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27 Marketing Podcasts That Inspire HubSpot’s Content Team

Podcast Suggestions
October 5, 2021/by
27 Marketing Podcasts That Inspire HubSpot's Content Team Podcasting is here to stay. According to Insider Intelligence, there are over 117 million podcast listeners in the U.S. alone, a 10% increase from last year, and that figure is expected to rise. So why are so many people listening to podcasts? 74% of podcast listeners say they tune in to their favorite shows to learn new things. Podcasts offer knowledge and inspiration in an easy-to-digest format for a variety of topics. If sharpening your skills as a marketer is on your list of priorities, then tuning into marketing-focused podcasts can be a great way to prioritize your professional development. I asked members of the HubSpot content team what podcasts they like to learn the latest in marketing and entrepreneurship from. Here are their recommendations for the best podcasts covering digital, content, and affiliate marketing. Best Marketing Podcasts 1. The Shake Up Why Listen: The Shake Up is a weekly podcast hosted by Alexis Gay and Brianne Kimmel. Each week, the hosts facilitate engaging discussions about business leaders and companies that shake up the status quo. In each episode, you’re bound to learn a new perspective or strategy to support your work. 2. My First Million Why Listen: Looking for your million-dollar idea? Add My First Million to your podcast queue. Hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri examine business trends and opportunities and brainstorm potential business ideas on-air. If you’re in a creative rut, My First Million can help inspire new...
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The Beginner’s Guide to LinkedIn Marketing

LinkedIn Marketing
October 5, 2021/by
The Beginner's Guide to LinkedIn Marketing Did you know LinkedIn has over 774 million users across the globe? This metric alone makes the platform one of the top social networks today. Is your business using LinkedIn to its fullest potential to improve brand awareness, build your network, boost leads and conversions, and increase revenue? With new social networks sprouting up constantly, LinkedIn is a platform that's often underutilized. The truth is, LinkedIn can be a powerful addition to your social media content strategy. This guide is chock full of LinkedIn tips you can begin implementing immediately to help you learn how to use the platform to improve brand awareness, share your marketing content, and grow your business. When you use LinkedIn to market your business, you gain access to useful features related to analytics, connections, and brand-building, just to name a few. (Don't worry, we'll review all of these in-depth momentarily.) But first, here's a quick primer for those of you who may be new to LinkedIn. About LinkedIn LinkedIn launched in 2003 with a focus on networking, building careers, and sharing ideas. The platform enables its members to connect and share content with other professionals including colleagues, potential employers, business partners, competitors, new employees, and customers. This is why having your business on LinkedIn is so powerful — the platform is a fantastic marketing tool. For a quick guide on the tips below, check out our video on "How to Use LinkedIn for Business and...
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Sustainable Marketing: Key Principles & How to Leverage It [+Examples]

Marketing Strategy
October 5, 2021/by
Sustainable Marketing: Key Principles & How to Leverage It In 2018, 63% of consumers surveyed in an Accenture study revealed that they preferred to shop from purpose-driven brands. Fast forward to 2021 and that sentiment has only grown. IBM ran a study in 2020 on consumer behavior and found that 57% of consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to be more environmentally conscious. In the same study, nearly eight of out 10 respondents stated that sustainability is important to them. So, how does a brand leverage sustainable marketing to appeal to a growing, socially conscious audience? We'll cover that and more below. Green Marketing vs. Sustainable Marketing While both terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between green marketing and sustainability marketing. Green marketing focuses on strategies that promote environmental awareness and protection. Sustainable marketing, on the other hand, is a little broader. It encompasses green marketing but it also includes practices that go beyond the environment, like social and economic issues. 1. Have a larger purpose. Brands typically judge their success by the numbers. How much revenue they have or will generate in any given period is usually the biggest indicator of success. Sustainability shifts this perspective by having brands evaluate themselves by something bigger than profit. As a brand, you have to promote something that's bigger than your products and services and transcends any particular industry. Do you have a clear social mission? If not, spend time discovering what that is and...
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Social Commerce: What It Is & How to Use It in 2021

Uncategorized
October 2, 2021/by
Social Commerce: What It Is & How to Use It in 2021 Recently, I set an iPhone time limit on my social media use to "45 minutes". I figured 45 minutes would be more than enough. Almost an hour? In between working at HubSpot, catching up with friends, and attending exercise classes, I had no doubt 45 minutes would be plenty of social media consumption. Unfortunately, I learned pretty quickly that I actually spend 45 minutes on social media before I even get to work in the morning. I know I'm not alone. In fact, the average daily social media use of internet users worldwide amounts to 145 minutes per day. With all that social media consumption, it makes sense that more businesses are turning to social media to market to their audiences. But marketing is just one aspect of the buyer's journey -- what about sales? Can that be done within social media platforms, as well? It's actually now entirely possible for businesses to sell products and services natively within social media sites. Here, we're going to explore that very concept -- known as social commerce -- and take a look at some impressive examples of social commerce, so you can consider trying it for your own company. Additionally, we'll list some of the most popular social commerce platforms available today, so you can decide which one could give you the highest ROI. Since many businesses are marketing on these social media sites already, it makes...
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9 Ways to Make Your Business Data More Reliable

CRM
October 2, 2021/by
9 Ways to Make Your Business Data More Reliable Your business data is the lifeblood that runs through your organization. It powers automated workflows, gives customer service reps the full story every time the phone rings, and informs decision-making. Even small businesses can benefit from the rise of big data by optimizing their organization's data and creating processes to put it to work. According to Experian, eight in ten businesses believe data is one of their most valuable assets. When your business data is reliable and accurate, it's smooth sailing. But when errors, duplicates, and question marks surface... it's not so pretty. When you can't trust your business data, problems quickly arise and multiply in every area of your organization. Businesses lose as much as 20% of revenue due to poor data quality, shares Kissmetrics. Back in 2013, HBR also talked about the ripple effect of unreliable data as part of "Data's Credibility Problem": "When data are unreliable, managers quickly lose faith in them and fall back on their intuition to make decisions, steer their companies and implement strategy. They are, for example, much more apt to reject important, counterintuitive implications that emerge from big data analyses." To get the best results as a data-driven organization, here are some of the best practices to strengthen the foundations and make your business data the most reliable it can be. 9 Ways to Fix Unreliable Data and Increase Accuracy 1. Improve your data foundations. Data debt – the...
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14 Ways to Automate Your Ecommerce Business

Ecommerce
October 2, 2021/by
14 Ways to Automate Your Ecommerce Business When it comes to owning a business, time is your most valuable resource — but, time is finite, and are a lot of tasks competing for your attention. You need to make sure the right products are listed on your website, that you're fulfilling orders and payments 24/7, and that you're processing and dispatching packages efficiently... all while staying on top of marketing campaigns, user reviews, and customer service. And, as you scale, your ecommerce processes get even more demanding. So, how can you make time for the work that brings in more customers while keeping everything else on track? With ecommerce automation. Automation is playing a vital role in the future of tech — and it's no surprise that we're seeing more of it in tools designed for ecommerce businesses. As a store owner, it's your secret to putting your time-consuming tasks on auto-pilot. In this post, we'll explain what ecommerce automation is, then show you what it looks like with 15 ways you can automate your online business. What is ecommerce automation? It means using software to turn manual tasks into automated workflows. These workflows can trigger internal or external emails, notifications, or actions in other apps — such as creating new support tickets in your help desk. To make sure everything works perfectly, you can set multiple conditions that need to be true for the workflow to run. Although ecommerce automation saves you time, it doesn't mean firing...
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How to Understand & Calculate Statistical Significance [Example]

A/B Testing
October 1, 2021/by
How to Understand & Calculate Statistical Significance Have you ever presented results from a marketing campaign and been asked, “But are these results statistically significant?” As data-driven marketers, we’re not only asked to measure the results of our marketing campaigns but also to demonstrate the validity of the data — exactly what statistical significance is. While there are several free tools out there to calculate statistical significance for you (HubSpot even has one here), it’s helpful to understand what they’re calculating and what it all means. Below, we’ll geek out on the numbers using a specific example of statistical significance to help you understand why it’s crucial for marketing success. In marketing, you want your results to be statistically significant because it means that you’re not wasting money on campaigns that won’t bring desired results. Marketers often run statistical significance tests before launching campaigns to test if specific variables are more successful at bringing results than others. Statistical Significance Example Say you’re going to be running an ad campaign on Facebook, but you want to ensure you use an ad that’s most likely to bring desired results. So, you run an A/B test for 48 hours with ad A as the control variable, and B as the variation. These are the results I get: Ad Impressions Conversions ...
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The Ultimate Guide to Succession Planning

Leadership
October 1, 2021/by
The Ultimate Guide to Succession Planning At one of my first jobs out of college, my manager admitted that my professional growth "wasn't a priority." I knew I wasn't in a leadership role that required succession planning, but the admission still stunned me. Without support for career development, I wound up leaving the company. This situation may seem dramatic, but it points to the importance of having a succession plan in place. Of course, senior leadership roles take precedence because these can create a larger vacuum if the position is left unfilled. But succession planning can (and should) extend to all leaders across a company. Developing a succession plan can set your company up for smooth transitions when leaders resign or accept a promotion. It can have a major impact on employee morale and can position your team to skillfully handle future business challenges. But you don't want to wait until you absolutely need a successor. At that point, you're scrambling and may choose the wrong person. Let's look at the ins and outs of succession planning so your team is prepared for any transition. What is succession planning? Succession planning is a strategic process for identifying high-potential employees and taking steps to prepare them for future leadership positions. It helps your business develop and retain the talent pipeline so you can quickly fill vacant leadership roles. Some succession plans look ahead 12 to 36 months for when a leader retires, steps down, advances, or leaves. Others, including CEO...
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Persuasive Advertising: What It Is & How to Do It [+Examples]

Advertising
September 29, 2021/by
Persuasive Advertising: What It Is & How to Do It What are some advertisements that live rent-free in your mind? As a millennial, ads that will always have a place in my heart include Britney Spears' iconic run as a Pepsi spokesperson, the enduring"got milk?" campaign (which is ironic considering myself and many others now prefer non-dairy alternatives), and the classic iPod silhouettes. These ads were not only compelling, but they were also incredibly influential. As marketers, we know that if we want to persuade an audience, we need to evoke an emotional response from them. But how do you actually do that? Before we discuss how to refine your persuasive advertising strategy, let's review what it is. Below, we’ll examine key persuasive advertising techniques you can use in your advertisements, examples you can reference if you ever need some inspiration and informative advertisement examples that are surprisingly just as compelling as the persuasive advertising examples. 1. The Carrot and The Stick Humans are hardwired to move towards pleasure, like a horse towards a carrot, and away from pain, like a donkey avoids a stick. When people read or watch your advertisements, "carrots", or promises of gain, can fill your prospects with hope and compel them to pursue that potential feeling of pleasure. "Sticks", possibilities of loss, evoke fear in your prospects, which will compel them to flee from that potential feeling of pain. Both tactics...
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