Anyone remember Dr. Pepper-flavored lip gloss from Lip Smackers?

I’d venture a guess that many of you do, whether it was a staple of your own childhood or that of a loved one’s.

There’s something brilliant and memorable about that co-branded product: It’s fun, unexpected, and involves a classic and timeless brand that’s helped the flavor remain popular all the way from 1975 to present day. (Seriously, you can still buy them.)

Strategic partnerships like that one can be a highly effective way to build a business, boost brand awareness, and break into new markets. The whole point is that the success of one brand will bring success to its partner brand, too. But for a partnership to truly work, it has to be a win-win for all players in the game. The value perceptions, target audiences, prices, and promotion channels need to match.

So, what do great co-branding partnerships look like?

There are a lot of great examples out there — too many to list in one post. Below, we’ve curated a shortlist of eight examples of great co-branding partnerships to inspire you. Check them out, and add your own favorites in the comments.

8 Examples of Great Co-Branding Partnerships

1) GoPro & Red Bull: “Stratos”

GoPro doesn’t just sell portable cameras, and Red Bull doesn’t just sell energy drinks. Instead, both have established themselves as lifestyle brands — in particular, a lifestyle that’s action-packed, adventurous, fearless, and usually pretty extreme. These shared values make them a perfect pairing for co-branding campaigns, especially those surrounding action sports.

To make the partnership work, GoPro equips athletes and adventurers from around the world with the tools and funding to capture things like races, stunts, and action sport events on video — from the athlete’s perspective. At the same time, Red Bull uses its experience and reputation to run and sponsor these events.

“GoPro camera technology is allowing us to compliment the programming by delivering new athlete perspectives that have never been seen before,” said Sean Eggert, Red Bull’s director of sports marketing. The collaboration allows exclusive GoPro content to enhance both companies’ growth.

While GoPro and Red Bull have collaborated on many events and projects together, perhaps the biggest collaboration stunt they’ve done was “Stratos,” in which Felix Baumgartner jumped from a space pod more than 24 miles above Earth’s surface with a GoPro strapped to his person. Not only did Baumgartner set three world records that day, but he also embodied the value of reimagining human potential that define both GoPro and Red Bull.

2) Pottery Barn & Benjamin Moore: “Experience Colors”

One of the biggest benefits of co-branding campaigns is the opportunity to expose your product or service to a brand new audience. That’s exactly what home furnishing store Pottery Barn and paint company Benjamin Moore did when they partnered together back in the early 2000s.

The folks at Pottery Barn realized their customers had a special interest in paint color when they realized how many questions they were getting about the colors used in their catalogues. By partnering with a reputable paint company like Benjamin Moore, they were able to give their customers what they wanted.

Together, the two brands created an exclusive product line of paints, and then added a new section of Pottery Barn’s website that helped customers easily select paint colors to complement their furniture choices.

Image Credit: Dezinable

“We’re always trying to develop new tools to help consumers with the color selection process,” said Eileen McComb, director of communications at Benjamin Moore. “And the great thing about working with Pottery Barn is that we’re able to narrow down the palette to the paint colors that will work best with their designs. So, it’s providing an extra valuable service to Pottery Barn’s clientele.”

The partnership was successful for years, although Pottery Barn has been collaborating with paint company Sherwin-Williams instead since 2013.

3) The Global Fund & Gap: “PRODUCT (RED)”

INSPI(RED). ADMI(RED). EMPOWE(RED). The PRODUCT (RED) campaign to fight AIDS in Africa, run by The Global Fund, has been around since 2006. Since then, it has raised more than $130 million and is arguably one of the largest partnership efforts ever. And while Gap wasn’t the only company involved (there’s also American Express, Apple, Converse, Starbucks, and more), their partnership is a great example of a company creating new products around a theme — in this case, the theme of change.

In one of their first PRODUCT (RED) campaigns, the folks at Gap took photos of celebrities like Chris Rock and Anne Hathaway, both as individuals or with friends and loved ones, wearing a Gap (PRODUCT) RED item in a way that expressed their own, personal style. The photos were published in magazines like Vogue, and were accompanied by thought-provoking questions like, “Can the shirt off your back change the world?” and “Can the next generation change the world?”

Image Credit: The Inspiration Room

This partnership is also, of course, a great example of a business marketing themselves as socially responsible, which can often lead to an increase in sales. In return, The Global Fund received 50% of net profits from the sale of Gap (RED) items. Neither Red nor the companies would disclose revenue or total contributions by company or product.)

Some question the sincerity of social campaigns like this, arguing that these partnerships benefit the for-profit partners more than the charitable causes. But, while corporate social responsibility isn’t going to solve the world’s problems, it is a way for organizations to benefit from exposure to a new audience.

4) Bonne Belle & Dr. Pepper: Flavored Lip Balm

Dr. Pepper-flavored lip balm. I mean, it’s genius.

Bonne Belle first debuted Lip Smacker, the world’s first flavored lip balm, in 1973, starting with flavors like strawberry, lemon, and green apple. Just two years later in 1975, they’d forged their first flavor partnership with the timeless Dr. Pepper brand. The result? A lip balm flavor that’s been famous for decades among teenage girls.

If you’re thinking the connection between lip balm and Dr. Pepper is a little thin, consider the copy on one of their vintage ads: “It’s the super shiny lip gloss with lip-smacking flavor… just like the world’s most original soft drink.” And later, “From Bonne Belle of course: the cosmetics company that understands your taste.”

Image Credit: Click Americana

5) BMW & Louis Vuitton: The Art of Travel

Car manufacturer BMW and designer Louis Vuitton may not be the most obvious of pairings. But if you think about it, they have a few important things in common. If you focus on Louis Vuitton’s signature luggage lines, they’re both in the business of travel. They both value luxury. And finally, they’re both well-known, traditional brands that are known for high-quality craftsmanship.

These shared values are exactly why this co-branding campaign makes so much sense. In their partnership, BMW created a sports car model called the BMW i8, while Louis Vuitton designed an exclusive, four-piece set of suitcases and bags that fit perfectly into the car’s rear parcel shelf.

Image Credit: Louis Vuitton

Although the four-piece luggage set goes for a whopping $20,000, the price is right for the target customer, as the BMW i8 starts at $135,700. A price like that kind of makes that luggage set seem like a drop in the bucket.

Not only does the luggage fit perfectly size-wise, but its design and appearance fits perfectly with BMW’s image: sleek, masculine, and high-quality. Turns out both the luggage and some parts of the car’s interior use carbon fiber, strong-yet-light composite material.

“This collaboration with BMW i epitomises our shared values of creativity, technological innovation and style,” said Patrick-Louis Vuitton, head of special orders at Louis Vuitton. “Our craftsmen have enjoyed the challenge of this very special project, using their ingenuity and attention to detail to create a truly made to measure set of luxury luggage. This is a pure expression of the art of travel.”

6) Genius & Spotify: “Behind the Lyrics”

You might guess that two companies like Spotify (a commercial music streaming service) and Genius (a huge, online collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced music knowledge) would go together like peas in a pod. Well, their recent co-branding effort didn’t disappoint.

Recently, they’ve been working together on a new set of collaborative Spotify playlists called “Behind the Lyrics.” These are pre-populated playlists that show the lyrics of each song as it plays, followed by brief back stories explaining why certain lyrics are the way they are.

Their first one, “Behind the Lyrics: Hip Hop,” was released in January 2016 and lets users listen to artists like Drake, 2 Chainz, and Rihanna while learning where some of their lyrics come from.

 

The lyrics facts themselves come from the crowdsourced music knowledge already on Genius.com, and the both teams did some extra work to get the functionality right and time the facts to the music. This is a great example of companies that operate in the same space — in this case, music — collaborating on a fun, interesting project.

(Note: Right now, this feature is only available on Spotify’s iPhone app, and desktop users can check it out on Genius’ website as long as they also have Spotify’s desktop app installed.)

Spotify has done a series of other, successful co-branding partnerships, including one with Uber to create “a soundtrack for your ride.”

7) BuzzFeed & Fur Baby Rescue

Some co-branding campaigns are more complicated than others. This example from BuzzFeed and Fur Baby Rescue is one of the simplest ones out there — and it goes to show a great co-branding effort doesn’t have to take months of planning or millions of dollars.

For this campaign, the folks at a rescue animal shelter called Fur Baby Rescue wanted to leverage BuzzFeed’s readership of over 200 million people. To do this, they partnered with the folks at BuzzFeed to set up and publish an article called, “We Gave Drunk Girls a Bunch of Puppies and There Were Lots of Tears,” which you can read here. The article is exactly what it sounds like: A few ladies had a few drinks, and then were surprised with adorable (and adoptable) puppies from Fur Baby Rescue.

Image Credit: BuzzFeed

The article itself is sprinkled with links to Fur Baby Rescue’s website. Not to mention, the content makes it clear that the puppies featured in the video are, in fact, adoptable — thanks to lines like, “UGH AND THEY ARE ALL ADOPTABLE TOO” and GIFs like the one below.

Image Credit: BuzzFeed

8) Alexander Wang & H&M

Anyone who’s designer-conscious knows Alexander Wang and H&M aren’t exactly the same caliber when it comes to quality. Shoes by Alexander Wang tend to go for around $350 a pair, whereas shoes sold by H&M tend to go for more like $35 a pair. See what I mean?

But that discrepancy in pricing is exactly why the two brands decided to partner with one another. To support their brand positioning as trendy and fashionable, H&M has traditionally paired with high-end fashion brands to offer exclusive branded items for a limited time.

In exchange, those high-end brands — like Alexander Wang — can expose their brand name to “a new generation of potential consumers, who will increasingly aspire to owning more pieces from his high end collection,” writes Michelle Greenwald for Forbes.

Image Credit: Snobette

Which co-branding partnerships are your favorites? Share them with us in the comments.

In a truly beautiful letter to his daughter Yolande, Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois extolled the virtues of being uncomfortable.

Yolande was headed to a new school half way around the world from the neighborhood and people she knew. It was years before women had the right to vote, and decades before the Civil Rights Movement.

Du Bois knew she would have more than a few fish-out-of-water moments. Instead of trying to shield her from them, he asked her to revel in them:  

Don’t shrink from new experiences and custom. Take the cold bath bravely. Enter into the spirit of your big bed-room. Enjoy what is and not pine for what is not. Read some good, heavy, serious books just for discipline: Take yourself in hand and master yourself. Make yourself do unpleasant things, so as to gain the upper hand of your soul. Above all remember: your father loves you and believes in you and expects you to be a wonderful woman.

I am no W.E.B. Du Bois. I have neither his fortitude nor his stunning way with words. What I do have, however, is a small history of uncomfortable experiences that have made me stronger, and an endless sea of animated GIFs through which to illustrate those experiences.

Here are a handful of uncomfortable situations in which you should take De Bois’ advice and “Take the cold bath bravely.” You’ll be better off as a result. 

12 Uncomfortable Things That Will Make You More Successful

Brace yourself. It’s about to get awkward.

1) Learning to Take a Compliment

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Tell me if this sounds familiar: You work exceedingly hard. You’ve honed your skills. You know when you’ve done great work and take a quiet pride in it. And yet, the moment someone verbalizes it in the form of a compliment you can’t seem to string two words together. Instead, you revert into one of the following: 

• The babbling-response.
• The self-deprecating response. 
• The total and complete blackout. 

That nonsense has to stop. Here’s how to take a compliment.:

1. Realize that someone is paying you a compliment.
2. Let them finish.
3. Seriously, let them finish. 
4. Take a breath.
5. Smile and say “Thank you. That’s really good to hear.” 
6. Move on in the conversation. Don’t over-explain. Don’t undercut yourself. Just thank them sincerely and move on with a question about how their work is going. 

Why is this so hard? According to a study by Acknowledgment Works, nearly 70% of people associate embarrassment or discomfort with the process of being recognized. Sometimes, this response is caused by the dissonance we feel when someone contradicts our own self-doubt.

But that doesn’t explain why people who are genuinely proud of themselves still balk at hearing that same praise from others. For those people, it often comes down to a learned-response. In other words, you are awkward when you receive compliments because I am awkward when I receive compliments — or, if not me, then your mom; your co-workers; your icons. We’re all making each other squirm. 

One way to turn that discomfort on its head is to realize that the compliment has more to do with the person giving it than with you. “When someone is complimenting you, they are sharing how your actions or behaviors impacted them,” explains Business Psychologist Mark Goulston. “They are not asking if you agree.”  So don’t rob them of that moment. 

2) Public Speaking

 

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You knew this one was coming, right? Fear of public speaking is so common it has its own phobia name: Glossophobia.  

Now, I don’t think I need to go into the reasons behind this particular juggernaut of discomfort. We’ve all been there. Having that many eyes and ears on you is stressful. It makes you feel as though any mistake or imperfection will be amplified a thousand times. I’m also certain you realize how compelling a good public speaker can be, and how much it can advance your ability to lead and inspire.

So all that leaves is the classic glossophobia question:  How do you get over it? The answer is a mix of substantial and superficial changes.

Know the essential points.

Do not attempt to memorize your speeches. Instead, memorize your key points and your pivot lines. Pivot lines are the sentences that will move you from one key point to another. They act as navigational guides for your audience and a momentary comfort zone for you. Use these pivot lines to reset, take a breath, and move to your next key point. 

Understand that everyone wants you to succeed.

You are not going into battle. You are not facing a firing squad. These people you are talking to are all decent, interested folks. Many of whom also suffer from glossophobia. So know they are friendly, and talk to them like it.

Fake it.

For this last point, I turn to Harvard Associate Professor Amy Cuddy. She is a brilliant researcher and a  self-proclaimed introvert who noticed something fascinatingly simple about skilled public speakers: They all looked comfortable, and they all appeared to be in command — even if that appearance was all a big ruse.

So she studied what happens to people’s mindset when they stood up straight, casually used the space around them, and otherwise “power-posed.” Turns out the physical act of power-posing can send biological triggers to your brain to reduce cortisol levels and increase testosterone, calming you down and empowering you simultaneously.

(Here’s a blog post on science-backed tips for better public speaking if you want to learn more.)

3) Working With Data

 

Source: Reddit

If you don’t take to math easily, then delving into data can be intimidating. But learning to use data to find opportunities and underscore your points is a game-changer in your career.

The trick to mastering data is to learn it in context. Start by getting to know the core metrics that reflect your work. Play with spreadsheets at the close of a month. Learn to recognize trends. Alter the data to see how moving one metric would influence the others. The more time you spend with the data the more natural interpreting it will become.  Once you’ve done that, you can dig into the tougher stuff. Here are a couple of resources to get you started:

• How to Use Excel: Essential Training for Data-Driven Marketing: A downloadable resource that includes videos, instructions for how to do specific things in Excel, and advice for using Excel to build reports.
• 14 Simple Excel Shortcuts, Tip & Tricks: A blog post with step-by-step instructions for creating pivot tables, filters, conditional formatting, VLOOKUPs, and more. Harry Potter references and GIFs included.
• 10 Excel Tips and Tricks Every Marketer Should Know: A blog post teaching you how to create a histogram and what exactly regression analysis entails. It’s a good time for all. 
• Data Smart: A book by Data Scientist John Foreman, who is a wizard at taking the complex and putting into approachable and even entertaining terms. While this book isn’t exactly an easy read, I can assure you it’s worth every minute invested.

4) Waking Up Early

Source: ReactionGIFs

It’s exhausting, this modern life. While it may seem like you should squeeze as many extra minutes of sleep out of the morning as possible, the opposite is usually true. Your energy, focus and mental capacity are at their highest during the morning hours and proceed to wane throughout the rest of the day.

Take advantage of that time before breakfast when the chaos of the day has yet to set in. For most people, waking up early is a learned practice. 

First, make sure you’re cognizant enough to make the decision. Putting your alarm clock right next to your pillow is bound to result in you hitting snooze from a dazed state. You can’t be expected to make smart choices while you’re still dreaming. In addition, waking up early needs to become a pleasant experience. So if the thought of going straight from your warm bed to a shower or treadmill seems abrupt, then don’t do it. Instead, move from your bed to the cozy corner chair in your living room and read for a bit with a mug of coffee. What you do early on doesn’t matter, what matters is that you use the time in productive ways. (Read this blog post for more tips on becoming a morning person.)

5) Taking Critical Feedback

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This one stings sometimes, but it’s important. Learning to hear criticism without turning your back to it can be one of the most fortifying achievements of your career.

Think of critical feedback as a cheat sheet. In giving you direct feedback, your manager or colleague is giving you a shortcut  — your own personal konomi code — to becoming better at your job.

Sometimes, even with the best intentions, taking feedback well can be a struggle. Your impulse will be to protect yourself; to get defensive, or stop listening. So, be conscious of it. Much like accepting a compliment, take a breath when you realize critical feedback is coming your way. Listen to it all without interruption. Write down what you can. Then, ask questions to make sure you’re interpreting it right. 

6) Giving Critical Feedback

Source: Giphy

The only thing worse than taking critical feedback is giving it. I’ve written about this before: Whether you’re a manager or a friend, feedback is an opportunity to help someone get better. Don’t waste it. Good coaches give feedback directly and with respect. Don’t try to soften the blow or talk around the feedback. Doing so may make you feel better but it will only serve to confuse them.

If you’re struggling to be direct, try one clear line followed by detail. For example, “John, what you’re doing isn’t working. Let’s talk through why…”

In addition, feedback is always most constructive if accompanied by recent concrete examples. Telling someone they have a bad attitude isn’t helpful — it’s far better to point to a precise moment in which that bad attitude showed up, and then explain how moments like that can become detrimental in aggregate. Ultimately, knowing how to improve is as important as knowing what to improve. The person receiving the feedback should leave the conversation feeling empowered to change, not broken down. (Here are some more tips on how to give negative feedback without sounding like a jerk.)

7) Fighting through Conflict

 Source: ReactionGIFs

You know what’s more uncomfortable than fighting through a conflict with someone? Settling for an uninspired compromise, and then gossiping about that person over drinks with your coworkers. That’s WAY more comfortable than conflict. (Not to mention, way less productive.)

There are two ways conflict negotiations get botched: Either one side gives in too easily, or both sides are too inflexible to make resolution possible. The cleanest way through conflict is to try to discover what’s motivating the other person. Comment trolls aside, it’s pretty rare for someone to be argumentative for no good reason. Discovering the reason will help you find a better route to solving the conflict. That’s why your best asset in settling conflict is a collection of genuine questions and a patient ear to hear the answers.

8) Exercising

Source: Giphy

I keep waiting for the study that says that exercise isn’t all its cracked up to be. It’s fair to say that study isn’t coming. Not only is exercise good for your physical health, the ties between exercise and mental capacity are becoming undeniable. (Thanks, science.)

If you like working out, skip right ahead.  If you don’t, here are the only things I’ve found to work. 

Find your reason.

Maybe you want to lose weight. Maybe it helps you think more clearly. Maybe you have three kids, a constantly buzzing phone, and a dog all demanding your attention and exercise is your only chance to be alone. The reasons don’t matter.  Just find the one that feels authentic for you and use it. 

Make the time.

Treat exercise like you treat showering. It’s just something you do; a non-negotiable daily ritual. (Psst … here are 10 little ways to sneak in exercise at work.)

Get over it.

I used to hear about “runners’ highs,” a sort of delusion that sets in after you’ve done it enough that actually makes you believe jogging is fun. That may be the case for some people. It never happened for me, and wanting to like running made it easy to give up when I ultimately didn’t. Du Bois’ advice is worth hearing again here: “Make yourself do unpleasant things, so as to gain the upper hand of your soul.”

Find your genre.

The softer alternative to the above point is to find the exercise format that you hate least. If a crowded gym makes you want to run for the hills, then work out at home or outside on your own. If you find jogging boring, join a class or sports league. Work at it — it’s worth it.

9) Unplugging

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I love the internet. And smartphones? They’re like personal escape hatches that you carry with you all the time. But maybe “all the time” is not such a good idea.

According to a TIME poll of more than 5,000 people, 84% of respondents said that they could not go a single day without their cell phones, and 20% said they check them once or more every 20 minutes.

It’s not the frequency of usage that’s the problem; it’s what that level of usage does to our focus. Using our smartphones at night can make it a lot harder to sleep. When we use our smartphones nonstop it can be harder to think clearly.

So, here’s an experiment. For two weeks, set aside some screen free time blocks in your day. During that time fight the urge to open your laptop, watch TV, or glance at your phone. Sustain it for 60 minutes or more and see if you’ve gained better focus at the conclusion of the experiment. Then, go find some cat videos on YouTube to celebrate.

10) Networking and Making Small Talk

 

Source: Giphy

Everyone has a small-talk formula. Some people start with the weather (nice, mild winter we’re having, eh?), while others ask how things are going with you at work. But here’s the trick to mastering small talk: Get fascinated by it and the person wielding it. It’s a little like being dealt a hand of cards, you can use what you have to get to bigger and more interesting plays.  

If someone asks you how work is, don’t say “fine” — or worse, “busy.” Tell them it’s good and follow up with, “You know, there’s one project in particular that you may find interesting.” If you’re doing the asking, take any opportunity to dive deeper. Use each question as a spring board to the next one. Eventually, you’ll hit on something substantial. 

11) Admitting a Mistake

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You know that moment right after you realize you’ve accidentally made a mistake? You know, that moment when the dread plummets into your stomach in one sweeping motion? Uncomfortable doesn’t even begin to describe it.

However, even that can be turned around. The most effective way to replace that sinking feeling in your gut is to assess the situation and take action. Ask yourself:

Is it immediately reversible?

On my last blog post, I had a glaring typo. This was not some extra spacing after a period, this was a blatant blemish smack in the middle of my post. And I missed it. Thankfully Claire Autruong caught it and let me know via Twitter so I could edit the post before it was too late. Claire is my favorite person of the week. (Incidentally, she is also a full-stack freelance marketer — inbound certified and nice as can be — if you’re looking.)

Who should know?

Whom does your mistake affect? Who is in the position who can help you solve it? Quickly scan the list of people that need to know about your mistake and contact them explaining what happened and what you’re doing about it.

What’s your plan?

If the mistake isn’t immediately reversible, you’ll need a plan of action. A good plan is the best antidote to mistake-induced discomfort. Shift from panic to determination as soon as possible, and that discomfort will subside.

12) Getting in Over Your Head

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Of all the uncomfortable moments, getting in over your head is probably the one most worth pursuing. Sure, it’s a little scary , and there’s always the chance of failure, but nothing stretches you more or makes you more creative than having no idea what you’re doing.

So how do you put yourself in an over-your-head style situation? Raise your hand. When there’s a project no one wants, step up. When there’s a problem that has existed for years, have at it. Then break it down. Take big challenges and tackle them piece by piece. It may not always be fun, but you will almost always be better for the effort. 

I’ll stop there …

… but this is really just the beginning. Who knew there were so many uncomfortable things in the world? (Michael Cera. Michael Cera probably knew.)

From negotiating salary to reading “some good, heavy, serious books” as Du Bois suggests, this list could go on and on. Hopefully it will, in the comments below.

What uncomfortable moment have you conquered as a professional? Which are you still working on that you’d add to this list? Share with us in the comments.

 

Many marketers use Microsoft Excel every single day, whether it’s to create a waterfall report, analyze data, or run a report to present at the next team meeting.

Creating reports like these in Excel is time-consuming enough. How can we spend a little less time navigating, formatting, selecting, and entering formulas for our data? Wouldn’t it be great if there were keyboard shortcuts that could help us get our work done faster?

So glad you asked.

We’ve put together a list of 40 keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Excel. Although you can do all of these maneuvers manually, knowing these tricks will help save you time so you can focus on the stuff that really matters.

Download our free guide to Excel here to learn the essential Excel skills you should know.

All of these shortcuts can be accessed on PC and Mac, so we’ve included both types below if applicable.

(Note for Mac users: To access the F keys (F1–F12), you’ll have to hold the Fn key before pressing any F key — unless you’ve enabled those keys as standard function keys.)

40 Excel Shortcuts You’ll Definitely Want to Bookmark

Navigation

These simple shortcuts can help you navigate between workbooks, sheets, rows and columns.

Shift + Enter (PC and Mac) = Move up through a selection

CTRL + ↑ (PC); Command + ↑ (Mac) = Jump to the top of a column

CTRL + ↓ (PC); Command + ↓ (Mac) = Jump to the bottom of a column

CTRL + . (PC and Mac) = Jump to the corner of a selection (Note: Rotate to each corner by repeating this keystroke)

CTRL + w (PC); Command + W (Mac) = Close the active workbook window

CTRL + Shift + F6 (PC); Command + Shift + F6 (Mac) = Switch to previous workbook window

CTRL + Tab (Mac only) = Switch to the next open worksheet

CTRL + Shift + Tab (Mac only) = Switch to the previous open worksheet (Mac)

F11 (PC and Mac) = Start a new chart sheet

Shift + F11 (PC and Mac) = Insert a new sheet

CTRL + y (PC); Command + Y (Mac) = Repeat the last action

CTRL + d (PC and Mac) = Fill selected cell with the content in the cell above selected cell

CTRL + r (PC and Mac) = Fill selected cell with the content in the cell to the left of selected cell

Formatting

Formatting in Excel can be difficult if you don’t know of what you’re doing. Here are a few shortcuts that to help you easily format your cells.

CTRL + F (PC); Command + F (Mac) = Find and replace values

CTRL + Shift + % (PC and Mac) = Show all values as percentages

CTRL + Shift + $ (PC and Mac) = Show all values as currency (Note: Replace $ with your own country’s currency key)

CTRL  + Shift + ~ (PC and Mac) = Show all values in general number format

CTRL + Shift + & (PC); Command + Option + 0 (Mac) = Apply an outline border to selected cells

Here’s what cells look like with (left) and without (right) a border:

           

 

 

CTRL + 2 (PC); Command + b (Mac) = Apply or remove bold formatting to selected cells

CTRL + 3 (PC); Command + i (Mac) = Apply or remove italic formatting to selected cells

CTRL + 9 (PC and Mac) = Hide selected rows

CTRL + Shift + ( (PC and Mac) = Unhide selected rows

CTRL + 0 (PC and Mac) = Hide selected columns

CTRL + Shift + ) (PC and Mac) = Unhide selected columns

CTRL + ; (PC and Mac) = Insert current date

CTRL + Shift + : (PC); Command + ; (Mac) = Insert current time

CTRL + k (PC); Command + k (Mac) = Insert a hyperlink

Selecting Rows & Columns

Save yourself the manual dragging and selecting rows and columns with these handy keyboard tricks.

Shift + ↑ [or] Shift + ↓ (PC and Mac) = Expand the selection by one cell either upward (↑) or downward (↓)

CTRL + Shift + Arrow Key (PC); Command + Shift + Arrow Key (Mac) = Expand the selection to the last non-empty cell

CTRL + [spacebar] (PC and Mac) = Select entire column

Shift + [spacebar] (PC and Mac) = Select entire row

CTRL + a (PC); Command + a (Mac) = Select entire sheet

Alt + ; (PC); Command + Shift + z (Mac) = Select only the visible cells in the current selection

Formulas

Formulas are a huge part of every marketer’s Eccel toolkit. Here are a few shortcuts that’ll make you a formula wiz.

= (i.e. press the “equals” sign; PC and Mac) = Start a formula (e.g. “=A4+A5”)

Alt + (PC); Command + Shift + t (Mac) = Insert AutoSum formula

F2 (PC); CTRL + u (Mac) = Edit active cell

CTRL + a (PC and Mac) = Display the Formula Builder after you type a valid function name in a formula

Miscellaneous

Here are a few more time-saving shortcuts.

F7 (PC and Mac) = Open spelling & grammar check

Shift + F2 (PC and Mac) = Insert a comment

Control + Shift + s (PC); Command + Shift + s (Mac) = Save your work as

Can you think of any shortcuts that we missed? Feel free to add your favorites in the comments section below!

We’ve all been a part of that group project. You know, the project where one person takes the lead, leading some members to conclude their ideas are unwelcome, while a select few ride the others’ coattails.

Thanks to experiences like this, it’s no surprise why so many people have been scarred by the nightmares of past group projects.

And yet, something incredible happens when teamwork happens the way it’s supposed to happen. Things change when everyone on the team is equally invested in the overall purpose and goal. You find yourself working faster, finding mistakes more easily, and innovating better.

Ultimately, you reach a point where you’re certain each person on your team has your back — and both your job satisfaction and performance skyrocket. (Getting inbound certified doesn’t hurt, either.)

To inspire your team to band together and celebrate collaboration, we’ve gathered some of our favorite quotes on the power of teamwork. Flip through the SlideShare below and share how teamwork shapes your work culture. 

31 Tweetable Quotes on the Power of Teamwork & Collaboration

1) “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller (Click to Tweet!)

2) “If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” – Henry Ford (Click to Tweet!)

3) “Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes (Click to Tweet!)

4) “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” – Isaac Newton (Click to Tweet!)

5) “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” – H.E. Luccock (Click to Tweet!)

6) “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” – Andrew Carnegie (Click to Tweet!)

7) “It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” – Charles Darwin (Click to Tweet!)

8) “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” – Henry Ford (Click to Tweet!)

9) “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan (Click to Tweet!)

10) “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.” – Phil Jackson (Click to Tweet!)

11) “The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison.” – James Cash Penney (Click to Tweet!)

12) “Politeness is the poison of collaboration.” – Edwin Land (Click to Tweet!)

13) “Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life.” – Amy Poehler (Click to Tweet!)

14) “Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus.” – Simon Mainwaring (Click to Tweet!)

15) “Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability.” – Patrick Lencioni (Click to Tweet!)

16) “You need to be aware of what others are doing, applaud their efforts, acknowledge their successes, and encourage them in their pursuits. When we all help one another, everybody wins.” – Jim Stovall (Click to Tweet!)

17) “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” – Babe Ruth (Click to Tweet!)

18) “There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others.” – George Shinn (Click to Tweet!)

19) “It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.” –Napolean Hill (Click to Tweet!)

20) “The whole is other than the sum of the parts.” – Kurt Koffka (Click to Tweet!)

21) “A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others.” – Norman Shidle (Click to Tweet!)

22) “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” – Lewis B. Ergen (Click to Tweet!)

23) “Individual commitment to a group effort — that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” – Vince Lombardi (Click to Tweet!)

24) “One piece of log creates a small fire, adequate to warm you up, add just a few more pieces to blast an immense bonfire, large enough to warm up your entire circle of friends; needless to say that individuality counts but teamwork dynamites.” – Jin Kwon (Click to Tweet!)

25) “No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you’re playing a solo game, you’ll always lose out to a team.” – Reid Hoffman (Click to Tweet!)

26) “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” – Mark Twain (Click to Tweet!)

27) “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.” – Booker T. Washington (Click to Tweet!)

28) “Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.” – Steve Jobs (Click to Tweet!)

29) “Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” – Ryunosuke Satoro (Click to Tweet!)

30) “Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there.” – Virginia Burden (Click to Tweet!)

31) “None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.” – Mother Teresa (Click to Tweet!)

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Agency Post. To read more content like this, subscribe to Agency Post.

When it comes down to it, the underlying goal of any type of advertising is to solidify a company’s brand identity in the minds of consumers. Brands who succeed in doing this become virtually synonymous with goods or services: Starbucks to coffee; Coca-Cola to soft drinks; Nike to athletic equipment.

Sometimes, though, a brand’s identity is so intertwined with a type of product that any attempt to branch out can be, well … really weird. Like, is-this-an-April-Fool’s-Day-joke weird.

Take Colgate, for instance. Long associated with toothpaste, toothbrushes, and all things oral hygiene, it made the unfortunate decision to try its luck in the ready-to-eat dinner market by introducing a line of frozen foods called “Kitchen Entrees.” Needless to say, these products didn’t stay in grocery store freezers for long, as consumers were unable to disassociate the minty fresh taste of Colgate toothpaste from Colgate spaghetti.

But this wasn’t the only instance of a brand launching a disconnected product line. In fact, it’s happened a number of times and surprisingly, not all have failed. Check out this interesting infographic from Plumbworld chronicling the weirdest examples of brands branching out.

 

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this,subscribe to Sales.

The important thing to remember about productivity is that it’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. If you’re super-productive for one hour but slack off the next two, you haven’t been productive. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.)

Some people are blessed with the power of concentration. But most of us aren’t. Our willpower is a finite resource and steadily decreases as we make choices. By the time the workday is winding down, our reserve of willpower badly needs replenishing. That’s why it’s so hard to finish the day as strong as you started it — your brain literally can’t handle it.

Luckily, forming habits helps preserve willpower. For example, many executives and leaders wear the same outfits every day so they’re not wasting precious headspace on relatively trivial choices. (Barack Obama, Elizabeth Holmes, and Steve Jobs all do this.)

And while you can’t ensure that the last hour of your day is always going to be the same, by following a specific routine you’ll be able to get the most out of your last hour in the workday without thinking about it too much. The eight strategies below might seem like a lot to master, but in a few days you’ll have it down pat.

Before the Last Hour

About 20-30 minutes before you hit the last hour of your workday, take some time to get your affairs in order so you can spend your remaining time powering through important tasks.

1) Check your email.

Review all your unread messages quickly, then respond to the ones that absolutely need to be addressed before the end of the day.

Move the remaining emails requiring a response into a “Send later” folder, or mark them as unread so you remember to deal with them later. Any messages you don’t need to respond to should be deleted or archived.

2) Check your drafts folder.

During the day, distractions often pull us away from emails that aren’t 100% crucial to finish, and we leave them for later. Now is the time to tackle these messages. Finish them up and send them on their way — and if you’re worried they’ll get lost in your recipients’ inboxes because of the late hour, schedule them for tomorrow morning using a tool like Sidekick.

3) Leave your inbox and other communication channels.

This one’s really important. Closing out of your inbox, removing other distractions as much as you can by setting yourself “Away” on messaging apps, and leaving Facebook and Twitter are crucial to keeping your concentration. Even if you’re one of those people who is completely comfortable with 9,378 unread notifications, they say “ignorance is bliss” for a reason. If you can’t see your notifications, you can’t wonder what they’re about and be distracted. So shut them off!

4) Take a quick break.

Take two to five minutes to get water, grab a healthy snack, go to the bathroom, or do anything that’s not work-related. Just make sure you get out of your chair and stretch your legs, because you’ll want to stay put to ensure your last hour is as productive as possible.

During the Last Hour

After you’ve taken your break, it’s time to get down to business. Follow this four-step process to ensure you’re getting as much done as you can.

5) Reprioritize your to-do list.

We all know them — the colleagues who get in at 9 a.m., whip through their task list, and are out the door by 5 p.m. without breaking a sweat. But most of us aren’t like that. We push to-do items to tomorrow, then the next day, then the day after that …

Use this time to assess your list. Does everything belong there? What’s most important? What can be pushed to tomorrow or next week? Even better, what can be entirely removed from your list? At least once a month I realize that the item I’ve been delaying for weeks just isn’t that important, which is why I never tackled it in the first place.

See if your list could use a similar shuffle, and move items as needed so you know what your true priorities are.

6) Review your schedule tomorrow.

Before you get to work on your last item, make sure there’s nothing you’ve forgotten about. Quickly glance over the next day’s schedule to confirm all internal and external meetings so you have a sense of how busy you’ll be and what priorities you’ll be able to address.

7) Do the thing.

Assume you’ll only complete one more thing today — after all, an hour isn’t that much time.

If you’re juggling several larger priorities, pick the most important thing on your list and leave everything else for later. Spend your hour making as much progress as you can.

If you’re working on a series of smaller tasks, choose one type of task to tackle. Whether it’s calling prospects, writing call recaps, or making slides, you’ll be far more productive if you batch similar tasks together instead of jumping from one type of activity to another.

8) Check your email again before you head out.

You shouldn’t be sitting back down to write more emails — this final check is only to make sure you’re not missing anything urgent. Everything else can be left for tomorrow. You’ve already given an entire workday your attention and focus, so walk out the door without feeling guilty!

And there you have it: a straightforward way to ensure you’re juicing the most out of your last hour at work.

What other productivity tips do you have for your last hour at work? Share with us in the comments.

They say the best things often come in small packages. Think about it: jewelry, Snapchats, books, the keys to a brand new car … all of these things support this notion. 

And with our attention spans shrinking below that of a goldfish, it should come as no surprise that we’re beginning to crave more focused content at a smaller scale, too. 

Enter the rise of microsites. Unlike regular websites, microsites tend to be rather simplistic and easier to navigate. This isn’t to say they won’t make you want to poke around for a while, though. In fact, the really great ones do just that. 

Download our full collection of website design examples here.

Ready to see a few use cases? Check out the list below for some great examples of microsites in action. 

Note: There is profanity in example seven, so scroll on by if that’s not your cup of tea.

What Is a Microsite?

A microsite is an individual web page or small cluster of web pages that act as a separate entity for a brand. A microsite typically lives on its own domain, but some exist as a subdomain. 

Microsites can be used to help brands achieve a number of things. For example, some companies have used them to highlight a specific campaign or target specific buyer personas. Others have used them to tell a short story, or to inspire a specific call-to-action.

11 Examples of Ingenious Microsites

1) YearInMusic.Spotify.com | Spotify

Aside from serving as a painful reminder of how many Justin Bieber song I listened to on repeat last year, Spotify’s Year in Music has proven to be one of the most well executed microsites we’ve ever seen.

Commonly referred to a “celebration” of the music that carried us through the year prior, Spotify’s interactive site is personalized especially for you, based on your listening habits. 

What exactly does that mean? Well, the tool makes it easy for you to create a personalized recap that incorporates details such as your first played song, top artists by season, and how much time you spent listening. The experience is unique to the user, making it fun for them to share and compare their synopsis with their friends. 

And when it comes to sharing, the microsite makes it really easy. Every stat that the site pulls for you can be shared on social media thanks to a handy button at the bottom right of the screen.

2) DangersOfFracking.com | Linda Dong

In an effort to gain support for the FRAC Act (Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act), Interaction and Industrial Designer Linda Dong designed a beautiful microsite that uses parallax design to tell the story about the dangers of hydraulic fracturing.

The story starts with a water droplet falling from a cloud, and as you scroll down through the site, you follow the water droplet as it’s taken from truck to fracturing site, turned into tracking fluid, and sent down a gas well into the ground. Along the way, you encounter floating facts and statistics about the dangers of fracking until you encounter two simple calls-to-action at the very end: “Contact your local officials” and “Join or support your local organization.”

Microsites like this one are heavily focused on using directional cues (in this case, the parallax movement) to drive users to complete a certain call-to-action — so any other distraction or navigation bar is removed entirely. 

If your microsite focuses on one or two calls-to-action, make sure they are concise and actionable like this one is, and that you set them apart visually from the rest of the site by making the font color pop or putting the copy in a button.

3) UrWhatUPost.com | Bolthouse Farms

“Why should junk food get all the glory?”

You’re asked this question when you first arrive to BoltHouse Farms’ microsite, UrWhatUPost.com. BoltHouse Farms created the site to show people how many social media conversations were happening about healthy foods versus unhealthy foods. To do this, they collected #UrWhatUPost hashtags and tracked the kinds of foods we share on social media, then pit the healthy stuff, like #grapes, against the unhealthy stuff, like #icecream. The goal of the website is aligned with their overall company mission: To change the way people think (and post) about healthy food.

Bolthouse Farms proves microsites don’t have to be minimalist. The pages on the site are colorful and animated, with words and moving numbers turning into dangling carrots and swinging pomegranates. Click on a food item and magic happens — every food item is different. Click on a pomegranate and you can “hit” it with your clicker like a piñata. Click on a melon and you’re taken to a “melon meditation” page, kind of akin to the iTunes Visualizer. 

4) Dominosdxp.com | Domino’s Pizza

Last year, Domino’s announced their new Chevy Spark pizza delivery cars, known as DXPs. The cars were purposefully re-engineered for pizza delivery, and as a result, they boast a ton of awesome features — like an oven where the left door should be, space for up to 80 pizzas, custom storage for sauces and drinks.

To show off this awesomeness, they recently launched a dedicated microsite detailing all things DXP.

The site is heavily interactive website enables visitors to zoom in each of the features to gain a better understanding of the purpose and level of thought that went into each addition. The entire site is also skillfully animated, making it really interesting to learn about each feature.

If nothing else, this is a great example of how to take a fairly complex product or idea and promote and explain it in a way that’s both fun and easily digestible. But don’t just take our word for it … visit the website to explore for yourself. 

5) EmojiTracker.com | Matthew Rothenberg

There is no “point” to emojitracker.com — it was created by Matthew Rothenberg, former Head of Product at Flickr and Bitly, as an experiment in real-time tracking of all emojis used on Twitter.

The only calls-to-action on the site are the tweet and follow buttons at the very bottom. Otherwise, it’s just for pure interest. With no navigation bar or way to get to another site, it might actually be confusing to some people.

Technically, it breaks the rules of good user interface design, but it goes to show that microsites don’t need to have complicated designs. Keep it simple to keep people on the page without taking up too much of their time.

6) Fu2016.com | House of Cards

Step aside, Donald Trump. There’s a new presidential candidate taking the internet by storm with this impressive, interactive microsite. 

If you’re not familiar with the Netflix series “House of Cards,” the program follows a man named Francis Underwood, a ruthless politician with a hidden agenda. As the series enters season four, they’re promoted the premiere with a clever microsite that pokes fun at politics. Talk about perfect timing, amirite?

The microsite invites visitors to join Underwood’s movement and rally support for “important” issues such as inequality, dishonesty, and entitlement. But jokes aside, what we love most about this microsite is the design. In fact, you could easily argue that the site functions better than those of actual presidential candidates. From Underwoods attention-grabbing, shifty eyes (visit the website to see for yourself) to the high-quality videos, the microsite draws you in and provides good reasons for you to stick around and engage with the content.

7) WhatTheF*ckShouldIMakeForDinner.com | Zach Golden

Don’t have a big budget? Take a hint from Zach Golden, author of What The F*ck Should I Make For Dinner?, who created a microsite to promote the book.

 

Earmuffs, kids.

The site has a very simple layout: A rotating “purpose of the recipe” line, a rotating recipe from the book, and three links that let you kind of “choose your own journey.” It has a black-and-white, minimalist theme; uses all caps; and places a small call-to-action in the corner that promotes his book. That’s it. 

Media company Digiday took a cue from Golden and used his microsite template to conduct an experiment of their own. They created the microsite WhatTheF*ckIsMyTwitterBio.com — with zero media budget — to see if the content would go viral and help build their brand.

“Thanks to the open-source WTFEngine by Justin Windle, some cheap Web hosting and a $12 domain registration, WhatTheF*ckIsMyTwitterBio.com was up and running in under two hours,” reads Digiday’s press release. “Step two was populating the site with content, which took [two hours].”

Their biggest takeaway? That good copy works. “We didn’t spend a dime promoting the site, and it reached nearly 100,000 unique users ‘organically.'”

8) ElfYourself.com | OfficeMax

You didn’t think I could write a blog post about microsites and not include ElfYourself, did you? Of course not. The screenshot below shows what the website looks like right now, but come the holiday season, expect your inbox to be rife with ElfYourself animations again this year because ElfYourself isn’t going away.

What made the site so popular? Other than being hilarious, it’s also easily shareable, has a single call-to-action, and makes the users the stars. 

“It brought the brand to life for consumers,” wrote Kenneth Hein in Forbes, “and for the business-to-business crowd it provided a human face for the big box retailer.”

In other words, Office Max used the microsite to be creative and let their freak flag fly, and it worked like a charm. They focused the campaign on the consumers, not the brand — but the sales tie-in came at the end of the ElfYourself videos in the form of coupons and promos. 

9) TasteTheFeeling.Coca-Cola.com | Coca-Cola

Let’s face it: We all love GIFs. And the folks at Coca-Cola have tapped into this inevitable admiration by creating a immersive online experience in the shape of the “Taste the Feeling” microsite. 

Here’s how it works: When users land on the page, they’re met with a two-minute music video set to the sounds of a custom campaign anthem from Avicii and Conrad Sewell. The video is made up of looping, three-second GIFs that depict the many emotions felt by Coca-Cola drinkers. As you watch, you can select an emotion by clicking on one of the 32 emotion-based icons, or enter your own emotion to pull up a corresponding GIF. 

All of the GIFs are easily sharable on social media, which serves as a great way to draw people back to the site to engage with the content. 

This microsite also serves as a great example for those interested in globalizing their campaign assets, as it’s available in more than 20 different languages. 

10) Inside.Chanel.com | Chanel

Inside Chanel is a microsite that “works to inform consumers about the house’s history and heritage through video and multimedia content,” according to Luxury Daily. The site houses a ton of short, social videos that chronicle the people, places, things, and events that have contributed to continued success of this iconic fashion brand.

The purpose? “The strategy behind this microsite is to create some accessibility of Chanel’s history, but more importantly, their success throughout the years,” explains Dalia Strum, president of Dalia Inc.

We love their video-centric approach to visual storytelling. Each of the videos aims to pull back the curtain and give visitors an exclusive look at behind the scenes photos and stories, as they pertain to different aspects of the brand — color, couture, and so on.

It’s important to note that this site isn’t Chanel’s first stab at microsite creation. In fact, the brand has experimented with multiple microsite formats, including the editorial-style site Chanel News:

11) BurgerBff.com | Mellow Mushroom

This microsite from the folks at Mellow Mushroom — a pizzeria franchise established in Atlanta, Georgia — was created to support their recent “Burger BFF” campaign. The campaign was launched to create buzz for their new menu items: Herb (a vegetarian burger) and Carnie (a beef burger). 

The menu items have been adapted into cartoon BFFs for the sake of the campaign … and the result is pretty lovable.

Mellow Mushroom uses the microsite as a way to promote a contest for a chance to win a round trip to Denver or Seattle with their bestie. And it does so in a number of really fun and interesting ways. For example, one section of the site invites visitors to use the hashtag #BurgerBFF to enter the contest and show off their best burger shots on Instagram:

But that’s not all: The site also offers visitors several other engaging, interactive ways to enter the contest, including quizzes and a Mad Libs-style storytelling generator. 

Which memorable microsites have you come across? Share them with us in the comments below.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2014 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

 

Is your ecommerce strategy for 2016 strong enough to deliver on your growth goals? With the rising cost of ecommerce customer acquisition, all too often it can feel like you’re putting more effort into your acquisition strategy but seeing the same results.

That’s why we’ve partnered with ecommerce experts from across the world to take a deep dive into customer acquisition and retention to help you learn how to exceed your goals. With best practices and actionable insights from working with thousands of ecommerce merchants globally, we’re here to help you drive more revenue than ever before.

In the five part on demand series, you’ll learn:

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Did you know that 2016 is the year the first college graduates of Generation Z (born between 1994–2010) will enter the workforce?

Crazy, right? Think about the perspective they’re going to bring to the workplace — especially having grown up in an ever-connected, technology-focused world.

Along with Generation Z, there are other workplace trends that will have a significant impact on office life this year. Boomerang employees, which are the folks who leave a company and return at a later stage, will become more acceptable. Workspaces will become more collaborative. Maternity leave will become an even bigger topic than it is already.

To help you stay ahead of the curve, the folks at the Brighton School of of Business and Management created the infographic below. Check it out to learn the biggest workplace trends to look for in 2016.

What other workplace trends do you expect to see this year? Share with us in the comments.

If you want to hold brainstorms that unearth better, more creative ideas, it all starts with the people in the room. Like, the actual number of people in the room. 

That’s my first tip for you: Follow the “pizza rule” for brainstorming. If you’re unfamiliar with the “pizza rule,” it’s the idea that if you have more people in a room than you could feed with a pizza, there are too many people in that room to hold a productive meeting.

Same goes for a brainstorm session: If you’ve got a dozen people sitting around a table, expect a really long list of really mediocre ideas.

So, what else can you do other than bribe a group of two to six people with pizza to unearth good ideas? So glad you asked.

Better Brainstorming: 12 Tips for Getting to Good Ideas

1) Invite a diverse group of people.

If you’re on a team that works on all of the same projects together, goes to team meetings together, sits next to each other in the office, and hangs out in the same group chats all day … well, needless to say, their ideas will likely start to get pretty homogenous.

Instead, invite new people from other teams to your brainstorms — people with different skill sets and experiences to help get you out of your rut and see things in a new way. It’ll give you that great mix of new perspectives and contextual knowledge that’ll help you land on ideas that are both original and doable.

2) Keep the meeting to 22(ish) minutes.

We’ve written about this technique from Nicole Steinbok on the blog before, and it’s one I’ve used with positive results. (I usually round up to 30 minutes, but what’s a few minutes among friends?) It works particularly well for people like myself that thrive under the threat of a deadline. 

In my experience, having a limited amount of time to brainstorm only works if all participants are actually ready for the meeting. (More on that in a minute.) But two other tenets Steinbok harps on are a no-laptop rule, and a no-off-topic-banter rule. While some might disagree with the latter (as my colleague Erik Devaney vehemently does), I have found that aggressive time constraints in and of themselves help keep people on task and delivering their best ideas as a result.

3) Provide context and goals well before the meeting.

“Well before the meeting” doesn’t mean that morning. Offer any pertinent information at least two business days in advance so people have a fighting chance at actually being prepared for the brainstorm.

In addition to providing any reading materials or contextual information that helps set up the reason for the brainstorm (and explicitly asking that they read it, too), describe what the ideal outcome of the meeting looks like. This will help people come into the meeting understanding the scope of what you’re all trying to do. I think you’ll find this helps you avoid wasting time catching everyone up so you can get to the brainstorm right away. 

4) Ask people to come prepared with some ideas.

Often, great ideas don’t show themselves when you ask them to. They pop up on the train, in the shower, while you’re watching TV … basically any time you’re not actually trying to come up with the idea.

This is one reason why it’s good to provide a few days of lead-time before your meeting, but it’s also why you might want to explicitly ask people to think of some ideas beforehand. With this approach, you might find that you start the meeting off with pretty strong ideas from the get-go, and the group can add to and modify them to make them even stronger.

Frankly, I’ve also found that when everyone comes in cold turkey, the brainstorm often ends with a long list of very uninspired ideas. At the very least, whoever runs the brainstorm should come with a few ideas to kick off the brainstorm and give an indication of what a good idea looks like. 

Tip: You may actually find that better ideas emerge if you explain what a bad idea looks like. Sometimes, knowing what you’re not looking for can be really helpful in eliminating entire universes, and letting people focus in on something more specific.

5) Say “no” to the bad ideas. Fast.

It might be brainstorm heresy to recommend people squash bad ideas, but I’ve seen one too many brainstorm go astray because people are too scared to say “no.” This is particularly important if you’re trying to run a quick brainstorm session.

Yes, there’s a fine line: Squashing bad ideas could lead people to fear speaking up, missing out on good ideas as a result. But if you’re giving every idea equal due regardless of merit, then you get off track real fast and end up down a bad idea rabbit hole.

Better brainstorms that yield better ideas leave time to nurture the strongest inclinations.

On that note …

6) Foster an environment where bad ideas are okay.

Yes, you should call out bad ideas. But you should also make it okay that people had them. Call out your own ideas, in fact. If people can speak freely, but not feel stupid for doing so, you’ll get more ideas out — which makes it more likely you’ll land on a good one.

7) Lean into constraints.

If you have every resource and opportunity in the world, creativity will naturally stifle. Lay out the constraints you’re working within in terms of goals and resources for executing any idea you come up with. Then, try to see those as opportunities for creativity instead of roadblocks that make it impossible to come up with a good idea.

8) Lean into silence.

Anyone in sales already knows: Silence is power. In a brainstorm, silences are times when people get thinking done — either about their own idea or how to build on the last idea that came up.

And hey, it might also encourage more people to speak up with an idea just out of their hatred of uncomfortable silences. Heh.

9) Lean into failure … outside of the brainstorm.

If you have a team where taking smart risks — regardless of outcome — is rewarded, people will have a better sense of what ideas are worth pursuing and what’s worth passing on. Because, you know, they do it a lot and get a second sense for these things. 

If experimentation is a part of your team culture, that’ll manifest itself in way, way better ideas than if your team is stuck in stasis. You’ll have better brainstorms where creative and smart, yet risky ideas come out. 

10) Be prepared to ditch the meeting altogether.

Sometimes in-person meetings aren’t the right format for unearthing good ideas. Certain brainstorms can be better performed digitally.

For example, we often to Google Doc brainstorms when curating ideas for list posts across a large group of people. There’s really no need to pull everyone away from their work to participate in a brainstorm like that, especially because the list items are pretty easy to come up with and we’re typically looking for volume of ideas rather than one or two big ideas.

The benefit of brainstorms like this are that people can participate on their own time, too — when they’re ready and eager to contribute ideas, not when the meeting happens to occur.

11) Provide a place for anonymous submissions.

For some people, the “right format” might be an anonymous submission. Provide a place for anonymous idea submission both before and after the meeting. People might have some ideas before or after the meeting that they’re reticent to bring up in front of the group. It’d be a shame to miss out on those ideas due to shyness, discomfort, or simply a preference for writing out ideas instead of speaking about them. This is easy to set up through a Google form. 

12) Be prepared to pursue absolutely nothing that came out of that brainstorm.

Don’t feel like you have to choose and pursue an idea just because you had a brainstorm. If the brainstorm didn’t yield any good ideas, that’s fine. It wasn’t a waste of time. But you will waste your time if you pursue an idea that isn’t worth doing. Moving forward on the lesser of all evils is still … evil.

Instead, do some reflection on your own about why the ideas aren’t ready to see the light of day, and see if any are worth more thought before ditching them. Perhaps you’ll get another group of people in a room to iterate on them — or even the same group once they’ve had some distance from the ideas. Now that ideas have started flowing, you might find a second round of brainstorming yields something even better.

What other tips do you have for getting more out of brainstorms? Share with us in the comments.