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How to Make a QR Code in 5 Easy Steps

Brand Experience
December 16, 2022/by
How to Make a QR Code in 5 Easy Steps From restaurant menus to bathroom stall doors, you can find QR codes just about anywhere these days. In fact, they've become so ever-present that 45% of shoppers used marketing-related QR codes in 2021. There's no denying the popularity and convenience of the QR code. But, what exactly is it and how can you create one for your next marketing campaign? Keep reading to learn the magic behind QR codes and how to create your own. QR codes typically look like this: Not every QR code is shaped like a perfect square. Sometimes they have unique patterns, colors, and logos displayed inside. You'll find them in non-digital spaces like direct mail, signage, billboards, and even TV shows where you can scan the code on the screen using your phone. Both barcodes and QR codes can be scanned using a laser or a smartphone as long as the tool being used has the correct capabilities of reading vertical and horizontal data. Although most smartphones scan QR codes automatically, many won't scan barcodes so easily — you'll need a special app for that. Does the rise of QR codes mean traditional barcodes are a thing of the past? Of course not. Traditional barcodes are still a common way for businesses to identify consumer packaged goods (CPGs) and manage their product inventory. Image Source Image Source However, there are several differences between barcodes and QR codes — both...
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How to Write Process Documentation

Project Management
December 15, 2022/by
How to Write Process Documentation Whether you're completing recurring tasks or creating a new program, process documentation can help you formalize your business endeavors. In fact, creating documentation helps improve coordination, structure, and consistency in your organization. This post gathers best practices for process documentation. Here, you’ll learn: What is process documentation? Why Process Documentation Matters Process Documentation Benefits Creating Process Documentation Tips for Process Documentation Process documentation could be a step-by-step tutorial on a new software tool or an onboarding document for new hires. This practice allows you to be proactive in designing internal systems and processes that save time, capital, and valuable energy. Why Process Documentation Matters If you lack structure and details for core organizational processes, your business is more at risk for inefficiencies. Process documentation provides an additional layer of protection for your organization. The lack of documentation can lead to the following organizational challenges. Lack of Information Retention If just one person has extensive knowledge about a process, the organization is at risk of losing that knowledge if they leave. Process documentation helps outline the information that this person holds and allows you to store it in a way that others can access. Redundancies Without a roadmap, there’s a higher chance that time will be wasted on unnecessary or repetitive tasks. Process documentation can help you outline and visualize these redundancies so that you can create a...
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How to Send Effective Order Confirmation Emails [Examples + Template]

Ecommerce Marketing
December 15, 2022/by
How to Send Effective Order Confirmation Emails Order confirmation emails have a 65% open rate, the highest average open rate of all emails. Optimizing these emails is a sure way to get more eyes on your brand. Beyond brand-building, email confirmations bring peace of mind to your valued customers by verifying that a transaction on your website was successful. Without this confirmation, your customers may feel confused. The consequence is a shaky brand experience and potentially an increase in inquiries for your customer service team. Let’s explore how you can optimize your confirmation emails with actionable examples and templates. In this article, you’ll explore: Confirmation Email Best Practices Order Confirmation Email Template Order Confirmation Email Examples How to Create and Send Order Confirmation Emails Order Confirmation Page Confirmation Email Best Practices Many confirmation emails are part of a workflow. Once a customer completes a transaction, an email automatically comes out recapping what they bought. Even though this email follows a formal structure, there are still best practices your brand should implement. For instance, it's critical your order confirmation email be: Mobile-friendly. Many recipients will check their email on their phones to see whether an order was processed. Skim-able. Many customers are on-the-go and don't have time to read dense text. If you have important delivery information you'd like to include, consider linking to it instead of including it in the body text. Provides an email...
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Resources for Indigenous Entrepreneurs: Start on the Right Foot

Entrepreneurship
December 14, 2022/by
Resources for Indigenous Entrepreneurs: Start on the Right Foot Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success. Aspiring Native entrepreneurs face many challenges in growing small businesses. Complex land lease laws, strained infrastructure, and a chronic lack of credit access all inhibit Indigenous success. However, thanks to growing federal, organizational, and tribal support, potential business owners have more resources available than ever. Navigating new financial mechanisms, tribal incubators, and government programs can still present a challenge. By appraising available resources, and when to leverage them, Native entrepreneurs gain a great head start in launching new ventures. Starting on the right foot, with the right tools, can make all the difference – especially when climbing over systemic barriers. Native Community Development Financial Institutions Native access to capital can prove a complex and frustrating obstacle for up-and-coming business owners. Chronic systemic discrimination, along with general confusion around complicated land laws, can stymie new businesses before they ever get started. Generational poverty often means that Natives don’t have alternative means of obtaining start-up capital, either. A May 2021 report by the National Indian Council On Aging states that 16.3 percent of Native households don’t use banks.  The same report notes that high poverty rates, systemic racism, and a lack of...
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Top Marketing Holidays of the Year, According to Marketer Data

Holiday Marketing
December 14, 2022/by
Top Marketing Holidays of the Year, According to Marketer Data As a business, you likely run marketing campaigns all year round. There are specific occasions, though, where you might spend more time and money on your efforts to maximize exposure and inspire the most sales. Holidays are a great example of this, where events like Black Friday can bring in significant sales and revenue compared to other days of the year. In this post, we’ll go over insights from marketers on the holidays and annual events that they spend the most money on and why. What holidays and annual events do marketers build strategies for? We asked marketers and advertisers about the holidays/annual events they plan to build marketing strategies for in the next 12 months. They were asked to select up to three options, and the top three responses were: Winter/End of Year Holidays (ex. New Years Day) Black Friday Halloween What holidays and annual events do marketers spend the most money on? We asked marketers and advertisers about the holidays/annual events they spend the most time and money on marketing. The top holidays were winter/end of year holidays, Black Friday, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. We also asked marketers why they spend the most money on the events they selected and the most common responses were that their selected annual holidays and events drive the most sales and bring in the most revenue. For example, some marketers said they spend the...
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How Marketers are Navigating Q4: Traffic, Lead & Email Data from 150K+ Brands

Marketing Trends
December 14, 2022/by
How Marketers are Navigating Q4: Traffic, Lead & Email Data from 150K+ Brands If you're a marketer, it's likely been a very – odd – Q4! On top of racing to the finish with end-of-year reports, campaigns, and project memos, you're also in the thick of annual planning for the new year. And, to add one more complicated layer to the mix, many marketing teams are waiting in the balance to see how our uncertain economy and the continuance of unprecedented global events will impact their work. While we don't have a crystal ball, our final analytics report of the year aims to give you an insightful glimpse of how industries are performing in Q4, and help you make the most informed decisions for your brand as 2023 begins. Without further adieu, let's dive in. About this Data: These insights are based on data aggregated from 158,000+ HubSpot customers globally between November 2021 and November 2022. Because the data is aggregated from HubSpot customers’ businesses, please keep in mind that the performance of individual businesses, including HubSpot’s, might differ based on their markets, customer base, industry, geography, stage, and/or other factors. Mid-Q4 Marketing Themes Overall Themes With seasonality – which we began to see in our last recap – in full swing, industries linking to retail, travel, and leisure are seeing unsurprising month-to-month upticks in conversions, leads, and even traffic. Meanwhile, industries like construction – which are often less active during the end of the year and in uncertain financial...
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Study Finds Most Marketers Don’t Know Their Audience: Here’s Why and How to Fix It

Marketing Strategy
December 13, 2022/by
Study Finds Most Marketers Don’t Know Their Audience: Here’s Why and How to Fix It   When it comes to marketing, almost nothing is more important than knowing your target audience. But what if I told you over half of marketers are missing critical information on their consumers? In our annual survey of over 1,200 marketers, we found that just 42% know the basic demographic information of their target audience, like their name, gender, and location. And, the data gap doesn't stop there: Less than half of marketers know their audience’s interests and hobbies, shopping habits, the products they are interested in buying, their purchase history, and where they consume content. Only 31% know the online communities their target audience is a part of and even less know the challenges they are facing. Just one-fourth of marketers know the social causes their target audience cares about - a huge missed opportunity when it comes to expressing your brand’s values, especially when marketing to Gen Z and Millennials. So why are marketers having such a hard time getting these data points? Let’s take a look at the biggest challenges marketers face in getting the data they need and discuss some solutions to the disconnection marketers are seeing with their audience. The Biggest Challenges Marketers Face in Understanding Their Target Audience A whopping 82% of marketers say having high-quality data on their target audience is important to succeeding in their role – but more than half...
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26 Quotes to Inspire Your Job Search

Job Search
December 10, 2022/by
26 Quotes to Inspire Your Job Search As a job seeker, you’ll face ups and downs. Motivational job search quotes can inspire you on the days you feel like giving up. Between preparing for interviews and sending out resumes, you may not have time to find these quotes yourself. That’s why our team gathered 26 of our favorite quotes from people who were in your shoes and nailed the job search. Read on and keep pursuing your dream job! Table of Contents Quotes About Following Your Passion Motivational Quotes to Keep You Resilient Quotes About Creating Opportunities Quotes About Networking Quotes About Personal & Professional Growth Quotes About Following Your Passion Pursuing your passion and following your interests can be challenging. Sometimes, it feels like everyone else is pursuing their dream career except for you. Don’t give up hope! The payoff of finding the right role will make the process worthwhile. Keep reading for quotes about following your passion. 1. “Passion is not a job, a hobby, or a sport. It’s a full force of your attention and energy that you give to whatever is right in front of you. Don’t wait for a passion. Instead, spend your time solving your favorite problems. People will love you, thank you, hug you, and pay you for it. That’s where passion is. Chase opportunities, not passions.” — Terri Trespicio, Author of Unfollow Your Passion. Keynote TEDx Speaker. ...
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It’s Not Just a Marketing Phrase: 3 Ways to Deliver on Being a “Purpose-Driven Brand”

Marketing Strategy
December 7, 2022/by
It's Not Just a Marketing Phrase: 3 Ways to Deliver on Being a "Purpose-Driven Brand" We’ve entered the era of purpose. 70% of employees believe it’s important to work for a business with a clear sense of purpose.  And, 54% of consumers have reduced or stopped purchasing from organisations they think missed the mark on environmental or social issues. Additional, countless data points in our most recent State of Consumer Trends Report highlight how having a solid purpose or mission will win over today's audiences and enable you to stand out against competitors. The last two and a half years have brought into focus what it means to be a purpose-driven company. The global pandemic disrupted supply chains and highlighted rising inequalities. The ongoing threat of climate change shifted market dynamics and investor expectations, leaving businesses realising they must act. Not to mention, the Great Resignation/Reflection proved that employees are increasingly seeking value and purpose at work. There’s no question that driving value for stakeholders, society, and the planet is imperative. Today and in the future, we’ll see more companies start to weave purpose into their business. But, purpose is more than a buzzword. For winning companies, purpose declares a company’s core reason for existence and its unique impact on the world. Done right, companies connect people’s individual purpose with the organizations. But, building that doesn’t come easy. That’s why leaders iterate and evolve on a company’s purpose as they grow. At HubSpot, our purpose of building a company that future generations would be...
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