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Inflation-Based Price Changes? Here’s How & How Not to Address it in Your Messaging

Marketing Strategy
August 30, 2022/by
Inflation-Based Price Changes? Here's How & How Not to Address it in Your Messaging Inflation has been a big topic of conversation in recent months, with the cost of just about everything going up. From gas to groceries to household goods. As a result, many companies are notifying customers of price increases. If that sounds like your company, keep reading to learn how to address price changes and key things to avoid. How to Address Price Changes 1. Be truthful. A 2022 survey by Gartner revealed that nearly 40% of consumers want detailed and honest explanations for price hikes. Specifically, they want clarity – no jargon, blame, or redirection. In recent years, consumers have asked for more transparency from brands. Back in 2017, a report by Nosto (formerly Stackla) revealed that authenticity is one of the main factors impacting consumers’ purchasing decisions. This authenticity builds trust, which is key to maintaining customer loyalty. In fact, a 2022 Edelman report shows that trust ranks above product quality, convenience, and reputation. Brand trust is even more important than consumers’ interest in the product. With this in mind, being truthful about the reasons for the price changes is key in preserve that delicate customer relationship. 2. Share proactive steps to manage pricing. In the same Gartner study, respondents revealed that they want brands to share the practical steps they’re taking to minimize the pressure on customers and avoid future price hikes. This can look like reexamining packaging strategies, adjusting to smaller profit...
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The 5 Best Cities for Black Entrepreneurs

Breaking the Blueprint
August 30, 2022/by
The 5 Best Cities for Black Entrepreneurs Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success. White-owned businesses receive an average of $18,500 in outside equity at funding, compared to just $500 for Black-owned businesses. On top of that, it can also be challenging for Black entrepreneurs to find mentorship, resources, and even community with other business owners with their shared experiences. Thankfully, there are cities where Black entrepreneurs, past, present, and future, thrive and have access to the resources and support they need. Read on to discover five of the top cities for Black entrepreneurs. Top Cities for Black Entrepreneurs 1. Washington, D.C. Sometimes called the Chocolate City, Washington D.C. was the first majority Black major city in the United States in 1957. Its Black population has lessened since then, but LendingTree ranks it the second-best city for Black Entrepreneurs, with 8,649 of its 111,872 businesses being Black-owned with an average revenue of 95,230 (according to IncFile). Black entrepreneurs in the city have access to various programs, resources, and support, like the Greater Washington DC Black Chamber of Commerce, Black Owned Small Business Expo, and the Washington Area Community Investment Fund. It’s also home to HBCU Howard University, where HubSpot has made significant investments in helping students with entrepreneurial interests...
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Personalized Experiences: Why We Love Them + Brand Examples

Marketing Strategy
August 27, 2022/by
Personalized Experiences: Why We Love Them + Brand Examples According to a 2021 McKinsey report, 76% of consumers get frustrated when they can’t find a personalized experience with a brand. With personalization becoming more valuable to stand out from the competition, a look at some great examples can serve as inspiration for your own strategy. Discover brands that are killing it at personalization and get a peek into how impactful it can be. Why do we prefer personalized experiences? Twilio’s 2022 State of Personalization report found that 49% of consumers say they will likely become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience with a retail brand. Businesses also report that consumers spend more when they have a personalized experience. In fact, 80% of business leaders surveyed in Twilio’s report say that consumers spend an average of 34% more with a personalized experience. Conversely, all it takes is one bad experience to deter a customer. One 2021 Zendesk CX report found that 50% of consumers will switch to a competitor following a negative brand interaction. Image Source So, the question is, why is that? What is it about this type of experience that attracts consumers and why is it so fragile? One study may have the answer. ​​According to a study from the University of Texas, we can attribute our preference for personalized experiences to two key factors: desire for control and information overload. Let’s tackle "desire for control" first. So, we know that a personalized experience – by...
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43 Handy Excel Shortcuts You Can’t Live Without

Excel
August 25, 2022/by
43 Handy Excel Shortcuts You Can't Live Without Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every day, whether it's to create a chart, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting. Creating reports like these in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend a little less time navigating, formatting, selecting, and entering formulas for our data? Wouldn't it be great if there were keyboard shortcuts that could help us get our work done faster? So glad you asked. We’ve put together a list of 43 keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. Although you can do all of these maneuvers manually, knowing these tricks will help save you time so you can focus on the stuff that really matters. All of these shortcuts can be accessed on PC and Mac, so we've included both types below where applicable. (Note for Mac users: To access the F keys (F1–F12), you'll have to hold the Fn key before pressing any F key -- unless you've enabled those keys as standard function keys.) 43 Excel Shortcuts You'll Definitely Want to Bookmark Navigation Shortcuts These simple shortcuts can help you navigate between workbooks, sheets, rows and columns: Move up through a selection Shift + Enter (PC and Mac) Jump to the top of a column CTRL + ↑ (PC); Command + ↑ (Mac) ...
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How to Change All Margins in Google Docs [FAQ]

Google Docs
August 25, 2022/by
How to Change All Margins in Google Docs When working on a project with Google Docs, you may be required to change the default margins, and if you’ve never done it before, learning how to change all margins in Google Docs can seem complicated. If you need to change only the left and right margin space, simply click and hold the small blue triangle on the left and right side of the ruler at the top of your Google Doc, and drag it to another position (it’s important to note you must drag the blue triangle, not the rectangle right above it. The rectangle on your ruler changes a paragraph’s indentation, not the margins.) This is useful if you have to alter the left and right margins, but what do you do when you need to change all the margins at once? How To Change All Margins In Google Docs 1. Navigate to Page Setup Go to File > Page Setup. This will allow you to set parameters for your document including orientation (portrait or landscape), paper size, and custom margins. 2. Enter Margin size In the text box beside Top, Bottom, Left, Right (under Margin), type in a margin size. You may want to try a few different sizes first to see which work best for your document. Don't worry, you can always go back and change these settings. 3. Click “OK” If you plan...
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How to Answer ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ Using 9 Tried-and-True Tips

Job Search
August 25, 2022/by
How to Answer 'Tell Me About Yourself' Using 9 Tried-and-True Tips The first time I was prompted with “Tell me about yourself” in an interview, I reeled off a canned spiel about how I love helping people – I was positive it would impress my interviewer. But after my cliched answer triggered a disappointed look on her face, I panicked. I ended up rambling about how "fun" I was, citing my time as the lead singer and guitarist for a Blink-182 cover band in the sixth grade as compelling evidence. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job. As the old saying goes, you never get a second chance at first impressions. So to nail your interview, learn how to answer the question, “Tell me about yourself.” What Interviewers Really Want to Know If you’re in the process of interviewing for a new role, you know how difficult it can be to find a unique and compelling answer to this common prompt. "Tell me about yourself" is very open-ended yet one of the most popular ways interviewers start the conversation. This answer has a huge impact on your interviewer’s first impression of you and can shape the entire conversation. To gain some insight on the best way to respond to “Tell me about yourself”, I asked Claire McCarthy, a recruiting manager at HubSpot, about the best way to respond to the prompt. “There's no ideal answer to ‘Tell me about yourself,’” she says, “but I always encourage candidates...
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Being a Digital Creator: Everything You Need to Know [+ Tips to Get Started]

Creator Economy
August 24, 2022/by
Being a Digital Creator: Everything You Need to Know More businesses and social media platforms are relying on digital creators to boost brand awareness, revenue, and engagement — making digital content creation popular among marketers and creatives. But what exactly is a digital creator and how can you become one? In this blog, we're going to explore what a digital creator is, the difference between being a creator versus an influencer, and how to get started in content creation. What is a digital creator? How To Be a Digital Creator Find your niche. Gather the materials you need. Create. Set SMART goals. Get organized and on a consistent schedule. Be active on social media. Take advantage of monetization opportunities. What is a digital creator? A digital creator is someone who creates content across digital platforms. The content can be videos, photos, graphics, blog posts, or other forms of media — and the platforms can be YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, a website, or any digital space. Often called content creators, digital creators produce content meant to engage an audience. Engaging content can include formats like TV show reviews, tutorials, or day-in-the-life vlogs. But no matter what their content looks like, a digital creator must produce high quality and engaging material —ultimately, that's their job. Though the two can overlap, digital creators are not the same as influencers. Influencers are social media personalities whose content is meant to influence...
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5 Myths Marketers Got Wrong About Gen Z, According to Data & Our Gen Z Intern

Marketing Trends
August 23, 2022/by
5 Myths Marketers Got Wrong About Gen Z, According to Data & Our Gen Z Intern To be honest, Gen Z can feel like foreign territory to all. Even myself, born in 2001. Although I'm smack in the middle of the TikTok, middle-part wearing generation, I don't always fully understand the trends we start, stop, or totally cancel. Even though I'm no genius when it comes to how to market to our generation, I can tell you it’s pretty obvious when marketers try too hard to sell to us. It often feels too forced and fake. That’s why I'm here to help! Let me debunk a few myths and predictions marketers might have made about our wild generation so that you can find the right ways to grab our attention and keep us engaged. Let's dive right into some of those incorrect thoughts, debunk them with data from our State of Consumer Trends Survey, and discuss tips for what you can do instead. 5 Gen Z Myths, Debunked 1. "Gen Z is obsessed with fast fashion." It’s easy to see SHEIN or Princess Polly hauls on TikTok or Instagram and think these represent our generation. Of course, these online retailers do have a grasp on our generation to some extent, but what grabs our attention are retail resale sites. For example, 90% of Depop’s users are younger than 26. Today, Gen Zers are purchasing this apparel, but in a much less harmful way, being that resale clothing is second-hand. Instead...
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12 Essential YouTube Advertising Statistics for 2022

Youtube Marketing
August 23, 2022/by
12 Essential YouTube Advertising Statistics for 2022 YouTube is the internet's second largest search engine, meaning that advertisers have significant potential when it comes to reaching audiences and driving conversions. In this post, discover essential YouTube advertising statistics you need to know in 2022. YouTube Advertising Reach Statistics YouTube advertising revenues reached 7.34 Billion USD in Q2 of 2022, a 5% YoY increase. (Statista, 2022) YouTube ads have the potential reach of 2.56 billion users, or roughly 1 in 3 people on Earth. (Hootsuite, 2022) YouTube ads reach more than three quarters of adults aged 18+, and more than 90% of adults in a total of 14 countries. (Hootsuite, 2022) YouTube’s biggest advertising audience is males between 25 and 34. (Hootsuite, 2022) The cost of YouTube ads can vary and can cost between $0.10 and $0.30. (HubSpot, 2022) YouTube Advertising Statistics Apple Inc. and Disney were the top spending advertisers on YouTube in 2021. (Statista, 2021) 63% of people say they bought from a brand after viewing an ad on YouTube. (Think With Google, 2022) YouTube ads with strong CTAs have shown to increase the likelihood of short-term sales by 30%. (Think With Google, 2022) Audio is the No. 1 lift multiplier for effective YouTube ads. (Think With Google, 2022) The attention, branding, connection, direction (ABCD) YouTube ad strategy delivers a 30% lift in short-term sales and a 17% lift in customer lifetime value....
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