Over 79 percent of marketing teams say they were able to increase web traffic with as little as 6 hours per week of social media marketing, according to Social Media Examiner. Yet there are holdouts in manufacturing who either ignore social media altogether or don’t do it effectively. Using social platforms -- correctly -- is more important than ever to your B2B social media strategy.

Manufacturers, in general, have been slow to learn and adopt digital best practices like content marketing to stand out in the 21st century. Not being absolutely sure about website traffic isn’t an option in the breakneck speed and high stakes of the digital world.

Oh, I get it, believe me.

You envisioned sitting down to write a blog post for your business and expertly crafting the words like Charles Dickens toiling under candlelight. You planned on relaxing afterward with a glass of bourbon.

Not everything that blows is bad. The wind blows on a hot day and cools the sweat on your forehead. We blow out birthday candles to celebrate another year of life. But your marketing strategy... If that blows, it means trouble for your business. 

The good news is an unsuccessful marketing strategy means you have a ton of opportunity for quick wins and major improvements. Among all the clients I work with, the ones who show the fastest and most impressive growth are those who were struggling the most when they partnered with us. (See: McHone Industries saw a 1500% increase in leads over 6 months).

Do you feel like you're not getting the results you want from your marketing? Here are a bunch of B2B marketing statistics that can point you in the right direction. (My personal favorite is #18!)

Apple (IBM) was recently named the world’s second most valuable B2B brand. And the start of Apple’s branding began in a 1984 Superbowl advertisement.

Where the Internet is involved, there are horror stories. It's not always the company’s fault -- Xerox sure couldn’t help it. But not all companies are so innocent. When building your company’s B2B branding strategy, it’s best to learn from horror stories of the past to avoid the same mistakes.

Manufacturing marketing isn't pretty. Not because it's old-fashioned. No, old things can certainly be beautiful. The problem is it's butt ugly, with a personality to match.

When searching for inbound marketing services, you should have one main question on your mind:

As an inbound marketing agency, this is a question we receive often. It comes up almost every time we’re hired, and we get it. You need to know how much time to give up each week so we can do our job for you.

Imagine how frustrating it would be to run a business if you never checked your KPIs. Imagine how difficult it would be if you didn't even know what your KPIs were. Talk about shots in the dark.

So why would it be any different for your marketing success? Much like you want to limit your reject ratio and optimize your takt time, you must have a go-to set of KPIs to monitor and optimize your marketing. 

The following KPIs are broken down by stages of the inbound marketing funnel.