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Marketing Without a Budget? Use These Tactics for Success

marketing budget
May 13, 2020/by
Marketing Without a Budget? Use These Tactics for Success As a habitual spender bee, the day before payday is, sadly, one of scant spending. Some of the marketing teams I've been on have had similar budget issues (although those weren't brought on by online shopping like mine). While having a tight marketing budget can make the job harder, there's still plenty you can do. Below, let's review the top tactics to implement when you're marketing without a budget. 1. Improve content marketing. Content marketing is one of the top ways to market your brand when your team is on a tight budget. For example, you can start a blog. Blogs are a great way to reach your audience and build organic traffic to your site. Plus, you can use this space to answer customer questions and attract leads. If you run out of content ideas, don't forget that you can repurpose old content. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every post. You can create an infographic or video to attract new audiences on different platforms, like YouTube. Additionally, you can strengthen content partnerships by guest blogging on other sites and accepting guest submissions on your blog. This is an excellent way to expand your audience for free. Vana Korrapati, a digital marketing strategist, says, "Identify your target audience and their pain points. Write blogs that address their pain points with at least one key takeaway. This helps you build a list of leads that could turn...
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How to (Easily) Make Perfect Content Calendars in Google Sheets

Content Planning
May 13, 2020/by
How to (Easily) Make Perfect Content Calendars in Google Sheets What do you use spreadsheets for? If you're anything like me, you likely use them for data collection, to track campaign or blog post analytics, or to keep track of weekly assignments. But have you ever thought about using spreadsheets to make a calendar? And, more specifically, have you ever thought about using Google Sheets to make a functional calendar? If you often work on campaigns for a few different clients, creating individual calendars in Google Sheets to share with clients and track progress could be uniquely useful for ensuring the client understands when certain content will go live. Alternatively, perhaps you need to create an internal Google Sheet calendar for your team to keep track of upcoming projects. Making a calendar in a tool that's commonly used for spreadsheets sounds a little intimidating, but don't worry, the process is actually pretty intuitive. And with the help of some formulas and tips, you can easily make a functional calendar that you can sync your schedule with. Below, we'll go over how to make a calendar in Google Sheets and include some tips that'll help you elevate the design. At the end, your calendar will look something like this: So start a new spreadsheet and get ready to create your very own calendar. 📅 1. Open a new spreadsheet and choose your month. First, open a...
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17 Fun (Not Cheesy) Ice Breaker Games Your Employees Will Enjoy

Remote Working, remote-work
May 12, 2020/by
17 Fun (Not Cheesy) Ice Breaker Games Your Employees Will Enjoy Asking "How is everyone?" at the beginning of every meeting isn't always the best way to encourage connection and team bonding. Sometimes, you need to take it a step further with an ice breaker. The best ice breakers have the power to strengthen coworker bonds, stimulate better brainstorming sessions, and create an atmosphere of inclusivity. But it's easier said than done, and the wrong ice breaker questions can lead to awkwardness or even increased tension. To get the most value out of your team bonding moments, we've compiled a list of the best ice breaker games for the workplace. Next time you get together with your team, use one of these games instead of asking "How is everyone", and you're sure to hear some better, more insightful responses than "I'm good." Ice Breakers for Meetings 1. One Word Game The One Word ice breaker allows you to provide initial context into a meeting's topic, and get everyone in the right mindset for discussion. To play, you'll want to divide meeting participants into smaller groups. Then, tell them to think for a minute or two, and then share with their group one word that describes X. For instance, let's say you're leading a meeting on culture. Tell the groups to describe work culture, or your office culture in particular, in one word. Once they've shared with their groups, you can invite them to share their word with the entire...
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9 Ways You Can Improve Your Ecommerce Website Design

Ecommerce Marketing
May 12, 2020/by
9 Ways You Can Improve Your Ecommerce Website Design The other day I was shopping online for a Nintendo Switch, a popular handheld gaming console. The popularity of the console has made it extremely difficult to find one — stores like Best Buy and Target were out of stock. This meant that I had to reach outside of my comfort zone when browsing. I scoured Google to find an ecommerce option that carried the Switch. Even though I was desperate to reach my goal, I was very selective about where to shop. As a consumer, website design is one of the biggest factors I take into consideration when choosing where to spend my money. If the website design isn't committed to user experience, I immediately deem the company as unprofessional. I'm not alone, either. In fact, 48% of people use website design as a deciding factor when determining the credibility of a business. If you're wondering about the usability of your ecommerce website, this post is here to help. We'll go over some ways you can improve the design of your website, as well awesome examples that put these tips into practice. Before you upload your next product page, take a look at these pointers below to help. 1. Make the website user-friendly. When it comes to ecommerce websites, user-friendliness is a must. Customers have to be able to easily navigate through your website to make purchases. Take the Daily Harvest website, for example. The homepage clearly states the...
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The Ultimate Guide to Integrations and Why Your Business Needs Them

Integrations
May 12, 2020/by
The Ultimate Guide to Integrations and Why Your Business Needs Them Have you ever found yourself working on a project in which you had to toggle between multiple software and applications? Perhaps you had to plug data from one system into another or rewrite the same content over and over again to ensure it was in multiple locations. Although few people have the time or patience for this type of tedious work, it’s highly common and often critical to your business’s success — these mundane tasks need to get done. What if there was a way to connect your software to the applications you use in a way that successfully brings them together? This would mean all of your information and data would live in a central location with no manual entry required, even if those applications don’t actually come with the software itself … sound nice? Well, good news! This type of solution exists … it’s called an integration. Integrations are a complex topic to understand. So, let’s simplify the concept with the help of an analogy we can reference throughout this guide. Let’s pretend you want to plug your MacBook laptop into your TV using a connector cable so you can watch reruns of Friends on Netflix on the big screen. And integration kind of works like this — I’ll explain more as we go. Back to our analogy: If your software is your laptop, you’ll use a connector cable, or...
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45 Slack Tricks to Boost Productivity & Improve Collaboration

Productivity
May 11, 2020/by
45 Slack Tricks to Boost Productivity & Improve Collaboration Slack is an undeniably popular messaging channel for businesses — it's used by over 12 million people worldwide, and 87% of its users say Slack improves communication and collaboration. As a daily Slack user myself, I can attest that it's an incredibly helpful tool for sending quick questions to your manager, organizing meet-up times with colleagues, or even sharing the occasional dog photo in the company's #dog-channel. However, despite using Slack daily for the past two years, I had no idea that I could star important messages (which essentially "bookmarks" them), set up reminders within Slack to respond to messages whenever I'm ready, or create a custom emoji. There are plenty more tricks to using Slack more efficiently, as well — here, NetCredit collected 45 of them. Take a look at this infographic to learn how you can streamline your own processes to become more productive while using Slack, or how you might create a better experience for your...
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A Content Marketing Playbook for Times of Crisis

Uncategorized
May 11, 2020/by
A Content Marketing Playbook for Times of Crisis The COVID-19 pandemic has sent businesses scrambling to pause plans, edit emails, and cancel campaigns. And while everybody seems to know what not to publish these days, many marketers are asking: what should we put out into a world in the throes of a crisis? It's a conundrum facing countless creators across the globe. They're wondering how to be empathetic without being disingenuous. How to offer value without seeming opportunistic. And how to be there for their audience without adding to the noise. These are important questions to ask at a time like this. Essential, in fact. But underpinning all of them is a much simpler question that gets to the very heart of what content marketing has always been about. A question that every creator staring at a blank canvas right now should be asking: how can we help? Because now, more than ever before, audiences are seeking help. Increasing Engagement Rates Entire industries have been forced into hibernation in recent weeks, but this does not mean audiences' appetites for helpful content has gone away. On the contrary. Consumers are increasing searches for valuable information and engaging with businesses at record rates. According to an analysis of anonymized data from HubSpot's global customer base, engagement with marketing emails, website traffic, and live chat sessions have all been on the rise, with email open rates an eye-catching 25% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, traffic to HubSpot Academy, our free...
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