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Out of all the entertaining ads that played during Super Bowl 53, there’s only one commercial that I woke up thinking about the next morning: Pepsi’s “More Than OK”.

“More Than OK” poked fun at how Pepsi usually takes a back seat to Coke, especially at restaurants. And by featuring a star-studded cast that included Steve Carell, Lil Jon, and Cardi-B (who hilariously and fervently backed up Pepsi’s OKness) their boldness to call people out for undermining Pepsi’s quality got a lot of laughs and persuaded a massive audience to reconsider their own perception of the soft drink.

As marketers, we know that if we want to persuade an audience, we need to evoke an emotional response from them. But how do you actually do that? Below, we’ll examine six persuasive advertising techniques you can use in your advertisements, five examples you can reference if you ever need some inspiration, and three informative advertisement examples that are surprisingly just as compelling as the persuasive advertising examples.

1. The Carrot and The Stick

Humans are hardwired to move towards pleasure, like a horse towards a carrot, and away from pain, like a donkey avoids a stick. When people read or watch your advertisements, “carrots”, or promises of gain, can fill your prospects with hope and compel them to pursue that potential feeling of pleasure. “Sticks”, possibilities of loss, evoke fear in your prospects, which will compel them to flee from that potential feeling of pain.

Both tactics can pull your prospects into a narrative and evoke emotions that inspire your desired action. Carrots, like a product’s benefit, entice people to take a desired action. Sticks, on the other hand, like anti-smoking campaigns, evoke fear in people to stop doing a certain action and start doing the alternative. To better understand how to craft advertisements that feature a carrot or stick, check out these insurance copywriting examples below.

Carrot: “15 minutes could save you 15% on car insurance.” — Geico

Stick: “Get All-State. You can save money and be better protected from Mayhem like me. ” — All-State

As you can see, Geico’s ad uses a small time investment that could potentially produce big gains as a lure to get you to buy their product. Conversely, All-State’s ad uses the character “Mayhem” to evoke fear into people to stop using their “inferior” insurance and start using All-State’s.

2. The Scarcity Principle

People value objects and experiences that are rare — having something that most people want, but can’t have, boosts our sense of self-worth and power. If you use words and phrases that imply scarcity and evoke a sense of urgency, like “Exclusive offer” or “Limited availability”, you can skyrocket your product’s perceived scarcity and consumer demand.

3. One Message Per Advertisement

To immediately hook people and persuade them to read or watch the rest of your advertisement, try sticking to only one message. Spotlighting your product or offer’s main benefit or feature will make it easy for your customers to understand its value and increase the likelihood of their conversion because you’re only conveying one message to your audience: your product’s main feature will benefit your customer’s life somehow, someway.

4. Write in the Second Person

Since your prospects primarily care about how you can help them, and pronouns like “you” and “your” can engage them on a personal level and help them insert themselves in the narrative you’re creating, writing advertisements in the second person can instantly grip their attention and help them imagine a future with your product or service bettering their lives.

5. Give Your Audience a Sense of Control

According to a research study conducted by three psychology professors at Rutgers University, the need for control is a biological and psychological necessity. People have to feel like they have control over their lives.

If you want to give your audience a sense of control, you need to give them the ability to choose. In other words, after reading or watching your advertisement, they must feel like they can choose between the option you suggest or another path. If they feel like you’re trying to force them to buy your product, they’ll get annoyed and disengage from your message.

To give your audience the ability to choose, and in turn, a sense of control, use phrases like “Feel free” or “No pressure” in your advertisements, like this example from Hotwire.com below.

6. Use a Call-to-Value Instead of a Call-to-Action

Call-to-actions are crucial for getting prospects to take the next step, but a “Download Now” or “Call Now” CTA isn’t always going to convince the more skeptical prospects to take your desired action. You need to make sure your ad’s last line of copy or quip is the best of them all.

So instead of writing an uninspiring, final line of copy like “Download Now”, write one that clearly communicates your offer’s value and gives a glimpse into your prospects’ potential life if they take your desired action, like this call-to-value prompting readers to download a blogging eBook: “Click today and be a blogger tomorrow.”

Persuasive Advertising Examples

1. Nikol

Image Credit: Brilliant Ads

Showing — not telling — your audience about your product’s benefits is one of the best ways to capture attention and get an emotional response. Obviously, Nikol’s paper towels can’t actually turn grapes into raisins, but this ad highlights the product’s absorbent powers in a such a clear and clever way, they didn’t need write a single line of copy.

2. Heinz

Image Credit: Brilliant Ads

In relation to food, the word “hot” has multiple meanings: having a high temperature and being spicy. Heinz brilliantly used the connotation of high temperature to highlight the spiciness of their ketchup, and their creative method of communicating the value of their product helped them instantly attract people’s attention.

3. Mondo Pasta

Image Credit: Brilliant Ads

With this crafty use of guerrilla marketing, Mondo Pasta perfectly aligns their copy with their creative — the guy slurping the noodle literally “can’t let go” because its a rope tied to a dock. By designing such a visual, unexpected, and literal ad with a seemingly one-dimensional prop, people’s eyes can’t let go of this ad either.

4. Bic

Image Credit: Brilliant Ads

Another example of guerrilla marketing, Bic takes advantage of an unkept field to highlight the power of their razors. By just mowing a small strip of grass on a field, this ad is an unconventional, simple, and extremely creative way to catch people’s attention and spotlight a razor’s shaving capabilities.

5. Siemens

Image Credit: Brilliant Ads

Siemens’ skillful ad shows the benefits of their product by unexpectedly placing their washers and dryers in a library to show you that they’re so quiet, even a librarian wouldn’t need to shush them.

1. Drink Responsibly

Image Credit: Bloggs74

Even though this ad might seem like it’s only aiming to evoke fear in its target audience, it actually leans on the facts to get their message across. If you drink and drive, your risk of crashing skyrockets 11 fold. And by focusing on this alarming reality, this ad can persuade people to get an Uber or Lyft home after a night out instead of getting behind the wheel.

2. Miller Lite

After Bud Light took some jabs at Miller Lite for using corn syrup in their beer during their Super Bowl 53 ads, Miller Lite decided to throw a few punches back. A day later on Twitter, they revealed that their beer actually has less calories and carbs than Bud Light, which helped them persuade people that drinking Bud Light and Miller Lite actually have similar health benefits.

3. Siskiyou Eye Center

There’s an old folk tale that carrots can improve your eyesight, but science has actually debunked this myth. That’s why this Siskiyou Eye Center ad is such a creative informative advertisement. While it pokes fun at this common fable, it’s still relying on the facts of carrots not being able to improve your vision and the Eye Center’s ability to provide quality treatment for your eyes to persuade people to do business with them.

Persuasive advertising vs. informative advertising: which one is better?

Persuasive advertising and informative advertising definitely focus on different aspects of persuasion, but they still aim to achieve the same goal: convincing your audience to take a desired action. So whether you pursue one advertising strategy or another, remember that if you can trigger an emotional response, regardless of the stimuli, your ad will be a success.

Whether you interact daily with your company’s CMO or are considering hiring one for your own company, it can be tricky to identify what a CMO does and why a CMO is critical to your company’s success.

In fact, a quick LinkedIn search of “Chief Marketing Officer” results in people with bios ranging from “creating customer-first interactions that ultimately drive loyalty and evangelism” to “coordinating marketing budgets in accordance with our organizational goals on a daily basis”.

In short, a CMO is often a broad title that can vary depending on the size of the business, the company’s goals, or the leadership team’s vision and priorities.

To help you better understand the role and daily function of a CMO, keep reading.

What is a chief marketing officer (CMO)?

A chief marketing officer (or CMO, for short), is a C-level corporate executive who faciliates growth for the business by developing and implementing an extensive marketing plan.

The CMO’s marketing plan needs to help the company increase brand awareness, earn or retain a competitive advantage in the marketplace, and ensure each internal team’s marketing strategy is aligned with the company’s broader goals.

To better understand the role of a chief marketing officer, I asked Kipp Bodnar, HubSpot’s CMO, to describe the position in his own words.

Bodnar told me — “Today, a CMO has to balance establishing the brand and point-of-view for their business while being deeply analytical in their ability to drive business demand and test strategies.”

Bodnar added, “CMO’s are technologists and use more technology than ever before to deliver a remarkable customer experience. As technologists they have orchestrated systems, workflows, and data at scale to the entire go-to-market. ”

Here’s a list of a CMO’s typical responsibilities:

• Develop innovative marketing strategies that result in increased revenue and brand recognition
• Implement processes that result in greater efficiencies across the organization
• Lead and inspire marketing teams to arrive at unique solutions for their customers
• Work hand-in-hand with other departments, like sales and service, to ensure marketing objectives are aligned with overall company goals and will ultimately drive business growth
• Research and assess the company’s current position in the market, and stay up-to-date on industry trends
• Work with internal and external PR teams to create a coordinated message

In short, a CMO needs to drive both awareness and demand for a company’s products or services.

Additionally, as a member of the executive team, a CMO needs strong leadership and communication skills, as well as a level of business acumen that enables them to effectively communicate with internal marketing and sales teams, the executive board, and external stakeholders to ensure the company is aligned in their marketing efforts and vision.

A whopping number of emails hit your subscribers’ inboxes each day. With so much competition for attention, it’s inevitable that a percentage of your subscriber list will lose interest in and stop engaging with your email marketing campaigns. It may not seem like a huge deal, but as a great percentage of your list stops engaging, the greater the risk you run of damaging your sender reputation and your email deliverability rates.

So, how can you address this issue? By creating special re-engagement emails targeted directly at your “inactive” subscribers.

Re-engagement emails play a vital role in the email lifecycle

Marketing Sherpa reports that, on average, marketers lose 25% of their email list each year (simply to attrition). Therefore, list retention should be an absolute must for all email marketers.

When done well, re-engagement emails can reduce list churn rates and boost incremental engagement. In terms of deliverability, re-engaging your inactive subscribers can enhance or at least help you maintain inbox placement rates for your emails. Often, if your overall engagement levels drop significantly, ISPs are more likely to consider you a low-quality sender, block, and make your engagement problems even worse.

So what does an effective re-engagement email look like? Here are 10 examples to inspire your next campaign effort.

10 Re-engagement Email Examples to Woo the Inactive Subscribers

1. Lowe’s

This re-engagement email draws attention to the improvements in their products since the last subscriber engagement. They have tactfully highlighted how more than 5 million members are using their services. Social sharing buttons are clearly visible in the email footer — hoping to push more engagement in other channels as well.

2. Animoto

Animoto sends out a simple question: Do you still want to hear from us? Their focus is on allowing subscribers to update their email preferences through a prominent CTA button that directs them to a preference center.

3. BirchBox

We all love surprises. BirchBox makes use of that emotional instinct in their re-engagement emails. They provide subscribers with two interesting options — a very rewarding way to re-engage!

4. Grammarly

Grammarly re-engages inactive subscribers by presenting them with a “Wrinkle in Time” badge. The prominent CTA button ‘GO’ tempts the users to use their service again. They also promote their premium version at the bottom of the email and hint at a special price as well.

5. Path

Path is a photo-editing app that showcases all their new features to entice inactive subscribers. The ‘Update Now’ CTA stands out and drives engagements by pushing subscribers to update their app.

6. ReturnPath

ReturnPath builds a brief background for the re-engagement and allows the subscriber to choose the types of communications they wish to receive. They demonstrate how the preference center works and end the email with two cute illustrations accompanied with related CTA buttons for options for engagement.

7. SurfStitch

This re-engagement email attempts to feature everything that an inactive subscriber might have missed. They include a provision for the subscriber to adjust email frequency. And they don’t miss out on this opportunity to remind subscribers of their value propositions at the bottom (free express delivery, return policy, and customer service).

8. Urban Outfitters

This re-engagement email by Urban Outfitters is a perfect blend of humor and emotional appeal. It’s brand-appropriate, and likely stands out very well from their normal marketing emails.

9. Paul Mitchell

Paul Mitchell starts off their re-engagement email with an emotional ‘We hate goodbyes,’ informing the subscriber that it’s the last email to them. They include their products in a sad or worried face and drive readers prominently to a CTA to stay subscribed.

10. Asthma Foundation

Non-profit organizations can use re-engagement emails effectively as well — especially when it comes to convincing previous donors to demonstrate their generosity once more. This email by the Asthma Foundation deftly illustrates asthma triggers and quickly goes into persuasion mode to get the subscriber to make another contribution.

11. Planet Fitness

Sometimes the easiest way to re-engage someone is by offering them a great and exclusive deal. In this email Planet Fitness offers a discounted deposit for people who re-join their gym within a certain period of time. Their usual deposit it $10 for a non-commitment subscription, so they’ve offered a 90% discount in the example below.

12. Hootsuite

Hootsuite regularly sends emails to inactive customers that tell them what’s changed since they’ve logged in last. The company also explains how and why its changes, recommended by customers, have improved the platform.

In this humble approach, Hootsuite admits that its a growing platform that wants to hear from its customers and that it has improved on things that might have caused the inactive user to leave. 

We Miss You Email

We Miss You emails one obvious way that some brands might reach back out to previous customers or website users. Rather than calling out someone for being inactive or not visiting a site in a while, “We Miss You” can sound like a nice way of saying, “We care about customers that haven’t returned back. Example 13, below, shows how this can be effective. 

13. HBO Shop

In this email, HBO Shop, the official HBO store shows inactive old customers the new products its now offering. The email also nicely admits that the HBO store misses the customer. 

Like Planet Fitness, HBO Shop also aims to reward previous customers for returning to the store with a 20%-off welcome back promo code.

Get ready to re-engage.

Subscriber inactivity is a fact of life. How you handle it makes all the difference. Take these subscribers as an opportunity to try new content and innovative approaches to see how you can bring your old customers back and get you new sales.

Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in December 2017, but was updated in October 2019 for comprehensiveness.

As Elle Woods once said, “Whoever said orange is the new pink was seriously disturbed.”

If you haven’t seen Legally Blonde, Elle was referring to an attempt made by a brand to influence consumer behavior. However, its attempt fell short because the fictitious company failed to align with its target audience.

According to Salesforce, 76% of consumers expect companies to understand their needs and expectations. 

In other words, customers want companies to understand their behavior. That’s why understanding and influencing consumer behavior is essential for a marketer.

Below, let’s discuss the theory of consumer behavior, then review some expert strategies for understanding and influencing customers.

The Theory of Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is the study of how people spend their money. This is typically studied by economists so we can better understand how personal taste and income shape the economy. However, marketers also use this information to market their products.

To study consumer behavior and learn more about your buyer persona, consider the answers to these questions:

• How do your customers feel about certain brands or products?
• Why do they select one product over another?
• What’s their research process like?
• Do they prefer to shop online?
• How important are reviews to their purchasing decisions?

Ultimately, the goal is to understand why consumers make the decisions they do so you can better market to them.

To fully understand consumer behavior, consider these factors that go into making a purchase:

Psychological

When people buy something, their mental headspace and mindset play a large factor. Ultimately, their perception, attitude, and background influence their final purchase.

Personal

Personal identification factors like age, financial background, culture, interests, and hobbies also play a role in a purchasing decision.

Social

Customers consider other people’s thoughts and opinions before buying a product. They think, “What do my family and friends think of this product?” and, “How are the reviews?” Sometimes, they’ll consider these elements without even thinking about it.

Consumer behavior as a marketing method emerged in the 1940s and 50s when marketing shifted away from relying on economics and instead focused on other disciplines like psychology and sociology. This lead to the development of an array of theories that analyze consumer behavior.

Consumer Behavior Theories

There are five main schools of thought regarding consumer behavior:

1. Psychoanalytic Theory

This theory states that consumers make purchasing decisions based on their feelings, hopes, aspirations, and fears. For example, if someone aspires to be a singer they’re likely to purchase voice lessons or music recording software.

2. Veblenian Social-Psychological Theory

This model asserts that humans are social creatures and make purchases based on societal and cultural norms. For example, as gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options are becoming more prevalent in society, consumers are becoming more likely to purchase those options from restaurants.

3. Reasoned Action Theory

This is the theory that consumers make purchases when they expect a specific result. That’s why marketers need to associate a positive result with purchasing their product. For example, marketers for a personal trainer associate overall health and weight loss with their workout program.

4. Maslow’s Motivation-Need Theory

Maslow, a psychologist in the 1950s, created a needs-based hierarchy that explains why people make purchases. The hierarchy asserts that people buy things to fulfill needs: psychological (survival), safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. For example, people buy alarm systems for their homes because they value and need safety.

5. Hawkins Stern Impulse Buying Theory

Although there are many reasons people buy things, sometimes very little thought goes into it. Impulse purchases occur when people buy products based on external stimuli. For example, if people see a candy bar in the checkout line, they might purchase it just because it’s there.

For all these theories, creating a buyer persona will help you better understand your customer’s motivations.

So, how can you influence consumer behavior in your marketing campaigns? Let’s consult the experts.

Marketing Experts Reveal Consumer Behavior Strategies

In this section, we’ve gathered some consumer behavior strategies from expert marketers across various industries. Take a look at their tips to improve the impact of your next marketing campaign.

1. Dave Cherry – Cherry Advisory

Marketing Strategy: Predicting consumer behavior

An executive strategy advisor at Cherry Advisory, Cherry speaks about predicting consumer behavior.

He says, “The insights gained by knowing what a customer is going to do with accuracy is exponentially more valuable than knowing what they previously did (transactional data) or their demographic profiles.”

With this in mind, if marketers can accurately predict consumer behavior, they’ll see great success in their marketing campaigns.

For retailers, predicting consumer behavior can be as easy as understanding how the holidays impact purchasing decisions. Cherry says, “Using data from Prosper Insights, NRF frequently publishes their outlook on total spend, (e.g. Mother’s Day spending is expected to increase by x% this year) as well as category spend, (e.g. flowers are predicted to be up y% and candy down z%). Many retailers can predict category/department, and sometimes choice level sales across their chain accurately.”

While not all industries can use holidays as a predictor, especially B2B companies, seasonality can impact most industries. Think about when companies spend the most money. Is it the first quarter or the fourth quarter? When do people invest? These questions can help predict consumer behavior for B2B companies that can’t necessarily rely on the same predictors for B2C companies.

Predicting consumer behavior essentially means to have the right product at the right price at the right time. Cherry says, “The right time not only refers to having inventory but also establishing that connection with customers within the right context. That’s a challenge that many are still working to resolve.”

2. Alex Birkett – HubSpot

Marketing Strategy: Collecting consumer behavior

As a senior marketing manager at HubSpot, Birkett is focused on achieving growth.

He says, “the best way to understand consumer behavior is to define your analytics strategy, map out critical behavioral events on the customer journey, define your business-critical goals and metrics, and find a way to instrument tracking for all of these. Through experimentation, segmentation, and cohort analysis, you can begin to learn more about what factors actually influence consumer behavior and what the impact of an experience is.” 

On the other hand, “the worst way to predict consumer behavior is by asking consumers directly what they’re going to do or what they think; revealed preferences are generally different than stated preferences, and consumers are normally quite bad at articulating what they actually want and will do. Qualitative data can be great for experimentation ideation and discovering pain points, but it’s very bad for diagnosis, causality, or telling you how to fix that pain point.”

With this in mind, the best way to learn what factors influence consumer behavior is by running trustworthy controlled experiments.

3. Dayne Topkin – HubSpot

Marketing Strategy: Understanding consumer behavior

As a marketing manager at HubSpot, Topkin focuses on user experience (UX) and understanding user behavior.

He says, “There are several ways you could go about capturing your customers’ motivation for interacting with your brand, and a lot of it will depend on how you have things structured and where your audience is engaging with the brand/company.”

You could consider surveys, social media, or customer interviews. Engaging with your customers can help you understand their decisions.

Topkin adds, “You would be surprised at how willing users are to chat with you and share their experiences. These sessions should only last between 15-20 minutes and you should come prepared with specific questions to ask. We use Zoom for these user interviews/sessions and I’ve gained a ton of insight from these. Additionally, if you have any workflows set up for nurturing you might include an email that invites a user to talk about their experience with someone at your company then have a specific set of questions prepared for that session.”

Additionally, you have to think about scalability as well. “A lot of organizations struggle with this because their methods are too grandiose and aren’t scalable in the long run. Automate as much as you can as well — surveys, form fields, workflows, etc.,” Topkin says.

4. Tim Friesner – Marketing Teacher

Marketing Strategy: Studying consumer behavior

As a marketing teacher, Friesner designs online marketing courses and training.

To study consumer behavior, he says you need to provide value and customer satisfaction as well as effectively target your customers.

Additionally, you want to understand how customers view your product versus your competitors. What’s your competitive advantage? How can you improve your products and services?

If you keep these things in mind, you should begin to understand how to market your product or service to your customers.

5. Lars Perner – USC Marshall

Marketing Strategy: Applying consumer behavior

As a marketing teacher, Perner is an assistant professor of clinical marketing at USC.

He says, “The most obvious application of consumer behavior is for marketing strategy—i.e., for making better marketing campaigns. For example, by understanding that consumers are more receptive to food advertising when they are hungry, we learn to schedule snack advertisements late in the afternoon.”

Additionally, you can apply your knowledge of consumer behavior in social marketing. Social marketing involves getting ideas across to consumers rather than selling something. This comes down to the social factor of purchasing something. Consumers consider cultural norms and think about how other people view them.

Understanding consumer behavior isn’t an easy task. However, you can use these theories of consumer behavior to strategize your next marketing campaign.

Want to learn more about analyzing consumer behavior? Check out our beginner’s guide.

Sometimes, commercials really get me.

T-Mobile‘s Super Bowl commercial this year is a prime example — “What’s for Dinner?” demonstrates the infuriating process of choosing what to do for dinner for a young couple, and it’s gold.

The reason T-Mobile’s ad was so relatable is because of their market research. They looked at what their target audiences wanted — including their thought processes, what informs their decisions, and the trade-offs they’re willing to make for their products.

To accomplish all of these important factors in one go, many companies use conjoint analysis.

Think about buying a new phone. Attributes you might consider are color, size, and model. The reason phone companies include these specs in their marketing is due to research such as conjoint analysis.

Would consumers purchase this product or service if brought to market? That’s the question conjoint analysis strives to answer. It’s a quantitative measure in marketing research, meaning it measures numbers rather than open-ended questions. Questions on the phone company survey would include price points, color preference, and camera quality.

Surveys intended for conjoint analysis are formatted to reflect the buyer’s journey.

For instance, notice in this example for televisions, the specs are the options and the consumer picks what best reflects their lifestyle:

Image Source

This direct method of giving consumers multiple profiles to then analyze is how conjoint analysis got its name. These answers are helpful when determining how to market a new product.

If answers on the phone company survey proved that their target audience of adults ages 18-25 wanted a green phone from $400-600 and a camera with portrait mode, advertisements can cater directly to that.

The conjoint analysis shows what consumers are willing to give up in order to get what they need. For instance, some might be willing to pay a little more money for a larger model of a phone if their preference is larger text.

Types of Conjoint Analysis

Choice-based conjoint (CBC) and Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA) are the two main types of conjoint analysis.

Choice-based is the most common form because it asks consumers to mimic their buying habits. ACA is helpful for product design, offering more questions about specs of a product.

Choice-based conjoint analysis questions are usually presented in a “Would you rather?” format. For example, “Would you rather take a ride-share service to a location 10 minutes away for $13 or walk 30 minutes for free?” The marketer for the ride-share service could use answers from this question to think of the upsides to show off in different campaigns.

ACA leans towards a Likert-scale format (most likely to least likely) for its attribute-based questions. Respondents can base their preference on specs by showing how likely they are to buy a product with slight differences — for example, similar cars with different doors and manufacturers.

Examples of Conjoint Analysis

Sawtooth Software offers a great example of conjoint analysis for a phone company:

Image Source

The analysis puts three different phone services next to each other. The horizontal column of the model identifies which service is offering a certain program, described by the vertical values. The bottom row shows a percent value of consumers’ preferences.

QuestionPro offers this fun, interactive conjoint analysis template about retirement home options. The survey gives you a scenario and asks your course of action. For instance, it asks if you would sign a rental agreement for retirement home housing immediately, and considers specs like rent, meals, size, etc.

Conjoint analysis isn’t limited to existing products. They’re also very helpful for figuring out if a brand-new product is worth developing. For instance, if surveys show that audiences would be into the idea of an app that chooses clothes for consumers, that could be a new venture for clothing companies in the future.

Looking to create a conjoint analysis of your own? Software is available that’ll offer templates and collect data from your results. Qualtrics is a popular one, as well as QuestionPro.

It’s important to note — when creating a conjoint analysis, you’ll need to define a list of attributes about your product. Attributes are usually 4-5 items that describe your product or service. Consider color, size, price, and market-specific attributes, such as lenses if you’re selling cameras.

Additionally, try to keep in mind your ideal respondents. Who do you want to answer your survey? A group of adult men? A group of working mothers? Identify your respondent base and ask specific questions catered to that target market.

For more ways to introduce product marketing into your company, check out our ultimate guide here.

Advertising is changing — in fact, in 2020, companies will spend more than $250 billion on media advertising for the first time in U.S. history.

More companies are spending money on advertising than ever before. As a result, there are now innumerable platforms you can use to promote your product, service, or business.

But how do you choose the right medium to promote your platform? And once you decide, how do you actually make the ad?

There’s a lot that goes into making an advertisement — from market research, to choosing the right medium, to developing creative assets. To simplify the process for you, we’ve outlined the necessary steps you’ll need to take in order to bring your ad to life and start promoting your business in the right way.

Keep reading to learn our recommended 10-step process on how to make an ad.

Featured Resource: Advertising Planning Templates & Kit

To make your advertising planning easier, use HubSpot’s free Advertising Planning Kit. Included are templates to help you plan and present your ad pitch, schedule your release dates, and inform your stakeholders. We’ve also thrown in an advertising best practices guide to help you choose the advertising method that works best for your business.

1. Choose Your Target Audience

When making an ad, you’ll first need to decide the audience you’re making the ad for. People see up to 10,000 ads in a day (yup, that’s a real number), so your advertisement may end up being white noise if not targeted correctly.

One way to help your ad find the right audience is to get granular on whom you want to target with your messaging, which will help you incorporate the best messaging and select the best advertising platform. This should be based off of your buyer personas — semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.

If you need help building your personas, try using HubSpot’s Make My Persona tool.

2. Conduct Marketing Research

Market research is an essential part of campaign promotion. Feeding into your buyer personas, market research can answer key questions about your target market, such as:

• How old are they?
• What do they spend most of their time doing?
• What social media platforms do they use, if any?
• Do they live in suburban, urban, or rural areas?

Knowing the above information about your target audience can help you answer questions like — TV or YouTube? Instagram or LinkedIn? Billboard or bus? — because you’ll understand more about how to appeal to the right people.

You can use this Market Research Guide and Set of Templates to get started on market research for your ad.

3. Choose Your Platform

Your market research should give you the insight and confidence you need to choose the most effective platform to reach your target audience. You should also do some supplemental research on the costs, ROI, and benefits of certain ad platforms and methods.

You may come to the realization that using multiple ad platforms and methods would be the right move for your campaign – such as social media and search engine ads. This is actually a great strategy, as it casts a wider net and opens up the possibility of reaching even more prospects where they already are.

4. Decide on a Budget

For advertising, you need to spend money to make money.

Getting your budget approved can be difficult, so make it easier to get what you need by clearly outlining:

• The total budget you need
• How the costs are broken down
• A projected ROI (or business impact)

Be sure to come to any budget meeting prepared to answer whatever questions could be thrown at you and to defend the specifics.

For instance, saying “We need $10,000 to run a Google Ads campaign” doesn’t sound nearly as compelling as “We’d like to run a series of ads on Google. Here’s a list of our keywords and negative keywords, their monthly search volume, and our preliminary bids for each. With these projections, we’re expecting to bring in 400 new contacts next month for a total cost of $10,000.”

5. Craft a Message

By this point, you know your target audience and your preferred platform, but you’re still not sure what you’re saying. Here’s where you’ll want to think about the broad purpose of your campaign to inspire your ad.

Do you want people to come to your store, or visit your website? Is your immediate goal to drive free signups for your software, or ebook downloads? Think about the message and how that can feed into the end goal(s) of your ad campaign.

For inspiration, take a look at The 18 Best Advertisements of All Time.

6. Develop Creative Assets

Whether it’s copy for a Google Ad or a flashy landing page from your in-house designers, all ads need creative assets. Chances are, most of the ads you run will need one or more of the following:

• Short, promotional copy (for image ads and online ads)
• Long-form copy (for video scripts)
• Photographs (for online ads)
• Custom-designed images and/or animations (for online ads and video ads)
• Video (for…video ads)
• GIFs (for online ads)

All of these assets can be overwhelming, and if you’re thinking “I’m not a videographer/writer/designer/photographer!”, that’s totally fine. If these resources aren’t available to you in-house to help make your ad, consider hiring a team of freelancers or an agency to help you produce these deliverables and make an outstanding advertisement.

7. Determine Measurements of Success and Set Up Tracking

No matter if your ultimate goal is Page Likes, online purchases, or promo code uses, you should never launch an ad without first being crystal clear on two questions:

1. What do we want to see in order to call this ad successful?
2. How are we measuring success?

You already thought of your advertisement’s goal in Step 5, so now, make the expectations of your campaign known by setting up the proper ad tracking.

If you’re advertising online, there’s a good chance the platform you’re using — like Facebook, Google, or LinkedIn — has an ad management and tracking platform, allowing you to see how many interactions your ads have had and how much they cost.

However, you’ll also want to take a few extra steps to aid in your analysis down the line:

• Use an automated free ad tracking platform to measure advertising ROI and see how your ads tie into larger marketing projects and campaigns. You can also use this platform to compare ads from different sites, say, if you were running ads on both Instagram and Twitter.
• Set up a custom tracking spreadsheet offline to measure engagements with your ad and other data points like cost, conversion, and advertising ROI, especially if your ad is online.
• Use custom tracking tokens for links promoted in your ad so that you can analyze engagement and conversions on your own website.

8. Launch Your Ad

The stage is set, and you can finally launch your ad for the world to see.

Needless to say, the process of launching an ad on Google is different than on Bing. The same can be said for every social media channel, TV ads, or transportation ads.

Here’s a list of the more detailed, step-by-step process for launching an ad on some of these platforms. Click through to learn more about the platform or platforms that you’re creating an ad for:

• How to Launch a Facebook Ad
• How to Launch a LinkedIn Ad
• How to Launch an Instagram Ad
• How to Launch a Twitter Ad
• How to Launch a YouTube Ad
• How to Launch a Google Ad
• How to Launch a TV Ad
• How to Launch a Billboard Ad

9. Track & Analyze Performance

For campaigns that have a set run time (transportation, television, etc.), determine how the ad’s results performed against expectations. Since it’s difficult to draw a one-to-one comparison for these ad types, you may want to look at general business trends, change in revenue, or even social media/press mentions to gauge success.

For online ads, this process is a bit easier. Results start coming in immediately, so you can see how well your ads are performing instantly, and over time. Take note of the ads that are bringing in high numbers at low costs and — just as importantly — ads that are costing a lot but not performing that well.

Remember, you can take the headache out of the manual ad tracking with a free online ads tracking tool.

10. Make Changes, Rinse, and Repeat

Once your ad campaign is over (or if it’s an ongoing online campaign), take your learnings and apply them to your next advertisement.

For instance, maybe you realized your online ads that were wordier performed worse than ads that were more concise, or that YouTube just didn’t work this time around. Lean into what worked (or is working) and abandon what’s not to continue to strengthen your company’s advertising program.

Making Your Ad, Simplified

And there you have it — a simple 10-step process for planning, creating, launching, and analyzing an advertisement. Remember to use an advertising planning template to outline your ad campaign, keep all contributors informed, and rally behind the same end goal for your business.

Sometimes, Excel seems too good to be true. All I have to do is enter a formula, and pretty much anything I’d ever need to do manually can be done automatically. Need to merge two sheets with similar data? Excel can do it. Need to do simple math? Excel can do it. Need to combine information in multiple cells? Excel can do it.

If you encounter a situation where you need to manually update your data, you’re probably missing out on a formula that can do it for you.

Before spending hours and hours counting cells or copying and pasting data, look for a quick fix on Excel — you’ll likely find one.

In the spirit of working more efficiently and avoiding tedious, manual work, here are a few Excel tricks to get you started with how to use Excel. (And to all the Harry Potter fans out there … you’re welcome in advance.)

Excel Basics

If you’re just starting out with Excel, there are a few basic commands that we suggest you become familiar with. These are things like:

• Creating a new spreadsheet from scratch.
• Executing basic computations in a spreadsheet, like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing in a spreadsheet.
• Writing and formatting column text and titles.
• Excel’s auto-fill features.
• Adding or deleting single columns, rows, and spreadsheets. Below, we’ll get into how to add things like multiple columns and rows.
• Keeping column and row titles visible as you scroll past them in a spreadsheet, so that you know what data you’re filling as you move further down the document.

For a deep dive on these basics, check out our comprehensive guide on How to Use Excel.

Okay, ready to get into the nitty-gritty? Let’s get to it.

1. Use Pivot Tables to recognize and make sense of data.

Pivot Tables are used to reorganize data in a spreadsheet. They won’t change the data that you have, but they can sum up values and compare different information in your spreadsheet, depending on what you’d like them to do.

Let’s take a look at an example. Let’s say I want to take a look at how many people are in each house at Hogwarts. You may be thinking that I don’t have too much data, but for longer data sets, this will come in handy.

To create the Pivot Table, I go to Data > Pivot Table. Excel will automatically populate your Pivot Table, but you can always change around the order of the data. Then, you have four options to choose from.

1. Report Filter: This allows you to only look at certain rows in your dataset. For example, if I wanted to create a filter by house, I could choose to only include students in Gryffindor instead of all students.
2. Column Labels: These could be your headers in the dataset.
3. Row Labels: These could be your rows in the dataset. Both Row and Column labels can contain data from your columns (e.g. First Name can be dragged to either the Row or Column label — it just depends on how you want to see the data.)
4. Value: This section allows you to look at your data differently. Instead of just pulling in any numeric value, you can sum, count, average, max, min, count numbers, or do a few other manipulations with your data. In fact, by default, when you drag a field to Value, it always does a count.

Since I want to count the number of students in each house, I’ll go to the Pivot Table and drag the House column to both the Row Labels and the Values. This will sum up the number of students associated with each house.

2. Add more than one row or column.

As you play around with your data, you might find you’re constantly needing to add more rows and columns. Sometimes, you may even need to add hundreds of rows. Doing this one-by-one would be super tedious. Luckily, there’s always an easier way.

To add multiple rows or columns in a spreadsheet, highlight the same number of preexisting rows or columns that you want to add. Then, right-click and select “Insert.”

In the example below, I want to add an additional three rows. By highlighting three rows and then clicking insert, I’m able to add an additional three blank rows into my spreadsheet quickly and easily.

3. Use filters to simplify your data.

When you’re looking at very large data sets, you don’t usually need to be looking at every single row at the same time. Sometimes, you only want to look at data that fit into certain criteria. That’s where filters come in.

Filters allow you to pare down your data to only look at certain rows at one time. In Excel, a filter can be added to each column in your data — and from there, you can then choose which cells you want to view at once.

Let’s take a look at the example below. Add a filter by clicking the Data tab and selecting “Filter.” Clicking the arrow next to the column headers and you’ll be able to choose whether you want your data to be organized in ascending or descending order, as well as which specific rows you want to show.

In my Harry Potter example, let’s say I only want to see the students in Gryffindor. By selecting the Gryffindor filter, the other rows disappear.

Pro Tip: Copy and paste the values in the spreadsheet when a Filter is on to do additional analysis in another spreadsheet.

4. Remove duplicate data points or sets.

Larger data sets tend to have duplicate content. You may have a list of multiple contacts in a company and only want to see the number of companies you have. In situations like this, removing the duplicates comes in quite handy.

To remove your duplicates, highlight the row or column that you want to remove duplicates of. Then, go to the Data tab, and select “Remove Duplicates” (under Tools). A pop-up will appear to confirm which data you want to work with. Select “Remove Duplicates,” and you’re good to go.

You can also use this feature to remove an entire row based on a duplicate column value. So if you have three rows with Harry Potter’s information and you only need to see one, then you can select the whole dataset and then remove duplicates based on email. Your resulting list will have only unique names without any duplicates.

5. Transpose rows into columns.

When you have low rows of data in your spreadsheet, you might decide you actually want to transform the items in one of those rows into columns (or vice versa). It would take a lot of time to copy and paste each individual header — but what the transpose feature allows you to do is simply move your row data into columns, or the other way around.

Start by highlighting the column that you want to transpose into rows. Right-click it, and then select “Copy.” Next, select the cells on your spreadsheet where you want your first row or column to begin. Right-click on the cell, and then select “Paste Special.” A module will appear — at the bottom, you’ll see an option to transpose. Check that box and select OK. Your column will now be transferred to a row or vice-versa.

6. Split up text information between columns.

What if you want to split out information that’s in one cell into two different cells? For example, maybe you want to pull out someone’s company name through their email address. Or perhaps you want to separate someone’s full name into a first and last name for your email marketing templates.

Thanks to Excel, both are possible. First, highlight the column that you want to split up. Next, go to the Data tab and select “Text to Columns.” A module will appear with additional information.

First, you need to select either “Delimited” or “Fixed Width.”

• “Delimited” means you want to break up the column based on characters such as commas, spaces, or tabs.
• “Fixed Width” means you want to select the exact location on all the columns that you want the split to occur.

In the example case below, let’s select “Delimited” so we can separate the full name into first name and last name.

Then, it’s time to choose the Delimiters. This could be a tab, semi-colon, comma, space, or something else. (“Something else” could be the “@” sign used in an email address, for example.) In our example, let’s choose the space. Excel will then show you a preview of what your new columns will look like.

When you’re happy with the preview, press “Next.” This page will allow you to select Advanced Formats if you choose to. When you’re done, click “Finish.”

Excel Formulas

7. Use these formulas for simple calculations

In addition to doing pretty complex calculations, Excel can help you do simple arithmetic like adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing any of your data.

• To add, use the + sign.
• To subtract, use the – sign.
• To multiply, use the * sign.
• To divide, use the / sign.

You can also use parenthesis to ensure certain calculations are done first. In the example below (10+10*10), the second and third 10 were multiplied together before adding the additional 10. However, if we made it (10+10)*10, the first and second 10 would be added together first.

8. Get the average of numbers in your cells.

If you want the average of a set of numbers, you can use the formula =AVERAGE(Cell Range). If you want to sum up a column of numbers, you can use the formula =SUM(Cell Range).

9. Use conditional formatting to make cells automatically change color based on data.

Conditional formatting allows you to change a cell’s color based on the information within the cell. For example, if you want to flag certain numbers that are above average or in the top 10% of the data in your spreadsheet, you can do that. If you want to color code commonalities between different rows in Excel, you can do that. This will help you quickly see information the is important to you.

To get started, highlight the group of cells you want to use conditional formatting on. Then, choose “Conditional Formatting” from the Home menu and select your logic from the dropdown. (You can also create your own rule if you want something different.) A window will pop up that prompts you to provide more information about your formatting rule. Select “OK” when you’re done, and you should see your results automatically appear.

10. Use IF THEN Excel formula to automate certain Excel functions.

Sometimes, we don’t want to count the number of times a value appears. Instead, we want to input different information into a cell if there is a corresponding cell with that information.

For example, in the situation below, I want to award ten points to everyone who belongs in the Gryffindor house. Instead of manually typing in 10’s next to each Gryffindor student’s name, I can use the IF THEN Excel formula to say that if the student is in Gryffindor, then they should get ten points.

The formula: IF(logical_test, value_if_true, value of false)

Example Shown Below: =IF(D2=”Gryffindor”,”10″,”0″)

In general terms, the formula would be IF(Logical Test, value of true, value of false). Let’s dig into each of these variables.

• Logical_Test: The logical test is the “IF” part of the statement. In this case, the logic is D2=”Gryffindor” because we want to make sure that the cell corresponding with the student says “Gryffindor.” Make sure to put Gryffindor in quotation marks here.
• Value_if_True: This is what we want the cell to show if the value is true. In this case, we want the cell to show “10” to indicate that the student was awarded the 10 points. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number.
• Value_if_False: This is what we want the cell to show if the value is false. In this case, for any student not in Gryffindor, we want the cell to show “0” to show 0 points. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number.

Note: In the example above, I awarded 10 points to everyone in Gryffindor. If I later wanted to sum the total number of points, I wouldn’t be able to because the 10’s are in quotes, thus making them text and not a number that Excel can sum.

11. Use dollar signs to keep one cell’s formula the same regardless of where it moves.

Have you ever seen a dollar sign in an Excel formula? When used in a formula, it isn’t representing an American dollar; instead, it makes sure that the exact column and row are held the same even if you copy the same formula in adjacent rows.

You see, a cell reference — when you refer to cell A5 from cell C5, for example — is relative by default. In that case, you’re actually referring to a cell that’s five columns to the left (C minus A) and in the same row (5). This is called a relative formula. When you copy a relative formula from one cell to another, it’ll adjust the values in the formula based on where it’s moved. But sometimes, we want those values to stay the same no matter whether they’re moved around or not — and we can do that by making the formula in the cell into what’s called an absolute formula.

To change the relative formula (=A5+C5) into an absolute formula, we’d precede the row and column values by dollar signs, like this: (=$A$5+$C$5). (Learn more on Microsoft Office’s support page here.)

Excel Functions

12. Use VLOOKUP function pull data from one area of a sheet to another.

Have you ever had two sets of data on two different spreadsheets that you want to combine into a single spreadsheet?

For example, you might have a list of people’s names next to their email addresses in one spreadsheet, and a list of those same people’s email addresses next to their company names in the other — but you want the names, email addresses, and company names of those people to appear in one place.

I have to combine data sets like this a lot — and when I do, the VLOOKUP is my go-to formula. Before you use the formula, though, be absolutely sure that you have at least one column that appears identically in both places. Scour your data sets to make sure the column of data you’re using to combine your information is exactly the same, including no extra spaces.

The formula: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, table array, column number, [range lookup])

The formula with variables from our example below: =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE)

In this formula, there are several variables. The following is true when you want to combine information in Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 onto Sheet 1.

• Lookup Value: This is the identical value you have in both spreadsheets. Choose the first value in your first spreadsheet. In the example that follows, this means the first email address on the list, or cell 2 (C2).
• Table Array: The range of columns on Sheet 2 you’re going to pull your data from, including the column of data identical to your lookup value (in our example, email addresses) in Sheet 1 as well as the column of data you’re trying to copy to Sheet 1. In our example, this is “Sheet2!A:B.” “A” means Column A in Sheet 2, which is the column in Sheet 2 where the data identical to our lookup value (email) in Sheet 1 is listed. The “B” means Column B, which contains the information that’s only available in Sheet 2 that you want to translate to Sheet 1.
• Column Number: If the table array (the range of columns you just indicated) this tells Excel which column the new data you want to copy to Sheet 1 is located in. In our example, this would be the column that “House” is located in. “House” is the second column in our range of columns (table array), so our column number is 2. [Note: Your range can be more than two columns. For example, if there are three columns on Sheet 2 — Email, Age, and House — and you still want to bring House onto Sheet 1, you can still use a VLOOKUP. You just need to change the “2” to a “3” so it pulls back the value in the third column: =VLOOKUP(C2:Sheet2!A:C,3,false).]
• Range Lookup: Use FALSE to ensure you pull in only exact value matches.

In the example below, Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 contain lists describing different information about the same people, and the common thread between the two is their email addresses. Let’s say we want to combine both datasets so that all the house information from Sheet 2 translates over to Sheet 1.

So when we type in the formula =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE), we bring all the house data into Sheet 1.

Keep in mind that VLOOKUP will only pull back values from the second sheet that are to the right of the column containing your identical data. This can lead to some limitations, which is why some people prefer to use the INDEX and MATCH functions instead.

13. Use INDEX MATCH formulas to pull data from horizontal columns.

Like VLOOKUP, the INDEX and MATCH functions pull in data from another dataset into one central location. Here are the main differences:

1. VLOOKUP is a much simpler formula. If you’re working with large data sets that would require thousands of lookups, using the INDEX MATCH function will significantly decrease load time in Excel.
2. INDEX MATCH formulas work right-to-left, whereas VLOOKUP formulas only work as a left-to-right lookup. In other words, if you need to do a lookup that has a lookup column to the right of the results column, then you’d have to rearrange those columns in order to do a VLOOKUP. This can be tedious with large datasets and/or lead to errors.

So if I want to combine information in Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 onto Sheet 1, but the column values in Sheets 1 and 2 aren’t the same, then to do a VLOOKUP, I would need to switch around my columns. In this case, I’d choose to do an INDEX MATCH instead.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say Sheet 1 contains a list of people’s names and their Hogwarts email addresses, and Sheet 2 contains a list of people’s email addresses and the Patronus that each student has. (For the non-Harry Potter fans out there, every witch or wizard has an animal guardian called a “Patronus” associated with him or her.) The information that lives in both sheets is the column containing email addresses, but this email address column is in different column numbers on each sheet. I’d use the INDEX MATCH formula instead of VLOOKUP so I wouldn’t have to switch any columns around.

So what’s the formula, then? The INDEX MATCH formula is actually the MATCH formula nested inside the INDEX formula. You’ll see I differentiated the MATCH formula using a different color here.

The formula: =INDEX(table array, MATCH formula)

This becomes: =INDEX(table array, MATCH (lookup_value, lookup_array))

The formula with variables from our example below: =INDEX(Sheet2!A:A,(MATCH(Sheet1!C:C,Sheet2!C:C,0)))

Here are the variables:

• Table Array: The range of columns on Sheet 2 containing the new data you want to bring over to Sheet 1. In our example, “A” means Column A, which contains the “Patronus” information for each person.
• Lookup Value: This is the column in Sheet 1 that contains identical values in both spreadsheets. In the example that follows, this means the “email” column on Sheet 1, which is Column C. So: Sheet1!C:C.
• Lookup Array: This is the column in Sheet 2 that contains identical values in both spreadsheets. In the example that follows, this refers to the “email” column on Sheet 2, which happens to also be Column C. So: Sheet2!C:C.

Once you have your variables straight, type in the INDEX MATCH formula in the top-most cell of the blank Patronus column on Sheet 1, where you want the combined information to live.

14. Use COUNTIF function to make Excel count words or numbers in any range of cells.

Instead of manually counting how often a certain value or number appears, let Excel do the work for you. With the COUNTIF function, Excel can count the number of times a word or number appears in any range of cells.

For example, let’s say I want to count the number of times the word “Gryffindor” appears in my data set.

The formula: =COUNTIF(range, criteria)

The formula with variables from our example below: =COUNTIF(D:D,”Gryffindor”)

In this formula, there are several variables:

• Range: The range that we want the formula to cover. In this case, since we’re only focusing on one column, we use “D:D” to indicate that the first and last column are both D. If I were looking at columns C and D, I would use “C:D.”
• Criteria: Whatever number or piece of text you want Excel to count. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number. In our example, the criteria is “Gryffindor.”

Simply typing in the COUNTIF formula in any cell and pressing “Enter” will show me how many times the word “Gryffindor” appears in the dataset.

15. Combine cells using &.

Databases tend to split out data to make it as exact as possible. For example, instead of having a data that shows a person’s full name, a database might have the data as a first name and then a last name in separate columns. Or, it may have a person’s location separated by city, state, and zip code. In Excel, you can combine cells with different data into one cell by using the “&” sign in your function.

The formula with variables from our example below: =A2&” “&B2

Let’s go through the formula together using an example. Pretend we want to combine first names and last names into full names in a single column. To do this, we’d first put our cursor in the blank cell where we want the full name to appear. Next, we’d highlight one cell that contains a first name, type in an “&” sign, and then highlight a cell with the corresponding last name.

But you’re not finished — if all you type in is =A2&B2, then there will not be a space between the person’s first name and last name. To add that necessary space, use the function =A2&” “&B2. The quotation marks around the space tell Excel to put a space in between the first and last name.

To make this true for multiple rows, simply drag the corner of that first cell downward as shown in the example.

We hope you found this article helpful! Bookmark it to keep these handy Excel tips in your back pocket.

16. Add checkboxes.

If you’re using an Excel sheet to track customer data and want to oversee something that isn’t quantifiable, you could insert checkboxes into a column.

For example, if you’re using an Excel sheet to manage your sales prospects and want to track whether you called them in the last quarter, you could have a “Called this quarter?” column and check off the cells in it when you’ve called the respective client. 

Here’s how to do it in Excel’s 2018 and 2019 software.

Highlight a cell you’d like to add checkboxes to in your spreadsheet. Then, click DEVELOPER. Then, under FORM CONTROLS, click the checkbox or the selection circle highlighted in the image below.

Once the box appears in the cell, copy it, highlight the cells you also want it to appear in, and then paste it.

17.  Hyperlink a cell to a website.

If you’re using your sheet to track social media or website metrics, it can be helpful to have a reference column with the links each row is tracking. If you add a URL directly into Excel, it should automatically be clickable. But, if you have to hyperlink words, such as a page title or the headline of a post you’re tracking, here’s how. 

Highlight the words you want to hyperlink, then press Shift K. From there a box will pop up allowing you to place the hyperlink URL. Copy and paste the URL into this box and hit or click Enter. 

If the key shortcut isn’t working for any reason, you can also do this manually by highlighting the cell and clicking Insert > Hyperlink. 

18. Add drop-down menus.

Sometimes, you’ll be using your spreadsheet to track processes or other qualitative things. Rather than writing words into your sheet repetitively, such as “Yes”, “No”, “Customer Stage”, “Sales Lead”, or “Prospect”, you can use dropdown menus to quickly mark descriptive things about your contacts or whatever you’re tracking. 

Here’s how to add drop-downs to your cells. 

Highlight the cells you want the drop-downs to be in, then click the Data menu in the top navigation and press Validation. 

From there, you’ll see a Data Validation Settings box open. Look at the Allow options, then click Lists and select Drop-down List. Check the In-Cell dropdown button, then press OK.

Other Excel Help Resources

• How to Make a Chart or Graph in Excel [With Video Tutorial] (Blog Post)
• 7 Little Tricks to Spruce Up an Ugly Excel Graph (Blog Post)
• Marketing With Excel: 6 Ways It Can Make Your Life Easier (Blog Post)
• 4 Essential Microsoft Excel Skills Every Marketer Should Learn (Free Guide + Video Tutorials)

Want more Excel tips? Check out this tutorial on how to make a chart or graph in Excel.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2017 but was updated in October 2019 for comprehensiveness.

This morning, I woke up to this email from Glossier in my inbox:

After clicking on the email, I checked Glossier’s Instagram and saw the same promotion, plus customer comments raving about the products, which convinced me to purchase.

Ultimately, if done correctly, email and social can work together to drive leads and build brand loyalty with your target audience.

While you’ve likely felt email marketing and social media marketing are at opposing ends of the marketing spectrum, they can undoubtedly work together to benefit your next marketing campaign.

Here, we’re going to take a look at how social media and email marketing are great separately, and integrating the two can transcend your marketing strategy to new heights.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is the act of promoting content on social media channels, including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Content should be tailored to the specifications of each channel to boost lead generation and increase brand awareness.

The marketing should also meet the needs of the audience on that medium. For example, you’ll want to have high-quality visuals for Instagram and keep the captions short — inversely, on LinkedIn, storytelling is the way to go.

One benefit of social media marketing in a digital-forward society is that 3.2 billion people around the globe use social media. The challenge? Social media organic reach is getting harder to come by. For example, the amount of people using Facebook to search for new brands is down 11%; not the best odds.

While social media marketers can’t rely on organic reach anymore, it’s still a viable avenue compared to email marketing. Social channels allow businesses to engage with customers directly, thus building brand loyalty.

Image Source

Fun, engaging content, like live videos and in-app ecommerce options, are channel-specific perks of social media marketing. For instance, technology company Dell used social media to promote their new laptop during “National Coffee Day”, a social media-inspired holiday.

Email Marketing

Now that we’ve explored how important social media marketing is, what about those emails I scroll through every morning?

Since I willingly signed up to receive emails from these businesses, I’m genuinely interested in newsletters and other promotional materials from these brands — additionally, these brands are able to cultivate a sense of loyalty through email marketing by providing personalized, useful content to my inbox each day.,

Email marketing is the process of leading prospects down the sales funnel by sending marketing materials directly to those who’ve subscribed to that content. For example, a fan of Adobe might sign up for their newsletters to catch promotional offers as they arrive.

3.8 billion people are like me — starting their day by checking their email. Plus, 60% of that three billion prefer to receive marketing materials through email.

Why email marketing? For starters, it leads to sales. Two-thirds of customers make purchases as a direct result of email marketing. And, with a 4400% ROI, that’s a pretty sweet deal. That means for every $1 spent, you can expect a $44 return.

At this point, you’re probably juggling how to use both of these methods to maximize the benefit of your campaigning. Don’t worry — we’ll cover that, next.

How to Integrate Social Media and Email Marketing

As a brand, you don’t have to just Tweet out your email link in hopes that your followers will sign up. There are engaging, eye-catching methods you can use to integrate both marketing strategies in ways that will delight your customers.

By including social media profile links in your marketing emails, you can give subscribers new opportunities to engage with your brand, and your content.

Email promotion should entice readers to check out more about your products, like this email I received from Hootsuite. The links to the company’s social pages invite subscribers to check them out and connect with them there.

A holistic approach to digital marketing incorporates both social media and email marketing to reach your customers in a creative and memorable way. Believe it or not, the two rival methods work very well together.

Image Source

Take this example from Residential Communications Network (RCN). To prepare for a tropical storm, RCN sends emails to their subscribers and lets them know how social will keep them in the know — Liking the page on Facebook will provide alerts and updates, and Twitter facilitates minute-by-minute updates.

It’s Friday! That means #Netflix just added a bunch of new movies and shows. Take 30 seconds to sign up for our weekly All Things Netflix email newsletter to find out what to stream (and what to skip): https://t.co/hvRBmI7KIf pic.twitter.com/x5w6dwWQOf

— Decider (@decider)
October 4, 2019

Decider’s tweet to sign up for the email newsletter gives followers the heads up about the content they’ll receive after signing up, boosting newsletter sign-ups and building a relationship with the customer.

Instagram reminding you to check your email? If you’re a Birchbox Ace user, absolutely. The subscription box company uses their social channel to market to subscribers and potential customers. If I were following Birchbox but was on the fence about signing up, this post on Instagram might implore me to see the special offers customers receive.

Brands can integrate both social media and email marketing to elevate their engagement. The next time you scroll through your email promotions, think about how your audience can receive similar content from your social as well.

Did you know that brands who use blogging as part of their content marketing strategy gain 67% more leads than those that don’t?

On top of lead generation, a blog can also help your site climb in search rankings. Not to mention, sharing tips and insights related to your industry makes your brand look more credible and trustworthy to prospects.

At the HubSpot Blog, which gets a whopping eight million page views per day and has seen a 25% boost in traffic year after year, we’ve experimented with and written many key strategies that can make any blog successful. We’ve learned how to harness the power of SEO and research to give our readers valuable content while also generated large amounts of organic traffic at the same time.

Even if you’re just starting a blog or not a natural-born writer, you can still use similar blogging tactics to gain your first visitors, grow website traffic, and boost brand awareness.

To walk you through producing and effective blog, I decided to compile a list of 15 tips from a handful of HubSpot Blog managers.

Choosing Topics

Pick topics that speak to your target audience directly..

“Know your target audience, and write for them,” says Karla Cook, the HubSpot Blog’s Senior Team Manager. “Invest time in figuring out who your target audience is, what type of problems they’re experiencing, and what they’re interested in learning.”

Creating a customer persona for your target audience could help you in this process. Remember, your blog should strive to connect with folks who are likely to eventually purchase something from you.

Your persona development should determine factors like what job your ideal customer has, what goals they want to achieve, and what pain points or annoyances they deal with on a daily basis.

“Once you have a solid understanding of who you want to target, this knowledge can inform not only your topic selection, but the tone, format, and complexity level of your content,” Cook explains. “Without this foundational understanding of your audience, you’re not going to connect with the right people in the right way.”

Meg Prater, the HubSpot Blog’s Managing Editor, adds, “It’s so easy to want to cast a broad net and write about anything and everything in your industry. What sets a great content manager apart from a good one is their ability to focus the content they’re creating.”

“Identify the niche your company fills and write highly specialized content about that niche,” Prater explains. “It can be tough to stop writing about any topic that pops into your head, but the end result will be quality content that raises your voice and your profile in your industry.”

Brainstorm evergreen topics.

Evergreen topics often touch on overarching ideas that won’t become outdated or irrelevant in the near future. On our marketing blog, one example of this is, “What is Digital Marketing.” Although we’ve updated the piece to include new digital marketing strategies, the definition of digital marketing won’t change at its core.

Rather than breaking news content, which includes recent announcements, events, or information that might become outdated or unimportant months after it happens, evergreen content often includes tips, tricks, or stats that won’t require major updates or rewrites quickly after publishing. Because they hold valuable advice, these posts might also be relevant for longer than a post that discusses a news topic that could change drastically overnight.

For example, news about a petition to change an FCC sponsored content law might become out of date when the law is struck down or goes into effect. This is because readers will skip this post to read about the newer news items covering this topic. On the other hand, a post that highlights examples of sponsored content as well as current laws, such as The Ultimate Guide to Sponsored Content, is evergreen.

Why? Although sponsored content laws might occasionally change, it’s not highly likely successful and commonly used content sponsorship strategies will change drastically.

In the near future, we’ll still see sponsored social posts, blog posts, videos, and branded podcasts. And, although we might update a post like this to add new types of sponsored content, or update aged stats and figures, it’s unlikely that the bulk of the information in this post will become outdated or need to be completely rewritten.

At the HubSpot Blog, we often call our overarching evergreen topics “pillars.” This is because an overarching evergreen topic can lead you to brainstorm a number of smaller post ideas and story angles.

One example of an evergreen pillar topic the blog has identified is Instagram Marketing. Because we consider this as a major topic that our readers love, we’ve been writing blog posts related to it, including, “Instagram Stories: What They Are and How to Make One Like a Pro” and “15 Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram.”

Christina Perricone, a Manager on the HubSpot Blog, explains, “Evergreen topics serve as your content pillars. These pillars provide comprehensive information on a topic and help you build domain authority.”

While we identify pillars for content inspiration, we also take it one step further by creating and regularly updating long-form posts, called Pillar Pages, that give our readers comprehensive information about evergreen topics and link to a wide variety of our best blog posts on each topic. When it comes to our Instagram Marketing cluster, we created a Pillar titled, “Instagram Marketing: The Ultimate Guide.”

Although stats and facts might need slight updating from year to year, foundational topics like Instagram marketing aren’t likely to change drastically. This means the content will be relevant for a longer period than non-evergreen topics like breaking news.

Content that stays relevant for longer will also be shareable and linkable for longer. This might mean that it will also gain a higher search authority and hold a higher result page ranking for a longer amount of time.

Zone in on industry trends.

We love to tap into evergreen content, but we also mix in industry trends, such as new social media platforms or recently published research. This allows our blog to keep readers in the loop of new trends, while still covering more stable marketing topics.

“Evergreen content is a necessary backbone of any successful content strategy, but don’t ignore the trends happening in your industry — because your readers certainly aren’t,” says Cook.

She adds that “offering your take on industry trends is an opportunity to build a thought leadership presence and show your target audience that you’re a knowledgeable, active player in your space.”

As the HubSpot Blog’s Audience Growth Writer, I pitch and write about various industry trends.

Recently, I wrote a series of posts that covered the rise of TikTok, a quirky one-year old social media app that’s been highly discussed in the news for its quick-growing user base.

In another example, ahead of the 2019 Emmy Awards, I wrote a post that highlighted takeaways video marketers could gain from Emmy nominated commercials.

While TikTok and the Emmys are hot news and entertainment topics, and less evergreen because they focus on a viral trends and an event, they still keep marketers in the know of what’s new and unique in their field. Additionally, this content might become more shareable on social media or other websites because it gives insight on hot topics that other blogs might not be covering if they’re only focused on evergreen content.

Writing Posts

Outline your posts.

Before you start writing, it can be helpful to make an outline with the basic structure and main points you plan to use in your full blog post. This can help you write a clear, well-formatted post fairly quickly.

“More experienced bloggers might dismiss this, but creating an outline can have a big impact on the clarity, organization, and flow of your final piece — particularly when you’re trying to teach a complex concept,” says Cook. “I can always tell when someone’s skipped an outline.”

If you’re new to outlining posts or still are unsure of where to start, consider formats like listicles or step-by-step guides, These can be more readable to audiences and easier to write.

Err on the side of over-explaining.

While you might be an expert in your field, someone who finds your page on a search engine results page might not be. Make sure readers with different levels of expertise can understand your language and learn from your posts. Jargon or technical terms that aren’t well-explained can cause a person to be intimidated or confused by your content — and ultimately leave your site.

As Caroline Forsey, a Staff Writer on the Marketing Blog, points out, you should write posts so that they get to the point and can be easily read by people in a fast-paced environment.

“Oftentimes, someone who’s reading your blog post is on the train heading home, walking in the hallway of their office, or otherwise busy and rushed — as a result, they’re more likely than not skimming the piece,” says Forsey.

“To help your readers have an ideal experience, try starting each new paragraph with a quick reminder of what you’re talking about, in case they’re skimming the page,” she adds. “If you’re starting a new paragraph, instead of saying ‘That helps improve your SEO,’ explain what ‘That’ is — ‘Using long-tail keywords in your headers helps improve your SEO.'”

Seek out content from contributors.

If you’re not an expert on a topic related to your industry, but think your readers would enjoy to read about it, consider working with a contributor who’s knowledgeable on the subject.

“Seeking out guest pieces from qualified experts on subjects you want to cover can help fill knowledge gaps on your own content team,” says Cook.

If that contributor is well-known in your industry or considered a thought leader, this might also make the post more shareable on social media or through backlinks.

On the blog, we regularly host expert contributors and thought leaders who give research insights, tips and discuss their successes. For example, here’s a post by WordStream Founder Larry Kim.

In the post, titled “The Straightforward Guide to Twitter Analytics,” Kim gives his expert insight on how to leverage and understand data from Twitter. While HubSpot bloggers write regularly about this social media platform, we still chose to host an expert author from WordStream, a company which sells a number of online advertising, analytics, and SEO tools.

Why? Because Kim and WordStream are both known for expertise related to analytics, SEO, and social media strategy. And, while a blogger can do hours of research on a topic and write a helpful post with a number of great tips, Kim can note Twitter analytics insights and strategies that he has gained and leveraged first-hand throughout his career.

If you can’t get a full blog post from a contributor, you can also consider reaching out to experts for quotes that will add a touch of expert insight to your pieces.

When we consulted Forsey, who coordinates and edits a number of thought leadership posts for the blog each month, she explained the importance of working with experts.

“I’ve found including original quotes from experts helps you reach a new audience whenever that expert shares your post on their own social channels. Best of all, it helps the user experience. For instance, if I’m writing a post about social media consultants, I’d much rather interview and use quotes from someone in the field, rather than relying on my own second-hand knowledge,” she says.

SEO

Identify and leverage highly-searched keywords and phrases in titles and headers.

When people want to learn more about a topic, they go to Google, Bing, or another search engine and type a phrase or a question. Leveraging keywords or phrases in your blog post’s subheads, body text, and image alt text can help to optimize your piece so search engine crawlers can find it and rank it more easily.

Once you have a list of topics you think might be interesting to your audience, research phrases or keywords related to them using a tool like SEMRush. If you find that a phrase has a high MSV (monthly search volume), you should work that phrase or keyword into titles or subheaders of your post.

Want to learn more about this? Here, you can find a detailed guide on how to do keyword research for your blog posts.

Link to your own website’s posts and credible sources.

“Interlinking your own content is an important strategy from both an SEO and content discoverability perspective,” says Cook.

From an SEO perspective, any link to your page is like a vote. The more votes you get, the higher your search ranking and authority will be. Linking to your own content can count as a vote for yourself. So, this is a no-brainer. To learn more about how this process works algorithmically, you can check out this helpful post.

Include data and original quotes from experts to earn backlinks.

A backlink, or inbound link, is earned when another site links to your blog post. And as mentioned above, these links are like algorithmic votes. If more pages link to you, search engines will identify you as a source with good authority. Because search engines want to show people the most credible, original content first, these backlinks will help you move up in search rankings.

Aside from SEO, quotes, thought leadership, and original research will also improve the reader’s experience.

Optimize alt text and images.

You might not realize it, but even your images can be holding your search engine ranking back. While search engines like Google analyze the alternative text of your photos to ensure that they have consistent keywords in them, they also look at how fast these photos actually load.

If a photo loads slowly, it creates a poor user experience. If users bounce from your page quickly because photos aren’t loading, search engine crawlers will catch this and move you down on search result rankings.

To avoid this, we like to compress our images as much as possible before they lose quality. If you’re not a Photoshop expert, don’t worry. You can do this quite simply with websites like Squoosh.app.

Update old posts with new insights.

Part of my role involves the historical optimization of old blog posts. This strategy involves working with the SEO team to identify old blog posts that may have out of date research, tips, or keywords and updating them to include new insights. Not only does this prevent a reader from finding and quickly exiting old posts, but new data can also help to revive an old blog post’s search ranking.

When you update old posts, you also have a chance to identify great SEO opportunities that you missed the first time around. For example, if a phrase or keyword has a high search volume, but it wasn’t included in headlines or subheaders of the first post, you can tweak the text to include the wording.

Photo and Video Content

Experiment with infographics and videos.

“You don’t need to have a full-time team of multi-media content creators to experiment with different formats,” says Cook. “Use free tools like Canva or Venngage to create visuals and play around with different post structures — just remember to experiment with a purpose, not just for the sake of it.”

When determining if you should create a video or infographic, you should ask yourself what this content could accomplish that text can’t.

For example, if a piece of trend research has a lot of facts and figures associated with it, you might want to consider an infographic that shows the stats in an eye-catching way. In another scenario, if you land an interview with someone who’s outgoing, very interesting, or visually recognizable to people in your industry, this could be a great opportunity to record a video interview rather than posting a text-based Q&A.

Perricone explained that videos and graphics can also provide organic traffic opportunities.

“We’ve found that visual content gets more backlinks, ranks higher in search engines, and drives more traffic,” she says. “Use charts, graphs, and images to supplement your copy.”

At the HubSpot Blog, we’ve experimented with placing infographics and videos into our blog pieces. These visuals add another layer to the reader’s experience, beyond the text. They also can be helpful for audiences who don’t have time to read a full post but want to watch a video.

As Cook mentioned above, it doesn’t have to costly or time consuming to experiment with this type of content. For graphics, there are a number of affordable, easy-to-use software and design templates that can help you.

When it comes to video, creating this content could be as simple as filming yourself explaining a topic, or interviewing a customer on camera. While you’ll still want to consider lighting and the quality of your content, you don’t need to hire an expensive film crew to film it. If you want to zest things up after recording, you can use free or affordable video editing tools to make quick clean edits and add interesting effects like transitions.

Alternatively, you can also consider embedding and sourcing videos that were already made. For example, if you’re writing a post about hot products that people in your industry might enjoy, you could embed demos created by other companies that you find on YouTube or Vimeo. Here’s an example of a blog post where we did something similar.

Lead Generation

Cover customer stories or successes.

If leads or sales are your primary goal, a blog might be a great place to host a few customer success stories. For example, if you’re managing a blog for a gym, you could interview a customer who’s lost weight or achieved an athletic accomplishment after developing a fitness routine with the help of your company’s personal trainers.

When your audience reads this post, they might think it’s valuable to them because they’re learning about a successful fitness routine. They will also trust your gym more because the routine was created with help from your staff.

Or, if you work for a software company, you could write a post about how a customer achieved a business milestone after using your app or computer program. This gives you an opportunity to show off both customer success and a strategy that can be improved upon with the help of your product.

Include offers for related resources, products, or services.

If you write a blog post that relates to your product or service, offering readers a free resource or discount that might encourage them to convert to a lead. For example, on a small scale, if your company sells food products, you could write recipe-styled blog posts that include one or two of your ingredients. Then at the bottom of the post, you could offer them a coupon or free sample if they subscribe to your e-newsletter.

If your company sells a high-priced service that requires more lead nurturing, consider using the writing a blog post that lists helpful industry tips. Then, at the bottom, include a CTA offering them a free resource, like an ebook on a similar topic. Once they click on the CTA, they could be sent to a landing page where they can get the ebook in exchange for basic contact information. This blog-based inbound marketing strategy might help to attract, engage, and delight a prospect so that they become interested in purchasing your product.

Promotion

Promote your blog posts on multiple channels.

Search engines can be incredibly competitive, and algorithmic changes that can affect how your content is rank. So, even with a great SEO strategy, you should still promote your blog on other platforms including social media channels and in marketing emails.

Yes, creating a promotion strategy might seem like another daunting extra step. But it doesn’t have to be challenging. To get started, think back to when you created your blog’s reader persona. Which platforms would they use most often? And, which types of social posts do they engage with? These answers will help you determine which platforms you should focus on when sharing blog content.

The HubSpot Blog works closely with HubSpot’s social team to determine and post content on platforms that our target audience will be on. For example, when we have content related to social media trends or tips, we promote it on Instagram Stories or Twitter. In another scenario, if we have content that dives deeper into strategy, we might share it on LinkedIn, where many professionals in the marketing field go to gain insight from others in similar roles.

If you’re still not sure where to start, you can find more advice on specific platforms by using our guide to email marketing as well as my post on the five major types of social media.

Time to Write Your First Blog

The list above was fairly comprehensive, but here are a few key themes to keep in mind as you begin writing.

• Write for your reader: What evergreen topics and trends would your target audience like to learn about? Brainstorm a list of ideas based on what they want to learn and what advice will truly give them value.
• Aim for a smooth user experience: Outlined posts with easy to understand formats will be easiest for a reader to skim through, digest, and understand. So, be sure to keep your thoughts clear and to the point.
• Zest up your posts with videos, visuals, original research, or expert quotes: A listicle can be easy to read. But if you’re just repeating old information, it might not provide tons of value to your reader. Think of elements that can make your post stand out or feel valuable to a reader.
• Consider your distribution plan: Draft posts with SEO or social shareability in mind. Then come up with a strategy to promote posts once they’re published. This will help them get seen by search engine users, those who subscribe to your email list, and social media users.

Want more information on blogging? We’ve also written posts on picking your blogging platform, avoiding common blogging mistakes, and the benefits of blogging.

Instagram is a marketer’s best friend. The free app’s video capability means smaller brands can expand long-form, creative content beyond just photos. And Instagram is making sure their video capabilities are accessible to these brands.

From in-feed videos to IGTV, Instagram Live, and Stories, there are several opportunities and styles available to marketers who want to expand their video reach on a budget. Videos on Instagram have the highest overall engagement rate across all functions of the app — 38% higher than image posts.

If this sounds like music to your ears, that’s great. If the one discordant note is that you have no idea how to create incredible videos for Instagram, that’s what this guide is for. We’ll cover the correct recommended video requirements, sizes, and software to use in order to make sure your Instagram videos become a rockstar asset to your brand.

Why Instagram Videos

If you want to expand your reach and attract a bigger audience, Instagram is your field of dreams. To grow your business, Instagram content needs to be creative and catch the attention of your audience. We’ve rounded up some ideas to get the ball rolling — which one(s) could fit into your strategy?

1. Inspirational message

WorkParty is a guide book to creating a dream career. In keeping with the theme, the corresponding Instagram provides tips on how to be a rockstar in the workplace. This video is an inspiring podcast excerpt hosted by WorkParty, with guest Bobbi Brown.

This content wouldn’t have nearly enough impact if it were a photo. A consumer mindlessly scrolling through their feed could’ve easily scrolled past another image, but the video and its uplifting message stays with consumers.

2. Memes

These are your ticket to engagement. You can use memes to promote your brand culture, mission, and products.

Bustle uses memes to promote their culture as a digital destination for young women. By using a relatable funny caption, young women might see this meme and feel connected to Bustle, and motivated to learn about their entertainment.

3. Interviews

Do you have a new podcast episode coming out? Post a snippet of the interview on Instagram video. This will attract users who are interested in your market.

Here, The New Yorker posted a captioned snippet of their upcoming interview with a lighting technician working on Hamilton. Giving a behind-the-scenes look at one of Broadway’s hottest musicals is sure to drive engagement for musical theater buffs and New Yorker fans alike.

4. Tell a story

Every business has a story, and Instagram videos bring that story to life. Sharing videos of people who are impacted by your product gives you target audience more reason to look into your company.

Microsoft tells a tale of the sea in this video, and how their technology helps fishermen complete their jobs more effectively.

5. New launches

A perfect way to tease upcoming products is to post them on Instagram. You don’t have to do a full-fledged commercial to make an impact. Headwear company Love Your Melon used one model and an array of colors to promote their new line of products.

Even posting video countdowns to tease new products gets customers interested and excited about what’s to come. Featuring the products on Instagram can be the visual element that pushes a browsing consumer to buy. Personally, that pink wrap is calling my name.

6. Existing products

Your existing products could be given similar treatment. Potential customers might not be aware of the extent of your catalog, and bringing that content to them, instead of leaving them to search, means more engagement for you.

Boston local plant-based restaurant Whole Heart Provisions uses videos to promote the creations on their menu. Someone looking for a new breakfast spot can catch menu items and a short, interesting video of the layers it has.

7. Promotions or sales

If your market has a huge Instagram presence in a B2B industry like cosmetics, let your audience know about upcoming sales. Or, run an Instagram-exclusive sale and post a video featuring the products like Benefit Cosmetics does here.

8. How-to videos

5-Minute Crafts has 34 million Instagram followers. Their content consists of life-hacks you can perform in 5 minutes, and they’re all videos.

How-to videos or product demonstrations — especially for products in a niche market — are a great way to introduce an audience to your business. Plus, like 5-Minute Crafts, you can promote other social channels that display similar content in the caption.

You may be asking how these brands are creating content and how you can create something similar. Stay tuned.

How to Create and Post an Instagram Video

First, you’ll want to open your Instagram app and press the icon in the center of the controls that has a plus sign in the middle.

Next, you can either choose a video from your library or create one in-app. Here, I’m creating one in-app. So, you’ll slide your finger over to the section labeled “Video” and press and hold down the center button to record your video. Once you release your hold, the video will replay on the screen.

After that, you’ll be taken to a screen to pick a filter for your video. My favorite filter is “Gingham,” because it brightens any dark shadows and gives videos a pastel finish.

If you notice the control panel of this screen, after you choose your filter, clicking “Next” will bring you to the “Trim” section of the control panel. Here, you can edit the length of your video and cut and paste different sections together.

Now is a good time to choose sound options. Clicking the megaphone button above your video will turn the sound off. Leaving the megaphone as is means your video will have sound.

After trimming, you can choose a cover. This screen shows you the frames from your video for you to choose which one Instagrammers will see while scrolling their feeds.

Here, I chose the middle frame because it’s still and captures the subject of my video nicely. After choosing a photo, you’re ready to post. The last screen is where you add a caption, location, and choose which Instagram account to upload to.

By clicking “Share,” your post will be uploaded and automatically appear in your feed. You should be able to see the cover of your video before the video autoplays and your filter is added.

When editing a video, think of what’ll fit with your brand. For example, your brand colors will really come into play when editing a video. Incorporating themes that fit into your page and audience’s interests will boost engagement.

That’s where apps can come in handy. For example, StoryLuxe provides free templates for Stories that give them a cool filter and allow you to post multiple types of content at once. Apps and websites like Canva offer simple graphic design tools help in making a story stand out. Check out their landscape video on typography:

Pixaloop and Giphy are two apps that create gifs for you in any format your camera is set to. To use, simply open the apps, record your video, and then the software will create a GIF for you that you can upload straight to Instagram. Check out Pixaloop’s software update launch:

Now that you know how to create and post a video, let’s look at the dimensions Instagram recommends for uploading a video.

Instagram Video Requirements

When Instagram launched videos in 2013, each could only be 15 seconds long and appear in-feed. Now, videos are a bit more complex. Each type has been refined to recommended specs that work the best depending on where you post your content.

The best part of the deal is how easy creating videos can be. Shoot right from an iPhone or Android and automatically fit within the specs for video. iPhone X and Android 9 phones shoot in 4K and have Instagram’s dimensions, 30 and 60 fps built in.

Size-wise, since Instagram is a phone-forward app, a smartphone has the aspect ratio of 9:16 Instagram recommends. Next, we’re going to get into the specifics of those size numbers, in case you aren’t using a phone for your content.

Other Instagram video requirements stay in the same ballpark, we’ve listed a quick cheat sheet for you below.

Instagram video resolution

• Landscape video – Minimum resolution is 600 x 315
• Square video – Minimum resolution is 600 x 600
• Vertical video – Resolution is 600 x 750
• Carousel ad resolution – Minimum is 600 x 600, while the max resolution is 1080 x 1080
• Instagram Stories – Minimum resolution is 600 x 1067, and the recommended resolution is 1080 x 1920
• Instagram TV video – Resolution is recommended to be 1080 x 1920, while the minimum resolution is 720

Aspect ratios are a different way of looking at the dimensions for videos. If you have someone who speaks in aspect ratios, aspect ratios for the three main types of in-feed video are as follows:

• Landscape video – Aspect ratio 16:9
• Square video – Aspect ratio is 1:1
• Vertical video – Aspect ratio 4:5
• Instagram Live – Aspect ratio 9:16

You might use a landscape video if you’re posting a video in-feed for a product launch countdown or podcast preview. Landscape videos are also the format for Instagram Live and Stories, like this Starbucks Story Highlight that incorporates a meme and features their premiere drinks.

If you’re looking for a longer video option that displays full-screen videos like Stories, Instagram TV (IGTV) might be a good alternative. IGTV allows you to have extremely long-form content, such as a detailed product video or a live-streamed platform question and answer session.

Cooler company Yeti uses their IGTV channel to share customer stories, recipes, and even showcase their SXSW sessions. Notice how the videos are longer because of IG’s 60 minute length and landscape.

Square videos are the specialty of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk series. To give highlights of their live performance sessions, NPR uses their Instagram and puts their content in square format.

Content previews and highlights from other channels are a great way to use square video formats. If you’ve got wider videos that you want to include in-feed, or a client/employee spotlight, square videos are the way to go for their compact aspect ratio.

How to Compress Videos for Instagram

Compressing videos means you lower the size of the file to make it easier to upload and faster to stream. Generally, you’ll upload your media to a compression tool or software — such as YouCompress or Clipchamp that automatically remove certain data details of your video. Compression might lead to the loss of some resolution quality or sound clarity.

Types of compression

A video coder is then used to compress larger video files into different formats. Two common formats are mp4 files and WMV, Windows Media Video files. There are two different types of compression: lossless and lossy.

Lossy Compression

Lossy compression compresses video by removing data from the video files. Removing repeated images or sounds the software sees as redundant improves the video’s effectiveness. Lossy compression is aptly named; but it’ll make your file extremely small.

Compression formats, like lossy, are good at removing a large bit of redundant data to reduce your file size. For instance, if your video has a five second shot of the same object, a lossy compression might remove three seconds of it.

Lossless Compression

Lossless compression, on the other hand, produces a near-identical compression of the original file, because data is not lost in the process. Lossless won’t have as big of an impact on file size as lossy, but it’s still useful for smaller videos.

Common lossless formats are:

1. Windows Media Audio Lossless (WMAL)
2. Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC)
3. Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC).

When your file needs to focus on quality, use FLAC, because you won’t lose any quality in the compression process.

There are a number of video compression tools that will compress videos for you. For example, UniConverter has an Instagram compression option that’s easy and free to use.

Best Adobe Premiere Pro Export Settings for Instagram

If you’re editing your video using Adobe Premiere Pro, you already know Adobe likes to get into the specifics of exporting. We do too. When you get ready to export, here’s the info on the best settings to choose for crystal-clear images.

Open “Export Settings” in the “Format” drop-down box and select “H.264’ and “Match Source High bitrate” in the preset box. These two settings will match Instagram’s video settings.

The “Use Maximum Render Quality” checkbox fixes the scaling of your video automatically, so be sure to check that box as well.

Image Source: Premiere Bro

Once those settings are saved, your post will be Instagram-ready. Because you can’t upload videos directly to Instagram, consider a third-party app like Later or Hootsuite. You can also send the video to your phone and upload it from there.

Our Instagram tips don’t stop here. If you want a more in-depth guide on how to post, ideas on what to post, or looking for inspo for how to stay ahead of the curve with your Instagram videos (my favorite is Ben and Jerry’s), check out our other posts.