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Piecing together a project timeline template usually involves a Google Doc and mediocre formatting skills. Then comes assigning tasks to teammates and promising to hit the agreed-upon delivery date. But a few weeks go by, and the timeline falls apart. Higher priorities pop up, and deadlines slip past without much progress.

Projects can fail for many reasons: a lack of support from leadership, unforeseen budget cuts, or overpromising outcomes. In fact, poor project management is more common than you think – only 55% of projects are completed on time.

But creating a timeline where everyone involved knows what they’re working on and when it’s due can help ensure your project doesn’t creep past its original deadline. It’s essential for keeping projects (and the people completing them) on track.

To make sure your next project stays on schedule, we’ll cover how to set up a project timeline, the best templates to use, and a handful of examples to inspire your future scheduling.

Why Create a Project Timeline?

Time management is one of the top skills employers look for in candidates. Missed deadlines and rushed projects can set entire teams (and companies) behind schedule.

A structured project timeline offers more than brownie points from your boss. It can also:

• Bring leadership and structure to a project
• Outline what is being delivered, by when
• Share who is responsible for each task and sets expectations for the scope, quality, and delivery of work
• Show how the project outcome contributes to company goals
• Decrease risk by accounting for any changes to the project scope, budget, deliverables, or deadlines.

Ultimately, a project timeline makes it easier and more efficient to manage a project. But it’s important to match the timeline structure to the project scope. Planning an editorial calendar for the quarter may take more time and effort than creating a marketing video for an upcoming product launch.

That’s where the right template comes in.

Project Timeline Example

Without the right project timeline template, organizing a project can be a lot of manual work — not to mention the formatting mess once multiple people get their hands on it.

The ideal timeline brings direction to a project, yet is easily adaptable when changes arise. Here’s a look at a project timeline for opening a new company office.

You can create a project timeline for any process that relies on a schedule (almost everything these days), like onboarding employees, handling a crisis, or planning social media campaigns. All you need to know is how to outline the steps of a project and the tasks required to complete each phase.

Let’s get into the details.

How to Create a Project Timeline

Crafting the perfect project timeline takes strategy, organizational skills, and a whole lot of collaboration. You need buy-in from supporters and clear directives for everyone involved.

To get started, follow this step-by-step guide to set up a structured timeline — no matter your job, industry, or management level.

1. Write a project brief.

A project brief communicates how you will approach a project. It includes details on the goals, deliverables, timeline, tasks, process, people involved, and resources needed to take a project from start to finish.

Asana outlined the steps to create a simple, yet effective, project brief. You can use this free project plan template to outline the project’s goals, roles and responsibilities, schedule, deliverables, budget, and more. It’s a great starting point for any planning process.

Or if you need a more comprehensive overview that includes key messaging and distribution processes, a creative brief may be the right fit for your project.

2. List all tasks and action items.

Every task involved in achieving a project’s objectives needs to go into the project timeline. After creating the brief, make a list of these tasks. You can start with large tasks and break them down into smaller to-dos.

Let’s say you’re responsible for creating a marketing video to launch your company’s newest product. Your list may include the following:

• Establish project leads from each department
• Set project budget
• Find a video production company
• Layout the video storyboard
• Choose main features for video
• Write video script
• Capture video content
• Add in sound and background music
• Add animations and graphics
• Edit video
• Write announcement copy
• Craft marketing campaign
• Create clips for social sharing
• Get video and marketing assets approved

Once you have the major milestones down, break down each task into smaller pieces. For example, choosing a video production company involves:

• Research video production companies
• Curate a list of production companies
• Get quotes from each production company
• Compare quotes and narrow down options
• Meet with the selected companies
• Choose a production company
• Finalize the contract

3. Connect dependencies.

In a project, certain tasks can’t be started until another is complete. These tasks are called dependencies. For example, a video can’t be filmed until the storyboard is finalized. And the storyboard can’t be finalized until the video theme is chosen.

Mapping out dependencies helps you solidify the order of each task and decide who’s responsible for what. Everyone will know what part of the project they’re working on, which tasks must be completed before their own, and who to contact for the deliverables they need.

Here’s a look at how dependencies can play out in a project timeline.

Image Source

In the example, you can see that hiring a caterer has to happen before finalizing the lunch menu. But other tasks, like finding a DJ and deciding on an event theme, can happen at the same time. So as you map out each task, you’ll have to see which steps can overlap and which need to wait for others.

4. Estimate the time it will take to complete each task.

Once you figure out the sequence of tasks, you need to figure out how much time each will take. Estimate as best you can. That way, it’ll be easier to create the project roadmap and understand the project’s overall time frame.

As you go, make sure to consider the other projects and priorities your team has going on. A designer may be able to come up with a rough draft of video animations in one week, but if they’re wrapping up another project, they may not be able to start on yours for another two weeks.

Being mindful of your team’s time will make it easier to put together a reasonable, reliable timeline.

5. Create the project timeline.

Build your timeline by organizing your tasks from the first to the final step. Make any necessary adjustments to the task times, add milestones, and solidify the deadline. If your team works with project management software, organize the timeline and tasks so it’s ready to share after the project kickoff meeting.

You can save time during this step by using one of the project timeline templates below. It’s simple to customize each and avoid the extra work of creating your own from scratch.

6. Share the timeline with the project team.

Whew, your timeline is complete! Now, you have to share it with stakeholders. This includes everyone who is involved in the project. You’ve already listed these people out in your brief (during step one), so it’s time to share your clear path forward for the project with them.

It’s a good idea to hold a project kickoff meeting with both stakeholders and individual contributors so everyone starts on the same page. You can communicate the project goals, deliverables, roles, and deadlines — without going into an overwhelming amount of detail. From there, you’ll want to schedule time with the project’s immediate contributors to chat specifics and answer any questions before the work begins.

Need help visualizing the entire project? It can help to include a timeline graphic like the one below to give everyone a sense of the overall time frame. You can add or remove steps, depending on the complexity of your project.

Image Source

7. Adapt as you go.

Remember how just over half of projects are finished on time? Roadblocks and setbacks are inevitable in every project. So if your team runs into a delay, you’ll have to understand the impact and adjust the timeline if necessary.

While it’s possible to make up for delays without changing the final deadline, it’s your job as the project owner to update stakeholders on the project’s progress. Reporting a minor issue (like a coworker being out sick for a few days) isn’t always necessary to higher-ups. But if it’s a major roadblock that requires an extreme adjustment to the timeline (like a core contributor leaving the team), you have to communicate a new timeline to stakeholders.

Change is part of every company, so don’t panic if you have to adjust your timeline. It’s better to be transparent about the scope of work and timeline than keep people in the dark until the deadline hits. The earlier you adjust to change, the easier it will be to get back on track.

Project Timeline Examples

Visualizing a project makes it simple to understand what needs to happen from start to finish. Whether you need a template for a product launch or campaign meeting, these well-designed project timeline templates are perfect for your next planning session.

Employee Onboarding Timeline

Product Launch Timeline

Crisis Response Project Timeline

Historical Timeline

Task Project Timeline

Meeting Project Timeline

Need as many templates as you can get? Download all of these project timelines (and more) for free. With the right timelines in hand, it’s easy to keep everyone up to date and informed. Now all you have to do is make sure your projects stay on schedule. Good luck!

After spending hours creating an email marketing campaign, the last thing you want to do is get blocked by your recipients’ spam filters. Luckily, by avoiding common email spam trigger words, you can successfully prevent your emails from getting routed to spam folders.

Let’s take a look at what spam trigger words are, what gets emails sent to spam, and which spam words you should avoid when creating your email campaigns.

Spam filters can be triggered for a variety of reasons, causing your email to skip recipients’ inboxes and land straight in their spam inbox. One of the easiest ways to avoid spam filters is by carefully choosing the words you use in your email’s subject line.

Trigger words are known to cause problems and increase the chances of your email getting caught in a spam trap. By avoiding these words in your email subject lines, you can dramatically increase your chances of getting beyond the filters.

Spam trigger words alone aren’t enough to send your email to spam. For instance, if you are offering a 3-for-1 discount sale, you can still advertise that in your emails and not get sent to spam. It’s important to understand all the factors that come into play when emails get identified as spam.

What causes emails to go to spam?

Email providers look for a number of factors when deciding whether to automatically send your emails to spam. If you’ve made it on an email blacklist, that means you’ve repeatedly sent emails to recipients who haven’t signed up for your email list.

Your emails can get sent to spam if you:

• Don’t include an unsubscribe button in your email
• Send poorly-designed emails with broken or glitchy code
• Address your recipient by “my friend” or “dear” (or not by their name)
• Buy email lists online and mass-send messages to email addresses that don’t exist (resulting in a high bounce rate)
• Use all-caps text and extreme punctuation (!!!!! or ?????)
• Include strangely formatted fonts (𝖑𝖎𝖐𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘)
• Provide links to fraudulent websites

Email providers only want to deliver emails from high-reputation senders. To be a high-reputation sender, do the following:

• Include an unsubscribe button
• Design your emails with clean code using a tool such as Marketing Hub
• Personalize your emails with the recipient’s first name
• Only email those who’ve subscribed to your email list (if you don’t have any, you should learn to naturally increase your email list subscribers)
• Keep your email deliverability high
• Keep the text free of odd formatting and extraneous punctuation
• Only link out to reputable websites

If you meet these criteria, you can get away with using “classic” email spam words in your subject line and your email. The text surrounding the spam phrase also matters, as does your history as an email sender. If email providers don’t have a reason to mistrust you, they simply won’t.

Email Spam Words to Avoid

When writing your email subject lines, you want to avoid:

• Over-sensationalizing
• Over-promising
• Using strange formatting to “stand out” in the recipient’s inbox

Next time you sit down to write an email subject line, consult the exhaustive list below. In fact, you might want to bookmark this list so you can refer back to it every time you craft an email subject line.

Commerce

1. As seen on
2. Buy
3. Buy direct
4. Buying judgments
5. Clearance
6. Order
7. Order status
8. Orders shipped by shopper

Personal

1. Dig up dirt on friends
2. Meet singles
3. Score with babes
4. XXX
5. Near you

Employment

1. Additional income
2. Be your own boss
3. Compete for your business
4. Double your
5. Earn $
6. Earn extra cash
7. Earn per week
8. Expect to earn
9. Extra income
10. Home based
11. Home employment
12. Homebased business
13. Income from home
14. Make $
15. Make money
16. Money making
17. Online biz opportunity
18. Online degree
19. Opportunity
20. Potential earnings
21. University diplomas
22. While you sleep
23. Work at home
24. Work from home

Financial – General

1. $$$
2. Affordable
3. Bargain
4. Beneficiary
5. Best price
6. Big bucks
7. Cash
8. Cash bonus
9. Cashcashcash
10. Cents on the dollar
11. Cheap
12. Check
13. Claims
14. Collect
15. Compare rates
16. Cost
17. Credit
18. Credit bureaus
19. Discount
20. Earn
21. Easy terms
22. F r e e
23. Fast cash
24. For just $XXX
25. Hidden assets
26. hidden charges
27. Income
28. Incredible deal
29. Insurance
30. Investment
31. Loans
32. Lowest price
33. Million dollars
34. Money
35. Money back
36. Mortgage
37. Mortgage rates
38. No cost
39. No fees
40. One hundred percent free
41. Only $
42. Pennies a day
43. Price
44. Profits
45. Pure profit
46. Quote
47. Refinance
48. Save $
49. Save big money
50. Save up to
51. Serious cash
52. Subject to credit
53. They keep your money — no refund!
54. Unsecured credit
55. Unsecured debt
56. US dollars
57. Why pay more?

Financial – Business

1. Accept credit cards
2. Cards accepted
3. Check or money order
4. Credit card offers
5. Explode your business
6. Full refund
7. Investment decision
8. No credit check
9. No hidden Costs
10. No investment
11. Requires initial investment
12. Sent in compliance
13. Stock alert
14. Stock disclaimer statement
15. Stock pick

Financial – Personal

1. Avoice bankruptcy
2. Calling creditors
3. Collect child support
4. Consolidate debt and credit
5. Consolidate your debt
6. Eliminate bad credit
7. Eliminate debt
8. Financially independent
9. Get out of debt
10. Get paid
11. Lower interest rate
12. Lower monthly payment
13. Lower your mortgage rate
14. Lowest insurance rates
15. Pre-approved
16. Refinance home
17. Social security number
18. Your income

General

1. Acceptance
2. Accordingly
3. Avoid
4. Chance
5. Dormant
6. Freedom
7. Here
8. Hidden
9. Home
10. Leave
11. Lifetime
12. Lose
13. Maintained
14. Medium
15. Miracle
16. Never
17. Passwords
18. Problem
19. Remove
20. Reverses
21. Sample
22. Satisfaction
23. Solution
24. Stop
25. Success
26. Teen
27. Wife

Greetings

1. Dear [email/friend/somebody]
2. Friend
3. Hello

Marketing

1. Ad
2. Auto email removal
3. Bulk email
4. Click
5. Click below
6. Click here
7. Click to remove
8. Direct email
9. Direct marketing
10. Email harvest
11. Email marketing
12. Form
13. Increase sales
14. Increase traffic
15. Increase your sales
16. Internet market
17. Internet marketing
18. Marketing
19. Marketing solutions
20. Mass email
21. Member
22. Month trial offer
23. More Internet Traffic
24. Multi level marketing
25. Notspam
26. One time mailing
27. Online marketing
28. Open
29. Opt in
30. Performance
31. Removal instructions
32. Sale
33. Sales
34. Search engine listings
35. Search engines
36. Subscribe
37. The following form
38. This isn’t junk
39. This isn’t spam
40. Undisclosed recipient
41. Unsubscribe
42. Visit our website
43. We hate spam
44. Web traffic
45. Will not believe your eyes

Medical

1. Cures baldness
2. Diagnostic
3. Fast Viagra delivery
4. Human growth hormone
5. Life insurance
6. Lose weight
7. Lose weight spam
8. Medicine
9. No medical exams
10. Online pharmacy
11. Removes wrinkles
12. Reverses aging
13. Stop snoring
14. Valium
15. Viagra
16. Vicodin
17. Weight loss
18. Xanax

Numbers

1. #1
2. 100% free
3. 100% satisfied
4. 4U
5. 50% off
6. Billion
7. Billion dollars
8. Join millions
9. Join millions of Americans
10. Million
11. One hundred percent guaranteed
12. Thousands

Offers

1. Being a member
2. Billing address
3. Call
4. Cannot be combined with any other offer
5. Confidentially on all orders
6. Deal
7. Financial freedom
8. Gift certificate
9. Giving away
10. Guarantee
11. Have you been turned down?
12. If only it were that easy
13. Important information regarding
14. In accordance with laws
15. Long distance phone offer
16. Mail in order form
17. Message contains
18. Name brand
19. Nigerian
20. No age restrictions
21. No catch
22. No claim forms
23. No disappointment
24. No experience
25. No gimmick
26. No inventory
27. No middleman
28. No obligation
29. No purchase necessary
30. No questions asked
31. No selling
32. No strings attached
33. No-obligation
34. Not intended
35. Obligation
36. Off shore
37. Offer
38. Per day
39. Per week
40. Priority mail
41. Prize
42. Prizes
43. Produced and sent out
44. Reserves the right
45. Shopping spree
46. Stuff on sale
47. Terms and conditions
48. The best rates
49. They’re just giving it away
50. Trial
51. Unlimited
52. Unsolicited
53. Vacation
54. Vacation offers
55. Warranty
56. We honor all
57. Weekend getaway
58. What are you waiting for?
59. Who really wins?
60. Win
61. Winner
62. Winning
63. Won
64. You are a winner!
65. You have been selected
66. You’re a Winner!

Calls-to-Action

1. Cancel at any time
2. Compare
3. Copy accurately
4. Get
5. Give it away
6. Print form signature
7. Print out and fax
8. See for yourself
9. Sign up free today

Free

1. Free
2. Free access
3. Free cell phone
4. Free consultation
5. Free DVD
6. Free gift
7. Free grant money
8. Free hosting
9. Free installation
10. Free Instant
11. Free investment
12. Free leads
13. Free membership
14. Free money
15. Free offer
16. Free preview
17. Free priority mail
18. Free quote
19. Free sample
20. Free trial
21. Free website

Descriptions/Adjectives

1. All natural
2. All new
3. Amazing
4. Certified
5. Congratulations
6. Drastically reduced
7. Fantastic deal
8. For free
9. Guaranteed
10. It’s effective
11. Outstanding values
12. Promise you
13. Real thing
14. Risk free
15. Satisfaction guaranteed

Sense of Urgency

1. Access
2. Act now!
3. Apply now
4. Apply online
5. Call free
6. Call now
7. Can’t live without
8. Do it today
9. Don’t delete
10. Don’t hesitate
11. For instant access
12. For Only
13. For you
14. Get it now
15. Get started now
16. Great offer
17. Info you requested
18. Information you requested
19. Instant
20. Limited time
21. New customers only
22. Now
23. Now only
24. Offer expires
25. Once in lifetime
26. One time
27. Only
28. Order now
29. Order today
30. Please read
31. Special promotion
32. Supplies are limited
33. Take action now
34. Time limited
35. Urgent
36. While supplies last

Nouns

1. Addresses on CD
2. Beverage
3. Bonus
4. Brand new pager
5. Cable converter
6. Casino
7. Celebrity
8. Copy DVDs
9. Laser printer
10. Legal
11. Luxury car
12. New domain extensions
13. Phone
14. Rolex
15. Stainless steel

Use Spam Trigger Words Sparingly and Within Context

So long as you use email marketing best practices and use spam trigger words within context, you can bypass spam filters. Spam filters have become much more sophisticated in recent years. Using one or two phrases won’t hurt you, but make sure to only email customers who want to hear from you and to always personalize your emails. Doing so will optimize the results of your campaign and keep you out of spam folders.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

At one of my first jobs out of college, my manager admitted that my professional growth “wasn’t a priority.” I knew I wasn’t in a leadership role that required succession planning, but the admission still stunned me. Without support for career development, I wound up leaving the company.

This situation may seem dramatic, but it points to the importance of having a succession plan in place. Of course, senior leadership roles take precedence because these can create a larger vacuum if the position is left unfilled. But succession planning can (and should) extend to all leaders across a company.

Developing a succession plan can set your company up for smooth transitions when leaders resign or accept a promotion. It can have a major impact on employee morale and can position your team to skillfully handle future business challenges.

But you don’t want to wait until you absolutely need a successor. At that point, you’re scrambling and may choose the wrong person. Let’s look at the ins and outs of succession planning so your team is prepared for any transition.

What is succession planning?

Succession planning is a strategic process for identifying high-potential employees and taking steps to prepare them for future leadership positions. It helps your business develop and retain the talent pipeline so you can quickly fill vacant leadership roles.

Some succession plans look ahead 12 to 36 months for when a leader retires, steps down, advances, or leaves. Others, including CEO succession plans, look years into the future to secure the next several generations of leaders. We’ll cover the specifics of C-suite transitions later on. But all succession planning has similar benefits for thinking ahead and identifying what you want in a successor.

Why is succession planning important?

In the Global Leadership Forecast 2021 report, 11% of surveyed organizations said they have a “strong” or “very strong” leadership bench — the lowest reported in the past decade.

The benefits of strong leadership are apparent. It improves employee turnover, ensures the execution of goals, and contributes to the company’s survival. So if a crucial leader leaves, a succession plan can help ensure the role is filled and your company continues to thrive. But that’s not the only upside.

Benefits Of Succession Planning

• Finding and developing people for future leadership roles allows you to promote from within. These employees have organizational knowledge and internal relationships that outside hires lack.
• Letting employees know that you’re investing in them is a huge morale boost. It can also increase motivation and loyalty to the company.
• Training employees for leadership roles forces you to identify the skills, knowledge, practices, and relationships needed for each role in your succession plan. This can attract new talent, retain current employees, and keep you competitive.
• Hiring for highly specialized roles isn’t easy. Succession planning helps you find people with unique competencies when it comes time to replace the current employees.

Currently, leaders looking to develop skills outside of their daily work want more coaching and development assignments, in addition to assessment and formal training. Succession planning is the perfect way to formalize training for both present and future leaders.

Succession Planning Best Practices

Succession planning isn’t simple. But if you consider these best practices as you choose successors, your company will be well-equipped to manage transitions and unexpected changes.

Formalize a Plan

The earlier you set a succession plan, the better. You don’t want to risk a leadership vacuum that leaves teams feeling unsupported. That can quickly waterfall into an entire team or department leaving, especially if the leader is particularly strong and has a close relationship with their direct reports. Once you have a succession plan, write it down. Then, make it clear there’s a plan in place for when the inevitable transitions happen.

Stay Dynamic

Volatility is common at every company. People move cities, find new jobs, and retire. Your succession plan should be able to adapt to change. Instead of creating a plan and only revisiting it when the time comes to fill a role, see the plan as an evolving process that needs to be constantly updated.

Evaluate Talent

Part of a fluid succession plan is taking the time to assess employees’ interests, skills, performance, and opportunities. This can be done through 360-degree feedback, weekly check-ins with managers, informal training, or tools like the nine-box grid. The goal is to get an idea of people’s strengths and weaknesses, career goals, and growth opportunities so you know who may be the right fit for leadership roles.

Communicate Openly

Communication builds trust, which makes it easier to set expectations and ensure everyone is on the same page. As you build a succession plan, have honest conversations with employees. Find out where people want to be, and tell them where they’re currently at. The whole point is to make your plan a reality, and successors will appreciate your openness when the time comes to offer them a role.

Make Diversity and Inclusion a Priority

Companies with women in leadership roles experience almost 50% higher profit and share performance. And since women, especially women of color, have been most affected by the pandemic, it’s wise to consider gender ratios in any succession plan — including the 2SLGBTQI+ communities.

Succession Planning Example

When asked, a whopping 61% of organizations said they didn’t have a direct report who could step into their CMO role tomorrow. That’s a bad sign for C-suite succession plans. Without a strategy to replace leaders, a company can quickly go downhill.

To avoid chaos, here are a few examples of how succession planning can play out:

McDonald’s Smooth CEO Succession

How does a multi-billion dollar company thrive after losing two CEOs in one year? They had a concentrated effort to develop high-potential employees and created a backup plan for their succession plan.

Coca-Cola’s Failed CEO Succession

The repercussions of a poor succession plan can affect a company for decades. See the implications of Doug Ivester’s term as CEO and the stakeholder concerns that caused his resignation after two years.

Succession Planning Steps

Image Source

1. Make a plan for your plan.

This step is all about defining the goals of your succession plan and aligning with everyone involved. For some companies, this will mean meeting with your board to outline strategic priorities. For others, it will require meeting with senior leaders to define what you’re looking for in a successor.

You’ll be ready to move on to the next step once you:

• Define the roles, skills, core competencies, and experience required for a successor.
• Gather information and feedback on the above from your team or experts within your network.
• Forecast your company’s needs. Consider turnover trends, retirement dates, compensation strategies, and management training.
• Update your job descriptions and any leadership models to reflect the information you’ve gathered. You want to be clear about your expectations before looking for candidates.

2. Identify potential candidates.

Using the succession profiles and job descriptions you’ve created, you’re ready to seek out candidates. Make sure your approach is easy to repeat and introduces as little bias as possible. It can be helpful to get support from the HR team, who can share the tools needed to engage candidates and help facilitate the process.

To identify candidates, you can:

• Look for leaders who develop others, follow through on projects, take action to support the company vision, and have strong leadership skills.
• Get insight into each candidate’s goals, disposition, and potential by holding interviews, creating surveys, and setting up focus groups.
• Ask people for ideas on how to improve succession and leadership to get buy-in and discover who’s engaged with the process.

3. Inform candidates.

There’s a great debate on whether or not companies should let employees know they’re succession candidates. But informing people of their potential will not only motivate them—it will prevent them from wondering about their future with the company. A great candidate may jump ship if they’re in the dark and think they can find a better opportunity elsewhere.

Instead, communicate your intentions about the positions, people, and planning. Just keep your expectations incredibly clear on the included roles and people involved.

4. Set up professional development efforts.

Your company likely has programs in place for onboarding and training employees. But development is about creating opportunities for people to get experience beyond their current role and skillset. This is especially important for team members who can get caught in a specialist silo.

Once you identify candidates who you want to develop, you’ll want to figure out the specific skills and knowledge they’ll need to move to the next level. This often involves an individual development plan, continuous feedback, mentoring or coaching, formal training, and open conversations between the employee and their manager.

5. Do a trial run.

As potential successors accelerate their growth, they’ll become true contenders for leadership roles. This is the ideal time to start trial runs to test their knowledge and expose them to various aspects of a position. Exposing candidates to real-world situations can highlight what effective leadership looks like and give them insight into overall company goals.

There are a variety of ways to get candidates involved, just choose the method that makes the most sense for the role.

• Job shadow a senior leader to learn about their day-to-day tasks
• Take on responsibilities when their manager is away
• Invite them to sit in on higher-level meetings
• Bring them into discussions on strategy, execution, or company forecasting
• Involve them in the hiring process for junior candidates
• Give them more responsibility on projects or involve them in cross-functional work

6. Adjust your hiring strategy.

Eventually, the time will come when you extend an offer to a potential candidate. And you’ll need someone else to fill their role. Luckily, the successor can use their new leadership skills to help interview or train the person filling their position. This can be an employee a few levels down or a new hire.

That’s why it’s important to adjust your hiring strategy to account for successor’s roles. Without them, your plan won’t go as smoothly and their team will likely be scrambling to fill the gap.

7. Implement the plan.

Succession planning is a complex process with multiple short- and long-term layers. But eventually, it will be time to make the transition. Make an announcement and celebrate the succession. This will show employees that your company prides itself on strong leadership and has a plan for everyone’s career development.

Sometimes, a more gradual transition is needed. Family businesses often struggle with smooth succession planning because of familial relationships, emotions, and intertwined histories. In this case, a clear succession plan based on business needs is exceptionally crucial to ensure the company’s continued success

CEO Succession Planning

Only one in three CEOs rank their company’s leadership quality as “very good” or “excellent.” That’s a low score for such a high-stakes business priority — especially considering the majority of CEO successors are internal hires.

Harvard Business Review (HBR) ranks CEO succession as “arguably the most important decision a board can make.” Replacing a CEO needs to involve a long-term, well-devised plan that’s linked to both short and long-term company priorities.

CEO succession planning can follow similar steps to employee succession planning, but there are specific considerations for this top-level role. HBR outlines the following tips for developing a CEO successor:

• A candidate’s competencies, personal attributes, and experiences need to be connected to business priorities. A charismatic senior leader may seem like the top pick, but a company may need a successor with expert-level technical skills in addition to social skills.
• Think several generations ahead instead of focusing on the immediate successor. Succession is a long game, so you want to position it as a continuous process to develop top talent.
• Identify seven potential CEOs in your company across all generations. This can take the stress off of each CEO transition and help keep your talent pipeline top-notch.
• Train CEO candidates through a combination of on-the-job experience, executive coaching, education, mentoring, and cross-functional training.

Developing talent to take on the CEO role will require time and effort from high-level stakeholders. But it’s absolutely worthwhile to prevent the vacuum this leadership role can leave if succession is poorly managed.

If a board is involved in the process, HBR recommends using board meetings to combine strategy sessions with talent development. That way, stakeholders can make sure strategy changes reflect the skills needed for potential successors.

Employee Succession Planning

Succession planning extends to employees in all roles across a company. Viewing it this way, rather than saving succession plans for senior leaders, helps you identify high-potential employees at all levels. You can then take steps to develop them into leaders who are able to take on additional responsibilities when a role opens up.

When looking for successors, keep an eye out for employees who are interested in learning new skills, are comfortable with change, can adapt to uncertainty and new leadership, and can manage various work environments. All potential successors should be motivated and engaged in the process because they have a chance to grow their knowledge and take on more challenging, rewarding roles.

When you see a path for an employee’s growth, they’ll see it too. So the next time a key leader steps down or a new director position is created, you’ll know just the right people to recruit for the role.

Have you ever heard people refer to themselves as “Apple people,” “Nike people,” or “Trader Joe’s” people?

This is what brand awareness can do for a brand: embed itself into consumer lifestyles and purchase habits so that they don’t have to think twice before becoming a customer — time and time again.

This guide will help you better understand brand awareness, establish it among your audience, and build campaigns that allow it to continually grow and change with your business. Let’s dive in.

Brand awareness might seem like a vague concept, and in truth, it is. For those marketers and business owners out there who like to gauge success with neat and tidy numbers, brand awareness will likely ruffle your feathers.

But just because it isn’t a metric that can be perfectly determined doesn’t mean it doesn’t carry value. Brand awareness is incredibly important for business success and overall marketing goals. Here’s why.

Why is brand awareness important?

Brand awareness fosters trust.

In a world where consumers rely on extensive research and others’ opinions before making a purchase, brand trust is everything. Once a consumer bonds to your brand, they’re more likely to make repeat purchases with little to no forethought — which then bridges the gap between trust and loyalty.

Brand awareness establishes that brand trust. When you put a proverbial face to your brand name, consumers can trust easier. Brand awareness efforts give your brand a personality and outlet to be sincere, receive feedback, and tell a story. These are all ways that we, as humans, build trust with one another. The human/brand relationship isn’t any different.

Brand awareness creates association.

When you’ve had a paper cut, I bet you’ve put on a Band-Aid. When you had a pressing question, I’m sure you’ve Googled it. When you needed to make a few copies, I’m guessing that you Xeroxed them. And when you’ve packed for a nice picnic, I’m willing to bet you grabbed a Coke to drink.

Am I correct? Most likely. But … notice how the some of the words above are capitalized. These are brands, not nouns or verbs.

Speaking in brand-less terms, Band-Aid should be referred to as bandage, Google as a search engine, and Xerox as a copier. But it’s more fun to refer to the brand itself, even if we aren’t using their specific product.

That’s what brand awareness does. It associates actions and products with particular brands, subconsciously encouraging us to replace common words with branded terms. And before you know it, simple paper cuts or picnics are doing the marketing for us.

Brand awareness builds brand equity.

Brand equity describes a brand’s value, which is determined by consumer experiences with and overall perception of the brand. Positive experiences and perception equal positive brand equity, and the same goes for negative notions.

Here are a few valuable things that come from positive brand equity:

• Higher prices due to higher perceived value
• A higher stock price
• The ability to expand business through product or service line extensions
• Greater social impact due to brand name value

How does a brand establish (and increase) brand equity? By building brand awareness and consistently promoting positive experiences with the brand. Brand awareness is the foundation of brand equity.

Once a consumer is aware of a brand, they start to recognize it without assistance, seek it out to make a purchase, begin to prefer it over other similar brands, and establish a loyalty that not only spurs on other purchases but also inspires recommendations to family and friends.

That is why brand awareness is so important. It establishes trust with your customers, creates positive associations, and builds invaluable brand equity that allows your brand to become a household name and consumer staple.

Brand awareness among your audience and the general public doesn’t happen overnight. It also doesn’t happen from a simple advertisement or marketing campaign.

Strong brand awareness is a result of multiple simultaneous efforts that extend beyond trying to get paying customers.

If you expect to raise awareness of your brand by running a few product advertisements on Facebook, you won’t get very far. Not only will the consumer be focused on the product (not the brand), but the ad will also lack impact beyond a simple sale.

Here are some ways to establish a solid brand awareness foundation and make a lasting impact with your audience:

1. Be a person, not a company.

When you get to know a new friend, what do you like to discover about them? I like to learn about hobbies, passions, likes and dislikes, and more. I also pay attention to how they speak, what they like to talk about, and what stuff gets them excited.

These are the traits your brand should determine and promote about itself. To leave an impact with your audience, you’ve got to define yourself as more than a company that sells stuff. How else would you define yourself? What words would you use if you had to introduce your brand to a new friend?

2. Socialize.

Introvert or extrovert, outgoing or quiet, all humans benefit from social contact and spending time with one another. It’s how we stay connected, learn new things, and become known by others.

The same goes for your brand. If you only attempt to connect with others when trying to make a sale or get support, you won’t be known as anything beyond a business with a singular intention (and the same goes for a person).

To raise awareness of your brand, you’ve got to be social. Post on social media about things unrelated to your product or services. Interact with your audience by asking questions, commenting on posts, or retweeting or sharing content you like. Treat your social accounts as if you were a person trying to make friends, not a business trying to make money.

Research shows that over 50% of brand reputation comes from online sociability. Being social leads to greater awareness and simply being known.

3. Tell a narrative.

Storytelling is an incredibly powerful marketing tactic, whether you’re marketing products or promoting your brand. Why? Because it gives something real for your audience to latch onto.

Crafting a narrative around your brand humanizes it and gives it depth. And weaving this said narrative into your marketing inherently markets your brand alongside your products or services.

What should your narrative be about? Anything, as long as it’s true. It can be the narrative of your founder, the tale of how your business had its first product idea, or the little-engine-that-could story of how your small business made it in this big world.

People like hearing stories about each other. Authenticity is impactful, and it can lead to a big boost in brand awareness.

4. Make sharing easy.

Whatever your industry, product offering, or marketing strategies, make it easy for your audience to share your content. This could be blog posts, sponsored content, videos, social media posts, or product pages. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s shareable.

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most effective way to establish trust and familiarity among customers. If someone sees that a friend or family member is recommending a product or service, they’ll take notice of that product … and brand. Is this a brand worth exploring? Do they have other great products I can rely on? What are their social accounts like, and what do they talk about?

If you make it easy to post about your stuff, consumers will raise brand awareness for you by simply clicking “Share”.

Brand awareness is about impact.

It’s about interacting with your audience in ways that don’t only ask for money, participation, or loyalty.

Imagine if you met a new person who wanted to be your friend. If they asked for any of the above, you’d probably laugh and walk away, right? Not only is that a shallow approach to friendship, but it also leaves no lasting impact on you.

The same goes for establishing and building brand awareness among your audience.

You already know how to start building your brand awareness from the ground up. Now, it’s time to put together a simple yet powerful brand awareness strategy that will keep the flywheel turning.

1. Guest blog on other niche websites.

Guest blogging is one of the best ways to increase brand awareness with minimal effort. You can take advantage of the traffic that’s already arriving at another website to get more eyes on your brand while offering helpful and relevant content.

In other words, you’re not just pushing out your product on people who aren’t ready to buy, but rather writing in your brand voice and presenting yourself as human first, company second. Another great alternative to guest blogging would be publishing sponsored content on niche websites.

2. Try co-marketing.

Co-marketing is an excellent way to build brand awareness — not only because you’d be taking advantage of another brand’s audience but because it can highlight who you are and what you offer in the marketplace.

For instance, if your company sells dog leashes and toys, you could potentially partner with a dog walking app. The campaign itself could appear in any number of ways: You could create a shared offer (“download the app and get one free leash”) or host an Instagram live together. No matter what, partnering up with another brand could help you double and even triple your reach.

3. Advertise everywhere.

I know, I know: Advertising many not build brand awareness so much as it builds product awareness, but still — it’s one of the best tools you can use to get people to find out about your brand in a low-touch, unobtrusive way.

Consider Grammarly. It feels like just a few years ago, no one knew about Grammarly. Now it’s one of those brands that you automatically think of when you consider online proofreading software. That’s because they’ve launched robust social, video, and display advertising campaigns that appear nearly everywhere.

You might consider starting with online advertising, which includes paid social media and PPC. If you’re interested in truly appearing everywhere and launching more sophisticated campaigns at a mass scale, you can launch programmatic advertising campaigns.

4. Hire a face or create a mascot for the company.

This may not be doable for smaller companies, but if you do have the budget, consider hiring an actor or spokesperson to represent the company. What do you first think of when you think of Progressive? Flo, who’s even been termed “Progressive girl” for her fun and friendly personality.

This allows you to not only humanize your brand, as mentioned in the previous section, but give a sense of the friendly and knowledgeable service customers can expect to receive.

You don’t have to use a person, either. GEICO is a great example of this. The moment you see that friendly lizard, you know it’s GEICO. Creating an animated mascot may be a cost-efficient but equally effective way to give a face to your brand.

5. Choose an image or symbol that represents you.

Nike is not even Nike anymore. It’s a check mark. The moment you see that check mark, you know it’s Nike. Or how about McDonald’s yello “M”? Or Apple’s bitten apple?

I’m not just talking about a logo, either, though it can certainly be part of your logo. But work with your branding team or a freelance graphic designer to create a symbol that you ubiquitously use in your marketing, advertising, and organic campaigns. You might also consider taking a note from Apple, McDonald’s, and Nike, and incorporating the symbol into your product packaging and design.

6. Create a short, catchy slogan.

Extending the Nike example, you think of the brand immediately when you hear “Just do it.” Creating a short motto or slogan is a cornerstone of a strong brand awareness strategy and is an easy and simple way to increase brand awareness.

It’s definitely tough — imagine condensing everything you’re about in one short sentence. It must explain how you’re different, what you offer, and why customers should choose you. Consider HubSpot’s tagline, “Helping millions grow better.” In four simple words, you understand why our product should be your choice when consider marketing automation tools.

Learn how to write an effective business slogan with this free guide.

Your brand awareness is now effectively off the ground, and people talk about you without needing to see an ad.

What about expanding your established brand awareness and building on that strong foundation? What can you do as a brand to campaign for awareness and constantly increase it?

Here are a few campaign ideas to boost your brand awareness beyond your initial strategy.

1. Offer freemium.

Freemium is a business model that offers a basic product or product line for free, only charging for any products deemed premium or enterprise-level. It’s a popular pricing strategy for software companies, like HubSpot and Trello.

Offering a freemium option allows customers to get a taste of your brand and product before making a purchase. It’s a try-before-you-buy opportunity that can, technically, last forever (as opposed to a free trial period that some companies choose).

It’s common to offer a freemium option with the condition that the brand’s watermark will be shown on any public-facing parts of the product or service. This makes freemium a win-win situation: The consumer gets the product for free, and the brand gets free advertising when consumers use it.

Typeform is another great example of this. Typeform offers a freemium option of its survey software, but customers must include a thank-you page that features the Typeform logo and message.

Depending on your type of business and product offer, Freemium may be the best way to raise awareness of your brand among your audience.

2. Create free content.

Nowadays, creating content is easier than ever … which is a good thing because today’s consumers turn to the internet for any and all questions, concerns, and DIY projects.

Content is a fun way to raise awareness of your brand because it’s the easiest way to show personality and share opinions and positioning on issues — two major components that personify and humanize your brand.

Content doesn’t have to be in written form, either. You can also create videos, infographics, podcasts (which we’ll cover below), and more. Sure, written content like blogs and downloadable guides are arguably the easiest, but they’re definitely not the only option.

Content doesn’t have to live on just your website, either. Guest posting and sponsored content provide opportunities to get in front of new audiences and diversify the type of content you create.

If your brand isn’t creating content, you might be missing out on some major brand awareness opportunities. Content provides an amazing way to authentically connect with your audience while getting your brand name in front of people.

3. Sponsor events.

How many festivals, concerts, fairs, and exhibitions have you attended? These types of events are typically not possible without the help of brand sponsorships. (Take a look at a t-shirt, koozie, or string backpack you likely grabbed from the event. See any brand names?)

Sponsoring events is a surefire way to get your brand in front of hundreds, thousands, or millions of people that likely fall into your target audience. From banners to flyers to water bottles, your brand name will be everywhere if you sponsor an event.

Sponsoring an event also allows you to pin your brand name on an event that matches your personality, interests, and passions, meaning consumers will then associate your brand with that event and its aesthetic and character. It can also gelp your company build brand awareness among highly specialized and qualified audiences. Professionals don’t attend events just for fun. They attend to learn the latest developments in the industry.

It’s more than just being a booth in a sea of booths. By being a consistent event sponsor, you’ll cement yourself in attendees’ minds as a leader in the field. They key is to be consistent in your sponsorship.

Consider Red Bull. Red Bull is an energy drink, and without any brand awareness efforts, we’d simply consider it an energy drink. But, thankfully, Red Bull took their marketing to the extreme — literally — by consistently sponsoring extreme sporting events like cliff diving and motocross. They also sponsor athletes. Now, we inherently associate Red Bull with daring and adventurous … and believe that, if we drink it, we can be the same.

4. Give your brand a personality.

Treating your brand as a person and defining your narrative are the first steps to giving your brand a personality. The next step would be infusing this personality into your marketing efforts.

When you market your products and services with personality, you can’t help but boost your brand awareness because your brand will shine right through. Sure, your consumers will take note of the pants or pasta you’re marketing, but they’ll also experience your personality through your advertising.

This is a great strategy when mixing your traditional marketing campaigns with brand awareness campaigns. They don’t always have to be one in the same, but they definitely can be.

Consider Old Spice. (Did you just picture the man on the horse? I did.) Their advertisements for their hygiene products are overflowing with personality and humor, and they still mention their products throughout. The advertisement not only makes an impact on its viewers, but a mere mention of the “Old Spice man” also sends consumers back to YouTube to watch the commercial … and to the store to buy some deodorant.

5. Produce a podcast.

More than one-third of Americans 12 and older listen to podcasts regularly. There’s no doubt podcasts play an important role in our lives … and marketing efforts.

Podcasts used to be a complicated process, only created by those with a studio and fancy microphone. Now, it’s easier than ever to create and release a podcast, and doing so can do wonders for your brand awareness efforts.

Why? Because podcasts, like written or visual content, provide a way to connect with your audience authentically. Instead of blatantly promoting your product or service (which we’ve agreed isn’t the best way to go about boosting brand awareness), podcasts give you the opportunity to educate, inform, entertain, or advise your audience and build trust by doing so.

Here are some examples of great podcasts produced by brands you know and love:

• Trailblazers by Dell
• The ShakeUp by HubSpot
• The MarTech Podcast by HubSpot

See how these brands have chosen podcast topics that relate to their 1) overall brand message and 2) products or services? Doing this helps them relate the podcast back to their brand and continue to raise awareness, too.

Building and growing brand awareness is a never-ending process, just as maintaining a friendship or relationship never really ends.

Boosting your brand awareness through campaigns gives you a chance to dabble in marketing and advertising opportunities you’d otherwise not invest in — meaning new, powerful ways to connect with your audience.

How to Measure Brand Awareness

How do you know if your brand awareness efforts are working? How do you know if you need to change direction, top the competition, or fix a crisis? Just like any other marketing metric, you measure it.

Wait … I thought you said brand awareness couldn’t be measured!

Aha! You’ve been listening. I appreciate that.

You’re right — brand awareness can’t be measured in the traditional sense. But, you can still review activities and metrics that’ll help you gauge where your brand stands in terms of popularity and consumer awareness.

Here are a few ways to gauge your brand awareness and learn where you can tweak your efforts:

Quantitative Brand Awareness Measures

These numbers can help you paint the overall picture of your brand awareness. To measure quantitatively, check out these metrics:

• Direct traffic. Firstly, direct traffic is the result of people intentionally typing in your URL and visiting your website. Your direct traffic number will tell you how much your marketing is prompting people to visit your website. This is an important metric, as many consumers today discover brands through social media, advertisements, or by typing in keywords related to your brand or product. When consumers go directly to your site, it means they were aware of your brand beforehand.
• Site traffic numbers. This number just reflects overall site traffic, which will tell you how much of the general internet population is checking out your content and spending time with your brand. It won’t quite tell you where people came from, but that doesn’t matter, because they’re aware of your brand enough to check it out.
• Social engagement. Engagement can refer to followers, likes, retweets, comments, and more. It’s a reflection of how many people are aware of your brand and socialize with it, as well as how impactful your content is. For instance, sites like Sparktoro can give you a specific score for your Twitter impact.

Qualitative Brand Awareness Measures

This step is where your brand awareness “score” gets a little murky. But these tactics can still help you gauge who and how many people are aware of your brand. To measure qualitatively, try:

• Searching Google and setting up Google Alerts. Doing this gets you up to speed with how your brand is being talked about online. It will alert you to any news or mentions by third-party press. As your brand grows, its internet real estate will expand beyond your website, so keep an eye on that.
• Social listening. Social listening is monitoring social media management tools for organic mentions and engagement. Who’s tagging your brand, mentioning it in comments, or using your hashtag in their posts? These tools can help you discover that. And the more your audience is discussing your brand on social media, the more they’re aware of it.
• Running brand awareness surveys. This process involves getting direct feedback from your customers and audience and can be incredibly helpful with not only understanding who knows of your brand but also what they think of it. You can release surveys through SurveyMonkey or Typeform and share them on social media or directly with your customers. This guide will help you create and promote them.

These quantitative and qualitative metrics will help you understand your brand awareness among your audience and the general public. It’ll never be a perfect number, but keeping your pulse on this measure will help influence campaigns and stay connected to your audience. Regardless of how you gauge brand awareness for your company, avoid these common mistakes when measuring brand awareness.

Brand Awareness Examples

Not sure what a brand awareness campaign can look like? Let’s take a look at some top examples.

1. HubFans

HubFans is a brand awareness campaign that rewards avid and knowledgeable HubSpot users for spreading their knowledge about the CRM platform. It’s a brilliant campaign because awareness is built not by the HubSpot brand, but by HubSpot customers. That automatically makes the brand seem more approachable and human.

In the same way, you can get your customers to advocate for you by rewarding them if they share knowledge about your product. This will make it easier to build an army of brand evangelists who will effortlessly scale your brand awareness efforts.

2. Apple Events

We all know of companies that release new gadgets and features to keep their product lines up-to-date. But none come to Apple’s level of famousness, and that’s because Apple hosts an entire event dedicated to announcing its new releases.

Even though the updates to the actual products are minimal, Apple has “hyped up” the event to such a degree that you know automatically to watch for the brand’s new developments. That keeps the brand at the forefront of customers’ minds when they’re considering a new tech gadget.

3. Rare Beauty’s Mental Health 101

Having an admirable mission at the core of your company is a great move for building brand awareness — especially if you enable your customers to share resources that can help others.

That’s what Rare Beauty did with its Mental Health 101 initiative. It built a kit that people could share on their social media sites to build awareness about the importance of mental health. By sharing the brand’s kit, users are also sharing the brand itself, which is an excellent way to build brand awareness.

4. Coca-Cola Share a Coke

Coca-Cola doesn’t need more brand awareness, and that’s because it has built it so effectively over time that it has reached iconic status. One such example is its “Share a Coke” campaign, where you can find a Coke bottle with your name in store. Or personalize one with a phrase.

This is a brilliant brand awareness move that capitalizes on customers’ love of personalization, and with it, Coca-Cola ensures it remains an unshakable American classic. This example shows how far personalization will get you in your brand awareness campaign, so try to personalize whenever possible. If your product isn’t disposable, consider giving customers the option to add their name.

5. Beauty Bakerie Matte Lip Whip

If your product does something incredible — such as staying put even under a stream of water — consider filming one or more videos about it. That’s what Beauty Bakerie did with its now-famous Matte Lip Whip products.

I remember when my Instagram feed used to filled with videos of people putting Matte Lip Whip swatches under water and washing them with soap. It was so incredible that I couldn’t help but look at the brand. Behold, I was now aware of Beauty Bakerie, and have been following them ever since.

Show off something about your product that might just shock your audience into learning more about you. It’s guaranteed to work like it did for Beauty Bakerie.

Over to You

Brand awareness is a powerful (albeit vague) concept that can have a major impact on your marketing efforts, consumer perception, and revenue.

Follow these techniques for establishing and building awareness for your brand, and you’ll find yourself with a loyal audience that recognizes your brand among competitors, chooses your products time and time again, and recommends their friends and family do the same.

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

Think of all the content you create — the good, the bad, and the ones that take a scary amount of time.

Now think of how you organize it. How do you keep track of how content is performing? Do you use those metrics to improve for future campaigns?

If you’re missing this kind of organization for your company, consider investing in a content audit. They are an excellent planning resource and roadmap for future content creation, while organizing analytics so you can refer back to high-performing posts if needed. In this post, learn how you can perform one for your own business, and discover high-quality tools to help you streamline the process.

Content Audit Goals

Running a content audit for your website can prove to be beneficial for your traffic and improve the experience of your readers.

First, content audits help you take note of the areas on your website that aren’t properly optimized for search engine rank. For example, you might add meta descriptions to your blog posts as part of your current strategy, but if that always wasn’t the case, a content audit helps you locate which posts need to be updated.

Content audits also help you identify new SEO opportunities to implement on your website. For example, did you know that adding keywords to the headings on your site gives search engines more clues about what your web page is about?

If search engines have as much knowledge as possible about the content on your website, they’ll be able to suggest your web pages to browsers more accurately.

Running an audit is a chance for you to update the content on your website to improve the comprehension of your site by readers. For example, you might not know the links on one of your product pages are broken, but a content audit provides you with a reminder to update those links. Let’s discuss some additional benefits below. 

Benefits of Content Audits

Your content audit should help you bring your content up-to-date, improve the rank of your web pages, and make the website you present to readers easy to navigate and free of error. In addition, content audits:

• Give data-driven insight into the performance of your content, helping you make informed decisions based on factual information rather than just assumptions. 
• Identify areas for content repurposing or updating where numbers are lower than desired. 
• Identify pieces of content that perform best that you can leverage in marketing materials. 
• Understand more about what your audience likes and dislikes. 
• Content maintenance becomes easier when you have an understanding of what you’re offering. 

To make sure your website content audit is valuable, carve out enough time to complete it. However, you don’t have to be in it alone — there are plenty of templates to guide you through a content audit if you’re unsure of where to start.

Content Audit Template

This template guides you through checking the On-Page SEO of your website. It works for many page types, like a home page, landing page, blog post, or even a form page. There’s a space in the template for you to note the page type to keep the template organized.

Under each section, the template will tell you why it matters for on-page optimization. So, for example, when you note if you have multiple similar pages, canonical tags will make sure they’re grouped together.

Below, we’ll talk about the sections of the template.

In the first column, you’ll specify your page type for each page you’re auditing. Then, you’ll fill in the URL and note any canonical tags your site may have. Remember, you can find canonical tags in your page’s source code.

After that, you’ll note if your page is a part of a sequence of pages to ensure that your code is properly formatted for sequencing.

Next up, you’ll fill in some details about the page’s copy. For instance, the page title. If I included a blog post similar to this one in the audit, for example, I would put “How to Run an SEO Content Audit” in this section, shown below:

This section makes sure you’ll have keywords in your page title, boosting SERP rank. Similarly, in the next section, you’ll define the goal of each page and the focus keywords of that page.

So, for this blog post, I would define the purpose as, “Educating readers about creating a content audit,” and my keywords would be something akin to “On-Page SEO,” and “Content Audits.”

After that, you’ll note the headlines on your page. A good rule of thumb is to make sure at least one keyword appears in an H2 to help your rank. Same thing with meta descriptions, the next section — a short, concise description of your content should also contain a keyword to improve rank.

Once you outline your headings and include your meta description, then you’ll focus on images. First, include the file name of your image and note the alt text. Recall that alt text tells Google what your image is about, so if your images don’t have any, this is a good reminder to add them.

Next, you’re going to focus on links: internal and outbound. Remove broken internal links, and make sure your page has at least 2-3. (Remember, internal links help you to boost the traffic of other pages).

Following your link optimization, note the page speed. If your page takes longer than 2 seconds to load, it might not keep the reader’s attention.

Finally, the last section makes sure your page is available for sharing on socials and is mobile-friendly. These functions of the page improve the accessibility of your webpage.

Content Audit Spreadsheet

This template also offers a spreadsheet checklist. The SEO Audit Checklist is another spreadsheet that makes sure the content of your website is fully optimized and up-to-date. So, the first template helps you update the On-Page SEO of your website, while the checklist gives you an in-depth reference for running the audit:

For example, when you go through the worksheet, you can expect to include information about the On-Page elements of your website. Still, you’ll also be checking for crawling and indexing, ranking factors, the content and link structure, status codes, coding, and internalization.

To use the checklist, you’ll simply mark “Yes” or “No” for each task, and add any notes to refer to.

How to Run a Content Audit

1. Think of your goals.

First, think about what you want to accomplish. When you have your goals in mind, you will have a better idea of how to categorize your audit later.

Ultimately, a content audit identifies engaging content for your audience and can include information on SEO and conversion rates. One goal to consider could be to determine which of your pages need to be SEO-optimized. Alternatively, you might think about finding the most interesting and best-performing content for your website visitors and place that on your homepage or in an email newsletter.

Identifying company goals will ensure your content audit is useful for bookkeeping and updating your strategy with improved tactics. After this is complete, then it’s time to collect your content.

2. Gather your content.

Which content are you going to audit? The types of audits are typically those for product descriptions, blog posts, multimedia, and publications. Decide this, and gather the backlog of all of that content.

To accomplish this, collect the URLs of the web pages you’ve chosen to audit. If you have a small website, you can do this manually and put them in a spreadsheet. However, there are also online tools to do it for you, like SEMrush, Screaming Frog, and HubSpot.

SEMrush and Screaming Frog will provide this information based on your sitemap. A sitemap is a file that has all of your website’s information and can be created for free online. For more information on sitemaps, check out our guide here.

3. Categorize your content.

After receiving your audit, categorize it on the spreadsheet. Some online tools categorize the information for you, but it’s also doable to do it yourself. The categories will keep you organized so you can ensure your content audit meets your needs.

Some categories you can include are content type, author(s), publication date, and content format. Think of categories that are useful to know from different pieces of content. For instance, if you are auditing blog posts, important information to pull would be the date of publication or update, the author, the type of content, and metadata (Such as the title and description).

Another critical category is metrics. Some online tools will include them in the audit, but Google Analytics can also pull data for you. Metrics can provide more information for your analysis later.

At this point, your spreadsheet should have URLs of your content, categories, metadata (if included), and metric data.

4. Analyze your data.

Now, it’s time to look at your data critically. This is the step that will give you a good measure of the state of your content. When analyzing your data, here are some things to take note of:

• Content that’s missing — What is your audience interested in that you haven’t covered?
• Content that’s underperforming — Which pieces of content aren’t getting the numbers you want?
• Outdated content — If you have old content, can it be updated or reworked to maintain optimization?
• Home run content — Content that has performed extremely well.

Based on the results of this analysis, organize them in the spreadsheet. A way to do this is to assign different colors based on what you’re analyzing and highlight the rows with those colors so you have an idea of which category is which, and which ones take up the largest portion of your overall content library.

5. Create action items.

In this step, you will finalize and clean up your audit. You now know what to focus on based on the analysis and can go from there. Think about the posts to delete, update, re-write, or re-structure.

To organize these action items, add one last column to the spreadsheet — one that’s close to the front so you can keep tabs on it. This column will let you know the action to take on a specific URL. For example, are you going to keep, update, delete, or re-write that blog post?

If you plan on ranking by priority or including a timeline for this audit, now would be the time to include that, as well. Some organizations use full-blown content calendars, while others don’t need it. To make a priority timeline that fits in best with your content audit, think back to your goals and which items make sense to execute first.

6. Optional: Choose a content audit tool. 

While not a requirement, choosing a content auditing tool can help you with your process. The most significant benefit of using a content audit tool is that they are fast, helping you save a considerable amount of time. Rather than gathering URLs manually, the tool can automatically aggregate the content you’re looking for and display metrics for you to see. 

Website Content Audit Checklist

The graphic below is a checklist you can use to ensure you’re on the right track when performing your content audit. 

Now, let’s go over some content audit tools you can use to further automate your content audit process.

Content Audit Tools

1. Screaming Frog

Price: First 500 links free, unlimited for $150/year

Screaming Frog is a website crawler. It collects URLs from your sitemap and create an SEO audit for you. If you have a smaller site, Screaming Frog can audit up to 500 links for free.

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The desktop Screaming Frog website is great because it provides you a ton of analysis about your website, and categorizes it for you. Because the audit is SEO-based, it also gives you information on how to improve your SEO, which is likely useful, depending on your goals.

2. Casted

Price: Contact sales for individual quote

Casted helps you understand how contacts are engaging with your podcast content so you can make actionable business decisions to drive engagement. If you’re a HubSpot user, Casted integrates with Marketing Hub, and you can leverage CRM tools to create lead capture forms to draw in your listeners for further nurturing. 

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3. SEMrush

Price: Free trial, then $199-$449/month

In three steps, users of SEMrush can receive a robust audit. By putting in the desired domain, you’ll get a customized report that shows you where you can improve your site:

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From there, you can connect an analytics tool account, like Google Analytics, if you want to see more information about your sitemap, like posts that are the most engaging for your audience. You can use this information when developing strategy — identifying content that performs well for your audience gives you an idea of what to cover.

4. Google Analytics

Price: Free

While Google Analytics doesn’t give you a traditional audit, it provides good information that will help you formulate your audit. It lets you know who is visiting your website, and from where. Additionally, it gives a rundown on the behaviors of your visitors:

It gives you data about the amount of time visitors are seeing on webpages, the most popular webpages, and different patterns seen in your visitors. One of these patterns could be the most popular blog post in the US from visitors aged 18-24.

5. DYNO Mapper

Price: $99-$450/month

If you’re looking for a sitemap generator, DYNO Mapper has that function available. Also available on DYNO Mapper — a content audit tool. This website is really good at finding potential problems in the SEO of your content.

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DYNO Mapper also keeps a progress report of your audits, so you can monitor how they’re improving and performing. The audits themselves present how your content can be given in the best way to search engines, an excellent metric for content audits.

6. WooRank

Price: $60-$249/month

WooRank has two amazing features for content auditing: SEO monitoring and Site Crawler. SEO Monitoring from WooRank lets you know the state of performance on your landing pages, which is information you can put into an audit. It also lets you know if your website ever goes down and how that affected SEO, another metric to import if you’re tracking web page metrics in your audit.

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The Site Crawl feature lets you know how Google sees your site and interprets the information for search engines. This information is great knowledge to make audits more effective when you’re coming up with action items for the future.

Now that you know ample knowledge about content audits, how to create them, where to source them, and important essentials to include, you are fully prepared to incorporate them into your organization. Give it a try, and use it to elevate your next campaign. Happy auditing!

 

SEO. While this is a strategy we’ve been aware of for a while, did you know that 89% of marketers say SEO is successful?

And since more than 50 percent of all website traffic comes from organic search and 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine, it’s not surprising.

However, what do upmarket companies, with thousands of web pages and keywords, do when they’re in the maturation phase of implementing SEO?

Instead of focusing on the small business and mid-market SEO strategies, they’ll need to begin focusing on enterprise SEO.

In this post, let’s review what enterprise SEO is, what tools to use, and what it looks like in practice.

What makes enterprise SEO different?

The main difference between small business/mid-market SEO and enterprise SEO strategies is that the tactics for larger organizations need to be scalable for thousands of web pages.

While a small business or mid-market company might have a few pages, or a couple hundred, larger organizations have thousands of web pages on their site. And it makes sense that the strategies that work for a small number of pages might not necessarily work for larger sites.

Why is enterprise SEO important?

Enterprise SEO is important because strategies that work for smaller businesses won’t work for larger ones.

One of the main strategic differences between the two is that small businesses usually aren’t targeting highly competitive, short tail keywords, while larger enterprise organizations are.

Additionally, larger companies need a specialized enterprise SEO team to keep track and maintain organic rankings. At smaller companies, the person in charge of SEO is usually also the content marketer and might even be in charge of social media.

When you’re targeting more competitive keywords, and have thousands of pages on your site, you need a dedicated team working on your SEO, instead of one jack-of-all-trades that’s spread too thin.

If you’ve worked at companies and felt like SEO just wasn’t working for you, it’s probably because you didn’t have a dedicated team with experts when your company needed it.

Enterprise SEO will benefit large organizations because their SEO issues will be more complex due to the number of web pages on the site, the number of backlinks already acquired, domain authority already acquired, etc.

As a larger site, enterprise companies usually have great brand authority. But that means you can’t undermine that authority by deleting or redirecting pages that have acquired backlinks and high page authority. You also need to keep this content up to date and fresh. And as you can imagine, the larger the company, the harder that is.

Ultimately, enterprise SEO needs to be smarter, scalable, and more sophisticated.

Now that we know why enterprise SEO is important, let’s discuss some of the more sophisticated strategies you’ll need to implement as a larger company.

1. Maintain page speed.

One of the technical SEO elements that becomes more complex with larger sites is maintaining page speed.

First, you’ll need to test your website speed with a tool like Google PageSpeed Insights to see how quickly your website loads for users.

Then, to improve the page speed of individual pages you can compress images, reduce redirects, and cache your web pages.

2. Group content in subdomains.

Another strategy for enterprise SEO is to group your content into subdomains.

A subdomain is a type of website hierarchy under a root directory, but instead of using folders to organize content on a website, it kind of gets a website of its own.

This subdomain is still closely associated with the root directory, but it will usually have a separate content management system, template, analytics tools, and more.

See the image below to get an idea:

This is helpful for enterprise SEO because subdomains can house a lot of content that would be difficult to manage all on one website.

While some SEO experts believe that Google’s crawlers could confuse a subdomain for an entirely different website from the main domain, others say its crawlers can recognize subdomains as extensions of parent domains.

Essentially, subdomains lead to a better user experience, which could result in better engagement rates, therefore improving your SEO. Ultimately, you’ll have to decide what works best for your company and have your enterprise SEO team discuss what would be best.

3. Refresh old content, but protect domain authority and backlinks.

One of the challenges for enterprise SEO teams is keeping content up to date, accurate, and refreshed for current industry standards.

However, you don’t want to delete old content that has high page authority and backlinks. Instead, you’ll want to refresh your content, while balancing the line of adding new information, without taking away secondary keywords that content is ranking for.

With an enterprise company, refreshing content is a delicate process. But it also needs to be scalable for your SEO team to find out which pages need to be updated and what would make them more competitive. The entire point of enterprise SEO is to have a process that’s scalable.

4. Quality content creation at scale.

Of course with SEO, quality content creation is one of the most important components of your site.

Again, on an enterprise level, this needs to be scalable for your SEO team to find new keywords to rank for and handoff to a content creation team.

Usually, your enterprise SEO team will choose target keywords and give writers guidelines on how to make the post competitive, whether that’s including secondary keywords, tips on image alt-text, including snippets, etc.

To implement enterprise SEO, you’ll need a team that is dedicated to creating content instructions and doing keyword research at scale.

5. Strategic keyword selection.

As we’ve been talking about, keyword selection becomes more difficult the more you’ve written about a topic. Sometimes it can feel like you’ve said everything there is to say.

That’s why you need a dedicated enterprise SEO team to conduct regular keyword research and content gap analysis to find new topics to write about.

6. Automation.

So we’ve talked a lot about doing things “at scale.” But how can you do that? One of the best ways for an enterprise SEO team to scale its processes is to use automation.

Automation can help with SEO tasks like keyword research, identifying problematic areas on your site, monitoring the quality of backlinks, analyzing title tags and meta descriptions, and more.

Additionally, you can use workflows to simplify project management. With larger organizations, you might have several locations with distinct websites and SEO needs. This means that your SEO teams should be using the same workflows so the process is scalable.

7. Don’t forget about technical SEO.

Besides page speed, there are more technical SEO elements that your enterprise SEO team will need to manage.

This means that your SEO team will need a scalable process for using 301 redirects, eliminating technical issues that hamper crawlability, etc.

8. Link building.

Again, one of the most important elements of SEO is link building. On an enterprise level, this becomes more complex (as does everything, I suppose).

The more backlinks a page has, the more organic traffic it gets from Google. You can use outreach strategies to find unlinked mentions and request to turn the mention into a backlink.

Additionally, you can always do cold outreach as well if you find articles where your site naturally fits. As a larger company, you’ll have the benefit of already having brand authority and recognizability.

9. Internal pillar/cluster content linking.

Another SEO task that will need to be done at scale is internal pillar and cluster content linking. Your enterprise SEO team could either find these internal links for your content creators during the keyword research process or could advise your writers to link to the pillar and any necessary internal content.

10. Create templates for your pages.

When creating new pages for your site, SEO plays a large role. That’s why your team can create templates that your developers can replicate over and over again in line with enterprise SEO needs.

So, now you might be wondering, “What does this look like in action?” Let’s look at some examples below.

Enterprise SEO Examples

1. HubSpot

HubSpot is a great example of enterprise SEO because while we might not have the same amount of employees as other big tech companies, we have over 35,000 pages on our site.

Additionally, our site ranks on the first page of several hundred thousand keywords, and in position 1 for over 30,000 keywords.

Because of the number of pages and keywords we target, this means that we need a highly specialized, dedicated enterprise SEO team to focus on backlinks, comarketing, technical SEO, and to protect our domain authority.

With enterprise SEO, we need to be careful about updating keywords on content that has high domain authority while keeping our content fresh and updated.

2. GitHub

GitHub has an estimated 81 million pages on its site. And the impressive part is that it ranks in position 1 on Google for over 80,000 keywords.

This means that the company is able to manage its site in bulk and focus on maintaining old pages, while still earning links to reinforce its organic rankings for hundreds of thousands of keywords.

3. Microsoft

Enterprise company Microsoft has more than 8 million pages on its site. With several varying products, it’s no surprise that the company ranks on the first page for over 1 million keywords. Additionally, it ranks in the number 1 position for over 450,000 keywords.

A major difficulty with Microsoft’s enterprise SEO is that the team is targeting very different types of keywords because of the variety of products. And they need to protect their domain authority across several industries from business tools to video gaming consoles.

The Future of Enterprise SEO

For large organizations, enterprise SEO is the future. To protect current domain authority and backlinks, while keeping content fresh and updated on thousands of pages, you’ll need a dedicated, sophisticated team of experts.

This means an enterprise SEO team will focus on strategizing how to enhance content, working on comarketing, attaining backlinks and protecting those backlinks, and more. The more pages your site has, the harder and more complex it becomes to maintain your SEO.

What are some advertisements that live rent-free in your mind? As a millennial, ads that will always have a place in my heart include Britney Spears’ iconic run as a Pepsi spokesperson, the enduring”got milk?” campaign (which is ironic considering myself and many others now prefer non-dairy alternatives), and the classic iPod silhouettes.

These ads were not only compelling, but they were also incredibly influential. 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?

Before we discuss how to refine your persuasive advertising strategy, let’s review what it is.

Below, we’ll examine key persuasive advertising techniques you can use in your advertisements, examples you can reference if you ever need some inspiration and 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 the 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

Ready to see persuasive advertising in action? Check out these examples.

1. Nikol

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 such a clear and clever way, they didn’t need to write a single line of copy.

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2. Heinz

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.

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3. Mondo Pasta

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 it’s 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.

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4. Bic

Another example of guerrilla marketing, Bic takes advantage of an unkempt 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.

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5. Siemens

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.

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6. Pepsi

“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.

7. Match.com

The year 2020 was challenging for countless reasons. Online dating company Match.com channeled the collective feeling towards the year with an ad depicting Satan meeting his perfect match – 2020.

Informative Advertising

Informative advertising is a form of persuasive advertising that focuses more on the facts. The main goal of informative advertising is to educate the audience on why they need your product instead of appealing to their desires.

It highlights how your product’s features and benefits solve your customers’ problems and can even compare your product to your competitors’ products. Although this type of advertising relies on facts and figures to trigger the desired action, the ad’s message is usually framed in a compelling way.

To better understand the difference between informative and persuasive advertising, check out these examples.

1. 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 fewer calories and carbs than Bud Light, which helped them persuade people that drinking Bud Light and Miller Lite actually have similar health benefits.

2. 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.

3. Burger King

In 2020, Burger King released an ad showing a time-lapse of its famous Whopper over the course of 34 days. While it may seem like an odd choice to show its product in such an unappetizing light, the goal of this ad was to announce the company planned to remove preservatives and other artificial ingredients from its products to differentiate itself from key competitors.

4. Calm

Popular meditation app Calm experienced an increase in downloads by sponsoring CNN’s coverage of the 2020 US Presidential Campaign. Through clever product placement in front of an audience that was experiencing stress, the app was positioned as helpful a resource ready to educate on mindfulness during a turbulent time.

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5. Dove

In addition to creating popular body and skincare products, Dove has set out to educate its audience on the importance of body confidence, and the harmful impact fabricated social media imagery can have on the self-esteem of young people.

In the reverse selfie campaign, Dove depicts how social media users may be inclined to change their appearance for public approval. Other materials provided by Dove also share facts and statistics related to social media usage and body image.

6. Google

Last year, Google released a Black History Month ad called “The Most Searched” that was equally informative and inspiring. Showing clips of famous Black figures, each clip read “most searched” to indicate each person shown and event shown was a history-maker.

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 the 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.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

As your business scales, your marketing team will grow and evolve too.

While this growth is happening, it’s important to maintain reliable avenues for collaboration and communication on your marketing team. Otherwise, your business won’t be able to perform at the highest level. The good news is that marketing collaboration software can help with this.

In this article, we’ll cover what marketing collaboration software is, why it’s important, and 20 of the best tools currently on the market.

Marketing Collaboration Software

Marketing collaboration software helps marketing teams maintain easy communication, manage projects and campaigns, prioritize tasks, establish schedules and editorial calendars, promote organization and productivity, and more.

Why is marketing collaboration software important?

No matter which industry your business is in, what size your team is, whether you’re in-office, remote, or a mix of both, marketing collaboration can help your team improve in a number of areas — all of which impact your bottom line. Some examples include improved and streamlined…

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Productivity
• Organization
• Efficiency
• Task management
• Scheduling
• Data sharing
• Transparency
• Content creation

Marketing Collaboration Features

Here are some common features found across many marketing collaboration tools today.

• Group communication
• Shared files, documents, calendars, notes, and other assets
• Task management and time/ progress tracking
• Document management
• Campaign management
• Editorial calendar
• Content creation capabilities
• Content, file, and data organization
• Integrations (to connect the marketing collaboration software to your other marketing and business tools)
• Audio and video conferencing
• Marketing automation
• Reporting and analytics

Marketing Collaboration Software

Here are 20 of the best marketing collaboration software available today.

1. HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a marketing automation platform that allows you to attract your target audience, convert website visitors, and run inbound marketing campaigns at scale. Marketing teams can seamlessly collaborate to plan and execute large-scale, omnichannel marketing campaigns.

Marketing Hub also allows for frictionless collaboration with other teams — such as sales — in order to offer delightful customer experiences. This is known as CRM-powered Marketing — HubSpot makes it possible by pairing marketing automation tools with an all-in-one CRM platform.

Pro Tip: Use HubSpot’s Marketing Hub to attract your unique audience, convert visitors into customers, run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale, and automate redundant processes, all via one, easy-to-use platform.

2. Slack

Slack is a platform that allows for easy communication and collaboration on any scale. Slack Channels serve as central communication areas where you and your team can chat with one another and share relevant information, files, tools, and more.

Send messages via chat, host video calls, or speak with your team via voice call all without leaving the tool. There are also over 2,200 integrations and apps, such as Google Drive and Office 365, to help your team streamline workflows.

Additionally, the Slack Connect feature makes it possible to communicate and collaborate with teams at other companies the way you do with your own.

3. Trello

Trello is a collaboration and productivity tool for managing, tracking, and sharing work projects and tasks. The tool organizes your work into Kanban-style lists — that means your work is separated into categories for an easier workflow (such as to-do, work in progress, and complete).

Your team can communicate and tag each other on each project card, share and attach files, add due dates, move cards into different Kanban-style lists to track work, and archive cards once they’re complete.

4. Asana

Asana is a task and project management platform that allows both remote and distributed teams to organize and manage work. Teammates can collaborate on project lists, timelines, or boards, all of which have individual tasks and stages that you can customize, share, and archive. The tool’s messaging feature makes it easy to distribute, assign, and manage work.

Automate various project management tasks to save your team time and integrate your tool with one of 100+ apps that bring together all of your work to improve collaboration and coordination across your team.

5. Monday.com

Monday.com is a work operating system and project management tool that allows you to create workflows for any project. There are over 200 templates workflows available that marketing can use, as well as other departments such as IT, sales, design, web development, operations, and HR and recruiting.

Your team can manage and collaborate on all aspects of a project from a single location. The 200+ templates mentioned above are completely customizable and allow all team members to visualize your project, and its different stages, in a way that’s preferable to your team (e.g. map, calendar, timeline, Kanban-style list).

You can also integrate Monday.com with your other tools and apps to access and manage all parts of your projects and campaigns without leaving the tool.

6. Teamwork

Teamwork is a collaborative project management software meant for managing and delivering client work on time and on budget. You can simultaneously manage multiple projects of varying complexity with Teamwork’s Board View, dashboards, and project health status updates.

Hold all team members accountable for their part of a project or campaign by assigning responsibilities and using time tracking to determine how long certain tasks are taking.

7. CoSchedule

Rather than collaborating and handling your marketing via various spreadsheets, tools, calendars, and emails, CoSchedule’s actionable Marketing Calendar is where your team can see, schedule, and share all aspects of your marketing jobs and campaigns.

You can also share your calendar in a read-only format so higher-ups and other teams can view your project plans and trajectory without having to worry about someone accidentally making an edit.

8. Evernote Teams

Evernote Teams is a collaborative note-taking app ideal for managing, arranging, and organizing your thoughts, ideas, to-do lists, and more. The tool makes it easy to collaborate, sync, and share knowledge, as well as ensure progress is being made on certain projects and tasks.

Evernote’s Spaces provide visibility into progress on team projects as well as relevant workflows and documents. You can make, leave, and search across Spaces for notes and notebooks that you created or other team members created.

9. Sharelov

Sharelov is a cloud-based marketing collaboration platform for brands and agencies to manage their teams, campaigns, assets, projects, and work. No matter what you’re working on or what your creative assets include, Sharelov makes it easy to collaborate, share feedback, and approve assets, plans, and projects.

Use the tool to establish your teams, improve ease of collaboration within those teams, and track team and individual progress in real-time. Team members can provide feedback for each other for every creative — this simplifies the process of managing internal and client feedback and change requests across individual projects.

10. Acoustic

Acoustic is a digital marketing experience platform — the platform’s Marketing Cloud tool helps you better understand your customers and their behaviors at scale.

Acoustic allows your entire marketing team to manage and collaborate on campaigns, content, insights, and personalization, all via a single tool. There are AI-powered analytics and insights features to help you understand customer behaviors and experiences.

11. Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing, cloud phone, webinar, and online events software. It makes team collaboration and communication easy, no matter the industry or whether your team is in office, remote, or a mix of both.

Use one of Zoom’s many available integrations to connect the software with your other business tools (e.g. HubSpot, Google Workspace, Slack, etc.).

Host Zoom Webinars or Events depending on the level of collaboration and engagement you’re looking for. You can also follow up on a discussion topic, share links, or communicate with others in real-time using Zoom’s Chat feature.

12. Lucid Chart

Lucid Chart is an intelligent diagramming software that makes it easy for teams to collaborate on the visualization of complex ideas related to your team’s processes, systems, and organizational structure.

Individuals and teams can map out progress around a certain task and determine what needs to be done next and what’s missing. Then your team can align on and apply all resulting insights using Lucid Chart’s common visual language, which streamlines collaboration.

You can also use Lucid Chart to create, manage, and collaborate on business process maps, user flows, cloud architecture diagrams, scrum teams, and data flows.

13. Canva

Source

Canva is a graphic design and publishing tool that allows your team to collaboratively plan, design, create, publish, and share a variety of content types including logos, social media posts, documents, graphs and charts, prints, and more.

The tool makes it easy to invite team members to review and edit designs via shareable links, email, or Canva folders. Canva also ensures your team has everything they need to use brand-ready and team-approved assets — there’s a Brand Kit feature where your team can establish and save templates, fonts, colors, images, logos, and more.

14. Click Up

Click Up is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool that aims to bring all of your team’s work — docs, chat, goals, insights, and tasks — together in one place.

Within Click Up, your team can establish, refer to, collaborate on, and customize all aspects of every project including to-do lists, wikis and documents, emails, spreadsheets, events, reminders, goals, time-tracking, screenshots, recordings, resource management, and more.

Then, organize these project elements into one of 15 different views (e.g. list, box, mind map, Gantt) based on your team’s needs and preferences.

15. Funnel.io

Funnel.io is a data mapping and collection tool — it transforms collected data into automated marketing reports for your team to analyze, share, and build off of.

Once you connect all of your data sources — a process that Funnel.io makes easy with its over 500 marketing app integrations — it will be cleaned, organized, and mapped for you.

Then, decide where you want your finalized data and reports to go — whether in Google Data Studio, a data warehouse of your choosing, Google Sheets, etc. There, your entire team can identify insights and collaborate on how you’ll apply the information.

16. Domo

Domo for Marketing combines your marketing team’s data with data from sales, finance, and other departments within your company so you’re able to increase transparency, improve collaboration, and maximize ROI across the company.

Data visualizations and predictive analytics and alerts help marketers identify and pull out the most important insights from the data.

Set alerts for data that deviates and/or hits your goals to accurately track progress. Your team can then create real-time visualizations of data (without any code), and access and collaborate on those insights via any device.

17. Dropbox

Dropbox is a file hosting software that centralizes your team’s content and tools. It gives your team secure access to all of your files via one location. Your marketing team can collaborate with each other in Dropbox by storing, organizing, sharing, referencing, and downloading files.

Use the tool to manage team tasks, track file updates, and remain in contact with team members and even clients on projects. You can also deliver completed projects to higher-ups, other teams, or clients — whether they’re large files or a collection of files — with passwords, expiration dates, and delivery confirmation.

18. Wrike

Wrike is a project management software with features meant for increasing transparency and improving team-wide as well as cross-departmental collaboration. It allows you tocollaborate on work in real-time — no more communication across various channels such as email, meetings, and instant messages.

No matter the project, your team can use Wrike to make comments, edit work, set notifications, and build reports, and share insights with each other — all in real-time. You can also view your individual tasks, the responsibilities of other team members, as well as the status of specific projects to track progress.

19. Google Drive

Google Drive is secure, cloud-based storage software that allows you to store, share, and access files and folders — from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more — via your mobile device, tablet, and computer.

Once you upload your content or files to Google Drive, you can create a shared folder for them to live in — this way, your team can access and collaborate on anything in the folder.

Edit and add comments to any of the files in the shared folder in real-time — if your team members aren’t already in the Doc, Slides, or Sheet, they’ll still receive an email notification about your edits or comments. You can also review the edit history on any of your files. And it’s alright if your files aren’t Google files — that’s because the platform supports over 100 file types including Microsoft Office.

20. Brightpod for Marketing

Brightpod is a tool that simplifies marketing collaboration and planning — it’s a project management and time tracking software meant for digital marketing and creative teams.

The tool provides clarity around your team’s projects, campaigns, tasks, workflows, and deadlines. Individual teams can collaborate with each other as well as reference and communicate about other projects that are going on across the team via a single dashboard.

All projects that are listed on your dashboard have milestones and tasks so everyone on the team knows what’s expected of them what progress on each task looks like.

Grow Better With Marketing Collaboration Software

Marketing collaboration software can help your team easily communicate, manage projects, prioritize tasks, organize content, and more. Start using one of these tools to increase team-wide productivity and teamwork.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

As your business scales, your marketing team will grow and evolve too.

While this growth is happening, it’s important to maintain reliable avenues for collaboration and communication on your marketing team. Otherwise, your business won’t be able to perform at the highest level. The good news is that marketing collaboration software can help with this.

In this article, we’ll cover what marketing collaboration software is, why it’s important, and 20 of the best tools currently on the market.

Marketing Collaboration Software

Marketing collaboration software helps marketing teams maintain easy communication, manage projects and campaigns, prioritize tasks, establish schedules and editorial calendars, promote organization and productivity, and more.

Why is marketing collaboration software important?

No matter which industry your business is in, what size your team is, whether you’re in-office, remote, or a mix of both, marketing collaboration can help your team improve in a number of areas — all of which impact your bottom line. Some examples include improved and streamlined…

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Productivity
• Organization
• Efficiency
• Task management
• Scheduling
• Data sharing
• Transparency
• Content creation

Marketing Collaboration Features

Here are some common features found across many marketing collaboration tools today.

• Group communication
• Shared files, documents, calendars, notes, and other assets
• Task management and time/ progress tracking
• Document management
• Campaign management
• Editorial calendar
• Content creation capabilities
• Content, file, and data organization
• Integrations (to connect the marketing collaboration software to your other marketing and business tools)
• Audio and video conferencing
• Marketing automation
• Reporting and analytics

Marketing Collaboration Software

Here are 20 of the best marketing collaboration software available today.

1. HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a marketing automation platform that allows you to attract your target audience, convert website visitors, and run inbound marketing campaigns at scale. Marketing teams can seamlessly collaborate to plan and execute large-scale, omnichannel marketing campaigns.

Marketing Hub also allows for frictionless collaboration with other teams — such as sales — in order to offer delightful customer experiences. This is known as CRM-powered Marketing — HubSpot makes it possible by pairing marketing automation tools with an all-in-one CRM platform.

Pro Tip: Use HubSpot’s Marketing Hub to attract your unique audience, convert visitors into customers, run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale, and automate redundant processes, all via one, easy-to-use platform.

2. Slack

Slack is a platform that allows for easy communication and collaboration on any scale. Slack Channels serve as central communication areas where you and your team can chat with one another and share relevant information, files, tools, and more.

Send messages via chat, host video calls, or speak with your team via voice call all without leaving the tool. There are also over 2,200 integrations and apps, such as Google Drive and Office 365, to help your team streamline workflows.

Additionally, the Slack Connect feature makes it possible to communicate and collaborate with teams at other companies the way you do with your own.

3. Trello

Trello is a collaboration and productivity tool for managing, tracking, and sharing work projects and tasks. The tool organizes your work into Kanban-style lists — that means your work is separated into categories for an easier workflow (such as to-do, work in progress, and complete).

Your team can communicate and tag each other on each project card, share and attach files, add due dates, move cards into different Kanban-style lists to track work, and archive cards once they’re complete.

4. Asana

Asana is a task and project management platform that allows both remote and distributed teams to organize and manage work. Teammates can collaborate on project lists, timelines, or boards, all of which have individual tasks and stages that you can customize, share, and archive. The tool’s messaging feature makes it easy to distribute, assign, and manage work.

Automate various project management tasks to save your team time and integrate your tool with one of 100+ apps that bring together all of your work to improve collaboration and coordination across your team.

5. Monday.com

Monday.com is a work operating system and project management tool that allows you to create workflows for any project. There are over 200 templates workflows available that marketing can use, as well as other departments such as IT, sales, design, web development, operations, and HR and recruiting.

Your team can manage and collaborate on all aspects of a project from a single location. The 200+ templates mentioned above are completely customizable and allow all team members to visualize your project, and its different stages, in a way that’s preferable to your team (e.g. map, calendar, timeline, Kanban-style list).

You can also integrate Monday.com with your other tools and apps to access and manage all parts of your projects and campaigns without leaving the tool.

6. Teamwork

Teamwork is a collaborative project management software meant for managing and delivering client work on time and on budget. You can simultaneously manage multiple projects of varying complexity with Teamwork’s Board View, dashboards, and project health status updates.

Hold all team members accountable for their part of a project or campaign by assigning responsibilities and using time tracking to determine how long certain tasks are taking.

7. CoSchedule

Rather than collaborating and handling your marketing via various spreadsheets, tools, calendars, and emails, CoSchedule’s actionable Marketing Calendar is where your team can see, schedule, and share all aspects of your marketing jobs and campaigns.

You can also share your calendar in a read-only format so higher-ups and other teams can view your project plans and trajectory without having to worry about someone accidentally making an edit.

8. Evernote Teams

Evernote Teams is a collaborative note-taking app ideal for managing, arranging, and organizing your thoughts, ideas, to-do lists, and more. The tool makes it easy to collaborate, sync, and share knowledge, as well as ensure progress is being made on certain projects and tasks.

Evernote’s Spaces provide visibility into progress on team projects as well as relevant workflows and documents. You can make, leave, and search across Spaces for notes and notebooks that you created or other team members created.

9. Sharelov

Sharelov is a cloud-based marketing collaboration platform for brands and agencies to manage their teams, campaigns, assets, projects, and work. No matter what you’re working on or what your creative assets include, Sharelov makes it easy to collaborate, share feedback, and approve assets, plans, and projects.

Use the tool to establish your teams, improve ease of collaboration within those teams, and track team and individual progress in real-time. Team members can provide feedback for each other for every creative — this simplifies the process of managing internal and client feedback and change requests across individual projects.

10. Acoustic

Acoustic is a digital marketing experience platform — the platform’s Marketing Cloud tool helps you better understand your customers and their behaviors at scale.

Acoustic allows your entire marketing team to manage and collaborate on campaigns, content, insights, and personalization, all via a single tool. There are AI-powered analytics and insights features to help you understand customer behaviors and experiences.

11. Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing, cloud phone, webinar, and online events software. It makes team collaboration and communication easy, no matter the industry or whether your team is in office, remote, or a mix of both.

Use one of Zoom’s many available integrations to connect the software with your other business tools (e.g. HubSpot, Google Workspace, Slack, etc.).

Host Zoom Webinars or Events depending on the level of collaboration and engagement you’re looking for. You can also follow up on a discussion topic, share links, or communicate with others in real-time using Zoom’s Chat feature.

12. Lucid Chart

Lucid Chart is an intelligent diagramming software that makes it easy for teams to collaborate on the visualization of complex ideas related to your team’s processes, systems, and organizational structure.

Individuals and teams can map out progress around a certain task and determine what needs to be done next and what’s missing. Then your team can align on and apply all resulting insights using Lucid Chart’s common visual language, which streamlines collaboration.

You can also use Lucid Chart to create, manage, and collaborate on business process maps, user flows, cloud architecture diagrams, scrum teams, and data flows.

13. Canva

Source

Canva is a graphic design and publishing tool that allows your team to collaboratively plan, design, create, publish, and share a variety of content types including logos, social media posts, documents, graphs and charts, prints, and more.

The tool makes it easy to invite team members to review and edit designs via shareable links, email, or Canva folders. Canva also ensures your team has everything they need to use brand-ready and team-approved assets — there’s a Brand Kit feature where your team can establish and save templates, fonts, colors, images, logos, and more.

14. Click Up

Click Up is a cloud-based collaboration and project management tool that aims to bring all of your team’s work — docs, chat, goals, insights, and tasks — together in one place.

Within Click Up, your team can establish, refer to, collaborate on, and customize all aspects of every project including to-do lists, wikis and documents, emails, spreadsheets, events, reminders, goals, time-tracking, screenshots, recordings, resource management, and more.

Then, organize these project elements into one of 15 different views (e.g. list, box, mind map, Gantt) based on your team’s needs and preferences.

15. Funnel.io

Funnel.io is a data mapping and collection tool — it transforms collected data into automated marketing reports for your team to analyze, share, and build off of.

Once you connect all of your data sources — a process that Funnel.io makes easy with its over 500 marketing app integrations — it will be cleaned, organized, and mapped for you.

Then, decide where you want your finalized data and reports to go — whether in Google Data Studio, a data warehouse of your choosing, Google Sheets, etc. There, your entire team can identify insights and collaborate on how you’ll apply the information.

16. Domo

Domo for Marketing combines your marketing team’s data with data from sales, finance, and other departments within your company so you’re able to increase transparency, improve collaboration, and maximize ROI across the company.

Data visualizations and predictive analytics and alerts help marketers identify and pull out the most important insights from the data.

Set alerts for data that deviates and/or hits your goals to accurately track progress. Your team can then create real-time visualizations of data (without any code), and access and collaborate on those insights via any device.

17. Dropbox

Dropbox is a file hosting software that centralizes your team’s content and tools. It gives your team secure access to all of your files via one location. Your marketing team can collaborate with each other in Dropbox by storing, organizing, sharing, referencing, and downloading files.

Use the tool to manage team tasks, track file updates, and remain in contact with team members and even clients on projects. You can also deliver completed projects to higher-ups, other teams, or clients — whether they’re large files or a collection of files — with passwords, expiration dates, and delivery confirmation.

18. Wrike

Wrike is a project management software with features meant for increasing transparency and improving team-wide as well as cross-departmental collaboration. It allows you tocollaborate on work in real-time — no more communication across various channels such as email, meetings, and instant messages.

No matter the project, your team can use Wrike to make comments, edit work, set notifications, and build reports, and share insights with each other — all in real-time. You can also view your individual tasks, the responsibilities of other team members, as well as the status of specific projects to track progress.

19. Google Drive

Google Drive is secure, cloud-based storage software that allows you to store, share, and access files and folders — from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more — via your mobile device, tablet, and computer.

Once you upload your content or files to Google Drive, you can create a shared folder for them to live in — this way, your team can access and collaborate on anything in the folder.

Edit and add comments to any of the files in the shared folder in real-time — if your team members aren’t already in the Doc, Slides, or Sheet, they’ll still receive an email notification about your edits or comments. You can also review the edit history on any of your files. And it’s alright if your files aren’t Google files — that’s because the platform supports over 100 file types including Microsoft Office.

20. Brightpod for Marketing

Brightpod is a tool that simplifies marketing collaboration and planning — it’s a project management and time tracking software meant for digital marketing and creative teams.

The tool provides clarity around your team’s projects, campaigns, tasks, workflows, and deadlines. Individual teams can collaborate with each other as well as reference and communicate about other projects that are going on across the team via a single dashboard.

All projects that are listed on your dashboard have milestones and tasks so everyone on the team knows what’s expected of them what progress on each task looks like.

Grow Better With Marketing Collaboration Software

Marketing collaboration software can help your team easily communicate, manage projects, prioritize tasks, organize content, and more. Start using one of these tools to increase team-wide productivity and teamwork.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

As marketers, we become experts in our target audiences. We know their typical demographic, what they like, the platforms they spend time on, and what they value in a product.

But unlike sales reps — who talk to and learn from their biggest prospects each day — we don’t always know tiny, but crucial, details about the brands or people we most want to sell to. So, how do we bridge the gap to better help our sales teams sell to high-priority clients? The answer to this question could be account-based marketing (or ABM).

While inbound marketing is vital for pulling general audiences and demographics to your site, service, or store, account-based marketing can help you to reel in prospects or qualified leads that are most likely to buy your product.

To show you just how beneficial account-based marketing can be, while also informing you of the challenges it comes with, here are 38 stats you should know in 2021.

37 Account-Based Marketing Stats to Know in 2021

General ABM Stats

• In 2021, 70% of marketers report using ABM, up 15% from 2020.
• 67% of brands leverage account-based marketing.
• “Researching Accounts” and “Identifying Target Contacts” are the top two tactics used by marketers within an ABM model.
• In 2019, the top five account-based tactics were sales development rep outreach, digital advertising, direct mail, marketing email, and events.
• Additionally, marketers strongly agree that personalized content (56%) and advanced data management (43%) are keys to ABM’s success.
• 57% of professionals say their companies target 1,000 accounts or under with ABM.

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• 90% of companies say the top goal of their ABM efforts is new business generation.
• Most organizations intentionally only pursue 38% of their target accounts at one time.
• By 2019, 55% of marketers rated their ABM strategy as “established” compared to just 43% in 2018.
• Primary tactics companies are using around ABM include identifying target contacts, creating custom content, researching accounts, and measuring results.
• Companies dedicated 29% of their marketing budgets to ABM in 2019.
• It’s estimated that ABM budgets saw an average increase of 41% in 2019.
• The most common metric marketers use to track ABM is revenue won.

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• Two other metrics marketers most commonly track to measure ABM efforts are the number of pipelines created and account engagement.
• In 2019, 7% of marketers reported a decrease in dedicated headcount for ABM teams, showing that this strategy is going mainstream and being implemented within regular processes.
• In 2019, 40% of the average marketing team was dedicated to ABM.
• 43% of companies implementing an ABM strategy are in the early stages.
• 57% of marketers say their organizations have implemented ABM for more than one year.

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Benefits and Challenges of ABM

• Marketing and sales teams that take an ABM approach together can be up to six percent more likely to exceed their revenue goals than teams less ABM-advanced.
• According to Rollworks, 87% of marketers say ABM outperforms other marketing activities.
• 62% of marketers say they can measure a positive impact since adopting ABM.
• 80% of marketers say ABM improves customer lifetime values, while 86% say it improves win rates.
• One in five accounts targeted through ABM becomes considered a qualified sales opportunity.
• Organizations with a strong Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) — which is similar to a buyer persona — achieve 68% higher account win rates.
• More than two-thirds (69%) of top-performing account-based organizations now have a dedicated account-based marketing leader.
• 70% of companies that started account-based initiatives in the first six months of 2019 have dedicated ABM leaders.
• Companies with mature ABM strategies credit 79% of opportunities and 73% of total revenue to ABM efforts.
• 42% of companies that missed their account-based objectives don’t have dedicated leadership.
• The most common challenge with ABM is delivering a personalized experience.
• The top three challenges of implementing ABM are delivering a personalized customer experience, knowing how to choose target accounts, and knowing what content to use.

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ABM Technology

• By 2021, over half of all sales phone calls will be analyzed by software.
• The conversational intelligence market was estimated to grow by 3x in 2019.
• Voice assistants will account for at least half of automated data entry by mid-2020.
• An estimated 55% of sales data entry was eliminated by automation by 2020.

Smarketing Benefits and Challenges

• The most common measurement of success for content marketing programs is Total Sales.
• 85% of marketers with an SLA think their marketing strategy is effective.
• Only 7% of salespeople said the leads they received from marketing were very high quality.
• Only 28% of salespeople said marketing was their best source of leads.

Create an Effective ABM Strategy

As a marketer, it’s important to know what makes ABM techniques successful and how they differ from other target audience marketing tactics.

Additionally, you’ll want to learn about the companies you’re interested in marketing to, similar to how you learn about a target audience. For example, before creating an ABM campaign, you’ll want to learn about the pain points of companies in your industry, company missions, and what their top decision-makers value in a product or service.

Once you discover valuable data about the accounts you’d like to market to and feel ready to create a campaign, check out our account strategy templates below.

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

Love learning about business and how some of today’s most successful entrepreneurs and companies are operating? Business podcasts serve as a great way to stay informed (and inspired) on the happenings.

All you need is your smartphone and a pair of headphones to tune in to everything from one-on-one interviews with today’s top leaders to recaps of the day’s most pressing business news.

So whether you’re a seasoned executive looking for something to listen to during your commute or just someone who’s always itching to learn something new, this list of the best business podcasts is for you. From Kai Ryssdals’ Marketplace to Tim Ferriss’ self-titled collection of wisdom, the following seven business podcasts will teach how to strategize, lead, and grow your business. 

12 Best Business Podcasts

1. iDigress Podcast

Troy Sandidge, host of iDigress Podcast, has a track record of generating over $100M for various business ventures. He’ll use his experience to expertly guide you through the world of marketing, moving you away from confusion and towards the techniques and tools that will help you forge a path to business success. iDigress is a great fit for all marketers seeking across the board advice, from how to identify a business direction to finding clarity in your messaging. 

Episodes are 30 minutes or less, making it a great snackable podcast for on-the-go listening. 

2. Radical Candor

Radical Candor is all about how to succeed at work without sacrificing your humanity and happiness. Amy Sandler hosts discussions about why it’s important to have honest communication when working (with yourself, management, and coworkers), and how honesty will help you build relationships that will lift you up and help you succeed. 

Topics discussed on the podcast include how to have candid conversations at work, how managers and business leaders can create a culture of guidance and feedback, and how to stand up for yourself in the workplace. 

3. Duct Tape Marketing Podcast

Duct Tape Marketing Podcast features interviews with expert authors and thought leaders who share actionable business marketing tips and resources. As a listener, you’ll learn about various topics like how to maintain happiness at work and best-practices for retaining customers. Fast Company named this podcast “One of the Best Podcasts for Business-Savvy Listeners.”

4. The Goal Digger Podcast

Jenna Kutcher, host of The Goal Digger Podcast, is an experienced educator and digital marketer. Described as a live workshop, the show helps businesspeople learn first-hand about how to define their own personal success and chase after their dreams. 

Topics covered include productivity hacks, creating business pitches, improving your website’s SEO, social media tips, and how to build the job of your dreams. Kutcher is often joined by notable guests and industry experts, like entrepreneur Lori Harder.

5. CodePen Radio

CodePen is an online tool for web developers to test HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code snippets. Hosted by CodePen employees, CodePen Radio contains personal stories about successes and failures they’ve come across when scaling their company. It’s great for professionals in the software industry, as you’ll gain valuable insight into everything involved in starting and maintaining a web software business. 

6. Choose Inclusion

Three hosts, Mike Hess, Nina Baliga, and UB Ciminieri, have authentic and honest conversations about the different ways diversity, equity, and inclusion impact businesses. It’s a great listen for all professionals as they discuss everything from developing a DEI program at your own business to being an active participant in workplace events. 

7. The MarTech Podcast

The MarTech Podcast, hosted by Benjamin Shapiro, shares the stories of marketers and the different ways they use technology to achieve growth and business success. Each episode features a different business leader and marketing professional, making it suitable for listeners in all industries. All guests provide insight into MarTech best practices through real-life experiences and recommend tools and tips for success. 

8. Brown Ambition

Brown Ambition Podcast features financial advice from two professional finance reporters, Mandi Woodruff-Santos and Tiffany Aliche. Listeners can leverage the host’s experience and learn how to make smart career choices that contribute to financial success personally and in business. 

The hosts also tackle issues commonly faced by communities of color, acting as a resource for groups often left out of financial wellness conversations. They also have entire Q&A episodes dedicated to answering listener questions, helpful for those with a unique situation they want advice about. 

9. Happiness At Work

Happiness At Work is an interview-based podcast featuring authors, entrepreneurs, coaches, and leading industry experts that discuss, well, happiness at work. 

It is great for business professionals looking to create a better work-life balance or those simply looking to maintain their happiness levels on the job. As a listener, you’ll learn actionable tips for creating a positive and uplifting workplace culture and the benefits it brings to the workplace. The best summary of the show comes from the creators themselves — “We believe that happiness at work should be the ‘norm’ and not the exception.”

10. Inclusion Works

Inclusion Works focuses on discussing the importance of creating a workplace culture that is inclusive to all communities. Hosts speak to seasoned DEI business professionals, like Jiquanda Nelson and Margot Slattery, who provide actionable advice on DEI strategies that work and help businesses thrive. 

11. HBR IdeaCast

HBR IdeaCast is a weekly podcast that features notable leaders in business and business management. Rotating hosts give listeners a different experience, and topics range from workplace innovation and productivity to creating a better work-life balance to managing employees. Running between 20 and 30 minutes, episodes are snackable and easy to consume on-the-go, or during work breaks where you’re looking to decompress. 

12. TED Business

TED Business is a great podcast for high-quality snackable business content. Host Modupe Akinola talks listeners through getting a promotion, setting realistic goals, and forming positive workplace relationships. You’ll leave with actionable tips for forging your path, as, at the end of every show, Akinola gives a mini-lesson on how to apply the tips discussed within the episode. 

Ready to Listen?

Select the show that best fits your needs, and start listening from wherever you are, whenever you want.

It’s been several months since Apple’s iOS 14 update went into effect and the dust has begun to settle. One of the main questions has been, “How are advertisers handling the mobile tracking changes?”

Earlier this year, we talked about how this change could impact advertisers, but now, we want to follow up. Have any new strategies evolved? What have advertisers been doing to reach their target audiences?

In this post, we’ll discuss how advertisers have navigated the iOS 14 mobile tracking changes and give you a few tips on how to have continued success with social media and online advertising.

Wait, what happened with the iOS 14 update?

To summarize, at the beginning of 2021 Apple released a new update that would impact the way that advertisers reach their audience. With the iOS 14 update users needed to opt-in, or give permission, to an app to track their activity outside of the platform.

So, why were advertisers and marketers concerned? Well, a lot of ad campaigns target audiences based on their behavior online. If an app can’t track that information, ads will become less personalized, and in turn, could be less effective.

The concern for marketers was that they wouldn’t be able to deliver their ads to people based on certain activities, like if they’d visited their website, for example. This meant that ads would likely have smaller audience sizes and less accurate reporting.

Additionally, with this update advertisers are only allowed to use up to eight conversion events from a single website domain. This means if you run a campaign and track several different conversion types (like Lead, Landing Page Views, Purchase) you’ll now be capped at eight at any given time.

Now, you might be wondering, “What have advertisers been doing?” Let’s discuss it below.

How Advertisers are Navigating the iOS 14 Mobile Tracking Changes

While the iOS 14 update has made advertisers jump through some more hoops in setting up their ad campaigns (getting domain verification and aggregated event management), the update ultimately hasn’t been the death of retargeting or Facebook ads.

Of course, there have been changes. So far, it looks like more than 90% of users are opting out of data tracking. This is more than industry experts were predicting.

So, what have advertisers been doing?

1. Diversifying ad spend.

The main story of how advertisers are navigating the latest iOS tracking update is diversifying ad spend.

This means companies have shifted some ad spend that was previously allocated to Facebook to other platforms like Google because of the remarketing features and the ability to target users based on search intent.

2. Reporting Facebook success with Google Analytics.

While some money is still being used to advertise on Facebook, there are different ways of reporting.

Companies have begun using UTM parameters on their site’s URLs to generate data tracked by Facebook to Google Analytics. This means you can use Google Analytics to track some of the activity on your Facebook ad campaigns.

3. Using owned data for lookalike audiences and retargeting.

Strategies such as using lookalike audiences or retargeting an email list have continued to drive results. With privacy updates becoming a norm for the big tech companies, marketers will need to begin focusing on owned data to inform their campaigns.

With your owned data (such as an email list), you can target lookalike audiences or retarget those very people.

Keep in mind, you can still use the old method of retargeting campaigns because not all of your audience is on iOS devices. You can still use the channel as a cost-effective way to see some return on ad spend (ROAS).

4. Using other Facebook advertising options.

Besides these new ways of approaching ad campaigns, some advertisers are investing in other ways to reach audiences on Facebook.

For example, you can use the messaging objective to create a lead-generating chatbot on Facebook Messenger. There are options to retarget users who reach out to you on messenger and start conversations with new leads who click on an ad of yours.

Additionally, Facebook has another strategy that advertisers have explored: the Facebook lead ads (in-app lead form).

While using your own landing pages is definitely the preferred method, in a cookieless world, using lead forms on Facebook can help you generate leads and capture first-party data.

The iOS 14 mobile tracking changes have made Facebook ads less effective, but there are still ways for advertisers to target their audience and generate leads on the platform.

Nike. McDonald’s. Airbnb.

What do these three brands have in common?

All three have developed a strong global presence. It’s why you hear about the Whopper in Spain, or spot Nike Jordan’s on the streets of Indonesia.

Fortunately, global marketing isn’t just for big corporations anymore — nowadays, technology has significantly shrunken the ‘cost per entry’ when it comes to developing an international brand.

With social media and search engines closing the information gap between countries, I’m willing to bet some international consumers have already stumbled across your business’ website.

But the question remains: How can you properly market and sell to international audiences? And how can you ensure product-market fit with communities outside your own?

To investigate how startups and small businesses can scale their marketing efforts for a worldwide audience, I sat down with André Barrence, Head of Google for Startups LATAM.

Keep reading to learn Barrence’s tips for how startups can effectively sell to international audiences.

Let’s dive in.

4 Tips for Globalizing Your Marketing Strategy

1. Start with an understanding of your global user.

When developing a global brand, you want to start by identifying the most important factor: To whom are you marketing?

Your user(s) might vary in preferences or lifestyle from country to country, but their challenges — and how your product can meet those challenges — will remain consistent cross-globally.

In other words, how your product can help a user in the U.S. likely mirrors how your product can help a user in Europe or Asia.

As Barrence points out, “What is always a good first solution is to start understanding who your user is, and who your user is everywhere, you know?”

Barrence adds, “I think that startups begin building a product with a specific user in-mind — and startups operate on this idea of serving on a match need, or serving some particular challenge that hasn’t been sold yet. And I think the beauty of technology is that you can basically serve the entire world at this point.”

At this stage, using highly effective analytics tools is key to ensuring you understand your global target persona.

Additionally, you’ll want to use data to determine which region(s) seem most interested in your products or services. This information will help you select a few countries for which you want to create a targeted, localized marketing strategy.

2. Figure out which stories appeal to different audiences globally.

While your product might serve the same needs across the globe, the stories you tell to highlight your product’s key benefits will vary significantly.

As Barrence puts it, “Once you’ve formed a hypothesis on who your user is and why they’re searching for your product, you’ll want to build a marketing strategy that is locally relevant, because the worst experience is when you’re trying to solve for a local need of yours, and for something you’re facing in your own country — but the product that you’re searching for is built for a different experience entirely.”

This is where it’s vital to build credibility in local regions.

Credibility, Barrence adds, is a critical component that is oftentimes forgotten in the hustle of scaling a startup. Startups are often driven by performance — such as traffic, or user acquisition — and building a brand is usually an afterthought.

This is a mistake, particularly when globalizing your business.

“Startups are great at a performance mindset,” Barrence says, “but each time you’re attempting to reach new markets, you want to make sure you’re building a brand, as well.”

Barrence adds, “Once you test a few ways to position your brand in a local market, you’ll want to start developing a more robust strategy for acquiring those users or creating stronger relationships with them.”

3. Pay attention to local flavors when taking your product to the market.

There are a few key factors Barrence encourages every startup to take into consideration before expanding into new, international markets.

First, it’s critical your marketing team understands how to position your product in a new regional space.

As Barrence told me, “It’s very hard for a startup to easily take a position in the [Latin American] market, for instance, because startups in LATAM already understand the user, and they know how to communicate with them and position themselves in the market … So ignoring the local flavors in how you take your product to the market is a big mistake.”

While he acknowledges this doesn’t have to be perfect, Barrence does tell me the bare minimum requirements when marketing to new international audiences includes:

• Designing a localized version of your product — including language, user interface, and experience.
• Translating your materials into the local language, and using more relevant, local examples or references in your marketing messages.
• Offering support in the local language so users can access help easily when they have questions.

If you don’t have the time or resources to follow the above tips, you might want to reconsider whether it’s a good idea to globalize — since without these fundamentals, your users will have a poor user experience and your brand value will suffer.

Which leads me to my next point …

4. Know when globalizing isn’t a good idea for your business.

There are plenty of startups and small businesses that likely have untapped potential in markets outside of their native countries … but there are still others who should focus their efforts locally, at least for the time being.

So — how do you know which category your business falls into?

Ultimately, Barrence says it comes down to whether or not you have a strong foundation. As he puts it, “One big mistake startups make are scaling prematurely; and the second big mistake is ignoring the signs that you haven’t found product-market fit.”

If you try scaling prematurely, he warns, you risk compromising your existing user’s experience and the health of your entire company. So it’s better to be cautious here.

He continues, “I think testing the waters and making sure you know how to navigate not only the market, but also how to navigate your product and operations within that market, is key.”

Barrence advises, “Not having enough strong evidence for product-market fit is the potential dark side of globalizing your marketing efforts … [If that’s the case], you should focus on building a successful business within your own country first.”

As the world becomes increasingly connected, you’ll want to dive deeper into your analytics to determine whether there is already a demand for your product or service outside of the U.S. — and, if there is, how you can address that demand with fresh, localized content or even revamp your marketing messages to ensure they’re global-first.

Ultimately, the decision to globalize your marketing efforts isn’t an easy one, but it could have big pay-offs in the long run. Among other benefits, globalizing your marketing materials expands your consumer-base and provides you with more opportunities to reach — and sell — to more customers. 

Do you celebrate International Cat Day, Pizza Day, or Talk Like a Pirate Day?

There are a plethora of observance days worldwide during which marketers can share content relevant to their industries, get involved in a movement, or simply generate more awareness. But odds are, you probably don’t acknowledge these days until you see your favorite brand posting about it.

These social media “holidays” are a fun way to connect with new and existing followers who share an affinity for a specific food, fictional character, or pet.

While we don’t suggest sharing content on social media and then adding an irrelevant holiday hashtag to it, these holidays can be a chance to promote your brand in a relevant way. Not doing so could cause you to miss valuable opportunities where your brand can join the conversations taking place among members of your target audience.

To help you plan for trending holidays, we created a list that you can bookmark, as well as a downloadable calendar so you can receive automatic reminders.

Downloadable Holiday Calendar

To help you keep track of all these unique holidays, here’s a Social Media Holiday Google Calendar.

Aside from 2021 holidays, we’ve also set dates on the calendar to repeat annually — either on the exact date they occur or the weekday they occur within the month.

Want to finish out your 2021 calendar with some upcoming holiday posts? Tap the + symbol in the lower right-hand corner of the calendar below to add it to your own Google calendar.

Use the Above Template to Plan Out Your Social Media Holiday Posts

National & Global Holiday Calendar: 2021

The list isn’t exhaustive (there are a lot of food-specific holidays out there), and these dates and hashtags may still be subject to change. But this is a great starting point for social media marketers who want to learn more about what’s trending and how they can plan their content in a way that will be fun and engaging on social platforms.

• January 2021 Social Media Holidays
• February 2021 Social Media Holidays
• March 2021 Social Media Holidays
• April 2021 Social Media Holidays
• May 2021 Social Media Holidays
• June 2021 Social Media Holidays
• July 2021 Social Media Holidays
• August 2021 Social Media Holidays
• September 2021 Social Media Holidays
• October 2021 Social Media Holidays
• November 2021 Social Media Holidays
• December 2021 Social Media Holidays

January 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• January 1: New Year’s Day #NewYearsDay
• January 2: Science Fiction Day #ScienceFictionDay
• January 4: National Trivia Day #NationalTriviaDay
• January 5: National Bird Day #NationalBirdDay
• January 11: Human Trafficking Awareness Day #HumanTraffickingDay
• January 11: Clean Off Your Desk Day #CleanOffYourDeskDay
• January 13: National Sticker Day #NationalStickerDay
• January 15: National Hat Day #NationalHatDay
• January 18: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Third Monday of January) #MLKDay
• January 20: Cheese Lovers Day #CheeseLoversDay
• January 21: National Hugging Day #NationalHuggingDay
• January 21: Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of every quarter) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
• January 24: National Compliment Day #NationalComplimentDay
• January 25: Opposite Day #OppositeDay
• January 25: Community Manager Appreciation Day (Last Monday of January) #CMAD
• January 28: Data Privacy Day #PrivacyAware

February 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• February 1 – 28: Black History Month
• February 2: Groundhog Day #GroundhogDay
• February 2: World Wetlands Day #WorldWetlandsDay
• February 4: World Cancer Day #WorldCancerDay
• February 5: National Weatherperson’s Day #NationalWeatherpersonsDay
• February 7: Super Bowl LV (Varies each year based on the U.S. Football season) #SBLV #SuperBowlSunday #SuperBowl
• February 7: National Send a Card to a Friend Day #SendACardToAFriendDay
• February 8: National Boy Scouts Day #BoyScoutsDay
• February 9: National Pizza Day #NationalPizzaDay
• February 9: Safer Internet Day #SID2021
• February 11: Inventors Day #InventorsDay
• February 12: Chinese New Year #ChineseNewYear
• February 13: World Radio Day #WorldRadioDay
• February 14: Valentine’s Day #ValentinesDay
• February 15: Presidents Day (Third Monday of February) #PresidentsDay
• February 16: Mardi Gras #MardiGras
• February 17: Random Acts of Kindness Day #RandomActsOfKindnessDay
• February 18: National Battery Day #NationalBatteryDay
• February 20: World Day of Social Justice #SocialJusticeDay
• February 20: Love Your Pet Day #LoveYourPetDay
• February 21: International Mother Language Day #IMLD

March 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• March 2: National Read Across America Day #ReadAcrossAmerica & #DrSeuss
• March 3: World Wildlife Day #WorldWildlifeDay
• March 4: National Grammar Day #NationalGrammarDay
• March 5: National Employee Appreciation Day (First Friday of March) #EmployeeAppreciationDay
• March 5: National Day of Unplugging (First Friday of March) #NationalDayOfUnplugging
• March 6: National Dentist’s Day #DentistsDay
• March 7: National Be Heard Day #NationalBeHeardDay
• March 7: National Cereal Day #NationalCerealDay
• March 8: International Women’s Day #BeBoldForChange
• March 8: National Proofreading Day #NationalProofreadingDay
• March 10: National Pack Your Lunch Day #NationalPackYourLunchDay
• March 10: National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day #NWGHAAD
• March 11: National Worship of Tools Day #WorshipOfToolsDay
• March 11: Popcorn Lover’s Day #PopcornLoversDay
• March 12: National Girl Scout Day #GirlScoutDay
• March 14: Potato Chip Day #NationalPotatoChipDay
• March 14: Pi Day #PiDay (To go the extra mile, post this at 1:59, as Pi equals 3.14159…)
• March 14: Daylight Savings #DaylightSavings
• March 15: National Napping Day #NationalNappingDay
• March 15: World Consumer Rights Day #WorldConsumerRightsDay
• March 16: National Freedom of Information Day #FreedomOfInformationDay
• March 17: St. Patrick’s Day #StPatricksDay
• March 18: Awkward Moments Day #NationalAwkwardMomentsDay
• March 19: National Let’s Laugh Day #NationalLetsLaughDay
• March 19: World Sleep Day #WorldSleepDay
• March 19: Red Nose Day #RedNoseDay
• March 20: International Day of Happiness #InternationalDayofHappiness
• March 20: World Storytelling Day #WorldStorytellingDay
• March 20: First Day of Spring #FirstDayofSpring
• March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination #RacialDiscriminationDay
• March 21: World Poetry Day #WorldPoetryDay
• March 22: World Water Day #WorldWaterDay
• March 23: National Puppy Day #NationalPuppyDay
• March 23: American Diabetes Association Alert Day #AmericanDiabetesAssociationAlertDay
• March 25: Tolkien Reading Day #TolkienReadingDay
• March 26: National Spinach Day #NationalSpinachDay
• March 26: Purple Day #PurpleDay
• March 27: Earth Hour Day #EarthHour
• March 30: Doctor’s Day #NationalDoctorsDay
• March 30: National Take a Walk in the Park Day #NationalWalkInTheParkDay
• March 31: World Backup Day #WorldBackupDay
• March 31: Transgender Day of Visibility #TDOV
• March 31: Equal Pay Day #EqualPayDay

April 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• April 1 – 30: National Stress Awareness Month
• April 1: April Fools Day #AprilFools
• April 2: World Autism Awareness Day #WAAD
• April 3: Find a Rainbow Day #FindARainbowDay
• April 4: Hug a Newsperson Day #HugANewsperson
• April 5: World Health Day #LetsTalk
• April 6: National Walking Day #NationalWalkingDay
• April 10: National Siblings Day #NationalSiblingsDay
• April 10: Encourage a Young Writer Day #EncourageAYoungWriterDay
• April 11: National Pet Day #NationalPetDay
• April 12: International Day of Human Space Flight #InternationalDayOfHumanSpaceFlight
• April 15: National Tax Day #TaxDay
• April 15: Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of every quarter) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
• April 15: National High-Five Day #NH5D
• April 16: National Stress Awareness Day #StressAwarenessDay
• April 16: National Wear Your Pajamas to Work Day #PJDay
• April 17: Haiku Poetry Day #HaikuPoetryDay
• April 18: National Columnists’ Day #NationalColumnistDay
• April 20: National Look-Alike Day #NationalLookAlikeDay
• April 21: National Administrative Professionals Day #AdministrativeProfessionalsDay
• April 22: Earth Day #EarthDay2021
• April 23: National Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day #COUNTONME
• April 23: National Picnic Day #NationalPicnicDay
• April 23: World Book Day #WorldBookDay
• April 23: Arbor Day #ArborDay
• April 25: National Telephone Day #NationalTelephoneDay
• April 25: World Malaria Day #EndMalariaForGood
• April 28: Denim Day #DenimDay
• April 29: International Dance Day #InternationalDanceDay
• April 30: National Honesty Day #NationalHonestyDay
• April 30: National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day #AdoptAShelterPetDay
• April 30: International Jazz Day #JazzDay

May 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• May 1: May Day #MayDay
• May 1: International Workers Day #IntWorkersDay
• May 3: World Press Freedom Day #WPFD2021 #PressFreedom
• May 4: Star Wars Day #StarWarsDay & #Maythe4thBeWithYou
• May 4: International Firefighters Day #InternationalFirefightersDay
• May 4: World Asthma Day #WorldAsthmaDay
• May 4: Thank a Teacher Day #ThankATeacher
• May 5: Cinco de Mayo #CincoDeMayo
• May 6: National Nurses Day #NursesDay
• May 7: World Password Day #WorldPasswordDay
• May 7: Space Day #SpaceDay
• May 9: Europe Day #EuropeDay
• May 9: Mother’s Day #MothersDay
• May 12: National Limerick Day #NationalLimerickDay
• May 12: National Receptionist Day #NationalReceptionistDay
• May 15: International Day of Families #FamilyDay
• May 16: Love a Tree Day #LoveATreeDay
• May 17: International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia #IDAHOT2021
• May 21: National Memo Day #NationalMemoDay
• May 21: National Bike to Work Day #BTWD
• May 21: Endangered Species Day #EndangeredSpeciesDay
• May 24: National Scavenger Hunt Day #NationalScavengerHuntDay
• May 28: Hamburger Day #NationalHamburgerDay
• May 28: Heat Awareness Day (Last Friday of May) #NoFryDay
• May 29: Paperclip Day #PaperclipDay
• May 31: Memorial Day (Fourth Monday of May) #MemorialDay #MDW
• May 31: World No-Tobacco Day #NoTobacco

June 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• June 1: Global Day of Parents #GlobalDayOfParents
• June 4: National Donut Day #NationalDonutDay
• June 5: World Environment Day #WorldEnvironmentDay
• June 6: National Cancer Survivor’s Day #NCSD2021
• June 6: Higher Education Day #HigherEducationDay
• June 8: World Oceans Day #WorldOceansDay
• June 8: Best Friends Day #BestFriendsDay
• June 13: International Children’s Day #ChildrensDay
• June 14: World Blood Donor Day #GiveBlood
• June 14: National Flag Day #FlagDay
• June 19: Juneteenth (Freedom Day) #Juneteenth
• June 20: World Refugee Day #WithRefugees
• June 20: First Day of Summer
• June 20: Father’s Day #FathersDay
• June 21: National Selfie Day #NationalSelfieDay
• June 21: World Music Day #WorldMusicDay
• June 21: International Yoga Day #InternationalYogaDay
• June 24: National Handshake Day #HandshakeDay
• June 25: Take Your Dog to Work Day #TakeYourDogToWorkDay
• June 27: National Sunglasses Day #NationalSunglassesDay
• June 30: Social Media Day #SMDay

July 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• July 1: National Postal Worker Day #NationalPostalWorkerDay
• July 2: World UFO Day #WorldUFODay
• July 4: Independence Day (United States)
• July 7: World Chocolate Day #WorldChocolateDay
• July 11: Cheer Up the Lonely Day #CheerUpTheLonelyDay
• July 12: Malala Day #MalalaDay
• July 15: Give Something Away Day #GiveSomethingAwayDay
• July 15: Get to Know Your Customers Day #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
• July 17: World Emoji Day #WorldEmojiDay
• July 18: Nelson Mandela International Day #MandelaDay
• July 30: Talk in an Elevator Day #TalkInAnElevatorDay
• July 30: International Day of Friendship #DayOfFriendship

August 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• August 1: Respect for Parents Day #RespectForParentsDay
• August 2: National Coloring Book Day #NationalColoringBookDay
• August 8: International Cat Day #InternationalCatDay
• August 9: National Book Lovers Day #NationalBookLoversDay
• August 10: National Lazy Day #LazyDay
• August 11: National Sons and Daughters Day #SonsAndDaughtersDay
• August 12: International Youth Day #YouthDay
• August 12: World Elephant Day #WorldElephantDay
• August 13: International Lefthanders Day #LefthandersDay
• August 15: National Relaxation Day #NationalRelaxationDay
• August 16: National Tell a Joke Day #NationalTellAJokeDay
• August 19: World Photo Day #WorldPhotoDay
• August 19: World Humanitarian Day #WorldHumanitarianDay
• August 20: National Lemonade Day #NationalLemonadeDay
• August 26: National Dog Day #NationalDogDay
• August 26: National Women’s Equality Day #WomensEqualityDay

September 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• September 4: National Wildlife Day #NationalWildlifeDay
• September 5: International Day of Charity #CharityDay
• September 6: Labor Day #LaborDay
• September 6: Read a Book Day #ReadABookDay
• September 8: International Literacy Day #LiteracyDay
• September 10: Stand Up To Cancer Day #KissCancerGoodbye
• September 11: National Day of Service and Remembrance #911Day
• September 12: Civic Day of Hacking #HackForChange
• September 12: National Grandparents Day #NationalGrandparentsDay
• September 12: National Day of Encouragement #DayOfEncouragement
• September 12: National Video Games Day #NationalVideoGamesDay
• September 15 – October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month #hispanicheritagemonth
• September 19: Talk Like a Pirate Day #TalkLikeAPirateDay
• September 21: International Day of Peace #PeaceDay
• September 21: Miniature Golf Day #MiniGolfDay
• September 22: Car-Free Day #CarFreeDay
• September 22: Hobbit Day #HobbitDay
• September 22: First Day of Fall
• September 26: National Pancake Day #NationalPancakeDay
• September 26: European Day of Languages #EDL2021
• September 27: World Tourism Day #WTD2021
• September 28: World Rabies Day #WorldRabiesDay
• September 28: National Good Neighbor Day #GoodNeighborDay
• September 29: National Women’s Health and Fitness Day #FitnessDay
• September 30: International Podcast Day #InternationalPodcastDay

October 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• October 1: International Day of Older Persons #UNDOP
• October 1: International Coffee Day #InternationalCoffeeDay
• October 1: World Vegetarian Day #WorldVegetarianDay
• October 1: World Smile Day #WorldSmileDay
• October 2: International Day of Nonviolence #InternationalDayOfNonviolence
• October 3: National Techies Day #TechiesDay
• October 4: World Animal Day #WorldAnimalDay
• October 4: National Taco Day #NationalTacoDay
• October 4: World Habitat Day #WorldHabitatDay
• October 5: World Teachers Day #WorldTeachersDay
• October 10: World Mental Health Day #WorldMentalHeathDay
• October 11: International Day of the Girl #DayOfTheGirl
• October 14: World Sight Day #WorldSightDay
• October 14: National Dessert Day #DessertDay
• October 15: Global Handwashing Day #GlobalHandwashingDay
• October 16: World Food Day #FoodDay
• October 16: Bosses Day #BossesDay
• October 17: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty #EndPoverty
• October 20: World Statistics Day #StatisticsDay
• October 21: Reptile Awareness Day #ReptileAwarenessDay
• October 21: Get to Know Your Customers Day (third Thursday of every quarter) #GetToKnowYourCustomersDay
• October 24: United Nations Day #UNDay
• October 25: Greasy Foods Day #GreasyFoodsDay
• October 30: National Publicist Day #NationalPublicistDay
• October 30: Checklist Day #ChecklistDay
• October 31: Halloween #Halloween

November 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• November 1: World Vegan Day #WorldVeganDay
• November 1: National Authors Day #NationalAuthorsDay
• November 1: National Cook For Your Pets Day #CookForYourPetsDay
• November 3: National Sandwich Day #NationalSandwichDay
• November 4: National Candy Day #NationalCandyDay
• November 7: Daylight Saving Time Ends #DaylightSavings
• November 8: National Cappuccino Day #CappuccinoDay
• November 8: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM) Day #STEMDay
• November 11: Veterans Day #VeteransDay
• November 13: World Kindness Day #WKD
• November 14: World Diabetes Day #WDD
• November 15: Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day #CleanOutYourRefrigeratorDay
• November 15: America Recycles Day #BeRecycled
• November 16: International Day for Tolerance #ToleranceDay
• November 16: National Entrepreneurs Day #EntrepreneursDay
• November 17: International Students Day #InternationalStudentsDay
• November 19: International Men’s Day #InternationalMensDay
• November 20: Universal Children’s Day #UNChildrensDay
• November 21: World Hello Day #WorldHelloDay
• November 25: Thanksgiving Day #Thanksgiving
• November 26: National Cake Day #NationalCakeDay
• November 26: National Day of Listening #DayOfListening
• November 27: Small Business Saturday (The last Saturday of November) #ShopSmall
• November 29: Electronic Greeting Card Day #ElectronicGreetingCardDay
• November 30: Computer Security Day #ComputerSecurityDay

December 2021 Social Media Holidays

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• December 1: World AIDS Day #WAD2021
• December 3: International Day of Persons with Disabilities #IDPWD
• December 4: National Cookie Day #NationalCookieDay
• December 5: World Soil Day #WorldSoilDay
• December 6: Microwave Oven Day #MicrowaveOvenDay
• December 8: Pretend to Be a Time Traveler Day #PretendToBeATimeTravelerDay
• December 10: Human Rights Day #HumanRightsDay
• December 10: Nobel Prize Day #NobelPrize
• December 10: National Salesperson Day #SalespersonDay
• December 11: International Mountain Day #InternationalMountainDay
• December 21: Crossword Puzzle Day #CrosswordPuzzleDay
• December 21: First Day of Winter #WinterSolstice
• December 27: No Interruptions Day #NoInterruptionsDay
• December 31: New Year’s Eve #NYE

Sources: National Day Calendar, Sprout Social, TrackMaven, Holiday Insights, Brownielocks, National Peace Corps Association, Sparkflow, There’s a Day for That

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2017 but is updated annually for comprehensiveness. The most recent update of this post was March 2021.

Whether you’re a solopreneur or running a massive corporation, you need a business budget to understand where your money is coming from and going. A business budget template can help keep the numbers organized, making it easy for you to track revenue, plan for expenses, and save for future growth.

You don’t have to be an accountant to organize your business budget. There are thousands of business budget templates out there to make the process easy. Once you understand what a business budget is and how it can work for you, you can use one of the following free templates to start organizing your finances.

The business budget follows a set template, which you can fill in with estimated revenues, plus any recurring or expected business expenses.

For example, if you run a digital marketing business, you might know that you typically make about $10,000 for your work creating campaigns, plus an extra $5,000 for your digital courses. You’d list the estimated revenue from all of your business’ revenue streams as incoming money for the business.

Then, you have your recurring expenses, which you would list as outgoing money. This could include employee salaries, office expenses, and software and technology costs.

How to Create a Business Budget

Creating a business budget is a straightforward process, but it can be more complex for larger companies. Here are the basic steps to creating a business budget.

1. Find a Template or Make a Spreadsheet

There are many free or paid budget templates online these days, so you can either use one of those to start, or make a simple spreadsheet with custom rows and columns based on your business. We list a few helpful templates below.

2. Fill in Revenues

Once you have your template, you’ll start by listing all the sources of your business’ income. With a budget, you’re planning for the future, so you’ll need to estimate this based on previous months’ or years’ revenues. For a new small business budget, you’ll rely on your market research to estimate the first revenues for your company.

3. Subtract Fixed Costs for the Time Period

Fixed costs are the recurring costs you have during each month, quarter, or year. Examples include insurance, rent for office space, website hosting, and internet.

4. Consider Variable Costs

Variable costs will change from time to time. Examples include utility bills, advertising costs, office supplies, and new software or technology. While you may always need to pay some variable costs, like utility bills, you can also shift how much you spend toward things like advertising expenses when you have lower-than-average estimated income.

5. Business Budget Planning

Unexpected expenses might come up, or you might want to save to expand your business. Either way, you need to review your budget after including all expenses, fixed costs, and variable costs to find out how much money you can save. It’s wise to create multiple savings accounts for emergencies and for money meant to go back into the business to drive growth.

How to Manage a Business Budget

There are a few key components to managing your business budget to keep it healthy.

Budget Preparation

The process all starts with properly preparing and planning the budget at the start of each month, quarter, or year. You can also create multiple budgets, some short-term and some long-term. During this stage, you will also set spending limits and create a system to regularly monitor the budget.

Budget Monitoring

For larger businesses, you might delegate budget tracking to multiple supervisors, but even if you are a one-person show, you need to regularly monitor the budget. That means setting a time in your schedule each day or week to review the budget and track actual income and expenses, then compare the actual numbers to the estimates.

Budget Forecasting

With regular budget tracking, you can always know how your business is doing. Check-in regularly to determine how you are doing in terms of revenue, where you have losses, where you can minimize expenses, and how you can move more money into savings. You can use well-tracked budgets to create more accurate budgets for future time periods.

Why is a Budget Important for a Business?

A budget is crucial for businesses. Without one, you could easily be drowning in expenses or unexpected costs compared to incoming money.

The business budget helps with several operations. You can use a business budget to keep track of your finances, save money to help you grow the business or pay bonuses in the future, and prepare for unexpected expenses or emergencies.

You can also review the business budget to determine when to take the next leap for your business. For example, you might be dreaming of a larger office building or the latest software, but you want to make sure you have a healthy net revenue before you make the purchase.

Best Free Business Budget Templates

1. Marketing Budget Template

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Knowing how to manage a marketing budget can be a challenge, but with helpful free templates like this marketing budget template bundle, you can track everything from advertising expenses to events and more.

This free bundle includes eight different templates, so you can create multiple budgets to help you determine how much money to put toward marketing plus the return on your investment.

2. Small Business Budget Template

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For small businesses, it can be hard to find the time to draw up a budget, but it’s crucial to help keep the business in good health.

Capterra offers a budget template specifically for small businesses. It works with Excel, and you input projections for the year. Then, the spreadsheet will project the month-to-month budget, and you can input your actual revenue and expenses to compare and easily see profits and losses.

3. Startup Budget Template

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What if you don’t have any previous numbers to rely on to create profit and expense estimates? If you are a startup, this Gusto budget template will help you draw up a budget before your business is officially in the market. This will help you track all the expenses you need to get your business up and running, estimate your first revenues, and determine where to pinch pennies.

4. Free Business Budget Template

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You might be familiar with Intuit, as many companies big and small rely on Intuit’s services like Quickbooks and TurboTax. Even if you don’t use the company’s paid financial services, you can take advantage of Intuit’s free budget template, which works in Google Sheets or Excel.

It features multiple spreadsheet tabs and simple instructions. You enter your revenue in one specific tab and expenses in another. You can also add additional tabs as needed. Then, like magic, the spreadsheet uses the data in the income and expense tabs to summarize the information and even determine net savings and the ending balance.

5. Department Budget Sheet

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A mid-to large-size company will have multiple departments, all with different budgetary needs. These budgets will all be considered into a massive, company-wide budget sheet, but having a specific template for each department can help teams keep track of spending and plan for growth.

This free template from Template.net works in either document or spreadsheet formats and can help different departments keep track of their income and spending.

Create a Business Budget to Help Your Company Grow

Making your first business budget can be daunting, especially if you have several revenue streams and expenses. But once you get it set up, it’s easy to replicate regularly, and it’s even easier to get started if you have a business budget template to follow.

With a helpful business budget template, a little planning, and regular monitoring, you can plan for the future of your business, including bonuses, new product or service offerings, and expansions.

Gantt charts. Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or can’t live without ‘em, they’re a reality of a marketer’s life. But how do you make yours stand out from the rest?

I’ve gathered some of the best examples around, along with some free templates to get you started. Dive in below and find your favorite. But first …

The elements within a Gantt chart can be grouped into four categories: resources, milestones, tasks, and dependencies.

• Resources: Project managers must have insight into what resources are needed for tasks outlined in a Gantt chart, in order for each to be completed on time.
• Milestones: Along your timeline, there will likely be milestones, both small and large, that must be hit in order to keep your project on track. A milestone for a blog launch might be, “Blog post draft due on 5/30.”
• Tasks: There are specific things that need to be completed along the way of your project. In our blog post example, a task might be, “Edit blog post.”
• Dependencies: Tasks on your Gantt chart will be related to each other, for example, the editor won’t be able to complete her task of editing the blog post until the writer has met their milestone and submitted their draft on 5/30. These are dependencies and should be noted in your chart.

Benefits of Using a Gantt Chart

The main goal of a Gantt chart is to track the timeline and completion of a project. It’s beneficial for project managers who need to keep team momentum on campaigns with many moving parts, like product launches or marketing events. Here are some additional benefits of using Gantt charts: 

• Visual tracking gives an overarching view of projects and their timelines, helping DRIs understand progress and assign responsibility accordingly. 
• Clear project timelines aid with resource planning, as you’ll know which tasks require which tools and exactly when DRIs will need those tools.  
• Visual understanding of which project elements rely on each other for completion so PMs can inform responsible individuals of high-priority tasks. 
• Increased transparency, as all involved parties are aware of expectations and how individual progress impacts team progress.

You can create Gantt charts in Excel, PowerPoint, Google Sheets, and more, and this tracking method can be used in a variety of industries, from marketing to construction, and even design.

So, what does that look like? Let’s dive in with some beautiful Gantt chart examples, below. Prepare to geek out.

Gantt Chart Examples

1. Gantt Chart in Excel

Creating Gantt charts in Excel is a common practice and one you’ll likely come across in your work. Excel doesn’t have a predefined Gantt chart, but the “Stacked Bar” feature is your friend, once more, allowing you to show project progression. Here’s an example of an Excel Gantt chart. Download it free, here.

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And here’s a helpful “how-to” video for the excel-challenged among us <raises hand>.

2. Gantt Chart in PowerPoint

Want to include a Gantt chart in your next PowerPoint Presentation? Use this PowerPoint example as your guide. PowerPoint doesn’t have a built-in Gantt feature, but you can build and edit a chart inside of the platform using their “Stacked Bar” feature.

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How to Make a Gantt Chart in PowerPoint

When using the above template to make a Gantt chart in PowerPoint, consider these pro tips: 

• Leverage the task bars to your advantage and adjust their length in accordance with your plan. This template is also flexible, so you can shorten or increase the length of tasks if things come up during your project execution process. 
• Make unique color-codes for each specific task so you can place a corresponding milestone image when completed so you can monitor your progress and immediately understand what color means what. 

3. Gantt Chart in Word

What’s that? You’re not familiar with Microsoft’s “Stacked Bar” feature yet? Well, if you’re getting friendly with Gantt charts, you’ll be using this go-to feature quite a bit.

If you’re creating a Gantt chart in Microsoft Word, you’ll stack bars once more. But if you’ll be updating and tweaking your Gantt chart regularly, Excel or PowerPoint may give you better flexibility.

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How to Make a Gantt Chart in Word

When using the template above, leverage the stackable bars feature to create an interactive Gantt chart to clearly demonstrate task progress and monitor your accomplishments. 

In addition, create a daily check-ins schedule on your chart so you can move the “Today” line forward as each day goes on, helping you stay on track and understand what’s to come.

4. Gantt Chart in Google Sheets

If Google Sheets is where you spend most of your time, this is the Gantt chart for you. G-Sheets makes it easy to build customizable Gantt charts you can edit as needed — all using a few simple formulas.

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How to Make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets

If you’re creating a Gantt chart in Google Sheets, use the above template and circulation table for automated chart creation. Simply input the information specific to your business, and the chart will be created automatically. 

You have less creative freedom with this chart, but it is great for those hesitant to create a chart from scratch.

5. Gantt Chart in Google Docs

Want a Gantt Chart you can share and collaborate on with colleagues? Consider creating your chart in a Google Document. Save it to your Google Drive and share as normal. Google offers “Stacked chart” options in their “Chart Editor,” so getting started is a breeze.

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How to Make a Gantt Chart in Google Docs

In Google Docs, use the timeline template documents to your advantage and give yourself an overview of your project progress. It’ll help with visualization, staying on track, and allowing you to see how you’re progressing over time so you can share information with relevant stakeholders, internal and external.

6. Gantt Chart for Editorial Calendar

Take your editorial calendar up a notch with a Gantt chart. Include publication dates as your milestones, add subgroups for each phase of content creation, and add tasks to your chart.

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7. Gantt Chart for Project Management

Project management is one of the most common verticals relying on Gantt charts. These charts help project managers identify the tasks involved in each project, create a timeline for each task, and assign dates, tools, and progress updates for each of the tasks within the project.
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8. Gantt Chart for Marketing Campaign

There are many tools available that help marketers create Gantt charts especially for marketing campaigns. This example, from GanttPro offers ready-made campaign templates with predefined tasks, subtasks, and milestones. Image Source

9. Gantt Chart for Design Projects

Designers, you can use Gantt charts, too. Plan design launches, track brainstorming, and share draft progress with a carefully organized chart, like the example below.

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10. Gantt Chart for Product Launch

Product launches have many moving parts. Keep track of research, budgets, team roles, and even risk assessment in a customizable Gantt chart like this one. You can even set dependencies and assign tasks to certain people.

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11. Gantt Chart for Social Media Campaign

When you’re mapping a social media marketing campaign using a Gantt chart, make sure to include the tools you’ll need, the content you’ll be sharing, and the assets used on each channel. We loved this example, from Fabrik. 

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12. Gantt Chart for Event Marketing

From outreach prior to the event to “Thank you” emails once it’s over, planning an event requires high levels of organization. Use a Gantt chart like this one to keep track of your strategy, team progress, and key actions before, during, and after your event.

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When you’re ready to begin creating your own Gantt chart, refer to the high-quality examples on this list and download our free Excel template to get started. 

No matter what they say, people do judge emails by their subject lines.

In fact, 47% of marketers say they test different email subject lines to optimize their emails’ performance. That’s why it’s so important to craft subject lines that are compelling enough to get people to click through.

While they may seem like a small part of your message, they’re one of the very first impressions you have on your email recipients. And, they’re a marketer’s ticket for standing out in a crowded inbox.

Do you want your email content opened, read, and clicked? It all starts with the subject line. Read on for some tried-and-true tips to help jazz up your subject lines and boost your email engagement.

What makes a good email subject line?

Before we get to our tips, let’s go over some fundamentals of what makes a great subject line. Regardless of your goals, these are the essential elements that your subject line should possess:

1. Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency is an efficient way to get people to take action. You can create a similar effect in your subject lines strategically.

By communicating a known start and end date to a special sale or promotion, viewers scrolling through their inbox will click to see what they can get in that window of time. This is also a good practice when done in a small series of emails counting down the window of opportunity — as long as you’re not flooding their inbox and coming off spammy.

2. Curiosity

Sometimes, subject lines work because of their ability to send the message, “You will benefit from opening this email.” But other times, it’s good to maintain some sense of mystery — especially if it pique’s the recipient’s natural curiosity and interest. Because they require opening the email to get more information, they can result in, well, a higher open rate. But make sure the subject line, while enigmatic, still aligns with your brand. Too obscure, and it could end up being seen as spam.

3. Offers

Here’s where that benefit of opening a given email comes in. At the end of the day, people love new things and experiences — especially when they’re free, or at least discounted. Open with that by including it in your subject line. Personally, I’m much more inclined to open my daily newsletters when there’s an offer or allusion for “free stuff” directly mentioned in my inbox.

4. Personalization

No two email subscribers are the same — and, sometimes, that means the emails you send to them shouldn’t be, either. At this point, marketers have never had more ways to learn about their subscribers’ preferences, jobs, or general (dis)likes. So when you send them content, on occasion, make it catered toward the individual.

5. Relevance and Timeliness

When we subscribe to an email list, it’s usually because we want to be kept informed, or at least learn more about a given topic (more on that later). Similar to piquing your audience’s curiosity, crafting email subject lines that incorporate trending topics or timely headlines can help you establish your brand as an authority within your industry — and can compel people to click to read.

6. Name Recognition

Let’s face it: We all have famous people who, at some point, we presently or previously have admired. And when you understand your audience’s preferences and interests, you can pique their interest by including the names of these admired, recognizable individuals by including them in your content — and mentioning them in your email subject lines. But take heed: This tactic really only works when it aligns with your brand, product, or service. So keep it relevant, rather than just throwing out a name for the sake of recognition.

7. Cool Stories

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here’s another place where curiosity comes into play. By front-loading your email subject line with a compelling allusion to a story — but can only be read if opened or clicked — your audience is likely to become intrigued, and want to learn more. Again, make sure the story is relevant to your brand. Otherwise, it might just confuse your readers and prevent them from opening the email.

Now that you know the fundamentals, let’s dive into email subject line best practices.

Email Subject Line Best Practices

1. Learn from successful email subject line examples.

Whenever we’re scratching our heads wondering what to make our subject line, we often look to examples for inspiration. Seeing clever use of wordplay or emojis on one of our favorite newsletters can help us think of new ways to approach our subject line.

To help you do the same, we’ve compiled a list of 100 email subject lines from real businesses. We hope you’ll be just as inspired.

Download the Free Email Subject Lines Examples Guide

2. Keep it short and sweet.

Email subject lines will get cut off if they’re too long, particularly on mobile devices. And with up to 46% of email opens taking place on mobile, we recommend using subject lines with fewer than 50 characters to make sure the people scanning your emails read the entire message.

If you’re struggling to keep your subject lines short, think about which words matter less and where you can remove a frivolous detail. For example, if you’re sending an order confirmation, doesn’t “Your order is being processed” look better than “Order #9435893458358 is being processed”?

The same goes for your regular emails: Don’t waste your time including the word “update” or “newsletter” in the subject line. Some studies even suggest these words can decrease the message’s open rate since it tells readers the email is associated with a series, and therefore they can catch the next one.

3. Use a familiar sender name.

That name recognition we mentioned earlier doesn’t just apply to the famous — it applies to the familiar. When setting your sender name, be as human as you can. Olivia@yourcompany.com is both inviting and unintimidating to people when they open their inboxes.

If you’ve already met your recipients from a previous conversation, use your own name as the sender’s address — even if the email is technically coming from the company as a whole. The best impression you can make on your customers is that they’re working with you, the individual — not the entire business.

“If the ‘from’ name doesn’t sound like it’s from someone you want to hear from, it doesn’t matter what the subject line is,” explains Copy Hacker‘s Joanna Wiebe. Ultimately, people are busy, and they simply don’t bother with you if you don’t sound like someone who would make for an easy (or at least friendly) conversation.

4. Avoid the ‘no-reply’ sender name.

Thanks to the amount of spam people get these days, most people hesitate to open emails from unfamiliar senders. And, even fewer people like talking to a robot. Think about when you call a company and can’t get a hold of an actual person. It’s frustrating, right? This goes for email, as well.

Never use “noreply@company.com.” I repeat: Never use this email address. Not only does it make it look less personable, but it also stops people from adding your email to their address book.

Instead, avoid using a generic email address and send the email from a real person. For instance, we once found that emails sent from “Maggie Georgieva, HubSpot” performed better in terms of opens and click-through rate than emails sent from just “HubSpot.” (HubSpot customers: Learn how to personalize the “From” name and email address here.)

5. Use personalization tokens.

Remember the personalization we mentioned earlier? Using personalization tokens — like name or location — in the subject line adds a feeling of rapport, especially when it’s a name. Everyone loves the sound of their own name. Plus, it increases clickthrough rate: In fact, research has shown that emails that included the first name of the recipient in their subject line had higher click-through rates than emails that did not.

One example of how brands affix this information to subject lines is the dog-walking company, Wag! who does this with dog names. Here’s one such email that a HubSpot writer received:

That’s great personalization and great timing.

Another personalization tactic that works is to tailor subject lines to the recipient’s location — things like lists of their respective cities’ best outdoor bars and restaurants.

Just don’t go overboard with the personalization here. That can be a little creepy. But little personalized touches show that you know more about your recipients than just their email address. However, if you can’t (or don’t want to) use personalization tokens in the subject line, use “you” or “your” so it still sounds like you’re addressing them directly.

6. Segment your lists.

While email blasts that go out to your entire list might be relevant and helpful to some people, it won’t be to others — and could cause confusion or frustration. Why is this restaurant sending me a list of the best local steakhouses when I’m a vegetarian? Why is this company sending me case studies when I just signed up for its email list yesterday?

Personalize the experience using information from the actions your customers have already taken — from which forms they’ve filled out, to which industries they’re in, to what their personal preferences are. In email marketing, you can personalize your recipients’ experience using a little thing called list segmentation.

7. Don’t make false promises.

Your email subject line is making a promise to your reader about what you will deliver in your message. Make sure that you make good on that commitment — and do not try to get your email opened by making false promises. This will irk your audience, and they’ll learn not to trust your subject lines, resulting in a lower open rate and a higher unsubscribe rate.

8. Do tell them what’s inside.

Speaking of making promises, if your visitor has downloaded an offer and you’re delivering it via email, it’s a great idea to use a subject line that says something like, “Your new ebook inside!” or, “Your guide awaits!” This works better than a simple “thank you” in the subject line because it makes it clear that something is waiting inside the email.

9. Time it right.

Sending an email at the right time with the right subject line can make a huge difference in open and click-through rate. A prime example? When food publication Eater sends at 6:45 P.M. on a Wednesday evening that said, “Where to Drink Beer Right Now” — just in time for happy hour. Nailed it.

Another favorite example is a classic email from Warby Parker with the subject line, “Uh-oh, your prescription is expiring.” It was sent two weeks before the recipient needed to renew his prescription. By sending an email at the right time, Warby Parker increased the chances of their email getting opened — and included a relevant call-to-action about getting a glasses upgrade, too.

10. Use concise language.

Keep in mind that people scan their inboxes very quickly — so the more clear and concise your subject line is, the better. It’s usually a lot better to be concise than it is to use complex and flowery language — unless you’re going for an elusive subject tone to entice your recipients.

When you’re going for a concise subject line, think about how your email will benefit your recipients. You’ll want to make that benefit very clear. For example, “Increase your open rates by 50% today” is more appealing than “How to increase open rates.”

11. Start with action-oriented verbs.

Subject lines are similar to calls-to-action, in that you want the language to inspire people to click. Subject lines that begin with action verbs tend to be a lot more enticing, and your emails could be drastically more clickable by adding a vibrant verb at the beginning.

Actionable subject lines will inspire people to click on your email by instilling urgency and excitement. For example, in an email inviting people to a hockey legend dinner, the email subject line might read, “Dine with Bruins legend Bobby Orr,” rather than a more generic (and less actionable) “Local Boston Sports Legend Meal.” The former email uses “Dine” to help the reader envision themselves at a dinner table.

12. Make people feel special.

The psychology of exclusivity is a powerful thing. When people feel like they’re on the inside, it gives them a sense of belonging which builds loyalty and compels them to convert on your emails.

The right phrasing can make your recipients feel special — and the effect can be magical. A few ideas for phrasing include:

• “For our beloved customers only”
• “An exclusive offer for you”
• “My gift to you”
• “You’re invited!”
• “Private invite”

13. Create a sense of importance.

There’s a phrase that, for many of us, is reminiscent of classic infomercials: “Act now!”

And while we wouldn’t encourage using that exact language in your content, we do agree that communicating urgency and scarcity in an email subject line can help compel readers to click (or act) — when phrased creatively and strategically.

But because you don’t want to be known as “the brand that cried wolf,” use these subject lines sparingly, and try to limit them to when the occasion genuinely calls for immediate action.

14. Use numbers.

A lot of businesses send emails with vague statements in their subject lines — which is why using data and numbers is a great way to get your emails noticed, demonstrate a clear and straightforward message about your offer, and set the right expectations.

Just like with blog titles, using numbers in your subject line is an effective email marketing best practice. You might use numbers to refer to the title of your listicle, the page length of an offer, a specific discount, or the numerical benefit of a particular resource you’re providing — like “Join more than 750 others at this event!”

15. Pose a compelling question.

Asking a question in your subject line can also draw readers in — especially if you’re asking a question you know is relevant to your recipients’ buyer persona. This is just one way to pique that curiosity we mentioned earlier. For example, you might try the following: “Are you making these SEO mistakes?” or “Do you know what your website is doing wrong?”

Zillow once sent an email with the subject line, “What Can You Afford?” that linked to a website showing apartments for rent. A subject line like this is both encouraging and a touch competitive: While it gives hope that there are apartments out there that’ll fit within your budget, it also pits your cash against what the market offers.

Another example comes from DocuSign. It sent an email late in the lead nurturing process, with the subject line, “What are your customers saying?” The body of the email contained a bunch of case studies that were meant to help the recipient move closer to actually purchasing DocuSign. This was a smart move: Folks who are further down the funnel are likely more receptive to hearing customer testimonials.

16. Don’t be afraid to get punny.

Most people love a good pun. It’s a great way to delight your recipients and spice up your emails. Some of the best punny email subject lines come from JetBlue, with subject lines like “Land wander-ful low fares now!”

Quirky — a community-led invention platform — worded one of its email subject lines like this: “Abra-cord-abra! Yeah, we said it.” That second part is conversational and self-referential — and exactly what most people would say after making a really cheesy joke in real life.

If you’re the least bit punny, think about small ways you can slip them into your emails when it’s appropriate. Just don’t overdo it. And remember the rule: When in doubt, ask a coworker.

17. DON’T USE ALL CAPS or overuse exclamation points!!!

A subject line that says, “OPEN NOW AND RECEIVE A FREE TRIAL” or, “50% off coupon today only!!!!!!!!” isn’t going to get your email opened. If anything, it’ll probably get your email ignored.

Why? People don’t like to be yelled at, and using all caps and/or a lot of exclamation points can rub people the wrong way.

Not only are these tactics disruptive, but they look spammy. So instead of using disruptive tactics like these to stand out in people’s inboxes, try personalizing your emails, establishing relevance, and using catchy and delightful language.

18. Don’t include a question and exclamation in the same subject line.

Here’s a subject line that can automatically wind up in a recipient’s spam folder: “Want a solution fast? Act now!”

The fast solution isn’t the problem in the example above. It’s also not “act now” — although those are known email marketing spam words. It’s both phrases together. This is a classic email saboteur, and it comes in many forms. All you need is to ask and yell at the same time.

Oftentimes webservers flag emails as spam if they contain both a question mark and an exclamation mark in the subject line. The example above is a common one. A good solution? Don’t do that!

Not only is this format overdone, but it’s alienating to your audience. Open-ended questions are a show of ignorance; any good marketer knows their leads better than that.

19. Use engaging preview text.

While preview text isn’t technically part of your subject line, it does appear right near the subject line — and it certainly deserves your attention.

Preview text provides recipients with a peek at the content inside your email, which email clients like the iPhone Mail app, Gmail, and Outlook will display alongside the subject line. (The exact amount of text shown depends on the email client and user settings.)

When you don’t set the preview text yourself, the email client will automatically pull from the body of your email. That can look messy depending on your email content, and it’s also a wasted opportunity to engage your audience. (HubSpot customers: Click here to learn how to set the preview text of your emails.)

20. A/B test your subject lines.

Although these tips and best practices are a great place to start, what works best for some companies may not work as well for others. It’s all about figuring out what works best for your specific audience. That’s where A/B testing comes in.

While it can be tempting to use your intuition to predict what subject line language will make people click on your emails, you should always A/B test your highest-stakes subject lines, and tweak the wording according to your results. What works best for your audience: Long or short subject lines? Including numbers or not including numbers? Questions or statements? (HubSpot customers: Learn how to A/B test emails in HubSpot here.)

Now that we’ve gone through our best practices, let’s review the steps to creating good email subject lines.

How to Write Good Email Subject Lines

Step 1: Identify the purpose of the email.

Why is the email being sent and how does that inform the subject line? Identify the true purpose or intention of the email and use that as the foundation to build upon when brainstorming your subject line idea.

Step 2: Determine the call to action.

What will make the user click on the email? A discount? Something free? Important information? What is enticing enough to make them want to see or learn more about your offer? Having a call to action with an incentive yet to be seen is tempting.

Step 3: Draft multiple subject lines.

Write similar subject lines that use varying words and tones. You want to have a few ideas to choose from, so you’re not stuck stewing over the same sentence for long.

Step 4: Get feedback.

Have colleagues review the subject lines to give their feedback on which they preferred. Having a second opinion can help you see it from a different perspective.

Step 5: Test your subject line.

As mentioned earlier, perform an A/B test to see which subject line performs best. After you’ve conducted the test, take the most effective email subject line and use it in your upcoming email marketing campaign.

Now that we’ve gone through the steps to create a good subject line, let’s examine some effective examples.

Examples of Catchy Email Subject Lines

To give you some added inspiration, here’s a quick list of the most intriguing subject lines we’ve seen recently.

EF Tours: “👻 Trip or Treat!”

This subject line from EF Tours has tasteful use of a quirky emoji, coupled with a sense of urgency from a time-bound sale. These two tricks create an email subject line that would stand out from the rest of your inbox.

Chanel: “Smoldering Red Lipstick”

This example from Chanel is simple but effective. Viewers can visualize a beautiful red lip, and feel enticed to click to see if the product really achieves a “smoldering” look.

Wish: “Electrify your night out.”

Wish helps the reader to see how much more fun their night could be in one of its dresses. With this imagery, they’ll want to see how fun their selection of dresses could be — especially if it’s discounted.

Drizly: “…here’s $5 to stay in.”

This subject line is more unique than others — it makes you question what Drizly means by the first half and explicitly gives you an incentive to open the email.

Shutterfly: “Claim your UNLIMITED free photo book”

While we mentioned earlier to be careful with CAPS lettering, it doesn’t overwhelm this Shutterfly subject line and makes an interesting offer.

Mediabistro: “Generous PTO and Summer Fridays”

The viewer can envision themselves taking advantage of work perks like these from Mediabistro, and will feel inclined to read more on the subjects presented.

Catch more Clicks with Catchy Subject Lines

At the end of the day, if your emails aren’t getting opened, they’re not getting seen. By using some of our tips, we hope you can come up with creative and engaging subject lines of your own. You already have great content to share — now, prove it in your subject line.

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in July 2018 but has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Do you ever wish you could unsubscribe from a conversation? As an introvert, I do, quite often. Though unsubscribing from a conversation with another person isn’t always possible (and could potentially be seen as rude), unsubscribing from emails is perfectly acceptable behavior.

As a consumer, the unsubscribe button can feel like a gift from the divine when your inbox is overflowing. As a marketer, the unsubscribe button can be standing between you and your email marketing goals if your list undergoes a mass exodus faster than you’re able to bring in new leads.

However, the unsubscribe button in your emails doesn’t have to be feared. In fact, when leveraged wisely, the unsubscribe button can be a powerful tool that helps you curate an engaged email list of your ideal customers who are ready and willing to hear your message.

Let’s break down the ins and outs of the email unsubscribe button, and how to set it up in a way that helps your business.

What is an unsubscribe button?

An unsubscribe button is a link or button module typically found at the bottom of a marketing email that gives email subscribers the chance to opt-out of future messages with one simple click.

Why Have An Unsubscribe Button

I know, the idea of subscribers leaving your list may prompt a bit of panic, especially if you have aggressive list-building goals. However, having an unsubscribe button or link can be to your benefit. One of the most important email marketing metrics you should measure is your open rate or the percentage of people on your list who actually open (and likely read) your emails.

If you have a large number of subscribers who are on your list but don’t want to be, that can significantly drive down your open rates (and negatively impact your click-through rate). Having a large email list isn’t valuable if your audience doesn’t actually want to engage with your emails, because that could indicate they are even less likely to buy your products.

Having an unsubscribe button makes it easy for those who are uninterested to opt-out of communication, freeing up space for potential subscribers who are genuinely interested in your message and product.

Do you have to have an unsubscribe button in your emails?

You may be wondering, “Do I have to have an unsubscribe button in all of my emails?”

The short answer is yes, yes you do.

In the US, the CAN-SPAM Act requires all businesses using email to include clear instructions on how to opt-out on all email communications and these opt-out requests must be honored by law. Businesses that violate the CAN-SPAM Act can face hefty fines for each email violation, so it’s in your best interest to make sure you give your subscribers a chance to opt out in every email communication you send.

Beyond the CAN-SPAM Act, there are global email marketing regulations that are designed to protect consumers and ensure they’re able to opt out of communications they no longer want to receive. People unsubscribe from emails for a number of reasons, and it’s important for businesses to honor that decision.

Unsubscribe Button Best Practices and Ethics

Now let’s cover unsubscribe do’s and don’ts.

1. Make sure your unsubscribe button uses clear language.

Avoid using confusing language or making your unsubscribe button or link difficult to understand. Doing so can be a CAN-SPAM violation. Your unsubscribe option should be clear and easy to understand for the average person.

2. Don’t hide your unsubscribe options or make them difficult to see.

Your unsubscribe button or link should be visually accessible for readers. Companies that purposefully hide or make the unsubscribe feature difficult to see can also be subject to fines and legal repercussions so avoid using fonts or colors that make your unsubscribe options hard to find or visually inaccessible.

3. Offer the option to update email preferences.

If your email service provider gives you the option, allow subscribers to update their email preferences. Perhaps they don’t want to opt out of all communications but would prefer to receive messages about specific topics or want to hear from your company less often. Doing so can help spare unsubscribes while fostering trust with your readers.

4. Avoid using negative language.

Though it may not violate any laws, having rude or whiny language in your materials when people unsubscribe can come across as needy and unprofessional, and can be a big turn-off. Honor your contact’s decision to unsubscribe, and focus on those who want to engage with your content and products.

5. Don’t require a login to unsubscribe.

Ideally, the ability to unsubscribe should be one to two simple clicks away for most users. Requiring contacts to retrieve login information or gating the unsubscribe process creates friction and can lead to frustration.

6. Include links to your company’s social media profiles.

While having a user on your email list gives you more control over when and how your company is able to communicate with them, having contacts unsubscribe doesn’t mean that’s the end-all-be-all of them interacting with your company. Make sure your emails include links to your company’s social media profiles so users who would rather keep in touch on those platforms can easily follow along.

Unsubscribe Button Examples

Looking for unsubscribe button inspiration? Check out these options.

Marketing Brew

Marketing Brew is an email newsletter by The Morning Brew that focuses on marketing-related news and content. In this email footer, subscribers can easily edit their email preferences to specify how often they’d like to receive emails or unsubscribe altogether.

The Hustle

The Hustle, a HubSpot media company, has a daily tech and business newsletter where readers can offer real-time feedback about that day’s issue. The footer of each daily email has a cheeky unsubscribe button that’s easy to understand and may make the reader think twice before unsubscribing.

The Skimm

The Skimm has several variations of its popular newsletter. The Skimm Money newsletter has easy-to-understand language in the footer to empower readers to take control of their email preferences. Again, the reader could see they have subscription options that could better suit their needs which could prevent them from unsubscribing.

Lavendaire

Self-care content and stationery company Lavendaire has a gentle message for those looking to unsubscribe, emphasizing the importance of having an engaged list.

HeyDay

HeyDay, a company that offers skincare services has an unsubscribe message that is incredibly on-brand, comparing clogged pores to full inboxes. This brand also provides a great example of giving readers the option to modify their subscription or unsubscribe completely.

When it comes to email marketing, having users unsubscribe is a natural occurrence. By making the process as straightforward and simple as possible, you can create a better experience for your contacts and brand.