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The more traffic your blog or site receives, the better. But drive-bys aren’t enough to drive user engagement and ultimately boost sales — instead, you need to convince potential customers that it’s worth sticking around. Topical content and its counterpart, evergreen content, can help you achieve this goal.Consider that 38% of people will leave your site if the content or layout is unattractive. In other words, if they don’t find anything of value ASAP, they won’t stay.

Of course, this raises an important question: When it comes to topical content vs. evergreen content, which delivers the best bang for your virtual buck? Which type drives more visitors to stay? Here’s what you need to know about boosting traffic with these common content types.

Topical content focuses on current events or information to deliver targeted and relevant content to visitors. For example, a local roofing company might use the event of a large storm rolling through the city or county as a jumping-off point for a blog post about handling hail or wind damage. This type of topical content is relevant to their target audience in the moment, offers actionable advice, and may help drive conversions.

HubSpot’s recent State of Consumer Trends blog is a good example of topical content. The statistics provided are timely, relevant, and actionable in the near future.

Like the evergreen tree, this type of content is always around and relevant. Unlike the time-based nature of topical content that requires regular updating to stay compelling, evergreen content has a longer-term appeal that lets you post it and (mostly) forget about it.

Common types of evergreen content include how-to articles, tips, or listicles that are broadly applicable. HubSpot’s list of 15 Customer Success Metrics That Actually Matter is a great example of actionable evergreen content.

Topical Content Pros and Cons

Considering using topical content on your site? Here are two pros and two cons to this approach.

Pro #1: Less legwork

Topical content is there for the taking. A quick review of relevant industry websites or digital news outlets can provide inspiration for your next post, meaning your team can cut down the amount of time required to find your next content focus.

Pro #2: Multiple traffic opportunities

Relevant stories can gain traction across multiple points of content. In practice, this means you can drive traffic from social media sites, emails, and web searches simultaneously to your site.

Con #1: It’s Not Just You

Interesting content is interesting to everyone. This means that other sites are also posting their own take on topical content, making it harder to stand out from the crowd.

Con #2: Trust is Built, not Posted

Just because you make a great post and get traffic to your site, it doesn’t mean that visitors automatically become buyers. Instead, it takes time to build up trust, meaning you’ll need more than just topical content to drive conversion.

Evergreen Content Pros and Cons

Thinking of an evergreen effort on your website? Here are some common pros and cons.

Pro #1: Stays Fresher, Longer

Evergreen content naturally stays fresher for longer, in turn driving steady traffic to your site. You can also update rather than replace this content as needed to keep users coming back.

Pro #2: Ideal for Entry-Level Content

How-to’s and listicles that cater to beginners learning a new skill or understanding a topic are great choices for evergreen content, since there’s always someone looking to learn.

Con #1: Brainstorms can Run Dry

The more evergreen content you post, the harder it can be to think of new topics. This creates a situation where your team may spend more time work-shopping posts rather than creating evergreen content.

Con #2: Success is a Slow Process

Where topical content posts can drive big spikes in traffic over short time periods, evergreen content is more slow and steady. While this is great for long-term growth, it won’t help if you’re looking to capitalize on seasonal or event-driven demand.

Ideally, topical and evergreen content work in concert to help boost your website traffic. Not sure what that looks like in practice? Here are six tips to get you started.

1. Use content planning templates for your topical and evergreen content

When it comes to getting the most from topical and evergreen content, planning templates are a great place to start, since they provide a solid foundation for your long-term traffic strategy.

Check out HubSpot’s free Content Marketing Planning Template to get your content creation campaign off the ground.

2. Set a schedule for regular topical refreshes

To keep topical content relevant, schedule regular refreshes. The length of time between refreshes depends on the type of content — for social media posts, any more than a week can start to get stale. For blog posts, two weeks to a month at most.

3. Get the right tools

Before creating your content, make sure you’re on the right SEO track. Tools like Google AdWords and Google Trends can help you find keywords that are on the way up or have sustained search volume to inform your content strategy.

4. Topical content: Don’t hold back

Swing for the fences when it comes to topical content. Given the number of other sites doing the same thing, it’s worth going all-in with content that’s relevant to your target audience. Even if it doesn’t land as intended, it’s ephemeral enough that you can recover quickly.

5. Evergreen content: Think about the long-term

For evergreen content, think about long-term traffic potential. Is the content useful to your current user base? Can it be updated as the market changes to remain relevant?

6. Find a content balance

Finally, find a balance between topical and evergreen. While a totally topical approach can produce quick-win results, it won’t provide sustained success. Evergreen efforts, meanwhile, offer steady progress but aren’t enough to jump-start customer interest or capitalize on market trends.

Directing Traffic: The Double Benefit of Evergreen and Topical Content

Put simply? Both topical and evergreen content offer benefits for your site. Where evergreen efforts can help boost SEO and deliver steady visitor numbers, topical content helps your site get noticed when relevant and timely events have customers looking for answers.

In other words, it’s not about topical vs evergreen content: It’s about finding a way to balance both that gets visitors interested and keeps them coming back.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2010 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The term “metaverse” may have been coined back in 1992, but it could hold new and adventurous opportunities for both consumers and even brands that engage with them.

The only problem is many of us aren’t too sure what the metaverse actually is. Who is using it? Why do they use it? Which of the seemingly infinite metaverses are worth including in your marketing strategy? And how can the metaverse help marketers navigate data privacy regulations?

To get some clarity, we surveyed over 1,000 consumers in the U.S. to learn about their takes, preferences, and behaviors around today’s biggest trends.

In that survey, 8% of participants said they’d ever visited a metaverse. But that’s not the full story. Keep reading to learn why the metaverse might not be a passing trend.

What Consumers Think About the Metaverse [New Data]

The Metaverse is New to Many — but Still Growing

Today 33%, or one-third, of our total survey-takers don’t quite get the concept of the metaverse. Still, 40% understand it and 30% think more brands should leverage it.

While only a small percentage of people have stepped into the metaverse, half of those that have did so in the past three months.

On top of that, these early adopters aren’t just popping in once to check it out – they’re actually invested in these virtual worlds. Of those who have ever used the metaverse:

• 64% own virtual currency in the metaverse
• 61% own virtual items that can be bought and sold in the metaverse
• 55% own land that can be bought and sold in the metaverse

How the Metaverse Intersects With Consumers’ Real Lives

We also asked those who have ever done metaverse-related activities (visited a metaverse, played online games, attended virtual events, or bought virtual items/NFTs) about how these intersect with their “real” lives, which produced some surprising results:

• 60% say their virtual items are just as important as their real-life possessions
• 54% say their online relationships are just as important as in-person relationships
• 51% say they can more easily be their authentic self in virtual worlds than in-person
• 40% say they understand the concept of the metaverse
• 33% say the metaverse is the future of technology

Who’s using the Metaverse?

Our research shows that opinions on the metaverse differ sharply by age group.

At the moment, Gen Z and Millennials are the most excited about exploring the metaverse, with around 15% of them having visited a metaverse at some point.

Gen Z and Millennials are also more likely than any other generation to have done metaverse-related activities, other than buying crypto (likely due to Gen Z having less disposable income):

• 40% of Gen Z/Millennials have played an online game
• 28% of Gen Z/Millennials have used a VR headset
• 22% of Gen Z/Millennials have bought virtual items other than NFTs or crypto, like a skin in a video game
• 18% of Gen Z/Millennials have attended a virtual reality event
• 23% of Gen Z/Millennials have bought cryptocurrency

So now that we know Gen Z and Millennials are the primary users of the metaverse and related technology, let’s take a look at why people go to the metaverse in the first place.

What Do People Do In the Metaverse?

Why People Visit the Metaverse

The most popular reasons for visiting the metaverse are to play games, hang out with friends, work a virtual job, and for virtual meetings and events.

Keep in mind the metaverse is all about empowering users to create their own experiences. As people continue innovating in virtual worlds, the number of activities and use cases will likely grow.

What motivates metaverse regulars?

Because the metaverse itself is loosely defined, to some extent it’s up to the users to shape its future. And those users are invested, with over 50% owning virtual currency, land, and items that can be bought and sold in the metaverse.

Additionally, with 31% of metaverse users saying they log on to earn virtual currency or work a virtual job, it’s important to touch on another selling point of the metaverse – users can earn currency by playing games or working virtual jobs.

We asked the general population whether they would be more likely to use a platform if they got virtual currency as an incentive, and 27% say they would. This number jumps up to 36% for Gen Z and 40% for Millennials.

On top of that, 60% of those who have ever used the metaverse say they would be more likely to use a platform if they got paid in virtual currency.

Offering incentives for using a platform can also help address a problem many marketers are currently struggling with – gathering consumer data in a way that provides value to both parties.

The Most Visited Metaverses

The Sandbox, Meta’s Horizon Worlds, and VRChat are the most visited, followed by Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and Illuvium. Keep in mind that many of these worlds are in early development, and some aren’t even accessible to the public yet.

Data Privacy and the Metaverse

Currently, many platforms like social media track, analyze, and sell personal data, but the user gets nothing in return. In response to this, privacy protections are being developed by governments and corporations alike to give consumers more power over their data.

This means offering incentives for people to not only spend time on your platform but also share their data will become more important in the future.

So let’s take a closer look at how consumers currently think of data privacy, and whether they think the metaverse has the potential to tip the scales in their favor.

Consumers are unified in their demands for ownership over their personal information. Our survey found that:

• 80% of consumers agree that data privacy is a human right
• 80% of consumers agree that they should have complete control over how companies use their data
• 79% of consumers say they are concerned about how companies use their data

On the other hand, when it comes to the metaverse, 53% of those who have ever used it say they trust how data on their activities in virtual worlds will be stored and used, while 29% distrust it. This is quite fascinating as many metaverses are decentralized, built on relatively emerging blockchain technology, and still a mystery to many — even when they’ve visited them a few times.

What’s Next for the Metaverse?

So you might be wondering what to expect next for the metaverse, and in all honesty, nobody knows.

We’ll keep running our Consumer Trends Survey regularly, to stay up to date on all the latest trends, from the metaverse to social media, workplace trends, and much more.

In the meantime, check out our State of Consumer Trends Report which includes the full results of our survey, as well as the downloadable PDF below. 

Did you know that it only takes a tenth of a second to make a first impression? So when you meet someone for the first time, you need to be on your game from the very beginning — but do you know exactly how to make a good first impression?

Whether you’re meeting new connections, team members, potential employers, or customers, here is alist of tips to help you put your best foot forward and make a great first impression.

1. Arrive early.
2. Be empathetic.
3. Actively listen.
4. Be mindful of your body language and posture.
5. Modulate your pitch and tone of voice.
6. Choose your words wisely.
7. Dress the part.
8. Make eye contact.
9. Know your audience.
10. Come prepared.
11. Be authentic.
12. Put your phone away.
13. Make a connection.
14. Don’t forget to follow up.

 

14 Tips for Making a Good First Impression

1. Arrive Early.

Actor Billy Porter said it in his book Unprotected: A Memoir, “Fifteen minutes early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.”

Arriving a little early for a meeting shows your punctuality and gives you a little more time to ensure everything is in place. If you’re giving a presentation, arriving early gives you a moment to test the equipment you’re using. If you’re early to a job interview, you’ll have time to go over your elevator pitch to yourself, adjust your tie, or make sure your hair isn’t out of place.

2. Be Empathetic.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the same feelings as another person. It can help you come across as personable when it comes to first impressions. Of course, you want to be professional and not cross boundaries. However, showing that you understand the person or group you’re speaking to and that what they’re saying resonates with you will help you form a genuine connection.

To show empathy, ask questions with genuine curiosity and listen to understand — not just respond. And make a point to stay focused and engaged in the interaction.

3. Actively listen.

Most people don’t like repeating themselves or answering the same question multiple times — it makes them feel like they aren’t being listened to. You don’t want your first impression to be that you’re an inattentive listener, so practice active listening.

Active listening is giving the speaker your undivided attention and paying attention to what’s said and the intention behind it. Listen for opportunities to ask questions pertaining to the discussion. Asking the right questions shows you’re engaged — just don’t ask something the speaker already answered.

Having a good conversation with a candidate helps you understand who they are, their skill set, and what they’d bring to your team.

So, being a good interviewer goes hand-in-hand with hiring successful talent that can contribute to meeting your business goals.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about becoming an effective interviewer.

Why is it important to be a good interviewer?

Being a good interviewer is essential because it helps you hire the right people for the job. Therefore, the skill is key for any employer that wants to hire the right candidates who are motivated, able to do the job, and are a good cultural fit for the company.

Being a good interviewer also shows respect for the interviewee. It demonstrates that you value their time and insights and are willing to invest the effort to get to know them better.

How to Be an Effective Interviewer

The best interviewers make interviews feel like conversations instead of interrogations, and they work to develop rapport with candidates to help them feel comfortable opening up and sharing information about themselves.

Let’s go over how to do this.

1. Start the conversation on a lighter note.

Candidates may be nervous at the beginning of the interview, so it can always be helpful to make small talk and begin the conversation on a lighter note before the actual interview starts. However, make sure you don’t spend so much time on small talk that you need to cut the interview short later on.

2. Do your research.

Re-review the candidate’s application, resume, and cover letter before the interview, so you know their qualifications and why they’re interested in the role.

This gives you a refresher on their background and helps you generate focused questions about what they’ve already shared that will help you dig deeper into their interest in and relationship to the role.

3. Ask open-ended questions.

Open-ended questions encourage candidates to elaborate on their answers and give you more information to work with. When you do this, ensure that you give the interviewee time to answer the question entirely.

This also means avoiding yes or no questions when not entirely necessary. For example, you can confirm with someone that they spent three years working at their last company, but asking a yes or no question about their role at said company doesn’t give you the information you’re looking for.

3. Listen more than you talk.

Aim to do more listening so you can gather as much information as possible. This is a quick tip because it leads directly to the next tip: practicing active listening.

4. Practice active listening.

Active listening is a communication style that involves focusing entirely on the person who is speaking so you can take in what they’re saying and participate in the conversation in a meaningful way.

It’s important during interviewers because it helps you learn more about the candidates and ask relevant follow-up questions when they have said something you want to learn more about.

Active listening is also an important part of being a good interviewer because it shows respect for the candidate. They can likely tell if you’re not fully immersed in what they’re saying, and if they feel you’re not interested, they may feel less confident in sharing information about themselves. Instead, active listening shows them that they have your full attention and you’re genuinely interested in learning more about them.

5. Take notes.

Taking notes goes hand in hand with active listening because it shows that you’re actively listening to what the candidate is saying. It is also a way for you to note something a candidate says that you want to ask them about later instead of interrupting their train of thought.

Taking notes also gives you a refresher on your conversations with candidates when you’re making final hiring decisions in the future.

6. Be aware of your body language.

Body language that shows attention and respect for the candidate can help them feel more comfortable opening up and sharing information about themselves. As a result, your body language during an interview makes a big difference in being a good or bad interviewer.

So, aim to make eye contact, smile, and avoid crossing your arms or fidgeting. A lack of these things can make an interviewee feel like you don’t want to be there, making them feel anxious and that you care about what they have to say.

8. Eliminate distractions.

Eliminating distractions is helpful for you and the candidate because anything that shifts focus away from the conversation can affect how well the interview goes. For example, an alarm that goes off can cause someone to lose their train of thought on a valuable piece of information.

9. Be prepared to answer questions.

Most candidates will have questions for you, such as what a day-to-day looks like for the role they’ve applied for, what company culture is like, and what your team is like, and you should be prepared to answer them.

Candidates are also interviewing you and your business, so answering their questions and giving them the information they need helps them ensure they are a good fit.

For example, if a candidate realizes that they might not be a good fit for your company, they save you the stress that can come from someone accepting an offer and promptly leaving the company if they come to that realization after they’ve begun the job.

Being a good interviewer helps your team meet your goals.

Someone who can put candidates at ease and help them feel comfortable talking about their experience and sharing their skills is a great interviewer because the more you learn about the candidate, the easier it is to make an informed decision about their fit for the role.

Next time you have an interview, leverage the tips mentioned above, and you’ll likely find yourself having valuable conversations and hiring impressive candidates that can help you meet your business goals.

Consumers want brands to make a difference.

In fact, Havas’ Meaningful Brands Report 2021 found that 73% of respondents think brands must act now for the good of society and the planet. In that same survey, 64% of respondents said they prefer to buy from companies with a reputation for purposeful action, not just their profits.

When brands act for the good of society and the planet, they’re being socially responsible. In this post, we’ll discuss:

• What is social responsibility?
• How can brands be socially responsible?
• 15 Socially Responsible Brands

What is social responsibility?

For businesses, social responsibility is showing care and value for society and the planet in addition to, or equal to, how much care is shown for their profits and their bottom line.

How can brands be socially responsible?

Brands can be socially responsible by ensuring employees have a safe work environment and are paid a living wage, charitable giving to programs that give back to the community, championing diversity, equity, and inclusion, sustainable business practices, — the list goes on.

Early 2020 brought many businesses to a reckoning regarding social responsibility, as social justice issues were at the forefront of many conversations during the first few months of the year.

Consumers still want brands to be responsible — in fact, 45% of people think that brands need to do more to advocate for social justice issues.  The social issues that consumers believe businesses should take a stance on are racial justice, climate change, income inequality, and affordable healthcare.

Let’s go over some examples of brands that exemplify social responsibility that you can take inspiration from.

15 Socially Responsible Brands

1. Back Market

Back Market combats the tons of waste produced by electronic devices by refurbishing used electronics and selling them to consumers. The business encourages consumers to trade in their used electronics for cash instead of throwing them away and also provides an eco-friendly alternative to those looking to buy.

2. Warby Parker

Warby Parker is famous for its at-home try-on program, where customers can try glasses frames at home before committing to a purchase.

Its Warby Parker Impact Foundation works with government agencies, nonprofits, and local community groups to increase access to vision care for adults and children underserved in this type of care. In addition, its Buy a Pair, Give a Pair program donates one pair of glasses per pair bought and, to date, has distributed over 10 million glasses.

3. Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s is famous for taking a stand on global issues like refugee rights, LGBTQ+ rights, climate justice, voting rights — the list goes on.

To raise awareness for these issues, it partners with nonprofits to build support with its customers, and the Ben & Jerry’s foundation regularly gives funding to businesses in Vermont (its home state) and around the country that work to facilitate social change.

4. Oliberté

Oliberté founded the world’s first fair trade certified factory in Ethiopia. It has since transferred its operations to Canada but continues to show commitments to employee equity by giving employees a percentage of the earrings for every pair of shoes sold, where “sold” begins when a shoe has left the factory.

It is also part of the One Perfect for the Planet Program, where at least one percent of annual sales are contributed to environmental causes.

5. Patagonia

Patagonia is known for its environmentalist practices, like supporting grassroots activists through funding. Its Worn Wear program encourages customers to give their used Patagonia clothing back to the business to be refurbished and resold instead of throwing it away, and Patagonia Provisions makes and sells organic foods that ensure healthy soil, are cultivated under ethical employee conditions, and fair and humane treatment of animals.

6. EnrichHer

EnrichHer is a finance technology platform that gives small women-owned businesses loans to help with business operations. It also offers training programs with one-on-one and peer support, tools to help owners access funding, and networking opportunities to help businesses find resources and tools to help them better their business.

7. IKEA

IKEA is dedicated to environmentalism with its plans to use only sustainable materials and recycled or renewable plastic by 2030. The IKEA Foundation also works with NGOs to create employment and entrepreneurship programs and funds environmental ventures around the world, like renewable energy projects.

8. Cracked It

Based in the UK, Cracked It is a phone repair service that employs formerly incarcerated youth, a community often discriminated against and looked over when seeking employment. It teaches job-relevant and life skills and prepares youth for future employment opportunities to come down the line.

9. Allbirds

Allbirds, a footwear and apparel company, uses natural, renewable, and sustainable materials to create its products, demonstrating a commitment to environmentalism and sustainability.

Allbirds Flight Plan lays out the business’ sustainability commitments that culminate in cutting its carbon footprint in half by 2025 through investments in regenerative agriculture, renewable energy, and responsible energy use. Allbirds ReRun is similar to Worn Wear, and used products are donated, refurbished, and resold to reduce waste.

10. Cora

Cora sells organic personal care products and, with every purchase, donates products and body literacy resources to communities often overlooked in related discussions. 75% of the donations it makes are to organizations that serve BIPOC communities and, to date, has donated 6,600,000 products and diverted 14,000 from landfills.

11. Loop

Black people in Black communities pay 70% more for car insurance than those in predominantly White upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Loop, an AI-powered car insurance company, recognizes the disparity and commits to making car insurance more equitable, available, and affordable for people of color, most significantly by only considering factors related to driving history.

12. Glass Half Full

Glass Half Full is a Louisiana-based business that collects glassware that it recycles and repurposes into sand and glass cullet. Its outputs help the environment, as the sand can be used for disaster relief, coastal restoration, and eco-construction, and glass cullet can be repurposed into new glassware.

Since its creation, it has diverted 2 million pounds of glass from NOLA landfills.

13. Culture Brands

Culture Brands is an agency with media platforms and consumer brands that engage directly with the African American community, helping people feel seen and engage with content related to their experiences. Because Of Them We Can is one of its platforms that shares content that amplifies Black voices and entrepreneurial successes.

14. Tony’s Chocolonely

Tony’s Chocolonely is a chocolate company committed to environmentalism and equitable and fair working conditions.

Tony’s Open Chain sourcing principles outline the business commitments, including paying a premium for cocoa beans to ensure farmers receive a living wage, and CLMRS, which identifies illegal child labor and improves the living conditions for farmers and their families.

It also helps its customers learn more about chocolate farming practices, as they can trace the entire lifecycle of the bean that made the chocolate bar they hold in their hands.

15. Accion International

Accion International’s mission is to build a financially inclusive world by providing economic opportunities to communities often overlooked and left out of financial conversations.

It provides financial support to low-income entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, and women, in addition to educational resources, coaching, and business networks that can be helpful when it comes to building and growing a business. In 2021, Accion International was able to reach and impact 220M+ people.

Before the days of smartphones — if you can remember such a time — taking a great photo was a labor-intensive process. Now, it’s easy to master how to take good photos with your phone — no fancy cameras or desktop editing software required.

Brands are catching on, too — these kinds of visuals remain important to marketing. But make no mistake: Taking a great photo on your smartphone is not as simple as pointing and shooting. There are plenty of bad smartphone photos out there — I’m sure you’ve seen at least a few.

What’s the secret to taking great pictures with your smartphone, then? As it turns out, there are a few of them. Check out these tips below to improve your smartphone photography game. (And once you have the photo-taking part down, check out some of the best photo editing apps for mobile.)

How to Take Good Photos With Your Phone: 25 Tips & Tricks

1. Use gridlines to balance your shot.

One of the easiest and best ways to improve your mobile photos is to turn on the camera’s gridlines. That superimposes a series of lines on the screen of your smartphone’s camera that are based on the “rule of thirds” — a photographic composition principle that says an image should be broken down into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts in total.

According to this theory, if you place points of interest in these intersections or along the lines, your photo will be more balanced, level, and allow viewers to interact with it more naturally.

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To switch the grid on …

• iPhone: Go to “Settings,” choose “Photos & Camera,” and switch “Grid” on.
• Samsung Galaxy: Launch the camera app, go to “Settings,” scroll down and switch the “gridlines” option to “on.”

2. Set your camera’s focus.

Today’s phone cameras automatically focus on the foreground of your frame, but not every picture you take on your phone has an obvious subject. To adjust where you want your camera lens to focus, open your camera app and tap the screen where you want to sharpen the view.

If you’re taking a photo of something in motion, for example, it can be difficult for your camera to follow this subject and refocus as needed. Tap the screen to correct your phone camera’s focus just before snapping the picture to ensure the moving subject has as much focus as possible. A square or circular icon should then appear on your camera screen, shifting the focus of your shot to all of the content inside that icon.

3. Use HDR mode.

High dynamic range or HDR, is a camera app feature that helps balance the light and dark elements in a high-contrast photo. It can be used to give photos a more creative, or artsy vibe, but it is commonly used to produce an image that looks similar to how you see it with your eyes.

Often with smartphone cameras, it’s hard to get the perfect exposure for light and dark areas. You could be taking a photo of someone in a shaded area outside against a bright background or in a room with low light against a bright wall. Setting the exposure to the background could make the person being photographed underexposed. Conversely, setting the exposure to the subject could result in the background being overexposed.

HDR prevents this by retaining both the details in darker areas and shadows and bright areas. The iPhone takes photos in HDR by default. For android phones, you may need to adjust HDRsettings manually.

4. Use natural light.

It’s hard to find a great smartphone photo that was taken with a flash. Most of the time, they make a photo look overexposed, negatively altering colors and making human subjects look washed out.

Take advantage of the sources of natural light you can find, even after dark. This gives you a chance to play with shadows, like in the second image below, or create a silhouette with other ambient sources of light, like traffic and surrounding buildings.

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Once you’ve taken the photo, play with the “Exposure” tool in your favorite photo editing app to see if you can make the image slightly brighter, without making it too grainy.

5. Focus on one subject.

Many of the best photos include just one, interesting subject. So when taking a picture of one, spend some extra time setting up the shot. Some professional photographers say that the subject shouldn’t fill the entire frame, and that two-thirds of the photo should be negative space — that helps the subject stand out even more.

But be sure you tap the screen of your smartphone to focus the camera on your subject — that’ll help to ensure that it’s focused and the lighting is optimized.

Pro Tip: Once you’ve taken your photo, you can use filters and apps to make the subject even more vivid, or to crop it to frame the subject correctly. The brightness, contrast, and saturation of the photo can also be adjusted accordingly — all from your phone.

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6. Hold your phone still.

While smartphones have given us the benefit of taking photos on the go, the cameras on our phones are still sensitive to movement. To help avoid blurry or warped photos, steady your camera first.

You can lean on a friend or wall to prevent your arms or hands from wobbling, or prop your phone up using books or similar objects to steady your phone.

7. Consider buying a mobile tripod.

Although mobile devices make it easy to snap any photo on the go, there’s never been an easy way to ensure the shot stays level and balanced when you shoot — especially if you want to be in the picture and not just take a typical selfie with your extended arm.

Mobile tripods give you the freedom to mount your smartphone for quick hands-free shots without lugging any heavy equipment with you. Most mobile tripods are barely bigger than your mobile device and can bend to any angle. Learn how these miniature tripods can help enhance your mobile video experience below.

8. Embrace negative space.

“Negative space” simply refers to the areas around and between the subjects of an image — and it can take a photo from “good” to “great.”

When you include a lot of empty space in a photo, your subject will stand out more and evoke a stronger reaction from your viewer. And what does negative space look like? It’s often a large expanse of open sky, an empty field, a large wall, or water, as in the example below.

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9. Find different perspectives.

Taking photos from a unique, unexpected angle can make them more memorable — it tends to create an illusion of depth or height with the subjects. It also makes the image stand out, since most mobile photos are taken either straight -on or from a bird’s eye view.

Try taking a photo directly upward and playing with the sky as negative space, like in the first photo below. Or, you can try taking it at a slight downward angle.

Pro Tip: If you take a photo and find the perspective is a little askew or tilted, use the SKRWT photo editing app to make the lines look clean and square.

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10. Play with reflections.

There’s something so idyllic about seeing the sky reflected in a body of water. There’s a reason why we love seeing that — our eyes are drawn to reflections. So look for opportunities to play with them in photos.

There are plenty of out-of-the-box places to find reflections — puddles, larger bodies of water, mirrors, sunglasses, drinking glasses, and metallic surfaces are just a few.

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11. Use leading lines.

In some photos, there’s a line that draws the viewer’s eye toward a certain part of the frame. Those are called leading lines. They can be straight or curvilinear— think staircases, building facades, train tracks, roads, or even a path through the woods.

Leading lines are great for creating a sense of depth in an image, and can make your photo look purposefully designed — even if you just happened to come upon a really cool shape by accident.

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12. Look for symmetry.

Symmetry can be defined as “a vague sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance.” And pictures that contain symmetry can be incredibly pleasing to the eye — it’s also one of the simplest and most compelling ways to compose a photo.

In photography, symmetry usually means creating an image that can be divided into two equal parts that are mirror images of each other. That’s a bit different than reflections — symmetry can be found “in the wild,” as per the staircase picture, or you can set up your photo accordingly, like photographer Eric Christian did in the first photo below.

And remember — use those gridlines from tip #1 to line everything up perfectly.

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13. Keep an eye out for repetitive patterns.

Repetitive patterns are very pleasing to the eye — they appear whenever strong graphic elements are repeated over and over again, like lines, geometric shapes, forms, and colors. These patterns can make a strong visual impact, and photographing something like a beautiful, tiled floor can be enough to create a striking image. Other times, it’s more fun to keep an eye out for where they appear naturally or unintentionally, like with the congruent fire escapes on the left.

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14. Play around with color blocking.

Isn’t it cool when an entire photo is black and white, except for a single object? It turns out that yes, indeed, there are apps for that. One of our favorites is Touch Color — an app that automatically converts a picture to grayscale and lets you fill in the parts you want to colorize.

Color blocking can help to highlight the elements of a photo that you want to stand out, like a plant or something else with a bold hue. It achieves a similar goal as negative space, in that it can help a single subject stand out — but with color blocking, the photo’s other elements remain intact for a cohesive image.

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15. Avoid zooming in.

When you take a photo from a distance, it’s tempting to zoom in on something specific you’re trying to capture. But it’s actually better not to zoom in — doing so can make the photo appear grainy, blurry, or pixelated.

Instead, try to get closer to your subject — unless it’s a wild animal, in which case we would advise keeping your distance — or take the photo from a default distance, and crop it later on. That way, you won’t compromise quality, and it’s easier to play around or optimize a larger image.

16. Capture small details.

You may have heard the phrase, “It’s the little things.” Sometimes, that also applies to photos. Close-up images that capture small, intricate, and delicate details can make for really compelling visual content. Keep an eye out for textures and patterns like peeling paint, a gravel road, or a tile tabletop.

Pro Tip: Use the “sharpen” tool in your favorite photo editing app to (conservatively) sharpen the details of your photo. You might also download the Camera+ app and use its Clarity filter, which is what The Wall Street Journal‘s Kevin Sintumuang calls the app’s “secret sauce — it adds pro-camera crispness to almost any shot.”

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17. If you use flash, only do so during the day.

Sometimes, using your camera’s flash can improve a photo — but rarely does it do so at night. Because dark shots reveal a much sharper contrast against your phone’s flash, it can make any flash look invasive and uneven

In already well-lit spaces, however, a flash can help to soften some dark shadows behind or beneath your main subject.

When framing your next shot, look on the ground or against vertical surfaces for any dark shadows you might want to remove. If you see any, flip on the flash manually in your camera app. Setting your phone’s camera flash to “auto” won’t guarantee that your phone will notice the shadows you want to get rid of. Just remember to turn the flash off again when you’re done.

Consider the importance of flash for enhancing or hiding certain lines and features the next time you’re shooting product photography.

18. Set your camera app’s exposure manually.

Another mobile camera feature you’ll want to set manually is your exposure. Tapping your screen when your phone’s camera is on doesn’t just refocus the lens on a new subject — it also automatically adjusts how much light the camera lets in. This, too, won’t always look just right. It’s best to adjust it by hand.

To change your mobile camera’s exposure by hand, open your camera app and tap the screen. When you see the lens refocus, you’ll see a very small sun icon and a vertical scale. Slowly swipe your finger up and down this scale to adjust the light level.

19. Create abstracts.

Abstract photos are meant to capture the essence of an object, or a series of them, without revealing the entire landscape as a whole. In other words, they serve the purpose of creating unique, surprising images from ordinary subjects.

This look can be accomplished by cropping an abstract portion of an otherwise normal photo, or by taking close-up shots of objects that leave the viewer wondering — in admiration, of course — what the subject might be. And subjects with patterns or repetition are great candidates for abstract photography, like in the photo of sliced figs below.

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20. Take candids.

Posed photos can be great for the sake of memories — happy moments with friends, family, or the occasional run-in with a celebrity. But sometimes, candid shots of people doing things, or people with people, can be far more interesting.

That’s because candid photos are better able to effectively capture the emotion and essence of a moment. One of the best ways to capture this kind of shot is to just take as many photos as possible. You’ll have more to choose from, and the best photos often happen when the “stars align,” so to speak, in a single moment — everyone’s eyes are open, one person is tilting their head just so, and you finally got a shot of your chronically closed-lip friend smiling with his teeth.

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21. Be unconventional.

Composition is a huge part of what makes a photo great, but so is the photo’s subject. Some of the most delightful and remarkable photos come out of cool, unique ideas. Images are more effective than text at evoking emotion from your viewers — that often means getting your photos to say something.

Try thinking outside of the box when it comes to what you’re capturing — your viewers could be pleasantly surprised by a cool or unexpected subject.

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Want more tips on creating visual content? Check out these examples of explainer videos.

22. Make ’em laugh.

Speaking of evoking emotion, sometimes the most memorable photos are the ones that make us giggle. The image below of an older woman wearing a brightly-colored shirt stating “Hi hater” is funny because it’s unexpected — and there’s a part of us that admires her, too. The second image of the dog toy on a dinner plate pokes fun at classic Instagram food shots, but it’s from a dog’s perspective. If you can make your audience laugh, they’re likely to enjoy your photo.

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23. Clean your phone’s lens.

A smartphone camera might be more convenient to carry around than a full-fledged photojournalist’s camera, but it comes at the cost of protection.

Your phone is usually in your pocket or your bag when you’re out of the house. All the while, the device’s camera lens is collecting all kinds of dust and lint. Be sure to clean this lens with a soft handkerchief before taking a photo. You might not be able to tell just how dirty the lens was until you start editing your picture, and making sure the lens is crystal clear before taking a shot can keep you from starting from scratch.

24. Attach an external lens.

Want to get really fancy? External lenses are for you. There are actually several out there that can be attached to the top of your smartphone’s native camera lens — from fish-eye to wide-angle lenses, these add-ons can bring an entirely new quality and perspective to your photos.

According to Wirecutter, the best camera lenses for iPhone photography are made by Moment, a manufacturer of mobile lenses. Start there, or do some research to find the lens add-ons that fit your smartphone photography needs.

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25. Don’t be afraid to edit.

Composing and taking your smartphone photo is just the first step to making it visually compelling. Editing your photos is the next step — and a very critical one, at that. Filters can be a valuable photographic tool, particularly when it comes to two goals: 1) Removing blemishes from a picture, and 2) making food look even more delicious.

Beauty filters are a common fix— and now, the iPhone photos app offers many similar filters. There are also apps like Pho.to, which can automatically retouch facial photos without a lot of work. And when it comes to those photos of your daily meals? One of the latest apps available is Foodie, which comes with its own set of filters optimized for different types of food.

But there are many other great photo and video editing apps out there for mobile devices — check out this post to see some of the best ones out there.

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Take Better Photos

Thanks to our mobile devices and the editing apps that come with them, we can now take high-quality photos and edit them without too many bells and whistles — all from the same device that we use to make calls.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Are you confused — even intimidated — by Google Analytics? Good news: you’re not alone. GA is notoriously complicated, and with the latest release — GA4 — things are just about clear as mud.

In fact, when I first started to delve into GA’s waters, I wondered if I’d ever truly get it. There were so many concepts to learn and reports to run. How did people ever conquer this thing?!

Lots and lots of reading plus some trial and error, it turns out.

I’m not saying I’ve reached total mastery — there’s always something new to pick up — but I’m vastly more comfortable.

And I want you to be, too. So, here’s the cheat sheet for Google Analytics/GA4. This guide might be long, but it’ll take you from zero to hero in ~7,000 words. And if you still have questions, let me know! I’m @ajavuu on Twitter.

Before we move forward, you should know that there are currently two versions of Google Analytics: Universal Analytics and GA4.

What is Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics is the current version of Google Analytics. If you set up your Google Analytics account before October 2020, you likely have Universal Analytics.

What is GA4?

GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. It has a slightly different UI and the reports, tools, and features have been upgraded. If you created a Google Analytics account after October 2020, you likely have GA4.

You’ll know if you have Universal Analytics or GA4 by the way your home screen looks. On the left is Universal Analytics and on the right is GA4.

Other marketing analytics options, such as HubSpot, can give you all the data you need with much less work.

Now, what steps will you need to follow when setting up GA? Good question.

Before you start using Google Analytics, you’ll have to set up a Google account. This means you must have a registered Google Account email address and password.

Once you’ve created a Google account, that doesn’t mean you automatically have access to GA — rather, you have to register for Analytics (which we’ll review how to do in the next section). But the important thing to note as you go to set up GA is that you can only access the tool by using a valid Google account.

Here are the steps on how to use Google Analytics for your website. (I’m using my class reunion website as an example.)

Step 1: Create a Google Analytics account.

First, you’ll have to create a Google Analytics account. Or, sign in to your current account.

Step 2: Add the name, URL, and industry of the website you want to track.

Choose which account you want to add the property to.

You should create and name your Property at this point and enter the website’s URL as well as industry and reporting time zone. Then you’ll be able to Create and Finish this step of the process.

Step 3: Add a Data Stream or View to your property.

Note: GA4 no longer uses “Views” but it instead has “Data Streams” with similar functionality. Keep this in mind when sollowing these steps using Universal Analytics.

To add a view to your Universal Analytics account, go to the account and property you want to add a view to — use the menu to Create a View, name your view, select the type of view (web or app), and answer a few other questions. Remember, you can add up to 25 views to a property in GA.

To add a data stream to your GA4 account, go to the account and property you want to add a data stream to — use the menu to add a Data Stream. Choose or add a stream, and save it.

Step 4: Add your tracking code directly after the <head> tag of your site.

When you create a property, you’ll have access to a unique ID for tracking and a global site tag (code you need to add to each site page you want to measure). This is how you’ll be able to collect data in your property.

Then, paste your global site tag right after the opening <head> tag on each site page you plan on measuring.

You’ll be asked to choose your type of site (static, dynamic, web hosting, Google Tag Manager) so that you can set up the data collection accurately.

(For more, read our guide to installing the Google Analytics tracking code on your site.)

Step 5: Visit your GA portal and verify the code is working.

Lastly, verify your code is working. You can do this by looking at the Real-Time reports section while clicking around on your site in a different tab or on your phone. The report should show at least one visitor to the site (that’s you!)

And that’s pretty much it! After that review, you may be wondering the following:

Do you need to add the GA code to every page of your site?

That’s a lot of manual work — especially if your website has more than 50 pages. Plus, what happens when you create new pages? Do you need to add the tag every time?!

The short answer is: no.

The longer answer: you only need to add the tag to every page template. So, if you have one page type on your site (meaning every individual page uses the same header module), you only need to add it to that module — and it’ll be applied to every page.

If you have two page types, you’d need to paste the code into the two separate header modules. Three page types? Three header modules.

And if you use a CMS like HubSpot, this task is even easier. These tools come with a separate field where you paste your tracking code just once. HubSpot users can follow these simple instructions for adding GA.

Additionally, to set up GA properly, you’ll want to understand the various layers of the tool — specifically, the hierarchy.

Understanding the Basics of Google Analytics

Google Analytics is made up of many parts, so it’s important to have a clear lay of the land as you begin learning. This section is dedicated to Google Analytics guidelines to help you master the basics of this powerful tool.

Google Analytics Hierarchy

Here’s a look at the GA hierarchy. Remember, Universal Analytics uses “Views” while GA4 uses “Data Streams”, so both are demonstrated in the visual below.

Let’s dive into each of the sections within the hierarchy.

1. Organization

The organization is the highest level. It represents a company. For example, our organization is HubSpot, Inc. One organization can encompass multiple GA accounts.

Organizations are recommended for larger businesses, but not mandatory.

2. Account(s)

Accounts are not optional. Using Google Analytics requires at least one (sometimes several) accounts.

An account doesn’t mean a user account. I can log into the HubSpot Google Analytics accounts using my Google email ID. HubSpot’s head of technical SEO can also log into the same account using his Google email ID. Our historical optimization specialist can also log into the same account using his Google email ID.

Important details:

• You can assign one property to each account or multiple properties to one account. Every account can hold up to 50 properties.
• You can give user permissions for an entire Analytics account, a property in an account, or a view in a property.

You might be wondering, “What’s better: creating a new account for every property or adding every account to the same property?”

It depends on your use case and goals.

For example, suppose you have one website — the Stark Industries corporate site — and five subdirectories, including the Stark Industries blog, careers section, media resources, case studies, and investor relations information.

You want to create separate properties for each subdirectory so the people on each team can look at how their portion of the site is performing, as well as the larger site.

But maybe you have another site that discusses Tony Stark’s work with S.H.I.E.L.D. You want the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to see data for this subdirectory, but you don’t want them to see data for the rest of the website. You create a new account and property for the S.H.I.E.L.D. site.

3. Property

A property is a website or app. Each property can support up to 25 views.

4. View

At the minimum, you need two views per property:

• One with zero configuration — essentially the “raw” version of the view
• One with filters set up to exclude any traffic from within your company (i.e. a filter for your IP address) as well as bots and spam traffic

A view only captures the information after your filters and configured settings have been applied. And once you delete a view, that data is gone forever. For those reasons, it’s critical to keep an unfiltered view of your data.

5. Data Stream

A data stream in GA4 is a flow of data that gives you more insights into how your site is performing across different operating systems. There are three preset data streams you can choose from including web, iOS, and Andriod; or you can choose to create a custom data stream.

6. Google Analytics Dimensions and Metrics

To use GA successfully, you need to understand dimensions versus metrics. I’ve found the easiest way to think about it is:

• Dimensions: categorical variables. Simple examples include names, colors, and places.
• Metrics: quantitative variables. Basic examples include age, temperature, and population.

Or as my Data Analytics professor put it, “Metrics are what you can do math on.” Not the most eloquent phrasing, but it works.

Dimension Examples

• Browser
• Location
• Landing page
• Device
• Customer type

Metric Examples

• Sessions
• Pageviews
• Conversions
• Bounce rate
• Session duration

In any GA report, your dimensions are your rows and your metrics are your columns.

Custom Dimensions and Metrics

GA lets you create custom dimensions and metrics from Analytics data plus non-Analytics data. To give you an idea, suppose you track the membership type of customers who have created an account in your CRM. You could combine this information with page views to see page views by member type.

Or maybe you run a blog. If you want to understand how audience engagement impacts other metrics (like conversions, pages per session, etc.), you could create three custom dimensions for each type of reader:

• Advocate: user who shared one-plus posts on social media
• Subscriber: user who signed up for your email list
• Customer: user who purchased premium access

Using these dimensions will give you invaluable information.

7. Google Analytics Audiences

An audience is a group of users that have something in common. That commonality could be anything: maybe you’re targeting consumers in Australia, so you have an “Australian audience,” or you want to sell to millennials, so you have a “25-34 audience.”

GA comes with several built-in audiences (including the two I just mentioned, location and age). You don’t need to do a thing to set these up — once you have the tracking code installed, GA will automatically break down your visitor data into these audience reports.

However, you can also create custom audiences. Perhaps you’re only interested in “Australian millennials”; you’d need to make a custom audience that only includes visitors who are A) in Australia and B) between the ages of 25 and 34.

Creating an audience is fairly easy. Honestly, the hardest part is figuring out what you’re trying to accomplish and then identifying the user characteristics that’ll help you do that.

Once you’ve done that, follow these instructions to create a new audience segment. From there you can import a segment to use as the basis for your Audience Report.

8. Google Analytics Segments

A segment is a subset of your data. I like to picture an entire pizza made up of all different slices — one slice has pesto and mozzarella, another has sausages and spicy peppers, another has ham and pineapple, and so on. Metaphorically speaking, each slice is a segment.

You can create segments based on:

• Users (e.g. users who have bought something on your site before, users who have signed up for a consultation, etc.)
• Sessions (e.g. all sessions that were generated from a specific marketing campaign, all sessions where a pricing page was viewed)
• Hits (e.g. all hits where the purchase exceeded $85, all hits where a specific product was added to the cart)

Like audiences, GA provides you with several segments. I wouldn’t stop there: you can get incredibly granular with your segments.

To give you some inspiration, here are a few of HubSpot’s segments:

• Users who viewed a specific product page and watched the demo video
• Users who viewed the same product page and didn’t watch the demo video
• Users who view a specific Academy course page
• Users who view a specific Academy lesson page
• Users who view a blog post and a product page

The sky is your limit — well, that, and GA’s segment cap.

Google Analytics Reports

There are five primary reports available in Google Analytics that can give you insight into your website’s performance. You’ll find these reports on the lefthand size of the screen.

All of these options can be a bit overwhelming. And depending on which version of Google Analytics you have (universal analytics or GA4), you’ll see different reports.

Let’s walk through each report together. First, we’ll start with Universal Analytics reports and then move on to GA4 reports.

Universal Analytics Reports

1. Google Analytics Real-Time Report

As the name suggests, the Real-Time report gives you insight into what’s happening on your site at this very moment. You can see how many visitors are on your site, which pages they’re visiting, which social platforms they’re coming from, where they’re located, and more.

While this report is fun to look at occasionally, it’s probably the least valuable. Here are some ways to use Real-Time:

• See how much traffic you’re getting from a new social or blog post
• Know immediately if a one-day sale or event is driving views and/or conversions
• Make sure tracking URLs and custom events that you’ve just set up are working as they should

These are useful, but as you’ll see, the other reports pack a far greater punch.

2. Google Analytics Audience Report

The GA Audience report gives you a high-level overview for the property you’re currently looking at. Check this report once a day to get a sense of how you’re trending overall.

Underneath “Overview,” you’ll see “Audiences,” as well as expandable menus for “Demographics,” “Interests,” “Geo,” “Behavior,” “Technology,” “Mobile,” “Cross-Device,” “Custom,” and “Benchmarking.”

Explore each of these sections to get a sense of what they can tell you about your visitors.

Every section describes an audience.

Active Users

Whoever named this report belongs in the same group as the person who named guinea pigs: “active users” doesn’t refer to users currently on your site — that’s the Real-Time report — and guinea pigs are neither pigs nor from Guinea.

The Active Users report shows you the number of users who visited in the last day (1-day active users), week (7-day active users), two weeks (14-day active users), and four weeks (28-day active users.)

What’s the value of this report, you ask?

If you have more one-day users than longer-term ones, you’re struggling with retention. People aren’t coming back to your site or app — you need to figure out why.

I’d also recommend looking at this report with various segments; for instance, perhaps you see that users in a certain age bracket have much better retention than the average.

Lifetime Value Report

First things first: do you need a refresher on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and how to calculate it? We’ve got you.

The Lifetime Value report gives you a sense of how valuable users are to your company. You can see lifetime value for, say, the users you generated from email marketing versus the ones you acquired from organic search. Armed with this information, you can decide which channel to invest more in.

A few notes: Lifetime Value is capped at 90 days. The Acquisition date range, however — which you can adjust — reflects all the users you acquired in that time frame.

Imagine you’re interested in looking at transactions per user for users you acquired in the week before Black Friday. You’d adjust the date range to that week specifically. Then you’d see the average transactions per user for that cohort over the following 90 days.

Because HubSpot is a SaaS company, not an ecommerce business, I look at goal completions per user, page views per user, and sessions per user by Acquisition Channel.

If my team has recently wrapped up a marketing campaign, I’ll look at the same metrics by Acquisition Campaign.

But if you are in ecommerce and want to see transaction and revenue data, you’ll need to have ecommerce tracking set up.

(By the way, here’s how to track revenue in HubSpot.)

Cohort Analysis

Some people have gone so far as to call Cohort Analysis “the single most powerful report in GA.”

So, how does it work? This report groups users by one characteristic — so far, “Acquisition Date” is the only “Cohort Type” you can use. By the way, Acquisition Date is the day a user first visited your website.

You have several options from there.

• First, pick your cohort size: day, week, or month.
• Next, pick your metric, or what you want to explore for this cohort. It can be further broken down into Per user, Retention, and Total.
• Per user means the total count of that metric divided by the cohort size. So if you choose Transactions per user, for example, you’ll see the average number of transactions per user for that cohort.
• Retention is simple: user retention, or the number of users who returned that day, week or month (determined by the cohort size you selected) divided by the total number of users in that cohort.
• Total: the total number of sessions, transactions, etc. that occurred for that cohort size.
• Choose your date range. GA lets you see up to three months of data.

Now let’s dive into reading the report, because it’s not obvious.

The left-hand column shows you the Cohort Type you picked — Acquisition date, by default — broken down by Cohort Size (day, week, or month).

The first row shows you the totals for all the users in that cohort. Each row underneath that represents the activity in that day, week, or month (in this example, we’re looking at month.)

The row outlined in light blue reflects the Cohort Size you’ve chosen. Remember that data only goes back three months at the max.

The row outlined in yellow shows you the values for the metric you chose (in this case, Goal Completions per User). In the eternal words of Calvin Harris: baby, this what you came for.

Look at the first row. This tells you the average goal completions for the entire cohort in the first month after they were acquired was 1.09. Average goal completions for the entire cohort in the second month after they acquired dropped to 0.09. By the last month, it’s 0.02.

Now look at the next three rows. It looks like average goal completions per user in the first month after they were acquired increased slightly from December to January and again from January to February.

This is pretty usual behavior. Let’s imagine that instead, this report tells us average goal completions per user for February 1-28, 2019 (the last row) was 4.07. Woah! That’s nearly four times as high as December and January.

We’d definitely want to investigate further. And to do so, all we have to do is right-click on the cohort we’re interested in.

Make sure you click on the column if you want the entire day, week, or month analyzed. Click on a cell if you want to analyze only the users who, for example, completed a goal three days after they were acquired on February 27, 2019.

When you right-click, this box will pop up:

Give this cohort a descriptive name. Change the views to “Any View” if you want to use this segment across your entire property (which I usually recommend), then click “Create.”

Voila — now you can compare this cohort to any other segment in any report you choose.

3. Google Analytics Acquisition Reports

The Acquisition report breaks down your traffic by source: organic, direct, referral, email, social, paid search, display, affiliate, and (Other). (GA uses the (Other) category when it doesn’t know how to categorize a subset of traffic.)

From All Traffic, you can click into Channels.

Click on any category to explore each source in detail.

Depending on the category, you’ll see landing pages (which URLs your visitors entered the site on), source (which website brought them to yours), or keyword (which query took them to your site.)

To see this information presented visually, click on All Traffic > Treemaps. This post walks you through how to read and adjust the Treemaps report.

The next report, Source/Medium, breaks down the general category of traffic (which you saw in “Channels”) into the search engine or domain.

It’s useful if you want to get more granular insight into the ways people are coming to your site. For example, you might notice that a whopping 70% of your referral traffic is coming from LinkedIn, while just 5% is coming from Pinterest. Depending on your marketing team’s priorities it may be time to shift focus.

The last report, Referrals, reveals the specific URLs that sent people to your site, e.g. your referral traffic.

I like to add “Landing page” as a secondary dimension so you can see which pages on your site are receiving the referral traffic.

4. Google Analytics Behavior Reports

Out of all the reports in GA, I use the Behavior ones the most.

Site Content

This report gives you a review all of the blog posts, landing pages, web pages on your site.

All Pages

Let’s start with Site Content > All Pages. This shows the top-trafficked pages for your current view and/or segment. It’s useful in and of itself — you should always keep a careful eye on your most viewed URLs — but I especially like it when I’m analyzing traffic growth or declines.

To give you an idea, maybe total traffic to my website has dropped 10% month over month. I’d navigate to Site Content > All Pages and change the date range to this month compared to the last month (making sure the days of the week match up).

Then I can see the differences in page views by URL:

This helps me identify which pages received less traffic and contributed to that decline.

Helpful tip: I like to change the “Sort Type” from “Default” to “Absolute Change” so I see the results sorted by the greatest differences in percentage rather than total views.

I also add Page Title as a secondary dimension so I can see the name of each page alongside its URL.

Content Drilldown

This report breaks down the structure of your site by subdomain and then subfolder. To give you an idea, for HubSpot we can see data for each of our subdomains, including:

• blog.hubspot.com
• developers.hubspot.com
• community.hubspot.com

And so on. If I clicked into blog.hubspot.com, I could then see aggregated data for:

• blog.hubspot.com/sales
• blog.hubspot.com/marketing
• blog.hubspot.com/service

You get the drift. This report is probably most valuable for those managing highly complex properties.

Landing Pages

Landing pages is another one of my favorite reports. GA defines a landing page as the first page in a session — in other words, the visitor’s first interaction with your website.

There are a few ways to slice and dice this report.

First, if you’re interested in the sources (organic, paid social, direct, etc.) driving users to the landing page, you can add Source/Medium as a secondary dimension.

This is basically the opposite version of the report we added earlier.

Second, if you only want to see which landing pages users visited from a specific source, on a specific platform, or within a specific category, you can add the appropriate system segment:

Maybe you’re most interested in the landing pages that mobile and tablet users see — so you choose the Mobile and Tablet Traffic.

Or perhaps you’re curious about users who ended up buying something, so you choose the “Made a Purchase” segment. There are lots of possibilities here.

Exit Pages

This report shows the last pages users visited in their sessions before they left your site.

That’s a little confusing, so let’s use an example.

I want to find a place to grab dinner with my friends so I search, “Mediterranean restaurants near me.” A place that looks good pops up, so I click on it. First, I check out the menu. They have a hummus sampler — yum. Then I click on their press page. It links to a recent article on Eater, so I leave the site to read it. The reviewer loved the food. I’m sold.

The Press page would be my exit page.

You may hear that you should analyze your exit pages to understand why users are leaving your site — I think this example reveals why that strategy doesn’t always make sense. Just because someone has left doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the content.

Check this report out but take the data with a grain of salt.

Site Speed

This report is pretty self-explanatory: it tells you how quickly your site is loading for users. Obviously, the faster the better — not only do faster pages correlate with higher revenue, but Google’s algorithm takes page load time into account.

Site Speed Page Timings

This report delves into the average page load times for each URL. I use it to identify the slowest-loading pages on HubSpot’s site with the ultimate goal of figuring out why they’re taking their sweet, sweet time and how to speed them up.

The default metrics are page views and average page load time, but I also recommend looking at:

• Avg. page load time and bounce rate
• Change the Sort Type to “Weighted” so you see the blog posts with the highest page views first
• Avg. page load time and page value
• The latter gives you a sense of how much a specific page contributes to your total revenue
• Looking at these two together helps you find slow-loading pages that are valuable to your bottom line (even if they don’t get a ton of traffic), making them a high priority to fix

Site Search

First things first: if users can search your website, make sure you’ve set up Site Search in GA. You must enable it for every view separately (here are the step-by-step instructions).

Usage

I typically start with the “Usage” report, which tells me how many sessions occurred with and without one-plus searches. In other words, I learn how frequently people used site search for the view and time period I specified.

Search Terms

Here’s where you learn what people are searching for. Look for themes: if you see the same search terms coming up multiple times, there are a few conclusions you could draw.

Either you need to create new content that gives users the information they’re looking for, and/or you need to better surface existing content so it’s easier to find.

Pay attention to the “% Search Exits” column, as this tells you how many users clicked away from the search results page rather than choosing a result. You can usually infer there wasn’t a good answer for their question (or it wasn’t appropriately titled.)

Search Pages

This report displays which pages users are starting searches from. It’s important to think about this contextually. Maybe people are commonly beginning searches from your 404 page — that makes sense and isn’t anything to be alarmed about.

If, on the other hand, they’re starting searches from a product landing page, something’s wrong. The content clearly isn’t living up to the expectations they had when they clicked the ad link.

Loves Data provides a solid overview of GA’s Site Search reports if you want to explore them even further.

Events

A user clicks a button. Then they download a file. Next they watch a video.

No, this isn’t the world’s most boring bedtime story — it’s an example of a GA event. Three events, to be specific.

GA defines events as, “user interactions with content that can be measured independently from a web page or a screen load.”

Those user interactions are up to you; you’ll need to add special code to your site or app that tracks the specific actions you’re interested in. Here are the instructions.

If you’re not excited about events tracking already, I want you to get excited. There are infinite possibilities here: if you have an event set up for watching a product demo, and another for clicking a link to an external review of your tool, you can measure how many times each event happened.

Maybe you discover your video isn’t getting many plays. It’s probably time to optimize the current video, make it easier to find on your site, or create a new one. Or perhaps you see that way more users than you expected are checking out the third-party review of your product.

That tells you users want more social proof and testimonials. Since the review is favorable, you might want to put it front and center on your site.

Top Events

This report tracks the events taking place most frequently — pretty straightforward. You’ll see total events (e.g. how many times that event happened) and unique events (how many sessions included one or more occurrences of that event).

If you’ve set values for your events, this report also shows you how the total value of each event and its average value (or the total value divided by the frequency.)

Pages

In this report, you can see which pages generate the most actions. I typically add “Event Category” as the secondary dimension, then filter for the event I’m most interested in.

To give you an idea, my team tracks “Blog CTA.” This event fires whenever a user clicks a CTA embedded in a blog post. To get to the report below, I added “Event Category” as the second dimension, then filtered for “Page begins with blog.hubspot.com” (so I’d only see URLs on the blog) and “Event Category equals Blog CTA.”

Now I can see which posts generate the most CTA clicks. Hopefully, you’re starting to see the power of event tracking!

Events Flow

The Events Flow report tracks the order in which events take place on your site. It can tell you:

A. Whether particular events tend to happen first — and if they trigger other events

To give you an idea, maybe users frequently watch your demo video, then click the CTA to schedule a call with a salesperson.

B. Whether certain event categories are more common than others

Imagine you see that videos are played far more often than PDFs are downloaded.

C. Whether users act differently based on segment

For example, perhaps people coming in via organic scroll to the bottom of your pricing page far more than people coming in via social media.

Note:This report is very subject to sampling. (Read more about GA’s data sampling practices here.) Sampled data is usually pretty accurate, but it means the more important the conclusion you’re drawing, the less uncertainty you’ll be able to tolerate.

To reduce the level of sampling, make the date range smaller.

Publisher

If you monetize your website with Google AdSense or Ad Exchange, you can use the Ad Manager and Google Analytics integration to bring information on how your ad units are performing into GA.

I won’t go into any more detail here, but I recommend reading the following resources if you want to know more:

• About the Google Ad Manager integration
• Set up the Google Ad Manager integration

5. Google Analytics Conversion Reports

If you have a website, you have an objective — probably several — for the people who visit your site.

Ecommerce store owners want their visitors to subscribe to their mailing list, make a user account, add something to their cart, and/or complete the order confirmation process.

Media companies want their visitors to stay on their site for as long as possible and/or view a certain number of pages (all the better to maximize their ad revenue.)

B2B businesses want their visitors to download an ebook, sign up for a webinar, or book a call with a sales rep.

Google Analytics makes it possible to measure all of these things — plus many more.

A goal is essentially a conversion that you’ve defined (which is why this info shows up under the Conversion section.)

There are four main types of goals:

• Destination: This goal is completed when a user reaches a specific page, like a product page, order confirmation page, or thank you page

• Event: This goal is completed when a predefined event fires (like the Events you can set up as, well, Events — think watching a video or sharing something to social media)

• Duration: This goal is completed when a user’s session lasts longer than a pre-set time
• Pages/screens per session: This goal is completed when a user views a specific number of pages (or screens for an app) per session

Once you’ve identified your goals, take a look at these instructions for creating, editing, and sharing them. This guide on choosing goal values is also quite helpful.

Overview

Head here to learn how you’re doing goal-wise across the board. I get the most from this report when I compare date ranges and/or look at goal completions by segment.

For example, quickly looking at goal completions by device reveals mobile visitors sign up for the blog newsletter much less frequently than desktop and tablet visitors. That could be because it’s hard to sign up for the newsletter on a phone — or it could be mobile users are looking for one thing and ending their session as soon as they’ve found it. I should dig in more to decide which case it is.

Goal URLs

Knowing a goal was completed isn’t helpful in and of itself; you also need to know where it happened. Suppose you’ve embedded the same form in three separate pages on your site.

It’s great that Daenerys Stark from Dragonstone, Blackwater Bay just filled out your form to get in touch with a consultant, but which page did she fill it out on?

The Goal URLs report shows you. It breaks down conversions by “Goal Completion URL” (read: where it went down.)

Reverse Goal Path

Reverse Goal Path is the unsung hero of the Conversion section. Well, I’m singing its praises now. This report allows you to see the last three pages a user visited before completing the goal.

It’s useful for goals that aren’t sequential. Maybe you have a contact form that appears in multiple places on your site, or there are two different paths that lead users into buying your ebook. Thanks to this report, you can understand the various ways people arrive at the end destination — and there’s no need to set up a funnel.

I usually filter down to a specific goal completion location or goal previous step 1, 2, or 3.

For example, since I’m interested in seeing which blog posts generated leads from content downloads, I added “Goal Previous Step – 1 containing blog.hubspot.com” to the filter.

Here’s what I got:

“(Entrance)” means the user came to the site on that step; “(not set)” means the user didn’t complete any steps prior to that one — because they weren’t on the website yet.

For a comprehensive exploration of Reverse Goal Path, take a look at OnlineMetrics’s guide.

Funnel Visualization

For sequential goals, Funnel Visualization is your go-to report.

Going back to the ecommerce example, the last goal would be “Arrived at the order confirmation page.” The goal before that, or goal #3, would be “Clicked checkout.” The goal before that, goal #2, would be “Added something to cart.” And the goal before that, goal #1, would be “Looked at product listing page.”

At each stage, you can see user drop-off. That lets you identify areas where you can improve conversion rates; for example, maybe you lose a lot of users during the checkout process. You change the flow so they can check out as a guest (versus needing to create an account), which dramatically reduces checkout abandonment.

To see this level of detail, you’ll need to map out your goals as a series. If all of your goals are simply the end objective, like “Arrived at the order confirmation page,” you won’t be able to reverse-engineer how users progress.

The Funnel Visualization report also requires you to mark the first step in the goal path as required or not. If you tell GA that yes, the first goal needs to be completed, Funnel Visualization will only show you the sessions where the user first finished goal #1. If a user skips goal #1 and goes straight to goal #2, their session won’t be represented here.

Goal Flow

If Funnel Visualization is the uptight relative who always made you take your elbows off the table and wash your hands before you ate, Goal Flow is the laid-back, fun relative who’d randomly take you out of school to go to the zoo.

All that to say: Goal Flow gives you a lot more freedom than Funnel Visualization. Unlike the latter, Goal Flow shows you all sessions that led to the completed end goal — regardless of whether the user completed the required goal #1 or not.

Another difference from Funnel Visualization: Goal Flow also shows you loopbacks — i.e. when a user goes back to a previous page or refreshes their current one.

If the user skips a step, Funnel Visualization “backfils” it. Goal Flow doesn’t.

If you edit an existing funnel or create a new one, Funnel Visualization will show you all your data from that moment onward. Goal Flow, on the other hand, can show you data from the past.

You can also toggle the Dimension and Level of detail of the report, as well as the segment, to get even more granular.

I recommend looking at various segments to see which convert at the highest and lowest rates — plus where they commonly drop out.

Note: This report is subject to sampling. (Read more about GA’s data sampling practices here.) Sampled data is usually pretty accurate, but it means the more important the conclusion you’re drawing, the less uncertainty you’ll be able to tolerate.

To reduce the level of sampling, make the date range smaller.

Smart Goals

This report is helpful if you’re A) using Google Ads and B) not measuring conversions. Basically, Google uses machine learning to identify your “best” sessions — or those likeliest to generate conversions — and then translates those themes into Smart Goals.

Once you have Smart Goals, you can use them in Google Ads to optimize your ads performance.

Smart Goals are controversial within the marketing community because the data is minimal and businesses will be far better served by setting up their own conversion tracking. Keep that in mind if you decide to use them.

GA4 Tools

Although many of the tools, reports, and features of GA4 are similar to those from Universal Analytics listed above, there are some key differences we’ll address in this section.

1. Home

The Home tab is a customizable dashboard of reports, stats, and other figures. You can adjust what you see in the Home tab so that you see a snapshot of the overall performance of your website.

In the example below, we can see users, new users, active engagement time, and total revenue because these metrics are most important for my site.

2. Reports

The Reports tab shows the Reports Snapshot first which includes the same information from the Home tab in this example.

You can also switch to other reports listed below:

• Reports Snapshot
• Realtime
• Life Cycle
• User

3. Explore

Explorations in Google Analytics let you look into the ways your visitors navigate your site to discover new pages and content. There are several preset explorations you can activate, or you can create a new one from scratch.

4. Advertising

When you click on the Advertising tab, you’ll start on the Advertising snapshot screen. Here, you’ll see the channels and touchpoints that drive the most conversions on your site. In order for this tab to be most helpful, you’ll need to set up goals and conversions in Google Analytics.

5. Configure

The Configure tab is where you’ll set up key pieces of your reports including events, conversions, audiences, and other custom definitions. As you get more familiar with your Google Analytics instance and the data you want to see, you can configure these settings to get a granular look into your data. This will allow you to solve problems, answer questions, and make decisions that are specific to your site and the outcomes you want to achieve from it.

Now You’re Ready to Track

Google Analytics is a highly valuable tool for any business as it gives you tangible data that you can apply to grow your business. Bookmark this guide and come back to it as your data tracking becomes more sophisticated.

Good luck on your Google Analytics journey.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August, 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Are you one of the 266 million people who shopped online in the U.S. last year? If yes, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with web forms.

Not only do you use web forms to receive information, goods, and services from online stores, but they’re also crucial for the businesses that create them and embed them on their sites.

Marketers use web forms for a number of reasons — to complete an order, keep track of a customer’s personal information, or collect lead information.

And web forms can have a powerful impact on a business. 28% of marketers say the right form fields help improve lead scoring, which means more qualified leads. According to Venture Harbor, a well-designed multi-step form converted 53% of site visitors to leads.

Web forms also help businesses increase conversions by taking potential customers through the lead flow process. This happens when a person visits your site and submits their information in return for something (such as a product, service, or free trial). Once a lead submits their web form it’s sent to a server for processing.

Web forms vary in length, format, content type, and appearance — there’s no “one size fits all.” They should simply fit your business’s needs and help you gather the information you want from your leads.

This also means there’s no single way to create a web form. We will review several tools to create web forms later on, but first, let’s dive into why you should create web forms.

Why Should I Create Web Forms?

Web forms allow you to collect and manage information easily and efficiently. They’re embedded right into your website, which makes it easy for your leads to share their information. Once a lead completes a form on your website, their information is stored until it’s ready for analysis. Web forms are crucial tools for businesses to obtain the information they need from their potential customers.

Use Cases for Web Forms

There are several ways that you can use web forms, such as:

• Collect contact information
• Gather shipping information
• Survey your customers

They can help you get any information you need from your leads and keep it to analyze or manage in any way you see fit.

We will talk about the various types of web forms below, which will give you a better idea of specific use cases and which forms would fit best in certain instances.

Let’s discuss how to build a web form. As you follow the steps below, think about what information you really need from your leads.

If your web form doesn’t make sense to your leads — if it’s complicated or asks for too much information — potential leads may lose interest and leave your site. Consider how much the offer at the end of the form is worth and adjust your web form accordingly.

Creating a web form starts with determining its purpose.

1. Make the purpose of your form clear.

It’s crucial to make the purpose of your web form clear. Your leads should know exactly what your web form is for and why they are completing it. Here are a few ways to do this.

Include straightforward headers.

Straightforward headers let your leads know exactly how to complete your form. Headers help avoid confusion and ensure your leads spend the minimum required time on your form.

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Examples of straightforward headers include:

• “Contact Us”
• “First Name”
• “Preferred Method of Contact”

Give clear instructions.

Clearly communicate what you need from your leads using the fewest words possible.

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At the top of your form, include a sentence or two about what you’re going to ask from your leads. You can also include a short statement about why you need that information to remain transparent with your leads.

For example, always state the purpose of your form fields. They could say something like, “This web form will be used to get some more information about you so we can tailor our newsletter content towards your background, experiences, and interests.”

By ensuring your web form’s purpose is clear, you build credibility and trust between your business and lead.

Consider the appearance of your form.

By keeping your form organized, attractive, and clean, you’ll also give your leads an easy end-to-end experience.

Nobody wants to waste time reading long paragraphs of text to find what they’re looking for and cluttered text looks unprofessional.

With a well-designed form, your leads will know in seconds whether you took the time to thoughtfully create your form.

Why should you improve web form usability?

• You create a simple transaction.
• You will build trust.
• You will appear more professional.
• You will increase conversions.

Letting your visitors know exactly which form they need to complete and why you’re asking specific questions makes them more likely to engage. Whether it’s a shipping form, a sign-up form, a survey, or a quiz, you want your visitor’s experience to be easy.

When you visit another company’s website that’s designed in a way that screams “customer first,” you’re likely to feel that the business is professional and thoughtful. The same goes for web forms.

When you increase web form usability and create a positive user experience, your business will pull in more conversions. For example, according to HubSpot research, decreasing the number of form fields can increase conversion rates.

If you make your form easy to use, clear, and visually pleasing, your leads will want to complete it and become customers.

By improving your web form usability and prioritizing the design and context of your form, you’ll enhance user experience. This will get website visitors excited about completing your form and converting.

2. Choose your web form type.

The purpose of your web form informs what type you should use, as well as which questions to ask and how you should format your responses.

Here are some common types of web forms to consider. (We will review examples of each of these types of web forms shortly.)

Contact Form

Contact forms let your leads ask your business a question, voice a concern, or even explain their need for a refund. These web forms typically contain fields that require leads to list their name, contact information, and order number. They may also have a drop-down or text-entry field for leads to explain their reason for reaching out and their preferred method of contact.

Lead Generation Form

These web forms convert your website visitors into leads. They typically require personal information, such as a name, company, email address, phone number, and sometimes a username and password for return visits to the site.

Order Form

Order forms do exactly what you’d expect them to do — they allow your website visitors to place orders. They also give customers a way to pay for items and have the products they have ordered sent directly. Order forms may include multiple steps as they often require a credit card, shipping and billing information, and your contact information.

Registration Form

A lead will complete a registration web form if they want to sign up for your service. This is common on sites such as Craigslist, Ebates, and eBay. If a lead was looking to list an item on one of these sites, they would complete a registration form to create an account and then post the item.

Survey Form

Survey web forms may include multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and long-form responses. They help you learn more about your customer’s experiences with your products and services. They also help you improve future interactions with your customers, as well as educate leads about the ways in which your business can help them.

3. Add your form fields.

Think about what responses you need from your leads when you begin creating your form fields.

Start with the answers you’ll need. Then you’ll be able to decide how to title your form fields, what questions to ask, and which types of fields you actually need your visitors to complete.

Regardless of what you’re asking your visitors, you should always require their basic contact information (like name and email address) so you can identify individual submissions.

Next, choose the right software to create your web form.

In HubSpot, drag-and-drop features make it easy to build your form however you want. Form fields are predefined. This means you have several options to pick from and add to your form.

Once you choose your web form template, review the predefined form fields and begin creating your form.

If you are asking your leads questions that need detailed answers, you can create short or long-text entry fields that accept one sentence up to a paragraph or two.

There are also several other field-entry types for you to include in your forms including:

• Multiple choice
• Drop-down menus
• Checkboxes
• Radio buttons

4. Embed your web form on your website.

Once you create your web form, it’s time to publish your form and embed it on your website. This is how your website visitors will access your form. Start by determining where you want your form located on your website.

Decide where to embed your form.

Determine which page of your website should include the web form. Some common questions to ask include:

• Do you want your email sign-up located at the bottom of your main landing page?
• If you have a contact form, is there a page on your website solely meant for visitors who want to contact you?
• And if someone purchases an item, do you have your web forms in an order that makes sense (first shipping, then billing and payment)?

How to Embed Your Form

To embed your form, copy and paste the form’s code into the desired location on your site.

Once you embed and publish your web forms, website visitors can start completing and submitting forms. Next, you’ll begin receiving data about your leads that will be crucial for maintaining a healthy business.

If you are using a website creator or external website, you can still embed your code from HubSpot’s form builder into your site’s source code (the collection of code used to build your website).

5. Make your web form secure.

Data protection has become a top priority for businesses and consumers alike. A secure web form makes sure that you’re protecting your leads’ data. This will result in more submissions. With HubSpot’s form builder, creating a secure form for both your business and your leads is easy.

The form builder stops spam submissions from coming through with an email address validation process. This ensures only real email addresses can be submitted in your web forms.

HubSpot also allows people to add CAPTCHAs, which are the questions at the end of a form that require people to confirm they’re not a robot. These act as a second layer of protection against spam.

Lastly, HubSpot allows you to block specific email providers and domains that you determine are unnecessary to receive submissions from.

6. Test your web form and analyze your results.

Once you create your web form and embed it on your website, run some analytics and make sure it works. Think about things from your visitor’s point of view. Do they have enough space to respond to a question in the short-text entry field? If not, try switching over to the long-text entry field and see how their responses change.

If you receive the same feedback repeatedly from your website visitors, try altering the form or adding different form fields to improve the experience for your leads.

Your customers and leads should be your top priority when it comes to all of your marketing tactics, including your web forms.

If you set up email notifications on your web form creator software, you should double-check that these are working as well.

You can do this by going to the web form on your website, completing it as a lead would, and making sure you receive an email notification about the completed form. If it doesn’t work, try working through the email notification set-up again.

Congrats! You have just completed the creation of your web form. Now, let’s review some design tips that will enhance the user experience of your web form.

Web Form Design Tips

When creating and reviewing your web form, consider some of the following design tips. These will make your form easy to use, effective, and helpful for both your business and your leads.

Be direct.

By keeping your web form as direct as possible, you make the experience better for your leads. You will also avoid any possible confusion. To be more direct, you can create a web form header, use clear form field titles, place your web form in a location on your website that makes sense, and remove non-essential wording.

Use correct form fields.

Use form fields that make sense to your leads and give you the answers you’re looking for. If your leads need to give you that information in paragraph format, then include long-text entry fields. If they only need to write a few words or a sentence, include short-entry fields. For something like a survey, add multiple choice responses, and for any questions that could have several answers, use checkboxes or radio buttons.

Use input constraints.

Consider using input constraints for specific form fields. For example, if you know you only need one sentence in your short-entry form field, add a constraint that ensures your lead can only type in one sentence. This will save time for your lead and the form reviewer.

Add a form submit button.

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By adding a form “Submit” button, your website visitors will be able to complete the web form and send it to the server without any hesitation or confusion. It will also make them feel confident that you and your fellow employees will receive their submissions and listen to whatever it is they have to say.

Organize your form.

If you have a long and detailed web form, make it easy to read and complete for your leads by keeping everything in one column. The only time you’ll want to keep form fields on the same line is when it makes sense to the reader.

For example, keep information like the date (day, month, and year) on one line. By keeping all other form fields in a single column, you’ll avoid your lead feeling overwhelmed or bombarded by questions.

Make your form visually appealing.

Did you know that it takes an average of 50 milliseconds for a website visitor to look at your website’s landing page and decide if they want to stay?

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Web form first impressions matter, too. Keep these design tips in mind as you create your web forms:

• Brand your forms to make them look professional
• Match your company’s aesthetic to ensure consistency and promote a polished look
• Consider colors, text font and size, and layout
• Keep things clean and organized

Use smart fields.

Imagine you already have an account on a website and you are completing a different web form on that same site. If that form field asks you some of the same questions that a previous web form asked, wouldn’t you feel as though you are wasting your time?

Smart fields are a great feature to keep your leads from having to do any unnecessary work. HubSpot uses smart fields to remove form fields that a customer or lead has previously submitted. Smart fields make your business and website appear more professional by providing a smooth process for your leads or customers. They also remove the frustration of filling out the same information multiple times.

Use smart defaults.

Have you ever started completing a web form that automatically filled in your zip code based on your current location? That’s a smart default. This feature also speeds up the web form completion process and creates a seamless user experience.

Include error messages.

When a lead is completing your web form, you should tell them whether or not they are doing it correctly. Include error messages if they accidentally enter an area code that doesn’t exist, add their state to the “Town” field, or are exceeding the character limit.

Again, this not only saves time for your leads but also keeps things simple when you need to review the submitted content.

Use these tips to create error messages that make sense to your customers.

Explain why you are asking for specific content.

Imagine you were completing a web form on another business’s website and you notice a question that asks for your credit card information when you aren’t buying anything. You might find yourself thinking, “Well, this is sketchy.” or “Am I going to be charged for something without even knowing it?”

This is an easy way to lose a lead or compromise your credibility.

To avoid this, include information on your web form that explains why you’re asking for specific information. By anticipating questions your leads may have, you will come off as professional, thoughtful, and customer-oriented.

Web Form Examples

Examples are a great way to get inspired and improve your own marketing practices. Here are some examples that show each of the five web form categories mentioned above.

Contact Web Forms

Sun Bum

Sun Bum has a contact form on its website that enhances user experience. The form is on a contact landing page. They even have a unique name for their contact form, “Ask The Bum,” that meshes with their brand and resonates with users.

Why we like web forms like this one: It looks clean and organized, and the form fields make sense for the form’s purpose. Users are able to select the reason why they are contacting Sun Bum and how they want to be contacted. Then they can enter their contact information, select a topic, and write the company a message. The tone of the copy on the form also reminds users that they are talking to a company that has a personality.

Preserve

The contact experience at Preserve starts with an easy-to-scan page that helps users figure out what topic their question falls under so that their question goes to the right person. The simple icons and clear direct copy help users understand the size and focus of the company.

After you click on a topic, their web form pops up. It’s also quick to scan and complete, whether you have a quick request or need to ask a more complicated question.

Why we like this web form: The use of multiple web forms allows customers to take things one step at a time. The two-step process also shows users that giving customers the right answer quickly is important. This web form also sets clear expectations by highlighting the main topics for questions and copy that talks about the availability of their small team.

Lead Generation Web Forms

Help Scout

Help Scout has a lead generation form on their site that allows leads to quickly create an account. The web form header states what the form is for and only requires a few pieces of personal information (company, name, password, and work email) to create an account.

Why we like this web form: This Help Scout web form has a nice layout for users and keeps all fields contained in a box. The layout of the form fields makes sense as well — the fields for a lead’s first and last name are side-by-side and the rest is in a column format, which helps visitors work through the form step-by-step.

Cambio & Co.

This lead generation form stands out with an engaging headline, a striking image, and a quick outline of two offers. The first offer reinforces their brand story and gives users a chance to connect and the second is an enticing discount.

Why we like web forms like this one: This popup web form packs a lot of value into a single form. The copy is succinct but useful, and it only requires a single form field, email address, to get started.

Order Forms

Seventh Generation

There are a lot of different places where customers can buy Seventh Generation products. So, for example, when you search for a product like glass cleaner online, you might be looking for a local store where you can buy that cleaner or you might want to buy it and have it shipped. This web form anticipates multiple user needs and puts them all in one simple form.

Why we like this web form: This form is clear and easy to understand. It gives you a chance to choose different sizes and versions of their product and offers a range of locations both in-person and online to make a purchase.

Starbucks

Starbucks has an online order web form that customers complete when they want to send a gift card. The first step is a selection of bright images that represent the wide range of gift cards that Starbucks offers. After clicking on a gift card, customers fill in the blank short-text entry form fields for gift card amount, recipient, sender, and an optional message.

Once that information is submitted, users can sign in to their online account or complete the form as a guest. Then they’ll add or update their billing information.

Why we like web forms like this one: This process is clear and makes what could be a complicated process feel quick and easy. The web form design and form fields are straightforward. They have clear headings and state why Starbucks needs certain information like the customer’s email and the recipient’s email.

Registration Forms

Airbnb

When someone wants to list their home on Airbnb, they first need to register for an account. Airbnb has simple registration web forms that get hosts excited about listing their space on the site — allowing potential hosts to discover how much money they could make through their listing. Who wouldn’t want to make an extra $4,000+ per month?

Why we like this web form: Airbnb takes its potential hosts through several web forms and allows them to work through the process at their own pace. The web forms are also visually pleasing and match the company’s look and style. The continue and submit buttons are also in a bold color that stands out on the page whether the form is on a desktop or mobile device.

Fill More Waste Less

It’s easy to register for updates from a company you love. But it’s even better when you know the value you’ll get when you sign up. Fill More Waste Less reduces waste by offering refillable items like detergent, hairspray, and shampoo for eco-conscious customers. This web form gives those customers a chance to suggest new products for refills.

Why we like web forms like this one: It’s tough to write a call-to-action that clearly communicates an offer, while also motivating signups. This form has just two fields and is quick to scan. This makes new site visitors who don’t find what they’re looking for more likely to submit their requests.

Survey Web Forms

WebMD

WebMD has a symptom survey that allows website visitors to self-diagnose through a series of questions. The survey includes several web forms with various form fields. The final web form submission takes patients to a landing page that includes a possible diagnosis.

Why we like web forms like this one: These web forms are an efficient and effective way for patients to get the answers they are looking for. The form uses both visual aids and checklists to streamline the process of connecting symptoms to possible conditions and treatments.

Avocado Green Mattress

The process of choosing a mattress has a lot of variables. This can make it difficult to narrow down choices. This form uses lighthearted and thoughtful copy to steer shoppers toward the right mattress.

Why we like this web form: The design and text are well-designed and quick to scan. At the same time, the questions and responses go into enough detail to make this quiz worth filling out. This web form survey also gives this company a chance to highlight its unique selling points.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out these web form and feedback form examples.

We’ve reviewed how you can create your own web forms and examples you can learn from. Now let’s review some tools and programs that can help you build the web forms you need.

Web Form Tools and Software Programs

There are many online form creators and software programs that businesses can use to get information from their leads. Some form builders are free, some need a subscription fee, and some have features that work for different types of forms and businesses.

HubSpot

HubSpot’s form builder has easy to use drag-and-drop features that allow you to efficiently create, embed, and publish your ideal form. One feature that is unique to HubSpot’s form builder is that it uses progressive profiling.

Progressive fields prevent anyone from having to complete the same form fields multiple times. This helps you make sure your business isn’t getting duplicate responses. It keeps things as simple and professional as possible for both the lead and the business using the form builder.

JotForm

JotForm is an easy-to-use web form software. It’s a free online form builder that allows businesses to not only create and embed their web forms but also receive notifications through email whenever they complete a form. With JotForm, anyone can create their desired, customized web forms in a matter of minutes.

Formstack

Formstack allows businesses to build their web forms, track them, and use conversion tools to analyze data received through the forms. Companies are able to brand their forms and integrate them with other apps they may be using to control their workflows (such as MailChimp, Google Sheets, PayPal, or Hubspot).

WPForms

WPForms is the WordPress contact form plugin. This plugin has a drag-and-drop feature that easily moves your contact form from the plugin to your website, making it one of the most straightforward contact form builders available.

With multiple contact form templates to choose from, businesses can create a form that works for their needs. The plugin also notifies you when a lead completes your form, has a mobile-friendly design, and integrates with many other apps.

Drupal

Drupal is an open-source CMS (content management system) that has a web form creator module called Webform. The module allows Drupal users to create surveys and forms and manage the results on a spreadsheet application. The module also has basic statistical review features so businesses can keep track of what is working and what they need to modify.

Typeform

Typeform allows businesses to create forms, surveys, quizzes, and more for their websites. The software also has a sophisticated way of keeping track of data and results from all forms across a given site. These web forms are not only easy to create but they can be quickly embedded and are compatible with all devices.

Create Your Own Web Form

You can also create your own web forms using HTML, CSS, Php, or Javascript.

Create Great Web Forms

Web forms will help you track online leads, follow up with clients and potential customers, and learn more about your buyer personas. They enhance user experience and offer your leads the information, services, and products they’re searching for.

So, why not get started creating web forms that’ll help you grow your business and expand your network today?

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Many major emerging technologies in artificial and virtual reality are becoming more accessible, but are they worth investing in? 

In this post, I’ve gathered TK stats related to emerging technologies and the impacts and potential impacts they can have on marketing and marketers in the near future. 

Augmented and Virtual Reality

For years, researchers have said that virtual reality, which gives viewers an immersive and interactive 360-degree virtual experience, will hold the best opportunities for gaming, entertainment, and academic industries.

Experts have also thought that augmented reality, a partially immersive but still interactive experience, will thrive in the world of branding and marketing.

We have already seen some of these predictions come true, but both still have significant potential. Here are 16 stats that demonstrate the growth and opportunities of AR and VR.

• Consumer and enterprise virtual reality market revenue is expected to reach $6.71 billion by the end of 2022 and $12.9 billion by 2024. (Statista)
• Augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality market size worldwide is expected to jump by more than 220 billion USD between 2021 and 2028. (Statista)
• 101.6 million people in the US will use AR in 2022. (eMarketer)
• 39% of media planners who use NFTs say they have the best ROI of any channel in their media mix. (HubSpot Blog)
• In a recent study, 33% of survey respondents understand the concept of the metaverse, 37% have heard of it but aren’t sure what it means, and 30% aren’t sure at all. (GlobalWebIndex)
• Over half of consumers are interested in participating in the metaverse, and 1 in 3 who haven’t heard of it still say they want to be involved.(GlobalWebIndex)
• It’s estimated that, by the end of 2022, virtual reality hardware and software sales will generate more than 6.4 billion USD in revenue. (Statista)
• 54% of people visit the metaverse to play games, 46% visit to virtually hang out with online friends, and 43% visit to virtually hang out with in-person friends. (HubSpot Blog)
• 36% of consumers interested in participating in the metaverse worry about how companies will use their personal data online. (GlobalWebIndex)
• Over the next five years, Gartner predicts that one in four people will spend at least one hour per day in the metaverse. (Gartner)
• Over the next five years, 30% of businesses will have some sort of product or service available in the metaverse. (Gartner)
• Over 1 in 5 people aged 24-54 are invested in crypto. (HubSpot Blog)
• People ages 18-24 are likely to buy NFTs to join a community. (HubSpot Blog)
• Deloitte’s 2021 Global Blockchain Survey found that 80% of participants say their industries will see new revenue streams from blockchain, digital assets, and/or cryptocurrency solutions. (Deloitte)
• Over 250 million Snapchatters use an AR feature on the app every single day. (Modern Retail)
• Creators on Snapchat have built over 2.5 million AR Lenses. (Modern Retail)

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is so prevalent in 2022 that many of us don’t even notice all the ways we interact with iton a given day. If you’re less familiar with AI, here are eight stats to keep in mind:

• Gartner forecasts that the worldwide artificial intelligence software market will reach $62 billion by the end of 2022. (Gartner)
• The business value of AI will reach $5.1 billion by 2025. (Gartner)
• 52% of marketers prioritize implementing marketing automation platforms to enhance their marketing efforts. (Demand Gen Report)
• 17% of marketers currently use automation or artificial intelligence as part of their marketing strategy. (HubSpot Blog)
• 1 in 5 consumers uses live chat or in-app chat daily. (Vonage)
• 71% of consumers say they would be happy to use a chatbot if it meant an improved customer experience. (Conversocial)
• A Drift survey reported that 54.8% of B2B professionals across various industries say they receive a greater volume of high-quality leads with chatbot tools. (Drift)
• 61% of people globally believe that automation could put people’s jobs at risk. (PWC)

Voice Assistants and Smart Speakers

While voice assistants are technically a segment of AI, they’ve become so prominent in the emerging media world that they deserve their own section of stats.

• Statista predicts that the number of digital voice assistants will reach 8.4 billion units by 2024, which is higher than the world’s total population. (Statista)
• The total number of Amazon Echo users is more than double that of Google Home. (eMarketer)
• 123.5 million adults in the US will use voice assistants at least once per month. (eMarketer)
• Almost all voice assistant users use the technology on a smartphone. (eMarketer)
• By 2023, digital voice ecommerce is expected to triple to an $80 billion industry. (Juniper Research)

Smart Devices and Appliances

Smart appliances and devices have significant potential to impact marketing. Although the space is still young, it’s providing interesting opportunities to bigger brands. 

As you can imagine, devices like smart TVs could provide great potential for content marketing and branded media. However, a more unique example of an appliance that could provide brand potential is a smart refrigerator.

“I’m excited to see how a smart fridge that can tell me when my avocados are about to spoil can be leveraged by a brand to give me information that might serve me in that particular information, says Amanda Zantal-Wiener, a senior content strategist who creates content for HubSpot that covers news and trends.

But, Zantal-Weiner’s excitement doesn’t end at smart-home appliances — she’s also fascinated by the world of smart cars.

“Until we start to see self-driving cars on the road, the idea of connected cars can also be used to help me do more than mindlessly scroll through my phone when I’m using a ride-hailing service, by serving as a distribution channel for real-time, relevant information during that trip. Everything is connected, and I’m excited to see which brands are able to adapt to that earlier on in a way that actually helps customers,” Zantal-Wiener explains.

Here are four key stats that highlight why you should keep these technologies on your radar.

• Smart home appliance user growth will more than double between 2020 and 2025, from 30.6 million to 64 million. (eMarketer)
• Smart TVs are the most popular smart home devices. (Statista)
• The average cost of a smart-home device is expected to drop by 52% by 2023 (Juniper Research)
• The percentage of US internet users using a smart appliance will increase to 21% by 2025. (eMarketer)

Navigating the Future of Marketing

Yes, creating voice assistant skills, leveraging AI, and building branded AR/VR experiences might be pretty inaccessible and costly to your company right now.

But, if you want to continue to innovate your brand or be a competitive marketer in the far future, you’ll want to keep up with how technology and marketing possibilities are evolving — you’ll be more prepared to adopt new technologies when they are accessible in the future.

Even if you’re not a professional storyteller, you can use storytelling frameworks to share more engaging narratives in your content marketing copy. You’ll not only be able to tell your company’s story more effectively to stakeholders, but you’ll be able to write more effective, readable material that converts users into loyal customers.

Whether you’re writing for your website, blog, social media profiles, presentations, or online offers, the framework discussed below will help you gain confidence in storytelling and start telling better stories in business and in life. Let’s get started.

Why use a storytelling framework?

As content strategists, we should spend a lot of time thinking about the importance of storytelling in marketing, but we don’t — mainly because it’s so intimidating. The pressure-filled process of creating a framework and telling a story can keep a lot of people from even making an attempt. When the subject comes up, we understandably get nervous.

The thing is: storytelling is part of what makes us human. We don’t have to be Ernest Hemingway to be good at it. We can use a storytelling framework to guide us in the writing process.

Storytelling frameworks make our copy and content feel familiar to readers, while providing us with an easy “formula” to follow. The good news is that your content will never feel formulaic, because you can (and should) diversify how you write individual pages or posts. However, the bare bones stay the same.

Storytelling Template: The Hero’s Journey

The Hero’s Journey is a storytelling template from author Joseph Campbell, and it’s everywhere. It’s one of the most relatable storylines because it basically mirrors the journeys of our own lives. Understanding The Hero’s Journey can give you insight into how to frame your own stories, whether it’s the true story about your company or a fictional story that stirs your imagination.

The following diagram breaks down this Hero’s Journey template, step by step.

Typically broken down into three acts, the Hero’s Journey goes as follows:

Act 1:

• Ordinary World: A character (either you or your customer) is living a regular life.
• Call to Adventure: The character becomes aware of a problem or a task that must be completed.
• Refusal (of call): The character initially shows refusal — think of a customer who refuses to switch from their current provider despite their pain points.
• Meeting with the Mentor: The character meets a person who’ll guide them in the process of completing the task — think of a sales person guiding a lead toward conversion.

Act 2:

• Crossing the Threshold (into new life/experiences): The character officially starts their journey of solving the task, like a customer who’s just made a new purchase.
• Tests, Allies, Enemies: The character faces different trials in the process of completing the task.
• Approach to Innermost Cave: The character approaches the final battle — think of a professional who must now get their entire team to adopt a solution.
• Ordeal: The character goes through a battle or showdown — like in-team disagreements or discussions with stakeholders.
• Reward: The character emerges triumphant.

Act 3:

• The Road Back: Typically, the challenge isn’t over, and the character must deal with “blowback” from their previous battle.
• Resurrection: The character emerges with a new power, internal lesson, or external change.
• Return with Elixir: The character returns home or moves forward into a new adventure.

This is the Hero’s Journey, which—modified in various ways—we see repeated in stories throughout history. We have an ordinary person (what is), and we have adventure that lies ahead (what could be). The transference from one to the other is the journey.

Another great story template comes from comedy writing. It starts similarly: A character is in a zone of comfort. But they want something, so they enter into an unfamiliar situation. They adapt, and eventually get what they’re looking for, but end up paying a heavy price for it. In the end, they return to their old situation, having changed.

The Hero’s Journey: Fiction Example

The greatest story ever told…

Yes, we’re talking about Star Wars. Let’s step through a crude synopsis to see how well it matches Campbell’s pattern:

• Ordinary World: In the first Star Wars film, we begin with the rather ordinary Luke Skywalker. He lives on a farm on a desert planet.
• Call to Adventure: One day, he meets some robots who need help. They need to find a local hermit named Obi-Wan Kenobi. Luke takes the robots to Obi-Wan, who basically says, “Luke, you need to go out and help save the universe.”
• Refusal of Call, Meeting with Mentor, & Crossing the Threshold: Luke initially says, “No, I have all this stuff going on,” but Kenobi, who becomes Luke’s mentor, convinces Luke that he should go. Kenobi trains him how to use a lightsaber, and Luke goes on an epic space adventure.
• Test, Allies, Enemies: On the journey, Luke meets the villain, Darth Vader. He battles evil stormtroopers. He makes friends: Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia.
• Approach to the Innermost Cave: Luke then has to help defeat the super-weapon, the Death Star.
• Ordeal: Nearly everything goes wrong, but in the end, Luke succeeds in blowing up the Death Star.
• Reward: The last scene of the movie is of Luke getting a metal put over his neck by the princess, who kisses him on the cheek.
• The Road Back, Resurrection, & Elixir: Now he is in his new home, a changed man, emboldened by the great power of the Force, which he can use on future adventures.

The Hero’s Journey: Business Example

In business, the Hero’s Journey can most apply to case studies. (Most of them are a little less entertaining stories than Star Wars, unfortunately.)

A case study is the story of where a customer was, where they wanted to be, and how they overcame that gap.

If you listen to podcasts, you’ll hear this story told in almost every ad. You’ll also see it in “About us” pages. For example, check out Harry’s:

“Our founders, Jeff and Andy, created Harry’s because they were tired of overpaying for overdesigned razors. Instead, they wanted simple, high-quality products that felt good to use, all at a fair price. When they asked around, they learned lots of guys were upset about the situation too, so they decided to do something about it.”

The problem with most brands’ stories is that they don’t walk us through enough of the steps of the Hero’s Journey to capture our attention.

That’s why these frameworks are so useful. They’re a really easy way to ensure that we’re more creative when we’re coming up with stories or trying to convey information. This framework helps you focus your creativity.

Need more? Check out The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming into the Void, and Make People Love You for more detail on using the Hero’s Journey in your business writing. 

How to Bolster Your Storytelling Framework with the Benjamin Franklin Method

As you continue using storytelling templates, you can use Benjamin Franklin’s writing method to strengthen your skills and create better business stories.

What is Benjamin Franklin’s method, you ask?

Benjamin Franklin devised a system for mastering writing. He collected issues of a publication that contained some of the best writing of his day, and reverse engineered the prose. He took notes at a sentence level, sat on them for a while, and tried to recreate the sentences from his own head, without looking at the originals.

Upon comparison, Benjamin found that his vocabulary was lacking, and his prose was light on variety. Despite that, he did it over and over. Unlike the more passive method most writers use to improve their work (reading a lot), this exercise forced Franklin to pay attention to the tiny details that made the difference between decent writing and great writing.

Here’s how you can use this method to bolster your storytelling template.

Step 1: Reverse engineer your competitors’ copy.

Take a piece of copy that you particularly admire from your competitor’s website. It can be a webpage, a case study, a white paper, or an article. Read it while noting what’s particularly effective about it, then set it aside and rewrite it in the best way you know how. Be sure to use your notes to guide your rewrite, and try to identify the storytelling template your competitor is using.

Note: Don’t publish this material, as it can be flagged as plagiarism! But you’re welcome to keep it in a private doc.

Step 2: Compare your reworked version to the original.

Set the two versions side by side. How does yours compare? What is it missing? What did your competitor do well? How did you do well? Note your findings in a separate document. Do this again and again with your competitors and even your own copy. Once you have enough insight and experience, you can begin applying your findings to your new copy and even use it to rewrite your old copy.

A Storytelling Framework is Essential for Great Copy

By using storytelling frameworks, you’ll learn to write stronger business stories in no time. The Hero’s Journey is a best-in-class example for writing case studies, advertisements, articles, and even tutorials. Remember: People don’t remember brands. They remember stories. Use this to your advantage.

Note: This post contains excerpts from The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming Into the Void, and Make People Love You by Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Creating content that works requires you to make informed decisions as opposed to relying on guesswork or throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

To make these informed decisions, you need to focus on data-driven marketing and how it can help you collect, analyze, and apply data to your content.

If you’re running out of blog ideas and unsure how to use data in your content, keep reading to learn the best ways to use data before, during, and after the content creation process.

How to Use Data in Content Creation

Let’s consider how to use data properly at different stages of the content creation process: before, during, and after.

1. Using Data Before Content Creation

Just as no one sets out to build a house without first calculating the cost, so too should marketers not create content without looking at what the data says first.

Insights from data can help you know what type of content to create, who to create it for, and the best format to present such content.

Here are some specific ways to use data before you start creating.

Conduct Keyword Research

Before creating any piece of content, the first step is to know the topics you want to talk about or the keywords you want to target.

Since one of the primary goals of content creation is to engage with an audience, it’s crucial to uncover the queries they’re searching for online. Keyword research is how you get valuable insights (data) into these queries.

While conducting keyword research, it’s crucial to analyze the intent behind a search — whether it’s informational, navigational, transactional, or something else.

Some of the best tools you can use for keyword research include HubSpot’s SEO Marketing Software, Arel=”noopener” target=”_blank” hrefs, SemRush, etc.

Identify Your Audience

Imagine making the best steaks in town but then trying to sell them to a vegan audience – surely you won’t make any sales. Similarly, even your best pieces of content can have mediocre results if you don’t put them in front of the right people.

Data can help you identify the right people.

Using data, you can remove assumptions about your audience and who reads your content.

Data can tell you things about your target audience, like their age range, interests, emotional triggers, and social media platform where they hang out.

You can use Google Analytics, customer surveys, or some other social media analytics tool to uncover data insights about your audience.

Choose the Right Content Format

After uncovering who your audience is and what they search for online, you can also use data to discover their most preferred content format.

Do they want to read a blog post? Twitter thread? Or see video content like TikTok videos? Instagram Reels?

What the data shows will determine where to spend most of your content creation efforts to generate the highest return on investment.

BuzzSumo and Sparktoro are excellent examples of tools you can use to find the right content format your target audience loves.

2. Using Data During Content Creation

Let’s now consider how to use data while creating content.

Data can breathe life and new significance into your posts when leveraged well. This doesn’t mean threading spreadsheets directly into your posts. Instead, you should think about how to responsibly frame the data in a way that will advance your narrative.

By putting data into context and using it to strengthen your point, you can give readers a post that will stay with them long after they’ve left the page. Here are a few narrative techniques to consider when using data in your posts.

Demonstrate Change

There is no more powerful narrative technique than using data to demonstrate change over time.

In the example below, The Zebra uses data and maps to demonstrate the changing cost of car insurance in the United States over the last few years.

The darker areas on the map indicate areas with the highest car insurance rates.

You can see the cost changes over time as you click the slider button.

Why It Works

Showing a striking change trend (whether it be deterioration or dramatic improvement) not only brings weight to the discussion but can also evoke an emotional response from your readers.

Show Discrepancy

Isolated on its own, data can fall flat. But put a set of data into context to highlight discrepancies, and you have a strong narrative.

In the example below, The Atlantic highlights the discrepancy between the many COVID predictions (and other economic issues) and the reality.

Why It Works

By showing discrepancies between perception and reality or between two sets of data, you can highlight gaps that lead to clear calls to action.

Show Connection or Correlation

In this article, the British Heart Foundation (BHF) used data to show the correlation between watching TV and the risk of having coronary heart disease. Although the original data is from a third source, BHF does well to show the effect of a sedentary lifestyle.

Note: When showing the correlation between two things, be careful that you don’t imply causation. Be clear that you’re only showing that two things are connected somehow, not that one directly leads to the other.

Why It Works

Using data to show the connection between two or more different things helps readers make better decisions concerning future actions.

Give Scale

Another excellent way to use data in content creation is to demonstrate scale.

In this chart, New York Post uses a visual representation of data to demonstrate the scale of the tallest buildings in the world.

Why It Works

Scale can help you add context to your posts. What data do you have that can lend itself to this type of visualization? For example, did you serve more customers last year than the average number of attendees at a Red Sox game? How can you show the scope of your impact?

3. Using Data After Content Creation

You’ve seen how data can work before and during content creation. Let’s now consider how you can still use data even after you’ve hit publish on your post.

Optimize Published Content

One excellent way to use data “post-content creation” is to find opportunities for content refreshing.

Data from a tool like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can show you content that has been consistently losing traffic over time, allowing you to identify content needing an update or refresh.

You can also run a content audit to identify the best performers from the existing content that can be leveraged or repurposed for other marketing channels.

Analyze Audience Engagement

There are a ton of metrics you can track after publishing a piece of content to see how your audience interacts or engages with said content.

For instance, you can use Google Analytics to check how long readers stay on specific pieces. You can also use other tools to track your audience’s interaction in terms of clicks and cursor movements on a webpage.

Final Thoughts

There you have it — nine simple but effective ways to use data in different phases of your content creation process.

Even if you’ve never used data in your process before, the strategies mentioned in this article are easy to follow, and there are many tools you can use to make data work for you.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Growing a business has never been easy. But these days, it feels impossible.

Companies are trying to predict growth in an unpredictable macro environment. The economy is down, the market is volatile, socio-political issues are raging, and the dust is still settling on hybrid work. Every week, there’s a new twist or turn.

In case navigating all this uncertainty isn’t hard enough, companies are dealing with another major shift. Over the past year, the strategies that businesses rely on to attract, engage, and delight customers have started to break. It’s harder to generate demand, drive leads, reach prospects, and meet customers’ high expectations. At the height of the pandemic, many businesses thrived in a digital-first world, but now that momentum is slowing and it’s harder than ever to connect with customers.

The flywheel feels frozen. But why?

This question keeps me up at night. Helping organizations grow better is our mission at HubSpot. We’re passionate about helping scaling companies get ahead and navigate periods of uncertainty. That’s why we went on a listening tour to understand what’s standing in the way of our customers’ growth, and how we can help solve it.

Across hundreds of conversations with customers, there was one word that kept coming up: disconnected. We discovered that companies are in a crisis of disconnection today, caused by three major disconnects. They’re struggling with disconnected systems, disconnected people, and disconnected customers. I want to share what we’ve learned about each disconnect, and how we believe companies can solve this crisis.

Systems Are Disconnected

The first theme we heard loud and clear is that companies are struggling with disconnected systems. This has always been a problem, but it’s gotten worse over the past few years. We recently ran a pulse survey to understand the biggest challenges businesses are facing, and the number one pain point was disconnected systems (HubSpot Market Research, 2022).

It makes sense when you think about it. During the pandemic, companies shifted to fully-digital overnight and there was a frenzy of buying point solutions. They bought a tool for every task, every team, and every department. As a result, the average scaling company has 242 SaaS tools today. The problem isn’t that companies have a lot of tools, though — it’s that too few are connected. Each has its own data and processes but there’s no one place tying it all together.

As a result, companies are spending more time connecting data than connecting with their customers. They have to spend hours cleaning data and trying to cobble insights together from different systems. What’s worse is that their go-to-market teams don’t have a unified view of the customer’s journey, so they’re working in silos and their customer experience is suffering.

It’s a total mess.

That’s why, when it comes to growth, it’s time to accept that disconnected point solutions are not the solution.

People Are Disconnected

The second disconnect is that people have become more disconnected from each other. From quarantining, to social distancing, to working remotely, isolation has become part of our daily lives. The problem is, we’re human. We rely on each other for support and connection.

When I need advice at work, do you know what I do first? I lean on my peers. I reach out to a mentor, a co-worker, or my network for support. But it’s become harder to tap into one another; we aren’t bumping into each other at the office or meeting up at networking events like we used to.

In fact, 45% of workers say that the number of people they interact with at work decreased, and 57% of people say that they engage in fewer social activities these days. No wonder Peloton became so popular during the pandemic. For me, it wasn’t just about exercise, it was about being part of a community.

And I know I’m not alone. When I talk to our customers, I hear the same theme loud and clear: They crave community. They want to build deeper relationships with their co-workers, their customers, and their network, but it’s not as easy as it once was.

Companies Are Disconnected from Customers

The third and final disconnect is that companies are more disconnected from their customers than ever. They’re writing blogs at a frenzied pace but still can’t drive traffic. They’re emailing prospects but can’t get a response. The channels and strategies that used to work for companies now seem to be working against them. So, what changed?

We dug into this and found that there are two major shifts happening. The first is that people are digitally drained. From our social feeds, to our inboxes, to our text messages, we are bombarded at every turn. As a result, buyers aren’t engaging with companies like they used to, and you can see it in the data.

In 2020, 65% of Google searches ended without a click, and the average blog shrunk by -1.64% in 2021. According to HubSpot data, sales email response rates have plummeted by 40% compared to pre-pandemic rates. The channels companies have relied on to attract and engage customers are now overly saturated, pushing people out and ad costs up.

The second change is that we are now living in a privacy-first world. People are more protective of their data than ever. Apple’s recent ad campaign is a great example of this shift; they’re positioning privacy as the iPhone’s core value proposition. When one of the most valuable companies on the planet comes out that strongly on a value, we should all take notice. What this means for businesses is that the cookies, tracking, and consent they’ve depended on are now being cut off in a privacy-first world.

Buyers today are digitally drained and distrusting of companies with their data. Both of these shifts lead to companies being more disconnected from their customers than ever. And that’s exactly what I hear from our customers. They’re struggling to cut through the noise, to reach prospects, and to build relationships with customers the same way they used to. They’re coming to terms with a hard truth which is that old go-to-market strategies won’t work in this new world.

Based on our research and conversations with customers, these three disconnects are clear. Systems are disconnected. People are disconnected. Companies and customers are disconnected.

This all leads to a crisis of disconnection.

Companies are struggling with unprecedented disconnection from their customers and each other, compounded by disconnected systems. They’re grasping for growth. Their revenue is unpredictable. Their flywheel is stalled. Their teams are burnt out.

That’s why it’s time to evolve. Companies can’t continue relying on broken data, broken processes, and broken strategies. The only way to solve this crisis is to adapt and find new ways to grow in the Age of the Connected Customer.

Introducing the Age of the Connected Customer

For years, companies have relied on legacy CRMs to ‘manage’ their customer relationships. But that won’t cut it in this new world. We believe the companies that will win in the future are the ones that focus on customer connection, not customer management. That means you need more than data, you need context. You need more than leads, you need connection. You need more than contacts, you need community.

You need a connected customer growth strategy. Connected customer growth is about optimizing every stage of your customer’s journey to boost connection. It’s about evolving your Attract, Engage, and Delight strategies to provide more value and relevance. You can start by asking yourself questions like: What 20% of content creates 80% of value for our customers? How can I use data to bring more context to my customer conversations? How can I make it easier for customers to buy? These types of questions will help you identify easy ways to optimize your flywheel for customer connection.

But evolving your strategy alone isn’t enough. You need the right technology to make connection possible — connection with your data, your teams, and your community. That’s why we’re bringing three powerful parts of HubSpot’s solution together:

• Connected Applications: Our Hubs — Marketing, Sales, Service, CMS, and Operations — are designed to connect your entire front-office. They give go-to-market teams a single, unified view of the customer journey.

• Connected Platform: Our CRM platform powers the Hubs with connected data — including commerce data — and extensibility. The platform is customizable and has over 1,100 app integration partners to give companies flexibility at scale.
• Connected Community: Companies need more than software to grow, so we’re bringing together educational content through our Academy, as well as assets and expertise through our partner networks.

The combination of all three is our connected customer platform. To learn more about what we’re building at HubSpot and some exciting new features to help boost connection, visit hubspot.com/new.

You can expect to learn much more from us over the next year on how to put customer connection into action, optimize your strategies, and how HubSpot’s platform is evolving to connect data, strategies, and people. As we step into the Age of the Connected Customer, I am confident that scaling companies can emerge stronger from this crisis.

And we’re here to help you grow better, connected.

It’s no secret that individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher are more likely to find employment and earn higher incomes than those who don’t. But did you know that earning a certification can follow this same trend?

Given the rate at which new digital marketing technologies and software are developed, it can be overwhelming to learn through blog posts and ebooks alone. That’s where self-paced online courses come in — but which do you choose?

Below are the best free online courses you can take to strengthen your digital marketing skills.

• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Web Development and Site Design
• Online Advertising Courses
• Other Digital Marketing Courses

Want to learn more about brands and organizations that offer the courses on the list below? Scroll to the end of this post, or jump to the section.

Free Online Marketing Courses

Free Content Marketing Courses

1. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification – HubSpot Academy

2. HubSpot Content Marketing Certification – HubSpot Academy

3. Internet Marketing for Smart People – Copyblogger

4. Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content – Coursera

5. The Strategy of Content Marketing – Coursera

6. Copywriting Blunders – Udemy

7. Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises – Udemy

8. Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course – Semrush

9. Copywriting Quick Start: Top FREE Writing Tools & Hacks – Udemy

 

Free Social Media Marketing Courses

10. Free Social Media Certification – HubSpot Academy

11. Developing an End-to-End Instagram Marketing Strategy For Your Business – HubSpot Academy

12. Diploma in Social Media Marketing – Alison

13. Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate – Meta BluePrint

14. Social Media Analytics – Quintly

15. Social Media Quickstarter – Constant Contact

16. Semrush Social Media Toolkit Course – Semrush 17. Become a Social Media Marketer – LinkedIn Learning (one month free)

Free SEO Marketing Courses

18. SEO Training Course – HubSpot Academy

19. Digital Marketing Course – Google Digital Garage

20. SEO Training Course by Moz – Udemy

21. SEO – QuickSprout

22. SEO Specialization – Coursera

23. Semrush SEO Toolkit Course – SEMRUSH

24. Online SEO Training – Yoast

Free Email Marketing Courses

25. HubSpot Email Marketing Certification – HubSpot Academy

26. Email Marketing Course – Sendinblue Academy

27. Email Marketing Made Easy for Beginners – Udemy

28. Email Marketing for Beginners – Skillshare

Free Web Development and Site Design Courses

29. Make a Website – CodeAcademy

30. Learn Javascript – CodeAcademy

31. Learn Ruby – CodeAcademy

32. Learn Python 3 – CodeAcademy

33. Learn HTML & CSS – CodeAcademy

34. Learn to Code Awesome Websites – General Assembly

Free Online Advertising & PPC Courses

35. What Digital Advertising Is and How to Do It – HubSpot Academy

36. How to Build a Paid Media Strategy – HubSpot Academy

37. PPC University – Wordstream

38. Advertising Your Business Online – Alison

39. Advanced Competitive Research Practices with Semrush

40. Copywriting 101: Crafting Your First Ad Campaign – Skillshare

41. Semrush Advertising Toolkit Course – Semrush

Other Free Digital Marketing Courses

42. Graphic Design Basics – Canva

43. Graphic Design Specialization – Coursera

44. Photoshop 2020: One-on-One Fundamentals – LinkedIn Learning

45. InDesign 2020: Essential Training – LinkedIn Learning

46. Video Marketing Course- HubSpot Academy

47. Event Marketing Course and Certification – Eventbrite

48. Event Sponsorship Course and Certification – Eventbrite

49. Affiliate Marketing for Beginners – Udemy

50. YouTube Ads Certification – YouTube

Benefits of a Digital Marketing Certificate

The most well-known benefit of earning a marketing certificate is the potential for better pay and career advancement, but there are plenty more rewards to reap by honing your skills. Here are a few of the top advantages of earning a digital marketing certificate.

1. Specializing in a Marketing Niche

The “jack of all trades, master of none” mantra is the marketer’s enemy.

Any experienced marketing professional will advise someone looking to enter or grow into the field to narrow their focus.

There are simply too many roles within marketing to specialize in all of them.

Certifications come in handy because they’re narrow enough in scope to give you a high-level overview of how the skill fits into a larger marketing strategy but tactical enough to show you exactly how to execute the skill in your day-to-day work.

2. Communicating Advanced Marketing Concepts

Whether you’re interviewing for a marketing role or pitching a client, one thing’s for sure — you’ll need to sound like a skilled marketer.

Sure, you can fake it ‘till you make it, but I don’t advise this route. Shibboleths will only get you so far before someone notices a gap in your experience.

Certification courses are comprehensive education tools that will teach you essential marketing lingo and exactly what it all means.

Best of all, you’ll be able to communicate advanced concepts confidently without over or under-explaining which can undermine your credibility.

3. Building Your Resume

When it comes down to it, your resume will almost always precede your presence.

Before an interview or a client meeting, people will look to your resume and portfolio first to verify your skills.

Adding the certifications you’ve received after completing marketing courses is a smart way to get picked up by resume scanners and it’ll catch the attention of human eyes, too.

Even if you have several years of experience, a certificate can still help get your foot in the door so you can speak in detail about your experience during an interview.

Where to Find Free and Affordable Courses

The free courses we mentioned above are amazing resources for budget-conscious marketers. They’ll teach you the basics of the subject and give you some tactical knowledge you can apply right away.

If you want to become more competitive in the job market or if you have a bit more time and resources to dedicate to furthering your education, check out the following platforms. They’re not all free, but they’re affordable and will provide you with up-to-date course material.

1. HubSpot Academy

HubSpot Academy offers certification and training courses to teach people how inbound marketing and HubSpot software work. Classes are often taught by marketers at HubSpot and are made up of video lessons, quizzes, and tests.

Most HubSpot Academy classes are available free of charge, and if you pass the certifications, such as the two below, you get a nifty certificate and badge to share on your social media profiles.

2. Copyblogger

Copyblogger is a content marketing company that creates content about content (so meta).

Its blog provides a ton of great resources about digital marketing, and this class, “Internet Marketing for Smart People,” is made up of ebooks and emailed lessons, and other course materials.

Copyblogger adopts four pillars of content marketing success, which it delves into over the course of this class.

3. Coursera

Coursera offers MOOCs (massive online open courses) created and taught online by universities such as Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California system.

These courses start at various times throughout the year, so browse the catalog to see when one lines up with your schedule.

4. Udemy

Udemy is another online learning platform that focuses specifically on courses related to skill building for working professionals.

One thing to note about Udemy: The classes we’ve highlighted are free, but the site features a myriad of other paid options for as little as $10, in some cases.

If you have a good experience with a free course, try a paid one to get even more value from the content on this site.

5. WordStream

Wordstream is a search engine and social media marketing software company that helps marketers drive the greatest ROI from their paid search and social media campaigns.

These free guides and ebooks distill learnings and best practices for users with varying levels of expertise running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Here are some of its topics and offerings:

6. Social Lock

Social Lock is a social media consulting, management, and strategy agency that also provides educational content and courses.

The Standout Social Content Course is a comprehensive guide for small business owners who want to grow sales through social media. Although this course isn’t free, it’s available at an affordable rate and can even be paid in installments if you’re on a tight budget.

If you need free resources that can teach you how to generate revenue that can pay for a course like this, Social Lock offers a Hustle with Hashtags eBook and Social Media Post Ideas.

7. edX

edX is another MOOC provider that features courses offered by top-tier universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University.

Like Coursera, classes are taught online and start at specific times throughout the year. Here are just a few of the many courses you can find on edX:

8. LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)

LinkedIn Learning hosts hundreds of courses taught by industry experts from all around the world.

The best part of LinkedIn Learning is that the course suggestions are customized to your profile.

If you have content marketing as a skill in your LinkedIn profile, the algorithm will suggest relevant courses, such as how to start a podcast or track the ROI of a content marketing strategy.

Similarly, your role will also influence the suggestions you see. As a marketing writer, I get recommended copywriting, SEO, and social media marketing courses. If I were a data scientist, I may be recommended courses on programming languages and machine learning.

To access the platform, the first month is free then up to $39.99/month.

9. Alison

Alison offers over 4,000 online classes in various professional skills users can take at their own pace.

This content repository includes courses that lead to certificates and diplomas — you choose which is best for your goals.

For an even more rigorous curriculum, you can choose a learning path that combines several lessons and courses into one learning track that gives you a well-rounded learning experience.

10. Meta Blueprint

At this point, you probably already know what Meta is (formerly Facebook) and what it does.

What you might not know is that the platform offers several training and certification programs.

Meta Blueprint offers self-paced and live e-learning courses for marketers seeking to grow their organizations using Facebook.

Blueprint offers classes in different languages on how to use Facebook and Instagram.

11. quintly Academy

quintly is a social media analytics tool that offers courses through quintly Academy.

The self-paced course provides an overview of social media analytics, benchmarking, and goaling using downloadable written materials and video lessons. These courses are available to take at no cost — simply sign in to enroll for free.

12. Google Digital Garage

Google is another company you’ve probably heard of before, and its digital marketing course offers a ton of valuable information if you plan to advertise on the search engine.

You can even take a Google AdWords certification at the end of the process that helps you beef up your resume.

Google has expanded its course offerings to include other types of digital marketing, too, so check out the site for up-to-date insights in the marketing world.

13. Codeacademy

Codeacademy offers free, interactive coding classes that take you from bare-bones to building a fully functioning website.

The courses we’ve highlighted below just scratch the surface, though. Codeacademy offers a variety of course topics so you can truly focus on your niche.

These classes include lectures and a workspace in the same browser window so you can see the effect of your work as you create it — how cool is that?

14. General Assembly

General Assembly offers live online courses that can be accessed for free or for a fee.

These courses specialize in technical skills and disciplines like the fundamentals of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript.

Each one is categorized as one of five types that range from full-time immersive learning to on-demand learning. Once you choose your time commitment, simply find a course that works with your schedule.

15. Canva

Canva helps people easily make beautiful images for web design, and Canva Design School offers design courses that are valuable for any kind of storyteller.

The Creativity course explores the challenges of constant creation and innovation and how to do it well — with visuals, of course.

Become a Marketing Powerhouse with These Free Certifications

I’m sure all marketers (myself included) can agree that furthering our education in this field is a worthwhile way to advance our careers or businesses.

Earning a certificate from a reputable online course is one of the most convenient ways to accomplish this.

Whether you want to take a free online marketing class or you’d like to devote more time and resources to a paid one, you can’t go wrong with one from this list.

Just remember to focus your studying on a specific sector of marketing and develop a niche skillset — you’ll be well on your way to success as a consummate marketer.

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in May 2018, but was updated in July 2020 for comprehensiveness and freshness.

Keep it simple, stupid.

We don’t mean to offend you — this is just an example of a great slogan that also bears the truth of the power of succinctness in advertising. It’s incredibly difficult to be succinct, and it’s especially difficult to express a complex emotional concept in just a couple of words — which is exactly what slogans and taglines do.

That’s why we have a lot of respect for the brands that have done it right. These are the companies that have figured out how to convey their value propositions to their buyer personas 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 and taglines from both past and present. But before we get into specific examples, let’s quickly go over what a slogan is, how it differs from a tagline, and what makes these branded one-liners stand out.

What Is a Slogan?

In business, a slogan 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 a company’s name 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:

1. It’s memorable.

Is the slogan quickly recognizable? Will people only have to spend a second or two thinking about it? A brief but strong few words can go a long way in advertisements, videos, posters, business cards, swag, and other places.

2. 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.

3. 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? (Check out our essential branding guide here.)

4. It imparts positive feelings about the brand.

The best taglines use words that are 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. We could argue that the former leaves a better impression on the audience.

Slogan vs. Tagline

Although both “slogan” and “tagline” tend to be used interchangeably, they actually serve two different purposes.

As we mentioned in Entrepreneur.com’s definition above, a slogan identifies a product or company. So does a tagline, for that matter. Where these terms differ is in how they position a company in its industry.

• A slogan encompasses a company’s mission, what it stands for, and even how it’s helping customers in the individual campaigns the company might run. Slogans can therefore be longer than taglines, as you’ll see in the list below.
• A tagline is a catchy quip that evokes an image of your brand in the minds of your customers. Taglines enable people to make lighthearted associations with your business: “When I see [tagline], I think [company].”

Featured Resource: 60 Slogan Writing Tips & Examples

Download the Free Guide

Taglines are more often next to the company’s logo on official advertisements and are dedicated more specifically to brand awareness than slogans. Slogans carry a brand’s values and promises as the company grows and evolves, and can be promoted under an overarching company tagline.

Your organization doesn’t have to develop both a slogan and a tagline — it might succeed with just a solid, recognizable tagline. But as you develop new products and identify new types of customers, you might find your brand launching a campaign that is primed for its own slogan.

Now that we’ve covered what a slogan is and what makes one great, here are examples of some of the best brand slogans of all time.

When you want a brand slogan you want to make sure they are memorable and that they bring your brand to life. The right slogan will have key words that encapsulate what your brand is so that consumers will always have it in the back of their heads. Below we have listed some business slogans that range from fast food, cars, essential items, pet essentials, etc. to show that a good slogan encapsulates being concise, catchy, and classic.

1. VRBO: Where Families Travel Better Together

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Vacation rental company VRBO has successfully carved out a family-friendly niche within the hospitality sector. Their slogan and corresponding tagline ‘Travel Better Together’ work to drive their mission: to find every family a space to relax, reconnect and enjoy their time together.

VRBO’s tagline is not only catchy, but its focus on families sets them apart from the competition in the vacation rental space.

2. Dollar Shave Club: “Shave Time. Shave Money.”

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The folks at Dollar Shave Club have made their way onto quite a few of our lists here on the blog, and it’s safe to say that when it comes to marketing and advertising, this brand’s team knows what it’s doing. And its 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.

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

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MasterCard’s two-sentence slogan was created in 1997 as a part of an award-winning advertising campaign that ran in 98 countries and 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,” wrote Avi Dan for Forbes.

“In a sense, ‘Priceless’ became a viral, social campaign years before there was a social media,” Dan explained. Today, “Priceless” is widely considered MasterCard’s tagline — borne out of the longer mission-focused slogan stated above.

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.

4. M&M: “Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hands”

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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.

5. De Beers: “A Diamond is Forever”

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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.

The four, iconic words “A Diamond is Forever” have appeared in every single De Beers advertisement since 1948, and AdAge named it the best 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 reselling would disrupt the market and reveal the alarmingly low intrinsic value of the stones themselves.) Brilliant.

6. Meow Mix: “Tastes So Good, Cats Ask for It by Name”

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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 slogan: “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.

7. The U.S. Marine Corps: “Semper Fi”

Semper Fi, short for “Semper Fidelis,” is Latin for “always faithful” or “always loyal.” The saying has long been the official motto of the U.S. Marine Corps and is used to represent them in public appearances and the Marines’ official seal.

What makes “Semper Fi” a great slogan for the Marines? It reveals the Marines’ defining characteristics in the armed forces — faithfulness and loyalty. It’s also a memorable proverb that explains why this organization can be counted on by the public.

8. Allstate: “You’re in Good Hands With Allstate”

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If there’s one thing people want from an insurance company, it’s reliability. Who wouldn’t be put at ease after hearing “You’re in good hands wiht Allstate?” It’s worked so well the slogan has been in service for nearly six decades.

Davis Ellis came up with slogan in 1950 after his daughter had a health scare. Remembering how being told “JoAnn (his daughter) is in good hands with Dr. Keyser” relieved his anxiety, Ellis was inspired to use the phrase in an ad campaign. Variations of this phrase have been used in the company slogan ever since.

9. Ronseal: “It Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin.”

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Ronseal is a wood stain and dye manufacturer from the United Kingdom, and its 20-year-old slogan is perfect for the humble message the company is known for.

Ronseal’s slogan doesn’t go above and beyond. It doesn’t make lofty promises to its customers. It simply endorses a functional product. So why is this slogan so catchy? Because its lack of volume actually speaks volumes to its audience. Too many companies try to break through the noise of their competitors by being so loud and ambitious, they forget what they stood for in the first place. Ronseal saw true value in basic reliability and founded a slogan that allowed the company to stay right where its customers like it.

10. The Mosaic Company: “We Help the World Grow the Food It Needs”

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The Mosaic Company’s slogan also happens to be its mission statement, which guarantees that this fertilizer maker’s brand strategy aligns with the company’s main interests.

Something all slogans should strive to do is look past the needs of the company, or even its users, and describe how the product or service helps the community. In this way, “We Help the World Grow the Food It Needs” is a heavy slogan that expresses not just what The Mosaic Company wants for its customers, but also what it wants for the public.

11. Pitney Bowes: “We Power Transactions That Drive Commerce”

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Pitney Bowes, the mailing and shipping software provider, has a slogan that follows a similar theme as The Mosaic Company in the section above: It’s focused not on the end user, but on the industry.

Pitney Bowes’ slogan shows us that its products don’t just help businesses track and deliver merchandise — it makes the entire ecommerce community more efficient. It’s a good strategy, considering the alternative. How lame would the company’s slogan be if it were “We Power Transactions That Serve Our Clients’ Bottom Line”?

Taglines

When creating your brand tagline you want to have a tagline that explains the essence of the value you provide to your customer using one to two sentences. A tagline is a great way to understand what your business does for your customers. The right tagline will be concise yet brings out the essence of what the business is. Below we have listed some business taglines that encapsulate being concise while telling the value of the business.

12. Target: “Expect More. Pay Less.”

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Target has been using its tagline since 1994 and the brand has developed a dedicated following ever since. Its stores and branding makes people feel like it’s cut above the competition.

This tagline embodies the experience of shopping at Target. From home goods to toiletries to clothing — it all can be found at Target and for a great price without feeling like low budget store.

13. Verizon: “5G Built Right”

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Here’s another brand that took its time coming up with something that truly resonated with its audience. Verizon’s previous slogan “Can you hear me now” was created in 2002 under the umbrella of the tagline, “We never stop working for you.” Now with Verizon has switched things up with “5G Built Right” to mark themselves as the first to launch a 5G network .

While Verizon was founded in 1983, it 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 cell phone options, but you will always have service.

14. Nike: “Just Do It”

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Now, for the more well-known Nike message. “Just Do It” hovers over every product and event Nike creates or sponsors, and that’s exactly what makes it the company’s official tagline.

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 tagline that reflects their message and resonates with their target audience

15. Apple: “Think Different.”

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This tagline 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 tagline “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 tagline has been since retired, many Apple users still feel a sense of entitlement for being among those who “think different.”

16. L’Oréal: “Because You’re Worth It”

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Who doesn’t want to feel like they’re worth it? The folks at L’Oréal worked with the theory 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.

17. California Milk Processor Board: “Got Milk?”

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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 — making this campaign one of the longest-lasting ever. The CMPB wasn’t determined to make its brand known with this one — it was determined to infiltrate the idea of drinking milk across the nation. And these two simple words sure as heck did.

18. BMW: “Sheer Driving Pleasure”

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BMW sells cars all over the world, but in North America, it was known for a long time by its tagline, “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” This phrase 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 newer tagline, “Sheer Driving Pleasure,” is intended 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.

19. Tesco: “Every Little Helps”

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“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 of their operations and supply chain.

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

20. Bounty: “The Quicker Picker Upper”

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Bounty paper towels, made by Procter & Gamble, has used its catchy tagline “The Quicker Picker Upper” for almost 50 years now. If it sounds like one of those sing-songy play on words you learned as a kid, that’s because it is one: The tagline 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 tagline 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.” Although the brand is branching out into other campaigns, they’ve kept the theme of their original, catchy tagline.

21. Lay’s: “Betcha Can’t Eat Just One.”

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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.

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

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“Vorsprung durch technik” has been Audi’s main German tagline 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 tagline in 1972, and the new car was a brilliant reflection of that tagline 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.

23. Dunkin’: “America Runs on Dunkin”

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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 tagline “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 tagline.

“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.

Fun fact: Dunkin’ Donuts rebranded itself — and named itself Dunkin’ in 2018 while releasing new packaging in 2019. One store in Pasadena, California is called, simply, Dunkin’.

24. McDonald’s: “I’m Lovin’ It”

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The “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign was launched way back in 2003 and still stands strong today. This is a great example of a tagline 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.

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

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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 credible 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.

26. General Electric: “Imagination at Work”

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You may remember General Electric’s former tagline, “We Bring Good Things to Life,” which was initiated in 1979. Although this tagline was well-known and well-received, the new tagline — “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.

27. State Farm: “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”

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The insurance company State Farm has a number of taglines, including “Get to a better State” and “No one serves you better than State Farm.” Additionally, the company updated its tagline to “We’re here to help life go right.”

But State Farm’s most famous tagline 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 it 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.

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

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Can you sing this jingle in your head? Maybelline’s former tagline, 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 its tagline to “Make IT Happen” in February 2016, inspiring women to “express their beauty in their own way.” Despite this change, the former tagline remains powerful and ubiquitous, especially among the many generations that grew up with it.

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

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While “Semper Fi” is one the U.S. Marine Corps’ most coveted slogans (or, more officially, mottos), it has had a handful of top-notch recruiting taglines over the decades as well. These include “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 taglines out there.

This tagline “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 on Madison Avenue’s Advertising Walk of Fame.

A catchy slogan and tagline will make a difference in your business.

Now that you have delved into some classic and catchy slogans and taglines, it’s time to set your business up for success. Remember a slogan and a tagline are similar but a slogan is used to sell an item whereas a tagline brings awareness to the item while being concise, catchy, and classic. Both are essential when making sure your business will remain in the minds of consumers.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Agile marketing focuses on creating high-value deliverables by working in short bursts to achieve goals. An agile marketing process is also constantly iterated to ensure productivity and efficiency.

Measuring the success of an agile marketing process is critical as it helps monitor processes and ensures everything is on track — this is where agile metrics come in.

In this post, we’ll discuss:

• What are agile metrics?
• Importance of Agile Metrics
• Types of Agile Metrics
• Key Agile Metrics

What are agile metrics?

Agile metrics is a tool that helps marketing teams measure the progress and productivity of marketing activities, stay on track, and address roadblocks. Agile metrics are most effective when tailored to the specific needs of individual projects.

You can use agile metrics at both the team level and individual level. At the team level, they help assess the overall health of marketing activities and identify potential bottlenecks. At the individual level, they can help identify areas of improvement for each team member based on their progress.

Importance of Agile Metrics

Agile metrics are important because they help track progress and identify areas for improvement.

Agile metrics also:

• Increase productivity by providing visuals of project timelines so stakeholders can understand what comes next.
• Build accountability and transparency between stakeholders because everyone knows what’s expected of them and their teams.
• Improve communication between team members because agile metrics give specific insight into project progress so people can begin conversations based on metrics and data.
• Help managers and leaders identify risks and potential problems early on from historical agile metrics data, helping them correct processes and save time.

Types of Agile Metrics

There are three main types of agile metrics, and we’ll outline them below.

1. Scrum Metrics: A Scrum is a process where work is done in sprints to quickly deliver small projects that make up larger projects over time. Scrum metrics analyze sprint effectiveness and show how much work was completed during a given sprint.
2. Kanban Metrics: Kanban processes use visual cues to track progress over time. It usually is based on a project board that is divided into columns that represent stages in a workflow. Kanban metrics help you understand workflow effectiveness, organize and prioritize work, and the amount of time invested to obtain results.
3. Lean Metrics: Lean processes help decrease the amount of time it takes from when a task or project is requested to when teams complete it. Lean metrics measure productivity and quality of work output, helping get rid of activities that don’t benefit outcomes or getting work done quickly.

Key Agile Metrics

Below we’ll go over some of the most common agile metrics.

1. Sprint Burndown Chart

Type of Agile Metric: Scrum

A sprint burndown chart shows the work that remains and has already been completed in a designated sprint. It also shows the amount of work that has been completed over time.

Sprint burndown charts provide a visual for this data and can predict a team’s likelihood to complete their work in the time available.

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2. Cumulative Flow Diagram

Type of Agile Metric: Kanban

The cumulative flow diagram is a graphical representation of work in progress. Specifically, it displays the work already completed, the work currently in progress, and tasks that have yet to begin. The diagram helps you visualize how stable your process is and helps you identify problem areas to address.

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3. Cycle Time Diagram

Type of Agile Metric: Kanban

A cycle time diagram displays the amount of time it takes to complete a task. It helps you identify areas where your process can be updated and streamlined for future productivity and understand the effects of the strategies you implement.

As your overall goal is likely to have a shorter cycle time across all projects, the diagram will help you understand the length and identify areas for improvement. Cycle time is a smaller section of the lead time metric, which we’ll discuss below.

4. Lead Time

Type of Agile Metrics: Kanban

Lead time is the time it takes for a task to be completed from start to finish. It builds off of the cycle time metric but adds on the amount of time between when a task or project was requested to when it was started.

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For example, you could use the lead time metric to analyze how much time it takes from when a new marketing copy is requested to when it is delivered.

5. Velocity Chart

Type of Agile Metric: Scrum

Velocity is the rate at which a team can deliver work during a sprint. It measures how fast teams complete a task and identifies whether they are on track to meet deadlines. It can also predict a team’s future abilities, helping ensure you don’t commit to a timeline you can’t achieve.

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A lower velocity means it takes teams more time to complete a task, so it could be worthwhile to identify areas you can streamline to speed up the process.

6. Burn Up Chart

Type of Agile Metric: Scrum

A burn-up chart tracks progress over time. The graph features two lines, one that displays the projected amount of work and another that shows actual work completed.

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This metric helps you compare expectations to how much work is delivered, which can help you understand team efficiencies and identify areas for improvement.

The right agile metric helps you and your teams stay productive and focused.

Choosing an agile metric depends on the specific needs of your marketing activities. Once you choose one, you’ll get a bigger picture of your team’s productivity and marketing processes, helping you identify roadblocks, optimize your strategies, and meet your business goals.

How do you know if Facebook is a worthy investment, or if you’re getting enough traffic from your recent promotional campaign? The answer: UTM tracking links.

UTM codes help you track where traffic is coming from, allowing you to properly measure each campaign’s, platform’s, or medium’s ROI.

In this blog post, you’ll learn what UTM codes are, how to use them, and how to build them in both Google Analytics and HubSpot.

UTM codes are also known as UTM parameters — or tracking tags — because they help you “track” website traffic from its origin.

Now, you might be thinking, “Ginny, I have HubSpot, so I already know if my website traffic is coming from Google, email, social media, and similar marketing channels. What does a UTM code tell me that I don’t already know?”

HubSpot Marketing Hub provides you with these high-level sources of traffic, but UTM also helps you drill down into specific pages and posts within these traffic sources. If you’re promoting a campaign on social media, for example, you’ll know how much traffic came from social media. Building a UTM code, however, can tell you how much of that traffic came from Facebook or even a particular post on Facebook.

UTM Code Example

UTM codes can be overwhelming at first, so let’s take a look at an example. Here’s a URL with its own UTM code:

http://blog.hubspot.com/9-reasons-you-cant-resist-list?utm_campaign=blog_post &utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

Let’s break this link down.

• https://ift.tt/3QL6O9s: This is the base URL of the page.
• ?: This signals to your analytics software that a string of UTM parameters will follow.
• utm_campaign=blog_post: This is the first UTM parameter, specifically for the campaign the visitor engaged with (in this case, a blog post campaign).
• &: This denotes that another UTM parameter will follow.
• utm_medium=social: This is the second parameter, specifically for the channel the visitor came from (in this case, social).
• &: This denotes that another UTM parameter will follow.
• utm_source=facebook: This is the last parameter, specifically for the specific website the visitor came from (in this case, Facebook).

In the example above, you’re saying that once traffic comes in from people who click this link, the traffic should be attributed to Facebook. The “medium” is social media, while the “source” is Facebook.

Adding these snippets of code after the question mark above doesn’t affect anything on the page — it just lets your analytics program know that someone arrived through a certain source inside an overall marketing channel, as part of a specific campaign.

How do UTM links help marketers?

Crucial aspects of being a great marketer are being able to measure your success and measure your impact. No matter which metrics you use, you want to prove to your boss (and the company) that you’re worth your salt.

You deserve your budget — and maybe need more of it — and you deserve to dedicate time to the marketing activities that work. Building UTM codes that track your campaigns’ success is the best way to prove it.

Relying on your analytics tool’s source and medium breakdown isn’t enough to prove whether a certain strategy is working. UTM links provide more granular data that allow you to drill down to the specific source of the traffic. You can use the following UTM parameters, which we’ll cover in more detail later:

• Campaign
• Source
• Medium
• Content
• Term

With that in mind, UTM tracking codes can help you determine:

1. Where the traffic is coming from (Source).

First up, you’ll be able to tell the specific website the traffic is coming from. Examples include:

• Social websites (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc)
• Search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc)
• Paid posts and sponsored listings (paid ads, sponsored posts, etc)
• Other websites (your own site, competitor’s sites, publisher’s sites)

2. Which general channel the traffic came from (Medium).

It’s also important to know the general categorization of the source. That way, you can determine whether social media in general is a worthwhile investment, as an example. Organic search, social, CPC, and email are a few mediums you can use.

3. What type of content people clicked on (Content).

What gets the most clicks? An image, a sidebar link, or a menu link? You can tell this information with the content UTM parameter. This is essential for determining whether you need to add more images, for instance, or improve your sidebar link structure if no clicks are coming through that content.

4. Which term they used to access the page (Term).

UTM links can also help you see which terms are driving traffic to a specific page. By using the term parameter, you can determine which keywords are driving the most traffic to you, and which need more love.

Putting it all together, here’s what a UTM-tracked URL can look like:

blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-are-utm-tracking-codes-ht?utm_medium=paid&utm_source=google&utm_content=sponsored_ad&utm_term=utm+codes

Now, let’s take a closer look at the UTM parameters you can use.

UTM Parameter Examples

UTM codes can track a medium and a source within that medium. Where it gets more flexible is in the language you use to describe that source. Maybe you want to attribute website traffic to a social network, a type of content, or even the exact name of an advertisement on the web.

Here are the five things you can track with UTM codes and why you might track them:

1. Campaign

Campaign-based tracking tags group all of the content from one campaign in your analytics. The example UTM code below would help you attribute website traffic to links that were placed as a part of a 20% discount promotion you’re hosting.

Example: utm_campaign=20_off

2. Source

A source-based URL parameter can tell you which website is sending you traffic. You could add the example code below to every link you post to your Facebook page, helping you to track all traffic that comes from Facebook.

Example: utm_source=facebook

3. Medium

This type of tracking tag informs you of the medium that your tracked link is featured in. You can use the example UTM code below to track all traffic that comes from social media (as opposed to other mediums, like email).

Example: utm_medium=social_media

4. Piece of Content

This type of UTM code is used to track the specific types of content that point to the same destination from a common source and medium.

It’s often used in pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns or with two identical links on the same page, as shown in the sample UTM code below.

Example: utm_content=sidebar_link or utm_content=header_link

5. Term

A term- or keyword-based tracking code identifies the keywords you’ve paid for in a PPC ad. If you pay for a Google Ads campaign to rank under the keyword, “marketing software,” you might add the following UTM code to the end of the link you submit to Google to run this ad.

Example: utm_term=marketing+software

The best part about UTM parameters is that you can make any combination you like of these codes — use the bare minimum (campaign, source, and medium) to track all of your links, or use all of them to get super specific about your tracking.

UTM Tracking

UTM tracking entails adding a UTM code, a snippet of code, to the end of a URL in order to track the performance of your marketing campaigns and content as well as your website’s traffic sources.

UTM Tracking Best Practices

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when creating and using UTM tracking URLs:

• Make your URLs and links are consistent, clean, and easy to read (you may create a standard for link tagging/UTM parameter guide to ensure consistency here).
• Keep a list of your UTM links so everyone on your team knows which tagged links currently exist.
• Connect UTM tracking to your CRM (like HubSpot) to gain insight into how your bottom line looks.
• Be specific with your URL UTM parameters so your tags clearly state what you’re tracking and where.
• Stick with all lower or upper case — UTM codes are case-sensitive.
• Keep names short but descriptive (e.g. “US” versus “United_States”).

Okay, so you’re on board with UTM codes … but how the heck do you set them up? It’s easy.

Below are instructions for setting up and measuring UTM parameters in Google Analytics and HubSpot.

How to Build UTM Codes in Google Analytics

Here are the steps involved in building UTM codes in Google Analytics.

1. Open Google’s Campaign URL Builder.

There are three different types of tracking tags you can create in Google, two of which help you track traffic to new apps on app marketplaces. You’ll be using the Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder — the third option on this list.

2. Fill in each link attribute in the following form.

Visit the page linked above and click the link to see this URL builder. Then, you’ll see the UTM builder shown below. Add the URL, Campaign, Source, and Medium information into their respective boxes.

3. Use the link in your marketing campaign.

If you’d like to shorten it, you’ll need a tool like bit.ly … or just use HubSpot’s URL Builder if you’re a HubSpot customer.

4. Measure your success.

If you already have Google Analytics set up for your site, Google will automatically track incoming campaigns. Like in HubSpot, you can access them under “Audience,” then “Sources,” then “Campaigns.” Click on each campaign to view the source and medium.

And that’s it — you’ll have custom tracking codes set up and running in no time! In a few weeks, you’ll be able to make a case for what you need because you’ll have the right metrics available.

How to Build UTM Codes in HubSpot

Here’s how you’d go about building UTM codes in HubSpot.

1. Navigate to your Analytics Tools.

In your Marketing Hub dashboard, select “Reports” on the top navigation bar. Then select “Analytics Tools” in the dropdown, as shown below.

2. Open the Tracking URL Builder.

In the menu of analytics tools that appears, look to the very bottom-righthand corner. You’ll see the option, “Tracking URL Builder.” Click this option at the bottom of the page, as shown in the red box below.

3. Open the Tracking URL form to create a new UTM code.

Whenever you create a web campaign that includes at least one UTM code, you’ll see this campaign listed on the page shown below.

This page outlines a tracking tag’s source, medium, term, content, and creation date, which you can see along the bottom of the screenshot below. Click “Create Tracking URL” in the top-righthand corner.

4. Fill in each attribute of your UTM code and click “Create.”

In the form that appears, fill in the URL, Campaign, Source, and Medium fields. If you’d like to add Content and Term, you can do so in the bottom two fields of this form. When you’re done, you’ll see an orange “Create” button become available at the bottom.

Click it, and HubSpot will log your UTM code as a new campaign, and this link will be ready to include on any webpage from which you want to track the traffic.

5. Use the shortened link in your marketing campaign.

6. Measure your success.

You can track your UTM parameters in your Traffic Analytics dashboard under “Other Campaigns,” as shown below. Click on the individual campaign to break down the source and medium.

As you can see in the second image, below, the name of the campaign appears to the left — based on the text in the UTM code you created — with the traffic from people who used each URL to arrive at your campaign’s main webpage.

Now that you know how to set up UTM links, how do you use them? Let’s take a look.

How to Use UTM Links for Your Campaigns

You can use a combination of UTM codes and parameters in a lot of ways. Here’s how you can use them in your day-to-day as a marketer.

1. Track the success of a promotional campaign.

Dropping product prices or launching a new product can be daunting, because if there’s no measurable ROI, it’ll be wasted effort. Luckily, you can tell whether users are effectively arriving to your site from your promotional efforts using UTM codes.

Here’s one example for a product launch:

mywebsite.com/new-product?utm_campaign=product_launch&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=facebook

Or, if you’re running a discount campaign through Instagram influencers, here’s what a UTM link can look like:

mywebsite.com/sale?utm_campaign=20_off&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=instagram&utm_content=bio

2. See how well your social channels promote your content versus when your followers promote your content.

How do your organic social efforts stack up against your followers’ promotional efforts? You can create two UTM campaigns to find out.

For your own posts, you can share a link as follows:

mywebsite.com?utm_campaign=inhouse_social&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=post

Then, prompt your followers to share the word about you, but let them share the following link:

mywebsite.com?utm_campaign=followers&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=post

3. Measure the effectiveness of guest posting referral traffic.

If you’re guest posting on several industry websites, it’s essential to know whether those posts are driving traffic to your site. Guest posting can be a time-consuming, costly endeavor, especially if you’re paying a freelance writer or for a spot on the publication.

Whenever you create a guest post for another publisher, ensure all the links pointing to your website on that post have UTM parameters that tell you where the traffic came from. Here’s one example:

mywebsite.com?utm_campaign=guest_post&utm_medium=paid&utm_source=guest_post_site&utm_content=body

4. Track the same piece of content across multiple marketing channels.

This is probably one of the most useful ways to use UTM tracking codes: Creating different ones for the same piece of content, and using it across different platforms. You can drop the campaign parameter for this use case, and simply track the medium, source, and content.

Let’s say you want to track referral traffic from a video you posted on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Facebook. Here are the three different links you could use:

LinkedIn: mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_content=caption
YouTube: mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_content=description
Facebook: mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_content=caption

5. See where most people click on your internal links in a blog post.

Is your internal linking strategy working as intended? You can track where your content gets the most clicks by adding UTM parameters. Here are three examples:

Image: mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_source=blog&utm_content=image
Above the Fold: mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_source=blog&utm_content=above_the_fold
Bottom of the Post:mywebsite.com/my-content?utm_source=blog&utm_content=bottom

Note: Use this strategy with caution, as using too many UTM parameters in internal links can cause confusion to Google. You should use it on a small batch of internal links, collect the clicking patterns, delete the UTM links, and then act on those results for your future internal linking efforts.

As always, ensure that you’ve set a canonical URL for each link to minimize confusion and prevent duplicate indexing.

Start Creating UTM Tracking URLs

Use the steps, best practices, and tools above to start creating and using UTM tracking URLs so you’re able to track the performance of your marketing campaigns and content. That way, you can reliably boost your metrics and improve the ROI of your digital marketing strategy.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Have you ever made a high-stakes decision? If yes, did you contemplate for some time before landing on the “right” decision — and even then, still felt unsure about the best course of action?

In cases like those, you might need a decision tree. It’s more formal than a chat with a friend or a pros-and-cons list.

Here, we’ll show you how to create a decision tree and analyze risk versus reward. We’ll also look at a few examples so you can see how other marketers have used decision trees to become better decision makers.

Table of Contents

What is a decision tree?

Decision Tree Analysis

How to Create a Decision Tree

How to Create a Decision Tree in Excel

Decision Tree Examples

When it comes to marketing, decision-making can feel particularly risky. What is my colleague is so attached to a new product, she doesn’t want to mention any of its shortcomings? What if my marketing team doesn’t mind office growth, but they haven’t considered how it will affect our strategy long-term?

The visual element of a decision tree helps you include more potential actions and outcomes than you might’ve if you just talked about it, mitigating risks of unforeseen consequences.

Plus, the diagram allows you to include smaller details and create a step-by-step plan, so once you choose your path, it’s already laid out for you to follow.

A decision tree contains four elements: the root node, decision nodes, leaf nodes, and branches that connect them together.

• The root node is where the tree starts. It’s the big issue or decision you are addressing.
• As the name suggests, the decision nodes represent a decision in your tree. They are possible avenues to “solve” your main problem.
• The lead nodes represent possible outcomes of a decision. For instance, if you’re deciding where to eat for lunch, a potential decision node is eat a hamburger at McDonald’s. A corresponding leaf node could be: Save money by spending less than $5.
• Branches are the arrows that connect each element in a decision tree. Follow the branches to understand the risks and rewards of each decision.

Now let’s explore how to read and analyze the decisions in the tree.

Decision Tree Analysis [Example]

Let’s say you’re deciding where to advertise your new campaign:

1. On Facebook, using paid ads, or
2. On Instagram, using influencer sponsorships.

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll assume both options appeal to your ideal demographic and make sense for your brand.

Here’s a preliminary decision tree you’d draw for your advertising campaign:

As you can see, you want to put your ultimate objective at the top — in this case, Advertising Campaign is the decision you need to make.

Next, you’ll need to draw arrows (your branches) to each potential action you could take (your leaves).

For our example, you only have two initial actions to take: Facebook Paid Ads, or Instagram Sponsorships. However, your tree might include multiple alternative options depending on the objective.

Now, you’ll want to draw branches and leaves to compare costs. If this were the final step, the decision would be obvious: Instagram costs $10 less, so you’d likely choose that.

However, that isn’t the final step. You need to figure out the odds for success versus failure. Depending on the complexity of your objective, you might examine existing data in the industry or from prior projects at your company, your team’s capabilities, budget, time-requirements, and predicted outcomes. You might also consider external circumstances that could affect success.

Evaluating Risk Versus Reward

In the Advertising Campaign example, there’s a 50% chance of success or failure for both Facebook and Instagram. If you succeed with Facebook, your ROI is around $1,000. If you fail, you risk losing $200.

Instagram, on the other hand, has an ROI of $900. If you fail, you risk losing $50.

To evaluate risk versus reward, you need to find out Expected Value for both avenues. Here’s how you’d figure out your Expected Value:

• Take your predicted success (50%) and multiply it by the potential amount of money earned ($1000 for Facebook). That’s 500.
• Then, take your predicted chance of failure (50%) and multiply it by the amount of money lost (-$200 for Facebook). That’s -100.
• Add those two numbers together. Using this formula, you’ll see Facebook’s Expected Value is 400, while Instagram’s Expected Value is 425.

With this predictive information, you should be able to make a better, more confident decision — in this case, it looks like Instagram is a better option. Even though Facebook has a higher ROI, Instagram has a higher Expected Value, and you risk losing less money.

How to Create a Decision Tree

You can create a decision tree using the following steps. Remember: once you complete your tree, you can begin analyzing each decision to find the best course of action. 

1. Define your main idea or question.

The first step is identifying your root node. This is the main issue, question, or idea you want to explore. Write your root node at the top of your flowchart.

2. Add potential decisions and outcomes.

Next, expand your tree by adding potential decisions. Connect these decisions to the root node with branches. From here, write the obvious and potential outcomes of each decision.

3. Expand until you hit end points.

Remember to flesh out each decision in your tree. Each decision should eventually hit an end point, ensuring all outcomes rise to the surface. In other words, there’s no room for surprises.

4. Calculate risk and reward.

Now it’s time to crunch the numbers.

The most effective decision trees incorporate quantitative data. This allows you to calculate the expected value of each decision. The most common data is monetary. 

5. Evaluate outcomes.

The last step is evaluating outcomes. In this step, you are determining which decision is most ideal based on the amount of risk you’re willing to take. Remember, the highest-value decision may not be the best course of action. Why? Although it comes with a high reward, it may also bring a high level of risk.

It’s up to you — and your team — to determine the best outcome based on your budget, timeline, and other factors.

While the Advertising Campaign example had qualitative numbers to use as indicators of risk versus reward, your decision tree might be more subjective.

For instance, perhaps you’re deciding whether your small startup should merge with a bigger company. In this case, there could be math involved, but your decision tree might also include more quantitative questions, like: Does this company represent our brand values? Yes/No. Do our customers benefit from the merge? Yes/No.

To clarify this point, let’s take a look at some diverse decision tree examples.

Decision Tree Examples

The following example is from SmartDraw, a free flowchart maker:

Example One: Project Development

Here’s another example from Become a Certified Project Manager blog:

Example 2: Office Growth

Here’s an example from Statistics How To:

Example 3: Develop a New Product

To see more examples or use software to build your own decision tree, check out some of these resources:

• IBM SPSS Decision Trees
• LucidChart Decision Tree Software
• Zingtree Interactive Decision Tree Template

Back to You

Remember, one of the best perks of a decision tree is its flexibility. By visualizing different paths you might take, you might find a course of action you hadn’t considered before, or decide to merge paths to optimize your results.