Upstream vs. Downstream Marketing, Explained How many times have you seen a term for something you already knew about? This probably happens a lot, right?  For example, before I took marketing classes in college, I had no idea that there was a term for making sure your content has a better chance of ranking highly on search engines. (Hint: This is search engine optimization, or SEO). You may already know about upstream and downstream marketing. When I learned what these two terms meant, I found myself saying, "Oh, so that's what it's called!" You’re probably here for the same reason. So, let’s talk about the difference between these two terms and how they work together. Are you ready for a quick introduction to upstream and downstream marketing? Upstream Marketing Upstream marketing is a long-term plan. It allows for marketers to conceptualize a timeline for future releases based on customer segments. To create an upstream marketing plan, start with a section of your audience that you want to focus on in the next year or so. Your completed upstream plan should include the following: Identification of a portion of your audience's problems A product or service that will solve those challenges A price and competitive edge for campaign assets First, identify the challenges your customers are facing. Do this by referring to your buyer persona and researching the current market as well as gathering feedback from current customers. For instance, let's say your company offers...

The Plain-English Guide to GCLID 90% of all web searches happen on Google, which means, if you're a marketer, you should probably know the ins and outs of Google Ads I've opened Google to search for something at least five times today. And every one of those times, I've seen at least two ads on every results page. No matter the wide range of my searches — from vegan snickerdoodles to makeup brands and HTML codes — I was met with Google advertisements. From a business perspective, Google Ads is amazing for lead generation. It's a pay-per-click platform that helps you boost visits to your website. With Google Ads, you can create targeted ads that will be shown to a segmented audience. Google Ads allows you to track the traffic, metrics, and conversions of your ads without switching to Google Analytics. Let's begin by talking about GCLID more in depth. What is GCLID, and how do you use it? If you are unsure of the number of conversions you're earning from your ad campaigns or want more insight into how to improve the performance of your ads, you may want to look into Google Click Identifier. A GCLID is generated every time an ad is clicked and the user is redirected to a landing page. GCLID communicates data to Google that will be sent to Ads and Analytics, like the pages per visit and the amount of time spent on the website as a whole. When you track...

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...

The Bad Remote Work Habits You Should Avoid A few years ago I was at one of those Big Group Dinners with my marketing team and our clients. There were about 15 of us. I liked the group, but I do not like Big Group Dinners — because at Big Group Dinners you eat and drink too much and you have to pretend you're not tired and you wouldn't rather be in bed sleeping. At this particular Big Group Dinner, I was exhausted. I'd been back and forth from NYC to Seattle a million times that month and had a ton of work to do after dinner. So wining and dining clients and schmoozing with my team was at the bottom of my list of priorities, even though it was technically a giant part of my job. That's when I decided to be, "That Person." That Person: The annoying person who deviates from the group order at a Big Group Dinner. I know it doesn't sound like a huge deal, but we were at a Mexican restaurant and if you know anything about Mexican food, it's communal. So you look like a HUGE jerk if you deviate from the group-ordering plan (and Margaritas! Don't forget the Margaritas!). But I knew that if I had one more drink and another plate full of chips, my health was going to suffer. And if my health suffered, my performance suffered. And while client management was part of my job, the other part was...

19 Lead Nurturing Email Examples You'll Want to Steal You've done it. You provided valuable content to your readers and they've converted into leads. Now, it's time to nurture these leads into opportunities for your sales team. Trouble is, cutting through the inbox clutter isn't an easy feat. And many of these folks just aren't ready to buy yet. That's where lead nurturing comes in: It's a way to stay connected to the leads you collect that aren't ready to buy from you yet, and build up trust until they are ready. If you want to learn more about lead nurturing in general, you can check out this guide. But for the sake of this post, we're going to dive deep into one of the best channels for carrying out your lead nurturing efforts: email. To help you better understand how to pair the two concepts, check out the lead nurturing email examples below. From ecommerce to product marketing, there's something for everyone — no matter what industry you operate in.  Pro tip: Use the following anchor links to jump to examples within the industries that interest you most: Ecommerce, B2B, Retail, Travel, Food & Beverage, Services, Product Marketing. 19 Lead Nurturing Email Examples to Inspire Your Strategy Here are the top lead nurturing examples that you can refer to and review while developing your emails.  Ecommerce Lead Nurturing Email Examples 1. Framebridge Not all lead nurturing emails need to be strictly promotional. Engagement will lead to sales,...

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