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Do You Really Need to Hold That Meeting [Quiz + Tips]

Meetings
February 13, 2021/by
Do You Really Need to Hold That Meeting "This could have been an email." Those six words can take the wind out of an office. They mean that time has been wasted, employees are frustrated, and leadership has been ever-so-slightly undermined. Unjustified meetings are inefficient and grating. Haphazardly putting time on colleagues' calendars — only to fumble with its purpose, conduct it without direction, or spend all your time talking at attendees as opposed to collaborating with them — takes a toll on everyone involved. Here, we'll review some criteria you should look for when deciding whether a meeting is worth everyone's time, see a few definitive signs that an issue doesn't warrant a meeting, and go over some of the more prominent, effective meeting alternatives. When You Should Hold a Meeting The issue at hand is urgent and time-sensitive. If the information you need to convey is must-hear and timebound, don't think twice — book a meeting. You don't want to run the risk of sending a mass email about a pressing issue, only to have some employees gloss it over or ignore it entirely. Some things are need-to-know and can't wait, and your response to those instances needs to reflect that kind of urgency. Don't be overly passive. Don't count on your team members to get to the information on their own time. Book a meeting, and get those points across. You need a space for thorough discussion and multiple perspectives. Some issues call for some...
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A Beginner’s Guide to HTML5

HTML
February 13, 2021/by
A Beginner's Guide to HTML5 HTML5 was designed to do virtually anything you want to do online without having to download browser plugins or other software. Want to create animations? Embed music and movies? Build advanced applications that run in your browser? You can with HTML5. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about HTML5, including: what it is what’s the difference between HTML vs. HTML5 what’s new in HTML5 how to use HTML5 when HTML5 came out which browsers support HTML5 What is HTML5? HTML5 is the newest version of HTML. The term refers to two things. One is the updated HTML language itself, which has new elements and attributes. The second is the larger set of technologies that work with this new version of HTML — like a new video format — and enable you to build more complex and powerful websites and apps. To understand how HTML has evolved over the years, let’s look at the differences between HTML and HTML5. HTML vs HTML5 HTML is the World Wide Web's core markup language. Originally designed to semantically describe scientific documents, it has since evolved to describe much more. Most pages on the web today were built using HTML4. Although much improved since the first version of HTML written in 1993, HTML4 still had its limitations. It’s biggest was if web developers or designers wanted to add content or features to their site that weren’t...
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Whiteboarding: What It Is & How to Use It In Your Meetings

Meetings
February 12, 2021/by
Whiteboarding: What It Is & How to Use It In Your Meetings Do you remember those old school projectors they used to have in school? Whenever the projector was pulled out in class, I knew I was going to have fun. Teachers would allow us to go up and write on the projector, and it just felt more collaborative. That's kind of what whiteboarding is like in business. As marketers, you probably have a lot of brainstorming sessions where you're laying out landing pages, writing copy, and creating a strategy for a campaign. And brainstorming sessions and whiteboarding go together like peanut butter and jelly. In this post, we'll dive into whiteboarding and learn how you can use this process to improve your brainstorming sessions. Whiteboarding Session While whiteboarding sessions are great, it's easy to lose control over a brainstorming session. To conduct a successful whiteboard session, we've gathered a few tips. Whiteboarding Techniques 1. Be creative. One of the best parts of a whiteboarding session is that it allows your team to be creative. People can share documents, put up sticky notes as reminders, and share their ideas with the team. When you're in person, it's fun to let all your team members use the whiteboard, so everyone has a chance to write down notes and share their thoughts. 2. Stay focused. With any brainstorming session, it's easy to lose track of what the goal is. To stay focused, we suggest writing out your goal at...
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The Presenter’s Guide to Nailing Your Next PowerPoint

Presentations
February 12, 2021/by
The Presenter's Guide to Nailing Your Next PowerPoint Have a presentation coming up that involves PowerPoint slides? Creating the content and design for a new presentation can be a daunting task. Between outlining, deciding on a design, filling it out, and finalizing the details, it's not uncommon for a few questions to pop up. Where's the best place to start? Are some steps better to take before others? How can you make sure you aren't missing anything? And how on earth do you master those essential -- yet slightly technical -- design tricks that can take a presentation from good to great? We're here to make the process a little easier for you. We've talked to some of the best presenters at HubSpot and have included their tips throughout this blog. With the following tips in your arsenal, you'll be able to navigate PowerPoint much more fluidly and give a standout presentation that'll leave your audience wanting more. How to Structure a Powerpoint Presentation 1. Decide on a working title and the main takeaways. Beyond picking a topic, your first step should be coming up with a working title for your presentation. A working title is more specific than a topic: Think "How the Right Nutrition Can Strengthen Your Kids' Bones" instead of "Raising Healthy Kids." Keep in mind that a compelling presentation title is much like a compelling blog post title: short, accurate, and valuable. Once you've got your working title, make a list of the main takeaways...
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How HubSpot’s Customers Are Shaping the Next Normal

Company News
February 12, 2021/by
How HubSpot's Customers Are Shaping the Next Normal This week marked an important milestone for HubSpot. The company Dharmesh and I founded over 14 years ago welcomed its 100,000th customer and passed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue. We've come a long way since we began banging the drum about inbound marketing, and yet, it feels like HubSpot is just getting started. In many ways, it feels like the whole world is just getting started … or re-started. The events of the past year have transformed entire industries, upended the way we work, and re-shaped human behavior en masse. The technologies we embraced and new habits we formed during the pandemic will not retreat when the coronavirus eventually does. Rather, they will come to define "the next normal." This represents one of the most profound outcomes of these times: that never before have companies, and the products and services they provide, had a greater capacity to influence human behavior. When gyms re-open, people will still workout from home, facilitated by fitness apps. When offices re-open, people will still work from home, facilitated by work productivity and communications tools. When theatres re-open, people will still watch live concerts and new movies from home, facilitated by streaming services. Without these products and services, many of which have gone from being novel to necessary in the past year, life during the pandemic would look very different. And it would be much more likely to snap back to the way it was in 2019. Instead, we've witnessed...
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What is a Media Kit — and How to Make One [+ Examples]

Media Planning
February 11, 2021/by
What is a Media Kit — and How to Make One Your competitor releases a new product or service. You offer something similar — but, of course, much better. Then, suddenly, your competitor's product is everywhere. News articles, online reviews, best-of lists, buyers' guides, even TV segments. How is this happening? And your real question: why isn't it happening to you? To compete against your competitors, there's one thing you'll need in your wheelhouse: a media kit. Here, we'll explore what a media kit is, and how it can help you increase brand awareness and, ultimately, sales. Plus, how to make one for your own brand. Media kits may live fully-online as responsive online press pages. Or, businesses may choose to make their press kits available as static, downloadable resources, like a presentation deck. Whatever format you choose, this much is clear: businesses of all sizes benefit from having a professional, readily-accessible media kit. This vital resource is a key to the earned media coverage all businesses covet — from massive Fortune 500 corporations all the way down to individual influencers and solopreneurs. A comprehensive media kit should include a description of the company or individual, contact information, social media statistics, case studies, information on partnerships and collaborations, and testimonials from past customers. Basically, it's all the information a journalist would need to feature your brand in a breaking news story — without the headache of a last-minute information request. How to Make a Media Kit: What to...
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20 Ways To Get More Views on YouTube

Youtube Marketing
February 11, 2021/by
20 Ways To Get More Views on YouTube YouTube, launched in 2005, the second most visited website in the world. It’s available in 100+ countries, features videos in 80 different languages, and its users watch over a billion hours of content daily. Many businesses take advantage of the large number of users and daily viewership to advertise for their business. In fact, YouTube is the second most popular channel for businesses sharing video content. However, despite the sheer amount of hours watched every day, it can be challenging to hold up on YouTube. Creators sometimes struggle to get their channel off the ground, resorting to paying for YouTube views to generate engagement. The platform's algorithm has become better at detecting bots, and, as you can guess, fake engagement doesn’t do much in the way of meeting your business goals. Although it will take time, it is possible to generate views (for free) and grow your channel on YouTube. In this post, we’ll go over how to get more views on YouTube and how to continue growing your channel after reaching your first 1000 views. How To Get More Views on YouTube For Free Getting views on YouTube takes time and effort. But, if done right, it pays off (Forbes estimates that you can make anywhere from $3-$5 per 1000 views). Below, we’ll go over a few ways to get more views on your YouTube account. 1. Be mindful of SEO and organic search results.   YouTube is the second most popular search...
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9 Valentine’s Day Marketing Campaigns We Love

Holiday Marketing
February 11, 2021/by
9 Valentine's Day Marketing Campaigns We Love Love, flowers, chocolate, bla bla bla ... Where are the marketing results?! Okay, probably not what your Valentine's date cares about. But if you're a marketer, you might be interested in merging the most lovey-dovey of days with your marketing. But how? Well, these companies have figured out some creative ways to leverage the warm and fuzzies (or unadulterated rage and crushing loneliness ... whatever) that Valentine's Day instills in people. If you don't have a marketing campaign planned for the 14th, maybe some of these will inspire you to get in on some last-minute Valentine's Day action. 9 Effective Valentine's Day Marketing Campaigns 1. Crook & Marker's "OnlyCans" Website In 2020, many online threads and message boards were discussing the controversial website "OnlyFans." This platform invites users to purchase videos or images from people or influencers with profiles on the site.  Fast-forward to 2021, Crook & Marker is embracing the OnlyFans controversy with relatively PG marketing content. The cheeky holiday campaign, which aims to earn donations for Muddy Paws Rescue, began with the brand launching a co-branded website called OnlyCans.dog. When visiting the "OnlyCans" website, you instantly see videos and images of shirtless men holding cute puppies. You can also browse the profiles or each man-puppy duo. From each profile page, you can then pick and share a pre-recorded video message or photo of them...
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7 Types of Corporate Events [+ Virtual Event Ideas]

Event Marketing
February 10, 2021/by
7 Types of Corporate Events One of my favorite episodes of "The Office" is called Launch Party. During this episode, Dunder Mifflin hosts a corporate party, plus several satellite parties when its website launches. Hilarity ensues. But during your corporate event, you probably don't want to kidnap the pizza delivery person, and you might want to spell launch correctly on the sign. As a business, you probably have several corporate events on the horizon, whether it's a team-building event or a seminar. In this post, we'll learn about the different types of corporate events, plus give your party planning committee a few virtual event ideas. Now, let's dive into the different types of corporate events. 1. Seminars A seminar is an event that's focused on educating people, whether it's your customers or employees. It's similar to a conference or a workshop. A seminar is usually a short event, while a conference might be a several-day event with multiple speakers. On the other hand, a workshop is usually a small, intimate event with only a few registrants. You might consider hosting a seminar as a way to get leads and introduce people to your company. 2. Retreats A retreat can be held to simply bond with your team, or you can sell tickets to customers. This is usually a several-day event with several workshops or seminars to attend. Sometimes the purpose is just to relax, but other times it's to learn, strategize, and plan for the future....
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How to Create a Communication Strategy [+ Free Templates]

Marketing Strategy
February 10, 2021/by
How to Create a Communication Strategy There are certain characteristics that should be at the core of any successful business. For instance, every business should have a great product or service, awesome employees to keep the internal engine running, and loyal customers who support through purchases and advocacy. There also has to be underlying elements to help establish the aforementioned characteristics. And one of the most necessary is clear and effective communication. Communication is at the root of every interaction for businesses. Without transparent communication at every level, there's more room for error, and — depending on the magnitude of the error — it can make or break a business. But, while 89% of people feel communication is extremely important for work, 8 out of 10 people rate their own business' communication as either average or poor. Developing a communication strategy for your business will help you understand how your company best communicates, internally and externally, and can give you measurable results to better understand the efficacy of your communication tactics. In this post, we'll explain how to create a communication strategy and plan for your business to ensure efficient, cohesive communication with colleagues and customers alike. What is a communication strategy? A communication strategy is a process developed by the appropriate stakeholders to identify where communication efforts need to be improved. The next step in this process is to ideate and select measurable actions that will be used to develop a communication plan to achieve your desired outcome. 1....
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