Intent data is one of the hottest topics in the marketing world.

As COVID-19 forced us apart, employees dispersed from centralized offices, creating a new type of challenge for businesses: How do we reach buyers when they’re not gathered in one location?

Fortunately, we know the solution: Studying and understanding buyer-level intent data.

NetLine’s Intent Discovery capabilities package all of this data into actionable insights for B2B Marketing and Sales teams.

What is Intent Discovery?

NetLine’s Intent Discovery is a sales acceleration tool designed to capture first-party intent data at the buyer-level generated by the collective consumption behavior occurring across 13k+ pieces of gated content. 

Intent Discovery delivers actionable insights into your target accounts, providing Marketers with dramatic scale beyond the limitations of their own content—delivering first-party sourced intent-rich data to accelerate sales outcomes. 

Through Buyer-Level Intent Discovery, you can tap into our networks’ entire universe: 

• Access to each one of our 13k+ content assets
• 35,925,120 different ways of filtering buyers actively performing research
• Billions of data points
  

Answering the question of “who” a given prospect has long been an obstacle for Marketers. Sales, understandably, wants as much data as possible on each lead. However, getting this type of granular information has long been a challenge for Marketers. 

To better understand the kind of insights NetLine’s Intent Discovery delivers, let’s further define buyer-level intent.

What is Buyer-Level Intent?

Buyer-level intent, or buyer intent data, is the measure of an individual prospect’s readiness to make a purchase within a given timeframe. 

This measurement is based on a group of signals presented by a prospect over the course of their digital buying journey.

What’s the Difference Between Buyer-Level Intent and Company-Level Intent?

If buyer-level intent is based on an individual prospect’s readiness to make a purchase in a given timeframe (which it is), then company-level intent, or account-level intent, is the measurement of a group of prospects working within the same organization.

For years, we have had visibility into company-level intent data, thanks to IP address information and the social web. Today, there is a much greater emphasis on knowing who a buyer is versus knowing which company is interested. The reason for this shift is simple: Businesses don’t make decisions—people do.

Ahrefs reports that in the past five years web pages focused on intent data rose by 2,739.1%. Despite this staggering figure, the attention placed on buyer-level intent data dwarfs its parent topic, increasing 13,609.7% over the same time frame (and 1365.5% since March 2020).

Google Trends highlights this shift, as well, as searches for buyer intent have become far more frequent since March 2020. 

With the shift towards remote work, Sales teams aren’t interested in guessing which contact is interested in their products or services—and it’s on Marketing to deliver. 

How NetLine’s Always-On Intent Discovery Delivers Actionable Insights

NetLine’s Intent Discovery product features an Always-On segment that gives us visibility into the changing needs of a given customer profile. For this example, we analyzed responses from our Human Resources and Project Management segments to highlight the unparalleled insights Intent Discovery offers.

Human Resources

The majority of respondents (77.82%) were looking to make a decision regarding additional investment in HR-related software beyond the next 12 months. However, that still leaves more than 20% of an entire market that’s looking to make a buying decision in the next 12 months:

• When asked about which top HR priorities respondents were allocating resources towards, 34.8% said Performance Management, making respondents 56.8% more likely to say it was their top priority over the second most popular answer, Talent Management Systems. 
• Respondents in the Healthcare/Medical field were the most likely to state that Performance Management was their top priority (36.56%), which is essentially identical to the response rate of Senior Human Resources Directors in the same industry (36.55%), enough to make this group 5.1% more likely to prioritize Performance Management than any other Job Function, Job Level, and Industry combination. 
• Responses from professionals in the field of Agriculture and Education also highlight the benefits of knowing who isn’t in-market, as they were the least likely to respond to any of these questions. 

Project Management

Similar to the responses seen within our HR Intent campaign, most of the respondents (67.73%) were looking to make a decision regarding additional investment in HR-related software beyond the next 12 months. Unlike the HR respondents, however, there was a greater share of professionals looking to make additional investments within the next 12 months:

• So what were the top Project Management priorities respondents were allocating resources towards? Would it surprise you that 25.65% (including 38.9% of Agriculture professionals) said Project Planning was their top priority in Project Management? It certainly shouldn’t! 
  • Respondents were 300% more likely to select Project Planning as their top priority compared to Budgeting and Expense Reporting, the least popular choice. 
• 28.26% of respondents said Organizational Adoption was their top challenge when it came to managing and using Project Management Software, making this the top selection.
  • Senior Management professionals (represented mostly by the Non-Profit/Organizations, Information Technology, Finance, and Manufacturing trades) accounted for 32.9% of all responses. 
• 75% of C-Level professionals leading Information Technology organizations of 1,000 – 2,499 employees were 579% more likely to state that Project Planning was their organization’s top challenge in managing and using Project Management Software. 
• C-Level Information Technology professionals operating organizations of between 25 – 49 employees were the most likely to say their timeline for additional investment extended beyond the next 12 months—making them 77.42% more likely to make this statement compared to the rest of their Senior Management peers.

How to Follow-up on Intent-Rich Leads

Once you’ve added buyer-level intent data to your repertoire, understanding how to take the next step is critical. Remember: Intent Discovery is not a traditional lead generation vehicle. Instead, Intent Discovery is focused on delivering insights beyond first-party data captured from a client’s content. 

This means that Marketing and Sales teams need to be keenly aware of how to best utilize and leverage these insights for your (and your prospect’s) benefit.

How Marketing Can Best Put Buyer-Level Intent Insights to Use

Thanks to buyer-level intent data, Marketers have a multiplier to the intent use cases marketers know and love…only better. By knowing “Who” their target audiences and buyers are more completely now than ever before, Marketers have significant opportunities in front of them.

Here are a few:

Personalize Dialogue in Sales and Marketing Outreach
How often have you responded to an email that began with, “Hey COMPANY NAME,”? If the answer is any higher than zero times, I’d be stunned.

Buyer-level intent data allows you to go beyond company-level personalization and embrace the knowledge of truly knowing who is actively exhibiting intent within the account. ​While intent data is not exclusively the same as a lead, it should be treated with the same reverence

Tailor Campaign and Content Messaging
If you knew that a Project Marketing Manager was struggling with keeping their projects organized, you wouldn’t subject them to messaging that focused on an entirely different project management software solution.

Once you know about a prospect’s needs, you need to immediately pivot and consider the additional variables your prospect will need: What type of unique content is needed to move them closer to a buying decision? Who else is involved in the buying committee? Who is the ultimate decision-maker?

Identify Likely-to-Buy Accounts
Buyer-level intent information is chock full of data your Marketing and Sales colleagues can seize on. However, just because you have additional intent data at your disposal doesn’t automatically mean these are the best buyers for you.

Matrix buyer-level intent data against existing internal signals to identify which accounts are not only actively exhibiting first-party intent but also align with your core buying indicators.​

Inform and Augment Content-Centric Lead Generation Campaign Targets
Sometimes, no matter how hard we work on our content, it’s just not what our ideal buyers are looking for. 

As we learned in our 2022 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report for Marketers, while eBooks are the most popular content format by registration volume, White Papers and Webinars registrations are far better at suggesting a buyer is preparing to make a purchase decision. By using Buyer-Level intent, you can close the loop on your content syndication campaigns and gain increased levels of refinement.

How Sales Can Best Put Buyer-Level Intent Insights to Use

Intent Discovery offers Sales organizations the ability to prioritize efforts based on responses captured vs. randomly tossing onto the pile. ​

Perhaps the best way Sales can leverage buyer-level intent data is by focusing on one word: Who.

Knowing “Who” you’re reaching out to certainly eliminates guesswork and therefore streamlines your engagement process. Intent Discovery exposes the “Who” within given accounts and, as we’ve shown in the examples above, simultaneously delivers real-time insights into their intent, pain points, and needs. Knowing “Who” is in-market is the ultimate ace in the hole for Sales professionals.

By acting upon these insights, Sales can fast-track its dialogue with prospects, ​much like a leading Revenue Growth Platform did.

When our client was looking to improve the success rates of their demos, they initially used NetLine’s leveraged lead gen offerings. However, by leveraging NetLine’s Always-On Buyer Level intent program to their online registration forms, registration and in-person demos rose dramatically, resulting in a 71% increase in demo attendance and a 20% lift in won business.

Seeing success from Intent Discovery means having process and personnel responsible for the duty of follow-up action after lead retrieval. The vendor was able to capitalize on signals real users were sharing across NetLine’s vast content library by having a member on their team actively following up with leads, When the platform found an ideal, in-market buyer, they were ready to seize the opportunity to engage and nurture their newest (and possibly best) lead.

Getting the Most Out of Buyer-Intent Data

Buyer-level intent data is one of the best resources B2B organizations now have at their disposal. By using it strategically, you can enhance your lead generation program and become the efficient machine you’ve always aspired to be. 

Remove the guesswork and find out “Who” your in-market buyers are by leveraging buyer-level intent data!

Adding a checkbox to your workbook may sound simple but it can expand the possibilities of what you can do in Excel.

From checklists to graphs, there’s so much you can do. However, it starts with the checkbox.

Learn everything you need to know about checkboxes below.

How to Insert a Checkbox in Excel

1. Add the developer tab to your Ribbon.

   

2. Navigate to the Developer tab and locate the “Checkbox” option.

   

3. Select the cell where you want to add the checkbox control then click the checkbox.

   

4. Right-click the checkbox to edit the text and adjust sizing.

   

To do this on Windows, click File > Options > Customize Ribbon. Then, select the Developer checkbox and click “save.” On IOS, click Excel > Preferences > Ribbon & Toolbar > Main Tabs. Then, select the Developer checkbox and save.

On Windows, there are a few extra steps to see the checkbox option. Under the Developer tab, click “Insert” and under “Form Controls,” click the checkbox icon.

Note: Currently, you cannot use checkboxes in the web version of Excel. If you upload a workbook with these controls, you’ll first have to disable them to start editing.

How to Format a Checkbox in Excel

1. Open up the format control.

   

2. Modify the value and cell link, then click “OK.”

   

To access it on Windows, right-click the checkbox and select “Format Control.” On IOS, navigate to the “Format” tab and select “Format Control.”

With value, there are three options:

• Unchecked – This displays a box that is unchecked and returns a “FALSE” statement.
• Checked – This displays a box that is checked and returns a “TRUE” statement.
• Mixed – This will leave the checkbox empty as neither a true or false statement until an action is taken.

As for the cell link, this contains the checkbox status (true or false) of the cell it’s referencing.

Now that you have those details down, you can start fully customizing your checkbox.

How to Delete A Checkbox in Excel

Deleting a checkbox in Excel is a simple two-step process:

1. Right-click the checkbox.
2. Click “delete” on your keyboard.

Large corporations and government agencies don’t shop around for the best contractors and freelancers the same way a SaaS company or a small business might.

Rather than relying on word of mouth, a quick Google search, or a Facebook ad, these organizations follow a procurement process that ensures fair business practices and quality results.

As a preliminary step in the procurement process, an RFI gives a company or organization the information it needs to move forward with an RFP and RFQ. But what exactly is an RFI and what does this acronym stand for?

RFIs are important because they reduce blind spots and empower your team to make better decisions. With more information at your disposal, you can understand the marketplace and get a better sense of the questions you’ll need to ask as you move forward in the procurement process.  

How does an RFI work?

Step 1: The buyer develops the RFI.

RFIs are written documents with the goal of collecting information from sellers. This information can be used to help buyers make a purchasing decision. The questions that are included in an RFI are specific and straightforward so that the sellers understand what the buyer is asking for.

Sellers can find an RFI on the company’s website, in databases like Procore, and government web pages like grants.gov.

Step 2: Sellers draft responses to the RFI.

Once a seller finds an RFI, they have a window of time specified by the buyer in which to complete it.

The information that is collected in the RFI is organized in such a way that it can be compared and contrasted against the information that other sellers submit.

Step 3: The buyer reviews all the sellers’ responses.

After the deadline for RFIs closes, the buyer reviews all of the responses submitted by the sellers. In this step, the buyer is looking for information about the companies, the products or services they offer, its history and background, and other factors that can impact how well the seller can deliver on the project.

Note: Price, budget, timeline, and other specific information aren’t covered in an RFI since it’s a part of step one in the overall procurement process.

Step 4: The buyer moves onto the next stage in the procurement process — the RFP.

After the buyer has determined which of the RFI submissions meets the preliminary qualifications for the project, they’ll move on to the next step in the process which is an RFP (Request for Proposal).

An RFI is the initial step a company takes to solicit information from potential sellers, as described above. Its main objective is to obtain information, not to make a final decision. Once the RFIs are submitted, the company will review them and shortlist the best options, armed with more insight. Then, they’ll send an RFP to that short list of sellers that satisfied the requirements of the RFI.

A Request for Proposal is a formal request for the selected vendors or sellers to respond to a specific contract opportunity. The document specifies the scope and price so potential sellers can put together a bid for the work.

These bids are then compared to understand each seller‘s strengths and weaknesses, and the best fit is chosen. RFPs are a decision document, so the questions are more targeted and specific.

After an RFP, the company may be contacted with an RFQ or Request for Quote that breaks down the project even further into specific cost structures and deliverables.

Request for Information Template

And RFI is similar to an RFP, but with less detail. Download the template below and use the short, one-page version of the request for proposal to draft your RFI. Once you’ve downloaded your free copy, follow along with the steps below to learn how to write an RFI.

Download Now

How to Write an RFI

Creating your first RFI can be overwhelming. What should you ask for? What information does the seller need to know? To help answer those questions, use this simple guide to get the most out of the RFI process.

1. Draft an overview or statement of need.

Outline your goals and objectives, along with some general information about your company. This section should be short and provide an overview of your project to someone with no background information.

2. Add context about your organization.

Including additional information about your organization can help the seller tailor their response to your needs. You may want to mention which department is leading the project, who your customers are, and what your company values are, among other things.

3. Finalize the details.

What problem are you looking to solve? What information do you need? Here’s where you can detail what you’re looking for. Include any additional information a seller might need to know to develop a thorough RFI response. That may include:

• Any necessary skills and credentials the respondent may need to be successful
• Timelines or general scope
• What you’re not looking for

4. Mention information about the process.

Explain how interested parties should respond to the RFI. Attach a response template if you have one, outline any deadlines, and note if and when you’ll reply to respondents after the RFIs have been gathered. You may want to mention any evaluation criteria you’ll use when creating the shortlist for RFPs.

Best Practices for RFI Documentation

The more thoughtful you are about your RFI document, the better quality responses you will get back. Instead of casually emailing a sales rep and asking for information, creating RFI documentation will ensure that you get exactly the information you need. In that document, be sure to:

• Clearly state the information you’re requesting.
• Be specific about how and when you want to receive seller responses.
• Keep an open mind so that sellers can provide additional information that they think is relevant.
• Be brief and respectful of the sellers’ time.

RFI Examples

Need more inspiration? Read through the following examples of RFIs for more ideas on what to include in yours. These three RFIs all come from different industries and have different needs, so they are a good overview of the options available to you.

1. U.S. General Services Administration

In 2021, the U.S. General Services Administration collaborated with the U.S. Department of Energy to issue an RFI supporting a project to reduce commercial building greenhouse gas emissions. The overall goal that the GSA and DOE were aiming to reach was net-zero carbon emissions within these buildings and the RFI focused on three specific areas that would allow this goal to be achieved.  Sellers who had technology to meet the requirements of this RFI were required to propose measurable success criteria across several categories.

Image Source

In addition to the RFI requirements on the webpage, the GSA and DOE hosted a webinar, provided an FAQ, and made the presentation slides from the webinar available on the webpage so that all sellers had access to the information they’d need to submit the best response.

What makes this RFI example stand out is that it’s kept up to date frequently. New information is added frequently. When the deadline is passed, that is notated clearly at the top of the RFI so sellers can move on to other requests that are accepting submissions. This is a great example of the best practice we mentioned earlier about respecting the sellers’ time when asking for RFI submissions.

2. NASA

When NASA retires parts of their space shuttles, they like to display them at museums or other educational institutions. To gauge interest and understand the potential options for an upcoming retired part, they opened up an RFI. Here’s a sample of the document:

“This RFI is being used to gather market research for NASA to make decisions regarding development of strategies for placement of Space Shuttle Orbiters and Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs) for public display after conclusion of the SSP. NASA is seeking information from educational institutions, science museums, and other appropriate organizations about the community’s ability to acquire and display a Space Shuttle Orbiter after the vehicles are retired from flight status.”

We like this RFI example because it provides a straightforward overview of the purpose of the RFI, and outlines what NASA wants to learn from the process.

3. Government of Canada

Government websites are a great place to find RFI examples because they are required to make all procurement processes publicly available. The following example is from an RFI for financial planning software.

Image Source

The requirements section of this RFI is a great example of how to explain what you do and don’t need in the responses. While the government of Canada is looking for financial planning software, they will be keeping their CRM and data lake provider.

4. University of Ottawa

In the following RFI except, the University of Ottawa is looking for an ERP integration solution. What’s unique about this RFI is how they want to receive responses. Rather than collecting written responses or documents, the U of O is scheduling strategy discussions with suppliers. This is a unique way to gather information, but helpful when you don’t have enough knowledge in the area to put together a scope of work yet.

“The University of Ottawa (University) is issuing this Request for Information (RFI) to schedule strategy discussions (via a conference call) from interested Suppliers with experience in ERP Integrations.

The intent of these discussions is to obtain feedback from Suppliers to assist the University in developing a more accurate Scope of Work and overall approach for an upcoming Request For Proposal (RFP) for ERP Integration solutions.”  

Request for Success

Every RFI will be unique to your organization and the information you require. Use the template above as a guide to creating an RFI that will save you time in evaluating potential solutions.

With the right information being sent your way, all you need to do is read up! You’ll be well on your way to procuring the best solution for your team’s needs.

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

Think about the brands you purchase from over and over. Why do you choose to buy products and or services from them even when cheaper options exist?

Well, there’s a good reason for it — because of their values. The best brands combine physical, emotional, and logical elements into one exceptional customer (and employee) experience that you value as much as they do.

When your brand creates a genuine connection with customers and employees, they’ll stay loyal to your company, thereby increasing your overall profitability. But this type of success doesn’t happen overnight.

Building brand loyalty, like creating mission and vision statements, takes time. If you’re in a bit of a time crunch, use this table of contents to find precisely what you’re looking for to inspire the development of your company’s mission:

As a company grows, its objectives and goals may be reached, and in turn, they’ll change. Therefore, mission statements should be revised as needed to reflect the business’s new culture as previous goals are met.

But first, you have to understand how to write a proper mission statement to build off of as your company evolves.

1. Explain your company’s product or service offering.

You want prospects to understand what your company does in a literal sense. This means explaining your offering in basic, clear terms. Your explanation should answer the most basic questions like:

• Are you selling a product or service?
• Why would customers buy it?
• How does your offering solve for the customer?

Record your answers and focus on how your product or service brings value to your buyer personas, otherwise known as your target audience.

2. Identify the company’s core values.

Now, this is where you can start thinking bigger. You didn’t just make a product or service at random, you most likely were motivated by a set of core values.

Core values are deeply ingrained principles that guide a company’s actions. Take HubSpot’s culture code, HEART, for example:

• Humble
• Empathetic
• Adaptable
• Remarkable
• Transparent

These are principles that not only company employees respect, but are principles that our customers appreciate as well. By identifying core values that hold meaning on personal and organizational levels, you’ll have an appealing set to add to your mission statement.

3. Connect how your company’s offering aligns with your values.

So how can your company offering serve your core values? You need to draw a connection between the two in a way that makes sense to the public.

For example, if one of your core values is centered on innovation, you want to frame your product or service as pushing boundaries and explaining how it helps customers innovate their lives or business practices. Essentially, you’re taking the literal benefit of the offering and expanding it to serve a higher purpose.

4. Condense these statements into one.

A mission statement can be as short as a single sentence, or as long as a paragraph, but it’s meant to be a short summary of your company’s purpose. You need to state the what, who and why of your company:

• What: The company offering
• Who: Who you’re selling to
• Why: The core values you do it for

Once you have successfully conveyed your message, it’s time to refine and perfect your statement.

5. Make sure it’s clear, concise, and free of fluff.

Above all, your mission statement is a marketing asset that is meant to be clear, concise, and free of fluff. It should clearly outline the purpose of your company offering and demonstrate the common goals the company is working to achieve. You should also have other team members or advisors read the mission statement and make adjustments if needed according to their recommendation.

Both mission and vision statements are often combined into one comprehensive “mission statement” to define the organization’s reason for existing and its outlook for internal and external audiences — like employees, partners, board members, consumers, and shareholders.

The difference between mission and vision statements lies in the purpose they serve.

A mission statement is a literal quote stating what a brand or company is setting out to do. This lets the public know the product and service it provides, who it makes it for, and why it’s doing it. A vision statement is a brand looking toward the future and saying what it hopes to achieve through its mission statement. This is more conceptual, as it’s a glimpse into what the brand can become in the eyes of the consumer and the value it will bring in longevity.

In summary, the main differences between a mission and vision statement are:

• Mission statements describe the current purpose a company serves. The company’s function, target audience, and key offerings are elements that are often mentioned in a mission statement.
• Vision statements are a look into a company’s future or what its overarching vision is. The same elements from the mission statement can be included in a vision statement, but they’ll be described in the future tense.

Now that we know what they are, let’s dive into some useful examples of each across different industries.

Free Guide: 100 Mission Statement Templates & Examples

Need more examples to build your mission statement? Download our free overview of mission statements – complete with 100 templates and examples to help you develop a stand-out mission statement.

1. Life Is Good: To spread the power of optimism.

The Life is Good brand is about more than spreading optimism — although, with uplifting T-shirt slogans like “Seas The Day” and “Forecast: Mostly Sunny,” it’s hard not to crack a smile.

There are tons of T-shirt companies in the world, but Life is Good’s mission sets itself apart with a mission statement that goes beyond fun clothing: to spread the power of optimism.

This mission is perhaps a little unexpected if you’re not familiar with the company’s public charity: How will a T-shirt company help spread optimism? Life is Good answers that question below the fold, where the mission is explained in more detail using a video and with links to the company’s community and the Life is Good Kids Foundation page. We really like how lofty yet specific this mission statement is — it’s a hard-to-balance combination.

2. sweetgreen: To inspire healthier communities by connecting people to real food.

Notice that sweetgreen’s mission is positioned to align with your values — not just written as something the brand believes. We love the inclusive language used in its statement.

The language lets us know the company is all about connecting its growing network of farmers growing healthy, local ingredients with us — the customer — because we’re the ones who want more locally grown, healthy food options.

The mission to connect people is what makes this statement so strong. And, that promise has gone beyond sweetgreen’s website and walls of its food shops: The team has made strides in the communities where it’s opened stores as well. Primarily, it provides education to young kids on healthy eating, fitness, sustainability, and where food comes from.

3. Patagonia: We’re in business to save our home planet.

Patagonia’s mission statement spotlights the company’s commitment to help the environment and save the earth. The people behind the brand believe that among the most direct ways to limit ecological impacts is with goods that last for generations or can be recycled so the materials in them remain in use.

In the name of this cause, the company donates time, services, and at least 1% of its sales to hundreds of environmental groups worldwide.

If your company has a similar focus on growing your business and giving back, think about talking about both the benefit you bring to customers and the value you want to bring to a greater cause in your mission statement.

4. American Express: Become essential to our customers by providing differentiated products and services to help them achieve their aspirations.

Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.

— Simon Sinek (@simonsinek)

The tweet above is from Simon Sinek, and it’s one that we repeat here at HubSpot all the time. American Express sets itself apart from other credit card companies in its list of values, with an ode to excellent customer service, which is something it’s famous for.

We especially love the emphasis on teamwork and supporting employees so that the people inside the organization can be in the best position to support their customers.

5. Warby Parker: To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

This “objective” statement from Warby Parker uses words that reflect a young and daring personality: “rebellious,” “revolutionary,” “socially-conscious.” In one sentence, the brand takes us back to the root of why it was founded while also revealing its vision for a better future.

The longer-form version of the mission reads: “We believe that buying glasses should be easy and fun. It should leave you happy and good-looking, with money in your pocket,” which further shows how Warby Parker doesn’t hold back on letting its unique personality shine through. Here, the mission statement’s success all comes down to spot-on word choice.

6. InvisionApp: Question Assumptions. Think Deeply. Iterate as a Lifestyle. Details, Details. Design is Everywhere. Integrity.

These days, it can seem like every B2B company page looks the same — but InvisionApp has one of the cooler company pages I’ve seen. Scroll down to “Our Core Values,” and hover over any of the icons, and you’ll find a short-but-sweet piece of the overall company mission under each one.

We love the way the statements are laid out under each icon. Each description is brief, authentic, and business babble-free — which makes the folks at InvisionApp seem trustworthy and genuine.

7. Honest Tea: To create and promote great-tasting, healthy, organic beverages.

Honest Tea’s mission statement begins with a simple punch line connoting its tea is real, pure, and therefore not full of artificial chemicals. The brand is speaking to an audience that’s tired of finding ingredients in its tea that can’t be pronounced and has been searching for a tea that’s exactly what it says it is.

Not only does Honest Tea have a punny name, but it also centers its mission around the name. For some time, the company even published a Mission Report each year in an effort to be “transparent about our business practices and live up to our mission to seek to create and promote great-tasting, healthier, organic beverages.”

8. IKEA: To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them

The folks at IKEA dream big. The vision-based mission statement could have been one of beautiful, affordable furniture, but instead, it’s to make everyday life better for its customers. It’s a partnership: IKEA finds deals all over the world and buys in bulk, then we choose the furniture and pick it up at a self-service warehouse.

“Our business idea supports this vision … so [that] as many people as possible will be able to afford them,” the brand states.

Using words like “as many people as possible” makes a huge company like IKEA much more accessible and appealing to customers.

9. Nordstrom: To give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.

When it comes to customer commitment, not many companies are as hyper-focused as Nordstrom is. Although clothing selection, quality, and value all have a place in the company’s mission statement, it’s crystal clear that it’s all about the customer: “Nordstrom works relentlessly to give customers the most compelling shopping experience possible.”

If you’ve ever shopped at a Nordstrom, you’ll know the brand will uphold the high standard for customer service mentioned in its mission statement, as associates are always roaming the sales floors, asking customers whether they’ve been helped, and doing everything they can to make the shopping experience a memorable one.

10. Cradles to Crayons: Provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school, and at play.

Cradles to Crayons divided its mission and model into three sections that read like a game plan: The Need, The Mission, and The Model. The “rule of three” is a powerful rhetorical device called a tricolon that’s usually used in speechwriting to help make an idea more memorable. A tricolon is a series of three parallel elements of roughly the same length — think “I came; I saw; I conquered.”

11. Universal Health Services, Inc.: To provide superior quality healthcare services that: PATIENTS recommend to family and friends, PHYSICIANS prefer for their patients, PURCHASERS select for their clients, EMPLOYEES are proud of, and INVESTORS seek for long-term returns.

A company thrives when it pleases its customers, its employees, its partners, and its investors — and Universal Health Services endeavors to do just that, according to its mission statement. As a health care service, it specifically strives to please its patients, physicians, purchasers, employees, and investors. We love the emphasis on each facet of the organization by capitalizing the font and making it red for easy skimming.

12. JetBlue: To inspire humanity – both in the air and on the ground.

JetBlue’s committed to its founding mission through lovable marketing, charitable partnerships, and influential programs — and we love the approachable language used to describe these endeavors. For example, the brand writes how it “set out in 2000 to bring humanity back to the skies.”

For those of us who want to learn more about any of its specific efforts, JetBlue’s provided details on the Soar With Reading program, its partnership with KaBOOM!, the JetBlue Foundation, environmental and social reporting, and so on. It breaks down all these initiatives really well with big headers, bullet points, pictures, and links to other web pages visitors can click to learn more. JetBlue also encourages visitors to volunteer or donate their TrueBlue points.

13. Workday: We aim for innovation not only in our development organization but also in the way we approach every aspect of our business.

Workday, a human resources (HR) task automation service, doesn’t use its mission statement to highlight the features of its product or how it intends to help HR professionals improve in such-and-such a way.

Instead, the business takes a stance on the state of enterprise software in general: There’s a lot of great tech out there. But at Workday, it revolves around the people. We love how confident yet kind this mission statement is. It observes the state of its industry — which Workday believes lacks a human touch — and builds company values around it.

14. Prezi: To reinvent how people share knowledge, tell stories, and inspire their audiences to act.

If you know Prezi, you know how engaging it can make your next business presentation look. According to its mission statement, the company’s clever slide animations and three-dimensional experience aren’t just superficial product features. With every decision Prezi makes, it’s all about the story you tell and the audience that story affects.

15. Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

A car company’s punny use of the word “accelerate” is just one reason this mission statement sticks out. However, Tesla makes this list because of how its mission statement describes the industry.

It may be a car company, but Tesla’s primary interest isn’t just automobiles — it’s promoting sustainable energy. And, sustainable energy still has a “long road” ahead of it (pun intended) — hence the world’s “transition” into this market.

Ultimately, a mission statement that can admit to the industry’s immaturity is exactly what gets customers to root for it — and Tesla does that nicely.

16. Invisible Children: To end violence and exploitation facing our world’s most isolated and vulnerable communities.

Invisible Children is a non-profit that raises awareness around the violence affecting communities across Central Africa, and the company takes quite a confident tone in its mission.

The most valuable quality of this mission statement is that it has an end goal. Many companies’ visions and missions are intentionally left open-ended so that the business might always be needed by the community. Invisible Children, on the other hand, wants to “end” the violence facing African families. It’s an admirable mission that all businesses — not just nonprofits — can learn from when motivating customers.

17. TED: Spread ideas.

We’ve all seen TED Talks online before. Well, the company happens to have one of the most concise mission statements out there.

TED, which stands for “Technology Education and Design,” has a two-word mission statement that shines through in every Talk you’ve seen the company publish on the internet. That mission statement: “Spread ideas.” Sometimes, the best way to get an audience to remember you is to zoom out as far as your business’s vision can go. What do you really care about? TED has recorded some of the most famous presentations globally, but in the grand scheme of things, all it wants is to spread ideas around to its viewers.

Now that we’ve gone over successful mission statements, what does a good vision statement look like? Check out some of the following company vision statements — and get inspired to write one for your brand.

1. Alzheimer’s Association: A world without Alzheimer’s disease.

The Alzheimer’s Association conducts global research and provides quality care and support to people with dementia. This vision statement looks into the future where people won’t have to battle this currently incurable disease. With the work that it’s doing in the present, both employees and consumers can see how the organization achieves its vision by helping those in need.

2. Teach for America: One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

Teach for America creates a network of leaders to provide equal education opportunities to children in need. This organization’s day-to-day work includes helping marginalized students receive the proper education they otherwise wouldn’t have access to. Its vision statement is what it hopes to see through its efforts — a nation where no child is left behind.

3. Creative Commons: Realizing the full potential of the internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity.

This nonprofit’s vision statement is broad. It helps overcome legal obstacles to share knowledge and creativity around the world. By working closely with major institutions, its vision is an innovative internet that isn’t barred by paywalls.

4. Microsoft: We strive to create local opportunity, growth, and impact in every country around the world.

Microsoft is one of the most well-known technology companies in the world. It makes gadgets for work, play, and creative purposes on a worldwide scale, and its vision statement reflects that. Through its product offering and pricing, it can provide technology to anyone who needs it.

5. Australia Department of Health: Better health and wellbeing for all Australians, now and for future generations.

This government department has a clear vision for its country. Through health policies, programs, and regulations, it has the means to improve the healthcare of Australian citizens.

6. LinkedIn: Create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

LinkedIn is a professional networking service that gives people the opportunity to seek employment. Its vision statement intends to provide employees of every level a chance to get the job they need.

7. Disney: To be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.

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Disney’s vision statement goes beyond providing ordinary entertainment. It intends to tell stories and drive creativity that inspires future generations through its work. This is an exceptional vision statement because it goes beyond giving consumers programs to watch, but ones that excite and change the way people see them and the world around them.

8. Meta: Give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is a major social media platform with a concise vision statement. It provides a platform to stay in touch with loved ones and potentially connect to people around the world.

9. Southwest: To be the world’s most loved, most efficient, and most profitable airline.

Southwest Airlines is an international airline that strives to serve its flyers with a smile. Its vision statement is unique because it sees itself not just excelling in profit but outstanding customer service, too. Its vision is possible through its strategy and can lead its employees to be at the level they work toward.

10. Dunkin’: To be always the desired place for great coffee beverages and delicious complementary doughnuts & bakery products to enjoy with family and friends.

Notice the interesting use of the word “complementary” in this vision statement. No, the chain isn’t envisioning giving out freebies in the future. Its vision goes beyond remaining a large coffee chain. Rather, the brand wants to be the consummate leader in the coffee and donut industry. It wants to become a place known for fun, food, and recreation.

Inspire Through Brand Values

Brand values play a much more significant role in customer loyalty than you think. Showing that your business understands its audience — and can appeal to them on an emotional level — could be the decision point for a customer’s next purchase. We hope you found some insight in this post that can help you brainstorm your inspiring vision and mission statements for your business.

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

A lot of the data you enter into your Google Sheets tables may be repetitive, like tracking whether an influencer you’ve reached out to for a partnership has agreed to working with you or not.

It can get tedious to go in and type each yes or no as time goes on, which is where a critical tool, the drop-down list, becomes your best friend.

In this post, we’ll go over how to add a drop-down list to your own Google Sheets data set to help save time.

How to Add a Drop-down List in Google Sheets

As mentioned above, a drop-down list can help you easily change elements of a cell when the content is repetitive.

The example data set for this walkthrough (as shown in the image below) is tracking the progress of marketing campaigns on different channels and the stage they’re in; not yet started, in progress, or completed. I want to create a drop-down menu so I can easily go in and change the status of the campaign as time goes on.

Before going through the steps, it might be helpful to see what a drop-down menu looks like so you can contextually understand each instruction. The gif below shows a final drop-down menu and how it applies to the sample data set.

Let’s go over how to add a drop-down list to your Sheet.

1. In the toolbar header, click Data.

2. In the drop-down menu, as shown in the image below, select Data validation.

3. In the Data validation dialog box, enter the range of cells you want to have a drop-down menu in Cell range. For this example, I’m entering B2:B10 for cells 2-10 in column B.

4. The next step is to enter the data range that you want to be included in the drop-down menu. Select List of items, and add in your menu values. For this example, this is where I would input Not yet started, In progress, and Complete.

Once you’ve entered your values, click save.

5. Each of your cells should now have a clickable down arrow, as shown in the image below.

For the example table, I can click on each down arrow and change the status of my campaigns as time goes on.

How to Edit a Drop-down List in Google Sheets

If you need to make changes to your drop-down menu, the process is rather simple.

1. In the toolbar header, click Data and then Data validation.

2. In the Data validation dialogue box, simply input the changes you want to make. For example,

• If you want to change the items in your drop-down menu, navigate to Criteria, and make your desired changes.
• If you want to change the column the drop-down menu is in, change the cell numbers in Cell range.
• If you want to delete your drop-down menu altogether, select the column the menu is currently in and click Remove validation.

Always click save after making all changes.

Color Code a Drop-down List in Google Sheets

Color coding is helpful when it comes to interpreting results at a glance. You can do this with your drop-down list by creating conditional formatting rules, and below we’ll explain how.

1. Select the cells your drop-down menu is in and click Format.

2. Select Conditional formatting from the dialogue box, as shown in the image below.

3. In the Conditional formatting rules sidebar on the right-hand side of your screen, navigate to the Format rules section.

4. In the Format cells if menu, select Text contains…

5. Enter the first element in your drop-down list that you want color-coded. In the image below, I’ve entered Completed as my value and set the color to Green.

6. To set a color for each of your list items, select + Add another rule and repeat step 5 for each value. For my chart, I’ve set In progress to Blue, and Not started to gray.

7. After you set each of your rules, changing the drop-down menu item to a different value will automatically change it to the correct color. For example, if I change Not yet started to In progress, it turns from gray to blue.

Once you’ve created your drop-down menu and color-coded it for easy interpretation, you can continue to track the progress of your different marketing activities and save time while doing so.

Your competitor releases a new product or service. You offer something similar — but, of course, much better.

Then, suddenly, your competitor’s product is everywhere. News articles, online reviews, best-of lists, buyers’ guides, even TV segments.

How is this happening? And your real question: why isn’t it happening to you?

To compete against your competitors, there’s one thing you’ll need in your wheelhouse: a media kit.

Here, we’ll explore what a media kit is, and how it can help you increase brand awareness and, ultimately, sales.

Plus, how to make one for your own brand.

Media kits may live fully-online as responsive online press pages. Or, businesses may choose to make their press kits available as static, downloadable resources, like a presentation deck.

Whatever format you choose, this much is clear: businesses of all sizes benefit from having a professional, readily-accessible media kit. This vital resource is a key to the earned media coverage all businesses covet — from massive Fortune 500 corporations all the way down to individual influencers and solopreneurs.

A comprehensive media kit should include a description of the company or individual, contact information, social media statistics, case studies, information on partnerships and collaborations, and testimonials from past customers.

Basically, it’s all the information a journalist would need to feature your brand in a breaking news story — without the headache of a last-minute information request.

How to Make a Media Kit: What to Include

So, you want press coverage and partnerships (what brand doesn’t?). And you understand how a media kit helps make this all possible. But how do you make a media kit?

Here’s some good news: most of the content and creative assets you need to create your press kit likely already exist.

Key elements of a media kit include a bio or About Us page, social media statistics, case studies, partnerships and collaborations, and testimonials. To make it even easier for the press to cover your work, you’ll want to include high-quality brand identity images (think both logos, and other brand images or product/service images).

It’s up to you to (1) find this information, (2) make it look spectacular, and (3) make it painfully easy to find on your site. The rumors you’ve heard about journalists and how overworked they are? Entirely true.

To catch the attention of someone on tight deadlines with an internet full of story prospects, you’re going to want to make this simple. Most brands choose a direct page name like “Press” or “Media” –– or, if they’re really fancy, “Newsroom” –– and make it accessible directly from their homepage (often in the Footer).

Even if you prioritize a web version, having a downloadable media kit or deck is worth the time investment. Some media users might prefer the traditional form of this resource, and it gives you the best opportunity to control your pitch and tailor content to all audiences.

Biography or About Us

Let’s start with the star of your media kit: you. Here’s where you introduce your name, your logo, your mission. Make sure your media kit design reinforces your overall brand identity, utilizing the colors, fonts, and other visual hallmarks set out in your branding guide.

Evernote goes all-out in this section, housing their press kit information within the broader “About Us” portion of their website. All the essentials for journalists and partners are there too, but the organization’s values take center stage.

Social Statistics

For social stats, you’ll need to conduct a social media audit or collect this data from whoever manages your social channels. Remember your audience for the press kit: media and PR professionals.

Your media kit needs to effectively pitch your brand to people who specialize in getting people’s attention. So show them you’re capable of sparking conversation — and show them there’s already an audience eager for stories about you and your work.

Kickstarter puts a unique stamp on this section of their media kit page, highlighting a few top metrics that show massive engagement with their service.

Media kits aimed at partnerships and collaborations should prioritize engagement rates and similar actionable metrics alongside the bread-and-butter statistics like follower counts. Savvy marketers want to partner with brands and influencers that move people to action.

[Note: If you are a HubSpot Social user, you can use Reports to analyze the performance of your social posts and determine how well your social media efforts are performing.]

Partnerships and Case Studies

This section is your chance to let past partnerships and brand collaborations speak for themselves. Let the old adage “show; don’t tell” be your guide here. Featuring the right partnerships –– either via logos or through short case studies –– is a subtle but powerful tool for positioning your brand.

International football influencers The F2 highlight past campaigns, putting reputable brand names and logos front-and-center. They also note key engagement statistics for these campaigns

Testimonials

Testimonials are another great way to show media professionals the impact and effectiveness of your brand or product.

Keep this section succinct: just a single testimonial should suffice. Only a few lines of text (even just a single short quote) and a single related image gets the point across, lending your pitch greater credibility thanks to social validation.

Briogeo does a fantastic job highlighting testimonials on its Press & Buzz page, right below the rewards section for easy access:

Visual Assets (Downloadables)

Your media kit isn’t a style guide, but it should pull in the most essential elements of your visual brand. Want your logo and that slick product screenshot to display correctly?

Provide exactly the images and files you want featured. Have a killer data visualization, infographic, or product video? Include that, too.

Journalists will especially appreciate portraits of your management team. They’re most likely to cover stories involving people, so show them the people they’ll want to write about.

Birchbox makes this easy. They highlight “Press Materials” and link to a short but comprehensive set of resources. Having everything in well-organized cloud folders is a nice touch –– especially for those browsing on mobile.

Without downloading or unzipping a large batch of images, visitors can quickly confirm you have visual assets to make their publication look good. Remember, the audience for your media kit is especially busy and juggling lots of competing priorities. Jump to the top of their “potential posts” pile by making their job as easy and painless as possible.

(Added bonus: your external media resources are easily updated –– sparing you anxiety about outdated media kits and image files misrepresenting your brand.)

Media Kit Design

Now that you know what to include in your media kit, you might be wondering how to put all of that valuable information together so that it’s navigable and easy to understand. You’ll do this through a table of contents. 

The way your table of contents looks can vary depending on how you design your media kit. On Slack’s website, its media kit has a table of contents that features summaries of each section with hyperlinks that bring users to a separate page, as shown in the image below. 

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If you download Slack’s media kit as a PDF, the table of contents lists a page number for each section, so viewers can quickly scroll to the page they need or type the page number into the search bar. 

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Regardless of how you present your kit, it needs to be designed for ease of access. Aim to create distinct sections for the content you’re including, and create a form of navigation that helps those making inquiries quickly find what they need. 

Let’s go over some high-quality examples of media kits that you can use for inspiration when creating one for your business. 

Media Kit Examples 

1. Hinge

Hinge, a dating app, has a straightforward and easy to navigate press kit that gives those doing media inquiries quick access to critical information, like internal press releases:

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As well as external news articles, employee profiles, business background, and image downloads (logo, screenshots, etc.).

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2. Spotify

Spotify has a unique media kit, namely one that supports one of its key features — Streaming Intelligence. Media and other parties can read through the kit, understand the specifics of the tool, how it works, performance stats, as well as partnerships with notable sources that support its effectiveness. 

Spotify shows us that general press kits are great for your business to have, but are also relevant for things like product launches or specific business tools. 

3. Delta Airlines

Delta Airlines’ press kit is hosted on its website and contains all of the elements you’d expect from one. As it is such a large company, each section of the press kit is on a different site page that users navigate to by clicking a hyperlink. 

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If you click on a link for, say, Awards and Recognitions, you land on a page that features noteworthy recognitions about Delta and the service it offers. 

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Now you know the what and the how of creating a media kit to garner beneficial coverage for your brand. Click here to download our free media kit template and get started.

And go ahead, give yourself a pat on the back when that Features story comes out. You won’t see your name on the byline, but we both know who the real hero is here.

There are many resources out there telling you how to optimize your Facebook ads to scale your business’s growth. And while I’m sure they can help in some aspects, you’re probably optimizing your campaigns based on the wrong metrics.

In 2022, Facebook has 1.79 billion daily users. There are plenty of opportunities to create Facebook ads that will drive impressions, link clicks, leads, and more. However, these metrics only scratch the surface of how much impact your Facebook ads can truly have on your business.

As more industry experts focus their media buying on incremental gains, marketers can better measure their Facebook ads’ positive, negative, or neutral impact on their business.

What is incrementality in Facebook Ads?

Incrementality allows marketers to understand how Facebook ads impact their business. Often, advertisers make optimizations to campaigns based on certain metrics, which can dramatically affect the end goal.

It’s crucial for businesses to identify what’s working and what isn’t — especially since Facebook’s ad revenue worldwide was $84.2 billion in 2020. Whether you have a large or small Facebook advertising budget, you want to make sure it’s generating results.

Advertisers can measure incrementality by using control tests and comparing the results from those exposed to an ad versus those who have not. Once the tests have been completed, the results can help your business make smarter decisions on your Facebook ads and optimize your campaigns accordingly.

Why should marketers track incremental return on ad spend (iROAS)?

One minute you’re a marketer, and the next, you’re a data analyst. All jokes aside, information overload is very real in 2022. With all of this data available, there’s the assumption that it should be easy for marketers to pinpoint the best audience to target, understand what point they are at in the Facebook sales funnel, and the best methods to convert them.

However, data dumps and compiling all of this information is incredibly time-consuming. And as digital marketing continues to expand, time is not always on our side. Businesses need to refocus their efforts from heavy reliance on data collection to doubling down on finding the right data—that can assist in smart optimizations and actionable insights to fuel your Facebook campaign’s bottom line.

How to Calculate Incremental Return on Ad Spend

The method for calculating iROAS is different for every publisher. The most methodical approach is by applying a holdout to your Facebook campaign. The holdout on your campaign will act as a control group for Facebook users that will not see your ads. The remaining group of users will be the test audience for your Facebook campaign.

After the test is complete, marketers can compare the results from the test group to the control group. The difference in the results will be your conversion lift, representing the incremental impacts on your conversions.

iROAS is calculated similarly to ROAS, which is revenue divided by cost. However, this measurement allows your business to understand which Facebook campaigns are working and which aren’t. The calculation for iROAS is Incremental Revenue / Ad Spend = iROAS.

In the YouTube video below, HubSpot details how to determine ad spend by understanding the bidding system used by ad networks.

3 Simple Ways to Increase Your Facebook’s Ads Incrementality in 2022

Frequently data dumps fail due to the sheer amount of information available. Marketers may find many valid insights, but the delivery of this information can get lost in translation — especially if there is no clear direction. Brands looking to increase their Facebook ads incrementality should work with a leading marketing agency with proven experience.

However, if you’re looking to get started on your own, below we’ll walk you through the top three ways to increase your Facebook ad’s incrementality to exceed your 2022 growth goals.

1. Audience Targeting

Facebook users at the top of the funnel versus the bottom will yield very different incrementality results. For example, you will see very different results if you’re using a 5% lookalike audience of customers who purchased in the last month vs. remarketing to customers who purchased in the last few years.

Targeting new customers should be your most incremental audience segment since they would not have converted and made the purchase had it not been for your Facebook ad.

This can also affect your bid strategies and budgets for remarketing audiences. For example, a customer who has purchased from you recently may not need a Facebook ad to prompt another purchase — this will depend on your product or service buying situation.

Three Class of Buying Situations:

• Routine decision-making: involves purchases that require very little thought after the original decision has been made. Such as gum, a chocolate bar, or a soft drink.
• Limited decision-making: involves purchasing products that require a moderate amount of time and effort to compare models and brands before making a choice. This could be comparing which phone you are planning to upgrade to.
• Extensive decision-making: involves an extensive consumer decision regarding whether or not to purchase a product. Examples include cars, homes, and education.

2. Ad Creative

I’m sure every marketer has heard about the study that found that the average attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8 seconds—while a goldfish holds a 9-second attention span. There is so much noise and clutter on social media that often, consumers will scroll right past your ad.

Advertisers need to create Facebook ads that grab the viewers’ attention and drive action. Facebook ad creative is one of the top ways to increase your incrementality.

Learn from the best! We’ve collected the 50 best Facebook ads to inspire your next campaign. Check out this exclusive lookbook to get a head start on crafting the perfect ad to drive incremental revenue.

3. Facebook Placements

There are several placements for advertisers across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. But, not every placement works with every type of campaign.

For example, an ad on audience network may spark brand awareness or interest but not drive an immediate conversion. The same goes for device targeting, often people are in discovery mode on mobile but complete the transaction on desktop.

Most advertisers still recommend combining placements to maximize the results, but it is beneficial to understand where your most incremental audience is.

While it’s fair to say most marketers are on-board with the importance of content marketing, there’s still an aspect of marketing that doesn’t get as much love: context marketing.

Whether you know what context marketing means or not, I’m willing to bet you want to deliver the right campaigns to the right customers at the right time. That’s what context marketing is all about.

Here, we’re going to introduce the concept of context marketing and dive into strategies you can use to implement it into your overall marketing strategy.

My favorite context marketing definition is delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time.

Let me explain what I mean by context a little more, though. When you have context around something, you have a larger, more telling picture — you know, those little details that lend more clarity to things that would otherwise be pretty general, unspecific, and, well, uninteresting.

The best marketers leverage context about their audience, leads, and customers in their content marketing. They create audience profiles and buyer personas and use that information to create more effective marketing and advertising campaigns.

Now that we have a basic understanding of context marketing, you might be wondering what the difference is between content marketing and context marketing. Let’s take a look below.

A marketer using context would know more about a lead than her first name. They might also know what industry she works in, what kind of content she likes best, through which channel she prefers to consume content, whether she’s currently using another solution to meet her needs, and whether her company has budget at this time of year.

As a marketer, if you were asked to “market” to someone, and all you were given was a first name and the type of company your lead works at, wouldn’t your first question be … what else do we know about her? Probably, if you want to do your job way better.

That’s the idea behind context marketing: Using what you know about your contacts to provide supremely relevant, targeted, and personalized marketing.

Why is context marketing important?

Context marketing is important for many reasons, but there are two top ones that make its importance even more salient. Let’s go over them below.

Context marketing converts better.

When you’re creating marketing that’s targeted at people’s point of need, it stands to reason that marketing will perform much better for you, because you aren’t delivering marketing content that’s misaligned with their interests or stage in the buyer’s journey.

Think about it: If you know that a B2B lead is getting a new budget in January and it’s December, you’re able to send her insanely targeted content that addresses her needs — like, say, an offer for a custom demo of your product with a rep that specializes in the finance industry. That’s content that she’s pretty likely to convert on, especially if she’s downloaded a buying guide and visited your product pages.

Hot tip: Keeping track of your prospect’s activity using marketing automation software will make context marketing easier. You’ll know which products your prospect is most interested in and how many times they’ve visited your website.

Context marketing increases retention.

When you have context around your relationship with a contact, you’re able to provide more personalized and relevant marketing content that’s targeted to their needs.

This is great for two reasons: Personalized and relevant marketing is the foundation for creating content people love and engage with. What’s more, personalized and relevant marketing is typically not the kind of marketing that annoys people into clicking “unsubscribe”. If they feel like you’re out to solve their problems specifically, customers are much more likely to stay with you.

Why not use the context around your relationships with your contacts to create marketing that they love and convert on? Let’s take a look at how you can get started.

How to Start Context Marketing

Alright, how does this “context marketing” theory manifest itself? What would it look like for you, as a marketer? With the help of marketing automation software, here are some examples of where you’d actually use the principle of “context” in your marketing.

1. Create specific offers for specific posts and pages.

One easy way you can start context marketing? Create offers that extend the value of your website. Bonus points if these offers answer a specific pain point or problem that a customer is trying to solve for when visiting that page.

Most blog posts in HubSpot’s library feature an offer that’s directly related to the topic of the article. For instance, in our blog post about creating a marketing plan, you can download a marketing plan template — which is something that someone wanting to create a marketing plan might need.

Come up with content offers that will benefit your readers and website visitors depending on the page they’re visiting. For instance, if you sell hiking shoes and you’re writing a blog post about going on a solo hiking trip, you might feature an offer for downloading a solo hiking checklist.

2. Add smart calls-to-action (CTAs) to your website.

You can take personalized offers to the next level by featuring smart calls-to-action. Let’s say you have a variety of offers you want to use to convert traffic into leads, leads into qualified leads, and qualified leads into customers.

To increase your lead conversion rates, you probably don’t want leads visiting a case study webpage (typically an action you’d perform further along in your buyer’s journey), and finding a CTA leading them to a blog post (which is meant for people earlier in the buyer’s journey).

However, not everyone who visits a case study page on your website is necessarily ready to talk to a salesperson. You don’t want to turn them away, either, by offering a CTA that’s too pushy.

Fortunately, with smart CTAs, you can actually surface a CTA that automatically aligns with the visitor’s stage in the sales cycle … or any other host of criteria you want to set. Think industry, business type, location, and past activity/behaviors.

For instance, if you have already downloaded an offer from HubSpot, you might see this CTA on certain social-media-related posts:

But if you haven’t downloaded an offer before, you’ll see the default CTA:

This type of smart content can help you capture your audience’s information at all stages of their buyer’s journey.

Hot tip: HubSpot’s marketing automation software lets you easily create a smart calls-to-action with little technical knowledge.

3. Create smart forms that shorten the conversion cycle.

Smart forms know if someone has already filled out the form fields you’re asking for. If you use smart forms, for instance, your site visitors won’t see “First Name” and “Last Name” every time they fill out a form — instead, they’ll answer those questions once, and then never again.

This will help you glean new information about your leads each time they fill out a form, instead of just more of the same stuff. It also helps you create a more seamless, personalized user experience that leverages prior interactions with your website as context.

Here’s one example from HubSpot Academy. This is what I see when I’m logged into the HubSpot CRM:

The form knows I’m a current HubSpot customer and doesn’t require me to create a new account. I only have to click one button: “Start the Course.”

But this is what I see when I’m not logged in:

Ultimately, smart forms will help you gather even more context about your visitors, leads, and customers, and help increase conversion rates over time.

Hot tip: You can easily create smart forms inside HubSpot’s marketing automation software.

4. Leverage dynamic email content and workflows.

Your forms and offers aren’t the only things that need to be smart. Your email database — especially if you want to maintain your space in people’s coveted inboxes — needs to be segmented into highly targeted lists, as well.

I happen to be subscribed to Grammarly emails on both my work and personal emails. Because I only use the Grammarly Chrome extension at work, I receive emails like this:

In my personal account, however, I use Grammarly’s web app regularly and review thousands of words for a personal project. Here’s the email I get:

Throughout the email, Grammarly prompts you to upgrade to the premium version and take advantage of its other tools. Because I don’t use the Chrome extension in my personal email account, it includes a call-to-action to install the extension. It’s delightful to receive an email that uses my account activity as context.

Beyond email segmentation, your email lists need to be smart enough to know when to pull in a contact, and certain information you have in your database about that contact, into your email marketing campaigns.

Remember, a great context marketer delivers the right content, to the right person, at the right time. So to send emails that are contextually relevant, you need to use their activity and background to deliver personalized content that delights them and prompts them to convert.

Context Marketing Examples

While context marketing may sound complicated, it’s actually quite simple in practice. In fact, as a customer, you may have seen or enjoyed context marketing yourself. Let’s take a look at some examples.

1. Google’s Product Ads Carousel

Have you ever looked up a product on Google and see a carousel at the top (as opposed to just the plain search results)? The products you see are typically ads for the exact same thing you searched for.

This is a prime contextual marketing example. Google uses your behavior and search query to deliver ads that are contextually relevant. Imagine if, when searching for instant coffee, Google delivers ads for french presses instead. While you might be interested in French presses and even searched for them before, you’re looking for instant coffee right now.

That’s why it’s important to answer for your customer’s specific pain points and queries, and to do so at the right time. And you don’t have to be a highly sophisticated search engine to do so. Remember those offers we spoke about in the previous sections? That can function in the same way as Google’s product carousels.

2. Asana’s New Feature Pop-Up

There’s no more powerful place to carry out contextual marketing than right within your own product, website, or store. Asana’s example shows that you can upsell customers easily by marketing a new feature and prompting them to try it for free.

This is an excellent example of contextual marketing because you wouldn’t be interested in trying this new feature unless you were a current Asana user. For instance, if Asana had placed this pop-up on their homepage, they likely wouldn’t have much success with it. But because it pops up after you log in, you’re more likely to say, “Sure, I’ll try it.”

You can achieve something similar by instituting a website personalization campaign. When people visit your product page, for instance, they might see a popup to schedule a meeting with a salesperson. But when they’re on the blog, they might see a popup to subscribe. These simple changes can help you capture more leads and use the context from their activity to deliver an offer they won’t resist.

3. LinkedIn Company Page Sidebar Ad

When you visit a company page on LinkedIn, it provides a little sidebar ad that prompts you to find roles at that company that match your skills.

LinkedIn does this because it knows that you might be open to opportunities even if you don’t list it on your profile. And if you’re looking at a company page, you might be interested in working at that firm. LinkedIn uses this context to deliver a relevant ad that you can’t help but click on.

Another reason this is such a great example is that it also lists a job title that relates to yours. So if you’re a financial advisor and are looking at JP Morgan Chase’s company page, LinkedIn will automatically advertise financial advisor roles at the firm.

Context Marketing is the Next Evolution of Content Marketing

Without context, you risk reaching the wrong people at the wrong time. Begin using context in all of your marketing and advertising campaigns, and you’ll see an exponential increase in conversions, helping you exceed your lead acquisition goals and increase revenue at your company.

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

Does anyone remember the days when all we saw on Instagram were poorly lit pictures our friends took and memes we didn’t want our parents to see on Facebook? Well, we’re long gone from then.

The platform has evolved from a simple image-sharing social platform to a money-making content curation one. With the addition of Instagram’s shopping tools, it’s steering more toward ecommerce and less on the social aspect.

So what does that mean for brands? We surveyed over 500 marketers to learn more about their Instagram strategy. Find out below what we found out as it relates to the social platform’s shopping tools.

The Benefits and Challenges of Instagram’s Shopping Tools

When we asked marketers the biggest benefit of using Instagram’s shopping tools, their number one answer was the increased product discoverability.

In the past, users had to navigate to a brand’s website to get product or service details. Today, they can learn everything they need to know about it. In addition, Instagram’s “wishlist” feature also allows users to save products they like to a specific folder on the app.

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The second biggest benefit is the simplified shopping experience. Gone are the days when you need to leave the app to make the purchase. You can discover a brand and make a purchase all in the same breath. This means a more enjoyable process for consumers, which can lead to more purchases for brands.

Another key advantage Instagram’s shopping tools offer is the ability to easily partner with influencers.

Currently, creators can tag easily the products they’re promoting and send traffic directly to the brand’s Shop page.

In addition, Instagram is currently testing an affiliate program, in which influencers have their own Shop page.

This allows users to easily find products recommended by their favorite influencers and make a purchase seamlessly.

Now, onto the not-so-great obstacles of Instagram’s shopping tools.

The biggest thing marketers surveyed complained about is supply-chain issues following many purchases. Since the pandemic, this has been a common hurdle for many businesses, as manufacturers deal with month- or year-long backlogs.

Another concern marketers are facing is not generating enough revenue from utilizing Instagram’s shopping tools or having access to certain features.

37% of marketers also complained about Instagram’s selling fees, which is currently 5% per shipment, or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less. For brands, this is an additional cost that they could avoid by directing traffic to their website instead.

Another big concern is the loss of user data. When Instagram serves as the end-to-end platform, brands can lose valuable data to inform future strategies.

Now that you know the pros and cons of the shopping tools, let’s break down how marketers are using them.

How Marketers Leverage Instagram Shopping Tools

From the marketers we surveyed in our HubSpot Blog Research, 32% currently leverage Instagram Shops in their marketing strategy, and 48% plan to increase their investment in 2022.

While some brands tried the shopping tools as soon as it was introduced, others are just now diving in. In fact, 36% of marketers will be increasing their investment in Instagram Shops for the first time this year.

Meanwhile, 14% of marketers will be prioritizing Instagram Shops above all other features in 2022.

However, one thing to note is that when compared to all the features available on Instagram, marketers say its shopping tools don’t offer a high ROI when it comes to leads. Posting content and going live offer much better results.

With that said, while it may not be ideal for driving leads, it may work well for meeting other marketing goals.

Out of all shopping features available on Instagram (Shop tab, product tagging, guides, Live shopping), the Shop tab is the most used tool by 47% of marketers surveyed.

However, in terms of ROI, it’s in the #2 spot. What’s on top? Instagram Shopping from Creators, which allows influencers to tag the products they’re using in an image or video.

As for shopping tools by format: It looks like in-feed shopping, Stories shopping, and Guides shopping are used at the same rate by over one in three marketers.

How Marketers Approach Product Launches on Instagram

One of the most interesting findings from our research is that for many brands, Instagram’s shopping tools are their sole ecommerce platform.

In fact, 41% of marketers surveyed said most of the brands they work with use the platform’s shopping tools exclusively. The other 59% say their brands have a presence outside of the social platform via an ecommerce website.

So the question is, how do Instagram’s shopping tools impact a product launch? One in four marketers says it’s much better to launch a product exclusively on the platform.

In fact, 83% of marketers surveyed say they have worked with a brand that launched a product exclusively on the platform.

Conversely, 15% say launching a product/service exclusively on Instagram is worse than launching elsewhere.

We’ve covered a lot here. One fact that’s clear is that more marketers will invest in Instagram’s shopping tools than they have in the past. What works well for one brand may not work for another, based on the audience, the audience, and more.

So, don’t be afraid to experiment with all the features and analyze your data to figure out what offers the best return on investment for your company.

The new year can be an exciting time to consider how you might expand your team to reach new goals in 2022.

But it can also be stressful for that very same reason. With a limited budget, how can you ensure you’re making the right hire?

HubSpot’s Blog Research uncovered the top three roles marketers are planning on hiring in 2022. Let’s explore why those three roles matter, according to experts.

The Top 3 Roles Marketing Leaders Plan to Hire in 2022

1. Creative Director

Nowadays, brands are expected to create top-notch content across platforms. To successfully reach new audiences and increase sales, you’ll want to have strong social media, content marketing, and video marketing strategies — to name a few.

As Wistia’s Creative Director, Adam Day, puts it, “In the context of today’s media landscape, the opportunity for brands to express themselves through multiple mediums is more attainable than ever — and consumers are demanding more than ever, too.”

Day adds, “It’s not just about blog posts anymore. Video consumption, alone, is up 121% from 2019, and in a recent survey of Wistia customers, we learned that most companies are increasing their production budgets by more than 10% this year. Businesses need someone who can oversee the creative execution of all this work while maintaining the consistency and quality it takes to have a world-class brand.”

That’s all well and good. But what, exactly, does a creative director do?

“A great creative director develops a clear and engaging visual identity for your brand,” Mark Tanner, Co-Founder and COO of Qwilr, told me. “Visual consistency communicates professionalism, attention to detail, and builds buyer confidence in a brand’s capabilities.”

Tanner told me, “The creative director should ‘own’ how a brand is represented across all visual assets, from your website to ads to product brochures to sales proposals.”

Tanner continues, “And if you think the impact of a creative director is limited to aesthetics, think again. According to a study by McKinsey, design-driven companies consistently outperform their competitors, demonstrating the ROI potential of a good design experience.”

A creative director can ultimately help your business hit its sales goals by ensuring your marketing materials are highly optimized, effective, and on-brand. 

As Tanner told me, “One out of three buyers are influenced by the quality of your sales materials, and that influence can either be positive, or cause your buyer to go with your competition, instead. It’s no wonder the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects creative director demand to grow by 11%, faster than the average for all occupations.”

Among other things, you can expect a creative director to guide your overarching content strategy; build and manage a successful production process; lead, inspire, and nurture your creative team to drive brand direction forward; and own specific KPIs related to content marketing.

Jenny Coppola, Head of Brand & Communications at Teamwork, says, “Creative directors should focus on ensuring that all brand touchpoints are cohesive and consistent, both visually and in terms of messaging, while also shepherding the idea of experimentation and concerted risk-taking within the team.”

Coppola says, “Your team’s creative director should always be thinking ahead to what the future could look like for the brand and the market as a whole, which means pushing ideas further and challenging the status quo of what’s expected.”

Coppola adds, “Equally as important, creative directors should be close to the customer, understanding what makes them tick inside and out. Knowing your target customer and being able to see the world through their eyes is the best way to build a brand that resonates with them.”

If you can only hire one new marketer in 2022, you’ll want to strongly consider the importance of having a creative director if you don’t already have one. Even a small but mighty team of marketers needs a creative director to nurture their strengths and guide the overarching vision.

Additionally, if your business works with freelancers, agencies, or contractors, a creative director can help streamline those processes and ensure consistency across marketing channels.

2. Creative Assistant

The second most-voted for role in 2022 is a creative assistant.

If you already have someone in a director-level or manager-level role, it makes sense to consider how you might help alleviate some of their responsibilities by hiring an assistant.

A creative assistant is an entry-level professional who will create promotional materials for your brand — those materials could include promotional videos, advertising campaigns, press releases, or social media posts.

A creative assistant will also help your creative director or manager by handling the day-to-day creation of specific marketing materials — for instance, they might write copy, produce designs or infographics, or conduct market research to identify future trends and campaign ideas.

A creative assistant can be a strategic, long-term play for your team. A creative assistant is an entry-level position, which means it’s someone who is often new to the field of marketing.

You might hire a creative assistant with impressive design skills, or a strong knowledge of the various social media platforms, and foster his or her growth on your team.

Simply put, a creative assistant is a hire who will continue to grow on your team and could ultimately have a strong impact on the future of your brand’s marketing strategy. 

3. Content Marketing Manager

“Let’s face it,” Dan Seavers, Talkwalker’s Content Marketing Manager, told me,

“Consumers are rapidly changing. They are savvier, smarter, and more active in their research. And they no longer want to be sold to. They want to be educated, entertained, excited, enthralled, anything … but not sold to.”

Seavers told me that this shift in consumer behavior has led to content marketing as an essential component for any business’ bottom line.

And a strong content marketing strategy needs a content marketing manager.

Why? Well, as Seavers puts it, “To do [content marketing] properly, you need content. A lot of content. We’re talking blogs, videos, podcasts, tweets, reports, case studies, TikTok dances, and more — all weaved into an epic journey that leads consumers from discovery to purchase.”

Unbounce’s VP of Marketing, Meg Sakakibara, agrees that a content marketing manager is vital for any marketing team. 

Sakakibara says, “Content marketing managers are critical for brands today that need a voice that cuts through the noise, builds trust, and ensures content isn’t just a pleasant accessory — it drives conversions.”

Sakakibara adds, “After analyzing the most influential elements for conversion in 40,000 landing pages, Unbounce found that copy influenced conversion more than 2X as much as design did. Content isn’t just the king/queen — it’s the whole kingdom. By investing in content marketing and new technologies like Unbounce’s Conversion Intelligence Platform, people are using content and optimization to convert more leads, sales, and sign-ups to win in this competitive space.”

So what should you look for in a content marketing manager?

Among other things, an effective content marketing manager will execute digital content strategies across platforms, drive traffic and engagement, have a deep understanding of what types of content perform best on which channels, and consistently evaluate how each campaign performs — and shift when necessary.

Additionally, Seaver told me, “To be good, your content marketing manager should always have one eye on your consumers’ ecosystem. Where do they cluster online? What do they talk about? What are they looking for in a product? What problem do they have that you can solve? Their content strategy will answer all of these questions, piece by piece. Slowly building that brand and consumer relationship from awareness — to having your consumers wonder how they can go on without you.”

Finally, a good content marketing manager needs to be a strong fit for your brand and goals. Content marketing is about delivering unique value to your intended audiences — which means your marketing manager needs to know, inside and out, who your target audience is and what they care about.

As Microsoft’s Group Marketing Manager Nora Xu puts it, “It goes beyond a single touchpoint with an action to purchase your product, to a flywheel of inspirational and educational content that meets them where they are. On the Microsoft Advertising brand marketing team, I look for people who can get into the mindset of our audience and create content that makes them feel seen and connected with our brand.”  

Ultimately, you know what’s best for your business needs. Take a careful look at your team’s current strengths, and aim to identify a role that can help fill in the gaps.

Once you’re ready to begin the recruitment process, take a look at these 17 marketing job descriptions to attract the right hire.