It’s no secret that internet users are no strangers to seeking out the information they need online — in fact, Google now processes over 40,000 search queries every second.

And as the volume of search queries continues to climb, advertisers are recognizing an opportunity to introduce a number of different types of ads. (Think: pop-up ads, autoplaying video ads, and the dreaded mobile ad that takes up the entire phone screen.)

As a reaction to some of these disruptive online ads, internet users have started installing ad blocking extensions by the millions. In case you’re wondering: Ad blockers scan websites for advertising code to prevent them from loading on a browser.

Here’s a visual look at how they work:

To help marketers get a handle on the state of ad blocking today, HubSpot Research dove deep into the issue to create this report. Below, we’ve outlined some of they most noteworthy statistics and takeaways from our research to get you up to speed quickly.

11 Ad Blocking Stats You Need to Know

1) Adblock Plus, the world’s most popular ad blocking extension, has been downloaded over 500 million times.

Many research and news sites have different numbers, but it’s hard to ignore the hockey stick growth in adoption here.

Image Credit: PageFair

2) Ad blocking is blamed for costing the advertising industry $22 Billion in 2015.

Why is ad blocking a big deal? When ads aren’t displayed, content sites that host ads and the advertiser lose out on potential revenue. And the losses have been enormous.

3) As for potential revenue losses in the future, Ovum predicts that $35 billion in ad revenue will lost by 2020 because of ad blocking.

4) 64% say ads today are annoying or intrusive.

5) Pop-up ads, autoplaying video ads, and online video ads are the most disliked online ad types.

6) 70% of respondents say they would have a lower opinion of a company that uses pop-up advertisement.

7) 34% of people say usually click online ads by accident.

8) Adoption of mobile ad blocking is growing even faster (90% YOY) than desktop-based ad blocking adoption. A study from Priori Data suggests 419 million people (a fifth of the world’s internet users) have some type of mobile ad blocker installed.

9) 83% of online browsers in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France say they’d like to block mobile ads.

10) 73% of people stated that ads that cover the entire screen on a phone are the most annoying, followed by ads that track browsing (65%).

11) When asked about the best way to support websites (to cover costs), the majority (68%) of respondents say they don’t mind seeing ads — as long as their not annoying.

The lesson? Marketers need to use unobtrusive forms of advertising (native ads, social ads, etc.) that people tolerate more than interruptive ads like pop-ups. (Check out this post on native ad examples for inspiration.)

Want to learn more about ad blocking? Check out the full report here.

Technically, your boss owns your professional time. That means it’s perfectly within her rights to reprioritize what you’re working on if she thinks doing so is the best thing for the team.

But even good bosses can have a hard time understanding what’s being sacrificed when they assign new tasks and projects. And if you continuously allow your boss to pile new things on your plate, you’ll eventually find yourself delaying other work or not getting it done at all. In the end, that reflects poorly on you — and that’s not fair.

Saying “no” to your boss can be intimidating, but there are plenty of cases where it’s a totally appropriate thing to do. The key is learning how to say no in a way that’s tactful and helps your boss find an alternative solution.

This is a skill that’ll serve you well in every stage of your career. Being able to say “no” to the right things in the right ways will end up saving you a whole lot of time and pain.

So the next time your boss asks you to increase your workload, take on a task you think is a bad idea, or work outside of your normal hours … how do you know whether it’s an okay time to say “no”? And what’s the best way to decline?

When Is It Okay to Say ‘No’ to Your Boss?

There are some situations when it’s okay to say no to your boss, and some situations when it’s not. The first question you should ask yourself is: What situation are you in when the request comes in?

For example, if you’re within the first six months of a brand new job, you need to be more of a “yes-man” (or woman) than not in order to establish yourself as a hardworking, motivated, and competent team player. Putting in extra time and effort when you’re proving yourself to a new team is, frankly, what’s expected of you in a new role. Same goes if you’ve just received poor feedback or a bad evaluation at work and need to spend some time proving yourself again.

Finally, if you’ve recently said “no” to a request from your boss, you’ll want to think more carefully about this new one so you don’t come across as a naysayer.

But if you’ve proven yourself by being a high performer and a valuable coworker, then you can set some limits.

How to Say ‘No’ To Your Boss

Let’s walk through a few tips for setting yourself up to say no to your boss in a way that’s diplomatic and acceptable.

1) Respond right away, even if it’s just to ask for more time.

When that request comes in over email or in a virtual chat, it can be easy to “hide out” and pretend you didn’t see it until you have a well-formulated response. (Unless your boss uses the HubSpot Sales Chrome extension, that is. It notifies you when someone opens your emails.)

As tempting as it might be, don’t wait to respond until you have a rebuttal prepared. The more communicative you are from the get-go, the more trustworthy and professional you’ll appear — putting you in a better position to negotiate later.

But what should you say in that initial response?

If you take only one thing away from this article, this is it: Saying no to your boss doesn’t mean actually saying the word “no.”

While something like “No, sorry, I don’t have time right now” might seem like a totally legitimate response to you, an instantaneous “no” can not only be off-putting, but it could also signify to your boss that you’re having trouble prioritizing and executing on your work.

For the sake of your relationship with your boss and your integrity as an employee, you’ll need to tread more carefully than that. So instead, here’s what you might write in that initial response:

Validate their request.

Instead of just saying “no,” Leadership Development Expert Kirstin Lynde suggests responding first with words of affirmation.

“As soon as you get the request, you might say something like, ‘I understand why this is an important thing to get done,'” she told me. “Or, if you don’t think that, you might say, ‘I think I see what you mean.'”

This validates the request and shows your boss you’re listening without necessarily assigning you as the point person for the task.

Ask questions.

Once you’ve affirmed their request, Lynde suggests that you get curious.

“Ask questions. Say, ‘It would be helpful to understand a little bit more about what you’re thinking — about timing, the amount of attention you want me to give to this, and so on,'” she suggests. “You may have a totally different concept than your boss does of how long it’ll take and which skills will be needed.”

The answers to these questions will give you more context for you to frame your pushback around (or might reveal to you that you can take the project on after all, negating the “no” entirely).

Ask for a little bit of time if you need it.

If you need to, buy yourself some time to evaluate the request and whether or not you can actually do it. You might say something like, “May I have a half a day to think this through and see where it fits alongside my other priorities?” Unless it’s super urgent, a good boss is likely to honor that request.

2) List out why you need or want to say ‘no.’

Once you’ve established that you’ve received the request and bought yourself some time, use it to thoughtfully evaluate whether — and why — you need to decline.

Is it because you have a looming deadline on an important project? Or do you disagree with the strategy? Is it because you consider whatever’s being asked of you unethical? Or is it because you’re days away from a big vacation and you simply don’t have the availability to take on anything new just now?

As you brainstorm, write down these answers. They’ll come in handy later when you’re formulating a response to your boss.

3) Put yourself in your boss’ shoes.

Empathy can be a powerful tool when attempting to persuade. By considering the situation from your boss’ perspective, you’ll be able to frame a much more compelling argument later.

Ask yourselves questions like:

• Why is your boss asking you to do this?
• What business purpose does it serve?
• If you declined the request, what would happen?

By considering the situation from her point of view as well as your own, you’ll be able to more easily come up with a solution that is agreeable to both parties — whether it’s executing on the proposed plan, or putting a different one forward.

4) Come up with an alternative solution.

If you’re still leaning toward a “no,” your strongest argument will include an alternative way to solve the problem. Your boss will appreciate the concern and effort you put into helping her find some way to get the task done, even if you’re not the one doing it.

For example, you might ask to postpone the task until some of your other priorities are finished, or possibly come back with a list of coworkers who might be up for the task. Have any colleagues who might be interested in growing their career through projects like this, or whose background is a better fit? That’s a great way to show you’re paying attention to and are interested in your peers’ professional development.

5) Ask your boss to help you reprioritize.

If not having enough time to complete the task is your main concern, ask your boss to help you reprioritize. This will give her a better understanding of what you have on your plate and what you’d have to give up by taking on a new task or project, while also giving her a chance to share her two cents on what’s important.

You might say something like, “In taking this on, I want to make sure I don’t drop the ball on other priorities. Would you mind helping me sort out my current projects and figure out where this fits in?”

Then, set up a meeting and share what you’re working on, how long it’s taking, and what you’d have to delay or stop doing if you were to take on the new project. To prepare, type our your notes neatly and clearly in a document you can share with your boss to show you’ve put time and effort into collaborating on a mutually beneficial solution.

If all goes well, you’ll end the meeting with permission to move around your priorities in a way both of you are happy with.

6) Choose your words carefully.

During this conversation, frame your responses in a way that makes it clear you’re thinking and concerned about the company’s interests — and choose your wording carefully.

“Most [good bosses] say they’re willing to listen to sound reasoning to find a solution,” says Diane Amundson, a workplace communications consultant. “It’s all about how you frame and phrase it.”

Here are some tips to help you get your ideas across effectively:

• Acknowledge her idea. Your boss will be more open to listening to an alternative solution or hearing a “no” if you’ve first validated her suggestion.
• Be direct, but tactful. This is a key business skill that’ll serve you well in every stage of your career.
• Avoid negative excuses, like “It’s not my turn”; “I did it last time”; “I wouldn’t know where to begin to do that.”
• Use positive phrasing. Instead of saying, “I can’t do this project because I have too much other work,” try something like, “I know this project is important for hitting our number this month, and I have a few ideas about how to reorganize the workload.”
• Show you’re resourceful by doing your research and presenting other ideas.
• Don’t get defensive. Position your message in a neutral, rational way. For example, you might say, “I understand your perspective, and here’s another way to think about the situation.”
• Show you care about the team’s goals. You and your boss share a higher purpose: to accomplish your team and company goals. Acknowledge that you’re in it together, and frame your suggestions as ways to help that goal.

7) Be communicative.

Don’t wait too long before scheduling a conversation with your boss or letting her know that you won’t be able to carry out her request. If your boss sees you’ve left a conversation open-ended, she might think she’s being blown off.

The more communicative you are, the more trustworthy and professional you come across. Plus, keeping her in the loop will help you and her figure out an alternative solution with time to spare.

Pushing back on a request from your boss can be intimidating — especially if your boss is the kind of person who’s constantly sending you new ideas and pushing projects onto you unexpectedly.

But in the end, being honest about what you can and cannot accomplish is much better than setting yourself up for failure.

What other advice can you add about saying “no” to your boss? Share your thoughts and experiences with us in the comments below.

Setting up proper SEO for your website is no easy feat — especially when you’re dealing with constantly changing algorithms. However, as search engines continue to evolve, it’s becoming more and more important for marketers to keep their content fresh and properly optimized.

While it’s tempting to implement a bunch of quick fixes to get your page ranking in the short term, it’s important that you’re also planning a strategy that will scale in the long term. This requires you to continuously redefine your strategy over time by using sustainable and proven best practices.

To help you out, HubSpot & OnPage.org teamed up to bring you these best practices in the form of a handy 30-day planner. Each daily tip will help you step up your SEO game so that you can rank higher in search by the end of the month.

More specifically, you’ll learn:

• How to standardize your URL structures to increase ranking.
• Tips on ensuring clean website navigation to comply with desktop and mobile algorithms.
• How to create better, more search-friendly content and headlines.
• How to improve your site’s loading speed.
• How to sign up for Google Search Console, Analytics, and more.
• Tips on monitoring progress and success.
• 25+ other tips on increasing your SEO game.

Click here to download your free copy today. 

Project management stems from a solid foundation of planning, time management, and good old-fashioned organization, but a lot can go wrong along the way. A study of 10,640 projects from 200 companies in various industries revealed that only 2.5% of the companies successfully completed 100% of their projects.

So why do so many projects fail? Many project managers fall into the same handful of traps that can impede success. Here are the sinkholes to watch out for when managing client projects. 

8 Mistakes That Will Derail Any Project 

1) You don’t adequately define each team member’s responsibilities at the outset.

By the end of your first project meeting, every single team member at the conference table should have a crystal clear understanding of the following two things:

• What exactly they need to contribute to the project as an individual.
• How their individual contribution factors into the project’s overall goals.

As a project manager, the last thing you want to hear from a team member after the kickoff meeting is “I don’t know where to start.” Each person needs to know what will be expected of them, and how exactly the work they do as an individual will contribute to completing the project’s major milestones. By consistently emphasizing how each contribution is meaningful and vital to success, project managers can keep team members fully engaged and productive.

2) You get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the big picture.

When you find yourself stuck on a task that seems like it’s wasting a lot of time, ask yourself a few questions:

• Does this task align with the project’s main objectives?
• Can I clearly explain the bigger purpose of this task to my team?

If the answer to either of these questions is “no,” it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate how the work you’re doing aligns with the project’s overarching goals. Each component of the project should fit neatly into a measurable end result. If you don’t know the clear reason behind a particular task, it doesn’t deserve your precious time or resources. You either need to find out why (or if) the task is important by checking in with your team, or abandon it in favor of something more productive.

3) You pick a project manager who isn’t a good fit. 

Project manager role descriptions tend to be vague and littered with buzzwords — “must be a team player,” “must be results-oriented,” “must have a proven track record.” But how exactly does this laundry list of basic skills fit into what your team is actually trying to accomplish? 

Project management is not a one-size-fits-all role — someone who served as a successful project manager on a previous project is not necessarily the absolute best fit for another project. Teams should sit down in the first phases of the planning process and write out a list of skills and attributes they think would suit the unique project at hand. This will help you identify a manager who can understand your challenges, strengths, and goals. 

4) You don’t break the project down into manageable components.

If someone asks you to bake an elaborate 15-tier cake without a recipe, you’re likely going to have some issues getting started and managing your progress. To be successful, you need someone to hand you a cookbook that outlines each part of the process — otherwise, things are going to get messy.

The same thing goes for successful project management. If you only look at a project’s end result, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and start dragging your feet. A good project manager needs to present the project in terms of steps and check points to ensure team members remain on track. Attainable, realistic milestones will help segment a daunting task into manageable parts that can be tackled day-to-day. Include all these steps once they’ve been approved by the client in a project management tool that makes it easy to collaborate and stay up-to-date on progress. 

5) You don’t establish a clear communication framework.

Planning a monthly meeting to discuss a project’s progress is great, but what happens in between those calendar invites? Your team needs a way to share information and keep everyone updated on their work; otherwise, you risk members veering off course and losing sight of milestones.

To keep everyone on the same page, develop a clearly-defined communication system at your kickoff meeting. Consider creating a shared calendar just for project deadlines or a shared document where team members can post updates. If at any point during a project you’re unsure about what your team members are working on, it’s time for a check-in. Oversharing is better than under-sharing.

6) You focus too much on negative details and overlook the positives.

Researchers from University of Michigan found that teams work more productively and succeed more when they’re characterized by a positive work culture. It’s a simple fact that people are more motivated when they feel valued and respected, but many projects fail because leaders focus too much on setbacks. Negativity and fear of failure is ultimately less motivating than positive encouragement, especially in the face of a troubled project. A team that genuinely cares for each of its members’ well being and success is more equipped to bounce back from from issues and overcome obstacles in the long run.

A positive culture can start with small steps from leadership: Meet with team members individually, and offer some well-deserved praise for their successes. More often than not, management focuses only on things that team members need to change, rather than calling attention to things about each team member that are already awesome. This simple bolstering exercise can have a significant impact on team morale, and it will lead to a more productive project.

7) You don’t update the right stakeholders on progress and setbacks.

Your project inevitably has a long list of stakeholders, and each one is impacted by the project in a unique way. It can be a challenge to know exactly who needs to be updated, what they need to know, and when it needs to take place.

Mindtools recommends using the following chart to prioritize your project’s stakeholders according to their power and interest levels.

Stakeholders with high-power and high-interest levels should be your top priority; update them regularly, and be as transparent as possible. If a stakeholder has low-interest and low-power, keep them up to date only on major milestones — chances are they’ll be annoyed if you send them more frequent updates.

8) You resist change.

Think of your project as a living, breathing thing — not a static agenda. It’s important to remain adaptable and graceful when something doesn’t go quite as planned and to adjust your strategy accordingly. A strong project manager does not resist new information or data that can change the course of the project for the better. Take the time to evaluate your successes and failures, and see what you can improve moving forward.

This being said, you should avoid big changes that take you away from your project’s core purpose. Your team was assembled with a distinct goal in mind; make sure you’re setting firm expectations with your stakeholders about the scope of the project.

6 months ago, I didn’t care a hoot about augmented reality games. But as marketers, they are about to become real darn important to all of us.

In California, two men were playing the new mobile sensation Pokemon Go. They were so enthralled in the game they both walked right off a cliff. Pokemon Go has even caused car crashes as folks who were playing the game tried to catch Pokemon characters while they were driving.

A couple days ago, I was in a park letting my niece and nephew play on the children’s toys when suddenly, a whole group of adults converged on our location, all staring at their phones and trying to “catch” a squirrel.

For someone who has never played Pokemon (or even knows what it is, really) this was quite the sight.

So what? Who cares about some mobile game?

In a recent SensorTower study, Pokemon Go is outperforming all social networks on the amount of time people spend in the app.

So, you have millions of people walking around (or driving – please don’t do that) going wherever the GPS-enabled mobile app tells them to go.  This means savvy businesses are going to be buying ads to bring hundreds of these ‘zombies’ to their stores.

According to TechCrunch, a pizza place in Queens, New York saw a 75% increase in sales by paying $10 to lure a Pokemon Character to their location.

75%!

For a $10 investment.

For local businesses, from large cities to small communities, spending on Pokemon Go ads is a new and exciting way to get more customers. But the makers of Pokemon Go are already saying, advertising isn’t going to stop at the local level.

So, yeah, Pokemon Go is a hot topic right now. But how many of your competitors do you think are going to take advantage of it? 

Too many marketers arrive at a new marketing channel at the same time everyone else does. And many marketers are too frightened of failure to try marketing channels that aren’t already saturated. 

It doesn’t take a brave soul to advertise on Facebook. Everyone is advertising on Facebook.

It wasn’t a marketing guru who thought, “this Pokemon thing might work for this pizza place?” It was the manager.

Be that guy!

Gary Vaynerchuck has been preaching Snapchat for a long time. Only recently have businesses been discovering the marketing possibilities with Snapchat. 

Marketers who are smart enough and brave enough to experiment with new marketing channels, even when it’s not popular with other marketers are the ones who arrive early, stake their claim, and enjoy low competition. 

You can bet Gary Vee will be long gone by the time Snapchat is saturated with marketing.

Let’s look at emerging marketing channels that are still unsaturated that you should start caring about, right now!

New Powerful, Unsaturated Marketing Channels

Today, 93% of marketers use content for marketing. Placing that content magnet close enough to leads to draw them in, however, remains a completely separate topic.

Using Strategy to Catapult Content into Your Lead’s World

The internet empowers, constantly evolves, and pays dividends to early adopters. Identify how to best utilize emerging trends in apps and technology and find yourself in that category. Embracing new technology and constantly looking for it’s practical applications opens up new skills, new relationships, and new possibilities personally and professionally.

Thanks to technology and the internet, today:

• Everyone is an author – Thank you WordPress
• Everyone is a photographer – Thank you Instagram
• Everyone is a videographer – Thank you YouTube
• Everyone is a broadcaster – Thank you Periscope

As a platform gains popularity, the saturation of the channel swells, making it more difficult to be heard. The sooner you jump on the train, the better your seat, and the higher your chance of success on any platform.

New Technology Opens up New Marketing Channels

The channels you don’t think fit your industry can actually provide a significant boost to the impact of your content.

More than likely, it’s not too late, on even the somewhat new marketing channels like Snapchat (which we will dig further into later). Often, entire industries will stay away from new marketing channels because they just don’t think it is worth the effort, or they just don’t want to invest the time to understand them.

New channels offer new leads, strategic connections, and open doors.

Jumping into a new channel makes sense because your competitors haven’t shown up there yet. Not only that, but your prospects and customers are likely to engage more often on this new platform which will gain you recognition as an innovator and industry trail-blazer.

Breaking into new channels is surprisingly easy once you conquer the fear of the unknown.

So, if it’s that easy, then what does it take to break into new channels? Because, let’s be honest, if there were no barriers to entry and it didn’t take something special, everyone would do it!

But cracking a new marketing channel requires insight, innovation, creativity, and commitment.

Take Redbull and Instagram, for instance. Redbull used the platform without hesitation to highlight customers and event partnerships.

They now have 5 million followers.

“Though Red Bull actually uses Instagram the least out of all of its platforms, the platform brings in the most engaged following, generating the most likes and comments. Its follower base is also growing rapidly as the brand continues to share…” says SmartInsights about the company’s campaign.

How to Identify New Marketing Channels

It’s a simple process where intentionality is the most important factor.

The first step starts with keeping your eyes open and alert for new opportunities. If you aren’t the type of person who tracks the latest trends, identify someone who is and keep up with them on social media.

Some Other More Tactical Strategies to Start With Are:

• Monitor forward thinking brands with SpyFu, AHRefs, or the QuickSprout Analyzer
• Fill your Feedly with feeds rich in new technology and marketing trends like Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, Moz, and TechCrunch
• Monitor the online communities like Inbound.org, GrowthHackers, and ProductHunt
• Follow the visionaries on Quora

Don’t be intimidated. New technology is specifically designed to for a quick learning curve and easy adoption. That’s what all that talk about UX and user onboarding is about. To really get ahead of the curve, you can even sign up to as an early beta tester on sites like BetaBound.

Best Practices for Marketing Campaign Launch in a New Channel

When you are ready it’s good to have a list of best practices to put in place. The most important steps for launching in a new channel:

• Do your research and spend personal time on the platform
• Document a specific marketing strategy for that channel
• Create specific goals like Buffer does on all of their campaigns
• Stay mindful of existing benchmarks and make new ones
• Implement and analyze your efforts quarterly

Emerging Marketing Strategies to Start Today

1) Snapchat

According to Convince&Convert, Snapchat has more users than Twitter or LinkedIn and they grew more in the last year than Twitter has in 4 years combined. This social platform proves to be no fad. Yet many businesses remain light years from marketing on it.

Getting started with Snapchat requires downloading the application and starting a business account. From there, you want to share your SnapCode on your other social platforms and begin adding followers (similar to how you do on Twitter). To access more tips on Snapchat campaign launches, look here.

2) Live Streaming

Periscope and Blab provide live streaming. These tools entice (and maybe even intimidate) marketers of all industries. However, they boast a variety of applicable uses in marketing.

Periscope launched a month after it’s predecessor Meerkat. Blab and Facebook Live Stream followed closely behind in mid 2015. While YouTube rolls out their mobile app update with LiveStream through the second half of 2016.

Facebook Live is also an emerging live streaming technology that is getting pretty popular. But the audience potential on Facebook isn’t even the most exciting thing. The most exciting thing is that Facebook is apparently dedicated to owning the live streaming space, adding in waiting rooms and multi-source streaming.

Photo Credit: TechCrunch

To get started with Live Streaming: choose your platform and document your plan, start promoting in advance on your other social accounts. Make sure to include a call-to-action and build an engagement plan. 

3) Extensions and Free Apps

The cost of development remains at an all-time low following the success of sites like Hubstaff and self-training resources like Udemy. Meanwhile, nimble companies adapted and began creating simple software solutions available for free for their prospects.

Examples of this strategy actually evolved from the freemium SaaS model. SaaS companies offer a simplified or temporary version of their service (for free) in order to generate leads, kindle interest, and build credibility. Companies in industries far removed from the tech world can take advantage of this strategy as well.

The strategy is incredibly effective due to it’s value-based nature. It’s the Blue Ocean Strategy of marketing. Solve your prospect’s problem in the open blue waters of no competition rather than the competitive, red waters of gated eBooks, webinars, and infographics.

Due to problem-solution fit and product-market fit differentiation, getting started often proves to be the biggest challenge with this strategy. Consulting an expert on a site like Clarity ensures you have a solid plan in place and head in the right direction.

4) Amazon Self Publishing

Amazon dominates the internet with over 244 million users in 2016. They acquire new companies and launch new software at a dizzying pace (more to come on this later in the article). As we move forward, Amazon will prove to be more and more effective as a lead generation strategy for marketers. One of the most recent marketing trends evolved from Amazon’s self-publishing services.

Industry experts and leaders are now free to publish (e)-Books cheaply and effectively, offering unique insight to their prospects. These books hold a much higher value to prospects compared to the smaller more traditional “e-Book, landing page, thank-you page” workflow.

There are a variety of ways to promote, price, and strategize this approach. Noah Kagan and Ryan Holliday offer valuable insight to get you started. You can also find Amazon’s self-publishing guidelines here. Keep in mind, you do not need to be an expert writer to make this work, you just need to be an expert on your subject.

5) Beacon and Location Marketing

Beacon technology maintains a relatively low profile considering the massive impact it offers to marketing campaigns. Beacons are small, consistently on, devices placed at designated locations.

They equip you to communicate with your prospect or customer based on geo-settings.

With beacon technology you can trigger push notifications to mobile devices with special offers or insights and set multiple distance settings to beckon your prospect closer to a destinatio.

It may sound complicated, but stay with us. A beacon is more affordable than you think, and there are many experts available to give you insight and help you build a strategy around the technology.

Start with these resources:

• Brooke Callahan
• Beacons, Bluetooth and Mobile: The Future of Context Marketing
• iBeacon Technology: Connecting Physical and Digital Worlds

Emerging Marketing Strategies for Tomorrow

True marketing innovation comes ahead of the curve. The companies that can adapt and think proactively reap the reward of being proactive. You don’t have to be from MIT, or understand how to apply Moore’s Law to know that technology continues to advance at breakneck speed, flinging open doors for brand new, uninhibited, uncontested market space.

True innovation takes creativity, faith, and foresight.

1) Augmented Reality

Experts in the tech world forecast Virtual Reality’s (VR) exponential reach to consumers in the next few years. Deliotte Global predicts that VR revenue remains on track to break a billion dollars in 2016. As affordable devices and more realistic software improve its growing popularity, a shiny new door is wide open for marketers.

Virtual Reality uses destinations, products, and services. As this virtual world spreads beyond current boundaries, room for creativity and brainstorming in product and content placement expands with it.

2) Artificial Intelligence

In 2015 the major tech companies (Google, Amazon, Twitter, and Facebook) made tremendous investments in artificial intelligence. The AI race is on, and new inventions emerge daily that incorporate some form of AI. In order to remain competitive and lead the charge do not ignore AI.

Self-driving cars are just one example of how companies productize AI. Ignore the politics and headlines for current product testing. Imagine a driving experience that is more of a relaxing getaway than an active, rage-fueled begrudging task. Sell your stock in companies that produce blood pressure medicine, and recognize that technology like that opens up endless uninterrupted market space for entertainment, health, beauty, retail, and service industries.

3) IoT (Internet of Things)

This new technological wave ushers in a sea of smart, connected devices. Over 4.9 billion connected things found homes in 2015, with the projection at 25 billion by 2020. The Internet of Literally everything becomes connected. Every industry exhibits a connection between IoT and their consumer’s behavior.

Take the connected kitchen for example.

“The connected kitchen will deliver significant benefits across industries spanning retail, healthcare and insurance, in addition to significantly addressing sustainability issues”, Gartner predicts.

“The connected kitchen creates digital business opportunities at several levels in the food supply chain and retail food service,” said Gartner’s Satish R.M. “A real-time inventory data collection from sensors related to kitchen ingredients enables automated generation and ordering of shopping lists, resulting in a streamlined and efficient inventory and optimized supply chain management.”

Amazon quietly opened their API for developers to come in and make products like Triby. This only hastens the speed of which connected devices come to market.

IoT remains an open playing field for creative marketers to innovate and wedge their brand between content, context, and connected things.

Don’t Let Marketing Innovation Become a One-Time Thing

Technology never stops moving forward and neither should you.

Build innovation into your processes to encourage and even incentivize employees to keep up with new technologies and present their ideas.

Make it a quarterly task in your company.

Look for new technological trends and brainstorm how you might market to the users of that technology. Attend marketing conferences like Inbound, Traffic and Conversion Summit, and Digital Marketing Day.

From there, start turning over stones, building the right relationships, and getting your magnetic content positioned.

These strategies are for:

• The scrappy, creative companies
• The hungry, new companies.
• The confident corporations
• The local businesses
• The SaaS startups
• The companies you represent

Literally, anyone can stick their finger in the air, see which way the wind blows, and get there first. Just start walking in the right direction.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs

Have any stories of marketing innovation of your own? We love hearing from you. Tell us your tale in the comments below.

You know what’s really difficult?

Being succinct. Seriously … it’s ridiculously hard. If you don’t believe me, just grab your favorite copywriter and ask them.

It’s especially difficult to express a complex emotional concept in just a couple of words — which is exactly what a slogan does.

That’s why we have a lot of respect for the brands that have done it right. The ones that have figured out how to convey their value proposition to their buyer persona in just one, short sentence — and a quippy one, at that.

So if you’re looking to get a little slogan inspiration of your own, take a look at some of our favorite company slogans from both past and present. (Note: We’ve updated this post to include some suggestions from the comment section.)

Before we get into specific examples, let’s quickly go over what a slogan is and what makes one stand out.

What is a Slogan?

In business, a slogan or tagline is “a catchphrase or small group of words that are combined in a special way to identify a product or company,” according to Entrepreneur.com’s small business encyclopedia.

In many ways, they’re like mini mission statements.

Companies have slogans for the same reason they have logos: advertising. While logos are visual representations of a brand, slogans are audible representations of a brand. Both formats grab consumers’ attention more readily than the name a company or product might. Plus, they’re simpler to understand and remember.

The goal? To leave a key brand message in consumers’ minds so that, if they remember nothing else from an advertisement, they’ll remember the slogan.

What Makes a Great Slogan?

According to HowStuffWorks, a great slogan has most or all of the following characteristics:

It’s memorable.

Is the slogan quickly recognizable? Will people only have to spend a second or two thinking about it? A brief, catchy few words can go a long way in advertisements, videos, posters, business cards, swag, and other places. (Take this quiz to see if you can guess the brands behind 16 memorable slogans.)

It includes a key benefit.

Ever heard the marketing advice, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak”? It means sell the benefits, not the features — which applies perfectly to slogans. A great slogan makes a company or product’s benefits clear to the audience.

It differentiates the brand.

Does your light beer have the fullest flavor? Or maybe the fewest calories? What is it about your product or brand that sets it apart from competitors?

It imparts positive feelings about the brand.

The best taglines use words that are positive and upbeat. For example, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups’ slogan, “Two great tastes that taste great together,” gives the audience good feelings about Reese’s, whereas a slogan like Lea & Perrins’, “Steak sauce only a cow could hate,” uses negative words. The former leaves a better impression on the audience.

Now that we’ve covered what a slogan is and what makes one great, here are examples of the best brand slogans of all time. If we missed any of your favorites, share them with us in the comment section. (Note: We’ve updated this post with several ideas folks have shared with us in the comments.)

22 Companies With Really Catchy Taglines & Slogans

1) Nike: “Just Do It”

It didn’t take long for Nike’s message to resonate. The brand became more than just athletic apparel — it began to embody a state of mind. It encourages you to think that you don’t have to be an athlete to be in shape or tackle an obstacle. If you want to do it, just do it. That’s all it takes.

But it’s unlikely Kennedy + Weiden, the agency behind this tagline, knew from the start that Nike would brand itself in this way. In fact, Nike’s product used to cater almost exclusively to marathon runners, which are among the most hardcore athletes out there. The “Just Do It” campaign widened the funnel, and it’s proof positive that some brands need to take their time coming up with a slogan that reflects their message and resonates with their target audience.

 

Source: brandchannel

2) Apple: “Think Different”

This slogan was first released in the Apple commercial called “Here’s to the Crazy Ones, Think Different” — a tribute to all the time-honored visionaries who challenged the status quo and changed the world. The phrase itself is a bold nod to IBM’s campaign “Think IBM,” which was used at the time to advertise its ThinkPad. 

Soon after, the slogan “Think Different” accompanied Apple advertisements all over the place, even though Apple hadn’t released any significant new products at the time. All of a sudden, people began to realize that Apple wasn’t just any old computer; it was so powerful and so simple to use that it made the average computer user feel innovative and tech-savvy.

According to Forbes, Apple’s stock price tripled within a year of the commercial’s release. Although the slogan has been since retired, many Apple users still feel a sense of entitlement for being among those who “think different.”

Source: Blue Fin Group

3) Dollar Shave Club: “Shave Time. Shave Money.”

The folks at Dollar Shave Club have made their way onto quite a few of our lists here on the blog — like this one on promotional product videos and this one on holiday marketing campaigns. In other words, it’s safe to say that when it comes to marketing and advertising, they know what they are doing. And their slogan — “Shave Time. Shave Money.” — is an excellent reflection of their expertise. 

This little quip cleverly incorporates two of the service’s benefits: cost and convenience. It’s punny, to the point, and it perfectly represents the overall tone of the brand. 

Source: TheStephenHarvey.com

4) L’Oréal: “Because You’re Worth It”

Who doesn’t want to feel like they’re worth it? The folks at L’Oréal know that women wear makeup in order to make themselves appear “beautiful” so they feel desirable, wanted, and worth it. The tagline isn’t about the product — it’s about the image the product can get you. This message allowed L’Oréal to push its brand further than just utility so as to give the entire concept of makeup a much more powerful message.

Source: Farah Khan

5) California Milk Processor Board: “Got Milk?”

While most people are familiar with the “Got Milk?” campaign, not everyone remembers that it was launched by the California Milk Processor Board (CMPB). What’s interesting about this campaign is that it was initially launched to combat the rapid increase in fast food and soft beverages: The CMPB wanted people to revert to milk as their drink of choice in order to sustain a healthier life. The campaign was meant to bring some life to a “boring” product, ad executives told TIME Magazine. 

The simple words “Got Milk?” scribbled above celebrities, animals, and children with milk mustaches, which ran from 2003 until 2014, became one of the longest-lasting campaigns ever. The CMPB wasn’t determined to make its brand known with this one — they were determined to infiltrate the idea of drinking milk across the nation. And these two simple words sure as heck did.

Source: Broward Palm Beach News Times

6) MasterCard: “There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”

MasterCard’s two-sentence slogan was created in 1997 as a part of an award-winning advertising campaign that ran in 98 countries and in 46 languages. The very first iteration of the campaign was a TV commercial that aired in 1997: “A dad takes his son to a baseball game and pays for a hot dog and a drink, but the conversation between the two is priceless,” writes Avi Dan for Forbes. “In a sense, ‘Priceless’ became a viral, social campaign years before there was a social media.”

One key to this campaign’s success? Each commercial elicits an emotional response from the audience. That first TV commercial might remind you of sports games you went to with your dad, for example. Each advertisement attempted to trigger a different memory or feeling. “You have to create a cultural phenomenon and then constantly nurture it to keep it fresh,” MasterCard CMO Raja Rajamannar told Dan. And nostalgia marketing like that can be a powerful tool.

7) BMW: “The Ultimate Driving Machine”

BMW sells cars all over the world, but in North America, it’s known by its slogan: “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” This slogan was created in the 1970s by a relatively unknown ad agency named Ammirati & Puris and was, according to BMW’s blog, directed at Baby Boomers who were “out of college, making money and ready to spend their hard earned dollars. What better way to reflect your success than on a premium automobile?”

The goal? To reinforce the message that its cars’ biggest selling point is that they are performance vehicles that are thrilling to drive. That message is an emotional one, and one that consumers can buy into to pay the high price point.

Source: BMW

8) Tesco: “Every Little Helps”

“Every little helps” is the kind of catchy tagline that can make sense in many different contexts — and it’s flexible enough to fit in with any one of Tesco’s messages. It can refer to value, quality, service, and even environmental responsibility — which the company practices by addressing the impacts in their operations and supply chain.

It’s also, as Naresh Ramchandani wrote for The Guardian, “perhaps the most ingeniously modest slogan ever written.” Tesco markets themselves as a brand for the people, and a flexible, modest far-reaching slogan like this one reflects that beautifully.

Source: The Drum 

9) M&M: “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”

Here’s one brand that didn’t need much time before realizing its core value proposition. At the end of the day, chocolate is chocolate. How can one piece of chocolate truly stand out from another? By bringing in the convenience factor, of course. This particular example highlights the importance of finding something that makes your brand different from the others — in this case, the hard shell that keeps chocolate from melting all over you.

 

Source: Platform Magazine

10) Bounty: “The Quicker Picker Upper”

Bounty paper towels, made by Procter & Gamble, has used its catchy slogan “The Quicker Picker Upper” for almost 50 years now. If it sounds like one of those sing-songy word plays you learned as a kid, that’s because it is one: The slogan uses what’s called consonance — a poetic device characterized by the repetition of the same consonant two or more times in short succession (think: “pitter patter”).

Over the years, Bounty has moved away from this slogan in full, replacing “Quicker” with other adjectives, depending on the brand’s current marketing campaign — like “The Quilted Picker Upper” and “The Clean Picker Upper.” At the same time, the brand’s main web address went from quickerpickerupper.com to bountytowels.com. But although the brand is branching out into other campaigns, they’ve kept the theme of their original, catchy slogan.

Source: Bounty

11) De Beers: “A Diamond is Forever”

Diamonds aren’t worth much inherently. In fact, a diamond is worth at least 50% less than you paid for it the moment you left the jewelry store. So how did they become the symbol of wealth, power, and romance they are in America today? It was all because of a brilliant, multifaceted marketing strategy designed and executed by ad agency N.W. Ayer in the early 1900s for their client, De Beers.

You can read all about the strategy here. The four, iconic words “A Diamond is Forever” have appeared in every single De Beers advertisement since 1948, and AdAge named it the #1 slogan of the century in 1999. It perfectly captures the sentiment De Beers was going for: that a diamond, like your relationship, is eternal. It also helped discourage people from ever reselling their diamonds. (Mass re-selling would disrupt the market and reveal the alarmingly low intrinsic value of the stones themselves.) Brilliant. 

 

Source: Sydney Merritt

12) Lay’s: “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One”

Seriously, who here has ever had just one chip? While this tagline might stand true for other snack companies, Lay’s was clever to pick up on it straight away. The company tapped into our truly human incapability to ignore crispy, salty goodness when it’s staring us in the face. Carbs, what a tangled web you weave.

But seriously, notice how the emphasis isn’t on the taste of the product. There are plenty of other delicious chips out there. But what Lay’s was able to bring forth with its tagline is that totally human, uncontrollable nature of snacking until the cows come home.

Source: Amazon

13) Audi: “Vorsprung durch technik” (“Advancement Through Technology”)

“Vorsprung durch technik” has been Audi’s main slogan everywhere in the world since 1971 (except for the United States, where the slogan is “Truth in Engineering”). While the phrase has been translated in several ways, the online dictionary LEO translates “Vorsprung” as “advance” or “lead” as in “distance, amount by which someone is ahead in a competition.” Audi roughly translates it as: “Advancement through technology.”

The first-generation Audio 80 (B1 series) was launched a year after the slogan in 1972, and the new car was a brilliant reflection of that slogan with many impressive new technical features. It was throughout the 1970s that the Audi brand established itself as an innovative car manufacturer, such as with the five-cylinder engine (1976), turbocharging (1979), and the quattro four-wheel drive (1980). This is still reflective of the Audi brand today.

Source: Cars and Coffee Chat

14) Dunkin’ Donuts: “America Runs on Dunkin”

In April 2006, Dunkin’ Donuts launched the most significant repositioning effort in the company’s history by unveiling a brand new, multi-million dollar advertising campaign under the slogan “America Runs on Dunkin.” The campaign revolves around Dunkin’ Donuts coffee keeping busy Americans fueled while they are on the go.

“The new campaign is a fun and often quirky celebration of life, showing Americans embracing their work, their play and everything in between — accompanied every step of the way by Dunkin’ Donuts,” read the official press release from the campaign’s official launch.

Ten years later, what the folks at Dunkin Donuts’ realized they were missing was their celebration of and honoring their actual customers. That’s why, in 2016, they launched the “Keep On” campaign, which they call their modern interpretation of the ten-year slogan.

“It’s the idea that we’re your partner in crime, or we’re like your wingman, your buddy in your daily struggle and we give you the positive energy through both food and beverage but also emotionally, we believe in you and we believe in the consumer,” said Chris D’Amico, SVP and Group Creative Director at Hill Holiday.

Source: Lane Printing & Advertising

15) Meow Mix: “Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It by Name”

Meow meow meow meow … who remembers this catchy tune sung by cats, for cats, in Meow Mix’s television commercials? The brand released a simple but telling tagline: “Tastes So Good, Cats Ask For It By Name.”

This slogan plays off the fact that every time a cat meows, s/he is actually asking for Meow Mix. It was not only clever, but it also successfully planted Meow Mix as a standout brand in a cluttered market.

Source: Walgreens

16) McDonald’s: “I’m Lovin’ It”

The “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign was launched way back in 2003 and still stands strong today. This is a great example of a slogan that resonates with the brand’s target audience. McDonald’s food might not be your healthiest choice, but being healthy isn’t the benefit McDonald’s is promising — it’s that you’ll love the taste and the convenience. 

(Fun fact: The jingle’s infamous hook — “ba da ba ba ba” — was originally sung by Justin Timberlake.)

Source: McDonald’s

17) The New York Times: “All the News That’s Fit to Print”

This one is my personal favorite. The tagline was created in the late 1890s as a movement of opposition against other news publications printing lurid journalism. The New York Times didn’t stand for sensationalism. Instead, it focused on important facts and stories that would educate its audience. It literally deemed its content all the real “news fit to print.”

This helped the paper become more than just a news outlet, but a company that paved the way for creditable news. The company didn’t force a tagline upon people when it first was founded, but rather, it created one in a time where it was needed most.

Source: 4th St8 Blog

18) General Electric: “Imagination at Work”

You may remember General Electric’s former slogan, “We Bring Good Things to Life,” which they initiated in 1979. Although this tagline was well-known and well-received, the new slogan — “Imagination at Work” — shows how a company’s internal culture can revolutionize how they see their own brand.

“‘Imagination at Work’ began as an internal theme at GE,” recalled Tim McCleary, GE’s manager of corporate identity. When Jeff Immelt became CEO of GE in 2001, he announced that his goal was to reconnect with GE’s roots as a company defined by innovation. 

This culture and theme resulted in a rebranding with the new tagline “Imagination at Work,” which embodies the idea that imagination inspires the human initiative to thrive at what we do.

19) Verizon: “Can You Hear Me Now? Good.”

Here’s another brand that took its time coming up with something that truly resonated with its audience. This tagline was created in 2002 under the umbrella of “We never stop working for you.”

While Verizon was founded in 1983, they continued to battle against various phone companies like AT&T and T-Mobile, still two of its strongest competitors. But what makes Verizon stand out? No matter where you are, you have service. You may not have the greatest texting options, or the best cellphone options, but you will always have service.

(Fun fact: The actor behind this campaign — Paul Marcarelli — recently began appearing in new advertisements for Sprint.)

Source: MS Lumia Blog

20) State Farm: “Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm is There

The insurance company State Farm has a number of slogans, including “Get to a better State” and “No one serves you better than State Farm.” But its most famous one is the jingle “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there,” which you’re likely familiar with if you live in the United States and watch television.

These words emphasize State Farm’s “community-first” value proposition — which sets them apart from the huge, bureaucratic feel of most insurance companies. And it quickly establishes a close relationship with the consumer.

Often, customers need insurance when they least expect it — and in those situations, State Farm is responding in friendly, neighborly language. 

Source: StateFarm

21) Maybelline: “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.”

Can you sing this jingle in your head? Maybelline’s former slogan, created in the 1990s, is one of the most famous in the world. It makes you think of glossy magazine pages featuring strong, beautiful women with long lashes staring straight down the lens. It’s that confidence that Maybelline’s makeup brand is all about — specifically, the transformation into a confident woman through makeup.

Maybelline changed their slogan to “Make IT Happen” in February 2016, inspiring women to “express their beauty in their own way.” Despite this change, their former slogan remains powerful and ubiquitous, especially among the many generations that grew up with it.

Source: FunnyJunk

22) The U.S. Marine Corps: “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.”

The U.S. Marine Corps has had a handful of top-notch recruiting slogans over the decades, from “First to fight” starting in World War I to “We’re looking for a few good men” from the 1980s. However, we’d argue that “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” is among the best organization slogans out there.

This slogan “underscores the high caliber of those who join and serve their country as Marines,” said Maj. Gen. Richard T. Tryon, former commanding general of Marine Corps Recruiting Command. In 2007, it even earned a spot in Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame.

Source: Marines.com

Do you have your own tagline? What other brands’ taglines do you love?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

These days, we’re inundated with digital noise from the moment we wake up. Once we silence the alarm on our phone, we’ll spend the next few minutes on various apps and sites, dodging unwanted ads and unappealing headlines along the way.

However, you’ll find that some posts are simply unavoidable — who could forget “The Dress” debate of 2015? It was truly viral content at its best, and the site that sold the dress reaped the benefits: Their organic traffic increased by 420%, and sales of the dress saw a whopping 560% increase.

How can something that seems so pointless influences our behavior?

New research indicates that an emotional connection paired with more nuanced combinations of additional dimensions like arousal and dominance have a significant impact on our sharing habits.

Intrigued? Let’s dive into the research …

Why Certain Emotional Combinations Make People Share

My team at Fractl recently used the Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) model to analyze the emotional responses to 100 of the top images from Reddit’s r/pics community to determine the ideal emotional combinations for viral images.

We began by asking 400 respondents one simple question: How does this image make you feel?

The results revealed the top 10 emotions for viral images as shown below:

An obvious trend? The top viral emotions tend to be extremely positive, which echoes previous research. However, although negative emotions like hate, reproach, and resentment were reported far less than positive emotions, our data indicates that they can still generate a viral hit — you just have to strike the right combinations of arousal and dominance.

Researchers Jacopo Staiano of Sorbonne University and Marco Guerini of Trento Rise studied the roles that valence, arousal, and dominance play in generating viral content — three dimensions that help shape individual emotions.

Consider their individual contributions below:

• Valence is the positivity or negativity of an emotion. Happiness has a positive valence; fear has a negative valence.
• Arousal ranges from excitement to relaxation. Anger is a high-arousal emotion; sadness is low-arousal.
• Dominance ranges from submission to feeling in control. Fear is low-dominance; an emotion someone has more choice over, such as admiration, is high-dominance.

When we looked at how these levels varied among viral images, our analysis revealed that there are three ideal combinations of arousal and dominance that accompany highly viral emotions. Take a look at the list below:

What Does This Mean for Marketers?

Additional research indicates that emotional responses to content are actually more influential on purchasing decisions than the content itself, so brands need to make sure they hit the ideal levels of arousal and dominance and include the right emotional elements if the want to drive conversions.

For example, we know that the top viral emotions are incredibly positive (e.g., happiness and admiration). When paired with an element of surprise, the resulting high levels of both arousal and dominance can generate massive shares.

A great example is Dove’s highly successful “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign. The video features a forensic artist who draws a series of women from behind a curtain, completing the sketches based on each woman’s verbal description of her own appearance. These were compared to drawings he also completed based on strangers’ accounts of the same women.

In most cases, the sketches based on the strangers’ perspectives resulted in more accurate and flattering portraits than those based on the women’s own somewhat self-deprecating descriptions. The success of this highly emotional clip speaks for itself: To date, the video has more than 66 million views on YouTube.

As far as success with negative emotions, remember that everyone loves a happy ending, so success relies on pairing feelings like sadness with something more joyful like admiration.

In “Fireman Saves Kitten,” GoPro obtained footage of a firefighter who rescued an unconscious kitten while wearing GoPro’s HD Hero3. GoPro reused the video and released it on its YouTube channel, and it’s earned more than 31 millions views since it went live.

Again, it’s a very emotionally-charged clip, but the combo of low-arousal and low-dominance emotions like fear and sadness is what helped this campaign succeed.

The good news? Your next viral hit doesn’t require your marketing team to win a coin toss. Research continues to prove that virality isn’t a matter of chance — it’s actually the result of a powerful emotional experience.

When outlining your next campaign, take a look back at the top 10 viral emotions and figure out the ideal combination of arousal and dominance that will help your content not just get read but shared.

What is your favorite example of viral content done right? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

When an agency hears a client has a new CMO, their first thought is most likely, “Will we retain the business?” The new CMO will understandably want to make an impact in their new position. They’ll want to surround themselves with people they know and trust — and the agency they know and trust may not be the incumbent — you.

At Hallway Talk, we often work with proven agencies who find themselves in this tough situation. With a lot of uncertainty in the air, a client’s leadership change is certainly a stressful time for agency leaders and their entire team.

But it’s not a time to stand by and wait for the hammer to fall. RFPs are historically stacked against the incumbent agency. Agency leadership needs to take action by putting together a plan to win the business with your client’s new CMO and demonstrating a better outcome before your agency is put up for review. 

The 7-Step Process for Retaining a Client During a CMO Change 

Step 1: Put yourself in the mindset of the new CMO.

During our interviews with agency clients and CMOs, we’ve discussed why new CMOs may choose to replace an incumbent agency with one they’ve worked with in the past. Here are six key reasons why a CMO may bring their former agency partner to their new company:

1) Trust

“I’m sticking with the agency I know. More than anything, I trust them.”

2) Confidence

“In my new job, there’s a ton to tackle. I have confidence in the people I’ve worked with at my past agency and know they have the skill set to get things done.”

3) Mutual Respect

“We’ve been in the trenches together. They like my thinking, and I like theirs.”

4) Work Style

“My agency gets me. It works. I don’t want to have to train someone on how I like to work.”

5) Track Record of Success

“Why wouldn’t I take them with me? Together we made history.”

6) Perceived Value

“I’m comfortable with what I get from my old agency — what it costs, what I get billed for, what I don’t get billed for — I don’t want to do that dance again.”

Step 2: Help the new CMO get to know your agency.

While you may not have a history with the new brand leader, you can increase your chances of retention (and preempt an RFP or agency change) by consciously and proactively addressing the six reasons for change early on in the relationship.  

Step 3: Validate the current relationship of trust, confidence, and respect. 

While these must be earned over time with the new management, one way to objectively verify that your agency has these important intangibles is to leverage client satisfaction studies completed by a third party. Done well, these studies can validate the strong feelings of trust, confidence, and respect that the CMO’s new team has for their current agency. This relationship audit will allow the incumbent agency to proactively address any issues that may threaten the relationship.  

Step 4: Demonstrate sensitivity to work style.  

Don’t guess. Ask the new CMO about their preferred work style. How often do they want to be included in conversations, and which discussions are the most important? How often would they like to meet? Ask questions that help you familarize your team with the new CMO’s communication preferences. 

Step 5: Strut your stuff.  

Assume that the CMO is assessing all possibilities and may have an agency change in mind. Request an introductory meeting that highlights your contributions to the business’s success, your agency’s thoughts on worthy opportunities, your adaptable work style, and the results of your third-party client-agency studies. Demonstrate how your agency is eager to team up with the CMO’s new thinking to take the business to a new level.

Step 6: Do your homework. 

Research the CMO, their past positions, and their accomplishments. The more you understand about this new person, the better you can anticipate their needs. Research their past agency relationships. What was the value proposition of past agency partners, and are you a similar fit? How are your services a better fit than the CMO’s old agency?  

Step 7: Enlist champions for your agency. 

If your relationship is strong and successful, and the new CMO’s team believes your agency is the best for their business, encourage them to speak up. Help them navigate the politics of management change. Their support will help instill confidence in your agency among the new management.

A Riskier Choice

If your agency has really performed well for the client, changing agencies could actually be a riskier move for the new CMO. Working with a well-performing agency can be invaluable. First, there is history with the business — something that can’t be undervalued. Trust, confidence, and chemistry have already been established between the client and agency teams. There is no lost time in the onboarding of a new agency. And most importantly, if the CMO were to bring in a new agency, the agency would likely have to staff up, putting new (and unproven) agency team members on their projects. 

Bottom line: Your client relationships are important to you, and client retention is key to agency growth. Manage all relationships on an ongoing basis, but especially keep an eye out for client management changes. Being proactive about CMO changes can enable you to preempt an account review, RFP, or worse yet — an agency replacement.

Understand why a CMO may want to bring their old agency to your client’s account, and prevent any action with preemptive efforts to retain the business. Optimize your client-agency relationships through open communication, do your homework to understand the new management, demonstrate your commitment to the new manager’s success, and showcase your agency’s value.

The goal is to earn the trust and confidence of new management, making the CMO’s “old” agency the riskier choice. 

Indexing as many pages on your website as possible can be very tempting for marketers who are trying to boost their search engine authority.

But, while it’s true that publishing more pages that are relevant for a particular keyword (assuming they’re also high quality) will improve your ranking for that keyword, sometimes there’s actually more value in keeping certain pages on your website out of a search engine’s index.

… Say what?! 

Stay with us, folks. This post will walk you through why you might want to remove certain webpages from the SERPS (search engine results pages), and exactly how to go about doing it. 

Why You’d Want to Exclude Certain Web Pages From Search Results

There are a number of occasions where you may want to exclude a webpage — or a portion of a webpage — from search engine crawling and indexing.

For marketers, one common reason is to prevent duplicate content (when there is more than one version of a page indexed by the search engines, as in a printer-friendly version of your content) from being indexed.

Another good example? A thank-you page (i.e., the page a visitor lands on after converting on one of your landing pages). This is usually where the visitor gets access to whatever offer that landing page promised, such as a link to an ebook PDF.

Here’s what the thank-you page for our SEO tips ebook looks like, for example:

You want anyone who lands on your thank-you pages to get there because they’ve already filled out a form on a landing page — not because they found your thank-you page in search.

Why not? Because anyone who finds your thank-you page in search can access your lead-generating offers directly — without having to provide you with their information to pass through your lead-capture form. Any marketer who understands the value of landing pages understands how important it is to capture those visitors as leads first, before they can access your offers.

Bottom line: If your thank-you pages are easily discoverable through a simple Google search, you may be leaving valuable leads on the table.

What’s worse, you may even find that some of your highest ranking pages for some of your long-tail keywords might be your thank-you pages — which means you could be inviting hundreds of potential leads to bypass your lead-capture forms. That’s a pretty compelling reason why you’d want to remove some of your web pages from SERPs.

So, how do you go about “de-indexing” certain pages from search engines? Here are two ways to do it.

2 Ways to De-Index a Webpage From Search Engines

Option #1: Add a Robots.txt file to your site.

Use if: You want more control over what you de-index, and you have the necessary technical resources.

One way to remove a page from search engine results is by adding a robots.txt file to your site. The advantage of using this method is that you can get more control over what you are allowing bots to index. The result? You can proactively keep unwanted content out of the search results.

Within a robots.txt file, you can specify whether you’d like to block bots from a single page, a whole directory, or even just a single image or file. There’s also an option to prevent your site from being crawled while still enabling Google AdSense ads to work, if you have them.

That being said, of the two options available to you, this one requires the most technical kung fu. To learn about how to create a robots.txt file, you’ll want to read through this article from Google Webmaster Tools.

HubSpot customers: You can learn how to install a robots.txt file on your website here, and learn how to customize the contents of the Robots.txt file here.

If you don’t need all the control of a robots.txt file and are looking for an easier, less technical solution, then this second option is for you.

Option #2: Add a “noindex” metatag and/or a “nofollow” metatag.

Use if: You want an easier solution to de-indexing an entire webpage, and/or de-indexing the links on an entire webpage.

Using a metatag to prevent a page from appearing in SERPs — and/or the links on a page — is both easy and effective. It requires only a tiny bit of technical know-how — in fact, it’s really just a copy/paste job if you’re using the right content management system.

The tags that let you do these things are called “noindex” and “nofollow.” Before I get into how to add these tags, let’s take a moment to define and distinguish between the two. They are, after all, two completely different directives — and they can be used either on their own, or alongside one another.

What’s a “noindex” tag?

When you add a “noindex” metatag to a webpage, it tells a search engine that even though it can crawl the page, it cannot add the page into its search index.

So any page with the “noindex” directive on it will not go into the search engine’s search index, and can therefore not be shown in search engine results pages.

What’s a “nofollow” tag?

When you add a “nofollow” metatag to a webpage, it disallows search engines from crawling the links on that page. This also means that any ranking authority the page has on SERPs will not be passed on to pages it links to.

So any page with a “nofollow” directive on it will have all its links ignored by Google and other search engines.

When would you use “noindex” and “nofollow” separately vs. together?

Like I said before, you can put add a “noindex” directive either on its own, or together with a “nofollow” directive. You can also add a “nofollow” directive on its own, too.

Add only a “noindex” tag: when you don’t want a search engine to index your web page in search, but you do want it to follow the links on that page — thereby giving ranking authority to the other pages your page links to.

Paid landing pages are a great example of this. You don’t want search engines to index landing pages in search that people are supposed to pay to see, but you might want the pages it links to benefit from its authority.

Add only a “nofollow” tag: when you do want a search engine to index your web page in search, but you don’t want it to follow the links on that page.

There aren’t too many examples of when you’d add a “nofollow” tag to a whole page without also adding a “noindex” tag. When you’re figuring out what to do on a given page, it’s more a question of whether to add your “noindex” tag with or without a “nofollow” tag.

Add both a “noindex” and “nofollow” tag: when you don’t want search engines to index a webpage in search, and you don’t want it to follow the links on that page.

Thank-you pages are a great example of this type of situation. You don’t want search engines to index your thank-you page, nor do you want them to follow the link to your offer and start indexing the content of that offer, either. 

How to Add a “noindex” and/or a “nofollow” metatag

Step 1: Copy one of the following tags.

For “noindex”:

<META NAME=”robots” CONTENT=”noindex”>

For “nofollow”:

<META NAME=”robots” CONTENT=”nofollow”>

For both “noindex” and “nofollow”:

<META NAME=”robots” CONTENT=”noindex,nofollow”>

Step 2: Add the tag to the <head> section of your page’s HTML, a.k.a. the page’s header.

If you’re a HubSpot customer, this is super easy — click here or scroll down for those instructions specific to HubSpot users.

If you’re not a HubSpot customer, then you’ll have to paste this tag into the code on your webpage manually. Don’t worry — it’s pretty simple. Here’s how you do it.

First, open the source code of the web page you’re trying to de-index. Then, paste the full tag into a new line within the <head> section of your page’s HTML, known as the page’s header. The screenshots below will walk you through it.

The <head> tag signifies the beginning of your header: 

Here’s the metatag for both “noindex” and “nofollow” pasted within the header:

And the </head> tag this signifies the end of the header:

Boom! That’s it. This tag tells a search engine to turn around and go away, leaving the page out of any search results.

HubSpot customers: Adding the “noindex” and “nofollow” metatags is even easier. All you have to do is open the HubSpot tool to the page you want to add these tags to, and choose the “Settings” tab.

Next, scroll down to Advanced Options and click “Edit Head HTML.” In the window that appears, paste the appropriate code snippet. In the example below, I’ve added both a “noindex” and a “nofollow” tag since it’s a thank-you page.

Press “Save,” and you’re golden.

Ta Da!

You’ve just magically erased your page from search engine results. Now, you can start capturing more of those lost leads again.

Now, keep in mind that you won’t see results instantaneously. Your changes won’t kick in until the next time a search engine crawls your page. Depending how often you typically publish new pages to your website, it actually could take a few weeks. The more frequently you publish content, the more often search engines will crawl your site. The best way to keep track of how frequently Google visits your website, is to examine your crawl stats in Google Webmaster Tools.

Bottom line: If you notice that your page is still appearing in Google’s search results even with the “noindex” tag, it’s probably because Google hasn’t crawled your site since you added the tag. You can request that Google recrawl your page using the Fetch as Google tool.

Also, note that some search engines’ web crawlers might interpret these directives differently than Google does, so it’s possible that your page might still appear in results from other search engines. But for Google, it’ll work just fine — once it does get around to crawling your website.

Regardless, you’ll be able to sleep a little easier knowing you’ve ultimately made your website a better place for your marketing.

What other tips do you have for de-indexing webpages, and when doing so would be useful for marketers? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Marketers considering ads always ask me the same thing: “How much should I spend?”

It’s a good question — an important question — but it’s the wrong question. The right question is: “For every dollar I spend on ads, how much will I get back?”

If you know the answer to that question, or at least have an educated guess, it matters less how much or little you can spend. To help you figure this out, we’re launching a free tool called the HubSpot Advertising ROI Calculator.

This simple calculator allows you to explore how different metrics will impact the profit and ROI you can expect from ads. It will help you get the math right, so whether you have $100 to spend or $100,000, you won’t have to guess at the outcome.  

Ready to give it a try? Click here to check out the HubSpot Advertising ROI Calculator.

How to Plan for Ad Spend Success

Too many marketers tell me about getting burnt by ads. They build an AdWords campaign to rank for important search terms, it drives clicks, traffic, and leads, but ultimately their ad spend outweighs the impact of the ads.

These marketers end up learning a really expensive lesson — one that could be easily prevented by following these simple steps … 

1) Do the math.

Ads aren’t right for everyone. Some industries have extremely high competition with astronomical CPCs. Some products have too low of an average sales price for the economics to work.

To determine if ads are worth your time, run the numbers specific to your business through our calculator. With the tool you can explore how a change in numbers, a lower CPC or higher close rate for example, will impact a campaign. This will give you a better idea of what it will take to create an ads campaign that makes you money.

2) Never set it and forget it.

Try not to look at ads as a shortcut. It’s possible to get to a place with ads where they become a recurring source of profit … but typically that’s not how things start.

Don’t be surprised when a week after your campaign launches your ads aren’t generating tons of profit. Examine the data and make improvements to your ads targeting, creative, and landing pages.

Incremental improvements in clickthrough rates and conversion rates can have a huge impact on profit. Use the ads calculator to explore the impact these changes could have. Watch your ads like a hawk for the first month and you’ll avoid big mistakes.

3) Don’t place your ads in a vacuum.

Ads act like a megaphone to amplify your marketing campaigns and content. The more complete and well developed your campaigns are, the better your ads will perform.

Think about it: Which ads do you think perform better? Those promoting your homepage or those promoting a remarkable piece of content that helps someone?

Bingo. Those promoting awesome content.

Campaigns that use ads should be treated like other campaigns. Establish your goals first, build great content, focus your message and optimize your landing pages, then figure out how ads can help amplify your message. Taking this combined approach and only using ads as a strategic component of your marketing campaigns will pay off.

So how much should you actually spend on ads?

Assuming you’ve run the numbers and now know what you can expect in terms of profit and ROI, it’s time to launch a campaign. To do this you’ll have to make two budget decisions, regardless of where you are advertising:

• Total campaign budget or duration: How much do you plan to spend in total? How long will the ads run for? Be aware that if you don’t set a limit there will be no maximum or end date.
• Daily budget: How much do you want to spend a day?

There are two ways I see most marketers use ads, short-term and long-term. Let’s take a look a both …

Short-term ads. Budget = at least a few hundred dollars over a month.

When marketers use ads for a short-term goal, it’s usually to jump start a campaign or boost content that needs a bump. These ad spends are generally smaller and shorter, but can be large.

If you have a few hundred dollars to spend, spend it this way. Create a social post that promotes a piece of content and then use your ads to boost the post. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all have good solutions for this. Make sure you use the social network that gives you the best targeting for your persona and returns the most valuable leads. Measure this by assessing the quality of the leads generated after the campaign.

Long-term ads. Budget = at least a few thousand dollars over a quarter.

Ads can be a great solution in a pinch but if you really want to use ads strategically build them into your overall marketing strategy. This means more consistent, quarterly ad spends.

Consider how potential customers make purchase decisions and use ads to influence them. This may mean always relying on search ads or retargeting to make sure prospects find you when they are ready to buy. You’re more likely to accumulate better data taking this approach, which will allow you to get more sophisticated in how you optimize your ad spend.

Whatever budget you choose and whichever approach you take, make sure to ask a lot of questions about your ad spend. Even with the right approach, it’s easy to burn through money fast. Safeguard yourself by knowing what to expect and having clear expectations.