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The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories Ads in 2020

Instagram Marketing
September 4, 2020/by
The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories Ads in 2020 Ah, Instagram Stories — the one-stop-shop to find short, engaging content from high school friends, celebrities, and major brands alike. With over 500 million daily active users, Instagram Stories is an undeniably powerful opportunity to connect with new audiences. And, if you're not using Instagram Stories as a marketing tool, you should be. In fact, Instagram reports that of the 500 million accounts using Instagram Stories, one-third of the most viewed stories come from businesses. I can personally attest to the power of Instagram Stories to incentivize purchasing decisions. For instance, the other day I was mindlessly scrolling through Stories when I came across an ad for Crest 3D whitestrips — with a $50 off coupon attached. I swiped up to purchase without ever leaving the app itself. Here, let's dive into what Instagram Story ads are, and how you can run Instagram Story ads for your own business. Plus, we'll explore examples of Instagram Story ads and best practices to ensure your ads are as powerful as they can be. What are Instagram Story ads? Instagram Story ads are vertical ads you can run on Instagram's Stories feature. (To recap, Instagram Stories are photos and videos visible to an Instagram account's audience for 24-hours, and is published separately from the content found on your Instagram profile.) Instagram allows you to target your ads by reach, video views, traffic, conversions, app installs, and brand awareness. Additionally, unlike an organic Instagram...
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Cultural Competence: What Is It and How To Develop It At Your Company

Office Culture
September 3, 2020/by
Cultural Competence: What Is It and How To Develop It At Your Company When I went to college, it was the first time I truly interacted with a bunch of people who were completely different from me. I grew up in Orange County, an almost infamously undiverse, homogeneous place. It was during college that I was able to broaden my horizons and I quickly realized how important diversity is to every area of life whether it be education, or even business. In fact, did you know that companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns greater than their industry mean? Additionally, findings show that diverse teams make better business decisions 87% of the time. As business leaders, it's impossible to ignore those stats. But, if you have a similar background (or lack thereof) in diversity as I did growing up, you might not know how to develop cultural competence and cultivate a diverse team. To help, I talked to a wide range of experts on diversity, inclusion, and belonging, from both internal HubSpot employees to external thought leaders. In this post, we'll learn what cultural competence is, why it's important, and how to develop it at your company. It's important to discuss that cultural competence isn't about hitting a diversity quota. It's about facilitating an environment of open and honest communication in a diverse setting. If you aren't culturally competent, you might not attract the best talent for...
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79 Marketing Tools and Software for Every Business & Budget

Business Tools
September 3, 2020/by
79 Marketing Tools and Software for Every Business & Budget In the world of marketing, it seems like there are always new tools, tips, tricks, and trends to discover and incorporate into your marketing strategy. How is it possible to keep up with them all? As a marketer myself, I often wish I had a better sense of all of the tools available to me -- and what sets each of them apart -- so I can make more informed decisions on how to create and optimize content. Luckily, I have the privilege of working on a team of 150+ other marketers who specialize in different functions than I do. And because of that, I was able to curate this list of the top tools every marketer should know about and use. The list of recommended tools below is sorted into different sections so you can get a better sense of what tools are available for different functions of the job.  Above lists the different types of tools for every part of your job. Below is our roundup of the best marketing tools in each category.  Marketing Tools Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools 1. HubSpot CRM 2. Zoho CRM 3. Zendesk 4. Pipedrive Online Advertising Tools 5. AdStage 6. HubSpot Ads Tracking Software 7. Perfect Audience ...
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18 Webinar Promotion Tips to Guarantee Nobody Misses Your Next Webinar

Webinars
September 3, 2020/by
18 Webinar Promotion Tips to Guarantee Nobody Misses Your Next Webinar Here at HubSpot, we know a thing or two about webinars. We set the Guinness World Record for largest online marketing seminar in 2011, hosted webinars with partners such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Unbounce, and we’re able to host and promote in-house because of the modern marketing team we've built. No matter how great the content of your webinar is, though, it doesn't mean much if there's nobody there to hear it. So what do you do to ensure people actually, you know ... show up? Turns out, there are at least 18 things you can do to get people aware of, excited about, and attending your next webinar. Here's a guide to making your next webinar a rousing success. What Is a Webinar/Webcast? A webinar (also known as a webcast) is a live, online seminar or workshop that's delivered over the internet. A host -- that's you -- organizes the event and invites attendees. The beauty of a virtual event? The host and the attendees can be located anywhere in the world. Make it educational. Education is one of the most powerful tools you can use to make change happen. Webinars need to have some type of educational component to it -- whether you're educating your audience about a product, a service, a new piece of content, how to use a tool, and so on.  Communicate your content clearly. Webinars are great ways to scale your communication. Provide value to your audience...
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7 Creative Company Profile Examples to Inspire You [Templates]

Recruiting Tips
September 2, 2020/by
7 Creative Company Profile Examples to Inspire You We all know about the infamous rivalry between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks. At the end of the day, they both sell coffee -- but they've each cultivated strong, unique brands, and have attracted very different audiences as a result. You can often overhear heated arguments regarding the topic, with people vehemently claiming one coffee chain to be better than the other. But let's say you didn't know about the rivalry, and you'd never heard of either Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts before. Instead, you stumble across these two very different company profile statements: Image courtesy of Dunkin' Donuts Image courtesy of Starbucks From their opening paragraphs alone, I'm willing to bet you're persuaded to check out one brand in more detail over the other. It isn't just the language itself that gives you a sense of their business -- it's the design, the font, and the color. Ultimately, your company profile matters. It can intrigue a new visitor to check out your products or services in more detail, and nudge potential customers into choosing your business over competitors. What's a company profile? A company profile is an introduction to your business, and aims to tell an audience about your products or services. However, a company profile shouldn't just tell your audience what you sell -- it should also tell viewers why you sell it. A company profile often includes a compelling story about...
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The Best 16 Landing Page Builders for Any Business

Landing Pages
September 1, 2020/by
The Best 16 Landing Page Builders for Any Business Lead generation is essential for driving sales and growing an online business. There are plenty of different methods for generating leads, but one of the most effective options is a well-designed landing page. Building a fully-optimized landing page has never been easier -- in fact, it's now possible to create a lead generation gold mine using drag-and-drop tools without seeing a single line of code. Whether you're managing one or multiple pages, there are now so many options available that it can be tricky to find the best one of your needs. More than likely, the hardest part of designing a landing page is choosing the right tool to get started -- plus, you don’t want to waste months designing a landing page before realizing the software simply isn’t up-to-speed with what you need. To ensure you’re able to choose the best landing page builder for your team's goals, we've cultivated a list of the 14 best -- but first, let's explore some key features to look for in a landing page builder. Key Features of a Landing Page Builder Although there are many landing page builder options with unique strengths and weaknesses, there are certain features you'll want to see in any landing page builder. Here are four: 1. Easy-to-use visual builder. These days, users demand ease-of-use, and landing page builders tend to feature a drag-and-drop interface which makes it easy for anyone to build a landing page...
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10 Zoom Backgrounds HubSpotters Love

remote-work
August 31, 2020/by
10 Zoom Backgrounds HubSpotters Love When I first started working remotely, I quickly realized that I didn't like the available backdrops in my house. First, there's the cluttered living room. Then, there's the rarely spotless kitchen. Or I could go with the yellow wall. That's when I started looking into Zoom backgrounds. I found a few funny ones, some professional ones, and even a couple of creative options. It turned out to be really fun to express myself with a Zoom background. If you're in the same predicament, look no further. Below, let's learn how to set up a Zoom background, and then we'll show you our favorite ones. 1. Open Zoom Before we dive into our favorite Zoom backgrounds, let's learn how to set one up. To start, open your Zoom app and log in. 2. Go to Zoom "Preferences" Once you're logged in, click "zoom.us" on the top left and then hit "Preferences." You can also get to this page by clicking your profile image on the top right corner, and then clicking "Settings." 3. Click "Virtual Background" When you've opened your settings, click "Virtual Background" on the left-hand side. 4. Click the "Plus" sign and "Add Image" Now, click the plus sign on the right, and click "Add Image." Voila. Now you can add any image that you have the rights to and that meets the image guidelines. Tips for Determining When to Use a Zoom Background...
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Bing PPC Ads: How They Work (and Compare to Google Ads)

PPC
August 29, 2020/by
Bing PPC Ads: How They Work (and Compare to Google Ads) If Googling has ever let you down, you may have come across another search engine called Bing. This search engine is powered by Microsoft and strives to outdo Google at every turn. Bing wants to revolutionize digital search and rival the industry's long-standing powerhouse. It's an ambitious goal, but one place where Bing differentiates itself is through its Pay Per Click ads, or PPC. According to our guide, Pay Per Click ads are, "a form of search engine marketing (SEM) where the advertiser pays for clicks on an ad." Simply put, the advertiser has to pay the publisher whenever a visitor interacts with the ad. In exchange, the ad is added to the search engine's database, which displays the ad whenever the content matches a visitor's searched keyword. While Google Ads offers a popular PPC feature, Bing's has unique advantages that distinguish itself from the search engine giant. And, if you're the owner of a small- to medium-sized business, you may be more interested in Bing's PPC benefits than Google's. In this post, let's break down how Bing PPC ads work, as well as how they compare to Google Ads. Bing PPC Bing PPC ads operate on Microsoft's three popular search engines: Bing, Yahoo, and AOL. When you use Bing campaigns, your content is shared across all of these platforms at once. With over five billion monthly searches being made on the Microsoft network, this makes Bing PPC...
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