your other content.

For example, Tegrita’s Brandi Starr takes a unique segment from the Revenue Rehab podcast and makes it an event. Starr says, “One of the most creative ways we’ve repurposed content from Revenue Rehab for podcast promotion is by turning our ‘Buzzword Banishment’ segment into a full-on competition. In every episode, we kick things off with a bit of fun: our guests pick a buzzword or phrase they’re absolutely tired of hearing. It’s always a great way to break the ice and sparks some lively conversation before we dive into the main topic.”

Starr continues, “Every March, we ride the wave of NCAA March Madness excitement and create our own 32-buzzword bracket. We use LinkedIn polls to let our audience vote for which buzzword they think should be ‘banished’ for good. Each post tags the guest who originally chose the word, which creates a fun, competitive spirit. Our guests often jump in to encourage their networks to vote, which has led to a lot of reposts, engagement, and even a noticeable bump in episode listens. It’s been a fantastic way to extend the life of our content, build community, and bring in new listeners.”

As you can see, unique tactics like this one that involve podcast guests and their communities can be especially impactful. You’ll expand your reach easily and naturally.

5. Take Advantage of Video

If you record your podcast as a video, you have all sorts of repurposing options at your disposal. Think video clips, screenshots, and transcripts. At Chili Piper, Tara Roberston has an in-depth repurposing process that drives traffic to Demand Gen Chat and its related content.

First, the Chili Piper team creates professional-looking audiograms. “We use Descript for this,” Robertson says. “The best part is you can create templates, so creating a new audiogram is as easy as dropping in soundbites into your template. Alternatively, you could use a tool like Opus. You paste in your YouTube video link and it comes back with a bunch of video clips already cut and captioned and even adds in emojis. You may need to tweak the captions slightly but, for a one-click tool, it’s a game changer. We use these clips across our own social channels (mainly LinkedIn) and share them with our guests ahead of their episode going live, and they often use these to help us promote their episode.”

Then, they repurpose the transcript from the podcast video. Robertson says, “We use Deciphr.ai, and I love it because you upload your podcast episode’s audio and then it will extract a transcript, episode summary, and timestamps, which is great for your YouTube video or podcast players that recognize timestamps (like Spotify). You put a lot of effort into producing compelling podcast interviews, and a tool like this helps you repurpose your spoken content into written content you can use on your podcast’s website, blog posts, social media captions, and more!”

They also upload the podcast video to YouTube. “We upload to YouTube And make sure you take advantage of their new podcasting features. When you turn a YouTube playlist into a podcast, you get separate analytics and you are also grouped on their new podcast page. You also get the chance to be featured on their podcast-specific page,” Robertson says.

Finally, Chili Piper makes a landing page for each episode using the media created through the previous steps. Robertson says, “Your podcast website is where you put your show notes, links, long-form blog content, and the full transcript. You should also embed the full video on that landing page. When you’re sharing your episode, this is the page you want to link out to.”

4 Types of Podcast Growth Strategies From Real Businesses

The closed-ended questions in our survey mainly looked backward at the strategies and tactics respondents have used so far. So, we also asked them how they plan to change or improve their podcast strategies in the next 12 months.

As Anna Furmanov of the Modern Startup Marketing Podcast put it during our DBUG session, “If you’re going to do this for years, you need to enjoy it. You, as the host, need to be just as excited to listen to your show as everyone else because you’ll be spending hours on it. Having fun is critical, and podcasting is one of the best ways to create content today, so staying in the game long-term is key.” And investing yourself in your podcast also involves looking out for its growth.

Here are four types of strategies that our survey respondents brought up:

1. Improve Repurposing and Distribution
2. Capitalize on Past Growth
3. Experiment With New Formats
4. Tackle Objections From Other Stakeholders

1. Improve Repurposing and Distribution

Considering how much our research has already explored the power of repurposing and distribution, it’s no wonder some respondents want to improve these skills. They can go hand in hand, too, with your distribution strategy guiding where you want to repurpose your podcast.

At Flagsmith, Anna Redbond wants to find the best ways to repurpose and distribute The Craft of Open Source, a podcast on open-source development.

First of all, Redmond wants to identify “the best ways to repurpose for maximum reach and value,” such as “Finding out what type of clips and posts resonate most and finding the best ways to pull the most valuable information from the podcasts and distribute those to our audience.” Redmond says, “The goal here is to find the best ways to deliver real value for our audience for maximum engagement.”

Redmond also plans to establish “better ways to make it easy for partners and guests to distribute the podcast.” The questions involved are “How can we make it easy for guests to help us spread the word about their episodes?” and “How do we minimise lift for them?”

2. Capitalize on Past Growth

As you create podcast episodes, you’ll build resources to keep improving your series. Sometimes, you just need to recognize and tap into that audience, topic bank, or network to help your podcast grow. Or, if you already know what you can use, you might need to dedicate more time and resources to doubling down on your assets.

Agorapulse’s Partnership Unpacked podcast now has a bank of episodes and guests for Mike Alton to capitalize on in the future:

“Now that our current podcast is over a year old, we’re able to leverage past guests and topics to get better and better guests. This is allowing us to be more selective in who we talk to and create a terrific mix of known experts, practitioners from well-known brands, and brand partners who will assuredly help promote their episodes.”

Mike Allton

Chief Storyteller at Agorapulse

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“Now that our current podcast is over a year old, we’re able to leverage past guests and topics to get better and better guests. This is allowing us to be more selective in who we talk to and create a terrific mix of known experts, practitioners from well-known brands, and brand partners who will assuredly help promote their episodes.”

Databox CEO Peter Caputa IV has two goals for taking advantage of the Metrics & Chill podcast’s past success: “Doing it more frequently.,” and “Doing a better job of promoting it on social media.”

Caputa says, “We’ve had good luck taking the lessons from the podcast and using those lessons to write short posts on LinkedIn. These posts often result in great dialog with other people, which brings more attention to the podcast. [Combining] social, podcast, newsletters, and surveys allows us to create and distribute unique content in the way that individuals want to consume it.”

3. Experiment With New Formats

Some respondents want to try new episode formats to see if they get different results. You can switch up your episode formats with new types of guests, segments, and topics.

At Teamwork, Logan Lyles wants to expand on a new episode format for the Agency Life podcast, a podcast about digital agencies. Lyles says, “We just experimented with a compilation episode that was more narrative in style with commentary from the host plus clips from multiple interviews spliced together. The feedback from the episode has been fantastic. It serves as a nice changeup to the typical interview style and it brings in multiple guests who you can tap for a single episode to help share to their networks.”

Lyles continues, “We did this [episode] by doing a lot of quick man-on-the-street interviews at HubSpot’s INBOUND conference and plan to use a video survey tool (VideoAsk by Typeform) to do this sort of scale remotely when we don’t have an event or conference to leverage for getting so many ‘guests’ on the same episode.”

According to Jordan Figueredo, the Online Optimism team wants to bring in new hosts and cuts to the Online Offscript podcast, which covers trending online topics. Figueredo says, “We plan to diversify the guests that we have and not be tied to our two main hosts but bring in other employees who are more confident in the topic so guests can’t have a meaningful conversation. We also plan to reformat the way we do our cuts to keep up with podcast trends and find new ways for cross-promotion.”

4. Tackle Objections From Other Stakeholders

While the respondents mentioned so far focused on growth for the future, some have challenges to overcome in the next year. One such issue is working with fellow stakeholders. Like any kind of content, it can be hard to get buy-in for a podcast, especially since podcasts don’t have as long of a history in B2B content as other formats.

At EndGame PR, Steve Mullen produces podcasts for clients and notices those podcasts fall to the side in favor of other strategies. Mullen says, “As I indicated in the survey portion, the biggest hurdle for my clients is time. While they love the podcast and the idea of the podcast, unfortunately many times it gets pushed aside by activities that are more directly related to their jobs. I have yet to solve this problem, but it’s something I’m continually working on, in order to convince them that the show is an important part of their job as well.”

Measure Your Podcast and Content Success With Databox Benchmark Groups

When you distribute and repurpose properly, you can use podcasts to meet your broader content goals. But if you don’t know what the average content marketing performance looks like, it can be hard to tell if you’re doing a good enough job.

That’s why we created the Content Marketing Benchmarks Benchmark Group. When you join, you can compare your metrics to group-wide benchmarks in exchange for anonymously sharing your data. It uses the following metrics from Google Analytics 4, LinkedIn Company Pages, and YouTube:

• Sessions (GA4)
• Engagement Rate (GA4)
• Impressions (LinkedIn Company Pages)
• Clicks (LinkedIn Company Pages)
• Watch Time (YouTube)
• Average Percentage Viewed (YouTube)

…and more!

It’s free to join the group as long as you have the metrics you want to compare connected to your Databox account. Join Databox for free trial, then join the group here.

The post B2B Podcast Marketing: Strategies and Successes from 100+ Brands appeared first on Databox.