Yearly Archives: 2023

Access to relevant information is, without a doubt, the number one requirement for making good business decisions. For this reason, most companies use tools that help them gather and analyze customer data.

There are three types of platforms that are particularly popular — CDPs, CRMs, and DMPs. But what do these abbreviations stand for? How do these solutions differ, and which is best for you?

This guide shares the key features of each platform, as well advantages and disadvantages. Let’s get started.

CDP vs CRM vs DMP

CDPs: How do they work?

CRMs: How do they work?

DMPs: How do they work?

Before we dive into details, let’s take a quick look at what CDP, CRM, and DMP are.

Customer Data Platforms

Customer data platforms (CDPs) are tools for gathering first-party data from various sources to gain a full view of each customer. The data is then used by marketers to create personalized marketing campaigns. CDPs are specifically designed for marketers.

While HubSpot’s known for its CRM, some customers can use it as a CDP alternative as some packages track data like:

• Contact-level interactions with your site, landing pages, emails, social posts, and reps.
• Website and various inbound marketing analytics.
• Payments or deal progress of those purchasing products.

Customer Relationship Management Platforms

Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms track and manage interactions with customers and prospects throughout their entire lifecycle.

CRMs have a positive impact on improving business relationships, which translates into the company’s growth. It can be used by sales, marketing, and customer success alike.

For example, CRMs like HubSpot help sales teams automate processes like data entry, email sequences, logging interactions, and customer service.

For more on CRMs, check out this guide.

Data Management Platform

Data management platforms (DMP) collect and organize data from first-, second-, and third-party sources including online, offline, and mobile. It includes data like demographics, browsing behavior, location, and device.

DMPs enable businesses to effectively segment customers, which in turn helps with creating a more personalized offering.

All of the above-mentioned platforms share the same goal: Improving the customer experience through data. However, they each use a different approach to achieve it.

While both CRMs and CDPs collect customer data, the former focuses on customer interactions with your team and the latter collects data on customers’ interactions with your product or service.

Similarly, CDPs are often confused with DMPs, as both of these platforms focus on gathering information. DMPs, however, usually anonymize customer data gathered from second- and third-party sources.

Customer Data Platforms: How do they work?

A CDP is a platform for collecting data from online and offline sources. This information is then used to build a 360° view of customers. The data can be stored for as long as necessary.

When it comes to data updates, you don’t have to do them manually in the platform. A CDP pulls data automatically from other systems and aggregates it.

Now, let’s explore the advantages and disadvantages of working with a CDP.

Advantages of CDPs

1. Building Unified Ideal Customer Profiles

A CDP comes in handy when building ideal customer profiles (ICPs) as it stores all your customer data. Regardless of your campaign source — be it social media, email, or search — you can gather all the data in a single place. This helps with two things:

1. You can gain a better understanding of each customer’s journey.
2. You can create effective strategies for reaching them.

CPDs have become even more important now that companies use multiple touchpoints to communicate with customers. Using various platforms to collect data and make sense of it can be counterproductive and confusing. Turning to a CDP is a much better option.

2. Better Personalization

The more data you have, the more personalization opportunities you get. As marketers, we know that that’s exactly what customers want. In fact, 60% of customers admit they’ll become repeat buyers after a personalized shopping experience.

While the stakes are high, a lot of businesses struggle with personalization due to insufficient customer data. A customer data platform can be a solution to this problem.

3. Higher Revenue

CDPs can boost customer satisfaction and intelligent targeting, which results in higher revenue. By collecting data from a number of sources you get a full view of each customer. You can then adjust your offers and your messaging to match their preferences.

That should result in better brand recognition and customer engagement, all of which positively impact conversion rates and your revenue.

Disadvantages of CDPs

1. Hard to Scale

Not all CDPs are created equal. If you use a CDP designed to process smaller amounts of data, then you might face scaling issues when your customer base starts to grow. The processing speed decreases significantly and you might even come across redundancies.

Initially, it might not seem like a big issue. However, if you want to make the most of your customer data, it’s best to select a platform that can handle a growing data volume.

2. Difficult to Extract Data from Source Systems

As mentioned earlier, a CDP is priceless when it comes to creating ICPs, provided that it effectively extracts data from various sources. Unfortunately, some platforms lack key technology components to do that. They may not integrate with third-party software.

In such a scenario, the IT team has to manually extract structured and unstructured data from different sources and input it into the CDP. This is very time-consuming and inefficient. Alternatively, they can write custom code to automatically extract information.

To learn more about CDPs, look at our customer data platform guide.

Customer Relationship Management Platforms: How do they work?

CRMs are where your marketing, sales, and support teams enter information about their interactions with customers. These commonly include notes from all calls and video meetings, support request tickets, live chat conversations, and customer satisfaction survey scores.

In essence, CRMs are your single source of truth where you consolidate all the insights on a client. This allows everyone to stay informed and, ultimately, build stronger business relationships.

Advantages of CRMs

1. Improved Customer Service

Let’s begin with the goal CRMs were built for and, simultaneously, their biggest advantage: They strengthen the bonds between the company and the customer.

Let’s say there’s a new account manager at your B2B company about to contact one of your clients. To find out who they’re reaching out to, they open the customer’s profile in the CRM. They see a history of all actions, like purchases and when they last called your support team.

The profile also features firmographic information, like their industry, the primary contact person’s job position, and company size. There might even be information on when the company last received funding. And this is truly just the tip of the iceberg.

The easier it is for your team to learn about a customer, the higher the chances of keeping them happy. And this boosts the chances of selling.

2. Reduced Business Silos

Did you know that support agents who don’t have access to unified tools dedicate 15% of their time to searching for customer information? That’s about six hours a week, which could be spent more productively. A CRM counters this issue, but it also supports a higher company objective — minimizing business silos.

Teams that contribute to and use CRMs for information are better at collaborating. They understand where each team’s role starts, ends, and overlaps.

Plus, if they have a question regarding a recent interaction, they’ll know exactly whom to reach out to for answers.

3. Higher Productivity and Efficiency

CRMs leverage marketing automation, which makes your employees’ daily work much easier and more productive. These tools can help you with repetitive tasks like clicking “send” on emails to relevant customer segments on the right day and time. As a result, your team can focus on tasks that require creativity and human attention — for instance, attending a conference or writing a report.

What’s more, you can use it to spot any patterns that need more attention from the business. For example, if you see a drop in CSAT scores for a customer segment, you can look into the reasons and discuss how to address them.

Disadvantages of CRMs

1. Potentially High Cost

While CRMs are a data gold mine, those that offer advanced features and lots of integrations can be costly. There are a few factors you need to account for to figure out the total cost of CRM software:

• Subscriptions.
• Cost of upgrades.
• Potential customization, especially if the tool lacks integrations.
• Staff training.
• IT resources required for software maintenance and implementation.

Additionally, data migration and potential disruptions in business operations might add to the total implementation costs.

2. Integration Problems

Truth be told, your CRM is as good as the data it collects. So if the CRM you use lacks integrations, it won’t properly fulfill its role.

You might also have to spend significant time and money trying to customize your CRM, which might result in a lot of frustration. It’s crucial to ensure that the CRM you’re planning to purchase integrates with the rest of your software before you implement it.

DMPs: How do they work?

DMPs allow for high-level data management, like collecting demographic info for better customer segmentation. As these platforms don’t need to bind data to specific customer profiles, all information is anonymized.

In addition, DMPs don’t retain historical data, unlike CRMs where keeping history is the main objective.

Advantages of DMP

1. Streamlined Data

The larger the company, the more platforms marketers need to use. In fact, those working at enterprises use an average of 52 tools. With so much technology, it’s virtually impossible to keep an eye out for all critical customer insights.

Here’s where DMPs step in. They allow you to collect data from numerous sources and create accurate audience segments. This means you can build your campaigns and other strategic work on cohesive data.

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2. Gaining Access to Second- and Third-Party Data

When we compare CDPs versus DMPs, there’s one key difference — the latter collects and integrates data from second- and third-party sources. It’s also one of its biggest advantages.

This is ideal if you need more information for your personas than what you’ve collected internally. The insights you can access via DMPs come from reputable external sources, which also match your customer profile.

3. Efficient Budget Management

DMPs help you lower advertising spending. How so? You don’t have to run multiple ads simultaneously to boost your chances of reaching the right audience.

DMPs let you engage in re-targeting. For example, you can reach out to prospects who visited your “pricing” page. Or, if you aren’t a subscription-based business, you can even re-target those who bought your product or service in the past.

Each of these groups can be reached through the right channel with tailored messaging.

Disadvantages of DMP

1. Complexity

One of the potential downsides is that DMPs can offer complex functionalities and dependencies, particularly if it has tens or hundreds of integrations. This means that it might have a steep learning curve to use properly (or to its full potential).

Some platforms might also require help from technical teams, like administrators and developers, whenever you need to tweak settings.

2. High Maintenance

As you handle vast amounts of data, you must ensure high-end security to prevent data breaches or cyber-attacks.

That’s not to say that DMPs come unprotected. Quite the contrary — their developers are compliant with the latest protocols. However, you’ll need a security expert to make sure your internal systems are also bulletproof.

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Making the Right Choice for Your Team

When it comes to deciding between CDP, CRM, and DMP, it’s not a matter of choosing one or the other. These platforms fulfill different roles and complement each other.

DMPs can help you with lead generation. CDPs are great for engaging with leads and prospects, while CRMs are made for managing the relationship with your customers. They work best when used together.

All of these tools help you better understand your customers and, as a result, create more personalized experiences, positively impacting revenue.

Whichever solution you go with, make sure it fulfills your needs and, most importantly, that it integrates with your software. Only then you’ll be able to make the most of your data and save yourself from unnecessary frustration and costs.

Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of underrepresented business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success.

Innovation and creativity are driving the new workforce, and many underrepresented professionals are making career pivots to monetize their talents through entrepreneurship. The U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship report more than four million minority-owned companies in the United States today.

Despite these numbers, minority business owners still face systemic barriers to accessing capital, resources, and support. These barriers prove why choosing where to start or scale a business is essential.

Read ahead to learn about some of the best cities supporting underrepresented founders in elevating their businesses.

1. Houston, TX

Houston, Texas, is one of the top cities that offers ample economic opportunities for minority entrepreneurs. As one of the most diverse cities in the nation, minorities make up 30.45% of the 5,600 startups in Houston’s metro region, according to JobSage.

Although people of color make up 64% of the area’s population, they still face inequities that continue to take place in the rest of the country. As a result, officials, community members, and organizations offer substantial support for minority entrepreneurs. For example, The Houston Minority Supplier Development Council, Inc, The Greater Houston Black Chamber, the Business Ecosystem Alliance for Minorities & Women, and Great Houston LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce are a few resources business owners can utilize.

2. Atlanta, GA

Atlanta is the prime hub for development and culture in the South. From tech startups to restaurants, minorities own a diverse range of businesses.

As the capital of Georgia, Atlanta is an ideal location to start a business. It offers numerous resources for people of color to access funding and network. On top of that, startup costs are low.

Atlanta is especially a hot spot for Black-owned businesses. Lending Tree reports that Atlanta has the country’s highest rate of Black-owned businesses, proving why it’s known as the “Black Mecca.”

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of programs, initiatives, and organizations like:

• University of Georgia’s Office of Minority Business Development
• Startup Runway
• Ascend Atlanta
• Atlanta Black Chambers
• Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council
• OUT Georgia Business Alliance

3. Charlotte, NC

The “Queen City” made it to the list because studies have crowned it as a place that offers many opportunities for minority entrepreneurs.

Not only are minority-owned and diverse small companies growing in Charlotte, but the cost of living is 4% below the national average. Both serve as benefits for startup companies.

Like Atlanta, Charlotte is a good place for Black entrepreneurs. The city offers many opportunities for business owners to connect and attract customers. Founders can connect through organizations like Charlotte Business INClusion and Black Business Owners of Charlotte.

4. Washington, D.C.

The nation’s capital is a physical representation of why the country is known as a “melting pot.” The city’s rich, diverse culture is home to many minority founders.

D.C. has a total of 4,599 minority startups. They bring in over $2.4 billion in annual sales across industries such as tech, hospitality, and cybersecurity, according to JobSage.

Business owners have access to a plethora of resources for networking and venture capital investments. They can receive support from organizations like:

• Latino Economic Development Center
• National Association of Asian American Professionals
• Greater Washington DC Black Chamber of Commerce
• Green Book DC

D.C.’s proximity to other states like New York, Maryland, and Virginia can offer founders access to a broader network to help them grow.

5. San Antonio, TX

Houston isn’t the only location in the Lone Star State where minority entrepreneurs can scale and succeed. San Antonio is a major metropolitan city in Texas that has proven to be a great location for companies. It has a diverse economy of advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and information technology. Still, the most active industry for minority entrepreneurs is retail.

San Antonio raked in over $1 billion in annual sales from minority-owned startups. That platform expects the number to grow as Black and Hispanic people continue to move there.

Organizations like the San Antonio MBDA Business Center, the Business Empowerment Program, and the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce are a few organizations that support minority entrepreneurs in the area.

6. Memphis, TN

Memphis is another Southern city known for its rich culture and talent. It has invested a lot of effort in supporting minority business owners’ entrepreneurial endeavors over the years.

Memphis has attracted a lot of founders because of its low cost of living. We Are Memphis reports that the city’s cost of living is roughly 12% below the national average.

The area stands out because of the community’s supportive atmosphere for entrepreneurs. Residents encourage creatives to follow their dreams through support and initiatives from organizations like:

• Black Business Association of Memphis
• EpiCenter
• Greater Memphis Chamber
• Choose901
• Memphis Moves

7. Fresno, CA

Fresno is a small city with a population of a little over a million. Still, it has generated over $678 million in annual sales from 754 minority-owned startups.

These sales stem from the economic initiatives the city has placed to invest in “inclusive economic development,” The National League of Cities (NLC) reports. In addition, the NLC’s Equitable Economic Mobility Initiative (EEMI) program has helped BIPOC businesses access to grants and receive hands-on assistance.

Other organizations, such as SCORE Central Valley, the Asian Business Institute & Resource Center, and the Central California Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce, provide education, coaching, and other opportunities for entrepreneurs in the area.

Embracing diversity lies at the forefront of economic success. Minority entrepreneurs have some of the most creative business ideas that continue to positively impact our country. These above cities serve as examples of why it’s essential to invest in their businesses.

Our 2023 Marketing Trends Report found that data-driven marketers will win in 2023. It makes sense, but data analysis can be challenging and time-consuming for many businesses.

Enter AI analytics, a time-saving process that brings marketers the answers they need to create data-driven campaigns. In this post, we’ll discuss:

• What is AI analytics?
• How to Use AI in Data Analytics
• Benefits of Using AI Analytics
• Business Applications of AI Analytics
• Limitations of AI Analytics

As with all machine learning, AI analytics gets more precise and accurate over time, especially when trained to learn industry preferences to contextualize results to individual business needs.

AI analytics is sometimes referred to as augmented analytics, which Gartner defines as “The use of enabling technologies such as machine learning and AI to assist with data preparation, insight generation and insight explanation to augment how people explore and analyze data in analytics and BI platforms.”

How to Use AI in Data Analytics

AI analytics differs from traditional analytics in that it is machine-led. Its scale is more significant, data processing is faster, and algorithms give accurate outputs.

AI analytics can do what humans do, but be mindful of viewing it as a total replacement. If you use AI in data analytics, consider leveraging it to supplement your team’s capabilities and expertise.

For example, an AI analytics tool can process the results of an A/B test and quickly say which version had the highest ROI and conversion rate. A marketer can take this information, identify exactly what impacted the performance of each version, and apply this information to future marketing practices.

 

 

Benefits of Using AI Analytics

The key differences between human-run data analysis and AI analytics are the three main benefits of using AI analytics: scale, speed, and accuracy:

1. Scale

AI analytics tools can leverage large amounts of data at a time. Its scale also brings a competitive advantage, as machines can seek publicly available data from other sources, run comparative tests, and help you learn more about competitor performance and how you measure up.

2. Speed

Machines don’t require the downtime that humans need, so data processing can happen instantaneously. It can simply be fed a data set and left alone to process, learn from, and bring insights.

3. Accuracy

Machine learning algorithms get better at understanding data while processing data, bringing comprehensive and accurate results.

You can also train algorithms on industry language and standards so results are contextually relevant to your business goals.

Some additional benefits include:

• Bias reduction: Algorithms don’t have the confirmation bias or general biases that teams might (unintentionally) have when analyzing data, so results are unbiased.

• New insights: Since the scale of data is much larger than human capabilities, AI analytics can shed light on trends and patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed by human researchers’ limited capabilities.

Business Applications of AI Analytics

Machine learning and AI work together to help businesses make data-driven decisions. Marketers can get deep insights into consumer behavior and marketing performance. Potential applications include:

• Testing: Run your usual marketing tests and uncover the version(s) most likely to maximize key marketing metrics like ROI and conversions.

• Campaign segmentation: AI tools use data to discover consumer preferences so you can create segmented campaigns to maximize the potential for conversions and ROI.

• SEO: Machine learning algorithms can understand the search intent behind queries and help you learn more about the type of content to create and identify new keyword opportunities.

• eCommerce analytics: Get insight into page conversion rates and discover what might cause shoppers to drop out of the path to purchase.

• Identify problem areas: A big benefit of AI data analytics is uncovering new data points you might not find through your processing. You can discover hidden variables affecting performance and adapt your strategies to address them.

AI analytics is also beneficial to other areas of business, including:

• Sales forecasting: Teams can use AI analytics to forecast revenue and sales based on historical data.

• Customer experience monitoring: Data helps service teams understand customer satisfaction levels and learn how to build customer loyalty and reduce churn.

• Internal performance: Business leaders can use AI analytics to understand internal team performance, from win rate to customer satisfaction scores, to understand what’s going right and identify opportunities for improvement.

Limitations of AI Analytics

The most significant limitation of AI analytics is that a computer is not a human. While machines can sort through significantly more data in a shorter time, a human knows a business and its processes better than a computer can.

Be mindful of treating AI tools as a replacement for human understanding. Teams can use insights (and will greatly benefit from the insights) alongside their contextual understanding of business needs before making decisions.

The limitation boils down to this: you can’t replicate human understanding and experience, so it’s essential to consider this when leveraging AI tools.

AI Analytics Gives Businesses A Competitive Advantage

Overall, using AI analytics gives businesses a competitive advantage. Machine learning algorithms produce data-driven insights from which marketers can make data-driven decisions.

Take a look at your current data analysis process to see where it fits in, and reap the benefits.

Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team.

In late February a new filter called “Bold Glamour” took TikTok by storm.

The Bold Glamour filter uses AI to drastically alter the facial features of those who use it and is less detectable than other filters. The filter has been used in over 30 million videos to date.

As Bold Glamour gained popularity it was widely criticized by TikTok users for promoting unrealistic beauty standards, especially for young people. Beauty brand Dove joined the conversation with a timely campaign featuring original data.

Per Dove research, 48% of girls who digitally alter their photos have lower self-esteem compared to 28% of girls who don’t digitally alter their photos. To amplify this message, Dove partnered with Ogilvy and DAVID to launch the #TurnYourBack campaign on March 7.

The campaign featured influencers and celebrities comparing their digitally altered faces to their natural appearances while encouraging their followers to turn their backs on the Bold Glamour filter in hopes that they discontinue using it.

Since the campaign launched, the hashtag #TurnYourBack has racked up over 40 million views on TikTok and has received generally positive feedback from audiences. This campaign isn’t Dove’s first stance taken against imagery promoting unrealistic beauty standards.

The company debuted its “No Digital Distortion Mark” in 2018 to authenticate photos that haven’t been digitally altered. In 2004, the company launched the Dove Self-Esteem Project which initially began with workshops for young people related to body image and beauty standards.

Currently, the Dove Self Esteem Project curates educational materials related to body image for parents, teachers, and youth leaders, and champions original research conducted by Edelman.  

Elsewhere in Marketing

The latest marketing news and strategy insights.

Twitter announces plans to remove legacy blue check marks in April.

Adidas and Beyonce mutually decide to end their Ivy Park partnership.

Meta discontinues NFT support on Facebook and Instagram.

Instagram is beginning to test ad placements in search results.

Wistia’s head of production shares how AI will impact the future of video marketing.

Consumer trends: learn how consumer behavior has changed since 2022.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are talked about a lot.

Understanding the concepts can get confusing as the terms are used interchangeably, but each has its unique set of characteristics and applications.

In this post, we’ll break down the difference between augmented and virtual reality, their unique marketing applications, and how consumers feel about them.

Table of Contents

• What is augmented reality (AR)?
• What is virtual reality (VR)?
• What is the difference between AR and VR?
• Use Cases for AR and VR
• AR vs. VR: Which Is More Effective for Marketing

What is augmented reality (AR)?

Augmented reality (AR) layers virtual elements on top of a real-world scene, allowing users to exist in the space they’re physically in but benefit from the augmented elements in their experience.

Pokémon GO is one of the most popular and notable examples of AR, where Pokémon characters are superimposed into a real-life setting, like someone’s backyard or outside of their favorite restaurant.

What is virtual reality (VR)?

Virtual reality (VR) is any software that immerses users in a three-dimensional interactive virtual environment, usually using a VR sensory device that brings real-world actions into a virtual world. Many VR experiences are 360 degrees.

It’s a computer-generated simulation, and each virtual reality world allows people to fully participate in the unique world.

In addition, many VR experiences require headsets or sensory devices to work, while AR does not. It’s also commonly said that AR is 75% reality and 25% virtual, and VR is 25% reality and 75% virtual.

They’re similar in offering immersion for users, VR in an entirely new world, and 3D and virtual content.

Use Cases for AR and VR

Marketing applications for AR and VR can vary, so let’s discuss a few examples.

For one, AR is a high-quality tool for product marketing. The tech can overlay virtual elements to actual reality, allowing consumers to “test” products in real-life scenarios to see how they like it.

The IKEA Place app is a great example of AR product marketing. App users can select a piece of furniture they like and superimpose a to-scale model in their real-life space to see how it looks before purchasing. This opportunity can increase buyer confidence and sales if people see that they like how a product fits into their lifestyle.

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VR marketing applications immerse consumers in branded experiences that can build awareness, recognition, and satisfaction. People can explore the world you create, learn more about your products, and even purchase VR products.

Gucci Town is a great example of an immersive VR brand experience. It’s the luxury fashion house’s virtual world within the Roblox metaverse, where people can explore, learn about its history, and connect with people in the game. They can also purchase exclusive Gucci Town clothing for their Roblox avatars.

These worlds are a new, unique, and exciting way of interacting with their favorite brands that don’t come from watching a TikTok, visiting a store, or reading an email newsletter.

An application of AR and VR is experiential marketing, where you invite your audiences to interact with your brand as a form of marketing. It’s a valuable application because humans want to build that kind of relationship with a brand, and a fun and immersive real-world experience can build an emotional connection.

Netflix’s Stranger Things Experience was an AR experiential marketing experience to promote the show’s upcoming season. Fans visited an in-person location and became part of an interactive AR game experience to make them feel like they’re in the Stranger Things world.

Consumer Preferences for AR vs. VR

Given their marketing applications, it makes sense to be curious about consumers’ thoughts.

We conducted a survey to ask consumers about their use of AR and VR and if they had preferences for either. Respondents reported using AR and VR on similar levels, most often saying they use it a few days a week or once a month or less.

When we asked consumers if they’ve bought AR apps, tools, devices, or software, a majority said no (55%), 25% said yes, and 20% were thinking about it. The numbers were relatively similar for VR: 50% said no, 30% said yes, and 20% said they were considering it.

When asked if they preferred AR or VR, the majority said VR. Their reasons for preferring it were:

• It’s a more immersive experience that takes them to an entertaining world,
• The graphics and movements are smoother, and the visuals are better,
• It has more applications than AR and is better for video games and interactive entertainment,
• They’re more familiar with VR than AR.

Those who preferred AR said they appreciated it because it was more reality integrated and felt more real, they liked how they could add virtual things to real-world views and that AR was better for quality of life (QoL) applications like education, shopping, navigation, and healthcare.

A fair amount of respondents also said they didn’t prefer either or have an interest in using either. Some explicitly stated that they didn’t understand what either was, and some showed that they might not understand the difference by saying that VR is more realistic than AR when AR is the more life-like option.

This tracks with the results of our latest Consumer Trends Survey, which found that only 39% of respondents understood the concept of the metaverse (which can blend AR and VR elements). In addition,

• Only 8% of U.S. adults have ever visited a metaverse (this remained consistent between 2022 and 2023 surveys.)
• 47% bought virtual items other than NFTs, down 25% from May 2022, meaning that marketers planning to sell products in the virtual world might find consumers less willing or interested in buying.

Engagement with virtual worlds has waning hype, and consumers invest less in virtual items.

Business Preferences for AR and VR [Data]

Our marketing strategy report from 2021 found that 35% of marketers were leveraging AR or VR in their strategies, but in 2023, more than a quarter of marketers plan to stop using VR and AR. It’s still intriguing for marketers, but it can be challenging to execute on because equipment can be expensive.

However, 14% of marketers do plan on leveraging and exploring VR/AR for the first time in 2023.

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AR vs. VR: Which Is More Effective for Marketing [Data]

There is no right or wrong answer as to whether AR or VR is more effective for marketing — it depends entirely on your business goals.

For example, a study conducted by Tim Hilken in the Netherlands found that both AR and VR increased customers’ purchase intentions. AR was more effective at stimulating purchases, but VR was more effective at creating positive brand attitudes. Both were effective at fulfilling a marketing goal, but each for a specific goal.

True sensory immersive VR experiences can be costly and require consumers to have the right devices to use them, but our survey results found that most consumers haven’t invested in them. However, virtual worlds like Horizon Worlds and Roblox don’t require sensory devices.

AR can be a cheaper option, but it doesn’t have the fully immersive brand experience that allows consumers to disappear into an alternate reality. But, the Stranger Things Experience did effectively create an immersive AR experience.

This is not to say that marketers shouldn’t use either of them. It boils down to this: AR and VR are both emerging technologies for marketing. Instead of changing your entire strategy to revolve around AR and VR, consider leveraging them as experimental tools. For example, you can create an AR experience as product marketing for a new offer or offer a fun VR game for people to play on your website.

You can test it out and give your audiences a new way to interact with your business without relying on it to meet your marketing goals. It can also be costly, so you’re preserving marketing budgets and not spending all of your money on channels that might not be as effective as you’d hoped.

To find inspiration, note what other brands are doing and what people are saying online about their experiences.

Over To You

AR and VR have been around for a long time but are still emerging tools for marketers. Consider your business needs, and note what other brands are doing and what people say online about their experiences.

Staying ahead of the trends simply means paying attention. If VR and AR marketing experiences skyrocket in popularity and become a must-have strategy, you’ll already know how your business needs to respond.

Twitter is among the most popular (and powerful) social media networks. How you leverage the platform depends entirely on how its members use, follow, post, and interact with what they care about. Luckily, there are new statistics to make your social media marketing decisions more manageable.

So, how are people using Twitter nowadays? How are businesses using Twitter? And how connected do people feel to a brand due to your Twitter presence? Look at the most remarkable Twitter stats we’ve found for 2023. And if you’re in a pinch, jump to the information you need below:

• General Twitter Statistics
• Twitter Statistics for Business
• Twitter User Statistics
• Twitter Usage Statistics
• Twitter Followers Statistics

 

Twitter Statistics

General Twitter Statistics

1. Most world leaders and foreign ministries have an official Twitter account. (Statista)

2. As of 2023, Twitter.com is the 4th most visited website in the world. (Similarweb)

3. The United States is the country with the most number of Twitter users, with 79.6 million users. (Demandsage)

Twitter Statistics for Business

4. Twitter generated $4.4 billion in revenue in 2022, an 11% decline year-over-year. (Social App Report 2022)

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5. 7% of social media marketers believe that Twitter is the most effective for building an active community on social media, higher than LinkedIn but less effective than Instagram at 26%. (Social Media Trends Report)

6. 6% of social media marketers think Twitter offers the highest ROI when selling products directly in the app. (Social Media Trends Report)

7. Even though only about 17% of Twitter’s users come from the US, it accounts for more than 50% of the company’s revenue. (Social App Report)

8. The top three types of content that offer the biggest ROI on social media are relatable content, trendy content (cultural moments and news), and educational/informational content (Social Media Trends Report)

9. Almost 30M unique social media authors mentioned “reviews,” “advice on,” “pros and cons,” “alternatives,” and “best option,” on Twitter, looking for more authentic sources of information that they can trust. (Social Media Trends Report)

10. 5% of social media marketers plan to work with influencers/creators on Twitter more than other social platforms. (Social Media Trends Report)

11. The average Twitter Ads ROI is 40% higher than the average media ROI for other channels. (Twitter Marketing)

12. 66% of brands are not moving their presence off Twitter in 2023. (HubSpot Research)

13. The top three formats that social media marketers plan to invest the most in for 2023 are short-form content (TikTok, Reels, etc.), long-form videos, and audio chat rooms (like Twitter spaces) (Social Media Trends Report)

14. The best time to post on Twitter is between 9 AM to 3 PM. (Social Media Trends Report)

Twitter User Statistics

15. The leading countries based on the number of Twitter users in 2022 were the United States, Japan, and India. (Statista)

16. Twitter currently has 237.8 million monetizable daily active users. (Demandsage)

17. Twitter has around 450 million monthly active users as of 2023. (Demandsage)

18. It’s estimated that Twitter’s monthly active users will reach 652.23 million by 2028. (Demandsage)

19. Around seven-in-ten adult Twitter users in the U.S. (69%) get news on the site. (Pew Research)

20. 62.9% of Twitter users identify as male, one of the highest gender disparities out of all social networks. (Statista, We Are Social)

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21. Roughly half of U.S. adults who use Twitter (49%) post fewer than five tweets per month. (Pew Research)

22. 59% of infrequent tweeters (otherwise referred to as “lurkers”) are between the ages of 30-49. (Pew Research)

23. Most Twitter news consumers in the U.S. say using the platform has increased their understanding of current events in the last year, but around a third say it has increased their stress levels. (Pew Research)

24. 31% of U.S. users say Twitter limiting the visibility of certain posts is a major problem, and 25% say the same about banning users from the platform. (Pew Research)

Twitter Usage Statistics

25. 80% of Twitter usage happens on mobile devices. (Google)

26. 55% of users log into Twitter each day. (Statista)

27. Twitter’s global average time per visit is approximately 10 minutes and 32 seconds. (Similarweb)

28. In 2022, 😂 Tears of Joy and 😭 Loudly Crying Face are tied for the most popular emojis used on Twitter. (Emojipedia)

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Twitter Followers Statistics

29. Former president Barack Obama is the world’s most-followed Twitter account, at 133.1 million followers, followed by Elon Musk and then Justin Beiber. (Brandwatch)

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30. The NBA and Google are the most followed non-media business accounts on Twitter. Their followers are 39.9 million and 28.9 million, respectively. (Statista)

31. The most followed news account on Twitter is CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk), with 58.9 million followers. CNN controls the two most followed news accounts on Twitter. (Press Gazette)

Stay Up to Date on the Latest Twitter Stats

Twitter is adapting and changing amidst the rise of new social platforms and tech, but it’s still a big competitor. Social media marketers should keep it on their radar and continue to leverage it to reach their target audience — just make sure you’re using it wisely.

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

“I got lucky.”

“I don’t belong here.”

“I’m a fraud, and it’s just a matter of time before everyone finds out.”

Sound familiar?

That’s imposter syndrome talking. Most of us have experienced feelings of doubt and unworthiness at some point in our lives. But when your accomplishments are a result of your own knowledge, hard work, and preparation and you still feel inadequate…you’re probably suffering from impostor syndrome.

What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is a feeling of unworthiness or incompetence, despite achieving accomplishments and success. This feeling is most common in the workplace, but it can manifest itself in just about any part of life. Those with imposter syndrome often go to great lengths to hide it, which can stunt their future success.

People who suffer from this syndrome often feel like frauds—despite being smart, skilled, capable professionals who actually deserve whatever commendations and praise they’re given. Rather than celebrating their accomplishments, they worry that they’ve somehow tricked people into thinking they’re good enough. As a result, they live in fear of being “found out” or “exposed.”

There are a variety of reasons why a person may feel like an imposter ranging from perfectionism to family upbringing. Regardless of the cause, this toxic line of thinking results in reduced self-confidence, low self-esteem, and limited ability to celebrate well-deserved success.

How common is imposter syndrome?

Impostor syndrome is actually fairly common: Researchers have found that up to 82% of people have suffered from it at one point or another. But the fact that it’s common doesn’t make it any less damaging to a person’s confidence and career growth. If anything, more people are unable to show up fully in their work than ever before which is concerning for several reasons.

How to Tell If You Have Imposter Syndrome

We often overlook the signs of impostor syndrome that come up in our day-to-day lives. However, recognizing these signs is the first step toward overcoming them.

You might suffer from impostor syndrome if:

• You feel like you “got lucky” when you actually prepared well and worked hard.
• You find it hard to accept praise.
• You apologize for yourself when you didn’t actually do something wrong.
• You hold yourself to incredibly —sometimes impossibly—high standards.
• You find the fear of failure paralyzing.
• You avoid expressing confidence because you think people will see it as overcompensating or obnoxious.
• You’re convinced you’re not enough.
• People close to you say you’re not as confident as you used to be.
• You turn down opportunities for growth or visibility at work.

Pay attention to your language choices, both when you’re talking to other people and when you’re talking to yourself—especially when it comes to talking about work. If you find your own success or the praise others give you uncomfortable, do some reflective thinking on where those types of thoughts came from and what it means in your professional life.

The Impact of Imposter Syndrome

Imposter syndrome doesn’t always stop at feeling like a fraud. This mental state has bonafide mental, physical, and emotional effects, including:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Impaired Job Performance
• Lowered Job Satisfaction
• Burnout

Moreover, these negative mental health outcomes of imposter syndrome have been the subject of academic research for years. Most recently, Kevin Cokley, PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, has explored the subject in depth and found that imposter syndrome disproportionately affects the mental health of people of ethnically minoritized backgrounds, especially African Americans. This poses a greater challenge to everyone in the workforce to attract, retain, and develop diverse talent.

If you feel like you’re suffering from impostor syndrome or something like it, know that there are ways to curb these feelings in a healthy, proactive way.

8 Tips to Combat Imposter Syndrome

Getting rid of imposter syndrome isn’t as easy as positive self-talk and a can-do attitude. While those things are helpful, you’ll need to dig a bit deeper to uncover ways to overcome this debilitating mindset.

1. Know you’re not alone.

When you have impostor syndrome, some of the most important encouragement comes from realizing how many hugely successful people, both male and female, have built amazing careers even while regularly coping with it.

Which highly accomplished people have spoken about their impostor syndrome? Here are some quotes from The New York Times and Forbes:

“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘uh oh, they’re going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody, and they’re going to find me out.'” – Author, Poet & Civil Rights Activist Maya Angelou:

All I can see is everything I’m doing wrong that is a sham and a fraud.”

“All I can see is everything I’m doing wrong that is a sham and a fraud.” Actor Don Cheadle

“The beauty of the impostor syndrome is you vacillate between extreme egomania and a complete feeling of: ‘I’m a fraud! Oh God, they’re onto me! I’m a fraud!’ So you just try to ride the egomania when it comes and enjoy it, and then slide through the idea of fraud.” – Actress, Writer & Producer Tina Fey, from her book Bossypants

2. Distinguish humility and fear.

There’s taking humility in your hard work and accomplishments, and then there’s feeling overcome with fear because of them. Sometimes, simply being good at something can cause it to discount its value. But as Carl Richards wrote in a New York Times article, “After spending a lot of time fine-tuning our ability, isn’t it sort of the point for our skill to look and feel natural?”

It all boils down to feeling unworthy. I like how Seth Godin put it in a blog post: “When you feel unworthy, any kind response, positive feedback or reward feels like a trick, a scam, the luck of the draw.”

But it is possible to feel worthy without feeling entitled, and overcoming impostor syndrome is all about finding a healthy balance between the two. Godin goes on to write, “Humility and worthiness have nothing at all to do with defending our territory. We don’t have to feel like a fraud to also be gracious, open or humble.”

3. Let go of your inner perfectionist.

I wrote about how perfectionism, while helpful in certain contexts, can be a major roadblock for productivity. Turns out it can be a major roadblock for overcoming impostor syndrome, too.

Many people who suffer from impostor syndrome are high achievers; people who set extremely high standards for themselves and are committed to doing their best and being the best.

But perfectionism only feeds into your impostor syndrome. When you feel like a fraud, it’s usually because you’re comparing yourself to some *perfect* outcome that’s either impossible or unrealistic.

Not only can no one do everything perfectly, but holding yourself to that standard can actually be super counterproductive. At some point, you need to take a step back and ask yourself: When is good enough good enough?

Read this blog post to see what a formula for “good enough” might look like. And if you need further encouragement, read this article from The Guardian.

Bottom line? While striving for perfection is certainly noble, it’s usually not realistic — and often, it’s counterproductive and will only make you feel more like a fraud.

4. Be kind to yourself.

“Take the pressure off yourself and stop trying to be the expert on day one.” advises HubSpot marketing manager Jennifer Stafancik.

Impostor syndrome often manifests itself as a voice in our heads, berating us with negative messages like “you’re not smart enough” or “you’re a fraud.”

Negative self-talk is a bad habit, and it can heavily influence our stress and anxiety levels.

“Being kind to yourself” simply means changing the way you talk to yourself in your head by practicing positive self-talk. Not only can it help you become less stressed and anxious, but it can also help you build the courage to do things that’ll bring you greater rewards.

Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College, suffered from what she called “impostoritis” for most of her career. While she found it hard to silence the negative thoughts completely, she practiced hard to add positive thoughts to her inner voice. “Now I wake up most days with a voice on the left side of my head telling me what an incredible failure I am,” she wrote. “But the voice on the right side tells me that I can change the world — and I try to pay more attention to it.”

First, try to catch yourself whenever you have a negative thought. Then, turn around and challenge your own claim. For example, if you find yourself thinking, “I just got lucky,” challenge that by thinking, “What steps did I take and what work did I put in to get to this point?”

Then, you can answer your own question using affirmations, which are short, focused, positive statements about a goal you have. In this case, one might be as simple as, “I worked hard – and I always work hard.”

“For me, I put a lot of pressure on myself when joining HubSpot since it was a lateral move, which ended up sparking imposter syndrome — something I honestly thought I was immune to. “Stefancik explains. “Once I realized there was no reason to rush and to give myself more realistic milestones the imposter syndrome symptoms started to melt away.

5. Track and measure your successes.

When you feel like an impostor, one of the hardest things to grasp is how much of a role you have in your own successes. You might default them to luck or others’ hard work, when in fact, your own work, knowledge, and preparation had a lot to do with it.

To help show yourself that you’re actually doing well, keep track of your wins in a private document.

There are a lot of different ways to track these successes, and the metrics you use will depend entirely on your job. If you’re a blogger, you might keep track of your posts’ monthly average page views and watch them go up, or compare them to the team average. You might also keep a separate tab to paste kind words people have written to you via email, Twitter, blog comments, and so on.

In the same vein as keeping track of your success metrics, keep a file on your computer of wins and positive reinforcement both at work and in your personal life. One of the best things I’ve done is created a folder on my personal Gmail account called “Happy,” where I’ve stored everything from my college acceptance email to praise from my colleagues and bosses. Whenever I need a lift, I open that Gmail folder and scroll through them.

You can create an email folder for these emails as I did, or create something like a “swipe file” (i.e. a digital file) on your computer or phone to store screenshots of emails, tweets, dashboard metrics … whatever makes you feel good about your hard work and preparation.

6. Talk about it with a mentor and your manager.

No one should suffer in silence. Sharing your thoughts and experiences with someone else will make you better equipped to deal with your impostor syndrome. We recommend sharing them with both a mentor and your direct manager.

Your mentor will be able to help you talk candidly about your struggles with impostor syndrome while giving you a more objective point of view — especially if they work on a different team or at a different company. When you share your experience with them, you might ask if they’ve ever felt that way, or if they know someone who has.

The best mentors are forthcoming about the struggles they’ve gone through and the mistakes they’ve made in their careers, and you may find that they have some helpful stories or advice for how to deal with what you’re feeling.

We’d also suggest that you talk with your direct manager about your experiences, too. Why? Because they’re more likely to have the knowledge and tools to help you overcome your impostor syndrome in the context of your current job.

For example, you might ask them to help you find a system for tracking your successes, or figure out which metrics you should measure. Knowing what they know about both you and your role, they may also help you seek out more opportunities to shine and gain visibility on your team or at your company in general.

Finding a mentor or manager to talk to is a strategy that Krystal Wu, HubSpot’s Social Media Community Manager highly recommends.

“I’ve learned the best way to deal with imposter syndrome was to find a mentor to help guide me through my career choices,” Wu says.

As an example, Wu reflects, “I was new to my social community role and to marketing and I wanted to do my best work but I didn’t know what that meant all the time.”

“When I put myself out there to find people in roles similar to mine, attended events to learn more about my industry and learned from my mentor it helped me gain confidence in my career,” Wu explains. “The more confidence and education I had the more the imposter syndrome started to fade.”

“I won’t say it’s completely gone — because let’s be real, I’m always learning,” Wu admits. “But it’s not something hanging over my head all the time. It comes and goes and I know that surrounding myself with people that are more knowledgeable in my field has helped me grow.”

Speaking of opportunities …

7. Say “yes” to new opportunities.

It’s impossible to say “yes” to everything, especially when you’re feeling stressed or spread thin. But it’s all too common for people who have impostor syndrome to turn down career-making opportunities because they don’t feel like they’d do a good job.

When you’re presented with a new opportunity, it’s important to distinguish between the voice in your head saying you can’t do it because you’re not worthy and the one saying you can’t do it because you have too much on your plate. The former is your impostor syndrome speaking.

But remember: Taking on challenging new work and doing well at it can open a lot of doors for you. Don’t let your inner impostor turn down these game-changing opportunities. They can do wonders to help you learn, grow, and advance your career.

Keep Richard Branson’s famous quote in mind: “If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you are not sure you can do it, say yes. Then learn how to do it later.”

While it might be intimidating to take on a role you’re not sure you can succeed in, know that you were asked to do it for a reason, and there’s nothing wrong with learning new things and asking questions along the way.

8. Embrace the feeling, and use it.

It’s really hard to get rid of impostor syndrome completely — especially if you’ve had it for years and years. The fact that hugely successful people like Maya Angelou and Don Cheadle feel that way after all they’ve accomplished is evidence that it can sometimes be a lifelong condition.

That’s why the best angle from which to tackle your impostor syndrome isn’t getting rid of it completely; it’s stopping it from hindering your success.

Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

I like the way Richards put it: “We know what the feeling is called. We know others suffer from it. We know a little bit about why we feel this way. And we now know how to handle it: Invite it in and remind ourselves why it’s here and what it means.”

Richards says he’s been invited to speak about his work and career all over the world, and yet he still hasn’t been able to get rid of his impostor syndrome. What he has learned to do is think of it “as a friend.”

Whenever he hears that negative voice in his head, he pauses for a minute, takes a deep breath, and says to himself, “Welcome back, old friend. I’m glad you’re here. Now, let’s get to work.”

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in January 2016, but was updated in March 2020 for comprehensiveness and freshness.

Looking for website design examples? Your inspiration journey starts here.

Deciding to create a website for yourself or your business is a big decision, but all websites are a culmination of many small decisions. And the best-designed websites are made by those who take the time to craft a visual experience that feels on-brand and aligned with users’ expectations, while simultaneously incorporating elements to help it stand out.

It’s a big task, but luckily you don’t need to start completely from scratch. There are website builders and content management systems like CMS Hub that allow you to build out pages by simply dragging elements into place. Plus, there are thousands of amazing websites to reference for inspiration.

In this article, we’ll be sharing a few dozen of the best website designs we’ve ever seen to inspire yours. You can click the links below to jump to explore website designs, and we’ve also included a bonus section of designs that are just plain cool — so check them out, too!

• Best Website Designs to Inspire You in 2022
• Best Website Designs from 2022
• Best Website Designs from 2021
• Best Website Designs from 2020
• Best Website Designs from 2019
• Best Website Designs from 2018
• Best Website Designs from 2017
• Best Website Designs from 2016
• Best Website Designs from 2015 – 2014
• Where to Get Your Design Inspiration
• Website Design Inspiration Sources
• Website Design Ideas

From familiar corporations to small businesses, to international organizations, the following sites push the status quo on the web. Whether it’s the design aesthetic, usability, interactivity, sound design, or value that the site provides, each one is a masterpiece in its respective industry and something to aspire to.

Not surprisingly, many organizations exist to highlight these sites and the contributions they make to the web. To help surface some of the most inspirational designs, I gathered several award-winners that have made their way through several key awards organizations — including Red Dot, Awwwards, UX Awards, The Webby Awards, SiteInspire, Best Website Gallery, and FWA.

As you browse through the list, know that each site excels in its own way and seeks to serve a unique purpose. While one site may be an excellent example of visual design, another may be an excellent example of interactivity.

This means that not all of these sites may be “conversion machines” or blueprint ideas that you can easily copy over to your site. Rather, they’re great ways to gain some website design inspiration and see the cutting-edge marketing that’s happening in the different corners of the web.

Keep in mind that web designs are fluid and change often. Some of the designs in this list have changed since they were awarded, but we do our best to keep them up-to-date. We’re confident you’ll find a design here that sparks your creativity.

Read More: 77 Examples of Incredible Website Design

Download this free guide to see even more examples of website blog, homepage, and landing page designs.

Beautiful Award-Winning Websites

Best Website Designs from 2022

Hyer

Award: Website of the Month (2022), CSS Design Awards

Want to make a strong impression on your website visitors? Take a page out of Hyer’s book.

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This striking illustration of the airplane, as it slowly moves across the screen, is sure to grab website visitors’ attention.

This page has everything you need in an effective homepage: An image that tells a story but isn’t too distracting, use of white space, easy nav bar, a tagline or slogan, and a clear CTA.

It’s a clean design that’s free of any distractions and invites visitors to learn more about the brand.

Mubasic

Award: Website of the Day, August 10, 2022, Awwwards

Mubasic’s site isn’t just visually compelling, it’s dynamic. Mubasic is a catalog of high-quality music for children, and the website’s design decisions help it achieve a light-hearted, easygoing feel. The poppy color scheme and effective visual hierarchy contribute to this site’s design success, however, the real reason it shines is because of how the design feels authentic to the brand’s mission.

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The homepage easily allows you to explore the company’s offerings, and even features a Q&A section set up in a unique format. Images pop up as you scroll down the page, and toward the bottom, there’s the opportunity to get in touch with contact information and a new customer form template.

When you reach the bottom of the home page, there’s a menu that features anchors to allow you to jump to wherever on the page the information you’re seeking lives.

Digital Cover

Award: Website of the Day, July 31, 2022, Awwwards

Everything from the loading screen to the homepage of this France-based digital agency’s website is a visual homerun. When you arrive on this homepage, you’re immediately swept into the world of Digital Cover. This is achieved by a graphic that appears nearly three-dimensional popping up and welcoming you into the company’s orbit.

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Similar to the previous site, the animated nature of Digital Cover’s homepage adds intrigue and establishes this site as a candidate for best website design. With a simple swipe of a mouse pad you’re led to the company’s projects, or you can navigate to the clearly labeled menu in the top left corner. When you do, several options pop up.

From there, you are escorted to the page of your selection. The white lettering against the black background allows for the copy to pop. If you scroll to the bottom of any menu page, you’ll find contact information to get in touch with the agency, which is another strength of the design’s.

Best Website Designs from 2021

IBM’s The Harmonic State

Award: Site of the Month (July 2021), Awwwards

When you land on this IBM web page, it’s clear to see why the design won an award.

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The best way to describe the website is as an immersive experience. In fact, IBM uses both visual and auditory elements to draw the visitor in and keep them engaged.

When you first land on the web page, you’re prompted to put on headphones to get the full experience. Even if you skip this step, you’re drawn in by the interactive background that reacts as your mouse navigates on the page.

In addition, the page is well balanced with a large title that grabs your attention across from a small description with a bold blue CTA.

With a topic as complex as AI, IBM then uses visual storytelling to explain how its Watson tool works in the real world. Visitors can explore three stories through video game-like functions and learn more about the tool.

It’s a fun and effective way to get users engaged in a topic that can be complicated and dry.

Looking for more corporate website examples? Check out 25 Stunning Corporate Websites to Inspire Yours.

Superlist

Award: Site of the Month (April 2021), Awwwards

Superlist is a productivity app that helps teams and individuals change the way they work.

Too often, you land on a website and have to figure out what the brand is about. With Superlist, you know exactly what to expect as soon as you get to the homepage.

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The interactive homepage shows common work accessories, like headphones and keyboard with clear, to-the-point copy.

Superlist effectively uses white space to keep the focus on its copy. However, to facilitate navigation, they include a small button with an arrow icon to indicate that there’s more to see on the page once you scroll.

From there, the fun visuals continue – keeping you engaged as you learn more about the brand.

Best Website Designs from 2020

Swab the World

Award: Site of the Day (2020), Awwwards

Parallax, bold colors, and negative space shape the design and experience of Swab the World’s website. The organization brings awareness to stem cell donations. Their mission is to “Make sure every single patient finds their match. Period.” Photos of couples exhibiting love and emotions bring a human element to a historically complex and scientific process.

From a technical perspective, the design makes moving down the page feel natural, ensuring the readers reach each point of copy and every CTA on the homepage.

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Newest Americans

Award: Honorable Mention (2020), Awwwards

An organization with a responsibility as large as honoring past, present, and future migrating identities needs a beautiful and functional website to help spread the word. Newest Americans champion immigrant experiences in cities across the state of New Jersey. The website uses beautiful imagery of people, places, and items that represent this experience in a way that flows cohesively down the homepage, telling the story of this group of America’s newest citizens.

The website is both visually appealing and functional with a simple navigation menu, stories organized by photos, and a clean press page that puts the most recent articles front and center.

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Spotify Design

Award: Honorable Mention (2020), Awwwards

Spotify is known for its fair share of amazing feats, and its latest iteration of Spotify.Design is no different. Serving as the hub for all things visual and creative for Spotify, the music and podcast streaming giant gives listeners a look into the who, what, why, and how of what makes the app so sensational.

Bright colors, drop shadows, and smooth animations give this website character and depth. The flat geometric designs with abstract accents make albums and artists practically jump off of the screen.

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Looking for more design inspiration from microsites like this one? Read our post of the Best Microsite Examples We’ve Ever Seen.

Andy Warhol

Award: Honorable Mention (2020), Awwwards

Artist, film director, and producer Andy Warhol’s life is encapsulated in this splendidly designed website that captures his art style in a digital format. As you peruse the page, your cursor becomes a spotlight that converts every image you hover over into a negative image or inverses the colors of the text you’re reading.

The big, bold text makes a statement and emphasizes just how important copy is to website design. Subtle animations help pace the site and set the tone for each section as you peruse the home page.

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Human Interaction Company

Award: Corporate Website (2020), Red Dot

To see video done right, look no further than the Human Interaction Company. From the moment you click on the site, the experience is lightning fast. You’re dropped directly into the action — the why, what, and how of Human Interaction and exactly what the team does.

This Red Dot Design Award winner aims to bring the study of human interaction to the masses, and in the process, show us just how engaging it can be to learn about it. Don’t get discouraged by their award status though — none of the photos on this site are photoshopped, so it’s a practical example of building quality with the resources you have available.

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Garoa Skincare

Award: Site of the Day (2020), Awwwards

How do you transform the feeling of luxury and practicality into a website? Garoa Skincare provides a blueprint. Whether your product costs half the price of your closest competitor or twice the price, your site can bring a sense of extravagance to just about any product you sell.

High-quality visuals, typefaces that complement each other, and a balance of negative space with useful copy can bring a simplistic elegance to your website.

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Best Website Designs from 2019

1917: In the Trenches

Award: Awwwards’ Best Website of the Day (2019)

This website, made to promote the film 1917, lets you walk around the trenches and perform the same mission that the characters did in the film. You can also see their maps or access other tools.

This is a great example of a site that went above and beyond with interactivity as well as a site that leverages its content and prewritten storyline to market its film. This website won Site of the Day by Awwwards, which allows designers to vote and nominate great websites they see daily.

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The Octopus: A design blog by IDEO

Award: Business Blog/Website 2019 Webby award

IDEO, a global design company, won the Business Blog/Website 2019 Webby award for its Octopus blog, and for good reason. The blog features a sleek, black-and-white Octopus drawing as its homepage design, and uses yellow, black, and white to create a cohesive theme as you scroll.

If you hover over a blog post, the title is highlighted in yellow. If you hover over an image, the image is pulled towards you — two small features that make a big difference in terms of creating a unique and engaging user experience.

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Nomadic Tribe

Award: Awwwards’ Site of the Year nomination (2019)

This site, which was nominated for Awwards’ Site of the Year, is one of the more engaging sites I’ve seen.

The homepage immediately begins playing a stunning video featuring a man walking across a desert, followed by gorgeous landscape scenes and text like, “Are you lucky enough to call yourself an adventurer?”

The text throughout the website is playful, with colorful pinks and oranges and yellows, and the homepage is logically designed, with CTAs placed throughout that range in commitment-level from “Read More” to “Watch Now” and, finally, “Download the App”.

Ultimately, the website is beautifully designed with strong attention to detail, and tells a compelling story throughout.

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Diana Danieli

Award: Webby 2019

This 2019 Webby-winning site shows off imagery of art and architecture with either high contrast or heavy exposure. As a website visitor, you can click and drag your mouse to change the photos and variations. Each image shows a piece of work that highlights the artist who owns the website.

A cool plus about this website is its incorporation of audio and music. Clicking on certain buttons on the screenplays a piano note and truly immerses you in the Diana Danieli experience.

Want to see more personal websites? Check out our post on the Best Personal Websites.

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George Nakashima Woodworkers

Award: Webby 2019

This woodworking website emphasizes nature and care for the woodworking trade. It’s essentially a slideshow of beautiful forestry and farming images. As a new image comes on the screen, a new quote related to wood or trees also appears.

This is incredibly relaxing to the visitor and shows that the woodworkers recognize the beauty of trees and the environment. This website also won a Webbie in 2019.

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Best Website Designs from 2018

crypton.trading

Award: Site of the Day (4/3/2018), Awwwards

Meet crypton.trading, your robot accountant.

Crypton.trading is a trading hub for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, using artificial intelligence to predict changes in a currency’s value and identify key buying and selling opportunities. The website was rated high for its development and design, as it gradually explains more of the developer’s methods the further down visitors scroll.

This website makes tech-savvy visitors feel right at home the moment Crypton’s greeting appears across the homepage, one letter at a time.

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Southwest: Heart of Travel

Award: Best Visual Design – Aesthetic, 2018 Webby Awards

When Southwest Airlines wanted to prove that its customers were “more than just a dollar sign,” the company created a website where the design was assembled using the shapes of their customers’ flight paths.

The website, called Heart of Travel, even allows visitors to create their own artwork out of a trip they might plan on taking. In this way, Southwest’s website is a product of their most loyal passengers.

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Overflow

Award: Site of the Day (3/20/2018), Best Website Gallery

Overflow is a design tool that allows people and businesses to create story-like flow diagrams of their ideas so they’re easier for others to understand. Aside from this being just a good service, the Overflow website practices what it preaches: Along with vibrant red call-to-action buttons for downloading the tool, this website promotes its product the best way it knows how — using a flow diagram.

The website delivers this flow diagram in the form of a video. While embedded videos can look clunky sitting in the middle of a website’s other design elements, Overflow’s is perfectly placed and exactly what you’d want to see when landing on the site for the first time.

Check out our SaaS web design post for more inspiration.

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Frans Hals Museum

Award: Site of the Year (2018), Awwwards

It can be tough for a museum to present all of its artwork together on a cohesive website. That’s what makes the website of the Frans Hals Museum so impressive.

Located in the Netherlands, this museum has created a website that uses a combination of digital design elements and its own exhibits. This mixture helps visitors understand what they’ll see, when they can see it, and where else they can get a taste of what this museum has to offer.

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Best Website Designs from 2017

Simply Chocolate

Award: Site of the Year (2017), Awwwards

You’ll get a craving for chocolate just looking at this website — and in a way, that’s Simply Chocolate‘s website working as designed.

This appetizing website is that of a Denmark chocolate maker Simply Chocolate. Its website uses a variety of colors (and creative product names) to promote each chocolate bar. And as you scroll from one product to the next, they all seem to remain consistent in brand.

The three-dimensional appearance of each chocolate bar makes you feel like you can grab it off of your computer screen, while the “Add to Box” CTA to the top-left is ideally placed for users to select the products they want while browsing.

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NOWNESS

Award: Best Cultural Blog/Website, 2017 Webby Awards

NOWNESS is perhaps the coolest crowdsourced video blog on the internet. That was a mouthful…what does it all mean?

NOWNESS‘ crowdsourcing is part of what makes it an award-winner. This means most of its content comes from independent creatives — an increasingly popular way for businesses to publish content.

NOWNESS is also a video channel, meaning all of its blog content is in video format. Together, these qualities help make Nowness a captivating hub for the stories that brands everywhere strive to tell.

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Best Website Designs from 2016

Rainforest Guardians

Award: Best Activism Website, 2016 Webby Awards

Rainforest Guardians was one of the most immersive nonprofit websites of 2016. Seeking to build awareness around deforestation, the site allows users to “visit” the various villages, natives, and waterways that make up the Amazon Rainforest.

The site puts interactivity at the center of its user experience — a wise choice if your goal is to get people to connect with your cause and convert into volunteers.

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Protest Sportswear

Award: Site of the Year (2016), Awwwards

The Awwwards calls Protest Sportswear a “shoppable lookbook,” and that’s exactly what this site is. As a clothing outfitter, this company has reinvented the way they market its product: Rather than promoting garments of clothing, Protest Sportswear promotes “looks.”

This makes the company’s product the most appealing part of the website itself, using a collage of styles to design a homepage that changes as often as its customer’s styles do.

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The Teacher’s Guild

Award: Best Association Website, 2016 Webby Awards

The Teacher’s Guild is a professional community of educators that addresses some of the most critical challenges in education. What makes this website award-winning is how it balances diverse content types — programs, solutions, approaches, and collaborations — without overwhelming visitors.

Not only are the background visuals prominently placed, but they also use white space to emphasize the written calls to action at the center, as shown in the screenshot below.

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Best Website Designs from 2015 – 2014

Virgin America

Award: Most Significant Industry Evolution, 2014 UX Awards

In a world where airline websites are known to be riddled with major usability issues, Virgin America has one of the best websites that pushes usability, accessibility, and responsive design forward.

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Feed

Award: Site of the Day (6/6/2015), Awwwards

Not only is Feed an interesting concept, but it also has a stunning execution that challenges our understanding of what is possible on the web. Through a creative blend of animation and video, the site immerses users in an engaging experience.

As an atypical site, it contains several unique usability elements, including navigation that doubles as a scroll progress bar.

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ETQ

Award: Site of the Day (5/19/2015), Awwwards

ETQ takes a minimalist approach to ecommerce. Big, compelling visuals of their product lay against simple, flat backgrounds accompanied by strong typography that keeps the focus on exactly what the user came there to see: shoes.

Looking for more ecommerce website inspiration? Read our post of the Best Ecommerce Website Design Examples to Get Inspired.

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Mikiya Kobayashi

Award: Site of the Day (7/4/2015), Awwwards

Mikiya is a Product Designer with a minimalistic portfolio that showcases his work through strong photography and subtle animations. His full site was originally created in Japanese and then translated into English, helping demonstrate the international scalability of his design.

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Woven Magazine

Award: Site of the Day (4/4/2015), Best Website Gallery

Woven is an online publication that celebrates artists, crafters, and creators alike. Its website confirms that publications can (and should) have beautiful, engaging visuals with easy-to-read content. Free of distractions like pop-ups and intrusive ads, this site is all about the experience of the content itself.

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JOHO’s Bean

Award: FWA of the Day (8/7/2015), Favorite Website Awards

The website for JOHO’s Bean has incredible imagery, interactivity, storytelling, visual design, and most of all, sound engineering. These all come together to create a compelling, emotional, and engaging site that tells the story of a coffee bean’s journey.

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World of SWISS

Award: Best User Interface, 2015 Webby Awards

Another airline? Yep. SWISS airlines built an incredibly immersive site that tells the story of what it’s like to fly with them — and they did too great of a job to be ignored. Strong visuals and animations introduce the user to different sections of the site that are packed with information beyond the usual sales and marketing pitch.

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Other Cool Website Designs

Guillaume Tomasi

As a Photographer in Montreal, Guillaume Tomasi has built a portfolio that’s truly fit to house his unique and awe-inspiring photography. His surreal photo style is juxtaposed by his simple, flat, empty, and minimalistic portfolio design that places all of the focus on the work itself.

His unique series navigation coupled with art-gallery-inspired work introductions and perfect scrolling interactions yield an experience reminiscent of that of a real gallery.

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The District

This branding agency takes its imagery seriously, and it should — it handles all channels of media for its clients. The District’s website alone is a journey through some of the most beautiful artwork and photography you’ve ever seen.

These provocative tiles change rapidly as you explore the website, and the wackier they seem, the more interested you become in learning about their past work.

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Tej Chauhan

Tej Chauhan has turned impressionist artwork into a business model with this intriguing website. Each image on this product developer’s homepage slides out to cover the previous image, offering little context around the object you now see in front of you. But it’s that lack of context that makes you want to learn more.

Plus, the tagline, “Souvenirs of The Near Future,” suggests these objects are a part of their product line — and an opportunity for you to bring these innovative objects into your life.

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Want a similar look for your website? Check out the new CMS Hub theme collection on the Envato marketplace.

Amanda Martocchio Architecture

An architecture firm might not specialize in web development, but its website should still demonstrate its commitment to visually pleasing design. Amanda Martocchio took that to heart with this gorgeous website.

It’s no secret that Amanda Martocchio Architecture loves its work — each picture on the homepage of its website is an enchanting shot of the houses the company designs. The website labels every house you scroll through with the type of design that was intended, along with numerous angles to each building.

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Where to Get Your Design Inspiration

If you want some design inspo, the good news is that you can find it just about everywhere.

One of the best ways to get inspiration for design is through travel. When you visit new places, you’re forced to get out of your comfort zone and experience something foreign.

What makes design so interesting is that everyone sees it differently and so, there’s always more to discover.

Another way to get design inspiration IRL is through the media. Every day, we are inundated with visual content. We make decisions about what we like, what we don’t like, and continue on our day.

But what if you were more intentional about how you viewed those interactions? You could come out of it with valuable insights.

You also can’t forget to leverage design communities. From design conferences to Reddit forums, there are hundreds of groups out there that can offer inspiration as well as advice.

Now that we’ve covered some IRL design inspiration sources, let’s cover the digital ones.

Website Design Inspiration Sources

1. HubSpot’s Website Themes & Templates Marketplace

HubSpot’s Website Themes & Templates Marketplace (previously HubSpot Asset Marketplace) houses hundreds of website templates that you can sift through to get inspired for your own website.

The best part of the marketplace is that you can narrow down by industry and feature, allowing you to see the templates that are most relevant.

Once you find a template you like, you can view a live preview of the site to get a full experience then download it if you decide to use it.

2. Dribble

Dribble is where designers go to get inspired and to share their work. The website has everything from animation and branding to illustration and mobile.

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Once you navigate to the “Web Design” tab on the homepage, you can filter results by color scheme, editing software, timeframe, and tags.

Furthermore, if you find a designer whose work you like, you can save the design for future reference and follow their work to see other designs on their profile.

This is an incredible resource to use whether you’re starting from scratch or already have a solid plan in mind.

3. Bēhance

This is another digital platform full of creative inspiration to leverage ahead of your website design project.

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One of the best features on this site is the ability to filter by location. This allows you to see how designers in different regions differ in technique and style.

This can be particularly helpful if you are designing a website for a foreign, unfamiliar market. You can gain interesting insights by evaluating the decisions made by Behance designers.

4. Pttrns

Want to focus on mobile web design? Pttrns is the place to go.

This subscription-based platform allows you to gain access to thousands of mobile design templates and get advice from top designers all over the world.

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Additional features on this platform include:

• A favorites and collections folder to store your favorite designs.
• A studio to interact with other designers and get advice.
• A design guide to understand the strategy behind the designs.

Website Design Ideas

Now that you’ve seen a number of beautifully designed and award-winning platforms, keep these potential ideas in mind as you create your own. Here are a few suggestions we have to help you can create a site that could appear on our best website design inspiration list.

• Consider ways that you can make your website interactive, like the 1917 example.
• Make a website that emphasizes the mobile experience, even while it still has a good UX on desktops.
• Create a website that tells a story about your brand with photos, text, or video.
• If you can’t create a heavily interactive site, consider drawing in eyes with a site that presents a slideshow of your photos.
• Ensure your call-to-actions are easy to see and encourage visitors to continue exploring your site
• Keep navigation clean. Ensure your visitors always know how to get back to the homepage.
• Integrate your social media sites via social embed buttons, so site visitors can easily follow you on your various social channels.
• Keep each of your web pages consistent in design — including font, colors, images, and messaging.
• Test your website’s usability with a heat map, which will show you on which web pages your visitors are most likely to bounce.
• Include a live chat or chatbot to give visitors the option to engage with you directly on your website if they prefer live chat to phone calls. Live chat can automate functions for your sales and service reps and create a better communication experience for the customer.
• Get an SSL certificate to ensure your website is secure. SSL is part of Google’s search ranking algorithm, so an SSL certificate can help you rank higher in search.

Build a Beautiful Website for your Business

Now that you’ve perused our best website design inspiration, it’s time to get started creating your own site. You’d be surprised how easy designing a site is once you have a look and feel in mind.

Once you’re ready to start coding or dragging and dropping, you’ll have a beautiful website that your visitors will enjoy.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

While economists and investors debate whether we are or aren’t in a recession, 78% of marketers say it’s already here.

Since marketers are usually the first to see budget cuts in an economic downturn, it’s no surprise they’re already being hit hard. As one marketer in our sums it up:

“The company is losing money, having to raise pricing, and the budget for marketing is smaller. Because prices are higher and the marketing budget is lower, there is not enough marketing for the traffic and conversions we need.”

To help marketers recognize they’re not alone, we surveyed 300 marketers to find out exactly how they are being impacted by the recession.

While 47% of marketers said that the economy was already having a negative impact on their work, we also dug deeper to discover three key impact themes marketers are experiencing.

In this post, we’ll highlight those themes, share quotes from anonymous marketers who’s participated, and offer resources or tips to help you navigate this time.

Three Marketing Impacts Caused by Recession Concerns

1. Consumers are spending less and exercising more caution/discretion:

Though not surprising, the biggest impact marketers are seeing is that consumers are cutting costs back due to uncertainty. This aligns well with data we’ve found from multiple consumer pulse surveys over the last six months.  

From inflation to geopolitical uncertainty and lingering COVID-19 concerns, consumers simply have no idea what to expect from the future.

“People are spending less because they do not know how long the recession is going to last. As a result, they spend less on our products,” says one survey respondent.

To make matters worse, a majority (67%) of marketers expect the recession to last more than six months, and one-third expect it to last more than a year:

While we don’t have a crystal ball, aren’t giving legal or financial expert advice, and can’t possibly know what a full-blown recession will feel or look like at this point, it’s important to remember that recessions are often unavoidable. While we can’t prevent them, it’s important to continue leveraging credible sources, data, and experts beyond just a few publications when determining when, if, and how a modern-day recession would impact your business.

2. Inflation has made everything more expensive across businesses.

While consumers are pulling back spending, inflation forces businesses to raise prices and cut budgets for things they’re purchasing to stay afloat.

As a marketer in our survey put it, “higher prices make it hard to make ends meet. I have to delay payments, purchases, and planning.”

Company’s raising prices while consumers are scraping by leads to a misalignment between the two parties, leading to frustration on both sides.

3. 37% of marketers have already seen budget cuts.

Marketers in our survey say they’re “needing to spend more to get similar results from six months ago.” At the same time, their budgets are being cut.

With their usual marketing channels proving to be less effective than before, marketers are having to get creative.

On top of that, one in three marketers say a recession will have an even bigger impact on their marketing activities than COVID-19, while another 33% say it will be about the same.

One way to stay ahead of the game is by following suit of the 80% of established marketing leaders, who participated in another survey we ran, saying they’ve already planned or prepared for a recession. 

If you run a team or major project that requires a budget, and haven’t started strategic planning for different company outcomes, here’s a helpful guide. For marketers at any level, it can also be a great idea to make pivot or backup plans for how you’ll adjust your content, schedules, or other aspects of your work if something unexpected happens. 

What’s Next?

So what now? We’ll run this same survey at a later data in the coming year and keep you updated on how the recession continues to impact marketers. In the meantime, you can review consumers’ take on this time, get insights from marketing executives, or catch up on everything else going on in our quickly-changing field with our 2023 Marketing Strategy and Trends Report. 

Disclaimer: This blog post is not legal or financial advice for you or your company to use in navigating a recession, economic downturn, or any other type of economic landscape. Instead, it provides background information to help you better understand how anonymously surveyed marketers unaffiliated with HubSpot are currently experiencing this time.

This information is not the same as legal or financial advice, where an attorney applies the law or a financial expert applies their expertise to your specific circumstances, so we insist that you consult an attorney or trustworthy financial sources if you’d like advice on your interpretation of this information or its accuracy.

In summation, you may not rely on this as legal advice, or as a recommendation of any particular legal, economic, or financial understanding.

Video has become a cornerstone of modern marketing, landing front-and-center in many marketing strategies.

Yet, despite being an ROI powerhouse and top lead generator, video is a hard medium to pull off.

To state the obvious, video creation isn’t quick. On average, it takes marketers two weeks to create a video from start to finish.

But what if there was a way to streamline the process — to quickly come up with ideas and execute them in a fraction of the time?

The solution could be here already, and it’s with artificial intelligence.

Here, I spoke with Chris Lavigne, Head of Production at Wistia, to learn how AI is changing the way we create videos, and how it can power your next marketing video.

How AI is Changing Video Marketing

Imagine creating a video without writing a script or picking up a camera.

Thanks to new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools, it’s not only possible, it’s already happening.

Generative AI uses existing content like audio, video, and text to generate original content. In this case, video marketers can automate many stages of the process — like scripting, editing, and transcription — in a matter of seconds.

The ability to create videos in record time is an obvious benefit of using AI. But for Lavigne, it’s more than just saving time. It also has the potential to push the creative envelope.

“For me, AI is opening the door to new ideas, new executions, and new visuals that I may not have come up with on my own. It’s expanding my creative palette, not just saving me time,” he told me.

For instance, Lavigne and his team at Wistia created a video almost entirely powered by AI.

The process began with Lavigne opening up ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot, to generate a 60-second script about how to make an apple pie in the style of a YouTube video. He then uses AI software Synthesia to create a human avatar of himself to read the script.

To top it off, he adds a few final touches with visuals and b-roll. Here’s the end result:

Let’s take a look at more ways you can use AI in the video creation process.

How AI Can Power Your Next Video

1. Ideation and Script Writing

For most video marketers, the hardest part of the process is coming up with a great idea, followed by a compelling script.

For Lavigne, using AI for scriptwriting has been a game-changer. Specifically, he uses ChatGPT to create a framework.

“I can input a prompt and get an incredible starting point to take me from zero to 100. I can input how long I want the video to be, how detailed I want it to be, and what style of video I want it to be. The results are quite remarkable when you prompt it with the right things,” he told me.

For example, you can prompt ChatGPT to write an ad in the style of an info-mercial or a TikTok video. You can even request a specific tone, such as funny or academic.