Yearly Archives: 2023

It’s a new year and the question on every social media marketer’s mind is, “What social media trends should I expect?”

To learn more about what brands can expect in 2023 and beyond, the HubSpot Blog surveyed 1,283 marketers to discover trends B2B and B2C businesses will leverage in 2023 and which ones they’ve left in 2022.

Below, I’ve compiled ten expert or research-backed trends social media marketers should watch and leverage in 2023.

1. Brands with an engaged social media community will win in 2023.

Many brands think social media is all about sharing content but that’s only half the battle. The second half is building community – in other words, connecting and engaging with your audience.

How do you know if you have an engaged community? Here are some signs to look out for:

• Unprompted promotion of your brand
• Sharing of your content
• Communal celebration of brand milestones and successes
• Relationship building rooted in an interest in your brand and/or products

According to our survey, 90% of social media marketers say building an active online community is crucial to a successful social media strategy in 2023. It’s so important that it’s their second-biggest goal for 2023.

Looking at consumer data, we see why. Our survey found that 20% of social media users joined an online community in the past three months, while 22% actively participated in one.

Of those who take part in online communities, roughly a quarter (21%) say the biggest benefit is product discovery.

So, with that said, where should you build your online community? Social media marketers we split are split between Facebook and Instagram. Our advice is to start wherever your audience lives and use those learnings to inform your strategy on other platforms.

2. Social media is the future of e-commerce.

In 2022, shopping on social media really took off. Platforms like Instagram made it easy to make in-app purchases through shopping tabs, “save later” buttons, and more.

It starts with product discovery. For consumers ages 18 through 54, social media is the preferred channel for finding new products.

As for the purchases. over one in five Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X social media users bought a product directly in a social media app in the past three months.

Social media marketers have also noticed an uptick in social shopping, with 47% of social media marketers surveyed also reporting in-app sales.

In addition, around 80% of social media marketers say consumers will buy products more often on social apps than on brands’ websites or third-party websites like Amazon.

Despite these numbers, many consumers are still wary of purchases through social media. According to our survey, only 41% of social media users feel comfortable making purchases on social media platforms, and only 37% trust social media platforms with their card information.

The three biggest concerns social media users reported having are:

• The legitimacy of the brand (54%)
• The ability to get a refund (48%)
• The quality of the product (44%)

Among all the apps offering in-app purchases, Instagram is the one consumers say offers the best shopping experience. Social media marketers also believe it offers the best ROI and marketing tools.

So, if there’s one place to start, the survey suggests that Instagram is the best call.

3. DMs will be consumers’ preferred customer service channel.

If your brand’s DMs aren’t already flooded with customer service requests, they might be this year.

Around one in five Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X social media users have contacted a brand through DMs for customer service in the past three months. And 84% of social media marketers predict that this will become consumers’ preferred customer service channel in 2023.

It seems like most brands have prepared for this, with 76% of social media marketers saying their company currently offers customer service via social and 42% saying providing customer service through DMs is a primary responsibility of their job.

To dive a bit deeper, 43% of companies providing customer service through DMs have a customer service representative responding to customers, while 41% leave it to the marketer in charge of managing that platform.

So, this is your sign to develop a plan for funneling customer service requests via social through the proper channels.

4. Search engines lose steam as consumers turn to social search.

According to our survey, 87% of social media marketers think consumers will search for brands on social media more often than through search engines in 2023.

Our survey found that 24% of consumers between 18 and 54 years old already search for brands on social media platforms more often than through a search engine. This shoots up to 36% among Gen Z.

How are social media users using search? To find:

• People (58%)
• Interesting content (57%)
• Brands (32%)
• Ideas/inspiration (32%)
• Products/services to buy (31%)

This trend was even confirmed in 2022 by Google’s senior vice president of Knowledge & Information, Prabhakar Raghavan. He said that social platforms were eating up Google’s core products: Search and Maps.

“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” said the Google exec. “They go to TikTok or Instagram.”

Raghavan explained that nowadays, young consumers are looking for more visual-rich results and steering away from search engines, which favor text.

So, the question is, how should you optimize your profiles for social search? Here are the top recommendations from social media marketers:

• Including relevant keywords and hashtags in your posts and bio. 
• Making sure your username is easy to search for.
• Having a consistent username across accounts.

5. Influencer marketers are ditching celebrities for micro-influencers.

Here’s an interesting finding from our study: 80% of influencer marketers work with small creators (1K to 99,999 followers/subscribers), while just 16% work with accounts over 1 million followers.

What are the benefits of this strategy? It’s more affordable, establishes long-term partnerships, and offers access to engaged, tight-knight audiences.

In the earlier days of influencer marketing, follower count was the main allure. Today, quality of content and brand alignment weigh much more heavily.

A third of social media users prefer product discovery on social media through an influencer. With Gen-Z, that figure is even higher.

So, it’s clear that influencer marketing’s not going anywhere. What has shifted is which influencers hold the most value.

6. Short-form video is the highest ROI format and will see the most growth of any trend in 2023.

In 2021, we predicted TikTok would have a ripple effect on the social media landscape and we would see the continued rise of short-form video. In 2023, that trend will continue.

Short-form video is Gen Z and Millennials’ preferred format to learn about new products, with 57% of Gen Z and 42% of Millennials preferring to learn about products and their features through short-form video.

As for social media marketers, it’s the most popular format used by 54% of marketers surveyed. In addition, 33% of social media marketers plan to invest more in it than any other format, the highest of any format.

But not only is it popular, but it’s also effective – 83% of those who use it say it’s the most effective format they leverage.

This is likely why 42% of social media marketers who don’t use short-form yet plan on trying it for the first time in 2023 – the highest of any format.

7. Funny, trendy, and relatable content will stand out all 2023.

Remember when social media was all about aesthetics? You had to have the highest production value to stand out among the competition. Well, not anymore.

68% of consumers say social media content being authentic and relatable is more important than polished, high-quality content.

When it comes to social media, 50% of consumers rank funny content the highest for being the most memorable, followed by relatable content (36%).

However, funny content isn’t offering the highest ROI – relatable and trendy content are tied for #1. Despite this, 66% of social media marketers say funny content is the most effective format they use.

So much so that funny content will be the second-highest investment of any content type in 2023. In addition, of those already leveraging funny content on social media, half plan to increase their investment in it.

8. Instagram is the highest ROI platform and will see the most growth of any social app in 2023.

Our survey found that Instagram will see the most growth in 2023, compared to other social platforms.

Wondering why? Well, if you ask social media marketers their favorite social platform, they’ll likely say Instagram.

They rank it #1 for ROI, engagement, and quality leads. Social media marketers also say Instagram has the most accurate algorithm, which is essential for brand awareness and reach.

As a result, 52% of social media marketers using Instagram plan to increase their investment in 2023. On top of that, 36% of those not yet using it plan to leverage Instagram for the first time this year.

9. Social budgets will be put under the microscope.

In 2022, many marketers faced budget cuts with the threat of a recession looming. In 2023, most marketers don’t expect reductions but they are facing more oversight.

57% of social media marketers say the way they spend their budgets and the ROI it produces is being scrutinized more than in the past. Despite that, 91% of them are confident about the ROI their social media marketing activities will offer.

With half of marketers expecting budget increases and 41% expecting it to stay the same, extra eyes aren’t the worst news as the economy is still top of mind for many brands.

10. Re-sharing the same content across platforms won’t fly in 2023.

Our survey found that social media marketers manage an average of four platforms. Although the benefits of cross-posting are clear, many are starting to steer away from it.

Our survey found that only 17% of marketers are cross-posting the exact same content. Most are shifting away from a copy-paste approach and instead to a tailored one.

According to our survey, 48% are making tweaks to their content when sharing on various platforms. Meanwhile over a third (34%) are starting from scratch each every time.

The social landscape around us is constantly changing. And, although we think we know what to expect with social media, this list of trends is likely not exhaustive of what we’ll see in 2023.

As a social media marketer, the best thing you can do is to continue to research trends, online consumer behaviors, and your team’s social media data to determine which trends or strategies to lean into or how to navigate unprecedented online scenarios.

In 2023, ABM turns 20. Hey, happy birthday, ABM! 

Two decades into the ABM journey, the core principles established at the start have stood tall, in large part to the practice’s focus on the three R’s—Reputation, Relationships, and Revenue. 

The Three R’s continue to be the common thread found throughout each answer and insight within Momentum ITSMA & ABM Leadership Alliance’s 6th annual benchmark study for B2B marketers. But what, specifically, should they expect to learn and adapt to?

What to Expect From ABM in 2023

Remarkably, the same challenges B2B marketers faced in 2003 (sales and marketing alignment, customization at scale, measurement, and, of course, budgets) still impede them today. 

In Elevating ABM: Building Blocks for Long-Term Growth, marketers will learn:

• How well marketers are applying core ABM principles
• How marketers are adapting to constant disruption
• Where marketers should focus investments in the next phase of ABM development
• How ABM leaders invest differently
• And a whole lot more

Before diving into the whole report, we wanted to give you a taste of some of the best insights and findings from this benchmark study.

ABM Continues to Be a Top B2B Priority

28% of B2B marketers polled stated that ABM was their top priority—topping the priority list for the fourth year in a row. 

Results aside, one of the biggest drivers of ABM prioritization is the support of senior leadership. According to Momentum ITSMA research, the vast majority of ABM programs are sponsored and supported by a senior business leader, making it far easier to focus on positive business outcomes from ABM initiatives.

ABM Budgets Expected to Increase

Whenever you place something at the top of your hierarchy, you’re going to devote a considerable amount of resources toward it.

In FY23, a great majority of program leaders expect to increase ABM spending, often by a significant amount. Not all of these programs will add headcount, however, as it was clear budget flexibility was prioritized.

ABM Programs Are Yielding Measurable Organizational Improvements

Most programs are seeing measurable improvements across a range of account, sales, and organizational objectives. The study shared where ABM’s business impact has been measured. 

In 2022, the five specific areas where ABM had the biggest benefit included:

1. 90% Active Engagement with Selected Accounts
2. 84% Pipeline Growth
3. 77% Revenue Growth
4. 72% ABM Deliver
5. 66% ABM is Significantly Improving Marketing and Sales Alignment

Any channel delivering positive, double-digit metrics with figures beginning with eights and nines is extraordinary.

ABM is Being Embraced as a Foundational Growth Channel

As we’ve identified, ABM’s perception currently looks like this:

• #1 B2B Marketing Channel
• Increased Budget
• Marginal Uptick in Headcount

It’s quite obvious that leadership sees ABM as a core channel for growth. This is wonderful, but still comes with its own set of growing pains.

As ABM has matured, one of its greatest challenges has been graduating from being a functional, marketing-led program (i.e., engaging key accounts or generating new demand) to an organizationally necessary. integrated, corporate-led GTM strategy. 

As Gemma Davies, Head of Global ABM & CXO Engagement ServiceNow, shares, ABM’s success has made her job much easier (and less “confrontational”).

“One of the things that I’m grateful for when we were starting off our Account-Based Marketing journey,” Davies said, “was that the business understood the need to engage our most strategic accounts to grow their partnership with ServiceNow.” 

“I didn’t have to fight for the business case. It was a board-level directive with top-down-level support with sales on board. We have heads of ABM in our key geos and dedicated resources, curating truly personalized and unique experiences and focusing on making our customers as successful as possible. 

The number one thing I always say to people on the ABM journey is to understand the business strategy and tie your ABM program to what your business is trying to achieve. If you can consistently demonstrate over a long period of time how the work that you’re doing contributes to the bigger picture, you will have less of a fight around resources and investments.”

The 7 Initiatives ABM Leaders Are Focused On in 2023

With the increased interest in ABM in the past five years or so, it’s not surprising we’re reaching a stage in the greater B2B Marketing landscape where ABM programs have become fully integrated. 

As the attention has grown, so has the checklist for creating an effective program. Here’s what ABM marketers have their sights on for 2023.

1. Expand what we do for accounts currently in our ABM program 
2. Adopt a blended approach using more than one type of ABM to cover more accounts/ clusters/ segments 
3. Develop new tools and templates to facilitate reuse and best practice sharing 
4. Add more marketing resources to cover more accounts/ clusters/ segments 
5. Add a stronger focus on applying ABM to major defined sales opportunities or deal pursuits 
6. Add education and training to increase ABM skills among existing marketers 
7. Add technology to automate and create more leverage for existing programs

The ABM development agenda for 2023 is an expansive one. Program leaders are looking at a wide range of initiatives to strengthen and expand program coverage and capabilities, and to address current shortcomings. 

Learn How Make Your ABM Program Stand Out from the Pack

This is just a taste of everything that’s been packed into this terrific report.

In Elevating ABM: Building Blocks for Long-Term Growth—ITSMA and the ABM Leadership Alliance’s fifth annual ABM benchmark study—you’ll learn about the current state of ABM and the five ways that ABM leaders stand apart to generate more substantial results.

Download your copy of Elevating ABM today.

As we grow up, all humans learn about cause and effect. While it’s not quite as nuanced as causal research, the concept is something our brains begin to comprehend as young as 18 months old. That understanding continues to develop throughout our lives.

In the marketing world, data collection and market research are invaluable. That’s where causal research, the study of cause and effect, comes in.

First-party data can help you learn more about the impact of your marketing campaigns, improve business metrics like customer loyalty, and conduct research on employee productivity. In this guide, we’ll review what causal research is, how it can improve your marketing efforts, and how to conduct your research.

Table of Contents

• What is causal research?
• The Benefits of Causal Research
• Causal Research Examples
• How to Conduct Causal Research

Once your team has conducted causal research, your marketers will develop theories on why the relationship developed. Here, your team can study how the variables interact and determine what strategies to apply to future business needs.

Companies can learn how rebranding a product influences sales, how expansion into new markets will affect revenue, and the impact of pricing changes on customer loyalty. Keep in mind that causality is only probable, rather than proven.

Typically, you’d use this research to differentiate between cause-and-effect relationships versus correlated relationships. Just because two variables are correlated doesn’t mean that there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship.

To conduct a study, you’d develop a hypothesis, look at your independent, dependent, control, and confounding variables, and design an experiment.

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Now that we know more about what causal research is, let’s dive into the benefits of using this type of research for your business and marketing efforts.

1. You can predict hypothetical situations and improve your business strategy.

The main reason that causal research is useful is that it can help predict the outcome of business decisions, therefore improving your overall business and marketing strategy.

For example, if you’ve done causal research on product changes, you know whether or not to expect a dip in or an influx of sales. Your strategy on how to handle either situation is different, and causal research can help prepare your team for what to expect.

2. You’ll avoid ineffective and costly campaigns.

Additionally, you can avoid ineffective and costly marketing campaigns based on these predictions.

When your team is coming up with a go-to-market strategy, you’ll know the impact of pricing decisions, product enhancements, promotions that will work, etc. That insight will help you allocate your budget and put together a campaign that is effective and brings high ROI.

3. You can resolve issues, optimize strategies, and improve the overall experience.

Causal research allows your business to plan for each situation. This means that you’ll be able to resolve issues that are impacted by the variables you’re studying — whether it’s purchasing patterns, marketing results, or factors improving the customer experience.

The goal here is to always optimize your business strategies. You can improve your customer experience so customer loyalty and revenue increase.

4. You can develop an informed process.

As a business, it’s important to have a process and system for different situations whether it’s a go-to-market strategy, an ad campaign, or customer retention.

Causal research will help you develop your strategies like we’ve said, but also give you the ability to develop a process that you can iterate and use continuously. Essentially, causal research puts into action the phrase, “Work smarter, not harder.”

1. Develop a hypothesis.

The first step of conducting your own causal research is to develop a hypothesis. You need to know what you want to study before getting started.

Think about questions that you have when it comes to your team. Have you ever wondered if word length on blogs directly impacts time on page? Or maybe you want to know if your marketing campaign was the cause for an increase in sales.

Either way, the best way to get started is to write down the cause-and-effect questions you have about your team and develop a hypothesis.

2. Choose your variables.

Once you know what you want to study, you have to choose your variables. You need to know the two variables you’re testing – your dependent and independent variables.

Then, you’ll want to list out other confounding variables that may influence your study. This means identifying variables that might alter your study, including how you collect the data.

Additionally, you’ll need to have control variables set in place so you can compare your results.

3. Pick a random sampling of participants.

Now, it’s time to figure out the sample size of your experiment.

You can use technology to determine who you want your target audience to be and how random the sample should be. You can generate a random list using a database or segment your audience with your marketing software.

4. Set up a controlled experiment.

Ready, set, go. The next step is to actually conduct your experiment.

This could include sending out surveys, conducting interviews, gathering statistics and data, and more. It could also mean setting up an A/B test with your marketing software and changing only one variable in your next marketing campaign, blog post, or webinar.

5. Analyze your findings.

After you’ve conducted your experiment, it’s time to look at the results. Look at the data, and use it to see trends or patterns. Then, you’ll have the answer to your question.

However, it’s important to also analyze different correlations between your two variables to develop a nuanced interpretation. Doing this might help you develop more questions for further research, which is where the next step comes in.

6. Conduct supplemental research and report your findings.

Usually, causal research isn’t a one-and-done process. Once you have your results, you’ll have next steps to go through. You might have more questions that require further research, and if that’s the case you’ll need to conduct supplement research.

Additionally, you might just need to write down what you found. If you have a conclusive result, you can develop in-depth marketing strategies and systems.

I know all of this sounds great, but you might also be wondering how to apply this to your business and marketing team. That’s why we’ll review a few examples of causal research below.

Causal Research Examples

1. Market Research

You can use causal research at your company for market research.

For example, you might want to know how product changes impact sales. And you might want to dive deeper to see how specific types of changes will impact your target audience.

Which product variations make potential customers most interested in buying?

Pro tip: Use causal research to learn more about your target audience. What do they want from you and your product or service? Once you know there’s a cause-and-effect relationship, you’ll be able to theorize why customers make certain decisions.

2. Campaign ROI

As a marketer, you’re producing content every day. Whether it’s an ad campaign or a marketing campaign, you need to understand the results of your efforts.

With causal research, you can study whether your ad campaign directly caused an increase in sales, or whether your email marketing series led to more appointments.

Pro tip: Make sure you look at all variables so you can deduce and infer whether your campaigns were the main factor contributing to an increase in sales.

3. Customer Loyalty and Retention

Causal research can be used to identify effective customer service strategies, whether it’s a product demonstration or call time quota.

With this research, you’ll see if there’s a cause-and-effect relationship between certain customer service strategies and retaining those customers year over year.

Best for: Customer service teams.

4. Employee Productivity

Employee happiness has been a hot topic for recent years, and it makes sense. When morale is high, employee productivity is higher.

How do we know? Because there have been numerous studies done to show the cause-and-effect relationship between employee happiness and increased productivity – which in turn increases your business’ bottom line.

Best for: Internal use.

Getting Started

Causal research is incredibly useful for your business – whether you’re looking at your marketing, sales, or customer service departments. In fact, one of the best ways to use it is to see how these departments interact and impact one another.

Once you’ve conducted your own causal research, you can implement more successful marketing and business strategies that increase revenue and drive sales.

Instagram isn’t for everybody. If the latest changes to Instagram aren’t what you’re looking for, this step-by-step process for how to delete your Instagram account is for you.

Once you click that button, your profile, photos, videos, comments, likes, and followers will all be permanently removed from the app.

Before you go ahead, keep in mind that deleting your account can’t be undone. Be sure to back up your account data, write personal notes to engaged followers, and update your analytics. If you’re deleting a business Instagram account, you may want to make an archive for the SEC or FINRA, just in case.

Now, if you’re ready, start following these simple instructions, or jump to the section you’re looking for below:

• How to Delete Your Instagram on an iPhone
• How to Delete Instagram Permanently on Android
• How to Delete Your Instagram Profile on a Desktop Computer
• How to Deactivate Your Instagram

1. Log on to your Instagram app on your iPhone.

2. Go to your account, then tap the menu in the upper left-hand corner of your profile.

3. Head to ‘Settings’ > ‘Account.’

4. Scroll down the list of options, and select ‘Delete account.’

5. This section includes two choices from Instagram. First, you can deactivate your account. If you deactivate, Instagram will hide your account but you can reactivate it whenever you wish. More on this below.

If you still want to delete your Instagram account, scroll past the ‘Deactivate account’ button and click ‘Delete account.’

6. A pop-up will appear, giving you a deadline for how long you have to reactivate your account if you change your mind after deletion. Click ‘Continue deleting account.’

7. This section starts with a drop-down menu for ‘Why do you want to delete your account?’ Select the best option.

Once you choose, Instagram will offer other recommendations related to your choice. For example, if your choice is ‘Too busy/too distracting,’ instructions to temporarily remove the app from your phone will appear.

8. Keep scrolling, then re-enter your password.

9. Click the ‘Delete’ button.

Once you complete this step, your account will no longer be available on Instagram. You have 30 days to reactivate it if you change your mind. After that, your account is permanently deleted.

How to Delete Instagram Permanently on Android

The Instagram app on Android doesn’t give you a way to delete your account from the app on your mobile phone. But you can open Instagram on your browser and delete your account that way instead.

1. Log on to Instagram.com from a web or mobile browser.

2. Enter https://instagram.com/accounts/remove/request/permanent/ into your browser’s address bar. There is no way to navigate to this page from Instagram.com, so you’ll need to enter this URL directly once you’re logged in.

3. Once you land on the page, select an answer from the drop-down menu for ‘Why do you want to delete your account?’

4. After you’ve chosen an answer, you’ll be prompted to re-enter your password.

5. The prompt to permanently delete your account will appear.

1. Log on to Instagram.com from a web or mobile browser. You can also disable your account on your iPhone. You won’t be able to disable your account from within the Instagram app on Android.

2. Click the person icon in the upper right-hand corner to navigate to your profile.

3. Click ‘Edit Profile’ on your profile.

4. Scroll down until you see an option for ‘Temporarily deactivate my account’.

5. Once you land on the page, select an answer from the drop-down menu for ‘Why are you deactivating your account?’

6. After you’ve selected an answer, you’ll be prompted to re-enter your password.

7. The prompt to temporarily deactivate your account will appear.

Why Delete Instagram?

There are many reasons that Instagram is one of the most popular apps in the world. But if it isn’t right for you, it’s simple to delete your profile.

Maybe you’ve found that it’s not a fit for your audience or growth goals. Or you’re streamlining your professional accounts to reduce duplicate messaging or management overwhelm.

No matter why you’ve decided to cut back on Instagram, you have the resources you need. Review these instructions, delete or deactivate your account, and keep moving forward.

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

Lead magnets, in marketing, are an effective technique for gaining a prospect’s contact information.

The problem is these magnets can take a lot of time and energy to produce. Podcasts, e-learning courses, video series, and contests all sound great – but who has time to create them all?

In this article, we’ll explain what a lead magnet is, as well as provide lead magnet ideas you can create today by repurposing content you already have.

Before I share lead magnet examples, let’s quickly review the conversion path that turns website visitors into leads – and the role email marketing plays in this process:

1. Call to Action (CTA): This is the button that website visitors click to access the resource you’re offering.
2. Landing Page: This is where your lead magnet captures information provided by the visitor. Once visitors click on the CTA, they’re brought to a landing page where they fill out a form with their name, email address, and any other relevant information you’ve deemed important.
   
3. Thank-You Page: The visitor-turned-lead now lands on a thank-you page with information on where to access their resource and is added to your mailing list.
4. Kickback Email: The kickback email is your follow-up message to the lead a short time after the exchange takes place. This email marketing campaign starts a conversation with the lead to keep them engaged with your business.

Every blog post in your archive has the potential to generate new leads for your company, so let’s make sure that your blog is a lead-generating machine.

What is a good lead magnet?

Not all lead magnets are created equal. Sure, you could quickly throw a checklist or reading materials together, but you may not get the payoff you were expecting. Taking your time to create something truly useful to your audience is key. A good lead magnet should:

1. Be relevant to your audience.

First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure the materials you’re offering are relevant to your audience or industry. Picking a broader topic may get you more contacts, but those contacts may not be quality leads interested in your product or service.

It’s important that your lead magnet is tailored toward your brand’s target audience or a specific segment of that audience.

2. Provide value to your audience.

Once you’ve nailed down who you’re marketing to, it’s time to craft a lead magnet that offers potential customers enough value that is worth trading their contact information for.

Provide your audience with information they can’t easily get elsewhere. Offer unique industry insights in an ebook or report. Perhaps you have a solution to help your audience perform a task quicker or solve common industry pain points. Whatever you choose to offer, it should be useful to your audience.

3. Be trustworthy.

Lead magnets like industry reports, studies, and ebooks help position your brand as an authority on a particular topic. However, your audience shouldn’t just take your word for it. Demonstrate your expertise by backing up your information with data and research whenever possible.

Additionally, make sure these are well-written and free of typos. While typos may seem minor, they can undermine your credibility. If readers suspect the materials haven’t been proofread, they may wonder what other steps you are skipping behind the scenes.

Paying attention to these details will boost your credibility and position your brand as an industry expert.

4. Make your audience want more.

Striking the right balance between giving your audience what they want, but also not giving away too much for free is difficult. You don’t want to lure them with a bait and switch, but you also don’t want to resolve their needs completely to the point they no longer have use for your product or service.

For example, you may offer a free tool as a lead magnet, but if users want access to all the features, they’ll need to sign up for a paid version. Look at what you can offer to strike the right balance.

5. Be shareable content.

Your lead magnet should be easily shareable so you can get more leads. If someone enjoys your offer and shares it, you just created a great word-of-mouth promotion.

In addition to having its own landing page, consider having a space on your brand’s social media accounts where users can easily access and share the offer. Like this course from Her First $100K.

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It lives in a highlight on the brand’s Instagram where users can access the course and easily share it with their networks through the stories feature.

1. Figure out who you’re targeting and what they want.

The goal of a lead magnet is to offer something your audience wants in exchange for their contact information.

To do this, you have to know what user persona you’re targeting and what offer would entice them.

You may have one to three personas with different needs and pain points. That means one lead magnet likely won’t appeal to all three personas.

For instance, let’s say you are an influencer marketing agency. You may have two personas, each facing these issues:

• Influencer #1 doesn’t fully understand the inner workings of an influencer-brand relationship. They don’t have all the tools to brand themselves and foster relationships.
• Influencer #2 is overrun with brand partnerships and has reached a point in their success where they are so busy with managing administrative tasks that they have limited time to create content.

Knowing this, the agency could create knowledge-based lead magnets for influencer #1, focusing on ebooks and knowledge libraries. For influencer #2, the agency may offer resource-based magnets, such as templates and tools.

During this process, you can also get some ideas from your competitors. What offers are they creating? What are they including in their offers? Use that as your starting point.

In addition, look at your current content library. What has your audience responded most to? Are they asking questions on a particular topic? Are they more engaged in videos or blog posts? This can be a big indicator of what they’ll want in a content offer.

2. Create, design, and name your lead magnet.

Now that you know what your offer will be, it’s production time. You have to create and design your lead magnet.

If you don’t have an in-house designer, you can utilize a platform like Canva. Their platform offers hundreds of templates that you can customize to build your lead magnet, everything from books and presentation slides to worksheets and reports.

You can also outsource the work using an independent contractor with the skills to produce a high-quality offer.

Once the design work is done, name your lead magnet.

Think of something catchy that will pull in your audience and highlight its benefits, like “The Ultimate Worksheet Every Influencer Needs,” and “101 Ways to Monetize Your Brand.”

3. Build your conversion path.

The next step is building your conversion path, which must include your landing page, thank-you page, form, and email sequence.

Starting with your landing page, there are a few best practices to improve conversions:

• Have a dedicated landing page that doesn’t include a navigation bar. This will keep users’ focus on your offer and not the other pages on your website.

• Write a clear call to action. Your CTA should be clear, short, and to the point. It should also use words that will appeal most to your audience.

• Consider eye scanning patterns. Users in Western cultures typically follow F- and Z- reading patterns, which is why most landing pages are designed with key elements placed in those zones.

• Add social proof. Adding reviews and testimonials to your landing pages adds credibility to your offer and can increase your conversion rate.

For your form, the two pieces of information you’ll want to include are name and email. Everything else is optional. However, keep in mind that the more fields you include, the higher the chance a user may abandon the form.

Next up, your email sequence: Once you’ve acquired your lead, you can add them to a nurturing sequence that will lead them further down the funnel. This can include additional resources, such as webinars and newsletters.

Lastly, make sure to set up tracking on your conversion path to see how users are behaving on it and identify optimization opportunities.

4. Set a schedule to update regularly.

Depending on the type of lead magnet you create, you may need to update it every six months to a year.

For instance, let’s say you created a report on 2021 data science salaries. As you get closer to 2022, you’ll need to update the information on the report to reflect current data. Otherwise, your offer may no longer be valuable to your audience.

In addition, if you conduct feedback surveys on your offers, sift through your leads’ comments. Their comments could give you ideas on how to improve your current offer.

Lead Magnet Examples

1. The Sales Evangelist

The Sales Evangelist is a sales coaching and training business designed to help sales managers and their teams thrive.

The company offers a free ebook titled “How to Transform Your Small Business Sales,” which offers insights on how to generate more sales.

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What’s clear is that this particular offer targets small business owners who may not have the proper sales process in place to make sales consistently.

What we like:

The copy addresses the user’s pain point, provides the potential reasons, and leads into why this offer will help resolve it – a classic and effective formula for landing page copy.

2. Her First $100K

Another lead magnet option is to offer a free course. In some cases, you may be able to repurpose video or written content you already have available.

Tori Dunlap, founder of Her First $100K offers an entire “freebie” page as a lead magnet where visitors can access a variety of courses and tools. One of the course options is a webinar aimed at helping people curb their emotional spending.

What we like:

Using a webinar or video format allows your audience to access the materials at their leisure and doesn’t require you to be available to host or teach. While this method may require more work upfront, the pay off is worth it.

3. Karmen Kendrick Creative

When you think of a lead magnet, you probably think of an ebook.

But here’s another quick and easy lead magnet you can develop that will only take you a few hours (at most): a quiz.

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In this example, this brand, which offers WordPress maintenance services, tests its audience with their WordPress knowledge.

After answering a few questions, they must enter their email address to view the full results. Then, you land on a landing page with your knowledge level and the option to share your results on social media.

As a maintenance service, this is a great lead magnet strategy. It can serve as a signal to users who are considering outsourcing this service that they may not have the knowledge to manage their site on their own. And it’s interactive, which is already a win.

What we like:

This quiz will require little to no maintenance, as all the questions are based on historical facts – making it a simple but effective lead magnet.

3. HubSpot

Another interactive lead magnet you can consider is a grader or calculator.

HubSpot offers a website grader, which takes seconds to scan your website and provides a score based on performance, mobile experience, SEO, and security.

After providing your email and website, you get a detailed report about your website’s performance along with a corresponding course based on your results.

What we like:

The grader helps you identify potential issues with your website and offers a solution to resolve them.

4. Clever Girl Finance

Clever Girl Finance is a personal finance platform that empowers women to take charge of their finances.

Among the host of free resources on their site, this one, in particular, stands out.

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It’s a video library filled with recordings from personal finance coaching calls and when users sign up, they gain access to past and future recordings.

What’s great about this tactic is it answers a need.

Clever Girl Finance’s target audience likely wants a community in which to discuss financial topics, get their questions answered, and hear directly from experts. This lead magnet does just that.

What we like:

This is also one of those one-and-done magnets that require little maintenance beyond uploading new recordings. The team can then repurpose the content of those recordings for future blogs, video snippets, and more.

15 Additional Lead Magnet Ideas to Try

1. Ebooks

The ebook is perfect when you have a series of blog posts about a related subject.

For example, if you were running an online pet store, you might pick out the following five posts from your blog to combine into an ebook:

• “The 5 Pieces of Equipment That Every Puppy Needs”
• “The Ultimate Guide To Housetraining a Puppy”
• “The First 6 Months: What You Can Expect From Your New Puppy”
• “The Puppy Nutrition Guide: What Your Dog Should and Shouldn’t Eat”
• “The 7 Things You Should Never Do When Training a Puppy”

These posts could be logically compiled into an ebook entitled: “The Puppy Planner: Everything You Need To Know To Prepare for Your First Puppy.”

This type of ebook is effective because you’re making the lives of your website visitors easier – which should be the goal of any lead magnet you create. Rather than asking them to find all this content one article at a time, you’re packing it up into a convenient bundle that they can keep and refer back to.

The most successful lead magnets offer an irresistible and instant reward to your visitors, and the ebook checks off that box.

Featured Resource: 18 Free Ebook Templates

2. Guides

If you’re in an industry that is already well established, it can be hard to come up with original content.

Sometimes other people have covered a subject in such detail that it’s almost impossible to add extra value. In this situation, I’d recommend producing an ultimate guide.

An ultimate guide is a comprehensive collection of the best articles about a particular subject. The main difference between this and an ebook? You’re not recycling posts from your blog; you’re linking directly to other sites.

It’s important that you don’t copy and paste someone else’s content into your guide, but rather include a link back to the original article.

In the example below, Brian Dean from Backlinko.com produced “Link Building: The Definitive Guide.”

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Link building is a complicated and broad subject. Dean’s definitive guide saves his audience a lot of time looking for this content.

And because so many other experts have written fantastic content about link building, Dean also saved himself the time of competing with content that already exists.

Rather than just listing the links, Dean adds extra value to his audience by categorizing them and including a brief introduction for each category.

This guide has also been well designed, reiterating that this is a valuable resource that should be kept and referred back to.

Do you work in an industry that is already bursting with quality content? Think about making your own ultimate guide.

Do you work in an industry that is already bursting with quality content? Think about making your own Ultimate Guide.

3. Bonus Packs

Offering additional content that is not included in the original blog post is the perfect way to reward readers who opt-in.

If you have an article titled, “The 5 Pieces of Equipment That Every Puppy Needs,” you could offer readers an exclusive PDF with a few more pieces of equipment that may have come on the market since the original post was published.

In his article, “SellMore Courses With This Online Course Sales Page Template and Guide,“blogger Bryan Harris took this one step further and combined a PDF version of the article along with five links that weren’t in the original post – people only received these bonuses when they subscribed.

4. Resource Libraries

If you’ve already written a strategic blog post, consider offering a resource library or guide as a lead magnet.

A resource library is a collection of tools that help people achieve results.

David Dean from Backlinko used this strategy in his post, “SEO Tools: The Complete List.” He offered a free download that detailed the 153 tools featured in his post – the perfect resource for a reader to keep and refer to whenever they need.

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This library could be as simple as a list of five books or apps that you recommend.

What resources could you recommend to a potential customer that would help them to achieve better results?

5. Checklists

Instructional blog posts are just waiting to be turned into checklists – and they couldn’t be easier to create.

Just take your blog post and simplify it into a series of bullet points. Next, remove any points that don’t contain actionable advice. Split the list into several numbered steps to make the outcome more achievable.

Bonus points if you offer the checklist in a printable format so people can physically tick off each item on the list as they complete it. This sense of achievement is a great feeling that people will attribute back to your business.

The “Ultimate Webinar Checklist” from HubSpot above is a valuable lead magnet because of how practical it is.

Hosting a webinar involves balancing a lot of different tasks coming together at the same time. This checklist informs you about everything you need to watch out for, from pre- to post-webinar.

6. Workbooks

In its simplest form, a workbook is a download-and-complete resource that helps people to apply the principles of your blog post to their own business.

The goal of a workbook is to have the participant learn by doing. As the teacher in this scenario, you’re positioning your business as an expert on the subject matter at hand.

With that in mind, you’ll want to choose the exercises included in your workbook carefully. Tease information out of the participant gradually, so that at the end of the workbook they can combine their short answers into a comprehensive piece of work.

A workbook is the perfect stepping stone to your premium products or services, so be sure to include a strong call to action at the end that tells the participant how you can help them to apply their newfound knowledge.

Is there a particular subject that you could help your audience understand more clearly with a workbook?

7. Case Studies

Case studies depend on very specific types of content, but the successes they reveal can entice a site visitor to take action.

If you have a blog post or interview clip that spotlights a real customer you’ve worked with, package this content into a written case study that expands on the need the client came in with and the metrics of their success.

Then, gate this case study behind a form that website visitors can fill out with their name and email address to access.

Keep in mind that you’ll need permission and approval from the client on which you’d like to create a case study.

Once you receive this approval, however, it’s a perfect lead magnet to host content that tells your readers about a customer success story.

Featured Resource: 3 Free Case Study Templates

8. Webinars

Webinars don’t have to be long, collaborative presentations with multiple colleagues or partners.

If you’ve got a blog post that merely touches on a subject you’re an expert in, use this blog post as a springboard into a live talk hosted by you and a coworker.

If you’ve written an article about the latest IOS cookie restrictions, for example, convert this article into a slide presentation and present it through a live conferencing platform, using helpful visuals.

You should also provide insight that listeners wouldn’t have gotten from just the blog post.

As a bonus, you can use the webinar recording as an additional offer.

9. Cheatsheets

If your blog post covers a complicated topic, it might be a good idea to offer readers a one-page sheet that they can refer back to when they need to refresh their memory. This could be a glossary of terms or just a summary of some key points.

This type of download-and-keep resource takes the pressure off readers so they don’t have to memorize or implement your strategy immediately. It does compel readers to opt-in to your list though, which is the ultimate goal.

In addition, the compact format means that people can quickly glance at it while they are going through the editing process. It’s a complementary tool for an existing process.

10. Guestbooks

Guest blogging is a terrific backlink strategy, but those who use it typically agree to not republish that particular post on their own blog.

This is fairly common, as Google punishes sites that duplicate content onto two publications – it’s in nobody’s interest to do so.

What you can do, though, is compile all these guest posts into a book format.

Since the content will be gated behind a lead capture form, there is no risk of Google flagging it as duplicate content and you get to squeeze a little bit of extra value from that content you worked so hard on.

11. Whitepapers

Have an interesting survey that your team recently ran? Or perhaps you know your audience is looking for specific information to inform their future strategy?

If so, leverage this knowledge to create downloadable reports based on your team’s research.

You may have talked about these findings in a blog post or a recent webinar. Repurpose that content for a detailed report.

This will position you as a credible resource in your industry and bring you that much closer to converting your target audience.

12. Templates

Templates are some of the most popular lead magnets out there.

Why? Because they help users streamline their processes and save time. But at the core of it, it solves the problem many of us have: creating and designing from scratch.

You can create templates for just about anything:

• Emails
• Social media
• Spreadsheets
• Graphic designs

It’s all about tapping into what your audience needs the most and creating that for them. Plus, it’s another low-maintenance magnet.

13. Email Course

Companies offer online courses all the time, but they’re not the only place to launch a course.

A Statista survey found that most people (over 80%) check their emails every few hours including outside of normal business hours.

We also know that email newsletters are very popular, with just about every company sending its top insights to your inbox every day.

With this in mind, starting an email course is a great lead magnet option.

An email course is a series of emails that can be anywhere from three to 10+ emails that cover a topic in depth.

The benefit for you? It’s a format most users are familiar with and it’s quick to launch.

In addition, you have multiple opportunities to nurture your audience and guide them down the buyer’s journey, compared to a one-and-done ebook that a user may or may not read.

14. Access to a Private Group

As a business, community management is a key aspect in gaining brand loyalists. It can also be an effective way to generate leads.

Platforms like Slack, Facebook Group, and LinkedIn allow you to do both.

For many businesses, their target audiences value community and want a space to discuss topics relating to their needs, goals, and challenges.

Creating that space will help you generate leads and get to know your audience better.

15. Behind-The-Scenes or “Secret” Insights

One of the best lead magnets I’ve ever seen was produced by Tim Soulo. It was so effective that I immediately opted-in without thinking twice. Suolo had written a blog post about sending an outreach email to well-known SEO expert Rand Fishkin. His call-to-action was the following:

This call-to-action was pitch perfect because it got me curious. I just had to know what the email subject was.

I also knew that it would be a relatively short read so I wouldn’t have to commit to a lengthy ebook – lazy, I know, but that’s human nature sometimes.

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Suolo’s lead magnet is just one page and was made using a standard word processor. There was no point in spending time or money on the design in this case because the secret is the only thing that matters.

I blurred out the tell-tale image and text in the above screenshot – if you want to know Suolo’s secret, you’ll just have to download the lead magnet!

Do you have any behind-the-scenes insights to a blog post that are compelling enough to offer as a downloadable secret?

Add Lead Magnets to Your Marketing Strategy

There you have it, ways to recycle your existing content into lead-generating assets. You already have the blog content – all you have to do is implement lead magnets and an email campaign that gets them into your contact database.

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

In 2022, the marketing world continued to evolve.

Not only did we get the ability to shop directly on our favorite social media apps, but we also began to hear lots of the futuristic buzz around AR/VR, the metaverse, and Web3 development.

As we move into another unique year, marketers might wonder if and how other companies in their industry are keeping up with everything going on.

To help marketers like you keep a pulse on how other brands are doing, HubSpot analyzed data from 150,000+ companies. In this post, we’ll note the three key marketing themes we discovered and how they could impact you today.

Want a full view of how the bigger business performed and what you can do to keep your company up? Read our full-year Business Data Recap on the Hustle Blog now.

About this Data: These insights are based on data aggregated from 130,000+ HubSpot customers globally between July 2021 and September 2022. Because the data is aggregated from HubSpot customers’ businesses, please keep in mind that the performance of individual businesses, including HubSpot’s, might differ based on their own markets, customer base, industry, geography, stage and/or other factors.

3 Marketing Data Themes We Saw in 2022

2022 Web Traffic Struggled to Outpace 2021

In 2021, much of the world was still reopening following the worst of the pandemic. And, although people were starting to get out of the house and disconnect from their screens more often, others were still highly connected, working mostly remote, and doing everything from shopping to entertaining themselves from home.

In 2022, as the global events we went through seem farther and farther in the past, more people than ever are trying to get out of the house, get off their computers, and continue to trade Zoom calls and texts with real, in-person connections.

In 2021, we also saw people become more honest with themselves about work. Instead of spending 10 hours a day in the office or working from home, they opted to take more time off, set work-life balance boundaries, or even take part in quiet quitting.

Lastly, we saw in our quarterly analyses, and note in the section below, that marketers sent fewer emails which also received lower email open rates overall throughout the year. For some sites, email can be the biggest traffic source following search engine and direct traffic. And, when any channel sees these impacts, it could greatly impact year-over-year performance.

With the factors above in mind, it’s not too shocking that web traffic across all industries took a hit in 2022 compared to 2021, with a 6.7% YoY dip.

The only industry that didn’t see a dip was, unsurprisingly, Leisure and Hospitality. This industry, which saw major business impact during COVID travel and country-wide shutdowns, is now showing signs of picking back up with a 6.35% YoY traffic increase.

The industries that saw the biggest dips were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, as well as  Professional and Business Services, which both saw more than a 7% traffic tip in 2022.

Marketing Emails Struggled to Capture Subscribers

As we hinted above, email open rates took a tip in 2022. Across industries, email open rate dropped by a whopping 12.89% while email opens dropped by just under 4%.

Metric	YoY (2022 vs. 2021)	Sample size
Email sends	11.01%	167,457
Email opens	-3.32%	167,457
Email open rate	-12.89%	167,457

While there could be many possibilities for this, a few impacts that seem likely are:

• Businesses sent too many emails. In 2022, companies sent 11% more marketing emails than usual, which could have easily fatigued subscribers, caused disengagement, or even hurt email subscription size. On top of this, sales reps also might have been sending emails more frequently as sales email open rates dipped by 11.6%, hinting that those who were subscribers AND prospects could’ve definitely gotten bloated inboxes.
• Email oversaturation from all sorts of brands (which also likely amped up email sends) could have caused higher competition in subscriber inboxes than in previous years. On top of marketing emails to compete with,
• Growing subscriber lists. While this shows people are investing in your brand and content, it can open rates harder to maintain. Because open rates decreased by a much larger percentage than that of opens, this could mean marketers added more contacts to their subscription lists, but only received opens from the same or slightly fewer people.
• Inboxes are continuing to improve organization, junk, and spam filters. While this is better for the consumer, these pivots could be moving emails out of sight, although this is less likely if spam rates for your email campaign are low.
• Competition from other mobile platforms: With the growth of social media and other mobile content-driven apps, emails could be feeling less relevant to some consumers, despite still being a solid marketing tactic.

If you leverage email marketing, keep track of your subscribers and your competition, as well as how email consumption and content is changing to ensure that you’re prioritizing sends with the highest potential impact. This will ensure that your content has a fighting chance of catching your subscriber’s eye in a busy list of unread messages.

Ultimately, your subscribers, prospects, and potential customers could reward you for understanding their needs with both engagements and even purchases.

Still, Marketing Efforts Yielded Lead & Conversion Impact

Although marketers aren’t closing deals like sales reps, they still drew in business impact despite lower traffic and email open engagements.

Leads and conversions, the biggest ties marketing departments often have to a business’s bottom line actually went up year-over-year.

While web conversions saw a nearly 11% increase, inbound leads went up by 6.66%

Although web conversions would be likely to go up due to the lower ratio of web visits (noted above), the number of inbound leads rising shows that companies are still growing their prospect lists.

Unsurprisingly, Leisure and Hospitality saw the largest growth in leads at a whopping 18.3% YoY, as well as the second-highest increase in website conversions at just over 12%.

Although they saw lowering traffic in 2022, other notable lead-growth industries were:

• Education & Health Services: 10.6% lead growth and an 11% rise in conversion rate.
• Professional & Business Service: 7.7% lead growth and a 13.7% rise in conversion rate.

These industries all make sense as top performers because the businesses within them often sell expensive or high-commital offerings (whether they be B2B or B2C). A random consumer won’t just pay for something like this after reading a single landing page, so the marketing teams within these areas are likely skilled in building robust lead-nurturing strategies.

One industry that seemed to struggle in 2022 was the Construction industry, which saw decreases in all metrics we looked at across the board, including inbound leads (-3.8%), web conversions (-0.65%), and web traffic (-6.84%). While we aren’t completely sure why this is, here are two of our best guesses (which would likely be temporary):

• Due to the rising costs of inflation, materials, and construction team talent, construction projects that consumers and businesses might have invested in within the last decade have gotten more expensive or unaffordable..
• During 2020, building and/or owners took advantage of their time at home or the lack of people in public/office buildings and used that time to invest in construction, remodels or maintenance. But beginning in 2021 and continuing on in 2022, construction has seen a less motion. Ultimately, as the cost of living rises and people return back to work, these projects might not be gaining as much interest or engagement online.

What’s Next for Marketers in 2023

While we can’t predict the future, we expect lead generation and conversion plays to be more important than ever to marketers as they aim to benefit their business’s bottom in still-unprecedented times. But, because people of the internet are still as hyperconnected as ever, anything could happen with traffic or email marketing.

Ultimately, what you do with your brand’s marketing plan is up to you. And, those decisions should be made with data from your company, your targets, and your own competitive analyses.

If you’re a marketing leader, entrepreneur, or just really interested in how overall businesses compared in 2022, check out this detailed business recap o all of the 2022 metrics we dug into. Or, get more tips on planning the most innovative marketing plan from our State of Marketing Report below.

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. 

The fashion industry and major sports leagues are two different industries that have countless collaboration opportunities.

In 2022, major sports and fashion saw a number of intersection points beyond team merch, including:

• Serena Williams walking a Vogue runway shortly after announcing her retirement from tennis.
• Ronnie Fieg, the founder of Kith, becoming the first creative director for the New York Knicks.
• Nike opening World of Flight, its first Jordan concept store, in the fashion capital of Milan.

These headline-grabbing events indicate that fashion and sports have a meaningful overlap for consumers. To capitalize on this, sports organizations are prioritizing partnerships with artists and fashion pros to reinvigorate the world of sportswear.

Earlier this month, contemporary artists Al-Baseer Holly and Cristina Martinez created a capsule design collection merging their signature designs with NBA team logos.

The Isles Lab, the official team store of the New York Islanders hockey team, is reimagining what a team store could be. The store is designed to offer a modern shopping experience and sells a unique combination of team merch, streetwear-inspired styles, and luxury fashion items.

The fashion industry’s influence on the store is apparent, as it was created in partnership with Paul Price who was previously the Chief Merchandising Officer for Burberry.

Ultimately, both sports and fashion companies have strong communities of loyal fans who can serve as brand evangelists. As the worlds of sports and fashion continue to intersect, the opportunities for marketers to tap into these communities could be fruitful.

Marketing Snippets

The latest marketing news and strategy insights.

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced she was leaving the company. Here’s what her departure could mean for creators.

TikTok added 7,000 new insights to its native Insights Tool.

Social media demographics: the stats marketers need to know to better understand their audiences.

Loyalty programs: Gartner released new data on how brands can leverage loyalty programs to engage with customers.

How brands can collaborate with Black creators: tips from Sprout Social on keeping partnerships with Black creators going beyond Black History Month.

The beginning of a new year can be filled with excitement and positive change, but a busy lifestyle can still weigh on you, even if you love your job or company. When this happens, you can run into one of the dreaded mental conditions: burnout.

The World Health Organization classifies burnout as a legitimate health condition, saying it’s a “phenomenon” characterized by “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”

This condition significantly impacts millennials. As of February 2021, 42% of millennials report feeling burnt out at work. Regardless of age, burnout is a condition that can negatively impact employees and organizations in all industries.

To help you combat bouts of stress, low motivation, or exhaustion, here are 10 ways to fight burnout at work, according to expert sources, data, and advice from fellow HubSpotters.

How to Fight Burnout at Work

1. Get some exercise.

2. Eat nutritious meals and foods.

3. Plan and prepare.

4. Use the Pomodoro Technique to ensure that you take breaks.

5. Protect your eyes.

6. Try yoga and meditation.

7. Take time off when you need it.

8. Get organized.

9. Lean on your support system.

10. Get a goodnight’s sleep.

Manage Burnout to Maintain a Happier Work Life

How to Fight Burnout at Work

1. Get some exercise.

Depression and anxiety often go hand-in-hand with burnout, and exercise is a great way to ease those factors. According to Mayo Clinic, regular exercise releases feel-good endorphins and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense of well-being.

Exercise can also shift your mind’s focus away from cycles of negative thoughts and stressors. Additionally, Mayo Clinic says exercise can boost confidence. All of these are things that help ward off burnout.

Pro Tip: It’s possible to over-exercise, which can lead to exhaustion and cause injuries — so don’t overdo it! According to the CDC, 30 minutes of exercise daily, five days a week, is enough for an adult to stay healthy.

2. Eat nutritious meals and foods.

Registered dietician and nutritionist Patricia Bannan says there are four core areas of burnout people should focus on mood, immunity, focus, and sleep. Bannan also says foods containing nutrients can help maintain those areas.

For example, according to Bannan, avocados are a great mood booster because they contain folate for neurotransmitters, magnesium to reduce anxiety, and healthy fats for hormones and brain health.

Bannan also says grapes provide excellent immunity support since they have vitamin K for immune and inflammatory responses.

To boost focus, Bannan suggests olives and olive oil because they contain healthy fats for brain function and memory and vitamin E to protect brain cells. To help with sleep, Bannan says tart cherries provide melatonin and potassium for sleep quality.

Pro Tip: Always consult with your doctor and be aware of any food allergies you may have before introducing new foods into your diet.

3. Plan and prepare.

Once you admit that burnout is a solid possibility in your work life, you can start to take steps towards avoiding it or maintaining a work-life balance.

These steps could involve planning vacations regularly, scheduling non-work hours, or trying stress-relief activities such as meditation.

According to Maggie Butler, our product team manager, the best way to pull yourself out of burnout is to recognize those feelings when they emerge. Then, take preventative measures.

“I think it’s impossible to avoid burning out at work, especially if you are passionate and give a lot of energy and time to your career,” says Butler. “So why not plan for it? Planning to take time off work and do whatever recharges you is key to keeping burnout at bay.”

Pro Tip: If possible, you can also plan designated “quiet” or “focus” days where you won’t be available for meetings. In doing so, you can use those days to get more work done before you get burned out or use those days for less intense tasks.

4. Use the Pomodoro Technique to ensure that you take breaks.

The Pomodoro Technique is a productivity strategy where you work in 25-minute intervals with a 5-minute break between intervals. After four intervals, you can take a more extended 15-30 minute break.

The idea behind the technique is that taking regular small breaks and one more extensive break each day will keep you more productive.

However, Head of Creative Project Management Matt Eontasays the Pomodoro Technique can also be a helpful way to avoid immediate work stress or feelings of burnout.

“I found myself being much less productive working from home than I was at the office, so I decided to adopt the Pomodoro Technique,” Eonta explains. “It’s been a huge help to my productivity, and it’s helped me avoid burning out because it’s designed to be prolonged periods of deep focus work, followed by short breaks to recharge and reset your mind.”

Pro Tip: You can also adjust the intervals and break times to fit your needs and workload better.

5. Protect your eyes.

While Eonta says he goes outside and plays with his dog on breaks, he also aims to prevent eye strain that can add to feelings of exhaustion.

“My eye doctor told me that every 20 minutes, I should try to focus on an object 20 feet away and focus on it for 20 seconds. It helps keep my eyes from burning out from constant fluorescent light and blue-light computer screens.” Eonta explains.

Pro Tip: Check the lighting in your workspace and reduce glare. This can mean turning off some or all of your overhead lights and using an adjustable desk lamp. You can turn down the brightness on your computer or place an anti-glare cover over the screen.

6. Try yoga and meditation.

Yoga allows you to release endorphins by working out while also priming your mind for examination. Combining yoga and meditation can help you relax after a long day.

In fact, 60% of people who practice meditation find that it improves their energy, while for 50%, meditation aids in their memory and focus, according to a study by The Good Body.

The benefits of yoga and meditation can also help prevent or manage burnout.

“I didn’t realize I was burnt out until I started taking up yoga,” says Krystal Wu, a former social media community manager.

“Yoga and meditation have helped me physically and mentally just to do something that betters myself,” Wu shares. “It became clear that it was the perfect balance to help me recover from burnout in my day-to-day life and have more peace of mind.”

Pro Tip: Practicing yoga or meditation in the morning before you start your tasks can start your day off with mental clarity. You can also do yoga or meditate after work to destress.

7. Take time off when you need it.

Taking time off can be especially difficult if you worry that you’ll fall behind. However, time off is crucial to relaxation, resetting your mind, and gaining a solid work-life balance.

“I was one of those people who would rarely take any time off because ‘there are so many things to be done,'” says Irina Nica, our product marketing manager.

“Even when I did, I still let some work slip into my day, even if that meant only checking my emails. I’d be lying if I said this way of constantly connecting didn’t pay off at all, but overall, I was quite tired most of the time.”

Nica explains, “I was probably close to burning out on several occasions. Fortunately, I’ve changed my views on vacation over time, and it’s been great for my productivity.”

“I learned to disconnect in the evenings and during weekends,” Nica adds. “Now, aside from the regular summer and winter holidays, I take a long weekend trip now and then. That helps me relax and refreshes my perspective.”

Pro Tip: Regularly scheduled vacations and days off can give you something to look forward to, which can, in turn, boost your morale at work.

8. Get organized.

Keeping track of assignments, deadlines, meetings, and other responsibilities associated with your job can be daunting and stressful — and that stress can lead to burnout.

Make time to get organized and establish a routine. Make a to-do list with your most pressing tasks at the top and lower priority tasks at the bottom. You can also invest in planners, alarms, and calendars to keep you on track.

Pro Tip: Applications like Notion provide excellent digital tools to help you manage tasks and track the progress of your projects.

9. Lean on your support system.

When dealing with burnout, you may feel tempted to distance yourself from others and face your problems alone.

However, spending time with friends and family can help you feel revitalized. Even venting to a close friend about a bad day at work can help you tackle the next day with a fresh perspective.

Pro Tip: Check to see if your benefits include anything about free or discounted therapy. Speaking to a therapist can help you understand your stress better, identify roadblocks, and cope with stress.

10. Get a goodnight’s sleep.

According to the CDC, adults between 18-60 need about seven or more sleep. However, the Sleep Foundation says more than a third of adults in the U.S. (35.2%) report sleeping on average less than seven hours per night.

Sleep helps with emotional regulation, which makes stress easier to manage or let go of. Getting a proper sleep schedule that leaves you well-rested and ready to tackle the day is a great way to avoid burnout.

Pro Tip: Create a nighttime routine that helps you wind down and prepare your body and mind for sleep. Taking a warm shower, drinking hot non-caffeinated tea, and staying off your phone before bed are just some ways to prepare for sleep.

Manage Burnout to Maintain a Happier Work Life

Depending on your industry, burnout may be unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to be a hopeless situation that negatively affects your work and personal life.

By taking the above steps, you can combat burnout or at least find a healthy way to manage it.

Reputation management happens on online review sites, social media, and in the news.

Managing the chatter online can feel like a daunting task, mostly because so much of it is out of your control.

After all, 77% of consumers read reviews when they’re browsing local businesses. 79% of consumers expect brands to respond within 24 hours after reaching out on social media. There are so many channels where people can talk about your brand, it can be tough to listen and respond to it all.

Luckily, there are plenty of tools and strategies you can use to protect your brand and reputation. In this post, we’ll give a clear overview of what you need to know to manage your business reputation including:

• What is reputation management?
• What is brand reputation management?
• Reputation Management for Businesses
• How to Build a Reputation Management Plan
• Reputation Management Software

Reputation management techniques can include suppressing or reacting to messages online. These strategies might also include SEO, social media, or PR outreach and campaigns.

When your reputation is positive, you inspire customer loyalty, a significant driver of revenue and growth. A negative reputation can be damaging to sales and customer retention, but it also helps you learn about what customers like, which can be helpful for updating business processes to better meet consumer needs.

Brand reputation management is a continuous process. It allows you to stay on top of your brand’s public perception and address possible damaging situations as soon as they occur.

Reputation management and brand reputation management are sometimes used interchangeably. While there are similarities in definitions and practice, there are some crucial differences.

Brand reputation management focuses on a single brand, while reputation management impacts the business as a whole.

If a brand develops a reputation that isn’t connecting with its target customers, businesses have the chance to rebrand. For example, Airbnb rebranded in 2014 to help shift perceptions of the brand from tech-centric to people-centric.

That said, some businesses are so brand-centric that a rebrand can’t transform the reputation of the business. For example, Weight Watchers rebranded to WW in 2018 to shift the focus of the brand from dieting to health and wellness. In this example, rebranding made a less positive impact.

The reputation of your brand is only one part of how people perceive your business.

A strong brand reputation can entice a customer to trust a business. But reputation management measures and responds to the reputation of the business as a whole.

So, a business can have a strong brand reputation. At the same time, it may also need to do reputation management for production practices, sustainability, or other concerns that can impact reputation.

Brand safety is often connected to brand reputation management. We’ll explain it below.

Brand Reputation Management vs. Brand Safety

According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), brand safety makes sure that advertisements, their content, and any content shared by brands are appropriate. It also guides brands to steer away from inappropriate topics. Although somewhat similar concepts, brand safety falls into brand reputation management.

An example that can risk brand safety is correct ad placement. The IAB recommends purchasing ad space from trusted publishers. This way, your ads aren’t next to content that consumers may find offensive or cause them to distrust your brand.

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You also want your advertisements to relate to what you’re advertising. If customers click on an ad for a new blanket and they’re sent to unrelated content, you’re practicing malicious advertising. This risks the safety of your consumers.

Brand safety goes both ways. It protects your business from outside sources that aim to harm. It also protects your customers from malicious business practices that may offend them or cause them to lose money.

Brand safety is a process within brand reputation management. You’re ensuring that your advertising practices are legitimate. This makes sure that your consumers feel they can trust your business and what you have to offer.

Reputation Management for Businesses

To understand how a business might develop a reputation management strategy, I spoke with Ellie Flanagan, a HubSpot alum who specializes in corporate communications.

“The first step in shoring up your brand’s presence online is making sure that all your owned channels reflect your current imagery, messaging, and values. Check for outdated logos, company descriptions, or mission statements. It’s also helpful to do regular audits of other places where your logo or brand might be in use — such as on partner or customer websites.”

To conduct regular audits, follow the reputation management guidelines below.

Flanagan also says, “Make sure you have clear language on your website that outlines your company’s trademarks and sets guidelines for how others can use your brand assets. That will be a helpful reference if you need to reach out to someone who’s using your brand incorrectly or without permission.”

I also spoke with Alice Sol, a Senior Public Relations Marketing Manager at HubSpot.

She told me — “Protecting your brand has never been more important, and that goes hand-in-hand with customer trust. We live in a world where information travels rapidly, and we can get a response in seconds at the touch of a button. Technology has enabled us, as consumers, to get in touch with brands quickly — at the same time, it’s given brands the ability to form deeper connections and resolve issues faster.”

Sol also advises businesses to do their best to meet customer needs and offer a seamless experience, start-to-finish. She says, “The stakes [on delivering a good experience] are getting higher. If a customer has a bad experience, technology allows information about that experience to travel quickly. At the same time, if a customer has a very positive experience, that creates a strong brand reputation and forms trust.”

“Your customers are your biggest asset and it’s critical to take those needs very seriously by responding in a timely manner and communicating effectively.”

To sum it up, when protecting your online reputation, you’ll want to focus on the following tactics:

• Make sure all your owned channels show your current imagery, messaging, and values.
• Check that all online information about your business is up-to-date and consistent.
• Use precise language on your website to outline your company’s trademarks and set guidelines.
• Cultivate a positive user experience, start to finish.
• Listen to customer feedback and respond to negative feedback with helpful, actionable solutions when possible.

How do companies manage their reputation?

Each business is unique, so each business will make different decisions to manage its reputation.

For example, small businesses can make a huge impact just by being trustworthy and offering value to customers. But as a business grows, communication can get more complicated.

The strategies and tactics above can help support your brand. You can also influence business reputation with:

• Local SEO
• Community management
• Employer branding
• Customer experience strategy

Looking at reputational risk, corporate image, and review management can also help support your reputation management efforts.

What does a brand reputation manager do?

A brand reputation manager supports a brand’s reputation on the internet by managing online resources.

Some brand reputation managers get involved in the branding process. Others use online channels and platforms to track and influence public perception of the brand.

Brand management might involve analyzing reviews and online mentions. It could also mean measuring brand sentiment to create and maintain a positive brand image.

Whether you’re part of a small team or a large enterprise, reputation management is essential. Let’s go over a sample reputation management plan that you can adapt to fit your business needs.

Important note: Reputation management is a continuous process. For a powerful and positive business and brand reputation, follow these steps consistently as long as your business is up and running.

1. Research, monitor, and audit your reputation.

The first step to reputation management is research. During this phase, you’ll use the internet to discover conversations about your business and what people are saying about you.

Aim to seek out different types of conversations. All feedback is helpful for understanding perceptions and improving your reputation.

You can conduct this audit by searching:

• Your customer reviews
• Review sites
• Social media
• Searching for your business’s name on Google and other search engines

You can also search for business-relevant keywords or even the feeds of your competitors. Consumers are talking; you just have to meet them where they already are.

There are many different platforms and websites you can use to conduct your research. That said, using a high-quality reputation management tool will make the process easier.

If you’re ready to get started, check out recommendations for a reputation management tool here.

2. Create reactive and proactive management strategies.

Once you understand your brand and business reputation, you’ll know where you need to focus to improve it.

For example, suppose your audit shows that conversation around your brand is unfavorable. In that case, you’ll want to improve the experiences that people have with your business and conversations about your brand.

This research can also help you notice trends and industry changes that could impact your reputation in the future.

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Using this information, your next step is to create a consistent management strategy. This strategy should clearly outline what your business wants to achieve with each piece of shared information. It includes goals, preferred tools, and timing. Regardless of what your current standing is, your plans should address the following:

Who will consistently monitor online conversations?

Choose specific people at your business to track your reputation. These employees will be in charge of continuous research and tracking conversations about your business online.

If your business doesn’t already have a brand reputation manager, employees on customer-facing teams are good candidates. They’re likely the most equipped to speak with customers and create public messaging.

How do you decide which comments, reviews, or mentions need responses?

Some people’s only intent is to troll rather than speak about legitimate experiences. These comments and conversations are fake, created to purposely diminish your reputation. But most comments come from real interactions and experiences. They’re genuine feedback about your brand, both positive and negative.

You should never respond to reviews that seem fake. Here’s a guide on spotting and removing fake reviews from Google.

But you should respond to comments from real consumers, which is why it’s essential to understand which reviews call for a response.

It’s not always possible to respond to every review. If this is the case you might want to create a strategy to prioritize your responses, like responding to customer questions first. Or create specific requirements that dictate when a response is necessary.

If your audit and monitoring reveal a strong reputation, it’s still wise to prepare for change.

Recent data says that 69% of surveyed businesses experienced at least one crisis in the last five years. At the same time, only 45% have a documented crisis communication plan.

The way that a business responds during a crisis can have a major impact on its reputation. This makes a proactive reputation management plan that accounts for crises important.

Planning for emergencies can help your team craft the right response during situations that escalate quickly or are difficult to control. These situations may leave responsible parties frantic and less likely to follow standard guidelines.

More resources:

• Situational crisis communication
• Crisis communication plan examples

3. Develop a tone guide for responding to comments.

It’s essential to respond to comments about your business and brand with a consistent tone of voice. For example, say you respond to criticism harshly but offer positive comments with returned positivity. This approach could do more harm than good because it seems defensive and inauthentic.

Develop a standard tone guide that you will use when responding, and aim to stick to it. This includes language for your crisis management plan.

Introduce your brand’s tone of voice and tonal values, explaining what they stand for and how they support your brand and company mission. These guides to brand voice and humanizing your brand can help you figure out the right messaging for any situation.

Then, give detailed, practical support to the people creating content for different channels.

Featured offer: How to Create a Brand Style Guide, With Free Templates

4. Communicate the plan to your organization.

Now that you have a clear plan and organized communication for following it, you’re ready to share your reputation strategy with the team.

Reputation management isn’t just the responsibility of your brand reputation manager. Any person connected to your business can have an impact on its reputation. So, your team should share accountability for this plan.

To create this sense of accountability, you’ll want to inspire your team with the possibilities of the plan. Then, hold meetings and explain the details. With each session, communicate how each employee can align their work with its impact on reputation management.

For example, it’s easy for an employee to share a quick internal email externally. While this sharing could be harmless, it could also take a message out of context and put the business in a challenging position.

5. Take action based on comments, feedback, and reviews.

Understanding how consumers view your brand is the most valuable tool for improvement and innovation. It’s also an essential action item for managing your reputation.

Their criticisms and pain points will direct you to areas of your business that need increased attention. At the same time, their positive comments let you know what you’re doing right and what you should continue doing.

As you’re hoping to manage your reputation, take action based on comments, feedback, and reviews. This helps you manage your reputation as you’re making changes that customers want to see.

While your communication plan will include tips and templates for tone and messaging, don’t forget to listen. Solutions are important, but customers will be more open to your ideas if they feel like you heard their concerns.

6. Constantly practice steps one, two, and three.

Managing your online reputation is a continuous effort. Although it feels good to solve a big problem, fixing one situation doesn’t mean that everything is smooth sailing from now until forever.

Always research and track conversations about your business. This will give you a sense of where your reputation stands. Then, follow the steps of your plan and act on the feedback you receive.

As you track your business reputation over time, remember to adjust. Pay attention to small shifts, not just major events. You may also want to conduct regular surveys with employees who spend the most time speaking with customers. This can give you ideas to improve your outreach.

It’s also a good idea to offer continuous training and feedback sessions. This can help your team align with changes in your business that can impact your reputation, even if it doesn’t overlap with their day-to-day work.

7. Track your results.

To learn whether your reputation management strategies are working, you’ll need to measure your results.

There are many different KPIs you can track to assess reputation including:

• Financial and sales performance
• Brand or customer loyalty
• Net promoter score
• Customer lifetime value
• Repeat purchase rate
• Employee satisfaction
• Stakeholder surveys
• Social media reach
• Sentiment analysis
• Share of voice

The metrics you use to track your reputation will depend on your business goals as well as the issues you may find in your research.

These resources can help you figure out which metrics are best to track brand health, brand equity, and brand perception.

Let’s go over some high-quality tools you can use to support your reputation management process.

Reputation Management Software

Reputation management software can help businesses in a variety of ways. Some monitor review platform entries by flagging negative reviews and gathering new ones. Others highlight customer testimonials and track brand mentions on social media.

These tools make it easier to collect and analyze reputation data to manage a business or brand reputation. Some also conduct sentiment analysis for quick resolution of potential issues.

It can be helpful to use reputation management software, particularly if you work for a small-to-medium-sized business with limited PR resources. Below we’ll review some top choices.

1. Yext Reviews

Since inconsistent information can impact SEO, it’s critical that your business’s data is consistent on each site. Fortunately, Yext lets you fix inconsistencies all in one place.

This software also lets you manage your reputation through social media. It makes it simple to respond to authentic customer reviews that can impact your brand’s true online reputation.

Yext is ideal for small-to-medium-sized businesses. It’s also a tool for enterprise companies — some of its impressive customers include Lego and Samsung.

Price: Plans start at $199/year.

Pro tip: Sync customer data with the HubSpot integration for seamless review collection.

2. ReviewTrackers

This platform collects online reviews from third-party review sites, including Google, TripAdvisor, and Facebook. A critical feature to call out is that you can receive notifications whenever a customer leaves a review. This helps your team stay up-to-speed on feedback.

This cloud-based reputation and review management software also allows you to track trending issues and topics. This gives you a big-picture view of customer issues. Features also include competitor tracking and performance analytics.

The tool, used by customers like U.S. Bank, is available for enterprise companies and small-to-medium-sized businesses.

Price: For pricing, use their pricing tool or request a demo.

Pro tip: Use the customizable Ask Tool to collect more online reviews.

3. Reputation

Reputation is the only platform that manages consumer feedback from acquisition to loyalty. This platform is your business’ eyes and ears in the spaces where customers talk, post, review, and recommend.

Reputation analyzes vast amounts of public and private feedback data to uncover predictive insights for companies to act on and improve the customer experience.

From reviews and surveys to social and business listings, the Reputation platform helps companies anticipate business needs and customer concerns.

Price: For customized pricing, request a demo.

Pro tip: Use RepScore to compare your brand reputation against competitors.

HubSpot customers: Use this integration to pull business reputation data into your HubSpot reports and dashboards.

4. Podium

Managing your reputation on different sites like Facebook, Google, and Yelp can get overwhelming. Podium helps you see all customer interactions and online reviews in a single dashboard.

Your employees can use Podium to request reviews and respond to reviews in real time. They can even exchange text messages with potential customers.

Podium’s support team is available through phone, online chat, or email, and they make sure you have the help you need to install their tool. The software works best for small-to-medium local businesses with the time and resources to manually send texts to customers or leads.

Price: Plans start at $249/month.

Pro tip: Save time with automations that send follow-up texts to request reviews after each deal closes.

5. BirdEye

BirdEye, a SaaS tool used by 90,000+ businesses, collects feedback from 200+ review sources so that you have a complete picture of your brand’s online reputation.

You can monitor, promote, and respond to reviews within one dashboard. BirdEye also offers features to:

• Manage your social accounts
• Gain insight into your competitors’ customers
• Create surveys and tickets

These tools can help you further improve your brand experience and reputation. Birdeye also integrates with over 3,000 apps, including HubSpot.

Price: For customized pricing, request a demo.

Pro tip: Use Birdeye’s dashboard to track reviews, draft responses, and escalate tickets for effective reputation management.

6. NiceJob

NiceJob is a cloud-based tool for reputation monitoring. It also offers easy-to-use tools for review management and social sharing.

A popular solution for small to mid-sized businesses, NiceJob includes features for automated review emails, SMS messages, and review reminders. Their features also offer tools to increase website engagement.

Price: Plans start at $75/month.

HubSpot customers: Use the NiceJob integration to add review requests and reminders to your workflows.

7. Reviews.io

This tool simplifies the process of collecting reviews in a range of formats. Whether you’re looking for genuine text, video, or photo reviews, you can make the most with this licensed Google Review Partner.

Reviews.io also collects reviews in real time and pulls them together in a streamlined reviews timeline. This can help your team speed up responses to the reviews that could most impact your reputation. It also simplifies the assignment process for small, busy teams.

This tool also offers an auto-generated reply feature to craft personalized review responses.

Price: Plans start at $89/month.

HubSpot customers: Use the Reviews.io integration to generate support tickets for urgent reviews.

Pro tip: Ecommerce businesses — use the widget library to add value for your customers on your home page and product pages.

Can reputation really be managed?

It’s easy for customers to focus on the negative if the positive is hard to find. Reputation management is a useful strategy to bring what makes your business and brand great to the forefront.

It’s a way to build back your brand after a crisis and to show customers that you are a responsible, credible, and authentic company.

Planning and strong leadership can help any business sail through rough reputational waters. Review these tips and ideas, then form a reputation plan that works for you and your brand.

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

Marketers in large organizations often deliver great work that falls through the cracks. Between juggling market research, campaign ideation, and collaborative projects, it can be challenging to take a step back and reflect on just how much work you’ve done — much less on communicating those accomplishments to marketing executives.

But that doesn’t mean that you should let your efforts fall silent. You can communicate your impact to the marketing team in more ways than one. In this post, we’ll discuss the different ways to gain visibility from your CMO in various marketing roles and provide you with key practices to ensure you’re on their radar.

How to Gain Marketing Executive Attention

Gaining Visibility as a Marketing Manager

When deciding which marketing KPIs to focus on — whether you’re a marketing leader or individual contributor looking for buy-in — you’ll want to consider which metrics will directly connect to your organization’s broader goals.

According to our State of Marketing Trends Report, SEO metrics are the most important to marketing leaders going into 2023. To better stand out to marketing executives, you can present them with data focused on SEO-oriented KPIs, including:

• Sales, leads, and conversion rates
• Total monthly visitors
• Traffic from social media
• New vs. Returning visitors
• Click-through rate

A strategy led by SEO focuses on audience growth and brand awareness. Let your leadership know you’re focused on growing better and have the numbers to back up that success. In other words, make it apparent that your assignments and contributions are tied to those goals.

If you want to take it a step further, you can voice your innovative ideas to leadership — as long as you know how to back them up. Even your CMO will be open to a coffee chat or one-on-one with you if you have a well-thought-out plan that ties back to business goals and outcomes. After all, showing initiative will help you to stand out amongst your peers.

Gaining Visibility as a People Manager

The number of people working remotely at least once per week has grown 400% in the past decade, and marketing leaders have struggled with this transition. As a people manager, the best way to gain visibility from your CMO is to show your leadership skills through your star-studded team — no matter if they’re in-house, fully remote, or hybrid.

Unlike individual contributors, your success as a people manager is measured more by how well you’ve guided your team to reach KPIs consistently. So think of how you inspire your team to do their best, showing marketing executives that you’re a willing and capable leader.

Adapt and see your validation in your team’s results rather than personal gratification. Highlight the influence of your team members, their successes, and how their cooperation under your guidance has helped the org.

Gaining Visibility as an Internal Communications (IC) Manager

According to our Marketing Executive Leadership Survey, 72% of marketing leaders agree that their marketing org planning has been more difficult since the rise of asynchronous work and communication post-COVID. Your CMO and leadership team is not only well aware of these struggles, they’re looking to internal communications managers to relay the plans and productivity of each team.

Not only does IC help you promote brand values and vision to get employees engaged, but they also serve as a direct link to employee events, webinars, and other spaces where employees can feel involved and invested in the company. Engaged employees have a personal stake in your company’s success — and to increase your visibility in this role to leadership, you need to create organizational changes that:

• Improve productivity without increasing stress.
• Make clear connections between cross-functional teams and campaigns.
• Clarify goal alignment across the organization.

Gaining Visibility as a Content Specialist

Our Executive Marketing Leadership Survey found that over 500 leaders believe content marketing is a critical aspect of any marketing strategy — and it’s only becoming increasingly important since field marketing has declined significantly during 2020. In fact, over 19% of marketing leaders wish their teams invested more in content marketing.

Marketing executives are looking for more input from content specialists to show the qualities of industry thought leaders that can capture the attention of prospects from different channels. They’re looking for skilled content specialists who are expert storytellers, possess excellent consumer and content trends knowledge, and have the data to prove it.

When addressing your marketing team and CMO, emphasize how you and your team develop content strategies that resonate — and show the results of those strategies in terms of generated leads and conversions. Content specialists play a role in all stages of content development, from ideation to execution to implementation. Make sure to take credit where it’s due in your next big video, podcast, or blog post.

In review, marketers in every facet of the industry can get visibility by focusing on four overarching principles:

In marketing, it’s a team effort to generate leads for a business — but ultimately, it’s up to you to prioritize your professional advancement. To better position yourself for success, make sure your marketing leaders know your name, see your impact, and notice just how much of an integral team member you are to the business.