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21 of the Best Brands on Instagram Right Now

Instagram Marketing
June 26, 2021/by
21 of the Best Brands on Instagram Right Now Contrary to what your friends' photos suggest, Instagram isn't just a social network for selfies and brunch pics. In fact, Instagram has over 200 million businesses that use its platform and 90% of users follow at least one of them, according to 2019 data. In a time when visual content remains a crucial part of any brand's marketing strategy, Instagram marketing presents a unique opportunity to showcase your brand identity. Ready to get inspired? Check out this list of brands that are thriving on Instagram right now, and why their posts set them apart. Best Brands on Instagram What makes a brand great on Instagram? We polled 301 users across the United States, and asked “Which of the following describes the brands you follow and enjoy on Instagram?” These were their top answers: Data Source While this data is from a small sample, it does highlight what we already know about Instagram audiences. They look for: Content that relates to their lives: both personal and professional. Eye-catching, fun content. Product promotions What you'll see in the next section is that every brand featured meets these needs, earning them high follower counts and high engagement rates. Psst – Want to get a stunning Instagram Story auto-magically created for your brand? Check out StoriesAds.com, a free Story generator from HubSpot and Shakr. . 1. Netflix's Strong Black Lead Followers: 682k Here is an example...
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Best Goal Setting Worksheet to Help You Plan & Achieve

Goal Setting
June 26, 2021/by
Best Goal Setting Worksheet to Help You Plan & Achieve Accomplishing your goals is an incredibly gratifying feeling. However, it can sometimes be challenging to get that feeling, as achieving your goals takes time, effort, and a structured process. This is why it’s important to create plans of action for meeting the goals that will help you stay motivated and ensure you’re on the right path. In this post, we’ll go over a goal-setting worksheet created by HubSpot to help you outline your goals with the SMART framework and create a plan for achieving them. The template is broken down into relevant sections to help you through the process, and if you download it, you can follow along throughout the post. Goal Setting Steps 1. Identify your initial goal. The first step of the process is to simply identify what your goal is. It doesn’t have to be convoluted, just merely the objective you’re hoping to achieve. For example, if you’re hoping to grow your website, your baseline goal could be “I want to generate more site traffic.” 2.Define your SMART goals. The second step in the process is to use the SMART framework to elaborate your goals to ensure that they’re clear, measurable and that the process will help you get there. Here are is what each of the element in the acronym stands for: Specific: A specific goal clearly outlines what you’re hoping to improve. If you share your specific goals with your team, it should...
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Variable Cost Explained in 200 Words (& How to Calculate It)

Ecommerce
June 25, 2021/by
Variable Cost Explained in 200 Words (& How to Calculate It) There’s a frustrating truth that every business deals with early into its growth: More money, more problems. It seems counterintuitive — if sales and revenue are up, isn’t that a good thing? How are bigger profits a potential problem? Put simply, it all comes down to the fact that the more you sell, the more money you need to spend. This includes marketing and sales campaigns to reach more customers, the production costs of more goods, and the time and money required for new product development. Known as variable cost, this sales/spend ratio is something every business owner should understand, but online advice listicles and action plans often assume readers have an intrinsic knowledge of this concept rather than providing a working definition. In this piece, we’ll clear up variable cost confusion: Here’s what you need to know about variable costs, how to calculate them, and why they matter. Let’s examine each of these components in more detail. Variable Cost Per Unit The variable cost per unit is the amount of labor, materials, and other resources required to produce your product. For example, if your company sells sets of kitchen knives for $300 but each set requires $200 to create, test, package, and market, your variable cost per unit is $200. Number of Units Produced The number of units produced is exactly what you might expect — it’s the total number of items produced by your company....
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20 of the Best Free Google Sheets Templates for 2021

Google Sheets
June 23, 2021/by
20 of the Best Free Google Sheets Templates for 2021 Whether your marketing position requires you to send invoices to clients, track website analytics, or create budget and expense reports, you’ve undoubtedly found yourself working with spreadsheets in some form. And if you’re anything like me, those spreadsheets can feel frustratingly tedious when you’re under a time crunch. Fortunately, Google Sheets offers 26 pre-built templates, allowing you to create reports and analyze data in spreadsheets faster and more effectively. Best of all, Google Sheets templates cater to specific categories. For instance, if you click the Paid Traffic Report template, your spreadsheet is already organized into Overview, 12-month Trends, and Medium Breakdown categories. It knows what you need and offers it without any manual input. Here, we'll dive into 20 of the best free Google Sheets templates for any marketing role in 2021, so you can create better spreadsheets while saving valuable time to focus on more important things — like making sense of the data itself. Before we properly delve into the templates, let’s see why Google Sheets is an excellent choice for free templates and how you can find these templates. Why use Google Sheets? Google Sheets is part of Google’s G Suite of software that has over 6 million users. Here are some reasons why you should consider using it too: 1. It's free. Even if you don’t pay for Google’s G Suite, you can still...
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8 of the Top Marketing Challenges Faced Globally [New Data + Expert Tips]

Marketing Strategy
June 23, 2021/by
8 of the Top Marketing Challenges Faced Globally Every marketer faces different challenges. Although we typically share similar goals, some teams are stuck on hiring top talent, while others are having trouble finding the right technology for their needs. Whatever the case may be, there's always at least one area you can improve to turn your marketing into an even more effective revenue generator.  But marketing is often fast-paced, so it can be difficult to identify which areas you'll want to develop to facilitate stronger growth in 2021 and beyond. For that reason, it's important to pause for a moment and reflect on the biggest challenges marketers feel they're going to face this year. Why? Because problems are much easier to tackle once you've correctly identified them.  So ... what's happening in 2021? Below, let's review the current global marketing issues impacting the industry, according to marketing experts. Biggest Marketing Challenges To start, I surveyed over 120 marketers to gauge the biggest challenges affecting the industry as a whole.  By far, "Generating traffic and leads" was marked by nearly half as the biggest challenge marketers are facing this year.  This challenge was followed by 21% who said "providing ROI for your marketing activities" was their biggest challenge.  "Delivering an account-based marketing strategy" (8%), "securing enough budget" (6%), and "managing your website" (5%) were the other three notable challenges marketers feel they're facing in 2021.  It's important to note, a few other marketers marked "targeting content for an international...
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Color Theory 101: A Complete Guide to Color Wheels & Color Schemes

Design
June 22, 2021/by
Color Theory 101: A Complete Guide to Color Wheels & Color Schemes When you're sifting through your News Feed, what tends to catch your attention? More likely than not, it's YouTube videos, pictures, animated GIFs, and other visual content, right? While text-based content is always important when seeking answers to a question, creating visuals such as infographics, charts, graphs, animated GIFs, and other shareable images can do wonders for catching your readers' attention and enhancing your article or report. I know what you might be thinking: "I don't know how to design awesome visuals. I'm not creative." Hi. I'm Bethany, and I will be the first to tell you that I'm not naturally artistic. And yet, I found a strength in data visualization at HubSpot, where I've spent most of my days creating infographics and other visuals for blog posts. So, while I wouldn't say I'm naturally artistic, I have learned how to create compelling visual content. So can you. And you can do this by learning color theory. Consider this your introductory course, and we'll be covering the following topics: What Is Color Theory? Why Is Color Theory Important in Web Design? Color Theory 101 Additive & Subtractive Color Theory The Meaning of Color The Seven Color Schemes How to Choose a Color Scheme Color Tools What is color theory? Color theory is the basis for the primary rules and guidelines that surround color and its...
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How to Be a Good Manager [Data + Expert Tips]

Office Culture
June 22, 2021/by
How to Be a Good Manager Why do people really quit their jobs? Before you say "salary," "benefits," or "workload," take a second to think about the worst boss you've ever had. Were they bad at giving feedback, not helpful, or just plain mean? Did they have you feeling unmotivated, too nervous to offer ideas, or fearing that you'd lose your job with the slightest miss-step? Once you let those memories sink in, you probably won't second guess the statement: "People quit their managers, not their jobs." Over the years, this fact hasn't changed. Study after study has emphasized that companies need good managers to retain good employees. But what makes for a good manager? And what skills or strategies can you develop to ensure you're considered a good one?  To explore this issue, we polled people and asked them to check off all the qualities they felt were most important for a great manager.  Recipients listed "they trust me to work autonomously", "They are empathetic and understanding", and "They give me useful, clear feedback", as the three most important qualities a good manager needs to have.  Along with this data, I consulted my colleagues to get their thoughts on what makes a people manager effective. Regardless of whether you're interested in managing a team, or just want to know if a prospective boss is actually a good manager, here are 7 crucial qualities of a great team leader. 7 Skills People Managers Must Master, According to...
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