My Blog My Blog

3 Tips to Create a Brand Archetype for Your Business [+ 4 Examples]

Brand Experience
November 3, 2021/by
3 Tips to Create a Brand Archetype for Your Business When I start a TV show, I immediately try to identify each archetype. Who's the protagonist? Who's the villain? Who's the unsung hero saving the day at the last minute? Sometimes, it's clear from the very beginning and others, you can't tell until the very last scene. The point is that these archetypes are universally known personas that are used to tell a story. They help us as viewers understand what's going on and help us get emotionally invested in the characters. In real life, brands use archetypes to shape their narrative. Let's cover the 12 brand archetypes, how to define yours, and review some examples from popular brands today. The archetype model is credited to Author and Thought Leader Carol S. Pearson, who outlined the 12 archetypes in her book "Awakening the Heroes Within." An archetype is more than just a persona or character – it's tied to a larger theme, concept, or emotion that transcends time and culture. For instance, everyone, regardless of culture or generation, can identify with the concept of a hero. Brands like Nike embody that archetype because it tells a scalable and sustainable story, tapping into human nature. It's easy to confuse a brand archetype with a brand identity. While the two may seem similar in concept, their compositions are completely different. Your brand identity is a holistic view of how your brand presents itself to the world, from logos and colors...
Read Full Story

20 Holiday Marketing Campaign Examples + Marketing Tips for 2021

Marketing Strategy
November 2, 2021/by
20 Holiday Marketing Campaign Examples + Marketing Tips for 2021 Every year, as soon as Halloween is behind us, it seems like the floodgates open. Without warning, there are holiday marketing campaigns everywhere, with countless businesses rushing to cash in on a spending frenzy. There are holiday emails, social media posts, and TV ads — oh, my. It might seem like holiday marketing is out of control. But some brands do it very, very well. How? Well, these brands create campaigns that actually delight customers instead of adding to holiday noise. They evoke emotions and promote sharing, sometimes even connecting people with their loved ones, or partnering with a charitable organization. Great holiday marketing campaigns come in many different shapes and sizes. Check out our favorites below, and use these ideas to fuel your own holiday marketing ideas. What To Expect This Holiday Season Before we get into the examples, let’s talk about what this holiday season will bring for marketers. A June 2021 survey by Google and Boston Consulting Group revealed that this year, online shopping will play an important role in consumers’ buying journeys. In 2020, there was a sharp shift toward e-commerce due to the COVID-19 crisis. However, in 2021, over 80% of consumers are seeking out in-person shopping experiences. With this new balance, brands have to create marketing campaigns that cater to the omnichannel shopper – building offline and online touchpoints. When it comes to social media, Sprout Social estimates that retailers across all business sizes...
Read Full Story

15 Businesses to Admire for Stellar Branding Consistency

Brand Experience
November 2, 2021/by
15 Businesses to Admire for Stellar Branding Consistency When searching for a soul mate, you look for someone that's smart, funny, caring, but above all — consistent. Because if you're going to invest your life in a person, you want someone you can trust, right? Falling in love with a brand isn't all that different. Brands pull us in with witty slogans and timely discounts, but that’s not the only reason we stick around. Think about it, inbound marketing is all about content and communication that people love. The key to being your leads' and customers’ soul mate, then, is providing brand consistency they can count on. But how? What’s at the heart of brand consistency is your message, and marketing plays a huge role in that. In this post, we’ll dive into what branding consistency is, its importance, benefits, and share 15 businesses that have done a stellar job showing it. The Importance of Branding Consistency Branding consistency sets the stage for a business to gain and maintain credibility and trust. You have to position your brand and its content in a way that appeals to its target audience and carry that same messaging over time. After all, your customers are putting their trust in you, and like any relationship, you want the foundation to be dependable and consistent. So, not only is this concept important in business strategy, but the benefits speak for themselves. Benefits of Brand Consistency Maintain customer expectations. When...
Read Full Story

The Top 5 B2C Marketing Trends of 2022 [New HubSpot Blog Data]

Marketing Strategy
November 2, 2021/by
The Top 5 B2C Marketing Trends of 2022 In 2022, 51% of B2C marketers plan to increase their marketing budget. The question is where is that budget going? Will marketers reinvest in the same strategies or try new trends? To understand what trends B2C marketers are leveraging in 2022, we surveyed 1,067 global marketing professionals working in B2B and B2C companies.  From influencer marketing to virtual events, there are so many efforts brands can focus on. Let's see what our latest research says about what worked well for B2C marketers this year and where they plan to invest in 2022. 1. Short-form video will be a priority. Short-form video took off in early 2020 and shows no signs of slowing down. Back then, TikTok was the number one place to go for short-form content. Today, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are also competing for users' attention. This is good news for brands, as the short-form video trend content offered the second-highest ROI for B2C marketers in 2021, behind influencer marketing. Despite coming in second for ROI, it's the trend marketers plan to invest in the most in 2022. Roughly 33% of B2C marketers already invest in short-form content, while one-third of those who haven't will do so for the first time in 2022. Why now? Well, short-form video is such a key feature in social media today. And according to the data, social media takes the lead in marketing investments for businesses. That's likely because three key goals...
Read Full Story

What Is a CMS and Why Should You Care?

Content Management System
October 30, 2021/by
What Is a CMS and Why Should You Care? There are a lot of acronyms in the business world to keep straight. SEO, CRM, SERP, CDN, and CMS are just a few important ones. CMS is particularly important, considering that more than 68 million websites are built with one. So what is it? CMS stands for content management system. It also may be the solution you're looking for to quickly make a website with limited technical knowledge and resources. In this post, we'll define what a CMS is and how it works. Then we'll look at how you can use a CMS to handle the infrastructure of your site so you can focus on creating exciting, delightful content that results in more conversions and leads. We'll wrap up by looking at some of the most popular CMS platforms on the market. Let's get started. With a CMS, you can create, manage, modify, and publish content in a user-friendly interface. You can customize the design and functionality of your site by downloading or purchasing templates and extensions, rather than coding. You can have multiple users working in the back-end of the same tool — and much more. You might be wondering how one piece of software does all of this. To answer that question, let's take a closer look at how a CMS works. How a CMS Works To understand how a CMS works, you first have to understand what it's like to build a site...
Read Full Story

16 Top Website Mistakes to Avoid in 2021 [+ 16 Easy Fixes]

Technical SEO
October 29, 2021/by
16 Top Website Mistakes to Avoid in 2021 Since 86% of consumers rely on the internet to find local businesses, having a website is a no-brainer regardless of your business type. Although building a website is great for business, you'll want to avoid making common mistakes that will stop you from getting the most out of your investment. All of these mistakes are easy to identify for free using a handy tool called Website Grader. In this post, I'll show you the most common website mistakes we've seen here at HubSpot and exactly how to fix them if they apply to you. 1. Lengthy Page Title A page title, like the one in the Google search result below, tells visitors what a page is about. Search engines and browsers may cut off your page title if it's too long. From a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) perspective, a concise page title yields the best reader experience. If your page title is too long, it will dilute the importance of each term in the title. This might even prevent you from ranking well on the search engine results page (SERP). It's best practice to keep your page title under 70 characters so that the reader can see the entire title and make a decision to click through to the post. Website Fix #1: Use a Headline Analyzer Tool to Write Concise Headlines Use a tool like Coschedule's Headline Analyzer to draft a concise and keyword-rich description of your...
Read Full Story

7 Habits of a Highly Effective Landing Page

Free Landing Page Builder, Landing Pages
October 29, 2021/by
7 Habits of a Highly Effective Landing Page First impressions are everything, especially when it comes to web design. A landing page is a great way to get visitors to interact with your site by engaging with your calls-to-action, making a purchase, contacting you, or sharing your content. A landing page should be informative and direct, but also attention-grabbing and welcoming. It may seem like the content of your landing page is the focus, but the design is equally as important. Landing pages are critical to converting your visitors into customers. They broker the exchange of information between you and your audience. Combining an eye-catching offer button with an effective landing page design can turn what was once just web traffic into a steady stream of leads for your sales team. What makes a good landing page? A strong website is essential for reaching your business goals. And the landing page provides important information for your audience along with a clear call to action. These seven elements will help your landing page be as effective as possible. 1. Structure & Design Unfortunately, not every visitor will make it to the bottom of every page. So, keep the important features, such as lead intake forms and calls-to-action, above the fold to ensure that they’ll be seen. Additionally, remove the navigation from the page to avoid distractions in the form of other links. 2. Compelling Headline The largest text...
Read Full Story

You Don’t Have to Be a Great Writer to Write a Great Blog

Uncategorized
October 29, 2021/by
You Don't Have to Be a Great Writer to Write a Great Blog When I started HubSpot, I was a trained engineer with little writing experience. In the early days of the company, I could not create software. Instead, I spent a lot of time writing articles for our Marketing Blog. As an inexperienced writer, I was pleasantly surprised by how well it performed. Today, the blog has over 500,000 subscribers and over 10M new visitors each month. The success of the blog convinced me that I suppressed brilliant writing skills for the last 20 years! My excitement led me to send a Thank You note to my eighth-grade teacher, Tom Brown, who helped me learn to write. Emboldened with my newfound writing confidence, I wrote the Inbound Marketing Book with my co-founder Dharmesh Shah. When we submitted the final draft to a professional editor, I was confident she would send it back with minimal edits and high praise. Wrong. The document she returned had more red lines than anything I had ever seen in my life. After many weeks of language crafting, we got it close to perfect. Upon its release in 2014, it was ranked #200 out of the 8 million books currently available on Amazon — a list led by notable writers such as Dan Brown and Stephen King. I learned that you do not have to be a great writer to have a great book. The same goes for blogs. Non-writers can develop new skills and...
Read Full Story

10 Benefits of Consistent, High-Quality Content Marketing

Content Planning
October 28, 2021/by
10 Benefits of Consistent, High-Quality Content Marketing In this competitive B2B marketing landscape, businesses make substantial investments in building content marketing programs.Why? Content marketing has been proven to deliver resounding success. As one of the most effective methods of growing audience engagement, developing your brand presence, and driving sales, content marketing is a mission-critical growth method for most businesses. Below, let's review content marketing — the benefits of producing consistent, high-quality content, and how to measure success. According to the State of Inbound report, content creation is a top priority for 80% of marketers. Moreover, on average, content marketing accounts for26% of B2B marketing budgets. Consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts audience decision-making more than any other technique. Consistency in brand messaging is one of the many factors that determine the growth and success of your business. Big brands know how to portray their brand consistently and at every customer touchpoint. The same reasoning applies to content marketing — your content needs to carry a unique and identifiable voice, style, and pitch across all distribution channels. Content consistency establishes your credibility, builds trust, and strengthens your reputation. So, we know the content you create has to be consistent. However, why is content marketing so beneficial in the first place? Here are the top benefits of content marketing. Benefits of Content Marketing 1. Your audience will stick around longer. Great content is an important asset. It has the ability to create positive experiences for your potential...
Read Full Story