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I Took a Deep Dive Into the Marketing Funnel, Here’s What I Learned

Marketing Strategy
January 5, 2024/by
I Took a Deep Dive Into the Marketing Funnel, Here’s What I Learned Ever felt the thrill of coming into work only to notice that plenty of new leads have started signing up for a product demo through an article or asset you've created? I can tell you, from personal experience, that few things give you as strong of a motivation boost as this. After all, it's proof that you must be doing something "right." That said, it takes a lot of time to work out where to find your target audience. A lot of it comes down to building the right marketing funnel strategy, i.e., deciding what types of collateral to use at which stage of a lead's readiness to buy. Today, we'll learn a marketing funnel and tips for designing your own. What is the marketing funnel? Stages of the Marketing Funnel Tips for Building a Marketing Funnel Strategy Marketing Funnel – A Practical Example What is the marketing funnel? The marketing funnel describes all the stages your prospect has to go through before becoming your customer — from learning about your company to making the purchasing decision. In short, the marketing funnel acts as a map to guide your prospects to conversion (and beyond). If you closely analyze what happens at every stage of your funnel, you'll be able to understand how to influence prospects to move them to the next stage. Eventually, they become your customers. A well-designed marketing funnel can translate into...
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55 Funny Commercials We Love From the Last Five Years

Ad Management, Advertising Examples
January 4, 2024/by
55 Funny Commercials We Love From the Last Five Years It seems like every commercial is trying to be funny these days, and it makes sense because humor is a way to sell your brand without outwardly selling something. By appealing to a consumers' funny bone, you’re able to engage with them and help them remember your brand. Incorporating humor can work for almost any business or any product. Businesses with highly specialized or expensive products can take advantage by appealing to all audiences. Businesses with small budgets can still take the time to make a clever joke. The bonus is that someone who interacts with your marketing may not be your target customer, but they could very well share your information with someone who is. It's all about brand awareness. When it comes to humor, it's important to be authentic. The brands that make humor work know their persona and their audience well enough to know what will make them laugh. That being said, here are 55 funny commercials from the last five years and why we love them. Pop Culture Commercials Commercials Starring Comedians Commercials Featuring Celebrities Parodies Commercials With Unexpected Twists Iconic Campaigns Hilarious Animation Silly Commercials Comedic Storytelling Pop Culture Commercials 1. PopCorners This commercial turned heads in 2023, with big-name actors like Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul renewing their titular roles from Breaking Bad. The serious nature of the show juxtaposed the humorous...
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Weird Words in English: 100+ Terms You Need to Know from 2023 and Beyond

Marketing Case Studies
January 4, 2024/by
Weird Words in English: 100+ Terms You Need to Know from 2023 and Beyond In 2023, the Oxford English Dictionary again updated its lexicon, adding 80 new weird words and phrases. From technological jargon like “Bitcoin” and “Deepfake” to colloquial gems such as “Bestie” and “Binge-Watching,” the OED continues to capture the ever-evolving tapestry of the English language. The words newly added not only reflect technological advances but also capture the cultural zeitgeist. They tackle everything from the trivial — like “First-World problem”— to the more contentious, such as “Techlash.” The dictionary‘s embrace of such diverse terminology means there’s something in this year's list for everyone. You‘re bound to react whether you find these additions eye-rollingly modern or a fascinating snapshot of our times. Some words may make you chuckle, while others may have you questioning whether they should have made it into the dictionary. So, buckle up, word nerds. You’re in for a linguistic treat. 100+ Weird Words in English You Need to Know Adorbs, adj. A colloquial abbreviation for “adorable” often used to describe something extremely cute or appealing. Adulting, n. The practice or act of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult. Amirite, int. An informal variant of “am I right,” seeking agreement or, sometimes, playfully undermining the preceding statement. Anti-Establishmentarianism, n. A stance of opposition or animosity toward established authority or the establishment itself. Antigodlin, adv. In a slanted or...
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Duplicate Content Issues on Your Website? Easy Ways to Find and Fix Them

Technical SEO
January 4, 2024/by
Duplicate Content Issues on Your Website? Easy Ways to Find and Fix Them It's easy to be fooled into thinking SEO is just about link building or ranking first for specific keywords. While those are important factors, and staying up on best practices is essential, resolving duplicate content issues should be your top priority. Often, the hidden cause of lost rankings and decreasing traffic isn't that someone else does better at link building or keyword optimization. On the contrary, the problem lies in finding and fixing issues on our sites that prevent searchers from finding us. And when it comes to duplicate content, the devil is in the details — finding it and fixing the problem it causes on our sites. Luckily, you have control over your website, so you have the power to fix it. That’s precisely what I’m covering today. What is duplicate content? Duplicate content simply refers to identical chunks of content on different web pages. If it's a sentence or a phrase, it’s not usually an issue. After all, there are only so many ways to say, "Contact us about our services." What's more, if you frequently write about similar topics, you most likely have some common phrases For instance, on my blog, I talk extensively about brand messaging, my framework for copywriting and content creation, and marketing strategy. And if you read several articles from me — whether on my blog or a guest post — you’ll find several places where I may...
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How Media Leaders Will Make AI Work in 2024, from HubSpot’s VP of Media

Media
January 2, 2024/by
How Media Leaders Will Make AI Work in 2024, from HubSpot’s VP of Media Just before the holidays I had a chat with HubSpot’s VP of Media, Jonathan Hunt. Jonathan’s a badass innovator who's led marketing and audience growth for a long list of cool media organizations, from Complex Networks and National Geographic to Vox Media and VICE. So naturally I was curious where he sees the media business going in 2024. Here’s his take: Using AI in the media will go from gaffes and skepticism to necessity in 2024. This is the year media leaders, creators and operators start to make AI work. Source: Google Trends, six-month rolling average He’s onto something. The market size of AI use in media and entertainment reached $19.8B in 2023, a number that’s poised to 5x in 2030.  Get more business ideas and trendy data in our weekly Trends Newsletter.   What’s Driving The Trend From newsrooms to film studios, the media industry is adopting AI en masse and feeling its impact on their work. Jonathan sees three forces driving AI to be even more embraced in media orgs this year:  Efficiency Creating value for consumers is the unchanging rule in the media and entertainment world. If AI can continue to help creators and operators be more efficient, then it becomes a necessity and less of a threat. Personalization The world around us is already going in a highly personal and curatorial AI direction. It’s evident in:  What we get served...
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Programmatic SEO — Getting It Right

SEO
December 30, 2023/by
Programmatic SEO — Getting It Right Programmatic SEO: Is it one heck of a challenge or something you can master in three hours? Do you need a specific toolkit, or will a basic understanding of Google Sheets suffice? And most importantly, how do you tackle programmatic SEO if you’ve never done it before? These are all valid questions — and I’m here to walk you through the answers and more. Plus, I’ll even share a step-by-step process of how to begin with programmatic SEO. (Psst: If you want to learn more about programmatic marketing, check out Programmatic Ads 101: The Plain-English Guide to Programmatic Advertising.) Table of Contents What is programmatic SEO? How to Do Programmatic SEO Programmatic SEO Examples 5 Tips for Building Your SEO Strategy with Programmatic SEO What is programmatic SEO? With programmatic SEO (or pSEO), you are making pages that target keywords nearly automatically. Thanks to programmatic SEO, you can generate hundreds to thousands of landing pages designed to target hundreds to thousands of keywords — but you don’t need to spend time creating those pages manually, which saves a lot of time. To do this, you’ll fetch data from and use pre-programmed rules. So, where do humans come into the picture? Only to fact-check the data and fill in the databases. But here’s a caveat. “Many people confuse product-led SEO with programmatic SEO,” says Kevin Indig, author of Growth Memo. Indig is also a growth advisor...
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25 Best Slack Alternatives for Working Effortlessly in 2024

Collaboration/Teamwork
December 29, 2023/by
25 Best Slack Alternatives for Working Effortlessly in 2024 For more than 32 million people, Slack has become the tool they open first thing in the morning to get the workday started. And it’s become the leader of the team collaboration industry, simplifying people's work and boosting their productivity. But not everyone is completely elated with Slack. And if you’re concerned by some of the platform’s downsides, like limiting free plans, security concerns, or limited customization options, you have many choices. I’ve used dozens of messaging tools that offer capabilities similar to Slack and work well for different types of teams. In this roundup, I’ve listed down the 25 best Slack alternatives to make remote collaboration a breeze. 1. Google Chat Available on: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and web Price: Free for Gmail Users. Starting at $7.20 a user per month for Google Workspace. Google Chat is a Slack alternative built into Gmail, and you can chat with anyone who also has a Gmail account, whether that account is paid or free. I’ve often used Google Chat to share project updates with clients, and its neat interface has been pretty seamless. Pro tip: You'll also be able to use Google Meet with Google Chat to host audio and video calls with your team. Combined with Google’s suite of tools, Google Chat is a feature-packed Slack alternative for Gmail users. Image Source 2. Chanty Available on: Mac, Windows, Android, iOS ...
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22 Video Marketing & Advertising Campaigns You’ll Actually Enjoy Watching

Video Marketing
December 29, 2023/by
22 Video Marketing & Advertising Campaigns You'll Actually Enjoy Watching 91% of people want to see more video marketing efforts from brands — but knowing where to start can be intimidating. We’re sharing 22 video marketing examples and advertisements from the past two years to help inspire you. Expect impactful stories from real people, quirky TikTok clips, interactive video ads, and more. Go grab some popcorn. You won’t believe a marketing team created some of these. 22 Video Marketing Campaigns You’ll Actually Enjoy Watching 1. Hubspot: That’s a Deep We Don’t Want To Roll In 😅 @hubspot That's a deep we don't want to roll in 😅 #HubSpotCRM #CRM #SalesTok ♬ original sound - goldenbiscuit.tx A whopping 672 million global downloads made TikTok the most downloaded app in 2022. Cut to 2023, and 53% of marketers are increasing their TikTok investments (HubSpot Blog Research). The great thing about this platform is that users don’t expect perfect video production. So you don’t need an enormous budget to get started. But TikTok users do expect to be entertained. That’s why we love this quirky HubSpot ad that uses humor to speak directly to its target audience (sales reps). Because if you start a new sales job and they pull up 20 different spreadsheets, it is an Adele-worthy moment. The Takeaway Fun, creative, and relatable...
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The Ultimate Guide to Working From Home (+ Remote Work Tips)

Remote Working
December 29, 2023/by
The Ultimate Guide to Working From Home (+ Remote Work Tips) Working from home is a gift, right up until the cat throws up on your computer. And your neighbor, who you can only assume is building a time machine, starts firing up all sorts of power tools. In those moments, remote work life feels more like a punishment than a miracle. Remote work poses different risks and benefits. Plus, the popularity of this working style has only grown. In fact, when I began working remotely as a digital nomad in 2017, there was still professional pushback, skepticism, and a general dismissive attitude toward remote work. Since then, I’ve been remotely working abroad, and I’ve even published a book on the topic. For me and many others, remote work isn’t a trend; this lifestyle is a long-term choice that allows us to get exactly what we want out of our careers. You may need some help greasing the wheels, but I’m determined to help you feel the same from your remote work lifestyle. Not everyone transitions into remote work smoothly, and that’s okay. Let’s explore the remote work trends, tips, and techniques that can help you get the most out of your remote work. Table of Contents What Remote Work Looks Like Today What is remote work? Types Of Remote Work How to Work From Home 16 Working From Home Tips What Remote Work Looks Like Today Working...
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How to Collaborate with Brands as a Content Creator [Expert Tips]

Content Creation
December 27, 2023/by
How to Collaborate with Brands as a Content Creator Welcome to The Creative, a series that gives content creators actionable advice from professionals in the creator economy. Whether you're a seasoned creator or just starting out, read The Creative to learn how to grow your platform, improve your content, and stay ahead in the ever-shifting creator landscape.  As a content creator, I've found the most common question other creators in my circle ask is, "How do I collaborate with brands?" And it makes sense that it's top of mind for so many creatives since brand deals are among the primary sources of income for podcasters, influencers, YouTubers, streamers, and more. So, how can a content creator secure a collaboration with a brand? Where do you find these brands? And how do you know you‘re ready? Though I am a creator, I’m more of a hobbyist. So, I don't have much personal experience navigating brand deals. However, I spoke with seasoned creators within HubSpot's network with experience working with brands. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about collaborating with brands as a creator, according to the experts. What is a brand collaboration? When should you seek brand collaborations? How to Find Brand Collaborations   What is a brand collaboration? A brand collaboration is a partnership between a brand and a content creator in which both parties work together to create content that promotes the brand to the creator's followers. One of the most common...
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