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You made it (almost)! After networking and sending countless resumes, you’ve finally landed a job interview. Of course, you want to be prepared, so you did what most candidates are recommended to do — you looked up “most common interview questions.”

The key to a successful interview is preparation, so it’s important to look up interview questions so that you can go to the interview with your answers already in mind. This will boost your confidence and increase your chances of a second interview, as well as help you get the job. To help you along, I’ve put together a list of common interview questions and some tips to craft winning answers.

Want to jump to a specific question? I’ve got them linked for you below:

“Tell me about yourself.”

“Why do you want to work for this company?”

“Why are you the best person for this position?”

“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

“What’s a professional achievement you are most proud of?”

“How do you handle stress and pressure?”

“Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker or colleague, and how did you overcome it?”

“Tell me about a time you failed at work and how did you handle it?”

“Why are you leaving your current job? / Why have you left your most recent position?”

“How do you stay organized?”

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“What are your salary expectations?”

“Do you have any questions for me?”

What are common interview questions?

While every interview is different, most interview questions will focus on:

• The skills and experience you’d bring to the company
• Your work ethic and whether you have a growth mindset
• How you deal with difficult situations
• How well you’ll fit within the company

HubSpot’s Senior Manager of Content Meg Prater says she looks for empathy, coachability, and growth mindset when interviewing a candidate.

“Has this person demonstrated that they’re a good colleague?” she explained. “Has this person demonstrated that they can constructively give and receive feedback? And does this person actively look for ways to expand their skills and deepen their understanding of their role or industry?”

To prepare, research the company and, if possible, the person who is interviewing you. You’ll also want to re-read the job posting so you can be sure your answers align with the job requirements. For additional information on how to stand out in the interview process, here are some tips from our former manager of campus recruiting Colleen Grant.

Common Interview Questions and Answers

The questions asked during an interview will vary depending on the role you’re up for, however, the following questions are pretty common in interviews and should give you an idea of what to expect.

1. “Tell me about yourself.”

My mind would always go blank when asked this question. What should I say? What do you need to know? Who am I? To avoid an existential crisis in the middle of your interview, think of the answer as your elevator pitch.

You don’t want to speak at length about your personal hobbies and passions, but you also don’t want to give a dry runthrough of what’s on your resume. Instead give a pitch that is concise, persuasive, compelling, and explains why you’re the perfect candidate for the job.

Start by speaking a little bit about your current role and include any experiences or wins that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. Then provide some background as to how you got there, once again focusing on experiences that correlate to the interview. End the pitch by tying all that information together and explaining why you are perfect for the role.

2. “Why do you want to work for this company?”

This question helps the interviewer determine if you’ve actually done your research on the company. According to LinkedIn, 47% of candidates are rejected because they only have a vague idea of their company and the job role.

To beat the statistics, do your research and find something unique about the company that really interests you. For example, during my interview with HubSpot, I pointed out the company’s one-of-a-kind culture code as a huge motivator for wanting to join.

My answer showed that I did my research beforehand and that I had a genuine interest in being a part of the team. When researching, look for items such as the company’s mission statement or any news articles about recent accomplishments.

3. “Why are you the best person for this position?”

Every candidate thinks they’re the best for the job, but what makes you stand out above the rest? Be prepared to confidently state the experiences and accomplishments you have that prove why you’re perfect for the position.

To prepare your answer, review the qualifications and requirements listed in the job description, and craft your answer so that it aligns with what the interviewer is looking for.

4. “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

Focus on one or a few core strengths you possess that are relevant to the role. Back these strengths up with specific examples. For instance, if you’re going to say that you’re a great multi-tasker, bolster your answer by mentioning a time you successfully juggled multiple projects at once. If you’re a self-starter, talk about a time you successfully took on a project or task without having to be asked.

Now, how can you mention a weakness without tarnishing your image as the perfect candidate? Start by choosing a weakness that will not prevent you from succeeding in the role. For example, if it’s a writing job, don’t say you struggle with spelling.

Be genuine with your answer and choose an actual weakness. This is the time to show your potential employer that you are self-aware and always looking to grow. Maybe you struggle with multi-tasking or asking for help when you need it.

After choosing a weakness, be prepared to explain how you’ve worked to improve. Don’t underestimate your capabilities, but don’t come off as arrogant either.

5. “What’s a professional achievement you are most proud of?”

To prepare for this question, think back to a moment where you achieved amazing results at your previous job. Don’t be shy about your accomplishments, because this is the perfect opportunity to show what the company gains from hiring you. A simple way to approach this question is to use the STAR method: situation, task, action, and results.

Give the interviewer background context by describing the situation and the task you had to complete. For example, “At my last job, I was an account manager and I was responsible for managing several high-profile clients.” Then you would describe what you did (the action) and the result: “In one quarter, I used my SEO knowledge to boost my clients’ web traffic by an average of 25%.”

6. “How do you handle stress and pressure?”

Deadline pressures, frustrated clients, and an uptick in responsibilities are common occurrences at most workplaces, so it’s important to show the interviewer you can keep a level head in any situation.

Avoid saying you’ve never or rarely experienced workplace stress. Instead, relate the question to a time you were stressed on the job, then explain how you overcame it or used it to your advantage.

For example, I’m very candid about telling employers that I keep stress balls on hand and that I always take a moment to do deep breathing exercises when I’m feeling overwhelmed. I also approach deadline pressures as a challenge to complete projects faster — and I love a challenge. There’s no shame in experiencing stress, it’s all about how you respond to it.

7. “Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker or colleague, and how did you overcome it?”

This question helps to determine your communication, people skills, and self-awareness. When answering this question, avoid bad mouthing the coworker you were in conflict with, instead focus on the heart of the problem and how you resolved it.

Prater told me this is actually her favorite question to ask during interviews:

“The answers to this question tell me a lot about the candidate’s ability to problem solve and their self-awareness. Most of us have worked with someone we didn’t quite get along with,” she said. “I love to hear how folks navigated those situations and identified ways to better understand the other person and better themselves.”

Rather than saying, “I had this incredibly rude coworker at my old office,” say “I worked with someone whose communication style was different from mine.” Then, explain how you both reached common ground: “I realized that face-to-face communication was more helpful to us than email communication, since tone can be lost or misconstrued in texts. So, I decided to schedule weekly coffee meetings to ensure we were on the same page about the project.”

8. “Tell me about a time you failed at work and how did you handle it?”

Yes, you want to convince the interviewer that you’re the best person for the job, but no one is perfect. Your answer should highlight that you can take responsibility for your mistakes and that you won’t put the blame on others.

Perhaps you missed an important deadline at your previous job. You can use that situation as an opportunity to share how you accepted feedback, learned from the issue, and developed a system of organization that keeps you on track with deadlines.

For this question, it’s important to demonstrate self-awareness.

“When all answers focus on outside factors rather than how the candidate handled situations, I get concerned,” Prater said. “Things often happen outside of our control — but tell me what you learned from that situation and how it has informed your actions/work moving forward.”

9. “Why are you leaving your current job? / Why have you left your most recent position?”

The most important thing to remember when answering this question is to be honest while avoiding a negative spiral about your current or previous employer. Focus on your excitement for new experiences and the professional goals you’re working toward. Saying you want to face new challenges, be closer to family, or apply your skills to a new field, are all acceptable answers.

If you were laid off from your current job, you can be honest and say your position was eliminated due to a merger, budget cuts, or restructuring. If you were fired, responding with “Unfortunately, I was let go,” is also fine. Of course, the latter will result in the interviewer asking why you were fired. Tell the truth, because you never want to get caught in a lie, and be sure to frame it as a learning experience.

10. “How do you stay organized?”

Employers want to know you can be trusted to stay on top of all of your responsibilities, especially if the role is in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment. Explain your method. Do you use calendars, sticky notes, digital folders, spreadsheets, or organization tools like Trello or Hootsuite?

Prepare a clear and concise answer that shows you’re dependable and will have your new tasks under control.

11. “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

It’s important to be honest and specific in your answer. When crafting your answer, make sure you:

• Keep your expectations realistic for your career
• Show that you are an ambitious person and that you’ve given a lot of thought to your career path
• Highlight how the new position aligns with your ambitions

And if you’re not sure what the future holds — that’s okay too. You can tell the hiring manager that you’re still figuring things out, but express that you are confident the position will play an important role in building your future.

12. “What are your salary expectations?”

This question definitely requires research ahead of time. Use sites like PayScale or Glassdoor to find out what similar roles pay, then factor in your experience, skills, education, and cost-of-living. If you choose to answer with a number, give a salary range that is somewhere in the mid-to-high point of what you’re looking for.

You can also flip the question back to the interviewer by saying, “That’s an excellent question — if possible, it would be helpful to learn the range for this role.” You can also delay the salary conversation by saying you’d like to learn more about the role or the rest of the compensation package before discussing pay.

13. “Do you have any questions for me?”

The answer to this question should always be yes. Before the interview, you should have already done your research on the company and the role. That research should be used to help you form questions that will give better insight into the job and team. Questions targeted toward the interviewer are especially helpful.

“I don’t expect a candidate to be an expert on the role or even the company, but I appreciate when a candidate has done some basic research and asks me thoughtful questions that go beyond, ‘What do you like about working at [company name]?’ or ‘What would success look like in this role?’” Prater said. “Those are important questions, but I love when a candidate digs a little deeper as well.”

If you’re working remotely, you may also want to ask the following questions:

• Would you be working traditional office hours or are there special hours for remote workers?
• How much of the team is remote?
• How does the team communicate?
• What does team building look like for remote staff?

Interviews can be nerve wracking, but you’re likely to succeed if you take the time to plan ahead. When you research and form your responses in advance, you’ll be able to approach the interview with confidence. If you’re still nervous, remember they chose to interview you for a reason — they already see your potential.

Despite being a small business, it’s still possible to develop an SEO strategy that helps you stay competitive in your market.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about small business SEO, why it’s important, and how to develop a strategy for your business, no budget required.

It’s important not to confuse small business SEO with local SEO, as local helps businesses appear in location-based searches vs. general results. However, some small businesses may hope to leverage local traffic, so, if this is you, your small business strategy will include local steps. We’ll discuss this further below.

Is SEO good for small businesses?

SEO is critical for small businesses as it helps you generate organic traffic without spending money on advertisements in SERPs or other channels. When your site shows up in search rankings, you become competitive and drive more traffic, which, in turn, helps you generate engagement, make sales, and build a customer base.

Not optimizing your site can mean that your competitors are the only ones showing up in results, and your target audience might not even know you exist.

Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business. Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business.

SEO Strategy for Small Business

Small business SEO doesn’t require a large team to get things up and running, nor does it require a significant budget. Many of the steps you can take are free, and you can handle them yourself.

Let’s go over how to do SEO for a small business.

1. Conduct keyword research.

Keyword research helps you find the right words to use on your website when writing about your content, giving titles to your pages, and even picking your URLs.

You’ll uncover the most relevant words to use on your website when writing about what you offer and search terms that audiences tend to use when looking for products like yours. As a small business, your keywords should help you champion your unique offerings and stand out in your niche.

 

The easiest way to conduct keyword research is to use a keyword research tool, like Google’s free Keyword Planner.

2. Build a logical site structure.

An important factor in ranking your site highly in SERPs is creating a Google-friendly site structure with schema markup and structured data.

• Schema markup is code you add to your website to give more information about your listings. It can help you rank higher in search results and drive clicks. For example, you can add a star rating schema to your listing so browsers can see that you’re highly rated and worth checking out.

• Structured data is how you organize and tag text on your website, and it helps crawlers understand the context of the information on your site pages. So, for example, you’d use product page structured data for product description pages.

You also want your website to have a logical structure for site navigation, including internal links. This helps Google navigate through the different pages on your site and understand what’s what. The image below is an example of a high-quality website structure.

3. Optimize your on-page SEO.

On-page SEO includes elements like meta tags and image alt text. These things explain to Google what’s on your site and give searchers more information about what they’ll find.

1. Meta Tags

Meta tags are crucial for small business SEO. Since competition may be big, using exact meta descriptions and meta tags helps Google surface you in the right results for queries most relevant to your business.

• Meta titles are the headings you use to describe what’s on your page content. When you write them, aim to summarize the main topic of your page with a related keyword.
• Meta descriptions give a summary of your page explaining your business. This summary is only visible in search results and, when writing, aim to include your target keywords.

The image below is a search result card for Marcy & Myrtle, a small coffee shop in Brooklyn. It features a meta title, Marcy & Myrtle: Fresh Coffee & Baked Goods, and a meta description: Marcy & Myrtle provides you with fresh coffee, delicious pastries, and great service in a welcoming and relaxing atmosphere.

2. Image Alt Text

Image alt text describes the images on your site, giving more context to your content. Image alt text can also help you rank in image packs and image search results.

Image alt text also ensures your website is accessible, as screen readers can use your descriptions to describe an image on a page.

Syndicated is a movie theater and restaurant, and the image below is an image from its website advertising its Sidewalk Cinema series. The alt text reads, “Shot of the Sidewalk Cinema at night showing Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom.”

The alt text uses relevant keywords related to the offering, sidewalk cinema, that will surface the business in relevant queries.

Image Source

4. Get backlinks from relevant sites.

A great way to build authority in SERPs as a small business is to get backlinks from relevant sites, as Google trusts sites with high domain ratings. You also build trust with audiences if they find links to your site on pages they trust.

Here are a few strategies for getting backlinks:

1. List your business on related directories.

Submit your links to directories related to your business, but make sure they’re legitimate. Listing your site on spammy and fraudulent websites will cause more harm than good.

LinkedIn is a great directory for small businesses to list on, regardless of niche, as it’s a credible source with a high domain rating. Awoke Vintage is a small business in Brooklyn, NY, that has created a business profile on LinkedIn.

Image Source

2. Submit your site to local listings.

If you rely on local traffic, submit your NAP (name, address, phone number) to local directories. Many local directories are sources of authority, so having your business on them builds credibility. Some examples of directories include :

• Facebook Pages
• Google My Business
• Apple Maps
• Yelp

Here’s a list of the best online directories for local businesses.

3. Place your link on all your profiles.

If you have multiple social media accounts, place a link back to your website in your profile. For example, you can include your link in the descriptions of your YouTube channel or in your Twitter bio.

5. Technical SEO

As a small business, you might not have a lot of content on your website. However, you still want to monitor technical SEO to ensure your site runs and is easy to navigate. Some key elements to focus on are:

• Secure Sockets Layer to signal to Google that you provide a safe browsing experience.
• Optimizing page speed by compressing images and large files.
• Ensuring your site code isn’t messy and has a logical structure for crawlers to easily navigate through your site and learn about it.
• Optimizing for mobile with responsive mobile design so visitors can easily browse and have a delightful experience regardless of device.

6. Write good copy.

You might be thinking, “But I’m just a small business! I don’t have that much to write!” and that’s okay. You don’t have to write a lot, but you want to ensure that all copy on your site is good in that it includes your target keywords. This will help visibility because Google learns which search queries are relevant to your business and when to surface you in results.

7. Continuously monitor your SEO.

Part of your overall SEO efforts is continuously monitoring your website. You can run SEO audits periodically to check up on each of the elements we mentioned above, and you’ll figure out if there is anything that needs fixing.

8. Optional: tell Google where you are.

If you rely on local customers and local traffic to generate revenue, you want Google to know to surface your location in relevant queries by adding local business structured data to your site. You’ll also want to optimize your Google My Business profile.

SEO will help you stand out as a small business.

Small business SEO is free, and it also helps you appear in the same SERPs as your competitors. An optimized site can help you stand out and draw in qualified customers that are already looking for what you offer.

If you’re looking for a video marketing guide, you’re not alone. 79% of marketers who aren’t using video plan to build a video strategy in 2022. And 99% of those who already use video are planning to use it more.

There’s no strategy like video marketing for educating, generating leads, and converting customers.

Brands need a video marketing strategy — this idea isn’t new. What has changed is how important video has become on every platform and channel. So what do you think you know about video marketing, and what do you want to learn?

Video production is more cost-effective and easier to accomplish than ever. Today you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video, even with your smartphone.

But between strategy, equipment, and editing software, video marketing is still pretty complicated. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about video marketing strategy or use the links below to jump to a specific section.

The Importance of Video Marketing

Video marketing started in earnest in 2005 with the launch of YouTube. Google bought YouTube in October 2006, and by 2009 there were seven different ad formats on the platform.

As the technology to create quality videos gets easier, it’s become more popular with marketers. But that’s not the only reason video is the dominant form of communication today.

First, there was the rise of smartphone technology that made watching videos easier and more convenient. Then the pandemic boosted online media consumption by 215% in the U.S.

Fast forward to 2022, and audiences are spending an average of 19 hours a week watching videos online. Ignoring video marketing is no longer an option for brands who want to excel.

Video marketing encourages social shares.

Video is the second most popular content type on social media for increasing engagement.

Platforms like YouTube and TikTok have always been about video. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are focusing on video. 

Even platforms that don’t offer native video uploads emphasize the value of video marketing.

• Tweets on Twitter get 10x more engagement.
• 68% of video marketers plan to use LinkedIn video this year.
• People watch almost a billion videos a day on Pinterest.

Video marketing improves SEO and boosts conversions and sales.

31% of marketers add video to improve SEO. Websites see a search engine boost when they add video because it increases page quality and the time visitors spend on the page.

More than 60% of marketers say their customer acquisition cost has gone up. At the same time, 83% of video marketers say that video helps them generate leads.

That’s because video hasn’t only transformed how businesses market and consumers shop; it’s also revolutionized how salespeople connect with and convert prospects and how service teams support and delight customers. In short, video is incredibly useful throughout the entire flywheel — not just to heighten brand awareness.

Video can be a versatile tool for salespeople throughout the entire customer buying journey, and it can do much more than increase engagement. Backend analytics also help salespeople qualify and prioritize cold or unresponsive leads.

Video marketing appeals to mobile users.

Mobile users are a driving force for video consumption. According to a Statista study, 77% of those surveyed use a mobile or tablet to watch online videos. And Facebook says it’s 1.5x more likely for people to watch video every day on a smartphone than on a computer.

Video marketing is great for educating and building trust.

While 91.9% of users are content to watch any type of video at all, 31.3% want how-to videos and another 29.8% want educational videos.

The options are also endless for service teams — onboarding videos, knowledge-based videos, meet the team videos, support video calls, and customer stories are just a few ways that video can create a more thorough, personalized customer support experience.

And users aren’t just learning from brands. Millennial and Gen Z users are different, but most of them want to learn from each other. According to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers prefer lower quality, “authentic” video over high-quality video that seems artificial and inauthentic.

This is part of the reason influencer marketing has grown from $9.7 in 2020 to an estimated $16.4 billion in 2022.

Video is within reach for businesses of virtually any size — team and budget alike. The data is clear. To succeed, your business needs a solid video marketing strategy.

Before you set up, record, or edit anything, start with a video marketing strategy. Why? Because every decision made during the video creation process will point back to your video’s purpose and what action you’d like your audience to complete after watching it.

Without a clear purpose agreed upon by your team, you’ll find yourself in a whirlwind of re-shooting, re-framing, and editing. That wastes a lot of precious time. So, begin the process with a clear strategy.

1. Choose your target audience and find out where they spend their time.

The popularity of video and user-generated video content means that you need to target a specific audience with each video. If you don’t already have strong buyer personas, start creating them now. If you already have a set of buyer personas, make sure to update your personas to include the most recent video research.

2. Connect with stakeholders to align on a plan for the video.

There are typically a lot of players when making a video. How can you ensure they’re all aligned?

Create a questionnaire using Google Forms or SurveyMonkey and pass it along to the stakeholders of the project. This way, you can ask the same questions of everyone and keep their responses in one place.

At this stage, it’s important to agree on a clear set of goals. Is your video marketing to increase brand awareness? Sell more event tickets? Launch a new product? What do you want your audience to do after watching the video?

3. Set a timeline and budget for your video.

Think of video as a shorter, quicker, and less expensive version of your favorite film. While a video needs fewer resources to succeed, it can still be a time-consuming and expensive process. You can save time and money with planning and project management.

Create a clear timeline for every step of the process and plan for occasional delays. Even a small video production relies on the skills of many different people. So, you want to make sure that even with unexpected challenges and changes you can still deliver your video on time.

4. Choose the best platform to distribute your video.

Before you start making your video, think about where you’re going to broadcast it. YouTube SEO is becoming as important as website SEO. source Think about what people on that platform are looking for. You’ll also want to consider:

• Average view time
• Size and sound limitations
• Communities
• Budget
• Promotion

While videos are often used for advertising, a video doesn’t just promote itself. Some platforms have built-in vehicles for promotion, while others will need you to put in some time and effort to get more eyes on your video content. This list of video platforms can help you decide what platform is best for your video campaign.

5. Develop messaging and choose the right types of video for your personas.

It’s important to communicate a message with your videos. If you’re not sure where to start, use one of these examples of marketing videos to inspire your video strategy. If you’re not sure what kind of message is best for customers at different stages in the buyer journey, align your video messages with the flywheel.

With your budget, skills, and resources in mind, think about the creative roadblocks that might arise. Do you need a designer to create lower third graphics? Are you going to create an animated video or a live-action video?

6. Decide which metrics you want to track and how you will measure success.

Before you dive into production, you need to define your video goals and find the best metrics to help you understand whether you’ve accomplished those goals.

You can default to using the metrics available in your platform of choice. But this can make it difficult to figure out if your video strategy is performing over time. It can also make it difficult to measure the effectiveness of multichannel video strategies.

Instead, choose several key performance indicators that correspond with your video goals. This list of metrics is a good place to start if you’re not sure where to start with tracking your video marketing.

Your Video Marketing Guide Through the Flywheel

Too often, companies jump at the opportunity to create their first video.

They spend the whole budget on an explainer video for their homepage, but as soon as the project is complete, all future video plans screech to a halt.

Other businesses churn out a slew of social videos. But they often just copy fads they’ve seen, so their videos don’t connect to their audience’s challenges or habits.

Video marketing can’t be an impulsive guessing game. Instead, you need to create a comprehensive video marketing strategy that applies to every part of your flywheel.

Start with the inbound methodology.

The inbound methodology is the marketing and sales approach focused on attracting customers through content and interactions that are relevant and helpful.

Each video you create should address your audience’s challenges and provide a solution.

In the following sections, we’ll cover the types of videos you should create for each stage in the flywheel. To start, plan to create at least two videos for each section.

Don’t forget to include call-to-actions to help lead your audience through their purchase journey and into the role of “promoter.” Over time, you can improve based on conversion rates and the content gaps you discover.

Attract

When you attract, you’re turning strangers into visitors. Consumers at this stage are identifying their challenges and deciding whether they should seek out a solution.

So, the videos you create should empathize with their problems and introduce a possible solution with your product or service.

The goal of this kind of video is to expand reach and build trust. Because you are looking to garner shares for your video, you may want to focus on entertaining and evoking emotion. It’s also important to provide enough information to establish authority on the topic.

Examples of videos in the “attract” stage include:

• Short videos that show off your brand’s personality
• Thought leadership videos that show your leaders are a source for industry news and insights
• Brand films that share your values and mission
• Explainers and how-to videos that provide relevant tips for solving your audience’s pain point

As you attract a new audience, avoid speaking too much about your product. Instead, let your brand values and personality take center stage.

Because these videos can live on a variety of channels, keep the strategies of each platform in mind. This overview of video and social media platforms can help.

Convert

Once you’ve attracted video viewers and website visitors, it’s time to convert these visitors into leads. With most inbound marketing content, this means collecting contact information with a form.

Video can aid this process by offering a solution to the buyer’s problem. The goal of videos in the convert stage is to educate and excite.

“Convert” videos may include:

• A webinar filled with tactical advice
• Product demos sent by email
• Landing page promotional videos
• Case studies
• In-depth explainer and how-to videos

For example, while an “attract” video might provide a quick tip for nailing a sales pitch, a “convert” video could be an animated explainer video that breaks down the inbound sales methodology.

Close

You’ve attracted a new audience with your videos and converted the right visitors into leads. Now’s the time to close these leads into customers.

At this point, the consumer is weighing their options and deciding on the purchase. So the goal of these videos is to make your audience visualize themselves successfully using your product or service.

There’s a reason that 88% of marketers report positive ROI with video. Videos can explain how a product works and trigger emotions in ways that a product description can’t.

Great “close” videos include:

• Testimonials of customers with relatable stories
• In-depth product demos
• Culture videos that sell viewers on your quality of service
• Personalized videos that explain exactly how your product could help their business

Delight

You closed a sale, but video can also improve the post-conversion stage of your flywheel.

During the “delight stage” of the inbound methodology, your goal is to continue providing remarkable content to users that add value to their experience with your product or service.

You also want your customers to tell their connections about their experience or promote your brand themselves. So, the goal of this type of video is to encourage your customers to embrace your brand and become brand evangelists.

Your first opportunity to delight comes directly after the purchase. Consider sending a thank you video to welcome them into the community.

You can also send an onboarding video to get them rolling with their new purchase.

Then, build out a library of educational courses or product training videos to cater to consumers who prefer self-service or simply want to expand their abilities.

As you develop your video marketing strategy, there are other types of marketing videos you can create for every stage in the flywheel.

12 Types of Marketing Videos

Before you begin filming, you need to decide what type of video you want to create. Check out this list to better understand your options.

1. Demo Videos

Demo videos showcase how your product works — whether that’s taking viewers on a tour of your software or unboxing and putting a physical product to the test.

Learn how to use video in each stage of the buyer’s journey.

2. Brand Videos

Brand videos are typically created as a part of a larger advertising campaign, showcasing the company’s vision, mission, or products and services.

The goal of brand videos is to build awareness around your company and to intrigue and attract your target audience.

3. Event Videos

Is your business hosting a conference, round table discussion, fundraiser, or another type of event? Produce a highlight reel or release interesting interviews and presentations from the gathering.

4. Expert Interviews

Capturing interviews with internal experts or thought leaders in your industry is a great way to build trust and authority with your target audience. Find the influencers in your industry and put these discussions in front of your audience.

The video above is more than just a surface-level interview, it’s a deep dive with industry experts offering concrete takeaways for viewers. Don’t be afraid to get tactical with your interviews — your audience will grow from your hard work.

5. Educational or How-To Videos

Instructional videos can teach your audience something new. These marketing videos can also build the foundational knowledge they’ll need to better understand your business and solutions. Your sales and service teams can use videos like this as they work with customers.

6. Explainer Videos

This type of video can help your audience better understand why they need your product or service. Many explainer videos focus on a fictional journey of the company’s core buyer persona who is struggling with a problem. This person overcomes the issue by adopting or buying the business’s solution.

7. Animated Videos

Apple created this animated video to share its carbon neutrality goal.

Animated videos can be a great format for hard-to-grasp concepts that need strong visuals or to explain an abstract service or product.

8. Case Study and Customer Testimonial Videos

Your prospects want to know that your product can solve their specific problem.

One of the best ways to prove this is by creating case study videos that feature your satisfied, loyal customers. These folks are your best advocates. Get them on camera describing their challenges and how your company helped solve them.

9. Live Videos

Live video gives your viewers a special, behind-the-scenes look at your company. It also draws longer streams and higher engagement rates.

According to Google in 2021, 85% of people have watched a live stream in the last year. And live-stream interviews, presentations, and events encourage viewers to comment with questions.

10. 360° & Virtual Reality Videos

With 360° videos, viewers “scroll” around to see content from every angle — as if they were physically standing within the content.

This spherical video style allows viewers to experience a location or event, like flying down a hill with Olympic skiers.

Virtual reality (VR) allows viewers to navigate and control their experience. These videos are usually viewed through devices like an Oculus Quest 2 or a Valve Index.

11. Augmented Reality (AR) Videos

AR videos add a digital layer to what you are watching.

For example, you can point your phone’s camera at your living room and AR would allow you to see how a couch would look in your space. The IKEA Place app is a great example of this.

12. Personalized Messages

Video can be a creative way to continue a conversation or respond to someone through email or text.

Use HubSpot Video Hosting or Loom to record yourself recapping an important meeting or giving personalized recommendations. These videos create a delightful, unique moment for your prospects and can drive them deeper into the purchase journey.

Now that you’ve planned your video marketing strategy, it’s time to start making your first video.

There’s a lot that goes into making a video. This section will walk you through the detailed process of creating and publishing a video for your business.

1. Script your video.

While there’s a time and place for videos to be off-the-cuff , most video marketing needs a script.

If you skip this step, you’ll find yourself editing more than you need to, releasing a video longer than it should be, and probably losing your audience along the way.

Start writing your script the way you would begin a blog post — with an outline. List out your key points and order them logically.

Try drafting in Google Docs to promote collaboration and real-time commenting. Use the “Insert > Table” function to create a two-column script. Write your audio script in the left column and insert matching visual ideas in the right column.

Two-column scripts are a common practice in television because they help you organize how the audio and visual parts of your script work together.

Don’t make the viewer wait until the end to understand the purpose of your video. They won’t stick around. Be sure to include a message near the beginning that states your video’s purpose, especially for educational and explainer videos.

As you begin creating videos, you’ll notice a key difference between video scripts and your typical business blog post — the language.

Video language should be clear, relaxed, and conversational. Avoid using complex sentence structures and eloquent clauses. Instead, connect with your audience by writing in first person and using visual language. Keep the language concise, but avoid jargon and buzzwords.

Most video scripts are probably shorter than you think. Keep a script timer handy to check your script length as you write and edit. For example, a 350-word script equates to a video that is nearly 2 minutes long.

Words on paper sound different from when they’re read out loud. Try organizing a table read of your script before you start filming. The point of a table read is to smooth out the kinks of the script and nail down inflection points.

Have your writer and talent gather around a table with their laptops and read the script multiple times. This is a great time to make script changes so that the language sounds more natural.

2. Set up your studio.

When you begin creating your in-office studio, purchases can add up quickly. You might need a camera, tripods, lights, microphones, and more.

But setting up your studio doesn’t have to be overwhelming. There are plenty of cost-effective ways to create professional videos in your space.

Basic Equipment

You’ll usually want to shoot with a tripod. Tripods will help you maintain a steady shot.

The type of tripod you choose should depend on the camera and lens you’re using.

If you’re recording with your phone, you can use a table mount like the Arkon Tripod Mount or a full-size tripod like the Acuvar 50″ Aluminum Tripod. For a DSLR, Manfrotto makes a variety of trustworthy tripods starting with the Manfrotto BeFree and increasing in quality and price from there.

You’ll also want to stock up on camera batteries and SD cards. Recording video will cause you to run through these quickly.

Audio Equipment

While many cameras have an internal microphone to record audio, you’ll want to invest in some quality sound equipment.

Most internal microphones aren’t powerful enough to adequately record audio.

When you’re shooting with your iPhone, there are many easy to use and inexpensive microphone choices. For example, the Movo VXR-10 PRO microphone will give you a plug-and-play solution for capturing audio on the move.

There are even more options for recording audio with a DSLR. You’ve likely seen many videos that use a lavalier microphone — the small piece that clips below the collar of the talent’s shirt.

Lavaliers can be wired or wireless. But lavaliers can be uncomfortable and distracting for the talent (who has to have a wire threaded down his or her shirt) and for the viewer (who has to see a microphone for the whole video).

Instead, try recording with a shotgun mic. They’re reliable, remain out of the shot, and record background noise in a natural-sounding way.

To set this up in your office studio, you’ll need a shotgun mic like the Rode VideoMic NTG. You’ll also need:

• Shotgun clips
• A light stand
• XLR cables
• A Zoom H4N recorder

The Zoom recorder will allow you to record audio separately on an SD card and adjust the gain for the space you’re shooting in.

These audio purchases may sound expensive. But a shotgun mic setup is a sound investment that will last for years. If you’re looking for a more cost-effective solution, the Rode VideoMic is a great alternative.

Lighting Equipment

You have a camera. You have audio. Now, let’s talk about lights.

To outfit your studio without breaking the bank, head over to your local home improvement store. Pick up extension cords and a few clamp lights with bulbs. You’ll also need three light stands, which are available on Amazon.

Three-point lighting is a traditional setup for video lights. It involves three lights placed strategically around the subject. This approach creates a soft light that makes your subjects look their best on camera.

First, you’ll need a key light. Place this at a 45-degree angle to the left or right of the subject. Lift the light above their head and aim it downwards.

This light should be bright enough that it could be the only light in the scene.

Next, place the fill light at a 45-degree angle on the other side and lift it close to or just above eye level. The purpose of the fill is to soften the shadows created by the key, but without getting rid of them completely.

The fill should be dimmer than the key light. If you have to use the same type of light for both, scoot the fill back and diffuse it by clipping a clear shower curtain onto the clamp light with clothespins.

Finally, the backlight will add a third layer of dimension. Move your subject away from the background. Lift a light above the subject’s head and place it behind them and off to the side so it’s out of the frame.

Aim the light at the back of their head. This creates a line of light that separates them from the background.

Setting Up Your In-Office Studio

Once you have all your equipment, you’re ready to create your office studio.

If you can create a studio, you’ll save hours of prep time for each shoot. You can turn any room into a great studio, just make sure it isn’t too empty. You can bring in a couch, chairs, or blankets to minimize the echoes in the room.

Try to find a room with minimal noise. Think about buying photography paper to create a background that’s a little more appealing than a white wall.

When it’s time to shoot, turn off the overhead lights. With your three-point lighting setup, there will be no need for harsh fluorescent lights.

Show your talent that you value their time, and don’t ask them to wait while you turn lights on and test your camera. When everything is in place, you’re ready to move to the next step.

3. Prepare your talent.

If you have experienced, confident actors in your company, you’re lucky. Video talent is a rare resource. But with a little bit of coaching, you can help your teammates thrive in front of the camera.

Don’t forget that getting in front of the camera can be scary. Give your talent the script early and let them know they don’t need to memorize it.

Instead, place a laptop below the eye-line of the camera. Break the script into short paragraphs and record each section until you capture a great take. Plan in advance for extra footage or screenshots. You can have your talent read those lines directly off the laptop like a voice over for those sections.

4. Plan your shot list and get used to your equipment.

Before and during your video shoot you’ll want to maintain a list of shots you want to get and an inventory list to make sure you cover every aspect of the plan.

For example, if your marketing team wants photo stills from your video shoot to use for the blog, get those photos before breaking down the set. This will help your team get more value out of your time and resources.

You may not be familiar with everything it takes to get great shots for your video, so let’s go over some basics.

Composition Basics

Composition is one way to create a visually powerful video. The rule of thirds is a simple composition technique that can improve your videos. In this technique, you’ll place key elements at the intersection of two horizontal and two vertical lines, like in the example below.

In this example, the kitten’s eye lines up with the top horizontal line on the right. This is a good screen composition for interviews.

For this “talking head” shot, you can also improve your composition by leaving some empty space between the person’s head and the top of the screen.

Image Source

Another way to improve the look of your video is to include b-roll. B-roll is the supplementary footage included as a cutaway.

This might include shots of:

• A customer service rep talking on a phone
• A designer editing your website
• Visuals of your office
• Screenshots of your product

The key with b-roll is to make sure every piece enhances the story. Create a shot list of more b-roll ideas than you think you’ll need and mark them off as you record them.

When you’re collecting b-roll, include a mix of shots from varying angles and distances. Try a mix of the following common video shots.

Establishing Shots

These are wide shots that allow the viewer to see the entire scene. These are great to use at the beginning of a video or scene.

Medium Shots

These are shots like the one in the interview example above.

Close-ups

Close-ups are tightly cropped shots zoomed in to show detail. These might feature someone’s hands typing on a keyboard or pouring a cup of coffee.

For practice, try telling a story with your b-roll and planning out a shot sequence.

For example, your subject might open a door from the hallway, walk into their office space, sit down at their desk, open their laptop, and begin typing.

A shot sequence showing this 10-second scenario could include six or more different b-roll clips.

Create Continuity

Continuity is the process of combining shots into a sequence so that they appear to have happened at the same time and place.

A key part of continuity is making sure any extra objects in the scene, like a cup of water on a desk, stay in the same place through every one of your shots.

Understand your camera.

Fear of new equipment can keep businesses from video marketing. But learning to shoot video doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

You probably have a great, easy-to-use camera right in your pocket: your iPhone.

Recording with Your iPhone

Before filming with your iPhone, make sure your device has enough storage. And don’t forget to enable your iPhone’s Do Not Disturb feature to avoid distracting notifications while filming.

Once you open the iPhone’s camera, flip your phone horizontally to create the best possible viewing experience. Then, move close enough to your subject so you don’t have to use the zoom feature — it often makes the final video look pixelated and blurry.

Your iPhone might do a great job of focusing on the subject when you take photos, but when it comes to video the camera will adjust as you move around the scene.

To solve this problem, lock the exposure before you press record. Hold your finger down on the subject of the video until a yellow box appears with the words “AE/AF Lock.”

Shooting with Prosumer and Professional Cameras

While iPhones are great for filming when you need to or getting used to video, you may want a more advanced tool. There are a ton of digital cameras to choose from. These are a few options we like.

If you’re interested in going the prosumer route, take a look at the Canon PowerShot ELPH 360. The GoPro HERO 10 is also fun for adventurous shoots with lots of movement.

Considering the expense of a DSLR camera, research your choices and read plenty of reviews. Top cameras (from most expensive to least) include the Sony Alpha 7 IV, Nikon D810, and Canon EOS R5. For a more cost-effective choice, check out some of these DSLRs.

If you’re not sure which type of video camera will work best for you, there are some key differences to consider.

Prosumer cameras are easy to use. They’re perfect for someone who wants the option to just press record. Most have a fixed lens because these make it easier to see what you are recording.

Professional cameras, like DSLRs, give you fine control over the manual settings when you’re recording video. They allow you to create the shallow depth of field (background out of focus) that people rave about.

DSLRs are small, work great in low light situations, and pair with a wide range of lenses — making them perfect for video. But, DSLRs do require some training and you may need to buy more add-ons, like lenses.

Understanding Your Camera’s Manual Settings

If you choose a DSLR, there are a few settings you need to understand before your first shoot.

This is a high-level overview of each setting. There will be a different method for adjusting these settings based on your specific camera. If you want to learn more, refer to your camera’s instruction manual.

Frame Rate

Most videos have a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps) or 30fps.

Video experts often credit 24fps with a more “cinematic” look, while 30fps is more common, especially for videos that need to be projected or broadcast on a larger screen. Ask the end-user of your video what they prefer. Then, be sure your resolution is at least 1920 x 1080 to maintain quality footage.

Once you’ve set your frame rate and resolution in your camera’s settings, it’s time to get to know your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. These three variables work together.

Be sure to turn your camera to manual mode to control these settings.

Aperture

Aperture refers to the size of the opening in the lens. Like a human eye, a lens opens and closes to control the amount of light reaching the sensor. Aperture is measured by f-stop. The smaller the f-stop number, the more open the lens is. A larger f-stop number means the lens is more closed.

What does aperture mean for your video? When a lot of light comes into the camera, you get a brighter image and a shallow depth of field. This is great for when you want your subject to stand out against a background.

When less light comes into the camera you get a deep depth of field and can focus across a larger portion of your frame.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is a term from still photography. When taking a photo, shutter speed is the length of time the camera’s sensor gets exposed to light. Think of it as how quickly or slowly the camera blinks.

If you want a perfectly timed photo of a hummingbird frozen in time, shoot with a fast shutter speed If you want to shoot an image of blurred headlights at night use a slow shutter speed.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds, or in most cases, fractions of seconds. So, 1/1000 would be faster than 1/30.

But what does shutter speed mean for video? To pick the right setting, you’ll have to do a little math.

Here are some common shutter speeds and how to calculate them:

• At 24fps, 24 x 2 = 48, equalling a shutter speed of 1/50
• At 30fps, 30 x 2 = 60, equalling a shutter speed of 1/60
• At 60fps, 60 x 2 = 120, equalling a shutter speed of 1/20

Remember, this is just a guideline for choosing shutter speed. There’s always room to tweak shutter speed to achieve the desired effect.

ISO

In digital photography and videography, ISO measures the camera sensor’s sensitivity to light.

On your camera, you’ll see the settings referred to with numbers in the hundreds or thousands (e.g. 200, 400, 800, 1600, etc).

The higher the number, the more sensitive your camera is to light. The lower the number, the less light-sensitive it is.

ISO also affects the graininess of the image. Low ISOs produce a crisp shot, while high ISOs create a more noisy, grainy shot.

When choosing an ISO, consider the lighting. If your subject is well-lit, like when you’re outside, you can get by with a lower ISO, around 100 or 200. If you’re indoors in a low-light situation, you’ll need to bump up the ISO — just be careful of how grainy it makes your shot.

This is how the three factors of the Exposure Triangle work together. When you have a low-lit situation, for example, you may choose a lens that can shoot with a low f-stop to let more light into the camera and avoid making the shot too noisy with a high ISO.

If you’re just starting out with manual video settings, don’t get overwhelmed. It takes time and a lot of practice. While understanding aperture, shutter speed, and ISO can help you shoot great videos, there is one more important factor: white balance.

White Balance

White balance tells your camera the color temperature of the environment you’re shooting in.

Different types of light have different colors. For example, incandescent bulbs (like what’s in most living room lamps) have a warm color. Fluorescent lights (like office lighting) are a little bit cooler. Daylight is cooler yet.

Before you begin recording, you have to adjust your camera’s white balance according to your setup.

Most cameras have an auto option, presets, and a custom setting for white balance. Try to avoid auto white balance and opt for a preset or custom setting instead.

To understand the importance of setting your white balance, take a look at these two photos. The space is lit with yellow fluorescent lights. You can see how the appropriate setting looks natural, while the daylight setting adds a blue tint to the scene.

Focus

Focus is also important to keep in mind. With a DSLR, you can shoot with autofocus or manual focus.

Manual focus is usually best. Use the (+) and (-) buttons to enlarge the viewfinder and move close to your subject’s face. Then, adjust the focus on the lens.

For shooting setups like interviews, make sure the subject’s eyelashes are in focus — that way, you can be certain your footage is clear and sharp.

5. Shoot your video.

Recording a video is tricky because you need to balance many different ways of thinking. A great video should have:

• An emotional draw
• An interesting storyline
• Strong visual cues
• Compelling sound
• A clear message and call-to-action

To accomplish this, you need to be a coach. Balance critical feedback with support and encouragement after each take.

This is why conducting a table read during the scripting process is so important: It’s easier to give feedback when there’s not a camera in the room.

Try to get a little silly during the shoot or your talent will be on edge and uncomfortable and it will show in the footage.

In the hectic rush of shooting a video, it can be easy to forget crucial details. Video marketing is more than the art of communication. Marketers creating video marketing also need to:

• Stick to a budget and schedule
• Work with the cast and crew to follow a plan
• Maintain clear communication
• Factor in extras like props and special effects

So, while you’re maintaining the fun level on set, pay attention to the little things. For example, make sure all your mics are on and watch for any lighting changes.

Record each section many times and have your talent experiment. When you think they’ve nailed the shot try to get one more.

If you can, try to circle back to the beginning of the script at the end of your recording. Chances are your subject got more comfortable throughout the shoot. Since the beginning is often the most crucial part of the video, record that section again when they’re feeling the most confident.

Shoot for the edit.

Some video marketers are better at recording while others are better at editing. It’s a good idea to understand the process and pain points of each.

For example, as the person behind the camera, you may believe you collected ample footage and asked all the right interview questions. But to the editor, you may have gotten too much of one type of shot and missed out on some that would make their job easier.

So, shoot for the edit. Remember that you’ll need to edit all the footage you record. This can help you make decisions that will save you countless hours in the editing room.

There are a few different strategies for shooting with the edit in mind.

1. Leave a buffer at the beginning and the end of each clip.

This can keep you from cutting too close to an important shot.

2. Record extra footage for jump cuts.

As a producer, your job is to capture plenty of b-roll to make sure your editor never runs out. In the section on preparing talent, we talked about recording your script in short sections.

If the editor stitches these sections together, the subject’s face and hands might abruptly switch between clips. This is called a jump cut, and you can see an example below.

Extra b-roll can help mask these jump cuts so that your video looks and feels more natural to viewers. Another way to mask jump cuts is to shoot with two cameras. This strategy is helpful if you’re recording an interview without a script.

If you plan to shoot with two cameras, try this setup:

Make Camera A a traditional, straight-on shot. Then place Camera B at a 30 to 45-degree angle.

With this setup, the editor can flip between these two views to make the cut appear natural. You can see how to cut these two camera angles together in the example below.

A note about shooting with two cameras: Your editor will need to sync the footage between the different views. To help them do this, clap your hands loudly in the view of both cameras right before you ask the first interview question. Modern editing software has auto-sync features, but this loud clap will help you initially line up the clips.

3. Mark your good clips.

Even if you’re recording a scripted video, you might have to record a section 10 or more times. This can be a lot of footage for an editor to sort through.

So, when your subject nails a take, wave your hand in front of the lens like in the example below. Then your editor can look for this visual cue when they review your footage.

6. Edit your video.

This phase will sometimes overlap with your video shoot, but not always. During this stage, you’ll edit a rough cut of your video, and forward it on for stakeholder reviews.

Some videos go through several editing reviews before they get to the final product. This is also the phase where the team adds visual effects, music, and sound design.

Let’s walk through these important steps for editing your video.

Organize your footage.

File organization can be boring. But it’s essential for video marketing.

As you organize your video footage, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, video format files are incredibly large, so it’s unlikely you’ll want to store them on your internal hard drive. You’ll quickly run out of storage, and your computer’s processing speed will begin to lag.

Instead, invest in an external hard drive like one of the Lacie Rugged models and store your project files on this hard drive. This method also makes it easier to collaborate with teammates because you can easily share the drive.

Second, video editing programs are very particular about where you keep your files. If you don’t stick with the original file structure, you may get a lot of error messages.

On your external hard drive, think about creating a separate folder for each project.

Within this folder, there should be a prescribed set of “buckets” to store your video footage, audio, design assets, and more.

For example, when you import your footage from your camera, place it in the “footage” folder on your hard drive.

Then create a template project folder that you can copy and paste for each project using the image below as a guide.

It’s also important to back up your files. Without backups, you’ll risk losing hours of video footage. It’s not unusual for video marketers to have an external hard drive for everyday work, another for backups, and a third set of backups in the cloud with Dropbox or Google Drive.

Edit your video.

You’ve filmed your video footage, now it’s time to talk about editing.

Video editing can be confusing. But there is a range of great options for video editing based on your skill level, operating system, and budget, including free programs and mobile apps. Let’s go over some of our favorites.

Intermediate: Apple iMovie

iMovie is Apple’s video editing software. iMovie is simple, user-friendly, and free on all Apple products. iMovie allows you to create and edit your videos by cutting together clips. iMovie also makes it easy to add:

• Titles
• Music
• Sound effects
• Basic color correction
• Filters
• Special effects

It also has helpful templates that simplify the editing process. The platform supports high-quality clips like 4K video footage and makes it easy to share your work directly to a video hosting platform.

This software isn’t commonly used by professionals, because it has limited access to advanced color correction and editing features. But iMovie is a great option if you’re just getting started.

Advanced: Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is a leading video editing software program used by amateurs and professionals. With a customizable interface and advanced editing tools, the platform is an industry-standard for video editing.

Premiere makes it easy to collaborate with other editors, organize your material, and sync with other programs in the Adobe suite like After Effects and Photoshop. The platform supports high-quality footage (4K and higher) and includes advanced, built-in color correction and grading tools that set it apart from cheaper or free software like iMovie.

The only downside to Premiere is the cost. A year-long subscription to the latest Premiere Pro CC costs about $240. If you’re new to video editing, you may want to experiment with a less expensive tool like iMovie or Adobe Premiere Elements before investing in the Premiere Pro. If you’re trying to decide if this software is your best option, you can check out some Adobe Premiere Pro tutorials here.

Choose your music.

Music is a powerful tool that can alter your video’s mood and tone. The right music can elevate an at-home project to a professional piece of content. The right music and sound effects can help keep your viewer’s attention, evoke emotions, and define your overall editing style.

Adding music to your video marketing takes more than one step, so let’s walk through the process.

1. Set a music budget.

Before you start filming, set a music budget and research your local copyright laws. Copyright law can be difficult to decipher, especially when you’re dealing with digital content. Most music isn’t free. If you use another artist’s music without permission or proper licensing, you risk video removal and legal action.

2. Figure out what music your target audience responds to.

Think about your audience and the overall feel of your production. While some videos feel unfinished without background music, others just need a few tunes to tie the project together. Pay attention to videos that have a similar style to see how other brands use music.

Are you targeting a small audience that will appreciate the newest hip-hop track, or do you need something that will appeal to many demographics? Are you creating a practical tutorial or an upbeat event recap? Be sure to choose music that lines up with audience expectations.

3. Decide what kind of music and sound effects you’ll need.

Next, think about the purpose of the music. Do you need background music or something with real impact? Will you be narrating or speaking in the video? If so, don’t let the music get in the way of your content. Sometimes the best music is the music you don’t remember at all.

Finally, decide whether you want to add intro and outro music. Intro and outro music can serve as a theme for your content. These are a great choice if you don’t need music throughout your entire video.

Bookend music can help set the tone for your video, naturally split your content into chapters, and leave your viewers feeling they had a complete experience.

If you’re looking for music for your video, you have a couple of options. You can pay a composer to create an original score, but most video marketing uses royalty-free music.

Royalty-free songs aren’t free to use; they’re quality songs available for a single flat fee. This means you don’t have to worry about paying extra licensing fees or royalties in the future. YouTube, Pond5, and PremiumBeat are all great sites to find royalty-free music.

4. Choose the right song.

After you know what type of music you need and where to get it, it’s time to start analyzing potential songs.

Consider the song’s pacing. Songs with a steady rhythm are easy to change to suit your video style.

Try to choose simple songs that are easy to loop. And think about whether instrumental music or something with digital samples is best for your audience. The wrong song can make your video feel unprofessional and out of date.

Record your voice over.

Once you have your video footage and music it’s time for voice overs.

A voice over is the narration that’s not spoken by someone on-camera. Voice overs are an effective tool that can help make your content more relatable, emotional, and fluid.

You don’t have to hire a professional to record a great voice over. Below are a few tips to capture audio on a budget.

If you can’t go to a professional studio, try to pick a quiet room away from distracting sounds like sirens, opening and closing doors, and people talking on the phone.

Try reading your script aloud in the space, and pay attention to the room’s acoustics. Does your voice echo or sound muffled? If so, consider recording in a different space or adding furniture to fill in the room.

Do a practice read before recording.

Read through your script a few times and take note of any difficult pauses, transitions, and words.

We recommend running through your script a few times, especially the first few paragraphs, to ensure that your voice is fully warmed up.

You’ll also want to invest in a good pair of headphones because they make it easier to hear recording errors. For example, if you hear popping or hissing sounds, try standing further away from the mic or invest in a pop filter.

Record, test and listen.

Think you can record the perfect voice over in just one take? Even professional voiceover actors can need 10 or more takes to record a voice over. That may seem like a lot, but it’s easier to get a new take of audio than it is to try and fix a voice over during the editing process.

On the day you plan to record, be sure to avoid wearing noisy clothing or jewelry. Also, use a stand, laptop, or teleprompter while recording so you aren’t rustling through a printed script.

Remember to relax, read slowly, pause, and take breaks while recording your voice over. Sometimes all you need is a sip of water to get back on track.

You’re ready to publish your video. You shot the footage, edited it together, and added sound. Now it’s time to export your video and get it online so your audience can start viewing, sharing, and engaging with it.

Now it’s time to post your video.

7. Upload Your Video

Your video is ready, but you need more than a brilliant video to get eyes on your video marketing. Every video hosting platform will have slightly different requirements, but let’s talk about a few things you should know before you upload your first video.

Video File Formats

There are many file formats for videos, and you want to be sure that your favorite platform supports your format of choice. These are some common formats that most platforms accept:

• MP4
• MOV
• WMV
• AVI
• FLV

Other file formats for videos include:

• MPEG4
• MPEG PS
• 3GPP
• WebM
• DNxHR
• ProRes
• CineForm
• HEVC (h265)

After you export your video in the right format for upload, there are some extras you can add to your video upload that will make it easier for your audience to find your videos organically on platforms like YouTube.

Add Text

You’ll want an eye-catching headline and a description for your video. Your description can be up to 5000 characters, and the keywords in your title and description can make it easier for your audience to find your video.

Visual Add-ons

Design an eye-catching video thumbnail image. You can also design and add unique end screens and cards to increase video engagement.

Closed Captions

Some platforms let you add closed captions to your videos. There are many free captioning tools you can use to create captions that will make your video marketing more accessible. When you upload you’ll just need to choose the language and upload your file.

Video Hosting Platforms

Video marketing isn’t just about what people are watching, it’s where they’re watching. There are many places to host videos online, and in this section, we’ll talk about some of the best ones.

YouTube

When you ask your friends which online video platform they use, the answer you probably hear the most is YouTube.

YouTube is the largest video hosting platform, second largest search platform, and the most visited website in the world.

Every single day, people watch over five billion videos on YouTube. It’s also free to upload your videos to YouTube and optimize them for search.

In addition to its massive audience, YouTube offers several other features that make the platform a good choice for hosting your video.

• Build an audience of subscribers. Because you can host YouTube videos on individual channels, users who follow your channel are more likely to see other videos you upload.

• Organize your videos into playlists. You can add videos in your channel to playlists. This makes it easy for your audience to search within your content.
• Target and engage a specific audience. As a social platform, viewers can engage with your videos by liking and commenting on them, providing you another chance to interact with your audience. YouTube also offers a variety of advertising strategies for more sophisticated targeting.

Although YouTube offers the benefit of reaching a large audience with no cost to upload and host videos, there are several downsides to the platform.

While video ads can be a great tool for promoting your content, the number of ads on the platform from other advertisers can detract from your viewer’s experience.

Vimeo

If your friends aren’t watching YouTube they’re probably using Vimeo, the second largest video hosting platform.

Vimeo’s audience is much smaller than YouTube’s, with 1.58 million subscribers in 2021. But there are still many benefits that make it a favorite for content creators and viewers alike. These features include:

• Fewer Ads and Commercials. Vimeo has limited ads and commercials that would otherwise detract from your viewers’ experience.
• More Professional Content. Videos on Vimeo also tend to be higher quality than on YouTube, and the audience on the platform is likely to be more professional.
• More Options for Businesses. Vimeo offers several different premium account choices for businesses. The premium accounts provide more storage, advanced analytics, customer support, player customization, access to lead generation tools, and much more. Besides premium accounts, Vimeo also partners with businesses to produce quality marketing content.

If you’re looking to showcase high-quality, artistic content, Vimeo might be the platform for you. But if you want to increase your reach, let’s explore some other platform options.

Vidyard

Vidyard is an online video platform for business. They offer tools to create, host, and share videos to enable sales and service teams to connect with customers.

Tools that can enable your video success on this platform include:

• Native publishing. This platform allows you to post and update video content to multiple online channels from a central location.
• Data Reporting. Their tool also offers analytics of viewer insights. That data can connect directly to your marketing automation software or CRM. For example, if that prospect you’ve been monitoring views your latest case study video, they’ll let you know right away.
• Video personalization. Vidyard also helps businesses personalize videos with the viewer’s name or company. This is a creative addition as you work video into your marketing and sales strategies.

Video Marketing for Social Media

Now that we’ve covered the biggest video hosting platforms, let’s drill down into best practices for social media.

Expect viewers to watch your videos without sound.

Did you know that Instagram was the first social channel to show silent, auto-playing videos? This type of video is popular on social media because it makes it easy for viewers to watch videos when they are in public.

Here are a few best practices you can use to make silent videos engaging:

• Start with action to grab your viewer’s attention.
• Videos that feature people speaking are great for landing pages or your website, but try to stick to visually stimulating videos for social media.
• Add text or include captions so that viewers can follow along with or without audio.

Short videos are best.

The most popular videos on social media vary in length by platform. While some strategies call for a longer video, shoot your video in a way that makes it easy to break into more bite-sized pieces. This will help you get more traffic and engagement from your video marketing.

Grab attention fast.

When you’re posting to social media, your video content is competing with a lot of information on the screen. If your viewers are watching from their mobile devices, there’s even more competition. So, it’s a good idea to get into your content quickly and to make it clear what your video is about in the first 8-10 seconds.

Shoot video that works on many different screen sizes.

As you shoot your video, be sure to compose each shot for a range of screen dimensions and shapes.

For example, your audience can watch a widescreen video on their mobile phone while scrolling on Facebook or LinkedIn, but the same video might cut off important visual information if it’s posted as an Instagram story.

Follow best practices for each social media platform.

Facebook Video Best Practices

In 2016 Facebook emphasized video content with a dedicated video tab, and the platform’s focus on video has grown from there.

Using video on Facebook seems to give brands greater reach in the newsfeed. This is probably because they emphasize viewer engagement in their algorithm. And according to recent Biteable research, their video ad test got 480% more clicks than a still image. This shows that audiences are currently more engaged with videos on the platform.

Brand awareness videos that are light-hearted and entertaining tend to perform well on Facebook. They also offer a detailed best practices guide that outlines how to succeed with video on the platform. It includes recommended video length and priorities for mobile viewing.

Their goal is to better surface videos that are most relevant to the viewer. This means that creating the right content for your audience is more important than churning out videos to keep up with what’s popular.

It’s also a good idea to upload videos directly to Facebook because their algorithm considers a user’s previous video-related actions when determining what videos to show them on later visits.

Instagram Video Best Practices

Instagram’s latest strategy is prioritizing video and social selling. This makes it a perfect platform to launch your latest marketing video.

To impress viewers on Instagram, offer your viewers something they value. IG’s content best practices recommend videos that are consistent, original, and full of personality.

There are four different video formats on the platform:

Reels

Reels are 15-30 second videos that you can edit with in-platform tools including:

• Timed text
• Filters
• Timer and speed controls

This IG video format also lets users add sound to their videos from an in-platform audio library.

Stories

Stories are 15-second videos, or 15-second sections of a longer video, that disappear after 24 hours.

You can also save Stories to your profile. Stories give brands a chance to post direct links that make it easier for people who see your products on Instagram to start shopping.

Instagram Video

Instagram video replaced IGTV in 2021. These videos can be as long as 60 minutes, which gives you a lot of room to experiment.

Instagram offers live video too.

Instagram is also the most popular social media platform for influencers. You may want to work on some collaborative videos if you want to make the most of Instagram for video.

Twitter Video Best Practices

Daily video views on Twitter increased 95% from 2020 to 2022.

Brevity is a core factor on this popular channel. So, when teasing a blog post or piece of content on Twitter, always keep your video short and to the point.

Short clips that are easy to consume tend to perform the best. According to Twitter, short means 6-15 seconds. They don’t recommend you make videos longer than that.

If you want to get a little more experimental with using video on Twitter, you can try making custom videos to engage with your audience. Personal, one-on-one response videos are a smart way to make your brand more human while building personal connections with your followers.

Some other recommendations from Twitter’s team include:

• Try pinning your video to the top of your profile for some added exposure.
• Show your logo and keep a permanent placement in the upper-left or upper-right corner of the frame
• Open your video with your products and services

LinkedIn Video Best Practices

LinkedIn users love video and video has been a focus on the platform since 2017. This is a professional platform and users spend a lot of time networking and searching for jobs. Keep that focus in mind as you create videos for LinkedIn.

For example, if you have a time-saver or just learned something new that might help other people in your network, video is an effective medium for sharing that knowledge.

Industry news is another relevant topic on this platform. If you have thoughts on a recent announcement or news article, let people know what you’re thinking in a video.

And if your company has some news like a great recent hire, a video can offer a personable take that you can add to a press release.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, check out these ideas:

• Showcase new technologies in video format
• Offer tutorials on how a new physical product works
• Broadcast from industry conferences and events

TikTok Video Best Practices

TikTok hit 1 billion monthly active users in 2022 and the most popular app in the U.S. in 2021. While this app started as a spot where Gen Z teens could learn the latest dances, it’s become a force for users of all ages.

Trending content with a high number of views gets priority with TikTok‘s algorithm. Frequent posting, humor, and authenticity are key on this platform.

If you’re interested in advertising as well as organic posting, they have a helpful guide for top niches like gaming and ecommerce.

Pinterest Video Best Practices

Pinterest added video to their platform in 2016 and added live streaming in 2022. Pinterest loves creativity, and they recently launched Creator awards to emphasize this focus.

If you’re not sure if Pinterest is the right platform for your audience, take another look. Product searches increased by 20x in 2020 on the platform, and 75% of surveyed users say they’re always shopping.

So, promote a new blog post, engage with your audience, or even drive viewers to a landing page with Pinterest videos.

To drive traffic on Pinterest, create videos that encourage viewers to act, whether it’s saving a pin, reading a blog, or buying a product. Don’t forget to include visual cues for your brand and to create consistent and visually stunning videos for your pins.

Live Video

Live features on social media let users post live video streams of what they’re doing at that very moment.

And live video is more popular than ever. According to Statista, live streaming is the video content of choice for over 30% of viewers.

Most social media platforms offer live video streaming, including Facebook and Instagram. To get the most out of live video, make sure you’re maintaining the same production values for your live video as your pre-recorded videos. High-quality live videos will set you apart from other videos on social media.

For example, If you’re recording live video footage on the go, keep in mind that background noise is easily picked up by microphones. You may want a more controlled environment if you’re recording a more serious or professional broadcast.

Here are a few more tips to make your live videos stand out.

Think about timing.

Keep in mind that your live video will be broadcast from the platform itself, so that’s mostly where you’ll be promoting your broadcasts. Do some research on your target audience to find out when they’re most engaged with your posts.

Even if some of your followers miss out, most apps will save your videos to the app by default. You can delete them manually if you want to but they’ll usually be available for viewing by your followers after your live stream ends.

Come up with a compelling title.

Your title should describe what your video is and why people should either tune in now or replay your stream later. Adding the word “exclusive” to your title lets users believe they’re seeing footage no one else has seen before. This can make your video more exciting for potential viewers, so they’re more likely to tune in.

Respond to comments live.

On many platforms, people who are watching your stream in real-time can comment and “like” the broadcast.

Other viewers can see these comments and the number of likes your video has. Acknowledge or respond to these comments on the live broadcast to encourage engagement. This makes the experience feel like more of a two-way conversation.

Experiment and keep an eye on your data.

Be sure to experiment with different ways of using live video and what types of content your audience likes most.

Most platforms will offer data that you can analyze to figure out what works.

Video Marketing Distribution

During this final phase, you’ll share your video with the world. Some videos will be broadcast on many platforms, while others will be just for a specific platform or campaign.

Channels for Video Marketing: Owned

Owned marketing channels are properties that you have free access to and can control. These channels give you the freedom to experiment with your video content and test what works before investing in paid channels.

Besides organic social media, think about posting on these channels.

Website

Adding relevant videos to your website can bring a boost in traffic. It also offers an opportunity to educate prospects about new products and the best ways to use your products.

For example, this video for stovetop cookware went viral because it showed people a helpful product feature they didn’t know about before.

Blog

Many of the most popular blogs teach readers something new. Adding a video to your most popular blogs can give viewers another way to quickly learn about a topic and another way to engage with your brand. Videos can also improve traffic because of their influence on SEO.

Email

Email clicks go up by 300% when you add video to your emails. If that’s not enough, videos convince people to buy a product or service and they can decrease the number of incoming support calls. This makes them excellent add-ons for customer and prospect emails.

Channels for Video Marketing: Paid

Paid channels aren’t an extra anymore, they’re a necessity, and brands new to paid media need to be smart about where and how they go about it.

Marketers’ top priority is generating leads, and 86% of marketers say that video is effective for lead generation. Whether you’re posting retargeting campaigns or using PPC to build your audience, videos can help. And paid social media ads aren’t your only option.

But what are the best choices for paid media placement?

Display ads

Display ads are text, image, or video advertisements that compel the viewer to click to a landing page and take action like signing up for a free trial or buying a product.

Outstream Video Ads

Outstream ads are video ads that automatically play on mobile devices in a large format player. Users navigate to them in on-page, banner, and text content. For example, news websites and blogs often feature outstream video ads.

Instream Video Ads

Instream ads are the opposite of outstream ads. In instream video ads, the advertisement is part of existing video content, like a TV commercial.

Instream ads play before, during, or after other types of video content.

Interstitial Video Ads

These popup video ads are another consideration. In these ads, a user can navigate past your ad by clicking the ad or closing it to continue what they were already doing.

Native Advertising

Native ads will match the look and feel of the media format where they appear.

For example, if you sell sunglasses and partner with a bathing suit company, you can place an ad on their site.

Native ads feel more natural than some other paid ads. They can be expensive, but also have high conversion rates because they often align with something the viewer is already looking for.

Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is like native advertising because it matches the tone and feel of where it’s placed.

It’s media that a business pays for, but it’s created and shared by another brand or publisher.

Influencer Marketing

You can ask influencers to create your videos or collaborate with a favorite influencer to create videos together. From there, you can decide which channels are best for distribution. This is an excellent strategy to grow your brand reach.

Defining Your Goals and Video Analytics

Before launching any marketing campaign, it’s important to decide your primary video goal. You built goals into your initial video marketing strategy, but these goals can sometimes change during production.

It’s a good idea to pick out just one or two goals for each video. Any more than that, your video will seem unfocused, making it difficult for viewers to understand what they should do next.

For example, a single video can bring awareness to a new product and your brand, but adding the story of your founder to that same video could be too much.

Next, let’s talk about metrics. Understanding video analytics will equip you to define and measure your success.

When you post a video, it’s easy to get obsessed with one metric — view count. While view count can be an important metric, other metrics may be more relevant to your campaign.

As you choose which video analytics to track, try not to collect more data than you can analyze. Choose the metrics that are most relevant to your video marketing goals.

These are some popular metrics you’ll see when you publish and track video.

View Count

View count is the number of times users have seen your video. It’s also referred to as reach.

This metric is great to track if your goal is to increase brand awareness. But it’s important to remember that every video hosting platform measures a view differently.

For example, most articles state that a view on YouTube is 30 seconds while a view on Facebook is only 3 seconds but no one is really sure. So try to read the fine print before reporting on your video view count.

Play Rate

Play rate is the percentage of people who played your video divided by the number of impressions it received.

This metric helps figure out how relevant or appealing your video is to your audience. If thousands of people see your video, but only a handful of people play it, it’s probably time to optimize your content.

Social Sharing and Comments

If you’re on social media, you’re probably familiar with sharing and commenting. Social shares and comments are good indicators of how relevant your content is to your target audience.

If a viewer watches your video and takes the time to share it with their network, you probably created a great piece of content. Social shares are also important because the more times your viewers share your video, the higher your view count will be. If your goal is to reach a lot of people, social shares are a good metric to track.

Video Completions

A video completion is the number of times users play your video in its entirety. This metric can be more reliable than view count when trying to gauge your video’s success.

Completion Rate

The completion rate is the number of people who completed your video divided by the number of people who played it.

Completion rate and other engagement metrics are a great way to gauge a viewer’s reaction to your video. Do you have a low completion rate? Are people all dropping off at a certain point? This might be a sign that your video content isn’t resonating with your target audience.

Click-Through Rate

Click-through rate (CTR) is the number of times users click your call-to-action (CTA)divided by the number of times it’s viewed.

CTR is a great indicator of how effective your video is at encouraging people to take your desired action. If your CTR is low, consider revising the design or copy of your CTA.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the number of times visitors completed your desired action divided by the number of clicks on your CTA.

If your goal is to have your viewers complete an action like signing up for a free trial, try adding a video to your landing page to see if your conversion rate increases.

Bounce Rate and Time-On-Page

Are you thinking about adding a video to a web page? Take note of the page bounce rate and how long people stay on the page before you add the video. Be sure to check the metrics after you place the video to see if your video changes the way people interact with your other content.

How to measure the effectiveness of your video marketing strategy.

Measuring performance on each platform and channel provides valuable information. This can help you decide whether a video is the right content type for your audience.

Across all platforms, in addition to the metrics above, be sure to measure views over time to determine the lifespan of your videos. You may find that you need to refresh your videos every few weeks or months to stay relevant to your audience.

Keep tracking and comparing engagement with your videos. This will help you find which topics encourage the most sharing and have a better lifetime value.

Ready, Set, Action

Video marketing can be overwhelming at first, but with a little practice and patience, you can easily produce high-quality video content that is unique to your brand.

Pick up a camera, start filming, and watch your engagement levels increase. It’s time to make video a key part of your marketing strategy.

Take one step at a time and keep learning. You never know how a new idea or strategy can help you meet your goals.

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

Leadership isn’t just about control — it’s also about actions and behaviors. As a leader, do your current leadership behaviors align with both your and your team’s goals? And does your behavior boost your team’s morale or bring the mood down — resulting in high turnover and less efficiency? To help you answer those questions, we’ve put together a breakdown of the kind of conduct that leaders should exhibit.

Leaders who don’t possess these behaviors may struggle with completing objectives, maintaining a healthy work environment, or managing their team members.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at 30 examples of leadership behaviors that will benefit both you and your team.

Effective Leadership Behaviors Examples

1. Compassion

Compassion means having sympathy and concern for others, especially when they are experiencing misfortune. Leading with compassion builds trust and promotes collaboration. Your employees will feel more comfortable confiding in you about issues that may be disrupting their workflow.

2. Adaptability

An excellent leader is always prepared to shift priorities and processes to adapt to changing market conditions. New viral social media sites are popping up every day. State-of-the-art technologies are always in development and changing the ways consumers interact with products and services. Adaptable leadership means working to keep up with these changes and ensuring that your business model is always up-to-date and evolving.

3. Coaching mindset

Having a coaching mindset means wanting to help your employees improve their skill set and grow both personally and professionally. As a leader, you should also act as a mentor by taking the time to get to know your employees and their goals to help set them up for success. Consider having training sessions that focus on specific areas of the business or set aside time for your employees to shadow colleagues in different departments — based on their interests.

4. Active listening

According to a 2021 global survey by The Workforce Institute at UKG, 74% of employees say they are more effective at their job when they feel heard. That same study also showed 88% of employees whose companies financially outperform others in their industry feel heard compared to 62% of employees at financially underperforming companies.

Active listening means giving the person who is speaking your full, undivided attention. In tandem with listening to their words, you’re also analyzing what’s being said —paying close attention to the content, intentions, and emotion of the speaker. Employees appreciate this because it means they’re not only being heard they’re also being understood.

5. Motivation

You can’t expect your team to be motivated to reach new heights if you aren’t. Leaders set the tone for their team’s morale. Being a motivational leader means showing enthusiasm for the company’s future. It also means setting the vision for the company and getting team members equally excited about what’s to come.

6. Self-awareness

Being a self-aware leader means understanding your character and feelings. Knowing your character is important because it means you are aware of your strengths, weaknesses, and the way you respond to situations. This provides a foundation from which you can work to make improvements where need be. Being aware of your feelings also allows you to approach situations with clarity and a calm mind.

7. Confidence

In order for your team to believe in you, you must first believe in your own leadership abilities — that’s why confidence is key. To build your confidence, repeat positive affirmations to yourself, practice good posture, speak clearly, and make eye contact while speaking. It’s easier said than done, but with good practice and repetition, your confidence will grow and your team will notice.

8. Assertiveness

Assertive leaders stand up for themselves, others, and what they believe in —but being assertive does not mean being “pushy” or “disrespectful.” Stand up to others while remaining calm and positive.. Be direct and clear in your communication, and don’t just passively accept unfavorable responses.

9. Time management

An effective leader knows how to use their and their team’s time wisely. Leaders properly manage time by streamlining workflows to make processes more efficient. They also implement detailed plans that prioritize important tasks and take the amount of time it takes to complete them into account.

10. Detail-oriented

Completing a project on time is important, but timeliness means nothing if the project is riddled with errors or missing key components. A true leader pays close attention to detail to ensure high standards of quality are met. However, that does not mean a good leader lets their attention to detail interfere with important developments —it simply means they use their attention to detail to deliver thorough results.

11. Communication

As a leader, you must be able to clearly articulate your objectives. Communicating effectively means you can spend less time repeating yourself and more time taking action. So make sure your verbal communication is easy to understand. Another aspect of great communication is understanding how your team prefers to communicate. Do email updates help? How about weekly scheduled Zoom meetings and town halls? Pay close attention to the types of communication that yield the best results and implement them into your strategy.

12. Accountability

Accountability doesn’t just mean holding someone else to task for their behaviors —it also means holding yourself accountable. No leader is perfect, and part of establishing trust with your team is taking responsibility for your own shortcomings. If you missed a deadline or forgot to update your team on a project, take ownership and make a point to do better. Your team will respect your honesty and reflect it by holding themselves accountable as well.

13. Dependability

A dependable leader can be trusted to do what they say they’ll do, when they say they’ll do it, and the way it needs to be done. This instills confidence in the team and can inspire them to do the same. A leader who lacks dependability can shake a team’s morale, reduce efficiency, and lose out on important opportunities.

14. Proactiveness

Proactive leadership means taking the time to plan, improve your team’s processes, and put initiatives in place to prevent problems before they arise. As a proactive leader, you should identify areas of risk for your team and work to minimize negative impacts or remove them altogether before issues pop up.

15. Planning

The key to being proactive is to plan. Plan the route to meet your goals and what you’ll do after. Plan for when things go right, and plan in case a project fails. Devise a plan for how each member in your team will contribute to the company’s objectives. Remember, if you stay ready, you’ll never have to get ready.

16. Problem solving

A leader must be able to find solutions to difficult or unpredictable problems, and in an ever-changing professional landscape, unpredictable problems happen by nature. A good leader also understands that they must also utilize the strengths of their teams to get over hurdles.

17. Responsibility

Responsible leaders own the fact that they have an obligation to make tough decisions, lead, and are in control of their team. They do not shy away from responsibility or accountability — and they’re not afraid to be decision-makers.

18. Goal-Oriented

As a goal-oriented leader, you must set clear and realistic goals for both yourself and your team — and be driven to achieve them. Consistent goal setting builds motivation and pushes the team to achieve important objectives and meet deadlines. To maintain a goal-oriented outlook, you must approach each task with a positive attitude.

19. Purpose

Purpose goes hand-in-hand with goal-setting. As a leader, you must have a clear future envisioned for your team that drives everyone forward. Where do all your goals lead to? What drives you to succeed and is that purpose clear to your employees?

20. Commitment

No matter your objective as a leader, reaching it requires commitment. A committed leader will give their time and energy to their company, team, and goals. Their go-getter attitude will also inspire their team to be committed to their tasks as well.

21. Resilience

Being a leader isn’t easy. Sometimes plans fail, markets shift, consumers change, and frustrations can arise. However, a resilient leader finds the strength to persevere through uncertainty or disappointment and helps their team stay the course to their goals.

22. Transparency

Lack of transparency can create distrust between you and your team. To be a transparent leader, you have to make yourself clear and easy to understand. You must also ensure the words you say match your tone and body language to avoid confusion. A transparent leader may not be able to tell the team everything, but they don’t leave questions as to what they can or can’t share.

23. Personal fulfillment

A leader gets a sense of personal fulfillment when a project is completed successfully. That personal fulfillment is the result of alignment between their drive, purpose, and desire to achieve their goals alongside their team.

24. Reflection

A leader who practices reflection is an efficient leader. Reflection allows leaders to look back on previous experiences, learn from them, and make improvements going forward. As a leader, getting external feedback on your decisions can sometimes be difficult. Therefore, practicing self-reflection and taking careful consideration of your past actions can be great ways to help yourself expand your skill set.

25. Empathy

An empathetic leader is able to understand or feel what another person is experiencing by figuratively putting themselves in that person’s position. Being in tune with your team’s feelings and concerns can help you adjust expectations, get to the heart of certain issues, and instill trust. To build empathy, step outside your comfort zone and ask “How would I feel if this were happening to me?”

26. Constructive feedback

The individual members of your team have their own goals — just like you. As a leader you should be comfortable giving constructive feedback to your team members to help facilitate their growth and improve performance. Constructive feedback is informative, issue-specific, based on observation, and is delivered in a way that is not meant to offend or deter. Instead, constructive feedback is delivered to encourage a positive outcome.

27. Empowerment

Empowering your team means delegating specific tasks to team members and giving them authority over those tasks. This shows that you believe in your team’s capabilities and trust them to take charge of projects when necessary. This form of empowerment can also help team members broaden their skills and boost efficiency.

28. Interactive

Leadership isn’t just about keeping to yourself and making decisions solely on your own. It also means working with your team. An interactive leader keeps open lines of communication with their team, connects individuals to their teams via team building, and embraces new perspectives with enthusiasm.

29. Influential

In order to lead, an effective leader must exhibit high-influence behaviors that have an effect on the character, beliefs, actions, and development of their team. With words and examples, leaders set the tone for how projects are executed and have the power to change direction if need be. With low-influence behaviors, leaders will have to work harder to be heard and to have projects completed to their liking.

30. Emotional Intelligence

Empathy, self-awareness, reflection, and compassion are all components of emotional intelligence. Any emotionally intelligent leader is aware and in control of how they express their emotions. By being in control of their emotions, an effective leader can handle their relationship with their team judiciously and respectfully. Emotional intelligence creates a healthy work environment in which everyone feels validated, heard, and respected.

If you don’t possess all the above listed behaviors, don’t worry. These are behaviors that can be honed over time with practice and initiative. Write down the behaviors you wish to develop, and start crafting a clear plan to do so. There is no better time to get started than the present.

Google is not a social media channel per se, but one of its features, Google Web Stories, is similar to the stories format that you’d see on popular sites like Instagram.

It poses a unique opportunity for creators, so read on to learn all about Google Web Stories, what they can do for your business, and how to create them and make an impact.

Table of Contents:

• What are Google Web Stories?
• Google Web Stories Examples
• How to Make Google Web Stories
• Best Practices for Creating Google Web Stories
• Google Web Stories SEO Checklist

What are Google Web Stories?

Google Web Stories are interactive, video-first pieces of content that creators can use to share information with audiences through tappable pages featuring audio, images, and text. The Web Story format was formerly known as AMP Stories.

Google says that styles that work the best with the format are first-person narratives, evergreen or updating stories, live stories, educational and experiential stories, and quizzes and polls.

Web Stories appear in standard Google Search results and as carousels in Google Discover, and you can also add them to a newsletter and link to them from your social media accounts. The image below shows a Web Story in Google Discover on the left and Google Search on the right.

Web Stories are also individual pages on your website, so they can be indexed and surfaced in relevant results. You can feature them as individual pieces of content within your website or embed them like podcast episodes or YouTube videos. The video below from Google for Creators goes into more detail.

Google Web Stories Format

Web Stories have three parts: a poster, a cover page, and story pages.

The poster is the first thing someone sees in your Story, and Google describes it as the packaging. Your cover page is the first page of the content of your story, and story pages are where you begin to tell your story and narrative with video, text, and your preferred assets.

There is only one poster and cover page per story, but you can have multiple story pages.

Can you monetize Google Web Stories?

You can monetize Google Web Stories with AdSense, Ad Manager, and display ads. You can also include affiliate links as attachments or CTAs.

Google Web Stories Examples

1. INPUT – Ford’s Mustang Mach-E 1400 Prototype

Source

This Web Story begins with what feels like a real-life experience as a car zooms across the screen and speeds across a race track. Ford’s Mustang Mach-E 1400 Prototype is a standout Web Story because of its expert use of video to draw users in.  It embodies the video-first elements Google recommends and continues to be interactive throughout the rest of the piece.

2. Nylon – 10 Black-Authored Books To Add To Your Summer Reading List

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Nylon’s 10 Black-Authored Books To Add To Your Summer Reading List Story is an excellent example of expertly using attachments and shoppable links to inspire interaction with viewers and make the user experience seamless. Viewers can tap through and read summaries of each book and, when interested, can click a link to be automatically directed to a site where they can purchase the book.

3. Vice – The Burger Sisters of Kenya

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The Burger Sisters of Kenya is a Web Story about two sisters who own a famous burger food truck in Kenya. This Story is a great inspiration as it features a first-person narrative that feels like a conversation, high-quality video and visuals, and it minds accessibility with captions and audio transcriptions.

How to Make Google Web Stories

This Google format can bring various benefits to your business, like sharing a unique and engaging brand story with your audience, inspiring engagement with interactive elements, driving traffic to your different channels, and the ability to monetize and generate revenue.

Let’s go over how to make them.

1. Storyboard your narrative.

The first step is to storyboard and draft a narrative. Google created a storyboard script template to use to draft your Web Story narrative.

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2. Choose an editor.

After you’ve created a final draft, pick the editor you’ll use to create your Story. If you have developer skills, you can follow a tutorial from AMP that will guide you through the process of creating a Story with custom functionality.

If you don’t have developer skills, you can use one of the recommended no-coding necessary editors.

If you’re a WordPress user, you can use the Web Stories Plugin.

Google Web Stories Plugin

The Web Stories for WordPress plugin, built by Google, will help you easily create and publish your Web Stories on your WordPress site. The editor includes templates, a drag and drop builder, space for custom branded elements, and you can grab existing assets from your WordPress Media Library.

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3. Create your Web Story

Once you’ve chosen your editor, begin building your Web Story.

4. Test your web story before publishing.

The final step is to enable your Web Story on Google, and this requires testing it with various tools.

• Test if it is AMP valid using the AMP test tool or AMP Test Validator.
• Check if your Story can be indexed by Google using the Sitemaps Report and URL Inspection Tool.
• Check if your story renders appropriately for different devices with Chrome Developer Tools.

To embed a Web Story on your WordPress site, you’d use the Web Stories block. If you’ve created your Web Story with any AMP tools, you’ll receive an embed link that you can paste within your site code.

Best Practices for Creating Google Web Stories

Let’s go over some best practices for creating your Web Stories.

1. Champion video-first storytelling.

Google meant for Web Stories to be video-first. It favors video over all else but welcomes audio, images, and animations that help you create a narrative. You can include text, but when you use it, aim for less than 280 characters, or approximately 40 to 70 words per page.

2. Use engaging elements.

Stories are meant to be interactive and engaging for users, so aim to use interactive elements.

The best way to do so is to have multiple story pages so you capture viewer attention and get them excited to tap and learn more. You can also include interactive quizzes and polls, CTAs, and links to different pages to increase viewer interaction with your content sources.

3. Use your brand identity.

Stories show up in SERPs and Google Discover, so you want to include your unique brand elements, so audiences know it’s you.

4. Ensure your stories are AMP valid.

Web Stories run on the AMP framework, so they need to be AMP valid. We recommended various testing tools above, so make sure to use them throughout your process to ensure your Stories can appear on the web.

5. Make your Web Stories accessible.

Although you want to champion visual storytelling, your Web Stories also need to be accessible. Add alt text to your images, transcribe audio, use subtitles and captions, and add metadata to your Stories to ensure everyone can benefit from them.

6. Be mindful of Google’s SEO standards.

As mentioned above, Web Stories are pages on your website. As a result, you want to be mindful of SEO best practices when creating your Web Stories so they can be indexed and ready to appear in SERPs.

Google Web Stories SEO Checklist

The same standard SEO best practices apply to Web Stories. If you already have an SEO strategy for your business, reference it throughout your process. However, there are key Web Story SEO factors to be aware of.

• You want to add metadata to all elements of your Web Story, as it will speak directly to search engines and discover features that want to learn what’s in them. You can optimize for this by following along with AMP metadata guidelines.
• Your Web Stories are pages on your website, so you want them to be self-canonical. Each of your Stories should have a link rel=“canonical” to itself.
• Story titles should be shorter than 90 characters.
• Add Web Stories to your site map and don’t include noindex attributes. You can check if you’ve been indexed using the Index Coverage Report.
• All Web Stories need AMP structured data.
• All Images need alt text to improve discoverability, and video needs subtitles.

Over To You

The story format provides similar benefits on Google as it would on your other channels, so it’s worth considering. If you’re ready to use the feature, leverage the instructions on this list to begin creating a unique, interactive piece of content that is sure to delight your audience.

As marketers find more innovative ways to attract audiences, video has become a meaningful part of the strategic conversation.

Video marketing is no longer an “up-and-coming” content strategy. It’s here, and it’s an increasingly powerful way to communicate your brand story, explain your value proposition, and build relationships with your customers and prospects.

The HubSpot Blog surveyed 550 marketers to learn about the latest video trends. The most recent data shows that video content isn’t just effective — the demand for it is growing at an impressively rapid pace. Here are the key video marketing statistics you should keep in mind to inform your strategy.

General Video Marketing Stats

1. 36% of marketers say the primary goal of their company’s video marketing efforts is to increase brand awareness and reach new audiences.
2. 37% of companies exclusively create video content in-house, 14% rely on an agency, and 49% share a mix of both in-house and agency-created video content.
3. 69% of marketers say their company owns the production equipment used to create video content.
4. The most popular video editing software is Adobe Premiere Pro, which is used by 61% of marketers.
5. 44% of marketers use an iPhone as their primary camera for video content.
6. 88% of companies surveyed have a team dedicated to creating video content, and 45% of companies with dedicated video support have a team of two to five people.
7. 81% of marketers say their primary company has a budget specifically for video marketing, and 52% of marketers said their video marketing budget remained the same for 2022.
8. 42% of marketers surveyed say creating video content through an outside agency has resulted in better videos.
9. 69% of marketers claim the biggest benefit of creating video content in-house is having more creative control and flexibility.
10. When asked what the biggest benefit of working with an agency to create video content is, 68% of marketers point to higher-quality videos that look more professional.
11. 77% of marketers say their company uses YouTube to host marketing videos.
12. 14% of marketers say their company spends between $7,000 to $10,000 to produce a video.
13. When asked how long it takes to create a marketing video from start to finish, 30% of marketers say it takes two weeks.
14. According to 65% of marketers, production (filming, lighting, and audio) is the most expensive part of the video creation process.
15. 38% of marketers say pre-production (ideation, writing the script, and casting) is the most time-consuming part of the video creation process.
16. 74% of companies optimize videos for silent auto-play.
17. 78% of companies leverage accessibility features in video content. The most common accommodation is video captioning, which is used by 65% of companies.
18. 31% of brands publish two to four videos per month.
19. 29% of companies started prioritizing video marketing in 2019.
20. When asked what the three biggest challenges are when creating video content, the top responses were lack of time to create video content (39%), difficulty creating an effective video strategy (33%), and inadequate budget to create video content (31%).

Video Marketing Performance Stats

1. According to marketers the top three most important factors for creating effective video content are capturing viewers’ attention in the first few seconds (36%), effectively promoting videos (36%), and keeping videos concise (33%).
2. The most effective video promotion strategies according to marketers are promoting videos on social media platforms (63%), adding videos to the company website or blog, optimizing the title and description for SEO, and running paid ads for videos (47%).
3. 44% of marketers describe creating video content as somewhat easy.
4. 59% of marketers found video marketing to be somewhat effective for reaching their company’s overall business goals.
5. 47% of marketers say video marketing is moderately important to the overall marketing strategy at their company.
6. 55% of marketers claim video marketing has an average ROI, and 41% of marketers report video marketing having a high ROI.
7. 32% of marketers found the most effective way to generate leads from marketing videos is to place links to landing pages on social media video ads.
8. The top metrics marketers use when measuring video content performance are view count (44%), watch time (43%), and engagement (41%).
9. 36% of marketers say the optimal length of a marketing video is one to three minutes.
10. 39% of marketers report that short-form videos generate the biggest ROI.
11. 64% of marketers surveyed claim say the optimal length of a short-form marketing video is 20-60 seconds.
12. 41% of marketers found the average watch percentage of their short-form videos is between 61-80%.
13. 26% of marketers say the optimal length of a live video is seven to nine minutes.
14. 40% of marketers claim the biggest benefit of creating video content is to help customers understand its products and services. 36% of marketers say the biggest benefit of video content is that it gets more engagement than other types of marketing.
15. 68% of marketers say content showcasing their products and services generates the biggest ROI.
16. Per 63% of marketers, content related to cultural moments and news stories generates the most video engagement.
17. 59% of marketers have created a video that has gone viral.
18. According to marketers, the most important factors in creating a viral video are making relatable content (28%), keeping videos short (27%), and capturing viewers’ attention in the first few seconds (26%).
19. 24% of marketers say funny content is most likely to go viral.

Social Media Video Marketing Stats

1. According to 58% of marketers, short-form videos (such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts), are the main video format they leverage in their roles.
2. The top channels for sharing or hosting marketing videos are social media (76%), blog or website (55%), email (44%), and Vimeo (31%).
3. 67% of marketers say sharing marketing videos on social media (YouTube, Instagram, TikTok) has the biggest ROI.
4. The top social media platform for sharing videos is YouTube (70%), followed by Instagram (60%) and TikTok (35%).
5. 54% of companies plan on increasing their investment in videos for TikTok this year.
6. 64% of marketers say their company has the highest engagement when sharing marketing videos on Instagram.
7. According to marketers, the top social media platforms for generating leads from videos are Instagram (66%) and YouTube (59%).
8. 56% of brands plan on increasing their investment in videos for Instagram this year.
9. When posting marketing videos on social media, 55% of marketers say they leverage a mix of organic and paid content.
10. 27% of marketers said YouTube is the platform they plan to invest the most in for sharing marketing videos in 2022.
11. When comparing the two platforms, 78% of marketers said YouTube was more effective for reaching overall business goals, compared to 8% of marketers who felt Vimeo was more effective for reaching business goals.

As online platforms and consumer habits trend towards video, brands will need to invest in the medium to keep the attention of audiences and grow their reach.

There‘s much more to email campaigns than drafting up some copy and hitting send.

One of the most crucial components is email cadence: the pulse, pace, and playbook of a successful email campaign. In other words, if you can get the right emails to the right customers at the right time, you can get a lot of mileage out of your email marketing efforts.

Let‘s take a deeper dive into what an email cadence is and establish the fundamental principles of structuring a successful one.

The success of an email campaign can hinge upon the effectiveness of its cadence.

If your cadence is too intrusive, obnoxious, or directionless, you can lose out on opportunities to guide leads through their buyers‘ journeys. If potential customers feel pestered or confused by constant, irrelevant newsletters and promotions, they probably won’t stick around to hear what you have to say.

Email Marketing Frequency

In a recent HubSpot Blogs survey of 300 marketers, a whopping 95% reported their email marketing strategy was effective in 2021. Let’s take a look at where (and when) they’re finding success.

When it comes to frequency, here are a few stats to know:

• Emails sent on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday get the most engagement.
• Marketing emails sent from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Tuesday garner the most engagement, followed by Monday and Wednesday at the same time.
• The weekend is a dead zone for engagement — Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have the lowest open and click-through rates.

Another study by Databox found that 33% of marketers send weekly emails, while 26% send emails “multiple times per month.” In addition, 63% said they adjust their send frequency for less engaged subscribers.

Of course, some marketers send emails more than once a week, while others send less. As you‘ll see later, the “right” email frequency is not an exact formula. Instead, it depends on your business and audience.

Here are some best practices to employ to ensure your next campaign‘s email cadence is the best it can be.

1. Understand your goals.

What do you want out of your email cadence? You need to understand where you’re trying to lead your prospects and customers. Are you looking to improve traffic to your blog? Drive e-commerce sales? Schedule meetings? Close deals?

An email cadence guides buyers from point A to point B. You can‘t do that if you have no idea what “point B” is. Your ultimate goal will dictate the strategy behind your cadence. If you‘re trying to do something like increase traffic to your blog, you can stand to lose more subscribers than you would if you were trying to court a group of sales leads into scheduling demos.

If you‘re sending emails purely for the sake of sending emails, your cadence will be aimless and haphazard. Plus, you‘ll waste a lot of time and resources on email campaigns that go nowhere.

2. Try to understand each customer’s mindset.

The whole point of having an email cadence is to hone in on messaging that will resonate most with a specific customer at a given point in time. That means one-size-fits-all, “throw everything at everyone,” impersonal emails won‘t cut it. You need to send your recipients something relevant to who they are as a customer. That often means understanding where they are in their buyer’s journey.

The buyer‘s journey is the process buyers go through to become aware of, evaluate, and ultimately decide to purchase a new product or service. It‘s divided into three stages: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

You can‘t expect to target buyers in all three stages with the same message and have it immediately register with them across the board. Different stages — and engagement levels within those stages — warrant different messages.

Additionally, through the wonders of automation, coordinating this kind of strategy is possible. Several kinds of email and marketing automation software allow you to set up the proper infrastructure to tailor email content and timing to suit different leads’ behavior and interests.

3. Personalize when you can.

Think back on all the targeted emails companies have sent you over the years. How inclined have you been to click through ones addressed to “valued customer,” or “to whom it may concern?” I don’t think it‘s outrageous to assume the answer is “not often.”

Why would your customers be any different? A successful cadence relies on your leads clicking through your emails and progressing through their buyer‘s journey. If you‘re sending impersonal mass-email blasts, crossing your fingers, and hoping for the best, your prospects may wind up suspended in buyer‘s limbo.

Fortunately, there‘s a variety of email software that allows you to personalize your subject lines and email content to cater to specific leads.

4. Don’t be too shy.

When planning an email cadence, you shouldn‘t err too much on the side of “I don’t want to bother you.” It‘s easy to get anxiety about losing leads by coming off as obnoxious or intrusive, but you have to understand there‘s a difference between being pushy and professionally persistent.

You’re missing out on sales opportunities if you’re not consistently sending out emails. A big part of email marketing is keeping your prospects and customers engaged. You might become an afterthought if a lead only gets an email from you once every two months.

Email cadences are a matter of strategically striking while the iron‘s hot. You can‘t do that if you‘re too reluctant to strike at all.

5. Don’t be too aggressive.

Even though you shouldn‘t be too passive, you don’t want to be overly aggressive. There‘s a movie from the 80’s called Say Anything. It has an iconic scene where the main character stands outside his love interest‘s window and serenades her by blaring a song called “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel from a boombox he‘s holding over his head. She swoons over it, and they ride off into the sunset together on a lawnmower ( … for some reason).

It‘s romantic and compelling. But, if he did that twice a day, every day — playing similar, anthemic 80’s rock songs on her front lawn — she‘d be over it pretty quickly. He‘d have to take his lawnmower and Peter Gabriel cassettes somewhere else.

That‘s essentially what sending emails too frequently in your cadence is like. If your leads receive obtrusive, daily reminders and promotions from you, they‘ll unsubscribe from your mailing list.

6. Hone in on the right frequency for your business.

There‘s no magic figure when it comes to email frequency. It‘s going to vary from business to business. It may take some time to get the right feel for how often you should be sending your emails.

Studying your industry averages for email frequency can provide a solid place to start. A prominent fashion brand routinely sending out new promotions and coupons probably isn‘t going to have the same email frequency as a midsize B2B SaaS company looking to set meetings with decision-makers.

Email frequency isn‘t an exact science. It‘s probably going to take some trial-and-error before you find one that best fits both your business and customers‘ interests.

7. Give your subscribers autonomy.

Always give your subscribers the option to control their own email frequency. Giving them this kind of autonomy can keep them from unsubscribing from your mailing list outright if your email frequency seems like a bit too much for them. Include a link to allow them to update their email preferences as they see fit at the end of your emails.

Customers don‘t always approach email frequencies in absolutes. Even if they‘re overwhelmed by how many emails you‘re sending them, they still might want to keep hearing from you. Give them the freedom to pump the brakes. If they don‘t have the flexibility to do that, they‘ll probably just cut you off.

You should always be putting the customer first. Their personal interests take precedence over what you might believe to be your preferred email cadence.

Back to You

Finding your ideal email cadence might not happen with your first series of automated emails. Still, there are certain actions you can take to take to put yourself in the best position to find the one that works best for your business.

Your main priority should always be your prospects and customers‘ interests. Try to understand where they’re coming from, where they stand in terms of buying your product or service, and what they might want out of you and your business, and cater your email cadence around that.

Worry often comes along with the excitement of a new job. What if you can’t adapt to new people, processes, and team-wide dynamics quickly enough to make a great impression?

Fortunately, there’s a way to organize and prioritize your time and tasks, helping you seamlessly adapt to your new environment: The 30-60-90 day plan. Creating and following an effective plan enables you to soak in as much information as possible, master your core job responsibilities, and make a lasting impact on your new team.

In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about building the best 30-60-90 day plan for your new job.

Learning the nuances of your new role in less than three months won’t be easy. But crafting a strong 30-60-90 day plan is your best bet for accelerating your development and adapting to your new work environment as quickly as possible.

There are two situations where you’d write a 30-60-90 day plan: during the final stages of an interview process and during the first week of the job itself. Here’s how each type can be executed:

30-60-90 Day Plan for Interview

Some hiring managers ask candidates to think about and explain their potential 30-60-90 day plan as a new hire. They want to see if they can organize their time, prioritize the tasks they’d likely take on, and strategize an approach to the job description.

For a new hire, a well thought-out 30-60-90 day plan is a great way to help the hiring manager visualize you in the role and differentiate yourself from all other candidates.

Of course, it can be difficult to outline your goals for yourself before you accept a new job. So, how are you supposed to know what those goals are? Start with the job description. Normally, open job listings have separate sections for a job’s responsibilities and a job’s qualifications. Work to find commonalities in these two sections, and how you might turn them into goals for yourself staggered over the course of three months.

For example, if a job requires three years of experience in Google Analytics, and the responsibilities include tracking the company’s website performance every month, use these points to develop an action plan explaining how you’ll learn the company’s key performance metrics (first 30 days), strengthen the company’s performance in these metrics (next 30 days), and then lead the team toward a better Google Analytics strategy (last 30 days).

30-60-90 Day Plan for New Job

The second situation where you’d write a 30-60-90 day plan is during the first week of a new job. If you’re the hiring manager, this plan will allow you to learn how the new employee operates, address any of their concerns or preconceived notions about the role, and ultimately help them succeed.

If you’re starting a new job, and are not asked to craft a 30-60-90 day plan during the first week of that job, it’s still a good idea to write one for yourself. A new job can feel like a completely foreign environment during the first few months, and having a plan in place can make it feel more like home.

Even though 90 days is the standard grace period for new employees to learn the ropes, it’s also the best time to make a great first impression.

The purpose of your plan is to help you transition into your new role, but it should also be a catalyst for your career development. Instead of just guiding you over your job’s learning curve, the goals outlined in your plan should push you to perform up to your potential and raise your bar for success at its every stage.

Parts of a 30-60-90 Day Plan

An effective 30-60-90 day plan consists of three larger phases — one for days 1-30, one for days 31-60, and one for days 61-90.

Each phase has its own goal. For example, the goal in the first 30 days is to learn as much as possible about your new job. The next 30 focus on using learned skills to contribute, and the last 30 are about demonstrating skill mastery with metrics and take the lead on new challenges.

Each phase also contains components that help define goals and describe desired outcomes. These parts include:

Primer

The primer is a general overview of what you hope to achieve during the current 30-day period. It’s worth sitting down with your manager to pinpoint a primer that’s in line with both your goals and desired company outcomes.

Theme

The theme is a quick-hitter sentence or statement that sums up your goals for the period. For example, your theme might be “find new opportunities”, “take initiative,” or “be a sponge.”

Learning Goals

Learning goals focus on skills you want to learn or improve to drive better outcomes at your job. For example, if you’re responsible for creating website content at your company, you might want to learn new HTML or CSS skills.

Performance Goals

Performance goals speak to specific metrics that demonstrate improvement. These might include making one more content post per week or reducing the number of revisions required by management.

Initiative Goals

Initiative goals are about thinking outside the box to discover other ways you can contribute. This might mean asking your manager about taking ownership of new website changes or upgrades with a specific deadline in mind.

Personal Goals

Personal goals focus on company culture — are there ways you can improve relationships with your team members or demonstrate your willingness to contribute?

30-60-90 Day Plan for Managers [Template]

Almost all 30-60-90 day plans consist of a learning phase, a contributing phase, and a leading phase — which we’ll go over in the example plan below. This includes plans that are designed to guide people in new management roles. What sets apart a manager’s plan from any other is their obligation to their direct reports and the decisions they’re trusted to make for the business.

If you’re accepting (or hiring for) a new manager role, consider any of the following goals and how to roll them out at a pace that sets you up for success.

Featured Resource: 30-60-90 Day Sales Onboarding Template

Download the Free Onboarding Template

Get to your know your team’s strengths and weaknesses.

Recommended phase: First 30 days

Everyone is learning the ropes in their first month at a company. For managers, much of that learning happens by talking to the team.

If you’re a new manager, grab some time with your direct reports and get to know their roles. What do they like about them? What are their biggest pain points?

Making your team happy is a hard goal to measure, but it’s an important responsibility to take on as a manager. Your first step is to figure out how you’ll manage and coach your employees through their day-to-day work.

Improve the cost-effectiveness of your team’s budget.

Recommended phase: Final 30 days

Managers often have access to (and control over) the budget for their department’s investments — things like software, office supplies, and new hires. After you spend the first couple of months learning what the team spends its money on, consider using the final 30 days of your plan to make suggestions for new investments or how to reallocate money where you think it needs to be.

Is there a tool that can automate a task that’s taking your team forever to do manually? Draft a financial strategy that includes this tool in the following quarter’s budget.

Help a direct report acquire a new skill.

Recommended phase: Second 30 days

Even though you’re new to the company, you were hired for a reason: You’ve got skills. And you can bring these skills to the people you work with, particularly those people who report to you.

After meeting with and learning about your new colleagues, you might use the second month of your on-boarding plan to find skill gaps on your team that you can help fill.

Do you have expert-level experience with HubSpot, and your new company just started using HubSpot Marketing Hub? Teach them how to do something in the platform they didn’t know before.

Draft a training strategy that can help guide your direct reports into new roles.

Recommended phase: Final 30 days

You won’t be expected to promote people in the first three months of your new job, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have learned enough about your team to decide who’s good at what and how to coach them to where they want to be.

In the final 30 days of your 30-60-90 day plan, you might agree to a goal to develop a training strategy that outlines how to manage your direct reports, and ultimately how to guide them into new roles in the future.

30-60-90 Day Plan for Executives

Executives are a little different from managers in that there are higher performance expectations coming in. As an executive, you’ll need to be highly engaged with the organization from the first day and implement high-impact changes in your role as soon as you can. At the same time, context is important, and you’ll need to understand the culture, team, current operating processes, and challenges before you solve for them.

Here are some critical steps to include in your 30-60-90 day plan in an executive role.

Soak up as much information as possible.

Recommended phase: First 30 days

There’s no point in taking action without context, so start your ramp-up period by gathering information and charting the lay of the land. That means reviewing existing documentation, attending as many meetings as you can, meeting with direct reports and skip levels, and ask a lot of questions.

Create alignment between you and the team.

Recommended phase: First 30 days

In the first 30 days, you’ll be meeting new people and understanding their roles in the organization. Ultimately, your job as an executive is to set the vision for the organization while removing roadblocks for your team as they strategize and execute on it.

One of the best questions you can ask as you familiarize yourself and align with your team is, “In your opinion, what are some existing threats to our business (external or internal)?”

This shows that you care about their opinion and trust their expertise while getting unique perspectives from multiple vantage points in the organization. Plus, if you start hearing some of the same points from multiple team members, you’ll be able to identify the biggest pains, equipping you to make the highest impact changes.

Create goals based on what you’ve learned.

Recommended phase: Second 30 days

When you are interviewing or shortly after you’re hired, you’ll get a feel for the types of pains that the executive team has and the objectives in mind for bringing you on.

Once you have more context about how the organization works, you can take this vision and translate it into concrete, measurable goals that will take your department to the next level.

Identify the A players on the team.

Recommended phase: First 30 days

An A player is a member of your team that goes above and beyond what’s expected in their role. While not every employee will be an A player, you’ll want to ensure that critical roles and teams have at least one A player to lead, inspire, and strengthen camaraderie.

From there, you can figure out the existing gaps in staffing and training, whether it’s team members who need a lot of guidance and must be coached up to performance or empty roles that need to be filled altogether.

Diagnose process issues.

Recommended phase: Second 30 days

Companies of all sizes run into operational issues as they implement processes that are efficient and work at scale. Sometimes, when an executive team isn’t aligned with middle management, processes can become unwieldy.

Learn why things are done the way they are and then figure out if there are workarounds you can implement to streamline operations. Perhaps it’s as simple as eliminating bottlenecks or adding automation to certain functions.

Put together and implement hiring plan.

Recommended phase: Final 30 days

You know your A and B players, and you hopefully have a plan to retain, invest in, and mentor them. However, you’ll likely come across gaps that you need to fill and positions that need to be created to eliminate bottlenecks. From there, you’ll want to create a hiring plan to execute, both for short-term, middle-term, and long-term needs.

Effect changes in operations.

Recommended phase: Final 30 days

Speaking of bottlenecks, your final 30 days of your plan should be focusing on the areas of the business that can achieve the results the fastest. Once you’ve identified these, you can focus on removing these roadblocks to start hitting goals and achieving higher performance.

Contribute to broader company goals.

Recommended phase: Final 30 days

As a member of the executive team, you’ll also be looped in one high-level company initiatives, and the other executives of the company will be relying on you to contribute your deep discipline expertise and experience.

Be ready to lean in on executive meetings and contribute to the vision and strategy of the organization as it moves forward.

How to Write a 30-60-90 Day Plan

No matter what the level of the job for which a company is hiring, improving an employee’s skills requires concrete performance goals, so watch out for vagueness in the objectives you set for yourself.

“Write a better blog post,” or “get better at brainstorming” are terrific ambitions, but they don’t give you a way to measure your progress in them. Set goals that are realistic, quantifiable, and focused. You’ll know exactly how to achieve them and gauge your success.

To write challenging yet feasible performance goals, you need to:

Understand your team’s goals.

Try to understand the purpose behind your team’s goals. It’ll give you more insight into why you and your team should achieve them, motivating you to work as hard as possible to meet those goals.

Identify top priorities.

By connecting your personal responsibilities to your team’s goals, you’ll know exactly how to align your tasks with the needs of the team, which keeps you accountable and compels you to help your team achieve their goals.

Define specific progress measurements.

Tracking your progress helps you gauge your performance and rate of improvement. To see how you’re doing, set up weekly meetings with your manager to ask her what she thinks of your work and track the improvement of your own performance metrics, like the growth of your blog posts’ average views or the amount of qualified leads your eBooks generate.

Reaching your performance goals isn’t the only path toward future success in your new role, though. You also need to study the ins and outs of your team and company, take initiative, and develop relationships with coworkers — all things that a lot of new hires underestimate the importance of.

Consider setting the following types of goals during each stage of your 30-60-90 day plan:

• Learning Goals – How will you absorb as much information as possible about your company, team, and role?
• Initiative Goals – What will you do to stand out?
• Personal Goals – How will you integrate with your company and team?

Aiming to achieve these types of goals will help you hit the ground running in all the right areas of your job. And if you stick to your plan, you’ll notice you’ll be able to spend less time learning and more time executing.

30-60-90 Day Plan Template

Download Your Free Template

HubSpot’s 30-60-90 day plan template includes space for all key elements of your plan — primers, themes, and goals — making it easy for both you and your manager to see exactly where you are in the plan, what comes next, and how things are going so far.

While our template is a great starting point, it’s worth cross-referencing this high-level plan with a more detailed description of your goals and desired outcomes to ensure you’re aligned with company expectations.

30-60-90 Day Plan Example

Using our template, we’ve created a quick 30-60-90 plan example for new employees.

30 Days

Primer

Many new hires are eager to impress, so they dive head-first into their work or try to make suggestions about their team’s process with limited experience in how their new team operates. But have patience.

Understanding your company’s vision and your team’s existing strategy is crucial for producing high-quality work and actually making an impact. If you don’t know the purpose behind your role or the optimal way to perform, you’ll risk missing the mark and your early efforts won’t pay off the way you expect them to.

It’s always better to over-prepare than under-prepare. And it’s okay to take time to learn the ropes — it pays huge dividends in the long run. In the first 30 days of your employment, your priority is to be a sponge and soak in as much information as possible. Once you do that, you can then try to improve more specific parts of your team’s work style.

Theme: Be a Sponge

Learning Goals

• Study my company’s mission, vision, and overarching strategy.
• Read my company’s culture code to learn more about our company culture and why we implement it.
• Read the customer persona and target audience overview to truly understand who our customers are, their pain points, and how our product and content can help them.
• Meet with my team’s director to learn about how meeting our goals will help our business grow.
• Read up on our team’s new SEO strategy, editorial process, and traffic goals.
• Learn how to use the SEO Insights Report to plan and structure blog posts.
• Review my team’s pillar-cluster model overview and understand how to match posts to clusters.
• Meet with my manager to learn more about her expectations.

Performance Goals

• Complete new hire training and pass the test with a 90% or higher.
• Be able to write 3 blog posts per week.

Initiative Goals

• Run the Facebook Instant Article experiment that my manager recommended me to do.

Personal Goals

• Grab coffee with everyone on my team, so I can get to know them on a professional and personal level.

60 Days

Primer

By the end of your first 60 days, you should ramp up your workload, start overachieving, and make a name for yourself on your team.

To do this, start speaking up more at meetings. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas about improving your team’s processes. This shows you’re quickly conquering the learning curve and recognizing some flaws that your colleagues might’ve overlooked. You still have a fresh perspective on the company, so your insight is invaluable.

Theme: Be a Contributor

Learning Goals:

• Learn how to optimize a new post from scratch based on both the SEO Insights Report and my own competitive research.
• Read every other marketing team’s wiki page to learn about other marketing initiatives and how our entire department works together to grow our business.
• Deep dive into my company’s product roadmap and strategy to fully grasp our mission and vision.

Performance Goals

• Be able to write 5 blog posts per week.
• Be down to one cycle of edits per post.
• Understand how to edit a guest post — clean up at least one rough draft.

Initiative Goals

• Share content strategy idea at my team’s monthly meeting and ask if I can spearhead the project to boost blog traffic.
• Ask my manager if I can oversee Facebook messenger and Slack distribution strategy.

Personal Goals

• Meet with my colleagues on other teams to learn about their marketing initiatives and develop relationships outside of my team.

90 Days

Primer

By the end of your first three months, you should have a firm grasp of your role, feel confident about your abilities, and be on the cusp of making a breakthrough contribution to your team. Instead of reacting to problems that pop up at random, be proactive and spearhead a new initiative for your team.

You should also be cognizant of how you can collaborate with other teams to improve your own team’s processes. By taking on some new projects outside of your main role, you’ll start turning some heads and catch the attention of the department at large.

Theme: Be a Leader

Learning Goals

• Do an analysis of my highest and lowest-performing blog post to date. How can I use this information to optimize new content so it performs better out of the gate?

Performance Goals

• Be comfortable with writing five blog posts per week
• Edit one guest post per week
• Try to have 75% of my blog posts not require revisions.
• Write at least one new post that generates over 10,000 views in one month.

Initiative Goals

• Ask SEO team if they want to partner with product marketing team to brainstorm content topics related to our product road map.
• Ask social media team if they’re willing to develop a relationship where we can share each other’s content.
• Ask sales team what our customers’ pain points are, so we can write content that our target audience craves and help them close more qualified leads.

Personal Goals

• Join the yoga club.

30-60-90 Day Plan Team Leader Example

Now, let’s apply that same template to a team leader role with another 30-60-90 plan example.

30 Days

Primer:

During the first 30 days, the goal of a team leader should be to cultivate connections with their team members and discover where they excel, where they struggle, and where they could use help. Creating these relationships lays the foundation for solid communication over time, in turn leading to better results.

Theme: Cultivate Staff Connections

Learning Goals

• Identify strengths for all team members.
• Pinpoint current challenges in accomplishing team goals.
• Encourage staff connections through honest communication.

Performance Goals

• Reduce project completion times by 25 percent.
• Increase team member output by 5 percent.

Initiative Goals

• Establish a mentorship connection with one staff member looking to advance in their role.

Personal Goals

• Arrange one out-of-work activity for staff.

60 Days

Primer:

For the second month, team leaders may want to focus on putting the connections they’ve made to good use and creating a mindset of success across the department. In practice, this means establishing clear goals and specific metrics and working alongside staff to deliver key outcomes.

Theme: Create a Culture of Success

Learning Goals

• Understand where previous team leaders have struggled.
• Identify common themes in goals not being met.
• Clearly define starting points, milestones, and end goals for projects.

Performance Goals

• Ensure current project deadlines are met.
• Deliver at least one project component ahead of schedule.
• Take ownership of one complex task to continue developing team culture.

Initiative Goals

• Based on current project goals, brainstorm two new potential projects.
• Look for ways to integrate current efforts with sales, marketing, or social media teams.

Personal Goals

• Make time for mindfulness practice at work to help improve your focus.

90 Days

Primer:

The last month of your 30-60-90 plan may focus on ensuring the framework you’ve built can be replicated on the next team project and finding new opportunities for your team members to excel.

Theme: Identify New Opportunities

Learning Goals

• Convene with staff to see what worked and what didn’t during the project.
• Look for outcomes that exceeded expectations and discover what sets them apart to help drive improved processes.

Performance Goals

• Become confident in assigning staff specific tasks with minimal oversight.
• Create a regular performance review structure that focuses on helping staff achieve their best work.
• Identify areas for reasonable cost-savings that don’t disrupt current processes.

Initiative Goals

• Look for team members with a passion for leadership and encourage their growth.
• Transition into a more hands-off leadership style that demonstrates trust in employee autonomy.

Personal Goals

• Take up a new hobby to avoid getting burned out at work.

Making the Most of Your First Months

The first few months at a new job are critical in answering key questions: Is the company a good fit? Can you meet (and exceed) expectations? What does your long-term career plan look like?

Building a robust 30-60-90 day plan can take some of the pressure off by providing a framework for success that combines big ideas with specific goals to help drive success.

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

If you’re leaving your job, you’re not alone.

The workforce has revolutionized into “The Great Resignation.” Some experts have renamed the recent spikes in employee resignations as “The Great Reimagination” or “The Great Realization.” People are reevaluating how they work, where they work, and why they work.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in April 2021 alone, around 4 million people quit their jobs. That number is the highest recorded since the bureau started recording such rates.

Even though millions quit their jobs every month, we understand that telling your boss that you’re leaving the company is never an easy conversation. A respectful resignation letter can mean the difference between an awkward goodbye and a chance for a long-term professional connection.

Ideally, you’ll provide a resignation letter two weeks before leaving the company. It lets you officially announce your termination at the company and offers essential housekeeping information, like your last day and other details about your departure.

An effective one helps you ensure a positive conversation with your boss and a smooth transition to your next journey.

But how do you write a good resignation letter? What should you include and exclude?

Writing a resignation letter can feel like a daunting task, so we’ve created a professional resignation letter template to get you started and included examples for inspiration.

Resignation Letter Format

A resignation includes a few elements: the greeting, opening paragraph, body paragraph, and closing paragraph. The letter should be detailed but brief. You should want to inform your manager of your decision, but keep it professional if the reasons are less positive.

What do I include in a professional resignation letter?

Writing a professional resignation letter starts with understanding each of its components:

1. Statement of Resignation and End Date

Begin your letter by stating your position at the company. This might seem redundant if you work at a small company and your boss knows you well, but it’s essential to include it since the letter is your official termination. Along with this information should be a simple statement of your resignation.

Also, providing an end date in the first paragraph is helpful since that’s one of your employer’s first questions.

Here’s what this first paragraph may look like in practice:

I would like to inform you that I am resigning from my position as [Position Name] for [Company Name], effective [Date].

2. Gratitude

Take the time to consider how you’ve grown or what you’ve appreciated most about your time at the company. Be as specific as possible. Perhaps the company provided professional development opportunities. Maybe you’ve enjoyed the environment the company fostered and the supportive atmosphere.

It’s also nice for your employer to receive a thank you for the time and resources they’ve used in supporting your career growth. Here’s an example of what this may look like:

I appreciate the opportunities for professional development that you have provided me over the past two years. I have enjoyed my tenure at [Company Name] and feel honored to have been part of such a supportive team.

If you’d like, you can include where you’re heading. For example, if you’re switching industries to pursue a passion or going to graduate school, it might be appropriate to include that. For example:

I accepted a position as a [New Job Title], and I’m looking forward to [pursuing my passion in [X] or continuing my work with a focus on [Y].

However, if you’re leaving the company for a competitor, it’s better to omit such information.

3. Transition Details

In the third paragraph, mention your willingness to make the transition easier. For example:

If I can be of any help during this transition, please let me know. I am available to help train my replacement and ensure that all my reports are updated before my last day of work.

This sentence might look different for you. But regardless of what you write, it’s good practice to include specific details regarding how you’ll help.

As an optional follow-up paragraph, briefly review the work you’ll be surrendering when you officially leave the company. Although it’s technically your manager’s responsibility to pick this work up and determine how it will continue, it’s helpful to list all the projects and tasks you’ve been in charge of to make the transition even easier on the company in the interim.

If you didn’t serve in a managerial capacity or collaborate with other departments, you could skip this part.

4. Personal Contact Information

This last paragraph is optional and doesn’t need to be included all the time, particularly if you have no desire or need to use your former employer as a reference. However, many candidates choose to maintain their professional networks. A closing may look like this:

Thank you again for the opportunity to work at [Company Name]. I wish you all the best and look forward to staying in touch. You can email me at [Email Address].

What Not to Include in a Resignation Letter

1. Future Career Moves

While you can mention where you’re going next, you don’t need to tell your employer about your new position or salary at length. Keep things professional. You can acknowledge how the current position helped your advancement within your industry. Your letter should be direct and reflective in tone to your employer.

2. Distasteful Language

It goes without saying, but a resignation letter isn’t the time to use profanity and obscene language. You need to remain respectful and professional until your end of tenure. Although you may feel the urge to criticize your former job, the resignation letter isn’t the time to air out the dirty laundry.

3. Emotional Attachments

If you’re leaving a supportive work environment, it’s helpful to leave out emotional sentiments in the letter. Be as professional as possible. You can illustrate those emotions through face-to-face meetings with others.

4. Criticism of Coworkers

Your resignation letter doesn’t need to include negative comments about colleagues or managers at the company. The letter is meant to conclude your tenure, not blame others for incomplete tasks.

5. Projecting Bitterness

This is not the time to project your resentment towards your current job. You need to reflect on positive moments and how you gained useful knowledge about the industry and yourself. You don’t have to leave on a sour note with your employer.

Professional Resignation Letter Samples

With the above template in mind, let’s look at a few sample resignation letters for different positions, each taking a slightly different but amicable tone to their resignations.

1. Gracious Resignation Letter Sample

You can share why you’re quitting if they aren’t work-related reasons. The reasons should be positive or neutral. Its tone is thankful that the employer took a chance on you. Most offer an extended hand to train the incoming person. The letter includes a notice of resignation at least two weeks in advance.

2. Brief Resignation Letter Sample

A brief resignation letter will include two important things: your date of resignation and a formal notice to your supervisor. A good letter can also include a “thank you” line, but it’s not necessary. Although you’re ending your tenure with your current employer, you don’t want to burn a bridge without honoring your notice deadline.

3. Immediate Resignation Letter Sample

While the best way to quit a job is to give at least two weeks’ notice and offer to help with the transition, sometimes circumstances make that impossible. If you need to leave your job immediately without notice, you need an immediate resignation letter.

Here is a sample that can help you:

Free Professional Resignation Letter Templates

Download the Templates Now

Sometimes the nature of your position merits a more specific letter of resignation when you leave. Below are a couple of templates that help these more dynamic roles make a graceful departure from the company.

1. Contractor Resignation Letter Template

If you work freelance, you might need to adjust the focus of your resignation letter to address your final assignments and exactly how you’ll be parting ways with your client. This includes your current duties, tasks you won’t complete, and how you’ll accept your final payment.

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2. Executive Resignation Letter Template

A quick email or two-paragraph notice to your superior might not suffice as an official resignation if you’re in an executive- or senior-level leadership role.

Because these roles are harder to fill, you might play a more significant role in the transition period, especially since you manage more people and decide on the direction of more projects.

The example below separates the resignation into two sections. The first is the resignation itself, and the second is how (and with whom) the resigner’s work will continue. It’s just one of the different templates we have to offer.

Image Source

Ready to Write Your Resignation Letter?

Be polite in your resignation letter no matter your role, state why you’re leaving, and be clear on who you’re informing. Gratitude and support during your departure go a long way with employers, and the last thing you want to do is leave the company on a sour note — even if you’re leaving for unpleasant reasons.

By drawing inspiration from these resignation letter samples and templates, you’ll protect your professional bridges and keep your professional network intact as you start your next adventure.

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

Years ago, I worked at an office where the only time I ever heard from my manager was if I fell short of expectations. Without positive feedback, I felt like all of my wins went unnoticed and that they didn’t matter nearly as much as my losses. This caused me to lose motivation and my productivity began to suffer. It also pushed me to leave the company and seek better opportunities elsewhere.

While it’s important to let employees know where there are areas that need improvement, it’s equally important to give positive feedback so they know where they shine. Giving positive feedback boosts morale, instills confidence, and motivates employees to do their best. It also helps you retain great people who will move your business forward.

A survey by the Society of Human Resource Management found that 80% of HR leaders work at organizations that have an employee recognition program.

Of those leaders, 89% reported their recognition program helped improve the overall employee experience. 86% said it improved employee relationships and 84% said it improved employee engagement.

There are many ways to give positive feedback, but first you must understand what it is.

What is positive feedback?

Positive feedback is the act of recognizing and praising someone for their accomplishments, strengths, and talents. Positive feedback tells an employee what they’re doing right and what they should continue to do.

“If you focus on what someone shouldn’t do without also touching on the things they should do or keep doing, you’re only providing half of an instruction,” says HubSpot’s Historical Optimization Team Manager Amanda Sellers. “Good constructive feedback paired with positive feedback, on the other hand, is a balanced way to paint a whole picture, resulting in more effective outcomes.”

In the workplace, positive feedback from leadership can come in many forms, such as congratulating someone on hitting an important milestone. It can also be in the form of highlighting an employee’s important contribution in a team assignment.

“My approach is that any time I get or have positive feedback about someone I work with, whether I’m their manager or peer, I pass it on,” says our Director of English Growth Aja Frost. “This is such a great way to help others understand how they’re perceived and recognize them for their work. I aim to be as specific as possible.”

How to Give Positive Feedback

Though every employee is different, it generally helps to do the following when giving positive feedback:

• Link the positive behavior to business results. For example, explaining that an employee’s understanding of social media algorithms has increased the company’s engagement across platforms.
• Reward them for their hard work with something you know they’d appreciate, such as a digital e-gift card from Rybbon or a gift from Reachdesk.
• Deliver the feedback as soon as possible after noticing the employee’s achievements or strength.
• Whenever possible or appropriate, deliver positive feedback in front of others.
• Be specific and detailed in your feedback. Include the who, what, where, and why of the matter, so the recipient can apply the feedback to future projects.

It’s also important to check in and ask about their preferences. In one of the earliest conversations I had with my manager at HubSpot, I was asked how I prefer to communicate and receive feedback. Did I prefer email, video call, virtual chat, or some other way? This has helped us communicate effectively and I definitely suggest asking your employees the same question early on.

Positive Feedback Examples

Of course not everyone knows the right thing to say in every situation, but don’t worry! Here are some examples of positive feedback that you can give in different scenarios to encourage your employees’ success.

1. When an Employee is Being a Team Player:

“I appreciate your commitment to keeping everyone on your team focused and up-to-date with their tasks. Thanks to your efforts, the project was completed on time and impressed our clients. Thank you so much for your hard work. That kind of team player mentality is an asset our company values highly.”

2. When an Employee Needs a Boost in Confidence:

“Hey John! You’ve been doing an excellent job lately. Since starting here, you have shown so much growth. The quality of your work improved and your ability to multitask has helped our projects run smoothly. Thank you for your hard work, and don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything I can help you with.”

3. When an Employee Hits a New Milestone:

“Congratulations to Sarah on leading her first social media campaign. To watch her grow from an assistant to the bold leader she is now has been an honor. I can’t wait to see more of her amazing ideas going forward.”

4. When an Employee Completes a Difficult Assignment:

“Thank you so much for completing this task. I understand it was more complicated than we initially thought and required more time. Your positive attitude through it all and your attention to detail is much appreciated. While this was your first time completing such a task, we knew you were the right person to take it on.”

5. When an Employee Handles Conflict in a Professional Manner:

“Thank you for resolving the issue with a disgruntled client today. It’s not easy to navigate conflict with an unhappy client, but you handled it with such grace. Conflict resolution is an important part of the job and you clearly demonstrated your skills in that area.”

6. When an Employee Helps a Coworker:

“I just want to thank Jeffery for training our new hire, Jessica, and helping her acclimate to both her new role and the company. Jeffery has made himself available for all of her questions and has provided excellent guidance. All this has made Jessica’s transition into the company seamless.”

7. When an Employee Takes on Additional Tasks Outside Their Role:

“I just want to give a shout out to Michael for taking it upon himself to assume some of the responsibilities of the assistant manager while we look for someone to fill the role. His proactiveness has helped us immensely, and because of that we’ve been able to dedicate time to finding a successful candidate for the role without falling behind on our initiatives.”

8. When an Employee Exceeds Expectations:

“I just want to congratulate Laura for finishing strong this quarter soaring past her goal. We initially wanted to increase our following on social media by 15%, but thanks to her hard work we increased by 30%.”

9. When an Employee Takes on More Responsibilities:

“Promoting you to director of sales has proven to be a great decision given how well you adapted to your new responsibilities. Your flexibility as you take on new tasks has really pushed the department forward. We can’t wait to see how you continue to grow in this new position.”

10. When an Employee has Submitted Outstanding Work:

“Excellent job on this report, Adrian! It’s clear you’ve taken our notes into consideration and have paid close attention to detail. The way you’ve organized your finding makes this report easy to break down with the rest of our team. Thank you for your hard work!”

Everyone has their own preference when it comes to receiving feedback. However, always remember to be timely, detailed, and sincere when giving positive feedback to your employees. By doing so, you’ll foster a workplace culture that promotes growth, high morale, and employee retention.