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8 Google Shopping Ad Strategies That’ll Drive Sales

Google Shopping
June 17, 2020/by
8 Google Shopping Ad Strategies That'll Drive Sales I love online shopping. In fact, online shopping is almost the only way I shop. And I'm not alone. In 2019, there were 263 million digital buyers in the U.S. By 2024, this figure is projected to increase to 282.7 million online buyers. As a marketer, these figures prove that businesses should invest in Google shopping ads. Google shopping ads, the ads that appear on the search engine results page when someone is searching for a product, can be confusing to set up. In this post, we'll review how to structure your Google shopping campaign and the top strategies that'll drive sales. If you want to set up Google shopping ads, you might be wondering, "Which campaign structure should I use?" and "What's the difference?" Below, let's discuss the two different methodologies behind a Google shopping campaign structure. Featured Resource: Google Ads Planning Template Download this Template While setting up Google Shopping Ads campaigns sounds complex, using a planning template can make it easier. HubSpot's Google Ads PPC kit will help you determine what your bids should be, set up and optimize your budget, find new keywords, and optimize your campaigns. 1. One campaign and one ad group. The simplest way to set up your Google shopping campaign is to use just one campaign and one ad group. When you first set up a Shopping campaign, you'll have one ad group with one product group called "All products," which...
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12 Reasons to Integrate Visual Content Into Your Marketing Campaigns [IG]

Content Marketing Strategy
June 16, 2020/by
12 Reasons to Integrate Visual Content Into Your Marketing Campaigns With some 1.7 billion websites worldwide, it's fair to say the web of 2020 is a cluttered place. Plus, there are over 2 million new blog posts published daily. To help stand out from the crowd, it's vital publishers create compelling and engaging content. But how do you go about creating attractive, engaging, and memorable content? The key is to make it visually appealing. The human brain processes visual content 60,000 times faster than text. That's a huge disparity and goes a long way to explaining why images and videos are so key to driving engagement on social channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Simply put, visual elements are key for driving traffic and engagement across your sites and social channels. With all that said, what are the key visual elements you should be mindful of including in your content? Where do the opportunities lie and how can you engage your audience in the most meaningful ways? Fortunately, my team at Ever Increasing Circles has created the following infographic to explore key visual elements you should be mindful of including in your content — as well as where opportunities lie, and how you might engage your audience in more meaningful ways. Check it out, below....
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Should You Be Blogging For Enterprise Customers? Yes, Here’s Why.

Business Blogging
June 16, 2020/by
Should You Be Blogging For Enterprise Customers? Yes, Here's Why. When I sit down to write a blog post, I stick to a routine that has some flexibility. The way I write changes from time to time, but two things never change: who I'm writing for, and how to deliver the best experience. When you sit down to write, what are some of the questions you ask yourself? Are you keeping your audience in mind? For example, if you are writing for enterprise audiences, how are you framing that content to achieve your goals? If you're writing for the professional who is part of a large organization, how does your blog cater to their needs? Though an enterprise audience is a smaller number of people to reach, blogging for those customers can be a huge driver for ROI and acquisition. Many marketers agree — blogging is an important part of their content strategy. Blogging does way more than populate your website with content. Did you know that B2B marketers obtain over 70% of their leads from blogging? Or that businesses that prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI? When you blog for customers, you're not only providing useful content. Properly optimized posts lead to an increase in brand awareness and conversions. Enterprise customers have their own set of unique needs and challenges, separate from customers in a startup. Your blog can assist with these needs, like how to manage a positive scale within a...
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What is LinkedIn Live? [+How to Leverage It in Your Marketing Strategy]

LinkedIn Marketing
June 15, 2020/by
What is LinkedIn Live? Every week, I use LinkedIn to talk about current events and connect with other content creators. And I'm not the only one. In fact, LinkedIn has had nearly 700 million active users in 2020 and has become one of the top social media platforms. In the last year, companies have started to use the social network's new live-streaming technology. While Facebook and Instagram launched live streaming features in 2016, LinkedIn just recently decided to join the live streaming platforms. In February 2019, LinkedIn Live was launched to individual users. This year, it was announced that LinkedIn Live would also become available to business pages. With this announcement, LinkedIn decided "to bring you a tighter integration between LinkedIn Events and LinkedIn Live, by turning these two products into a new virtual events solution that enables you to stay connected to your communities and meet your customers wherever they are." Live streaming continues to gain popularity among audiences. In fact, in 2019, internet users watched 1.1 billion hours of live video. Additionally, according to Go-Globe, by the end of 2020, live streaming is expected to account for 82% of all internet traffic. Plus, LinkedIn Live streams have increased by 158% since February 2020. Although LinkedIn Live isn't available to all businesses right now, it might be time to start thinking about live streaming. To get started with LinkedIn Live, you can complete an application online to become a Live broadcaster. In this post, let's review how...
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34 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year

Skill Building
June 13, 2020/by
34 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year I don't know about you, but I miss taking classes. I miss taking notes, studying, and most of all, learning a ton of new skills. That's not to say I don't learn a lot on the job here at HubSpot -- because I absolutely do. But sometimes, there's nothing quite like listening to a lecture, taking notes, and doing homework. Given the frequency at which new technologies and software are developed, it can be overwhelming to try to keep up your knowledge by only reading blog posts and ebooks. That's where self-paced online learning comes in. I've taken a few awesome courses and certifications through HubSpot Academy, including an inbound marketing certification and a content marketing certification. These classes helped me be better at my job, so I started making a list of other classes I could take to learn more skills. When I finished the list, I realized that you, dear readers, might have similar skill gaps, so I wanted to share it in a blog post. Below is a long list of free online courses you can take to beef up your skill set. These offerings vary in time commitment, but many are self-paced so you can work on your own schedule. The topics these courses cover include: Content Marketing Social Media Marketing SEO Marketing Email Marketing Other Digital Marketing Courses Want to learn more about brands and organizations that offer the courses...
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19 Ways to Spend Your Marketing Budget Next Quarter

Marketing Reporting
June 12, 2020/by
19 Ways to Spend Your Marketing Budget Next Quarter The tough part is over — your budget's been approved for the next quarter. But now, another challenge looms how to spend that money. You might be a little lost about how best to allocate your budget. Consider the resources and tools your team needs to do their jobs well. Additionally, leave a little room for celebrating your team for their wins — both big and small. So, how do you accurately plan out that perfectly balanced budget? Whether you have “use-it-or-lose-it” funds left over from the quarter, or are putting together a budget for the first time, here are some guidelines for allocating that money effectively. 1. Test new versions of calls-to-action that are performing poorly. Estimated cost: $50 per call to action In your analytics software, sort calls to action by click rate and conversion rate. Then, redesign ones with the lowest performance and test them. One way to do this is by performing an A/B test, which will show you which design your audience prefers. Perhaps a simple design change is in order to attract more visitors, like choosing a different photo. Or, maybe tweaking the wording can strengthen the connection you make with leads. This test will be useful in identifying the best ways to further prospects along in their buying journey. 2. Identify improvement opportunities on your homepage. Estimated cost: $150 Install heat map tracking software, like Hotjar or Crazy Egg, on your homepage....
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What is Localized Content [+When to Use It]

local marketing
June 12, 2020/by
What is Localized Content For businesses to grow in today's climate, marketers must think about their content and strategies on a global scale. The internet has opened doors to new markets around the world, and yet, without paying proper attention to these new customers' preferences and culture, marketers can miss out on significant opportunities. So, how can marketers make sure their content is prepared for when new markets open? Localized content is the key to catching new customers' attention and creating a place where they want to spend their time and make their purchases. With content built around a personalized experience, you can guide new customers through the customer lifecycle, regardless of where in the world they live. In today's post, we'll discuss what localized content is and when to use it. When we talk about entering new global markets, the first thing that might come to your mind is translating content. After all, it should be as simple as running your content through Google Translate and sending it off to customers on their journeys, right? Not so fast! Translation is a complex process. While machine translations like Google Translate can churn through low-value content with relative ease, your high-value content deserves a more personalized touch — not only the words we use, but how we use them, matter. Otherwise, we're holding a conversation without context, and customers won't be able to build a relationship with you. While the words matter, other elements of your presence in...
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Predictive SEO: How HubSpot Saves Traffic We Haven’t Lost Yet

SEO
June 12, 2020/by
Predictive SEO: How HubSpot Saves Traffic We Haven’t Lost Yet This post is a part of Made @ HubSpot, an internal thought series through which we extract lessons from experiments conducted by our very own HubSpotters. Have you ever tried to bring your clean laundry upstairs by hand, and things keep falling out of the giant blob of clothing you’re carrying? This is a lot like trying to grow organic website traffic. Your content calendar is loaded with fresh ideas, but with every web page published, an older page drops in search engine ranking. Getting SEO traffic is hard, but keeping SEO traffic is a whole other ball game. Content tends to “decay” over time due to new content created by competitors, constantly shifting search engine algorithms, or a myriad of other reasons. You’re struggling to move the whole site forward, but things keep leaking traffic where you’re not paying attention. Recently, the two of us (Alex Birkett and Braden Becker 👋) developed a way to find this traffic loss automatically, at scale, and before it even happens. The Problem With Traffic Growth At HubSpot, we grow our organic traffic by making two trips up from the laundry room instead of one. The first trip is with new content, targeting new keywords we don’t rank for yet. The second trip is with updated content, dedicating a portion of our editorial calendar to finding which content is losing the most traffic — and leads — and reinforcing it with...
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7 Companies Hosting Great Virtual Conferences

conferences
June 11, 2020/by
7 Companies Hosting Great Virtual Conferences In April 2020, I attended the two-hour special "ACM Presents: Our Country". In my pajamas with a bowl of popcorn, I was able to watch Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, and Florida Georgia Line perform from their own living rooms. And, while the show didn't have the same top-notch special effects as past country awards shows, it still managed to deliver exactly what I wanted: live country music. In 2020, many companies have needed to pivot to virtual conferences. HubSpot is no exception — for the first time in nine years, INBOUND, an event hosted by HubSpot, will not be held in-person. Instead, it will be a two-day immersive online experience. More than likely, we'll continue to see a rise in virtual conferences over the coming years. It makes sense: Virtual conferences enable you to lower set-up costs as well as cost of admission, and increases the opportunity for people across the globe to attend. Whether you're planning on pivoting your own in-person conference to a virtual experience, or simply want to attend a virtual conference in 2020, you're in luck. Here, we've cultivated a list of seven companies hosting amazing virtual conferences. Best of all, these examples range in size from 50,000 attendees to a few hundred, so you can find inspiration regardless of your budget. 1. SaaStr Annual SaaStr Annual is the largest SaaS conference in the world, with over 50,000 SaaS executives, founders, and VCs in attendance. This September, SaaStr will...
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