Why We Interviewed a Bunch of Rappers About Marketing
Can you imagine a world without music?
I can’t.
When I think about the things in life for which I’m the most grateful, music always falls on the list — rap music, in particular.
For me, rap is the thing to listen to when I’m happy. Sad. Angry. Tired. When I have a big meeting to prepare for. When I’m dreading a workout. When I’m not feeling any particular way, but just want to disrupt the silence around me. And as we’re about to see — it has not only profoundly carved out my own path thus far, but those of myriad consumers, business owners, and artists.
Before I worked for HubSpot and started covering marketing and tech news, I wrote primarily about two things — food, and indie hip hop.
Indie artists are those who aren’t
signed to a major label,
and are often responsible for things
like their own marketing,
tour scheduling,
and the business side of music
that we don’t often think about
as listeners.
A quick vocabulary lesson: Indie artists are those who aren’t signed to a major label, and are often responsible for things like their own marketing, tour scheduling, and the business side of music that we don’t often think about as listeners.
Keep that in mind — we’ll get back to it in a bit.
As it turns out, these two categories — food and hip hop — have more in common than I first imagined. Years ago, the former introduced me to the latter. I wrote about one rapper’s journey to food consciousness, who then introduced me to another rapper whose mother owns a grass-fed cattle ranch. These various things we consume, it seems, are quite inter-connected.
I had to ask: Is there a chance that indie hip hop is somehow connected to marketing and tech, too?
Rappers Astronautalis and P.O.S — a.k.a. Four Fists –discuss their career growth
Let’s go back to the earlier quick-and-dirty definition of what constitutes the responsibilities of an indie rapper:
- The many elements of promotion.
- Planning events (tours and shows = experiential marketing).
- Connecting with and building audiences (fans = customers).
- Finding the right people to collaborate with (side projects and recording tracks with other artists = co-branding).
… All while cultivating both awareness and a career trajectory (name recognition = brand recognition).
Sound familiar? That’s because indie rappers are quintessentially very human, creative, small-to-midsize businesses. Of course we had something to learn from them — and we think everyone else does, too.
That’s why we decided to film a series of interviews with indie rappers who have been tasked with and mastered many of the same things that you — our dear readers — have also experienced.
Following a conversation about growth, Four Fists performs live in our studio
We asked them about where they’ve been, where they are now, and how different everything looked in between — and how, throughout it all, they’ve continued to create music that remains core to who they are. And, just for fun, we had them play a song or two during their times with us. In a way, it all sheds new light on marketing that gives it, well, a different sound and energy. After all, around here, we’re big into work that has heart.
As the rap group Dead Prez once so perfectly phrased it: This is bigger than hip hop. This is about the humans behind the music, their journeys to and through it, and how it’s not only shaped their lives, but those on the receiving end of their work.
These are their stories. This is Growth Raps.
How to Boost a Post on Social Media [Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter]
In the social media marketing world, marketers reminisce about the times where they could fill up on organic reach a lot like my parents reflect on their college years — those were the good old days.
But similar to how the real world flipped most people’s life upside down when they graduated from college, social media’s purge of organic reach flung marketers on a spinning teacup ride.
With almost 3 billion social media users today, millions of brands have promoted their content on these platforms for years. But the popularity of social media has flooded each platform with hoards of articles, photos, and videos, skyrocketing the supply of content while the demand for it has plateaued. This has decimated the amount of opportunities that brands can leverage to interact naturally with their fans.
Needless to say, social media marketing is a pay-to-play strategy now. And one of the most effective ways to leverage paid social media advertising is by boosting your posts.
How to Boost a Post on Social Media
1. Pick an existing post on your Facebook Business Page that you want to boost.
2. Click “Boost Post” on the bottom right corner of your Facebook post.
3. Choose your audience.
Before you boost your Facebook post, you can either distribute your post to a recommended audience that Facebook will make for you or create a new audience based on a robust set of targeting options and distribute your post to them.
4. Set your boosted post’s budget and duration.
Your budget is how much money you’ll spend to boost your post. Your duration is how long you’ll boost your post for. Facebook will estimate how many people your post will reach based on your budget and duration.
1. Click the “Promote” button at the bottom of your post.
2. Pick a goal.
Before you boost your post, Instagram will ask you whether you want to attract more profile visits, website traffic, or promotion views. Whatever your goal is for the specific post you want to boost, make sure you choose the option that best aligns with it.
3. Choose an audience.
After choosing your goal, you can pick from three different targeting options: Automatic, Local, and Manual. Automatic tells Instagram to target people who are just like your followers, Local lets you target people in a specific location, and Manual lets you target specific people, places, or interests.
4. Set your budget and duration.
Instagram will estimate the expected reach and clicks that your post will attract after you set your post’s budget and ad duration.
1. Click “View Tweet Activity” at the bottom of your Tweet.
2. Click “Promote Your Tweet”.
3. Choose your targeting.
Twitter’s targeting is less sophisticated than Facebook’s and Instagram’s. You can only target based off location, like country, state/province/region, or metropolitan area.
4. Set your budget.
After setting your budget, Twitter will estimate the amount of impressions and engagements your boosted Tweet will attract.
First vs. Third-Party APIs: What You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered how Google Maps is able to deliver relevant information depending on your location? Or, alternatively, how Hotels.com knows when a random hotel in Austin, Texas has a specific room available?
The answer is APIs, or application programming interface.
At its most basic definition, APIs let applications communicate with each other.
If you’re a HubSpot customer and you want to integrate your WordPress website with your HubSpot CRM, an API is an interface that allows you to do just that, since an API can allow the two applications to access data from each other.
In today’s world, whether you’re aware of it or not, APIs are everywhere — they control how we get information from social media sites, how we navigate our GPS’s, and how we book tickets online.
Additionally, they’re incredibly helpful for businesses. At HubSpot, for instance, APIs are necessary as we strive to become an “all-on-one” platform, which will enable our customers to use all their favorite software and applications in one place.
But whether you’re interested in developing a unique one-of-a-kind API for your client, or want to install one for your own internal systems, you might be wondering — should I use time and resources to build my own internal API, or should I access a Third Party API?
Here, we’re going to explore the pros and cons of First vs. Third Party APIs, so you can ensure you’re choosing the best option for your business.
Pros and Cons of First Party APIs
A First Party API gives you complete control over every aspect of the API lifecycle, including development, design, and implementation. Developing a First Party API, then, makes the most sense for unique client cases or security scenarios.
For instance, Connor Barley, who’s on HubSpot’s Developer Support team, told me — “The obvious benefits to developing an API ‘in-house’ is that you have total control over what data is returned, its capabilities like filtering and pagination, and you can safely know exactly what data you’ll get back every time. You also have the added bonus of being able to iterate quickly, and really tailor the API to your businesses particular needs.”
However, developing and implementing an API in-house is expensive and takes time and resources to ensure it’s functioning properly at all times. As Barley notes, “Good software requires constant upkeep and time spent on it, so you need to be willing to put in the time and money to keep your API up-to-date and able to be used.”
Additionally, as complexity increases, so does expense. In the long run, particularly if you believe you’ll need an API that can scale as your business grows, it might not be an optimal solution for your budget.
Next, let’s consider the benefits and limitations of a Third Party API.
Pros and Cons of Third Party APIs
An API developed by a third-party will have requirements and regulations, so it’s not necessarily an optimal solution if you need to tailor an API for specific business or client needs. However, most of the time, a Third Party API will meet your needs and be a safer and more effective solution.
As Brett Adkins, a Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte Consulting, notes — “An API can expose a lot of data that you don’t necessarily want certain users to access, so it has to be secure and have the right rules in place. Unless you work for a large company that does a lot of development work, it’s unlikely you’ll have the resources to efficiently develop an effective and safe API. In the long run it’s probably much safer, and a better use of resources, to have an expert third-party develop it.”
Oftentimes, there’s no real need to reinvent the wheel. For instance, why go through the trouble of developing, designing, and implementing a maps platform with an in-house API when you can just as easily use Google Maps?
Plus, and perhaps most appealingly — since you don’t own a Third Party API, there’s very little upkeep. As Barley notes, “Third Party APIs are reliable if you pick a good service, and can provide you with all the data you might need to run your business, without the hassle of developing it yourself.”
Additionally, a Third Party API might enable you to approach a problem from a unique point-of-view that you wouldn’t get from your developers in-house.
Of course, it’s critical to note, you’ll want to consider Third Party APIs rules and regulations before choosing one. You might find a Third Party APIs’ rules are too constricting, and won’t enable you to do what you need to do.
So … First or Third Party, which should you pick?
Ultimately, the decision to choose First vs. Third Party is entirely dependent on your resources, existing software infrastructure, budget, and business goals.
Isaac Takushi, a Developer Support Specialist at HubSpot, sums it up like this — “A decision between first and third-party APIs is generally one between full control and out-of-the-box simplicity. When you decide to develop your own API, you must be prepared to embark on a journey and weather its perils. You’re able to tailor your solutions to fit into your organization’s existing infrastructure and meet your users’ specific needs, but it can be easy to get tunnel vision. Third-party APIs, on the other hand, can open up worlds of possibilities that aren’t afforded by your organization’s time and resources, but force you to put trust and information in others’ hands.”
If you’re considering using a Third Party API for your business, here are a few you might explore:
Additionally, if you’re a HubSpot customer, take a look at some of the apps and web services you’re able to integrate with — an example of an API, in action.
Global Buying Behavior in 2019 [New Data]
In early 2019, HubSpot Research partnered with SurveyMonkey to conduct new research on social media preferences and buying preferences. We used SurveyMonkey Audience to ask over 2,700 consumers in Colombia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, the UK and the U.S. questions on how they buy.
This report highlights the fascinating differences we’ve discovered in buying preferences worldwide.
For data on how people feel about social media, check out SurveyMonkey’s summary here.
Keep reading to learn some of the buying trends we observed through our research.
1. Consumers share the products they love — a lot!
At HubSpot, we believe happy customers are core to any businesses’ success. Delighted customers help speed up a business’ flywheel by sharing their positive experiences with friends and peers, and those word-of-mouth reviews matter most to people who are making purchasing decisions.
Our study found that over half of consumers tell friends and family about their favorite products at least once a week or more.
Consumers in Latin America are especially big on sharing — 78% of consumers based in Colombia and Mexico tell friends and family about products they like at least once a week, and 23% share their favorites every day!
2. Consumers trust word of mouth the most.
You might be wondering — how do people find out about products or services to begin with?
Ultimately, we found friends, family, and Google to be the top discovery sources for new products or services overall. In Latin America especially, we see a considerable influence from online channels for product discovery, including Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Friends and family top the list as the most trustworthy source for discovering new products or services overall. Consumers prefer having real life experiences and examples from people they know well to inform their buying decisions.
When cut by region, we once again see Latin American consumers’ preference for online channels — not only do they use Google and Youtube to discover new things, but they typically trust those platforms, as well.
3. Expectations are low, which means great experiences matter.
Our findings reveal people are highly likely to share insights about products they love to friends and family, and that friends and family are the most trusted source of information for buying. From that information alone, it’s clear what businesses should do — focus on delighting their customers with great products and/or services.
Unfortunately, very few people believe it when they hear businesses say they “solve for the customer”. There’s clearly a gap that businesses who are determined to delight customers can fill.
Consumers have low expectations when it comes to customer experience, so businesses that make the effort can differentiate themselves and add further momentum to their business’s flywheel. Consider beloved companies like LL Bean, Nordstrom, and Zappos.com — they have devoted customers thanks to the superior service they provide.
4. Social is a major discovery channel for young consumers.
Despite the bad press, and even mixed feelings about social media’s impact on society across generations, our data shows that social media sites like YouTube and Twitter are still major discovery channels for Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X. In fact, consumers ages 18 to 29 are nearly eight times more likely to discover new products from Instagram, compared to consumers aged 61 or older.
5. Videos and your website are both crucial for brand engagement.
Video is still the top type of content people want to see from businesses, which is consistent with our research from 2017. Incredibly, this preference spans all locations and most age ranges.
In terms of where people go to learn about a brand, the official company website is the key property that everyone visits to get information. It’s critical you ensure your business’ website is easy to navigate and your content is up-to-date.
Additionally, make sure your business’s website clearly articulates the value that you can provide, along with clear next steps on how to engage with a sales rep or make a purchase.
Methodology
The survey was conducted using SurveyMonkey Audience and was based on 2,700 responses. The sample was balanced by age and gender and representative of an employed adult online population in The United States, UK, Mexico, Colombia, France, and Spain.
The Top 21 Creative Advertising Agencies to Follow on Instagram
Instagram has evolved into a perfect visual platform for agencies, filled with photos of office parties, company outings, and creatives hard at work behind their Macs.
And while there were more than a few pictures of agency pups and craft beers, Instagram has also become a place where agencies can share behind-the-scenes shots of their latest work and highlight their accomplishments.
While there probably aren’t that many CMOs who troll Instagram looking for their next agency partner, there is little competition and even more opportunity to make it your agency’s platform of choice for attracting new talent and clients — a differentiator when it comes to that next visual campaign.
If you are looking for some inspiration or just want some “inside” looks at a few agencies, then check out this ultimate — yet not exhaustive — list of ad agencies to follow on Instagram:
21 Creative Agencies To Follow on Instagram
1. Huge: @hugeinc
This meticulously curated Instagram from Huge is chock full of high-quality photography, graphic design inspiration, and quirky snaps of daily office antics. A must-follow if you want a glimpse of what life is like at a top agency.
2. Motherlondon: @motherlondon
Mother London, the world’s leading independent creative agency network, has a unique approach to Instagram. Each week, they hand over the reins to a different creative, allowing them to showcase their work and highlight their unique design perspective. The result is a truly inspiring feed that’s sure to inject a little inspiration into your daily life.
3. ustwo: @ustwo
Even though ustwo, a digital product studio, has worked with major brands like Google, Adidas, and Ford, their Instagram presence is surprisingly personal. Take a scroll through their gallery and you’ll find colorful photos of office events, team outings, and even birthdays alongside glimpses of their latest work.
4. Wolff Olins: @wolffolins
Wolff Olins‘ Instagram gives followers a glimpse at the agency’s work-hard-play-hard approach to creative strategy, including design inspiration and behind-the-scenes snaps.
5. Revenue River: @revenue_river
This Colorado-based marketing agency and HubSpot partner helps its clients use digital assets more effectively. What sets its Instagram apart from the competition is “On the Hot Seat,” a video series featuring a different employee every episode to learn about what they do for the company. Many businesses’ Instagram accounts focus on its people — not many dedicate a talk show to them.
6. Red Antler: @redantler
Brooklyn-based agency Red Antler is the epitome of cool and inventive New York charm, and their Instagram reflects this identity. Follow along for design inspiration, office culture, and photos of their work with startups.
7. Skirt PR: @skirtpr
The folks at Skirt PR know their way around a glamorous party. Whether it’s a cool boutique opening, a cozy cafe gathering, or a champagne celebration, you can follow along with the action on their Instagram. Their feed is also a colorful source of design inspiration — perfect for a mid-week pick-me-up.
8. Agency V CPH: @agencyvcph
If you ever feel like your life could use more Scandinavian minimalism, you should add Agency V CPH to your list of accounts to follow. The Copenhagen-based agency shares pictures of sleek interiors, style inspiration from their clients, and city snapshots from the rainy streets of Copenhagen.
9. Frelon Bleu: @frelon_bleu
This France-based digital agency and HubSpot Partner “appreciates what is different, beautiful, and impactful,” and its outspoken Instagram account proves it. Here, you’ll find snapshots of creative and provocative street art that show you what Frelon Bleu values and how it thinks about design and culture.
10. SPARK: @sparkbrand
SPARK‘s creative team takes followers behind the scenes and on location as they shoot and edit ads for brands like Hilton, Visit Florida, and The Dalí Museum. Their account is also worth a follow for the illustrations and other design work they regularly share.
11. BBDO San Francisco: @bbdosf
As their Instagram bio proudly declares, BBDO San Francisco is “all about The Work The Work The Work.” Their account showcases their recent campaigns, high-profile events (such as Cannes), and their team’s creative process — which sometimes involves bowling nights.
12. Anomaly: @anomaly
AdAge named Los Angeles-based shop Anomaly Agency of the Year in 2017, and we think their Instagram account is also a winner. With colorful snaps of daily office life, upcoming campaigns for clients, and scenic shots from their seven global locations, Anomaly is worth a follow.
13. Martin Agency: @martinagency
You’ve seen Martin Agency’s impressive work for Geico, Chevrolet, and Oreos, but you probably didn’t know they have an affinity for flannel shirts and a love of street art. Martin Agency’s Instagram is an intimate look at how employees at one of the world’s most influential agencies work day-to-day.
14. Salted Stone: @saltedstone
This agency’s Instagram following may be small in comparison to some of the other accounts features here, but the quality of their content speaks for itself. Salted Stone, a California-based digital agency and HubSpot Partner, uses Instagram to share behind-the-scenes peeks at their latest projects, industry events (like INBOUND), and favorite lunch spots.
15. Talk Shop Media: @talkshopmedia
No, your eyes don’t deceive you — that’s really Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge chowing down on some treats from one of Talk Shop Media’s clients. This digital marketing agency specializes in influencer relations, and their Instagram is like having a free pass to all the coolest events.
16. Goodby Silverstein & Partners: @goodby_silverstein
Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, was recently honored on Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People in Advertising list. Her agency’s Instagram account gives followers the opportunity to see how Johnson and her team produce major global campaigns, and some of the interesting people who inspire them.
17. RPA Advertising: @rpa_advertising
RPA Advertising’s Instagram account makes the daily office grind look pretty darn fun. The Santa Monica-based agency recently hosted a summer concert series, and — based on their feed — they make sure their creative teams are just as loud.
18. Colle + McVoy: @collemcvoy
Dogs and design? Count us in. Colle + McVoy’s Instagram account puts the spotlight on their design work and company culture.
19. hzdg: @hzdg
hzdg’s Instagram account is a veritable treasure trove of design inspiration, ranging from their own work to the work of designers and artists their team admires. They even recently took followers on a virtual tour of the world’s most colorful places.
20. Social Distillery: @socialdistillery
Social Distillery is an Austin, Texas-based social media agency specializing in digital communications and consumer engagement. They might be a relatively small agency, but their Instagram account makes a big impression with snapshots of their energetic team and latest work.
21. st8mnt: @st8mnt
Last but certainly not least is st8mt, a Nashville-based branding agency that boasts powerful design chops and a laid-back company culture. Their Instagram is full of their recent work and company events. You could say it really makes, well, a statement.
The 12 Best Email Newsletter Tools in 2019
Email marketing is a key component of any successful marketing strategy — in fact, email marketing provides companies with a potential ROI of $44 for every $1 spent.
In particular, email newsletters are an essential way for your business to keep your subscribers up-to-date with relevant information, and ultimately drive more leads. Newsletters give marketers the ability to capture email sign-ups through form submissions, and nurture leads.
If you have a blog, you’ve probably sent newsletters to notify subscribers about new blog posts. Alternatively, perhaps you’ve used newsletters to send business-related information to your subscribers.
Anyway you slice it, newsletters help you keep your contacts engaged with your business.
An email newsletter tool is essential, since it allows you to beautifully design a newsletter email, deliver the email to your subscribers with features such as A/B testing and smart content, and monitor and analyze how the newsletter performed.
However, not all email newsletter tools are created equal. With differences in features, pricing, and availability, choosing an email newsletter can be hard — especially with the number of options available. Additionally, newsletter tools differ in how much of the customer journey they can cover.
Ultimately, when choosing your email newsletter tool, you’ll want to ensure the tool matches your business’s goals — which is why we wanted to take out the guesswork, and highlight the top email newsletters out there for your business.
1. HubSpot’s Email Newsletter Tool
Designing, sending, and analyzing email newsletters has never been easier with the HubSpot Email tool. HubSpot offers a drag-and-drop email editor so you can easily create a polished email newsletter that you can personalize to fit your brand’s design without needing a designer or IT professional.
Additionally, you can experiment with smart content rules, personalization, A/B testing, and advanced reporting — ensuring your email newsletters are optimized for your business. You can also see who’s engaging with each newsletter email and when, what device they’re using, the most popular links and documents, and more. You can use these insights to design tests that will take conversion rates to new heights for your business.
Ultimately, what makes HubSpot’s Email tool so exceptional is its ability to pair with HubSpot’s free forms tool to easily collect email leads, as well as HubSpot’s free CRM to give you insight into how your marketing emails are performing.
For example, you can use an email subscriber’s lifecycle stage, list membership, or any information in their contact records to automatically serve up the most relevant subject lines, content, links, attachments, and calls-to-action.
HubSpot’s email tool starts at $50 per month and is included in the Marketing Hub Starter tier.
HubSpot’s Newsletter Email Template Drag-and-Drop Editor
2. Benchmark
Benchmark offers the ability to easily create email newsletters via drag-and-drop functionality, giving non-technical marketers the power to create beautiful newsletters. There’s also a good selection of newsletter templates that you can choose from in the Benchmark template library.
Some of Benchmark’s most valuable features include detailed analytics on how each email campaign performs, A/B split testing to ensure you’re sending the best emails, spam testing tools that ensure your emails get to inboxes, responsive designs and templates, list segmentation tools, and auto-responders.
Benchmark is free for up to 2,000 subscribers, and lets you send up to 14,000 emails per month.
Source: Benchmark
3. GetResponse
GetResponse offers features that become available as you need them, from a range of starter features all the way to enterprise features such as webinars and landing pages. Hosting landing pages in GetResponse will further enable you to capture email subscribers for your newsletter.
GetResponse also allows you to create well-designed email newsletters with their drag-and-drop email editor, segment contacts tool, campaigns creator, and A/B testing tool. With a ton of templates to choose from, you can create an email to match your brand, and send emails more efficiently.
GetResponse does not offer a free tier, but they have a 30-day trial, and pricing starts at $15 per month.
Image source: GetResponse
4. SendInBlue
With SendInBlue, you don’t need technical skills to create well-designed email newsletters. The drag-and-drop functionality, HTML editor, and expansive template gallery gives you the tools you need to create stunning emails.
You can personalize the design of your newsletters with easy builders, choose the form fields for your subscription form, and design many ways for your visitors to opt-in. SendInBlue has a robust automation pipeline, allowing you to send different emails based on specific actions taken by your contacts. However, SendInBlue does not have a CRM, so it’s not the best option for scaling teams.
SendInBlue lets you send 300 emails per day (6,000 emails per month) for free, and pricing starts at $25 per month for 40,000 emails.
Image source: SendInBlue
5. Mailjet
Mailjet offers email solutions for fast moving teams, especially in Europe, and great scaling opportunities for larger companies. The service is keen on being developer-friendly with a powerful API solution for engineers to build on their email platform. One appealing feature of Mailjet is the ability to create dynamic content that is personalized for each recipient based on data such as name and location.
If your team demands email newsletters be built together and reviewed often before sending, Mailjet’s collaborative tools make it easy for teams to work together on emails. For example, you can create a draft of your newsletter in Mailjet, and your teammates can suggest edits before it’s sent — all within the app.
Mailjet gives 200 emails per day (6,000 emails per month) for free, and pricing starting at $8.69 per month for 30,000 emails.
Image source: Mailjet
6. MailChimp
MailChimp offers a free email marketing service with a large selection of templates to choose from for newsletters. MailChimp is ideal for small and medium-sized businesses looking to get their feet wet in email marketing, but is not suited for scaling teams since it lacks powerful automation and segmenting features.
MailChimp is a valuable tool nonetheless, especially since its free plan generously offers up to 12,000 free email sends per month. You’ll also like the variety of newsletter templates that MailChimp offers, and the drag-and-drop builder that lets you rework the designs.
MailChimp offers 12,000 email sends per month to a list size up to 2,000 for free. Pricing starts at $10 per month for 500 subscribers.
Image source: Mailchimp
7. Constant Contact
Constant Contact provides a reliable email newsletter solution for small to large businesses. Constant Contact provides a helpful user on-boarding for anyone looking to get started quickly, and offers easy-to-use features. If you think you’ll be running into complexity with the email marketing tool, you’ll be happy to know that Constant Contact’s multi-channel support system can help walk you through most issues.
In Constant Contact, you can use their email builder to create newsletters that match your brand, select from a variety of templates, and edit to ensure it looks exactly how you want it — although I’m not a big fan of the templates, since most of the templates look outdated. Additionally, if you need sophisticated automation features and workflows, I would advise staying away from Constant Contact because it lacks a strong automation system.
Constant contact does not offer a free tier. You can try out the service for 60 days before paying, then prices start at $20 per month for a list size up to 500 contacts.
Image source: Constant Contact
8. MailUp
MailUp offers plenty of the same functionality from what you’d expect from an email marketing service, including a drag-and-drop email builder, beautifully designed templates, and an HTML editor.
However, it’s critical to note — you get more value from MailUp if you choose to send out emails at a slower pace, since the price varies depending on delivery speed. So, if your business has a specific number of contacts and doesn’t mind sending newsletters slower, you could save money by using MailUp. If you use WordPress, MailUp also offers a WordPress plugin that you can use to capture newsletter subscribers on your website.
Like Constant Contact, MailUp does not offer a free tier option. You can try out the service for 30 days, and prices start at $49 per month.
Image source: MailUp
9. Zoho Campaigns
Zoho offers a great email solution for marketers looking to utilize automation features, including auto-responders and workflows. If you’re already a Zoho CRM customer, it might be worth checking out Zoho Campaigns for an email newsletter tool, since they work better together.
Zoho includes many modern and well-designed templates to choose from. If you’re worried about how your newsletter will look on different mobile devices or browsers, Zoho gives you the ability to check to see how your newsletters look on various devices to ensure your newsletter is optimized for mobile, tablet, and desktop.
Zoho offers 12,000 emails per month for free for up to 2,000 subscribers. Then there’s pricing based on plans, or pay-as-you-go credits.
Image source: Zoho
10. AWeber
AWeber delivers a well-established email marketing newsletter tool with an array of features for your business, including email designs, list segmentation, automation tools, and detailed reporting. To make design easier, AWeber has more than 6,000 royalty-free stock photos to include in your emails. Of course, you can also upload your own images and gifs.
AWeber is a great solution if your business uses WordPress, since AWeber easily integrates with WordPress. However, it’s important to note you can’t specify multiple segments at once when sending an email newsletter — plus, AWeber lacks some powerful automation features.
AWeber does not have a free version. However, you can try it out for 30 days. If you want to upgrade, prices start at $19 per month for 500 subscribers and unlimited email sends.
Image source: AWeber
11. Campaigner
Campaigner is a good option if you work for a growing team, since the tool offers robust automation and workflow features available at the enterprise tier. You can set up systems that send email newsletters when contacts fill out specific forms, make a purchase, or engage with a previous email.
As with most of the email newsletter tools in this list, Campaigner offers easy-to-use email builders and a large selection of templates to get you started. If you run into trouble, their support is noted as being helpful at solving technical challenges.
Campaigner offers a 30-day free trial but you’ll need to put in your credit card information. Prices starting at 19.95 per month for up to 5,000 contacts.
Image source: Campaigner
12. Drip
Drip is ideal for more experienced email marketers, since it’s not as intuitive and easy-to-use as some of the others in the list. For example, there’s a limited email template library, so you’ll have to spend time designing your email newsletter. With that said, Drip comes packed with automation features that could be beneficial for your business, particularly if you work in e-commerce.
With Drip’s “ECRM”, you can run personalized email newsletter campaigns that work with information gathered from contact purchases and checkout information, like abandoned cart details. One thing to note — Drip does not offer phone support, so you won’t have that added peace of mind.
Drip offers a 14-day free trial, with prices starting at $49 for up to 2,500 subscribers and unlimited email sends.
Image source: Drip
That’s it! These are the best email newsletter tools that I recommend. You can’t go wrong with any of these tools since they all offer similar features, but there will be one that’s best suited for your business. The great thing about HubSpot is that we offer a free solution to get you started — and then, once your business grows, we have plenty of advanced features you’ll need in order to deliver a successful newsletter marketing strategy down the road.
Once you’ve selected your email newsletter tool, you can begin creating your newsletter marketing strategy, which, in the most simplified version, looks like:
- Capture subscribers on your website via form submissions.
- Create email content in a newsletter design.
- Send the newsletter consistently, like once a week or bi-weekly.
If you want to learn more about how to create an email newsletter, please check out our guide.
How to Create a Profitable Amazon Marketing Strategy for 2019
In today’s e-commerce universe, Amazon is a behemoth.We all know it, and we all use it … whether we want to admit it or not.
But today’s consumers don’t just use Amazon to buy stuff. They also use it to check prices (90% of consumers use Amazon to price check a product), discover new products (72% of consumers visit Amazon for product ideas), and start product searches (56% of consumers visit Amazon before any other site).
Have you utilized Amazon for any of these purposes? I know I have.
Here are some other fascinating Amazon statistics:
- Amazon sells over 12 million products, not including books, wine, media, and services.
- Amazon has over 310 million active users, including 90 million U.S.-based Prime members.
- Amazon Prime members spend almost $1.5k every year. 7% of Prime members purchase something every day.
Wow. Like I said — behemoth.
In 25 years, Amazon has grown exponentially. It sees over 2,000 new sellers every day. Whether you’re a veteran Amazon seller or considering becoming one, it can be an intimidating place.
That’s why we’ve built this guide — to help you build a profitable marketing strategy and succeed in the jungle that is Amazon. Literally.
Bookmark this post for later, and use the chapter links below to jump ahead to sections of interest.
Optimizing Your Amazon Product Pages
12 million-plus products. That’s a dense jungle. It might seem nearly impossible to find success as a seller on Amazon, but the answer is actually quite simple: You must think like a buyer.
Before you build an Amazon marketing strategy, you must ensure your Amazon product pages are ready to receive new shoppers. You can do this by optimizing your pages to attract buyers. (These practices also support Amazon SEO — which we’ll get into later.)
Amazon is a remarkable platform because, unlike Google and other search engines, people who visit Amazon are already in a “shopping” mindset. Any traffic that hits your Amazon product pages is already primed to buy, even if they’re merely checking prices or researching new products.
It’s your job as a seller to recognize this primed audience and optimize your page to capture a potential buyer.
Let’s review the specific components of your product pages as organized from top to bottom. (If you’re interested in what Amazon has to say, check out their Quick Start Style Guide here.)
Product Title
This is an Amazon product I actually purchased. You’ll see this example throughout the piece.
Your product title is a consumer’s first introduction to your product when browsing Amazon. While you should keep your titles concise, Amazon does allow up to 200 characters. Use this character limit wisely, though.
Here’s what we recommend including:
- Your brand name
- The product name
- Specific features (such as size, color, material, quantity, etc.)
- One or two distinguishing benefits or values
Additionally, here are some of Amazon’s title formatting rules:
- Capitalize the first letter of every word (except for words like “and”).
- Use “and” instead of “&” and numerals (“10”) instead of written numbers (“ten”).
- Don’t put pricing, seller information, promotions, and opinion-based copy (words like “best” or “leading”) in the title.
- Leave out details like color or size if irrelevant to the product.
Your title is prime real estate for two things: product information and keywords. For most products, these are one and the same, but some sellers opt to add a few additional keywords to increase their chances of popping up on Amazon SERPs.
Ultimately, your title should match the words shoppers use to discover your product and educate them on your product before they get to your page.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Use tools like Merchant Words and Simple Keyword Inspector to research potential keywords and their search volume.
Product Images
While your titles communicate your product information, consumers use your imagery to decide whether or not to further explore your product page. On a long list of Amazon search results, product imagery can help your product stand out.
Once a shopper visits your product page, however, imagery is even more important — it can dictate whether a consumer makes a purchase not. Amazon allows up to nine product images. We recommend using all of them, only if you have nine high-quality, relevant images.
Amazon requires your main product image needs to be on a plain, white background, but here are some tips for your other eight product images:
- Capture your product from different angles.
- Show your product being used or worn by a real person (not a mannequin or computer-generated human).
- Include content submitted by real customers — and make note of that on the image.
- Upload images that include charts, lists, or competitor comparison tables.
Amazon also offers shoppers the ability to zoom into each image, which is why your product images should be at least 1,000px x 1,000px.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Test your product images to see which one converts more shoppers (like an A/B test). To do this, record your sessions, sales, conversion rate, and revenue over the course of a week or month — and make a note of which image was set as the main image. Then, change the image and capture the same data.
Product Key Features (Bullet Points)
Successful Amazon sellers use these bullet points to expand on features and benefits and to address common questions, misconceptions, or issues.
Here’s how we recommend you approach your product key features list:
- Write a paragraph for each bullet and include two to four sentences or phrases that are relevant to that bullet’s topic.
- Capitalize the first few words of each bullet to emphasize the feature, benefit, or question you’re addressing.
- Treat these paragraphs as you would an advertising campaign. This copy could be the key to converting page visitors.
- Avoid wasting space on information that’s obvious from product images or mentioned in your product title.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Look at reviews, complaints, and FAQs to learn what your customers love and not-so-love about your products. Proactively include and address these points in your list .
Product Description
Seriously. They have to scroll past Amazon ads, sponsored products, and other featured information. If they make it to your product description, they’re expecting to learn more about your product and finalize their purchase (or ditch your page altogether).
So , use your product description to expand on your product bullet points, address some lesser known features and benefits, and perhaps include some more images of your product. Additionally, consider listing details that sets your product apart from competitors’.
Amazon provides basic HTML markup in this section — bold, italics, and page breaks — so utilize these to avoid publishing one big, boring paragraph of information.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Utilize Amazon’s Enhanced Brand Content option to make your content more scannable, professional, and consistent with your overall branding. We cover how to do this next.
Amazon Enhanced Brand Content
Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) is a way to “upgrade” your Amazon product descriptions for no additional cost. Historically, Amazon reserved EBC for products sold through Amazon and seller in the Vendor program, but they recently opened up this feature to all sellers through Seller Central under Advertising.
EBC provides pre-built templates that allow you to add additional features to your product descriptions, such as banners, tables, bullets, and interactive images and copy.
Simply opening an Amazon seller account won’t give you access to EBC. You’ll also need to open an Amazon Seller Central account with a Pro subscription, enroll each of your brands with Amazon Brand Registry, and possess a registered word trademark for each brand name.
Now that you’ve optimized your Amazon product pages, you’re ready to start driving traffic to your products through a well-crafted, profitable Amazon marketing strategy. Note: Most of these strategies work in tandem (as you’ll see), so don’t be afraid to test out one or two at the same time.
Amazon Advertising (or Amazon Marketing Services)
Amazon sellers advertise on the platform through Amazon Marketing Services (AMS). AMS is similar to Google Ads in that sellers pay only when shoppers click on ads. The service uses keywords, related products, and shopper interests to place ads where consumers are most likely to click on them.
As a seller, you can choose how you want your product to be seen. Product Display ads show up on the side or bottom of Amazon SERPs and along the side of related product pages. When clicked, Product Display ads lead to a product page.
Headline Search ads are the most customizable Amazon ad. They appear at the top of Amazon SERPs and can include custom ad copy as well as link to a branded landing page on which you can feature custom navigation, branded imagery, and select products.
Like with your Amazon marketing strategy, consider creating an Amazon advertising strategy to best target your ads and drive shopping traffic to your product pages.
Amazon SEO
As I said above, Amazon is a very popular search engine. (To reiterate what we said above, over 70% of shoppers visit Amazon for new product ideas, and over 50% start their product search on Amazon.) Amazon isn’t just an e-commerce site; it’s also a search engine. And as a search engine, it has its own search engine optimization, or SEO.
Amazon’s search engine is called A9. It operates on its own algorithm and comes with its own unpredictable updates — similar to Google. A9 is similar to Google in another key way: it cares about its buyers (a.k.a. searchers), and its buyers alone.
This is great when you’re shopping … but not so fun when you’re selling.
However, it’s important to remember this as a seller, too. Think like a buyer, and you’ll get along with A9 just fine. (Remember how we talked about optimizing your Amazon product pages to think like a buyer? This is one of the main reasons why.)
When it comes to A9 and Amazon SEO, you want to optimize your content for three things: discoverability, relevance, and sales. In other words, you want shoppers to see, click, and buy your products.
Discoverability
Let’s talk first about discoverability. Think: What will help shoppers find my products?
- Invest in Amazon advertising (as we discussed above) as well as Facebook and Google Ads to drive traffic to your product pages.
- Create product titles that read naturally and reflect a handful of relevant keywords. Use special characters (like | or — or ,) to make your title more readable.
- Place the most relevant, searched-for terms first (in an order that makes sense).
- Look at competitors’ titles, especially those in the first few spots on the SERP. They’re doing something right if they’re ranking that high.
- Take advantage of Amazon’s backend Search Terms, found under Keywords as you edit a product listing. Amazon allows for up to 250 characters (including spaces, commas, etc.), so use this space wisely. Use hyphenated words (like water-resistant) to cover all possible combinations and the individual words, too.
Relevance
Next, relevance. Think: What will help shoppers click on my products?
- Ensure your product images are crystal clear and display your product in the best light … literally. Shoppers will decide whether or not to click based on your main image.
- While your product bullet points can’t necessarily influence your product’s ranking, they can support product relevance once a shopper lands on your page. Use relevant keywords in your bullet points (especially those you couldn’t fit in your title) to further entice shoppers to buy.
- The same tips apply for your product titles, too. Shoppers will judge these for product relevance.
Sales
Finally, sales. Think: What will help shoppers purchase my product?
- Ensure your product page delivers on what your product title and images promise.
- Optimize your product page for conversions. We talked about this at the beginning of this guide.
- Feature as many customer reviews as possible. We talk about how to do this next.
Product Reviews
Customer reviews and ratings are important. They’re even more important in the world of e-commerce, where shoppers can’t physically see or touch a product before buying. In the case of Amazon, almost 90% of shoppers have said they wouldn’t purchase a product with fewer than three stars.
Amazon recognizes the power of customer reviews, and — true to their buyer-first mindset — make reviews a major part of each product page. Shoppers can view customer images, filter reviews by suggested keywords, search for content within reviews, sort reviews by stars, and review customer questions and answers.
omer reviews for products before I buy. My favorite section is the customer images, where I can see the product used or worn in real-life.
As a seller, you should also prioritize reviews. They can make or break a shopper’s decision to purchase — perhaps more than your optimized product pages.
While you can’t incentivize reviews anymore, you can kindly ask your customers to complete one. Here are a few ways to do this:
- Include a thank-you note and review request in your product shipment
- Send a follow-up email with a review request
- Sell a reviewable product
Finally, Amazon allows sellers to respond to reviews. This is yet another way to engage with customers, express gratitude, and address issues or complaints.
Direct Marketing
A lot of Amazon marketing takes place within the platform (through advertising and SEO), but some sellers follow traditional direct marketing methods, too. While they require extra work, they can be beneficial for creating loyal customers and eventually bringing business off of Amazon to an e-commerce site (if you’re interested in that).
Note: Be sure to read through Amazon’s prohibited seller activites and actions to ensure you remain compliant.
Have you ever ordered something off Amazon and received an email from the seller afterwards? I have. I’ve received emails thanking me for my purchase, asking for a product review, and even offering a discount code for my next purchase.
The first few caught me off guard (I was only used to emails from Amazon about my purchase), but I could appreciate the seller’s intent. Many sellers opt to conduct separate email marketing practices to promote their store and grow their list.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: If you decide to do email marketing for your Amazon products, don’t forget to ask subscribers if they want to opt-in!
Social Media
Some Amazon sellers also create social media profiles for their brand. This serves as another avenue through which to connect with customers and potential customers.
Use your social media to share product updates, announce sales and giveaways, and invest in some paid advertising.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Share your social media accounts on your Amazon brand page and product listings to build your follower list.
Website
Did you know that over 80% of Amazon sellers also sell through other channels, like eBay, brick-and-mortar, and third-party websites? It’s not uncommon to own and operate a separate e-commerce website in addition to your Amazon store.
While Amazon can help you be discovered and subsidize your shipping and customer support cost, creating a separate website can help build your brand beyond Amazon and aggregate customers and email subscribers of your own.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: If you have no interest in building and managing an entire website, create a simple landing page to start. This will at least give your brand an online identity outside of your Amazon store and provide another place to collect emails and promote your social media.
Affiliate Marketing
I’m a big fan of those product round-ups published by Buzzfeed or other bloggers. It’s so easy to scan a list of recommended products and — best of all — be sent directly to Amazon to check out the ones I’m interested in.
Have you ever wondered how those products end up on the list? Through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is essentially marketing your products through an affiliate — in this case, Buzzfeed. In exchange for your product being published/mentioned/shared, you pay a small fee if readers click and purchase. It’s a win-win and helps you drive sales, collect reviews, and build awareness.
👉🏼HubSpot Tip: Tap into Amazon’s Affiliate Program. It’s free and easy to use and immediately connects you with approved affiliates.
You’re Now the King 👑 (or Queen) of the Jungle
Amazon doesn’t seem so scary now, does it? The platform may be 12 million products wide, but as a seller, your priority should be on your products alone.
First, optimize your product pages so that your marketing efforts can drive buyers that convert. Next, apply these Amazon marketing strategies above to capture new traffic and more profit.
In two simple steps, you’ll see your Amazon products meet consumers wherever they are — whether they’re researching products, comparing prices, or looking to buy.
Multicultural Marketing: What It Is, Why You Should Do It, and How to Do It The Right Way
Growing up as a first-generation Asian American, I lived between two cultures. One was the East-Asian culture my parents brought from Taiwan, which prioritizes the needs and desires of the family and emphasizes academic excellence. The other was the Western culture that surrounded me outside the house, which prioritizes the needs and desires of the individual and emphasizes extracurricular activities.
Needless to say, these two cultures clashed, and I spent the early part of my childhood confused about my identity. My parents taught me certain values and principles to help guide me through life, just like their parents did, but whenever I hung out with my friends, they would show me a completely different way of living. At the end of the day, I didn’t really know which group to side with. But once puberty hit, I did what every other hormone-filled tween would do — I rebelled against my parents and followed my friends.
From the beginning of middle school to the end of high school, I mostly identified as an American not just because the vast majority of my friends were American, but because I realized I was different. And I didn’t like that.
Desperate to fit in, I tried my hardest to blend in with my peers. I immersed myself in football and baseball, deriving all my value in being a jock — the opposite of your typical Asian American. Sadly, I also looked down on other Asian kids who weren’t as American as me, sparingly ate Chinese food, and didn’t like inviting my friends over because I was scared they’d think my house smelled weird. In a nutshell, I was embarrassed to be Asian.
This mentality bled over to college, where I studied economics and business, played baseball, and joined a fraternity — all of which a typical Asian American wouldn’t do. As a senior, I decided to study abroad in Scotland, and my goal was to befriend as many lads and lasses from across the pond. But by the end of the semester, barely any of my friends were European. And none of them were American. Most of them were actually asian.
One of the biggest reasons why I loved studying abroad, in addition to traveling the world and never going to class, was because I befriended a group of Asian guys who were extremely proud of our ethnicity and culture. And it taught me how important it is to be proud of my own identity. Before I studied abroad, I’d never met an Asian person who claimed they were proud of who they were, and I didn’t really take pride in it either. But after meeting my asian friends in Scotland, who were from Asian countries, like Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Bhutan, and India, I was inspired to flip my mentality.
When I returned home from Scotland, my parents were shocked at how Asian cuisine had become my favorite type of food and how much pride I took in being Asian. In my mom and dad’s eyes, I could see the joy in their hearts. I’d finally done something they’d always wanted me to do — be proud of who I truly am.
Even though the world is a melting pot today, most brands market in a way that only appeals to a country’s majority ethnicity or culture. That means there’s a huge pool of people that brands aren’t resonating with.
However, generating more sales shouldn’t be the only reason you market to minority groups. Acknowledging their ethnicities and cultures should be another huge driving factor.
Because, ultimately, letting minority groups know that it’s not only okay to be different, but it’s also amazing that they bring such different perspectives to the places they immigrate to, will move society forward and help immigrant children like me be proud of who they truly are.
How to Do Multicultural Marketing The Right Way
Hire a diverse multicultural marketing team.
If your brand truly wants to practice empathy, then your employees need to actually know what it’s like to be in your customers’ shoes. Otherwise, if you don’t have someone on your team who can contextualize your marketing campaign to a specific ethnicity or culture, your content might seem it was created with an ulterior motive.
So whichever minority group you target during your multicultural marketing campaign, just make sure someone on your team has the practical knowledge and life experience to vet it for accuracy.
Interview people from minority groups that aren’t represented on your multicultural marketing team.
If you’re not able to hire a person who can represent the minority group your multicultural marketing campaign targets, your next best option is to interview people who can. To do so, reach out to people in your network, social circle, or family and ask them some questions about the challenges they face as a minority.
Triple-check your multicultural marketing campaign’s accuracy and authenticity.
There’s nothing worse than a self-serving marketing campaign masquerading as social justice (I’m looking at you Kendall Jenner). Even if you have the right intentions, poor execution can turn your campaign into an SNL Cheetos’ commercial.
So before you green light your multicultural marketing campaign, run the creative and distribution strategy by some colleagues or friends who represent the minority group your campaign is targeting and see if they can poke holes through it.
Acknowledging Diversity Matters More Than Ever Today
As an Asian American, Mulan, Jeremy Lin, and Jon Cho are my heroes because even though Asians are grossly underrepresented and misrepresented in pop culture, these three overcame that adversity and put themselves in a positive light, which greatly benefited the Asian American community.
With this in mind, if your multicultural marketing campaign can shed light on the challenges a minority group faces and highlight their benefit to society, you’ll not only grow the group’s loyalty for your brand, but you’ll also make them feel like they have a genuine, empathetic ally.
Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash
How Do Your Pins Perform? A Beginner’s Guide to Pinterest Analytics
Social media is an instrumental component of any business’s marketing strategy. But for users, scrolling through the mass amount of branded content across every social media platform can be exhausting.
However, there’s one social media site where users actually embrace branded content — Pinterest.
Pinterest can be an incredibly useful tool for attracting consumers to your products. In fact, 66% of Pinterest users make a purchase after seeing a brand’s Pins.
Because of Pinterest’s power to influence purchases, it makes sense to develop and maintain a strong Pinterest presence. And, whether your business’s social media goals align with improving brand recognition or increasing traffic, keeping an eye on analytics is critical for ensuring your content strategy is successful.
Additionally, JD Prater, an Ads Evangelist at Quora, told me, “Keep in mind Pinterest is all about discovery. Understand the Pinner’s journey and how it’s influencing future purchases — and not necessarily today’s.”
To ensure you’re able to achieve your Pinterest goals and see success on the platform, we’re going to explore what Pinterest Analytics is, and show you the seven most important metrics you should be tracking.
What is Pinterest Analytics?
Pinterest Analytics is Pinterest’s completely free, native tool that you can use to help measure your performance on Pinterest. Pinterest Analytics lets you collect traffic insights — including impressions and link clicks — so you can modify your strategy to better meet your users’ needs.
To access Pinterest Analytics, you’ll need a business account, which will also unlock the ability for you to create advertisements and promote Pins.
Pinterest Analytics offers the ability to sort your data from any time period, so whether you’re doing a monthly or yearly report, you’re covered. Data can also be sorted by device, which can be helpful when figuring out how you should optimize for mobile versus desktop.
You can also export your stats in a CSV file, which will come in handy for your next report or audit.
When you go into Pinterest Analytics, you’ll see the dashboard divided into three major sections — Profile, Audience, and Website analytics.
Pinterest Analytics is also split into four sections — Impressions, Saves, Link clicks, and All-time. Let’s explore those four sections now.
1. Impressions
Impressions are the number of times your Pin has been viewed. This could be through a user’s home feed, category feed, or search.
2. Saves
Saves are the number of times someone has saved one of your Pins to a board. This is how new people discover your content on Pinterest.
3. Link clicks
Link clicks are what drive your users to a destination — whether that be your website, blog post, or another Pin.
4. All-time
Your All-time metrics include an assortment of things dating back to the very beginning of your Pinterest history. Here, you’ll be able to see your most popular Pins, and the content ranked highest in search.
Lastly, it’s important to note — analytics should be used only once you fully understand the Pinterest user.
For instance, as Prater notes,”Before you start analyzing the data and drawing insights, it’s important to understand the Pinner journey. There’s no one way to pin. People’s pinning habits are diverse and are centered on what they care most about (their interests).”
Pinterest Metrics to Track
There are seven metrics you’ll want to track on your Pinterest account to assess how well your content is performing. Of course, depending on your team’s unique goals, you might want to focus more heavily on a few of these metrics, rather than all of them.
1. Impressions
As with any other social media network, impressions measure the number of times your content is displayed. Pinterest impressions include the number of times your content appears in a user’s feed, search results, or a different category feed.
To get a sense of what your audience is searching for, look for patterns within your content to see which categories and keywords gain the most impressions. For instance, if you notice your “Quotes from impressive marketing leaders” post performs exceptionally well, you might want to lean more heavily into thought leadership content on Pinterest.
2. Repins
Repins are the number of times someone saves your pin to one of their own boards.
Repins are like a retweet on Twitter. It means that the user found your post both interesting and shareable. This action is more valuable than an impression.
3. Clicks
Clicks are the metric that determines whether or not your content is driving your audience to your website. This metric is extremely important if your goal is to increase traffic with your Pinterest presence.
The number of clicks and visits to your website from Pinterest can be found at the bottom of the ‘Site Metrics’ tab. Clicks indicate the action of a click, while Visitors signal the number of unique users visiting your site.
4. Top Pins
Pinterest content has a long lifespan. This means that your content can accumulate metrics over a longer period of time than they do on other platforms.
Your Top Pins will be useful in determining your best content over time. If you launched an extremely popular campaign that resonated with your audience a year ago, you’ll be able to go back and see the actions taken on that content. You can use that information to inform the strategy of your next campaign.
5. All-time stats
To see what content formats have worked for your account in the past, look at your data dating back to your account’s inception. This data includes your most repinned pins, pins that performed best in search, and the pins most engaged with your most engaged with pins of all time.
Like your Top Pins, you can use your best-performing pins to optimize new content and provide your audience with what they want to see.
6. Audience affinities
In this section, you will see a breakdown of the categories your followers engage with and the top boards to which your content is pinned. This will help you understand your audience and what attracts them to your content.
7. Saves
A save means that people like your content and are saving it for later on one of their boards while, simultaneously, recommending it to their followers.
Saves increase the reach of your post on Pinterest and may indicate that the user plans on further engaging with the content later.
This metric is key to understanding which content your audience is identifying with, which will enable you to build deeper relationships with customers over time.
There are plenty of other metrics that Pinterest provides that will be helpful for your business. Remember, what works for one business’s Pinterest strategy may not work for your company’s unique voice and positioning. Using Analytics can allow you to test different content formats, which will ultimately add value to your customers’ overall experience with your brand.
Take a look at The Ultimate Guide to Pinterest Marketing to learn more about how to use Pinterest for your business.
How to Create an SEO Strategy for 2019 [Template Included]
Here’s a cliche among digital marketers: Search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t what it used to be.
Here’s a true statement you don’t hear as often: Your SEO strategy for 2019 shouldn’t focus on keywords.
These days, most businesses understand the basic concepts of SEO and why it’s important. However, when it comes to developing and executing a sound SEO strategy for your business, just creating content for the keywords your customers are searching for is both arduous and, well, wrong.
What is an SEO?
Search engine optimizers (SEOs) are people who optimize websites to help them show up higher on search engines and gain more “organic traffic.” In essence, an SEO is a highly specialized content strategist, and helps a business discover opportunities to answer questions people have about the industry via search engines.
Here are three types of SEO that an SEO strategist can focus on:
- On-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the content that’s “on the page,” and how to optimize that content to help boost the website’s ranking for specific keywords.
- Off-page SEO: This SEO focuses on the links that are directing to the website from elsewhere on the internet. The number of “backlinks,” and the publishers carrying those links, that link to your website help you build trust in the eyes of a search engine. This causes your website to rank higher as a result.
- Technical SEO: This SEO focuses on a website’s architecture, examining the backend of that website to see how each webpage is “technically” set up. Google cares as much about the code of a website as it does its content, making this speciality quite important to a website’s search engine ranking.
Bear in mind that not every business can optimize their website for search the same way, and therefore not every SEO will have the same optimization process. It’s an SEO’s job to examine his or her industry, find out what’s important to their audience, and develop an SEO strategy that puts the right content in front of that audience.
With that in mind, here are nine steps you can take to make sure all of your SEO bases are covered in 2019. Then, at the bottom of this blog post, you can grab your free planning template to master on-page SEO.
1. Make a list of topics.
Keywords are at the heart of SEO, but they’re actually not your first step to an organic growth play anymore. Your first step is to make a list of topics you’d like to cover from one month to the next.
To start, compile a list of about 10 short words and terms associated with your product or service. Use Google’s Keyword Tool to identify their search volume and come up with variations that make sense for your business.
You are associating these topics with popular short-tail keywords, as you can tell, but you’re not dedicating individual blog posts to these keywords. These keywords are simply too competitive to rank highly for on Google if you’re just starting to optimize your website for search. We’ll go over how to use these topics in just a minute.
Using search volume and competition as your measure, narrow down your list to 10-15 short-tail keywords that are important to you, and that people within your audience are searching for. Then rank this list in order of priority, based on its monthly search volume and its relevance to your business.
For example, if a swimming pool business is trying to rank for “fiberglass pools” — which is receiving 110,000 searches per month — this short-tail keyword can be the one that represents the overarching topic on which they want to create content. The business would then identify a series of long-tail keywords that relate to this short-tail keyword, have reasonable monthly search volume, and help to elaborate on the topic of fiberglass pools. We’ll talk more about these long-tails in the next step of this process.
Each of these keywords is called a “pillar,” and it serves as the primary support for a larger “cluster” of long-tail keywords, which is what brings us to our next Step …
2. Make a list of long-tail keywords based on these topics.
Here’s where you’ll start optimizing your pages for specific keywords. For each pillar you’ve identified, use your keyword tool to identify five to 10 long-tail keywords that dig deeper into the original topic keyword.
For example, we regularly create content on the topic of “SEO,” but it’s still very difficult to rank well on Google for such a popular topic on this acronym alone. We also risk competing with our own content by creating multiple pages that are all targeting the exact same keyword — and potentially the same search engine results page (SERP). Therefore, we also create content on conducting keyword research, optimizing images for search engines, creating an SEO strategy (which you’re reading right now), and other subtopics within SEO.
This allows a business to attract people who have varying interests in and concerns about owning their product — and ultimately create more entry points for people who are interested in buying something.
Use subtopics to come up with blog post or webpage ideas that explain a specific concept within each larger topic you identified in Step 1. Plug these subtopics into your keyword research tool to identify long-tail keywords on which to base each blog post.
Together, these subtopics create a cluster. So, if you have 10 pillar topics, they should each be prepared to support one cluster of five to 10 subtopics. This SEO model is called a “topic cluster,” and modern search engine algorithms depend on them to connect users with the information they’re looking for.
Here’s a short video on this concept:
Think of it this way: The more specific your content, the more specific the needs of your audience are — and the more likely you’ll convert this traffic into leads. This is how Google finds value in the websites it crawls; the pages that dig into the interworkings of a general topic are seen as the best answer to a person’s query, and will rank higher.
3. Build pages for each topic.
When it comes to websites and ranking in search engines, trying to get one page to rank for a handful of keywords can be next to impossible. But here’s where the rubber meets the road:
Take the 10 pillar topics you came up with in Step 1 and create a web page for each one that outlines the topic at a high level — using the long-tail keywords you came up with for each cluster in Step 2. A pillar page on SEO, for example, can describe SEO in brief sections that introduce keyword research, image optimization, SEO strategy, and other subtopics as they are identified. Think of each pillar page as a table of contents, where you’re briefing your readers on subtopics you’ll elaborate on in blog posts.
Use your keyword list to determine how many different pillar pages you should create. Ultimately, the number of topics for which you create pillar pages should coincide with how many different products, offerings, and locations your business has. This will make it much easier for your prospects and customers to find you in search engines no matter what keywords they use.
Each web page needs to include relevant content for your prospects and customers and should include pictures and links to pages on your site to enhance the user experience. We’ll talk about those links in Step 4.
4. Set up a blog.
Blogging can be an incredible way to rank for keywords and engage your website’s users. After all, every blog post is a new web page that gives you another chance to rank in search engines. If your business does not already have a blog, set one up. This is where you’ll elaborate on each subtopic and actually start showing up on Google.
As you write each blog post and fill up your clusters, you should do three things:
- First, don’t include your long-tail keyword more than three or four times throughout the page. Google doesn’t consider exact keyword matches as often as it used to. In fact, too many instances of your keyword can be a red flag to search engines that you’re “keyword stuffing.” This can penalize your website and drop your rank.
- Second, link out to the pillar page you created on this topic. You can do this in the form of tags in your content management system (CMS), or as basic anchor text in the body of the article.
- Once you publish each blog post, link into it from the pillar page that supports this subtopic. Find the point in your pillar page that introduces this blog’s subtopic, and link it here.
By connecting both the pillar and the cluster in this way, you’re telling Google there’s a relationship between the long-tail keyword and the overarching topic you’re trying to rank for.
5. Blog every week to develop page authority.
Not every blog post or web page you write needs to belong to a topic cluster. There’s also value in writing about tangential topics your customers care about in order to give your website authority in the eyes of Google. This will cue Google to pay extra attention your domain as you add content to your primary topics.
With that in mind, make a point to blog at least once a week. Remember, you are blogging primarily for your audience, not the search engines. Write about things your audience and/or prospects are interested in, make sure you’re including relevant keywords where appropriate, and your audience will slowly start to notice and click.
Keep in mind that each topic won’t be equal in importance, and as your clusters get off the ground, you’ll need to prioritize based on your company’s needs. So, create a list of all the different web pages you would like to create and rank them. Then, develop a schedule and devise a plan of attack to get those pages built.
Keep your list updated and prioritized by what web pages will help you to best achieve your business goals.
6. Create a link-building plan.
The topic cluster model is your way forward in SEO this year, but it’s not the only way to get your website content to rank higher once it’s been created.
Our first five steps were dedicated to on-page SEO tactics. Link-building is the primary objective of off-page SEO, and is also a huge factor in how search engines rank your web pages. What is link-building? Glad you asked.
Link-building is the process of attracting inbound links (also called “backlinks”) to your website from elsewhere on the web. As a general rule, the more page authority the origin website has, the bigger affect it will have on the rank of the web page to which it is linking.
Dedicate some time to brainstorm all the different ways you can attract inbound links to your website. Start small –- maybe share your links with other local businesses in exchange for links to their sites. Write a few blog posts and share them on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. Consider approaching other bloggers for guest blogging opportunities through which you can link back to your website.
Another great way to attract inbound links is to use your blog to post articles related to current events or news. That way, you have shot of getting linked to from an industry influencer or other bloggers in your industry.
7. Compress all media before putting it on your website.
This is a small but important step in the SEO process. As your blog or website grows, you’ll undoubtedly have more images, videos, and related media to host there. These visual assets can help retain your visitors’ attention, but it’s easy to forget these assets are still technically computer files — and computer files have file sizes.
As a general rule, the bigger the file size, the harder it is for an internet browser to render your website. And it just so happens that page speed is one of the most important ranking factors when search engines decide where to place your content in its index.
So, the smaller the file size, the faster your website will load, and the higher you can rank on Google as a result. But how do you shrink a file size once it’s on your computer?
If you’re looking to upload an image to a blog post, for example, examine the file for its file size first. If it’s anywhere in megabyte (MB) territory, even just 1 MB, it’s a good idea to use an image compression tool to reduce the file size before uploading it to your blog. Sites like TinyPNG make it easy to compress images in bulk, while Google’s very own Squoosh has been known to shrink image file sizes to microscopic levels.
Ultimately, keeping your files in the kilobytes (KB) can sufficiently protect your website’s page speed.
Be careful when compressing your images, and check the file’s actual size once you export it back to your computer. While some tools might not be true to the size it shows you, others can sacrifice some image quality when compressing the artwork.
8. Stay current on SEO news & practices.
Like the overall marketing landscape, the search engine space is ever-evolving. Staying on top of current trends and best practices is a difficult task, but there are multiple online resources that can make it easy for you to stay on top of SEO news and changes that may impact your website and your SEO strategy.
Here are a few resources to check out:
9. Measure and track your content’s success.
SEO can take a lot of time and effort. What good is spending all this time and effort if you can’t see the fruits of your labor? There are many metrics you can track on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to keep your SEO plan on track and measure your success.
Because the metric you care about is organic traffic (traffic that comes from a given search engine), seek out a tool that allows you to track both your overall organic traffic number and how your pages are ranking under each long-tail keyword your pages are targeting. SEMrush is a great reporting tool for just this purpose.
Create a monthly dashboard using Excel, Google Sheets, or a web analytics package so you can monitor how much traffic comes to your website from organic search.
Also, tracking indexed pages, leads, ROI, inbound links, keywords, and your actual ranking on SERPs (search engine results pages) can help you recognize your success as well as identify areas of opportunity.
People Often Ask:
What is domain authority in SEO?
Domain Authority in SEO is a number value, used by several keyword research tools, that measures how popular and trustworthy search engines see your website. It is calculated based on how websites link to each other on the world wide web.
What does an SEO specialist do?
An SEO specialist is someone who is an expert on the topic of search engine optimization. They specialize in the optimization of websites to increase the number of visits they gain from search engines.
What does an SEO executive do?
An SEO Executive optimizes websites to make them show up higher on search engines and gain more website visitors. They work on off-page and on-page SEO.
What is an SEO content writer?
An SEO Content Writer is someone who writes content for the purpose of having it show up on search engines and gain website visitors. They are generally knowledgeable in the are of both SEO and content marketing.
What Is the Job of a SEO?
The job of an SEO is to manage the optimization of websites to ensure they gain website traffic from search engines such as Google & Bing.
How do I become an SEO specialist?
To become an SEO specialist, you can study marketing in university or online and/or gain practical experience in optimizing websites. Between on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO, there are numerous ways to optimize a website so it ranks for the topics that are important to the publisher.
