Marketing – Digital Marketing Services

Tag: Marketing

Can Zara and Pull&Bear Pull Inditex’s CRM Practices Up…

4th March 2021

Welcome back to PostFunnel’s 40^th (!!) episode of the LEGENDARY 7 CRM Commandment Series.

Today, we get to Inditex – the Spanish multinational clothing retailer.

Just like with N Brown Group’s analysis, this time around things will be a bit different. Instead of choosing one of the group’s brands, we randomly chose a different brand to rank for each commandment.

Here is the list of brands that you’ll find here: Zara, Bershka, Pull&Bear, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti, and Uterqüe.

So, how will Inditex score and rank against the rest of the 39 brands? Let’s find out.

1. Be Transparent 7/10

When entering the Inditex website, we were instantly presented with the key points of activity:

Selling in 202 markets
7,469 stores
€28.3 billion sales
+23% online sales
€1.2 billion in digital and sustainability transformation
€6,749 million in total tax contribution
176,611 employees, 172 nationalities
19% of join life garments
And so much more

This is pretty unique for a company to do.

On the other hand, there’s a lot of news going on right now about the company, mostly negative headlines regarding store closures and layoffs. The company’s lack of direct responses costs them a few points. This is not the time to hide behind weak, indirect statements.

2. Incentives and Perks 7/10

For this commandment, let’s find out whether Bershka is providing customers with incentives and perks to continue shopping with them – ultimately creating strong and loyal customer relationships.

On the brand’s HP menu, we immediately noticed that Berksha is offering discounts of up to 40%, as shown here:

In addition, the brand promises to provide customers with promotions and more when signing up to receive their newsletter.

When continuing to browse through Bershka’s site, though, we were a bit disappointed to see that no further incentives and perks were offered to us. For instance, a first-time order discount/promotion/deal or even a bonus code. Many other brands that we have analyzed to date (now reaching 40 cause we’re legendary, right?) do provide customers with these kinds of perks. And see them coming back thanks to them.

3. Be Relevant 1/10

Let’s take a look at Stradivarius for this commandment.

For starters, the brand has created a stylish and “comfy” zone for these WFH times.

However, when it comes to relevancy, we usually check whether the brand has altered its offering in one way or another, for instance, to be more convenient for shoppers during this last year of the pandemic.

A simple note on new delivery options – if they offer any – like curbside pickups, BOPIS, or other contact-free options – would be much appreciated. In fact, we couldn’t find any mention of how COVID has affected the brand/shopper at all.

Furthermore, we couldn’t find any ways in which the brand is giving back to the community or addressing societal issues that should be top of mind for every retailer today – everything from BLM, D&I, LGBT+, mental health, etc.

Remember, brands that exhibit social responsibility are the ones who will build more meaningful relationships with customers in the long run.

4. Be Helpful 10/10

Inditex is being helpful in a number of ways.

· Supporting communities

· Measuring impact

· Social welfare

· Humanitarian aid

· Bringing clean water and better sanitation facilities to communities in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Brazil

· Education programs in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

You can read more about their commitment to people and the community here.

Anyhow, that’s a lot of helpfulness.

5. Realtime Personalization 7/10

When entering the Pull&Bear website, we were asked to choose our country of residence and language of choice to shop in – also with the ability to have the brand remember our selection for the next time, we come to shop.

Then, our experience was further personalized when asked to choose our gender – so that we can tailor the experience and narrow it down before we begin.

When adding a printed dress to our shopping cart, upsell and cross-sell options were indeed there as the brand recommended, we “complete the look” with boots that are more expensive and, in another category/product of purchase.

The downside: After adding the dress to our cart and going back to the HP – nothing changed to personalize our experience, like showing us similar item suggestions and recommendations. Also, when logging off the Pull&Bear website and hopping onto social media, no realtime retargeting efforts were made by the brand.

6. Master UX 10/10

For this commandment, we chose to analyze Massimo Dutti.

The website has been created in full-spread design just like a magazine – making the entire experience very fun and engaging. The brand also has videos in some of its fold on the HP, further making it live and interactive for the shopper. Overall, memorable first impression.

The navigation bar and menu to shop according to category were all very clear and simple to navigate through – so the sleek design for sure did not come at the expense of functionality.

Finding the brand’s contact info was easy as well as helpful – and we especially liked the way their FAQ page is laid out.

The entire process of adding items to our cart, removing them, and proceeding to check out was simple. Therefore, making the site highly accessible and easy to use. Perfect score!

7. Leverage Social Media 5/10

For this commandment, we chose to analyze Uterqüe – perhaps one of Inditex’s less familiar brands that sell accessories, fashion extras, and a chosen selection of top-quality fabric and leather garments.

On Twitter, they have about 19K followers, 349K likes on Facebook, and 745K followers on Instagram.

On all three channels, they keep it strictly fashion. There’s so much more content that can be created to both improve brand awareness and increase brand loyalty. That’s a miss.

Perhaps posts that call for more engagement would help the brand create a stronger community which leads to stronger and healthier customer relationships.

**

Overall, Inditex is getting a 47/70 here (67%), tied with Fiverr for 31st, and towards the bottom of the pack. You could, for sure, expect more of such a huge brand. Perhaps Stradivarius, the brand we randomly chose for checking relevancy, is the one Inditex brand that doesn’t take relevancy into consideration. Too bad. Such voices should go top-down across the organization.

Here are the full rankings of all the brands we analyzed to date:

Pets at Home91%
Lowe’s90%
Petco90%
Target87%
Uniqlo86%
Paul Smith84%
Vrbo83%
N Brown Group81%
West Elm81%
The North Face81%
Holland and Barret80%
lululemon80%
JD Sports79%
Brooks Running79%
Best Buy78%
Angie’s List 77%
Nando’s75%
Etsy76%
The Body Shop74%
Gymshark73%
William Hill73%
Essence72%
Iceland Foods71%
Total Wine & More70%
Tommy Hilfiger70%
Walgreens70%
Kohl’s70%
The White Company69%
United Colors of Benetton69%
Buy Buy Baby68%
Fiverr 67%
Inditex 67%
Next63%
Patagonia61%
Express60%
Burberry60%
Zara59%
Treatwell 58%
COS57%
Dream1153%

We publish a new analysis every week, so watch this space for more brand analyses coming your way!

The post Can Zara and Pull&Bear Pull Inditex’s CRM Practices Up the Ladder? appeared first on Post Funnel.

branding

The Ultimate Guide to Branding in 2021

4th March 2021

Products are never just products, right?

Coca-Cola is more than a soda. Starbucks is more than a coffee. Ray-Ban is more than a pair of sunglasses. Glossier is more than a tube of concealer.

Interacting with these products provide experiences, and we buy them with that experience in mind. Better yet, the companies that create and market them know exactly the experience they want you to have when you make (or consider) a purchase. That’s why they create a brand.

From the language in their Instagram caption to the color palette on their latest billboard to the material used in their packaging, companies who create strong brands know that their brand needs to live everywhere. They know their names extend far beyond the label.

The result? These brands are known, loved, and chosen out of a long lineup of options.

Who doesn’t want that? I know I do. That’s why we built this guide — to equip you to create and manage a strong brand that’ll help your business be admired, remembered, and preferred.

Use the links below to jump ahead to sections of interest, and don’t forget to bookmark this guide for later.

What’s a brand?

Before I dive into the importance of branding and how to build a brand, let’s go back to basics: What is a brand?

A brand is a feature or set of features that distinguish one organization from another. A brand is typically comprised of a name, tagline, logo or symbol, design, brand voice, and more. It also refers to the overall experience a customer undergoes when interacting with a business — as a shopper, customer, social media follower, or mere passerby.

What is branding?

Branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.

Branding is an iterative process and requires getting in touch with the heart of your customers and your business. It’s important for a variety of reasons — I dive into these next.

Branding can be the deciding factor for consumers when they make a purchase decision. In a 2015 global Nielsen survey, almost 60% of shoppers said they actively buy from brands they know, and 21% said they bought a product because they liked the brand.

Branding gives your business an identity beyond its product or service. It gives consumers something to relate to and connect with.

Branding makes your business memorable. It’s the face of your company and helps consumers distinguish your business across every medium (which I discuss later).

Branding supports your marketing and advertising efforts. It helps your promotion pack that extra punch with added recognition and impact.

Branding brings your employees pride. When you brand your company, you’re not only giving your business identity, you’re also creating a reputable, highly-regarded workplace. Strong branding brings in strong employees.

Branding Terms to Know

Here are some other brand-related buzzwords you should know. They further demonstrate the importance and value of branding your business.

Brand awareness

Brand awareness refers to how familiar the general public and your target audience is with your brand. High brand awareness leads to brands being referred to as “trending,” “buzzworthy, or “popular.” Brand awareness is important because consumers can’t consider purchasing from your brand if they’re not aware of it.

👉🏼 Strong branding makes your business known.

Brand extension

Brand extensions are when companies “extend” their brand to develop new products in new industries and markets. Consider Honda lawn mowers or Martha Stewart bedding. Brand extensions allow companies (or individuals) to leverage brand awareness and equity to create more revenue streams and diversify product lines.

👉🏼 Strong branding brings in more money.

Brand identity

Brand identity is the personality of your business and the promise you make to your customers. It’s what you want your customers to walk away with after they interact with your brand. Your brand identity is typically comprised of your values, how you communicate your product or service, and what you want people to feel when they interact with it.

👉🏼 Strong branding gives your business more than a name.

Brand management

Brand management refers to the process of creating and maintaining your brand. It includes managing the tangible elements of your brand (style guide, packaging, color palette) and the intangible elements (how it’s perceived by your target audience and customer base). Your brand is a living, breathing asset, and it should be managed as such.

👉🏼 Strong branding requires consistent upkeep.

Brand recognition

Brand recognition is how well a consumer (ideally in your target audience) can recognize and identify your brand without seeing your business name — through your logo, tagline, jingle, packaging, or advertising. This concept goes hand-in-hand with brand recall, which is the ability to think of a brand without any visual or auditory identifiers.

👉🏼 Strong branding keeps your business top-of-mind.

Real-life brand example: Want to test your brand knowledge? Take this Logo Quiz by Business Insider to see how well you know your corporate brands. This is brand recognition at work.

Brand trust

Brand trust refers to how strongly customers and consumers believe in your brand. Do you deliver on your marketing promises? Do your salespeople and customer service go above and beyond? These things can create trust among your customers, which is important in a world where a mere 25% of people feel confident in large businesses.

👉🏼 Strong branding builds trust with your customers.

Brand valuation

Brand valuation is the commercial valuation of your brand derived from consumer perception, recognition, and trust. This concept goes hand-in-hand with brand equity. A powerful brand can make your business invaluable to investors, shareholders, and potential buyers.

👉🏼 Strong branding increases your business’s value.

Want to build an effective, measurable brand? Download our free guide on How to Build a Brand in 2019.

How to Create a Brand

Determine your target audience
Establish your mission statement
Define your values, features, and benefits
Create your visual assets
Find your brand voice
Put your branding to work

Here’s how you can create a brand — or begin the process of rebranding your current one.

There’s a lot that goes into a brand, and there’s a lot to consider when building a strong one. So, grab a notebook and jot down ideas as you move through this section. Recognize that branding is an iterative process, so you might be repeating some of these steps as you brainstorm and build your brand.

1. Determine your target audience

Branding leads to awareness, recognition, trust, and revenue. We’ve talked about that. But let’s take a step back and understand where those stem from: consumers. And not just any consumers — your target audience and customers.

If your brand doesn’t resonate with your audience, it won’t lead to that awareness, recognition, trust, and revenue. That’s where target market research comes in.

Before pressing pen to paper (or cursor to digital document), you must understand to whom your branding will be speaking. Who does your product serve? Who is your ideal customer? Why did you create your business in the first place?

What you learn about your target market and buyer personas will influence your branding decisions down the line, so make this step your first priority.

Download our free Persona Templates to easily organize your target audience research and strengthen your marketing.

2. Establish your mission statement

Let’s return to a question I asked in the previous step: Why did you create your business? Answering this will help you build your mission statement, which defines your purpose and passion as an organization.

Before you can craft a brand that your audience recognizes, values, and trusts, you must be able to communicate the purpose that your business provides. Then, every part of your brand (logo, tagline, imagery, voice, and personality) can reflect that mission and vision.

Your mission statement is a building block of your brand manifesto, which encompasses why your organization exists and why people should care about your brand.

Download our free guide to Defining Inspiring Mission and Vision Statements and learn the ins-and-outs of two of the most valuable strategic planning elements for businesses.

3. Define your unique values, qualities, and benefits

There are probably lots of businesses in your industry and niche. It’s easy to focus on your competition (and there’s a time and place for competitive analysis), but, for now, let’s focus on you.

What’s one thing that your business has that no one else can mimic (er, legally)? Your brand.

Because of that, you must ensure that your brand is comprised of and inspired by elements that are solely yours: the values, benefits, and qualities that make your company unique.

Take a moment to jot down a list of what sets your business apart from others. I’m not talking about product features (like appearance, components, or capabilities); I’m referring to how your products or services improve lives and contribute to success.

Real-life brand example: Alani Nutrition

You’ve probably never heard of Alani Nu; they’re a nutrition company based in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. I order their vitamins because 1) they’re proven to work, and 2) I trust and respect the brand (and it’s gorgeous!). On their website, they’ve clearly and simply outlined their unique values and benefits as part of their overall brand. Highlighting these makes it easy for customers like me to trust their products and choose them over competitors.

4. Create your visual assets

At this point, you should understand your target audience, your mission statement, and the unique qualities that make up your business.

If you can say with confidence that you’ve mastered these steps, it’s time to move onto one of the more exciting parts of branding — the visual design. We’re talking about your logo, color palette, typography (fonts), iconography, and other visual components.

As you create these elements, build a set of brand guidelines (or a brand style guide) to govern the composition and use of your visual assets. This will ensure that whoever uses your new branding does so accurately and consistently. Check out HubSpot’s brand guidelines for reference.

Note: Design can be just as intimidating as it is exciting. Consider hiring a professional with logo and identity design experience or starting with a few helpful design templates.

Take your brand to the next level with this free e-book on creating a brand style guide. Download templates, too!

5. Find your brand voice

Next, consider the auditory component of your brand. What would your brand sound like if you had a conversation with it, or if it texted you?

How you communicate with your target market is also considered part of your branding. You want to define a brand voice that connects and resonates with your audience — otherwise, they probably won’t pay attention. Because of that, don’t hesitate to return to step one to get familiar with to whom you’re speaking.

From your advertising campaigns and social media captions to your blog posts and brand story, ensure your tone is consistent throughout all of your written content. Give your audience a chance to get familiar with your brand and learn to recognize the sound of your voice. Better yet, master a fun, entertaining voice, and your customers will look forward to your social media and email updates.

Real-life brand example: MailChimp

MailChimp is a great example of a brand that speaks with a clear, consistent tone. When I used their free plan for my small business, I always chuckled when receiving their emails and working in their interface. From its web copy to its email blasts and social media captions, MailChimp has established a brand voice and personality that is personable, fun, and accessible — it can be hard to explain the technical parts of a software product (like A/B testing), but MailChimp has mastered that, too.

Source

6. Put your branding to work

Your brand only works if you do. Once you finish designing and creating your new brand (or rebrand) integrate it throughout every inch of your business. Pay extra attention to ensure it’s displayed anywhere your business touches customers. Here are a handful of tips for applying your brand across your organization.

Website

Splash your logo, color palette, and typography across your website. Don’t use anything but your predefined assets in your brand guidelines. Your website is a major part of your company identity — if it doesn’t reflect your brand, it will only provide a jarring customer experience. Also, be sure that all web copy, calls-to-action, and product descriptions reflect your brand voice.

Social media

All profile photos, cover art, and branded imagery should reflect your brand. Consider putting your logo as your profile photo — this will make it easier for customers to recognize your business. As with your website, be sure all profile information, posts, and captions reflect your brand voice.

Packaging

If you have a physical products business, your product is probably the most tangible way that customers interact with your brand. For that reason, your packaging should reflect your new branding — in its design, colors, size, and feel.

Real-life brand example: Chobani

I love Chobani yogurt (confession: I’m eating it right now). Their new branding immediately tells me that they produce authentic, healthy Greek yogurt. That’s one of the main reasons I buy Chobani. Recently, I realized that their yogurt packages are made with a very earthy, textured material — an intentional decision that supports the overall experience they’ve paired with purchasing and eating the Chobani brand.

Advertising

Because advertisements (digital and print) are often used to establish brand awareness and introduce consumers to your brand, it’s critical that they reflect your branding. In fact, your branding should make the ad creation process easier — with your brand style guide, you already know how your ads should appear and what type of copy to write.

Sales and customer service

A brand is only as powerful as the people behind it, and if your people aren’t putting your brand to work, it won’t work for you. Moreover, your brand applies to more than your marketing. Inform your sales and customer service folks of your brand guidelines and tell them to use it, especially when they engage directly with customers. Whether they are sharing a branded product demo or answering customer support inquiries, encourage them to use your logo, tagline, imagery, and brand voice.

Download our Essential Guide to Branding Your Company to learn everything you need to go from same-old business to must-have brand.

Branding Tips for Small Business

Treat your brand as a person
Prioritize consistency
Follow a brand strategy
Don’t let inspiration turn into imitation
Use branding to hire

Treat your brand as a person

To best wrap your head around the branding process, think of your brand as a person. Your brand should have an identity (who it is), personality (how it behaves), and experience (how it’s remembered).

Ask yourself these questions about your brand:

How would your brand introduce itself? If it had to describe its appearance, how would it do so?
How would your brand talk about your products or services? Would it be serious and professional, or would it be humorous and edgy?
What would someone say about your brand after “meeting” it for the first time? What are a few sentences they’d use to describe it?

The purpose of branding is to create relationships with your customers. The easiest way to do this is to treat your brand as a person and understand that you want your customers to do the same.

Real-life brand example: Whiskey Riff

Whiskey Riff is another brand you’re probably not familiar with. It’s a two-man media company based here in Chicago that’s dubbed themselves “the most entertaining country music site ever”. I’m a fan because I love country music, enjoy their written and podcast content, and proudly wear some of their awesome apparel.

If Whiskey Riff was a person, here’s how I’d think it would answer the questions above:

“Hey, I’m Whiskey Riff. I love country music and, you guessed it, Whiskey. My logo was inspired by the Y in the circle on the Chicago Theater marquee, and I’m adorned with horizontal red stripes and stars — which represent the American and Chicago flags.”
“I publish in-your-face content about what’s going on in country music today. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. My podcast featured my founders interviewing country music artists and telling hilarious stories. Check out my apparel line; my t-shirts, tanks, hats, and accessories can be seen at country music festivals (and on stages) nationwide.”
“Whiskey Riff is like that first shot of Jack Daniels — that much-needed, refreshing drink after a long day. Its a break from that cookie-cutter way of life, and you immediately appreciate — and trust — its candidness. There’s absolutely nothing like it in the industry.”

Prioritize consistency

Inconsistency is the number one branding mistake that companies make. Inconsistency undermines your brand and confuses your customers. Recognizable, valuable brands prioritize consistency — and they reap the benefits. When your brand is a unified presence across mediums and platforms, customers can easily get familiar with, recognize, and come to prefer your brand over time. Brand guidelines can help with this initiative.

Build and follow a brand strategy

A brand strategy is more than your brand guidelines; it’s a plan with specific, long-term goals that can be achieved as your brand evolves. These goals typically revolve around your brand’s purpose, emotion, flexibility, competitive awareness, and employee involvement.

Remember how I said that branding is a continuous process? There’s a lot that goes into it. A brand strategy can help you turn that process into a well-oiled practice that keeps your brand moving toward success and recognition.

Don’t let inspiration turn into imitation

Competitive analysis is important. Not only does it educate you on where your competition stands and how they are excelling, but it can also give you ideas on how you can improve or further set apart your brand.

However, be conscious to not fall into an imitation trap. Keep your competitive research limited and focus on what your organization brings to the table. Just because a competitor (or two) has branded their company in a certain way doesn’t mean that you have to follow suit. New, unique, provocative brands are memorable brands.

Use branding to hire

Strong branding makes your employees proud. I know I’m proud to be associated with HubSpot, much less work there. Leverage your branding to attract talented people. If hiring is a strong initiative for your organization, dedicate some of your resources to employer branding. Employer branding is how you market your company to job seekers and current employees. If you’re publically proud of your organization, others will be, too.

Ready, Set, Brand

Branding is your organization’s name, logo, color palette, voice, and imagery. It’s also more. It’s that intangible feeling your customers have when they interact with your brand. You know … that experience we talked about in the beginning.

That’s how powerhouse brands deviate from all the others. The tangible components contribute to this — a gorgeous logo, a clever tagline, an authentic manifesto, and a clear brand voice — but truly strong brands thrive when they focus on the big picture of their brand. Get to the heart and soul of your target audience and your organization, and a successful brand will follow.

Custom Objects

How to Use Your HubSpot Custom Objects with Your…

3rd March 2021

HubSpot’s recent announcement of the custom objects features has left the integration teams at Lynton and SyncSmart feeling excited. No longer do we have to create complicated workarounds to get our valuable clients’ external systems effectively communicating with HubSpot. Instead, we have a real way to mirror the architecture of someone’s CRM or ERP to HubSpot.

Here’s a breakdown of what that all means.

What Are Custom Objects and the Custom Objects Feature?

First, it’s important to recap the custom objects feature if you’re learning about it for the first time or simply need a refresher. You can use the feature if you have either the enterprise tier of Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, or Service. Custom objects feature extends HubSpot’s capabilities by allowing businesses to define objects other than HubSpot’s standard ones. With it, you can store any data directly in HubSpot. For example, if you’re an animal hospital, you could define a custom object such as “pet.” That data can then be associated with one another, accessed by all your CRM users, and used in marketing campaigns and reporting. If you work in a niche industry, like radio or media entertainment, you can use them to build entities unique to your business.

How To Set Up A Custom Object?

To set up your custom object, you’ll first need to make sure you have Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, or Service Hub Enterprise. Then, you’ll need a developer to define it using the HubSpot API. If you’re comfortable using the HubSpot API, that’s great! Once you know the object’s name (singular and plural), associations, and display properties, you’ll use an API call to define all that information

You can also use SyncSmart’s Custom Objects HQ if you don’t have the development resources needed to use the objects API.

How Do Custom Objects Work with an External Platform?

Once you’ve defined your custom objects in HubSpot, you’ll need to work with an integration partner such as Lynton to get that object and its data to sync to your CRM or ERP. A HubSpot CRM or ERP integration maps the data between the two systems in real-time, so no information is lost or corrupted. Before custom objects, there was no clear way to translate data that a custom object may contain.

It’s also worth noting there are no native HubSpot integrations that can sync custom object data between HubSpot and another system. You’ll have to work on a custom project for an accurate 1:1 transfer of information.

What Are Some Examples of Custom Objects That Could Be Integrated?

The beauty of the custom objects feature is, you can truly store whatever kind of data you need. You can define objects like:

Applications – relevant to many business verticals, like educational bodies, apartment property management companies, and more
Locations – again, pertinent to all kinds of business ventures, such as cable providers, gyms, vets, power companies, and more
Subscriptions – another example that can be used across industries, like technology companies, name-brand, and boutique fitness centers, or streaming services

Read more: 6 Use Cases for Custom Objects in HubSpot

Why Would You Sync Your Custom Objects into Your External Systems?

There are numerous reasons why HubSpot users who also utilize another system would want to work with an integration partner. For example, if you have many unique objects or entities, you’ll finally have a smooth transfer of data (as noted). You can also:

Name the custom object what you want, pull in as many fields as you want, and make as many associations as you want – and ALL of that will sync over with an integration
Have more data to provide to your marketing and sales teams
Create contextual marketing and sales lead nurturing campaigns through better segmentation and filtering opportunities
Customize your business efforts to reflect your niche industry
Tap into more substantial reporting to optimize and grow your company over time

The bottom line, though? If you define your custom objects in HubSpot, then integrate your systems, your CRM or ERP will match your HubSpot – without the need to build a workaround.

How Do You Get Started?

Either download custom objects HQ or define your objects using the API, then reach out to our team to go over a custom integration.

Facebook Marketing

Facebook Lookalike Audiences: What Marketers Need to Know

3rd March 2021

If you’ve ever been in charge of running ads for a business, I’ll bet you’ve wondered how to get cold audiences to interact with your ads. It’s the age-old problem of online advertising.

With Facebook ads, one of the best ways to target a cold audience that is likely to interact with you is to use lookalike audiences.

Don’t worry if you’ve heard of this concept, but have been slightly worried about getting started with the process. I know I thought the process would be more complex when I was working at an agency. Lucky for us, it’s actually really simple.

Below, let’s learn everything you need to know to get started with Facebook lookalike audiences.

So, how does it work?

How does Facebook create lookalike audiences?

Well, Facebook will look at your custom list of people (called a source audience), then match emails with those Facebook profiles, and then find users who have similar interests or are in a similar demographic.

With a lookalike audience, you can reach a cold audience that is highly targeted (reaching only the top 1% of people who most closely match your custom list) and more likely to convert than other audiences because they’re similar to your warm audiences.

When you create a lookalike audience, you’ll be able to maximize your reach and improve your cost per acquisition for new leads since you’re targeting warmer audiences.

Additionally, when Facebook is creating the lookalike audiences that your ad will show up for, it makes sure to exclude anyone from the source audience (the list you uploaded).

You can use several lookalike audiences even for one ad set, that way your ad can show up to people who are similar to your web visitors as well as your email list.

Now, how do you create a lookalike audience?

1. Go to Audiences.

The first step is to log on to Facebook Ads. Then, click the nine dots in the left-hand corner, and click “Audiences.”

2. Select Create Audience and choose Lookalike Audience.

Now, click the blue button that says “Create Audience” and then scroll down to “Lookalike Audience.”

3. Upload your source audience.

This step is where the magic happens. Now it’s time to upload your custom audience source. You can upload a .txt or .csv file or choose a Facebook source. This audience source can be from:

An email list
Website visitors (based on a Facebook pixel you’ll need to install on your site)
App activity
A customer list
Facebook sources (people who have watched your videos, filled out a form, Instagram followers)

To determine which source you want to use, think about your goals. Are you trying to get new email subscribers? Then maybe your email list would be best. If you’re trying to increase sales, maybe you should use your website visitors list.

Either way, it’s important to think about the goal of your ad before you choose your source audience.

4. Choose the country you’d like to find a similar set of people in.

Once you’ve uploaded a list, choose the country that you want to target. This doesn’t mean that people in your source audience need to be from this country. This is just the country or countries you want to target for the ad.

5. Decide your audience size.

Now, you can select your audience size. For example, if you choose 1%, then the people you target will include people who are most similar to your lookalike source. If you increase the percentage, then you increase your audience size. The bigger the audience size, the less precise the matching details are.

6. Click Create Audience.

Last but not least, click the blue button that says “Create Audience.” It might take up to a day for the audience to be created. But once your lookalike audience is being used, it will refresh every 3-7 days as long as you have ads that are currently targeting it.

Once you’re done creating your lookalike audience, you can set even more parameters by going into the Power Editor tool and choosing a specific age, gender, location, etc.

Before I set you off to the races, though, let’s first discuss some of the requirements of creating a Facebook lookalike audience.

Facebook Lookalike Audience Minimum Size

To create a Facebook lookalike audience, your source audience needs to include at least 100 people from a single country. Additionally, it’s recommended that your source audience contain 1,000 to 50,000 people. You can also create up to 500 lookalike audiences from a single source audience.

If you’re looking to create a Facebook ad, using lookalike audiences is one of the best ways to target cold audiences. These audiences will be more likely to engage with your ad based on their similarities to your other audiences.

If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can use HubSpot’s ads tool to manage your digital ads, including ones run on Facebook.

B2CRM News

Are the Golden Globes Golden Outside the Hollywood Bubble?

2nd March 2021

What’s in this article:

A quick look at whether today’s most crucial societal issues were addressed during the 2021 Golden Globes
Brands and organizations can learn from Hollywood’s mistakes

On March 1, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey hosted the 78th Golden Globe Awards and thousands of viewers watched the ceremony from home. This year, though, just like everything else, things are different.

Besides the fact that the ceremony was held virtually – the audience had expectations that might have been different than years before. Things that have been especially important in a social climate that is still very much sensitive.

So, is Hollywood still glorifying the elite bubble? Is Hollywood white, straight and male as ever? Let’s find out. And where is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association when it comes to the current Zeitgeist?

Race: Wrong

HFPA’s lack of diverse representation is significant. The organization has been called out left, right, and center since the Golden Globes by numerous actors and organizations.

In fact, HFPA’s lack of Black voting members became a wave of industry criticism and an entire controversy of the 2021 Golden Globes ceremony.

At the beginning of the Globes weekend, the #TimesUp organization issued its statement, calling on the HFPA to go beyond a “cosmetic fix” with the following message on social media:

“Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Not a single Black member out of the 87 members. A cosmetic fix isn’t enough #TimesUpGlobes.”

Amy Schumer, Spike Lee, Jennifer Aniston, Mark Ruffalo, and so many more Hollywood stars have been supporting that.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @amyschumer

In response, a 43-second telecast during the ceremony showed HFPA leaders pledge to diversify their ranks.

“Tonight, while we celebrate the work of artists from around the globe, we recognize we have our own work to do,” said Helen Hoehne, the HFPA’s vice president. “Just like in film and television, representation is vital. We must have Black journalists in our organization.”

Here’s the statement made by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association at tonight’s #GoldenGlobes. pic.twitter.com/3DFF8uexHg

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021

While former president of the organization, Meher Tatna, added that the HFPA “must also ensure everyone from all underrepresented communities gets a seat at our table, and we are going to make that happen.”

Therefore, it’s crucial that the HFPA addresses the systemic problems within their organization.

And, if your brand hasn’t done so already, now’s the time to put in the rigorous effort and work to implement a plan, too.

Gender Equality: Right

Women breaking barriers in all aspects of life pave the way for future generations. This year, the Golden Globes nominations inspired women from across the globe as well – right in time for Women’s History Month.

Chloe Zhao became the first women director and the first Asian director to win Best Picture and Best Director at the Golden Globes.

Chloé Zhao takes home the award for Best Motion Picture Director for Nomadland. #GoldenGlobespic.twitter.com/YvPeTUvn1b

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) March 1, 2021

While Jane Fonda’s acceptance speech has generated buzz for her powerful and inspiring words.

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A post shared by WWD (@wwd)

Golden Globe hosts Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, had heart and star designs drawn on their hands which in the Netflix film, Moxie, is meant to signal support for the feminist revolution.

For anyone wondering why Amy Poehler & Tina Fey had hearts & stars drawn on their hands tonight, the answer is: Moxie!

In Poehler’s new movie, the design is a battle cry — worn by anyone who is sick of the status quo and willing to stand up and fight for what they believe in. pic.twitter.com/eBWbBYzdKx

— Netflix (@netflix) March 1, 2021

Just one tiny thing here: Jason Sudeikis accepted his Best Television Actor in a Musical or Comedy Series Award for Ted Lasso in a brightly colored tie-dye sweatshirt.

Jason Sudeikis in a tie dye hoodie on zoom is a whole pandemic vibe. #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/Ggc0QflCK0

— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) March 1, 2021

Some would call this a double standard for how men and women should dress to one of the world’s most fashionable events that normally starts on the red carpet.

But overall, it seems like at this aspect, at least, HFPA’s main event came across as “woke”.

The post Are the Golden Globes Golden Outside the Hollywood Bubble? appeared first on Post Funnel.

advanced SEO

How Long Should Blog Posts Be in 2021?

2nd March 2021

“Does size matter?”

That’s one of the most common questions clients ask me about their blog posts. My short answer is, “yes, of course, blog post length is important, but it’s how you use your word count that matters most.”

Since Google’s algorithms don’t have a minimum word count for content and blogs, content quality outweighs quantity. Search engines try to find content that directly relates to the intent behind the user’s search query. If your content is optimized for relevant keywords and directly answers the user’s question, your chances of ranking increase.

Instead of fretting about blog length, your energy is better invested in developing the content structure, information, and resources your users need.

Ultimately, as the saying goes, your blog post should be as long as it needs to be. But I know you want a more definitive answer. And despite Google’s amorphous algorithms, I do have an answer for you about this question.

How Long Should a Blog Post Be for SEO?

Your average blog post length should range between 2,319 words and 2,620 words.
And now it’s time for a big ol’ disclaimer. My answer is conjecture. To calculate the average word count, I analyzed Portent’s top-performing blog posts to speculate the ideal word count range. I chose to use our blog rather than search results because we have more than 125 blog posts currently ranking on Google’s first page, many of which also have featured snippets.

I averaged the word count for the 50 most-visited posts by organic pageviews between February 2020 and February 2021. All of these articles earned at least 1,000 unique pageviews from organic search.

Here’s a breakdown of the data for the 50 posts I analyzed.

Smallest word count: 667 words — Google Apps Script Tip #1: Finding the last row
Largest word count: 5,065 words — 113 Google Tricks, Easter Eggs, April Fool’s Day Jokes and Pranks
Average blog post length: 2,520 words
Median blog post length: 2,264 words
Average grade reading level: 10

And here’s what I found for the top 10 performing articles within the 50 post data set.

Smallest word count: 1,482 words — How to Set Up & Use Atom as a Markdown Editor
Largest word count: 5,065 words — 113 Google Tricks, Easter Eggs, April Fool’s Day Jokes and Pranks
Average blog post length: 2,419
Median blog post length: 1,939
Average grade reading level: 9

As a rule of thumb, I always give a +/- 100-word buffer for word count ranges. This accommodates succinct and long-winded writers alike without steering too far away from the average.

But determining your word count based on performance is only part of the equation. As I mentioned earlier, search intent is the ultimate blog post length factor.

How Search Intent Affects Blog Post Length

What information fulfills the user’s search query and fully answers the intent of their question?

The answer to this question should be the North Star for every aspect of your blog post.

To determine how search engines interpret the searcher’s intent for a given keyword or topic, you must first learn about what content succeeds in the search results for the keyword or topic.

First, Google your primary keyword or the high-level topic you’re writing about. Next, analyze the first page of results, including the featured snippet if it’s present. Determine the types of content offered (educational, commercial, how-to, listicle, video, etc.), and then review the featured snippet and the top-three results.

In your page-by-page review, pay attention to:

Topics covered and the discussion order — the relevance of the topics discussed compared to the user’s search query
Target keywords — the keywords the competitor’s posts rank for and where they are used in the blog post
Experts referenced — the experts quoted or the sources the blog post author gives
Resources provided — the internal and external resources the blog post links to or includes
Blog post word count

After you know what the top-three pages discuss, calculate the average word count among those pages. Now, determine if you can provide information and resources that rival your search competitors’ content. If so, aim for a blog post length within +/- 100 words of the calculated average.

Remember, your competitor’s average word count is simply a guideline. It shows what Google thinks is valuable, but that doesn’t always mean your users will agree. If you notice shorter posts have abnormally high bounce rates or longer posts don’t get the engagement you need, then switch things up. In the long run, you’ll be better off by focusing on your user’s needs and then worrying about Google later.

The post How Long Should Blog Posts Be in 2021? appeared first on Portent.

Tracking URLs in HubSpot: What You Need to Know…

2nd March 2021

Your HubSpot campaigns typically involve several different moving parts that may cross over departments like marketing, sales, and customer service. One of the most common elements in any HubSpot campaign?

URLs.

With a tracking URL, you can see how and when visitors access your site through a URL in a specific campaign. It can help you better understand the effectiveness of your marketing campaign because if someone isn’t clicking ANY of your links, that may signify a problem.

Here’s what you should know about tracking URLs in HubSpot campaigns.

What Is a Tracking URL?

A tracking URL sounds exactly like it is! It’s a standard URL with parameters you select attached to it, so when visitors come to your site from it, HubSpot will save the information in these parameters.

What Are UTM Parameters?

As noted, UTM parameters are a vital component of your tracking URL. These tags help you “track” your website’s traffic from its origin or help identify which of your marketing campaigns are referring traffic to your webpage. For example, if you want to know if an Instagram ad is leading buyers to your product page, you should create a tracking URL with specific UTM parameters. You can select from

Source – Shows where your visitors are coming from. This could be anything from email marketing, Facebook, paid advertising, or something custom.
Medium – The channels bringing visitors to your site. An example of medium would be social media.
Campaign – The campaign your URL or promotion is associated with. This will be unique to you.
Term – Shows any paid keywords that you’re targeting within your campaign.
Content – Highlights the exact element of your ad or promotion that someone clicked on.

It’s important to note that only campaign and source are mandatory for every tracking URL. The rest are optional. So, a combination that makes sense for your team and campaign works fine!

Why Should You Use Tracking URLs

You’ll want to create a tracking URL whenever you want to see the traffic from a campaign. Generally, most HubSpot users utilize these URLs in their email blasts, PPC campaigns, social media, and virtually any type of paid advertising. You can also create a tracking URL for your meeting links so your sales team can see where prospects are coming from.

How To Create a Tracking URL

Before creating a tracking URL, HubSpot recommends setting up your campaign and adding or building any related assets for it. If you make your URL before your campaign, you can’t associate the URL with it – which kind of defeats the purpose of a tracking URL, right? You should also double-check the spelling, grammar, and naming conventions in your UTM parameters to make sure everything is following your brand.

Once you’re ready to create your URL, you’ll:

Log in to your HubSpot account
Click “Reports” then “Analytics Tools”
Under “Analytics Tools,” click “Tracking URL Builder”
Choose “Create Tracking URL”
Add in your UTM campaign and source
Hit “Create,” then navigate to the “Actions” dropdown
Click “Copy Tracking URL”
Include your URLs in your content!

Reporting on Your Tracking URLs

The primary purpose of tracking URLs is to see which of your campaigns are working and which aren’t so you can optimize your efforts. Be sure to analyze your tracking URLs like you would your email open rates or blog views.

To do this, navigate to:

“Reports”
Then click “Analytics Tools”
Hit “UTM Parameters”

From there, you’ll choose a date and frequency to get an overall report. To look at a specific campaign or source, head back to “UTM Parameters,” then select your parameter in the upper left corner. After, you can put your data into different reporting formats, like bar graphs and more, to see your campaigns’ results.

Get Help

With tracking URLs, you can finally see what exact campaigns and elements of a campaign are working as expected and which are underperforming. With these guidelines, you should be able to create your tracking URLs in no time! However, if you’d like any help or a deeper dive, please reach out to the experts at Lynton.

conferences

Why You Should Use Early Bird Registration for Your…

2nd March 2021

A few years ago on Thanksgiving, my entire family flew to my sister’s house, except for me. I couldn’t afford the plane ticket, so I stayed home. When I looked at their pictures on Facebook, I was upset that I missed out on the trip.

That concept is called the fear of missing out (FOMO). FOMO, while upsetting when I missed my family trip, is actually a great marketing tool to use when you’re planning an event.

Usually, people don’t start registering for events until the last minute. As a marketer, you’re probably wondering, “How can I get them to register earlier?”

A great way to sell more tickets faster is to use FOMO as a way of motivating your audience to buy tickets through early bird registration.

Today, let’s learn how early bird registration can help you sell more tickets to your events.

The idea behind early bird registration is that people won’t want to miss out on a deal. Plus, this tactic taps into your audience’s sense of urgency. So if you have people on the fence about whether or not they want to go to your event, then an early bird registration might be all you need to nudge them in the right direction.

However, for an early bird discount to work, it needs to be of great value. The package shouldn’t just be slightly cheaper. In addition to the discount, maybe early bird registrants get access to more content, or perhaps the discount is really steep. Either way, it needs to be worth it, otherwise, people won’t feel like they’re missing out if they don’t partake.

Ultimately, this means you can sell more tickets and attract more people to your events.

Additionally, using early bird registration could help you project how much interest there is in your event and your marketing materials. If you have a hard time getting people to buy early bird tickets, then perhaps you need to switch up your marketing tactics before the event. It’s kind of like a test run for your promotional plan.

If all goes well, you’ll also get attendees excited about your event and give them time to talk about it on social to help you spread the word.

To get people excited about early bird tickets, you can promote your keynote speakers, and market the value of the event. What will people get by attending your event?

Now that we know more about what early registration is and why you should use this tactic, let’s dive into the logistics of running early bird registration.

How long should early bird registration last?

For early bird registrations, you can set a certain time period or you can limit the number of purchasers. For example, you can have the early bird discount available during the first week of sales or you can only offer a discount to the first fifty registrants.

Additionally, you might consider only offering early bird discounts to members or subscribers. This is a great benefit and encourages people to sign up for your service. Or you can reward repeat attendees. If you hold an event every year, perhaps repeat customers can get access to early bird discounts before anyone else.

When you’re strategizing about how long the early bird registration will last and what the package should include, it’s important to factor in how many tickets you can sell at a reduced price without hurting your profits. So before you decide on the time frame or the number of tickets, think about your projected attendance.

When your early bird registration ends, it’s time to take advantage of the momentum you’ve built. Use the marketing materials that were successful for a big push before the event.

Early bird registration is a great way to accelerate and improve your sales for your next event. By utilizing urgency, relying on scarcity, making early bird registrants feel like VIPs, and creating a fear of missing out, you’ll create buzz and excitement around your event.

Marketing

15 Strategies To Get YouTube Subscribers

2nd March 2021

In the SaaS industry, the most successful companies prioritize the retention of their existing customers over the acquisition of new customers. Why? Because SaaS companies charge a monthly subscription, so in order to turn a profit, they need their customers paying them for many months in a row. If they can’t retain their customers for X amount of months, they’ll ultimately lose money by acquiring them.

In content marketing, the same principle applies. Retaining your audience’s attention positively impacts your brand a lot more than merely acquiring attention.

When an audience engages with your content for long periods of time on a consistent basis, they can easily turn into a loyal tribe that’s passionate about your work and recommends your brand to all their friends. In other words, staying laser-focused on retaining attention is actually the best strategy for acquiring new attention because your current customers are providing so much word-of-mouth marketing — it’s like a flywheel.

On YouTube, you retain attention by attracting subscribers to your channel. Subscribers are your most loyal fans and made a public commitment to your brand, content, and values. They’re also most likely to be fervent brand evangelists.

In regard to benefiting your YouTube channel, subscribers are crucial because YouTube will send them notifications about your new videos and feature your videos on their homepage. This means they’ll see your videos more frequently, which will help you generate more engagement.

Subscribers also watch twice as much video as non-subscribers, so the more subscribers you have, the more watch time your videos will accumulate, and the more likely YouTube will rank them higher on search and feature them in the related section.

Additionally, YouTube keeps track of the number of viewers who subscribe to your channel right after watching one of your videos. So if one of your videos generates a lot of new subscribers, they’ll reward it with higher rankings and more features in the related section.

To help you grow your YouTube subscription, we’ve fleshed out these strategies that will help you retain attention on the video platform — and not just acquire it.

1. Craft amazing content.

Today, we work in an industry where a lot of people prioritize gaming the system over crafting the best content possible. Fortunately, in regard to their algorithm, YouTube has caught on to this hollow tactic. Their algorithm rewards engagement instead of using only vanity metrics like views and clicks, so creators are incentivized to produce videos that their audience actually enjoys watching.

To craft the most engaging videos for your YouTube channel, consider measuring your videos’ performance against engagement metrics, like watch time, average watch percentage, average view duration, audience retention, and average session duration. Then, analyze this data to figure out which topics and videos generate the most engagement. Once you pinpoint these videos, you can solely focus on creating the content that viewers are most likely to engage with, helping you rake in more subscribers.

2. Use playlists to increase engagement.

Placing your videos in playlists is an extremely effective way to organize your videos in a digestible fashion. They help your viewers easily consume videos about their favorite topics and prompts them to keep watching your content.

One way to get your viewers to watch the majority of your playlists is by starting your playlists with the videos that have the highest audience retention rate and ending them with the videos that have the lowest audience retention rate.

Even better, you could create a binge-able series or show and place entire seasons of it in a playlist. And just like your favorite Netflix show, your playlists can entice your viewers to watch entire seasons of your series, subscribe to your channel, and get excited for your show’s next season.

3. Add a subscription CTA to the end of your videos.

It seems obvious, but adding a subscription CTA to the end of your videos is one of the best ways to generate more YouTube subscribers. After your viewers watch your entire video, they’ll determine if they want to keep watching more of your videos, so to maximize your subscriber growth using CTAs, consider keeping them at the end.

Additionally, if you want more subscribers, just ask. At the end of your video when you include a CTA, ask your viewers to subscribe. This reminds them that you have more exciting content they’ll want to watch.

4. Optimize your videos.

To attract subscribers to your YouTube channel, you first need to be able to get found on YouTube. To start ranking, consider optimizing your videos and channel for popular search queries by placing relevant keywords in your videos’ titles, tags, descriptions, SRT files (which are transcriptions), video files, and thumbnail files.

You should also check out the most popular queries guiding viewers to your videos, which you can find on YouTube’s Search Report. If these queries are slightly different than your video’s topic, consider updating your video to fill these content gaps and adding these keywords to your metadata. If there’s a stark difference between your topics and the queries guiding viewers to your videos, consider making brand new videos about these popular queries.

5. Create beautiful thumbnails.

Another factor that can affect your search ranking on YouTube, and in turn, your subscriber growth are your videos’ thumbnails. Since a video’s click-through rate is one of the most important ranking factors in YouTube’s search algorithm, especially during its first hour on the platform, an eye-catching thumbnail can make a huge difference in ranking number one for a query and not ranking at all.

If your video has an ordinary or sub-par thumbnail, though, it won’t persuade anyone to click through, prompting YouTube to deem the video irrelevant and decide not to rank it in their search results or distribute it through the “Recommended Videos” feed.

To create a striking thumbnail, consider including a talking head. People are naturally drawn to human faces because it’s an ingrained survival mechanism to help us quickly gauge someone’s emotions and determine if they’re a friend or foe. Also, consider contrasting the colors of your thumbnail’s foreground and background to really make it pop.

6. Interact with your audience.

One of the main best practices to retain and acquire new YouTube subscribers is to interact with your audience. You should reply to every comment if you can, even if it’s just liking it. When a viewer watches your videos and scrolls to see your content, they’ll be excited to see that you engage with your audience and have created a community. In fact, it might make them want to join your community and get them to subscribe.

Interacting with your audience will also generate word of mouth and engagement. The more that your audience engages with you, the higher you’ll rank, and the more people will find your content.

7. Promote your videos in your other content.

Whether you have a blog or other social media platforms, it’s important to promote your YouTube videos in your other content. When you post a video, you should also promote it on social media to get your audience to watch it.

Additionally, if you have a blog, you can embed your YouTube videos as complementary content. This will help you increase your views, and tap into the audience you’ve already created. If someone follows you on Instagram, or reads your blog, they’re probably interested in what you have to say. Don’t be afraid to cross-promote on other channels to get more subscribers.

8. Release videos consistently.

One important factor in getting YouTube subscribers that isn’t discussed as much in the influencer industry is trust. When you’re creating content, your audience needs to trust you. They have to trust that you’re going to release quality content, consistently. Otherwise, why would they subscribe?

To build this trust, it’s important that your audience can rely on you. You should release your videos on a consistent basis. This doesn’t mean you need to value quantity over quality. Whatever your publishing schedule is doesn’t matter as much as being consistent with it. Whether you post once a week or twice a month.

9. Be creative.

As we mentioned above, when you’re creating YouTube videos, it’s important to optimize your content and keep in mind what your audience is searching for. However, that doesn’t mean all your videos need to be tied to a keyword.

Sometimes it’s okay to stray and just produce creative content that’s not necessarily supported by keywords. This content can be trendy, or rely on thought leaders. Regardless, don’t be afraid to use content that strays from the organic search strategy. This will help create buzz and hopefully convert viewers into subscribers.

10. Partner with other channels.

When the influencer industry began, brands recognized that they could leverage other people’s audience to market or promote their products. The same principles apply in YouTube. If you partner with other YouTube creators, you can use each other’s audience to promote your channel.

If you do this, make sure you choose channels that align with your audience’s interests, wants, and needs. It might not make sense, for instance, for a B2B company to parter with a B2C company. Your audiences should be similar enough that someone who subscribes to their channel might also be interested in your channel.

11. Make an engaging channel trailer.

After watching an engaging or interesting YouTube video, a viewer might click on your profile to see what your channel is about. In this short time period, you need to close the sale. One of the first things viewers see when they click on a channel is the trailer video. That’s why it’s important to create an engaging, fun channel trailer.

With this trailer, you can get a viewer to go from a casual viewer to a subscriber. In your trailer video, make sure you give your elevator pitch. Why should someone subscribe to your channel? What kind of content will they see?

12. Run YouTube advertising campaigns.

An oldie but a goodie. To promote your YouTube channel, run paid advertising campaigns. You can run banner or display ads promoting your channel across platforms. This will help you get the word out about your channel, get more views, rank higher, and hopefully get a few subscribers as well.

13. Produce subscriber only content.

You know how marketers create lead magnets to entice readers or viewers to download a piece of content? To get more YouTube subscribers, apply the same principle here. You can create specific lead magnetics to get people to subscribe.

For instance, perhaps every subscriber gets a free ebook. Or maybe it’s a template. Whatever it is, think of what will be helpful to your audience and might get them to subscribe to get it.

14. Pick a niche.

As with all content you produce, your YouTube videos should be highly targeted toward your audience. Pick a niche and a theme, and stick with it. While you might have a broad theme, you can create smaller subtopics and create several videos for those topics. Think of it like the pillar/cluster model for blog writing. While your blog will focus on one niche, like marketing, there are several pillar topics that you cover and cluster topics as well.

Using this model will help you create valuable content consistently. It’ll be easier to come up with targeted, personalized video ideas for your audience if you know what they want to see.

15. Know your audience.

Again, this is a classic marketing tip. On any channel you’re creating content on, you need to know your audience. For YouTube, think about whether your audience wants to watch long or short videos. This might vary by industry, so do some research to see what type of YouTube videos and what format your audience is looking for.

How to See Your Subscribers on YouTube

To see your YouTube subscribers, all you need to do is log on to your account, click your profile photo in the top right, and click “Your Channel.” From there, you should be able to see how many subscribers you have underneath your channel name.

It’s important to continue tracking this number as you’re trying to grow your YouTube channel. Now, let’s get into the discussion about buying YouTube subscribers and why you should never do it.

Buying YouTube Subscribers

First and foremost, let’s start with the fact that you should never buy YouTube subscribers. To start, it’s against the Terms of Service with YouTube, so your account will likely be suspended or terminated if you’re caught.

Second, buying YouTube subscribers will ultimately end up hurting your channel regardless of if you’re caught or not. Bought subscribers aren’t going to engage with your content, and after maybe one video, they won’t watch it either. Having a million subscribers doesn’t matter if only 50 people are actually watching the videos and engaging with your content. Those types of numbers are major red flags both for YouTube, but also for your average viewer.

Similar to the best SaaS companies, the top YouTube channels focus on building a subscriber base that can’t get enough of their videos and watches them on a consistent basis. Retaining attention has always been imperative to successful content marketing. Now, it’s time we actually prioritize it over acquiring as many darting eyeballs as possible.

CRM

3 Ways CRM Helps Marketers Who Are Working from…

1st March 2021

What’s in this article:

CRM platforms optimize marketer workflows and help reach customers in these challenging times
Automated processes, team coordination, and realtime reporting are a few ways that CRM can help remote workers in the advertising industry
From any location, CRM can help marketers maintain their workflows and even increase their efficiency in the process

COVID-19 brought about many changes to the advertising industry in 2020, one of the most significant being that marketers had to start working from home. Thankfully, tools such as CRM platforms make this transition feasible by restoring marketer workflows and helping us reach customers in these challenging times. Here are a few ways that CRM can help remote workers in the advertising industry.

Automated processes

One of the most crucial CRM features is its ability to automate repetitive tasks so that marketers can focus on high-level processes. When a customer engages with a customer service touchpoint, such as a chatbot or email, the platform will automatically log the interaction. CRM can also generate entire email campaigns and lead generation sequences that contain personalized details. And that’s not even getting into the immense time-saving capabilities of CRM-based data entry.

Whether at home or the office, marketing automation makes it easier to interact with all customers at once while continuing to address individual needs. As a marketer adjusting to new circumstances, this can free you to focus on designing a scalable process without getting bogged down in unnecessary details.

Become the best CRMer you can:
CRM Hack: Monitoring the User’s Heartbeat
What Does It Mean to Treat a Customer’s Email With Respect?
To Lock or Not to Lock Customers (into CRM Journeys)
What the Efforts to Promote Responsible Gaming Look Like Form the Inside

Team coordination

In a traditional workplace, it can be challenging to communicate with other departments and work towards shared goals. When working from home, this problem amplifies — suddenly, it’s more difficult to coordinate efforts with your own team! While video conferencing tools help with meetings, additional solutions are needed to coordinate tasks concerning specific customers, which is where CRM comes into play.

To begin, CRM unifies customer information in a consistent way and makes it accessible to anyone within an organization. What’s more, team members can share specific information by tagging the relevant parties. This capability makes it far easier for marketing, sales, and customer service teams to move leads along the funnel — and to continue using these workflows while working remotely.

Realtime reporting

If marketers must work from home instead of the office, they need access to up-to-date reports and audience data. Thankfully, CRM platforms can generate reports in real time and make the results available to remote team members. If you need to track campaign performance, customer buying patterns, or sales pipeline effectiveness, these tools ensure you’ll have everything you need.

This detail is crucial not just for remote team members but any marketer working in 2021. In a digital ecosystem where circumstances can change overnight, marketers must be able to find the pulse of customer engagement at any given moment. CRM makes that possible while also ensuring that they can do so safely from home.

Working from home is now the reality for marketing pros, but that doesn’t mean we have to rely on inadequate tools. CRM can help marketers maintain their workflows from any location and even increase their efficiency in the process. And if your workplace does purchase a CRM for this purpose, don’t be surprised if you can’t be without it even after returning to the office.

The post 3 Ways CRM Helps Marketers Who Are Working from Home appeared first on Post Funnel.