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What did you last Google? Willing to share it with the public?

Search histories can tell a story about a person and what they’re thinking.

But I can’t imagine anyone would willingly give up their personal search history — especially if it identifies them — without some sort of incentive.

Thankfully, we can tap into Google Trends for these insights.

Let’s dive into what Google Trends is, where the data comes from, and how you can use Google Trends for market research, product innovation, and more.

What is Google Trends?

“Explore what the world is searching” greets you on the Google Trends homepage and accurately reflects what the tool does.

Google Trends visualizes trending topics, search terms, and news on Google. It provides real-time data regarding current trends from the past seven days, as well as past trends, which dates back to 2004.

Where Does Google Trends Data Come From

Google Trends includes anonymized samples — real-time and non-real-time — of search requests made to Google, which is then categorized into topics.

Because we can see trends by location, the data is normalized to ensure regions with the most search volume do not consistently rank the highest.

To normalize the data, Google divides each data point by the total searches of the geography and time range it represents to compare relative popularity. Those numbers are then scaled on a range of 0 to 100, based on a topic’s proportion to all searches on all topics.

One major caveat to the data is that Google retains queries that may come from “irregular activity.” Google says this is done to preserve the quality of the search data provided from other Google tools.

Simply put, if Google filtered out the spammy activity from Trends, spammers could then use the tool to understand which words are identified as spam, and adjust accordingly.

In addition to the search query data, the Realtime Search Trends report also includes the number of Google News articles written per hour.

How to Use Google Trends

Google Trends has several ways to slice and dice the data. Google Trends has four main sections:

• Explore
• Trending Searches
• Year in Search
• Subscriptions

The data can be filtered by location, date, categories, search section (i.e., News vs. Shopping), and even by topics vs. search terms. Rather than walking through each section and visualization, let’s see how they can apply to common marketing tasks.

1. Use Google Trends for Market Research

Need to understand the interest in your product or service to launch in a new market?

Google Trends Explore can help you understand how seasonality and location might affect your product or service.

In the Country drop-down selector below your query, for instance, you can filter down to a metropolitan area or click into the options on the map. You can also change the date to expand or decrease the history — but keep in mind the sample will change if you select a time within seven days.

Pro Tip: As you are typing in your query, notice the auto-populated options. Anything that does

not have a “search term” underneath it is a Topic. Topics are aggregated categories, while search terms focus on keywords. The same applies to the “Related topics” and “Related queries” tables. Start broader with a topic, and then narrow down to specific search terms as you analyze the results.

2. Test Out Google Trends for Newsjacking

Do you use newsjacking to help generate content? Then you should definitely use Google Trends subscriptions. Sign up to get the top, most, or all search trends weekly, daily, or as they happen.

3. Leverage Google Trends for Keyword Research

Many keyword research tools show an expected monthly search volume. Unless you’ve been tracking that data month-by-month, it’s hard to tell if searches for the topic are trending up or down. Google Trends can give you the directional data to pair with your monthly search volume.

While you are checking trends for your keywords, you can find related queries that are on the rise to also consider in your keyword set.

If you aren’t sure what people might be searching for, use the topic presented by Google in auto-complete, where possible, and check the “Related queries” filtered by Top queries. Once you’ve found different terms in the related queries, add, up to five, to compare them.

Pro Tip: Make sure you are using search terms. Wrapping your search in quotations ensures the whole phrase is used in that order. You can further refine your search with punctuation to include or exclude certain words.

4. Use Google Trends for Product Innovation

Are you looking for insights into the latest colors, materials, or styles for your product? Suppose you start broadly with a topic in Explore.

In that case, the “Related queries” filtered by Rising can surface trending colors, materials, or other product innovations and indicate how much the interest has increased in the selected time frame. Those marked with Breakout show a significant increase from the previous period, growing more than 5000%.

5. Employ Google Trends for Topic Clustering

Hopefully, you understand the difference between search terms and topics in Trends by now.

With topics, Google Trends can help simplify your topic cluster strategy. As you search for a term, Google will provide you with topics instead of just search terms, and once one is selected, lists “Related topics”, too. You can get a sense for how Google News helps build relationships between topics by checking out the real-time search trends report.

We can go even broader than topics, though. Once you’ve selected a term, you can then choose a Category. While these are meant to refine your search query, you can remove your search after a Category has been selected and be left with queries and topics tied to the high-level category.

6. Test Out Google Trends for Analyzing News Publications

Are you pitching to or working in the news? Then you want to dig into the Trending Searches data.

As mentioned before, the real-time trending searches lists how many Google News articles have been created about a trending topic each hour. Once you select a topic, the bar charts show the newly-added articles that hour and the cumulative total. You can see how the news may lead or follow the search trend.

The articles listed are the top articles based on the Google News’ ranking system, per Google. If you subscribe to specific topics, you can monitor which publications rank well.

Focus on pitching those publications that are regularly featured on your topics. If you are a publisher, audit those competitors to see if you can update your structured data or Publisher Center information to get on their level.

Ready to start exploring? Dive into Google Trends now, and see the unique ways you can leverage the tool for your own business needs.

Internet use is increasing worldwide every day — in fact, over 4.6 billion people around the world use the internet, as of 2021.

Marketing is, and always has been, about reaching customers where they are. TV commercials, print advertisements, and billboards all attempt to do just that.

The internet offers unique benefits other marketing mediums can’t offer — scope of reach, the option to personalize content, and the opportunity to build far-reaching relationships with customers, being just a few.

But the internet can be an overwhelming and all-encompassing entity, filled with videos and recipes and news articles and e-commerce sites. In the crowded space of the internet, how are you supposed to differentiate your business to reach the right audience?

The answer is internet marketing.

Internet marketing leverages digital channels, including email, social media, websites, and search engines, to reach your ideal audience. Unlike more traditional advertising mediums, such as print, the internet encourages two-way conversations between your business and your customer, ideally creating better long-term customer retention.

There’s no avoiding it: internet marketing is critical for the success of your business in 2021 and beyond.

But with all the gimmicks and tricks, it can be difficult to distinguish short-term wins from effective long-term strategies, which is why we’ve created an ultimate guide. Here, we’ll cover everything from marketing strategies to real-world examples, to ensure your business reaches the right people out of that four billion.

What is Internet/Online Marketing?

Online marketing, also known as internet marketing or web advertising, is a form of marketing that uses the internet to deliver promotional messages to customers through digital channels such as search engines, email, websites, and social media.

Online marketing strategies include web design, SEO, email, social media, PPC, and other internet-related methods.

What’s the role of internet marketing?

Simply put, the role of internet marketing is to help your business reach, attract, and convert online audiences. 

Let’s dive into two separate goals you’ll have with internet marketing, as well as the necessary methods you’ll want to take to achieve those goals.

Internet Marketing to Attract New Customers

You can use online marketing strategies to attract new customers. To do this, you’ll want to focus primarily on paid social media ads, search engines, and web design.

For instance, you might use Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences to get your message in front of an audience similar to your core demographic. Or, you could pay a social media influencer to share images of your products to her already well-established community. Paid social media can attract new customers to your brand or product, but you’ll want to conduct market research and A/B testing before investing too much in one social media channel.

To attract new customers, you also need to maintain a powerful SEO presence. With 89% of B2B buyers and 81% of shoppers using the internet for research before making purchasing decisions, it’s imperative your business is at the forefront of search for related keywords.

Having a strong SEO presence also translates to more in-store purchases, as well — in fact, 78% of local mobile searches result in an offline purchase, and local searches lead half of all mobile users to visit stores within one day.

Finally, it’s critical you spend time and resources on your business’s website design. When these aforementioned customers find your website, they’ll likely feel deterred from trusting your brand and purchasing your product if they find your site confusing or unhelpful. For this reason, it’s important you take the time to create a user-friendly (and mobile-friendly) website.

Internet Marketing to Cultivate Brand Loyalists

Internet marketing is for more than just attracting new customers — it’s also critical for maintaining a loyal, long-term customer base. And, since it costs five times more to attract a new customer than it does to keep an existing one, this is an equally important goal.

You’ll want to use email, blogging, and social media tactics to increase brand awareness, cultivate a strong online community, and retain customer loyalty. Consider sending personalized emails to past customers to impress or inspire them — for instance, you might send discounts based off what they’ve previously purchased, wish them a happy birthday, or remind them of upcoming events.

To properly employ email campaigns, you’ll need an email list. Here’s how to build an email list from scratch.

Additionally, you might use social media to showcase your brand’s personality and hear directly from your customers. Consider hosting a Twitter chat, posting surveys on Instagram, or creating fun contests on Facebook.

If you don’t feel like you have the bandwidth to create all social media content internally, consider using a third-party service like UpContent, which sends you compelling, curated content that you can share with your audiences for increased engagement. 

Internet Marketing vs. Content Marketing

Content marketing and internet marketing are incredibly similar strategies used to attract leads and prospects to your site, and ultimately convert web traffic into customers. However, there are a few slight differences between the two. 

Content marketing lives under the roof of online/internet marketing — which means online/internet marketing is the more broad, overarching strategy, and content marketing is one process within that strategy.

Content marketing applies only to the process of creating and distributing content to reach audiences. Online marketing, on the other hand, encompasses sharing that content through email, search engines, and social media — it also includes paid advertising, retargeting, and a wide range of strategies you might use to reach audiences online.

While most of the strategies that fall under online marketing have to do with content creation, online marketing also pertains to the non-content creation tasks of internet marketing: such as PPC bidding, or website design. 

There are 11 strategies you’ll want to employ to ensure you’re successful at internet marketing.

1. Design a User-friendly Website

First, you want to create a user-friendly, and mobile-friendly, website. The design of your site will showcase your brand’s personality and differentiate your business from every other online business. But it’s more than just looking good — a cleaner, more well-organized site structure can affect how you rank in the SERPS.

For help designing your website or ensuring it’s up-to-par, check out 8 Guidelines for Exceptional Web Design, Usability, and User Experience.

2. Optimize Your Site for Search Engines

Next, you’ll need to keyword optimize your site for search engines. Essentially, this means you’ll choose keyword(s) that relate to your business, and incorporate those keywords into the URL, body text, image text, headers, and navigation bar.

For tips on keyword optimizing your entire site, check out On-Page SEO 101: Tips for Keyword Optimizing the Most Critical Parts of Your Website.

If you’re interested in focusing on keyword optimizing your blog posts, consider reading Blog SEO: How to Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Content.

For a real-life example on how to successfully implement SEO into your digital marketing strategy, check out our case study on Canva here:

3. Use Email Marketing or Opt-in Email Campaigns

Email marketing and opt-in marketing campaigns are one of the most effective long-term strategies to connect with potential customers and cultivate brand loyalty.

For everything from getting started with email marketing, to email marketing best practices and lead magnets, check out The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing.

4. Write Online Press Releases

Writing online press releases is an additional way to increase online coverage of your business from other sources, which will also positively affect your ranking in the SERPs. Plus, if a local news outlet covers your business, you’ll receive their audience, which you otherwise might not have reached.

To get started writing a press release for your business, consider How to Write a Press Release [Free 2017 Press Release Template + Example].

5. Create a Blog

I might be biased, but blogging is one of the best ways to attract a large audience to your site, establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, and prove your brand to be both useful and current.

Writing blog posts is especially effective for providing different opportunities to land on page one of search engines — for instance, maybe your eyeglass store’s website is on page three of Google for “eyeglasses,” but your “Best Sunglasses of 2018” blog post is on page one, pulling in an impressive amount of traffic (over time, that blog post could also boost your overall website to page one).

To learn everything from choosing a domain name to writing your first blog post, check out How to Start a Blog: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates].

6. Develop Social Media Contests and Campaigns

Social media contests and campaigns are exceptional opportunities to engage with your online audience, form relationships with customers, and learn about your buyer’s persona.

For an overarching compilation on everything you need to know about social media campaigns — from how to craft perfect posts on Facebook to the most shared phrases on LinkedIn — take a look at Everything You Need to Know about Social Media Campaigns.

7. Leverage Pay-per-click Advertising

With 45% of small businesses using paid advertising, this isn’t a strategy you should ignore. Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC, is an advertising model in which advertisers only pay when someone interacts with their ad through impressions or clicks. 

PPC is most commonly used on search engines, and can help your business appear for searches related to your products or services. This is particularly important for more competitive keywords, when it’s difficult to rank on page one against websites with higher domain authority. 

It’s important to note — PPC doesn’t replace your SEO strategy, it simply complements it. For instance, if you’re trying to rank for “website builder”, you’ll see the keyword difficulty is “super hard (95)”, according to Ahrefs. However, there are some long-form keywords you might have success ranking for, including “what is a website builder? (52)” or “best website builders for ecommerce (57)”. 

If you do want to target “website builder”, you’ll want to bid for an ad and use PPC to stand out against competitors. 

8. Optimize Your Site for Conversions

Okay, you got readers to your blog or homepage … now what? 

Ultimately, you’ll want to invest in resources for conversion rate optimization (CRO). If you don’t, you risk not being able to convert any of your traffic into qualified leads and, ultimately, customers. 

There are four areas of your website that can benefit from CRO. These include the homepage, pricing page, blog, and landing pages.

Within a blog, a CRO strategy might include adding relevant calls-to-action throughout the text, or inviting readers to submit their emails in exchange for an ebook. On a pricing page, a CRO strategy might include a slide-out that invites viewers to book time with a sales rep or watch a demo. 

Optimizing your site for conversions is a critical component of any strong internet marketing strategy. 

9. Post Videos on YouTube or Other Social Networks

Video marketing is an undeniably powerful opportunity to reach new audiences and convert leads into customers. In fact, 83% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads, and 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. 

Convinced yet? If not, simply consider the fact that 89% of video marketers plan to use YouTube in 2021 — which means, even if you’re not posting videos on the channel, your competitors most likely are. 

You’ll want to diversify the type(s) of content you produce to attract audiences who prefer video over text, or YouTube over Twitter. Consider how you might implement your own video strategy to reach and convert new audiences. If you’re not sure where to start, check out HubSpot’s Ultimate Guide to YouTube Marketing. 

10. Find Influencers to Work With Your Brand

I’m currently wearing a watch I found on Amazon. I’m sitting on a couch from Wayfair, with a candle from Anthropology on the table in front of me.

Where did I hear about all these products? Influencers. 

Social media influencers have cultivated strong, meaningful relationships with their followers. Their followers typically trust them to provide true, reliable guidance on a range of topics related to the influencers’ expertise. Which is why influencer marketing can be an effective opportunity to spread brand awareness to new audiences. 

If you think influencer marketing could be a good choice for your business, consider micro-influencers as a more effective (and oftentimes more cost-efficient) option. In a recent study, 82% of respondents said they were “highly likely to follow a micro-influencers’ recommendation”.

Additionally, it can be expensive and time-consuming to find the right influencer(s) for your brand. If you’re going to invest in the strategy, consider working with the same few influencers for the long-term — which enables your company to build stronger relationships with their social followers. 

11. Create a Facebook Group

A Facebook group — unlike a Facebook page — is an exclusive, private group that enables you to facilitate a sense of community surrounding your brand. 

A Facebook group isn’t a necessity for every business, but when done properly, it can go a long way towards creating a stronger relationship between you and your customers. Best of all, it can help foster connections between your customers. 

Since having a strong community can help you build brand loyalty, it’s important to seek out unique opportunities to engage directly with your customers. If a Facebook group doesn’t seem like a good fit for your business, however, there are other ways to create a sense of community — including via social media, or through a branded newsletter.

Finally, take a look at our Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing to dive deeper into the six essential steps of internet marketing.

Online Marketing Examples

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of online marketing examples to inspire your next internet marketing campaign.

Here, I’ll dive into five real world examples of social media, email, SEO, and website marketing methods. I’ll also include links to additional blog resources at the bottom, for even more exceptional ideas.

1. Social Media: Under Armour’s “I Will What I Want” Campaign

Under Armour came up with the hashtag “I Will What I Want” to encourage powerful athletic women to achieve their dreams despite any opposition they might face. The hashtag, first used by American Ballet Theatre ballerina soloist Misty Copeland, blew up on Facebook after supermodel Gisele Bündchen used it in one of her Facebook posts. Many other female athletes have also used the hashtag.

The campaign spreads a positive message of female empowerment, while also highlighting Under Armour’s women apparel. The campaign reached five billion media impressions, increased Under Armour’s women’s sales by 28 percent, and pulled in an additional 42 percent of traffic to their website.

2. Email: JetBlue

Companies often use email marketing to re-engage past customers, but a “Where’d You Go? Want To Buy This?” message can come across as aggressive, and you want to be careful with your wording to cultivate a long-term email subscriber.

This is why JetBlue’s one year re-engagement email works so well — it uses humor to convey a sense of friendliness and fun, while simultaneously reminding an old email subscriber they might want to check out some of JetBlue’s new flight deals.

3. SEO: Moz’s case study for Pipedrive, a sales CRM

Using a content marketing strategy that included content creation, outreach, and guest posting, Pipedrive, a sales CRM, was able to rank #1 for a high-volume keyword — “sales management” (9,900 search volume). They were able to outrank SalesManagement.org, InsightSquared, and even US News and Wikipedia. They published their strategy on Moz.

4. SEO: Brian Dean’s YouTube strategy

Brian Dean, an SEO expert and the creator of BackLinko, uses SEO tactics to rank #1 on YouTube for keywords like “on page SEO” and “video SEO”. Initially, Dean admits his YouTube account struggled to get any views.

Employing SEO methods like keyword optimization has enabled Dean to rise to #1 on YouTube for search results related to his business. He published his full strategy on Backlinko.

5. Web Design: DisabledGO

DisabledGO, an information provider for people with disabilities in the UK and Ireland, hired Agency51 to implement an SEO migration strategy to move DisabledGO from an old platform to a new one.

By applying 301 redirects to old URLS, transferring metadata, setting up Google webmaster tools, and creating a new sitemap, Agency 51 was able to successfully transfer DisabledGO to a new platform while keeping their previous SEO power alive.

Additionally, they were able to boost visitor numbers by 21% year over year, and the site restructuring allowed DisabledGO to rank higher than competitors. Their case study is available on SingleGrain.com.

More Internet Marketing Examples:

• 19 of the Best Email Marketing Campaign Examples We’ve Ever Seen [+ Template]
• 5 Real Examples of Engaging Social Media Campaign Ideas
• The Best of B2B Marketing Content: 10 Examples

Ultimately, your internet marketing strategies will work best if you incorporate inbound marketing methodology. First and foremost, you want all your online content to add value to your customers”s lives. This is the only way you’ll attract quality leads and build deep relationships with your online community for the long-term.

Ensuring your Instagram audience sees your content increases chances of engagement, brand awareness, referral traffic, and conversions.

However,  sometimes it’s not super efficient for you and your team members to be hovering over your phones or laptops in order to post on Instagram at the exact time you believe you’ll be able to get the greatest amount of audience engagement.

You may also have other things going on throughout the workday that need to take precedence over opening the Instagram app and clicking “Post” on your content.

This is where Instagram scheduling software comes into play. 

Can you schedule Instagram posts?

Yes! Luckily, Instagram’s API lets users of marketing tools like HubSpot schedule Instagram posts in advance.

In other words, if you use social media scheduling software, you can upload your content, choose when it goes live on Instagram, and know that it’ll be posted for your audience without you having to lift another finger.

As mentioned, to start, you’ll need a third-party tool to do the scheduling. Below are a few handy options for your consideration. 

1. HubSpot Social Media Management Software

Price: $0/month (Free), $45/month (Starter), $800/month (Professional), $3,200/month (Enterprise)

With HubSpot’s Social Media tool, which is part of HubSpot Marketing Hub, you can schedule and publish social posts to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. From within HubSpot, you can edit your post, schedule it, and add @mentions to tag other accounts and users. 

Upload the image that you want to share on Instagram to HubSpot and then drag and drop it into the post that you’re scheduling. You can preview the final post prior to it going live so you’re able to see exactly what your visitors are going to see. 

After you choose the date and time that your Instagram post will be shared and preview it, tag it with a relevant HubSpot campaign so all of your social posts that are associated with a marketing campaign you’re already running are organized. 

Once you schedule your post, you can select “Schedule another” to plan another social post — there’s an option to auto-copy and paste content from the post that you just scheduled so you’re able to plan similar posts for different dates, times, and platforms.  

Lastly, if you’re using HubSpot’s social tool to schedule and publish across other platforms, target specific audience groups (for instance, you can target specific countries or languages on Facebook). 

2. Later

Price: Free, $12.50/mo (Starter), $20.83 (Growth), $33.33 (Advanced) 

Later is a social media post scheduler dedicated to Instagram. The platform includes a full social content calendar, drag-and-drop post planning, and the ability to publish automatically to your Instagram Business profile. In addition, the service’s Linkin.bio feature allows you to link certain posts to specific product pages.

3. Tailwind

Price: Free, $9.99/mo (Pro), $19.99 (Advanced), $39.99 (Max)

Tailwind is a social media scheduler and smart assistant platform specifically for Instagram and Pinterest. Using smart features like bulk image uploading and the built-in Hashtag Finder, the tool allows small businesses to quickly personalize their Instagram posts and get them scheduled.

The tool also allows you to visually plan and preview your Instagram post schedule and grid via a single dashboard so you can see what your audience will see prior to posting. 

4. Buffer

Price: Free, $15/mo (Pro), $65/mo (Premium), $99/mo (Business) 

Buffer allows you to schedule social media posts across six social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. Buffer for Instagram makes it easy to manage and schedule your Instagram posts via a single dashboard.

There’s an option to include hashtags in your Instagram post in the Comments section versus in the caption (to keep the post and caption looking as simple as possible). You can also analyze your Instagram posts to determine what worked among your target audience using Buffer’s social media analytics feature. 

In addition to a mobile app for iOS and Android, Buffer also offers an extension for your internet browser.

5. Sked Social

Price: $25/mo (Fundamentals), $75/mo (Essentials), $135/mo (Professional)

Sked Social offers an Instagram scheduling and auto-posting tool for Instagram posts and stories. You can plan to automatically post your stories, whether they’re photo stories or video stories, using the tool so you never have to intervene or receive reminders to click “Post” again. 

You can also schedule your Instagram posts via iOS or Android so you can upload content directly from your mobile device’s camera roll. 

6. Sprout Social

Price: $99/mo (Standard), $149/mo (Professional), $249/mo (Advanced)

Sprout Social is a social media management platform that’s compatible with six major social networks including Instagram. It has a social media content calendar that allows you to schedule your social posts and then measure different engagement metrics once live. 

Easily upload the image you want to post on Instagram, add the caption and other Instagram post details (e.g. location), and then schedule it to go out at the date and time of your choosing.

The tool’s social listening abilities also help you identify unique trends across your Instagram content and then apply these trends to the rest of your Instagram marketing strategy. 

7. Loomly

Price: $34 /mo (Base), $76 /mo (Standard), $159 /mo (Advanced), $332 /mo (Premium), Contact Us (Enterprise) 

Loomly is a brand success platform with content management and social media publishing and scheduling features. Schedule your social media posts in advance — there are automated scheduling and publishing options for a variety of social platforms including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google. Loomly also offers automated Instagram Ad (and Facebook Ad) publishing. 

With the platform, easily manage your organic and paid social media content — you can also get notifications (via email, Slack, and more) whenever one of your team members works on a piece of social content to make for easy team-wide collaboration. The tool provides social media post recommendations based on trends, events, holidays, and social platform best practices.

Next, let’s dive into how to schedule Instagram posts for an Instagram Business page — for the sake of this post, we’ll use HubSpot as our scheduling and publishing tool. 

1. Ensure you have admin access to your Facebook Business Page.

Instagram and Facebook might be separate accounts to you personally, but businesses that want to automate their Instagram posting schedule will need to tether both accounts together. So, you’ll need the username and password of your business’s Facebook account to do this — in other words, head over to the Instagram Business landing page to set up your account if you don’t already have one.

2. Switch to your Business profile on the Instagram mobile app and connect this account to Facebook.

If you have a personal Instagram account, you probably know you can manage more than one profile from the app — and the other profile is your business account (keep in mind you’ll need an Instagram Business account to schedule Instagram posts in HubSpot).

To switch to your Instagram Business page from your personal page, navigate to your profile on your mobile device and tap the three dots in the upper-right corner of your screen. Then, in the next screen, select “Switch to Business Profile,” as shown below:

Under “Settings,” select “Linked Accounts.” Here’s where you can select Facebook and link your two accounts together. You might be asked to “Log in With Facebook,” at which point you’ll enter your business account’s username and password. Otherwise, select “Continue as [yourself].”

3. Open HubSpot and use the “Social” tool to integrate your Instagram profile.

Now that your Instagram profile is anchored to Facebook, you’re ready to integrate it with your post scheduler. As mentioned, for our purposes, we’ll be using HubSpot’s Social tool.

Open HubSpot, select “Settings” > “Marketing” > “Social” > “Connect Account” > “Facebook and Instagram.”

 

Click the first option, “Facebook & Instagram,” and follow the prompts to complete this step (which are listed here in greater detail). 

4. Create your first social post for your Instagram account.

Once your Instagram account is integrated into HubSpot, you’ll see an option to “Create social post” in your HubSpot dashboard. Click it, and you’ll see icons for which social network you want to start with. Select the Instagram icon to compose your first post for your Instagram account. 

5. Compose a message with your desired visual assets, captions, and hashtags.

Customize your Instagram post and upload an image using the landscape icons on the bottom-lefthand corner of the white text field that appears, as shown below:

Then, caption your image with the text, hashtags, and user mentions you’d like to post your photo with, as they should appear on Instagram.

6. Set the date and time of your Instagram post.

Just above the photo that you’re posting, you’ll see a field where you can add the date and time that your post will be scheduled to go live. Use this field to set the exact date and time you want your post to automatically go live on your Instagram profile.

7. Preview your post to make sure it looks right.

Any grammatical errors? Are all your intended hashtags included? Is the image successfully uploaded? Check to make sure, and you’ll be ready to schedule.

8. Click “Schedule message.”

Got any more Instagram posts planned? Draft them now and schedule all of them at the same time — with HubSpot, you can schedule your social posts in bulk.

Once every post you want to schedule has been loaded into HubSpot, you can hit the “Schedule” button on the page.

Schedule Your Instagram Posts

Start scheduling your Instagram posts to make your workflow more efficient and to ensure the content you need to get in front of your audience does so in a timely fashion. 

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

These days, social media is all about documentation.

Where you go, what you eat and drink, who you see, and what’s most memorable: These are the typical fodder of Instagram Stories — seconds-long glimpses of people’s lives, shared on Instagram for only 24 hours.

Below, we’ve created a guide for you to learn what Instagram Stories are, how to share them with your followers, and how to make sure those Stories are exactly what your audience wants to see.

We’ll cover the following:

• What are Instagram Stories?
• How do Instagram Stories work?
• How long are Instagram Stories?
• How to View Instagram Stories
• How to Make an Instagram Story
• How to Use Instagram Stories for Business
• Instagram Stories Tricks and Hacks

Let’s get started.

Your Instagram Story is published separately from the photos and videos found in the tiled gallery of your Instagram profile. And although you might know the basics of sharing them, there are hidden tools within the app that can make the photos and videos you add to your Story more creative and engaging.

How do Instagram Stories work?

Instagram Stories allow you to share short videos and images to a temporary “Story.” You can add stickers, time stamps, and doodles to each Story and apply certain filters and effects. If your account is public, your Story is visible to anyone, but if your account is private, your Story is only visible to those who follow you. 

Viewers have the option of directly responding to your Story via direct message (DM), but you can also disable replies in your app’s settings.

You can also see who’s viewed it by opening up your Story and swiping up on your screen. 

Why should you use Instagram Stories?

Instagram Stories can drive a ton of engagement and value — whether you’re sharing a Story from a brand account or your own personal profile.

A total of 500 million Instagram users have started sharing disappearing content on Instagram Stories, increasing the amount of time spent in-app every day to an average of 30 minutes.

What’s more, a lot of brands have already seen success publishing content to this platform. Instagram Stories have fueled the growth of brands like Bombas, Chameleon Cold Brew, and Doritos. Whether publishers are trying to grow brand awareness, grow traffic to videos or newsletters outside of Instagram, or share sponsored posts, Instagram Stories allows them to publish fun disappearing content that infuses brand voice and personality without taking up too much of the average user’s dwindling attention span.

That’s why Instagram Stories are so short and why they only last a short while on the platform.

Just as Instagram Stories only last 24 hours before disappearing, the photos and videos themselves have a time limit when users view and play them.

As a blanket rule, the individual videos you add to your Instagram Story each have a maximum roll time of 15 seconds. If you add a video to your Instagram Story, for example, it’ll play for up to 15 seconds, regardless of how long the original video was, and then end.

Despite Instagram Stories’ 15-second runtime limit, there are ways to play longer videos in your Story. Specifically, you can split a video that’s longer than 15 seconds into 15-second segments and add each segment to your Instagram Story so they play one after another. Here are some mobile apps that can help you make it happen:

• Continual (iOS only): Continual is an iOS app that automatically splits your videos into 15-second segments so that you can upload them to your Story. You also have the option to trim videos for Facebook Stories (20 seconds). Pricing: $7.99
• Storeo (iOS only): Like Continual, Storeo splits up your long videos into 15-second snippets for uploading into your Story. It also allows you to create Facebook Stories. The free version will automatically put a watermark on your Story; we recommend paying the one-time fee to upgrade. Pricing: $9.99
• Story Cutter (iOS): Story Cutter will trim your Story into HD and 4K 15-second snippets. There are no limits to the length of your video, and clips are exported in chronological order so it’s easy to upload them. Pricing: $0.99
• Story Cutter (Android): Like the similarly-named iOS version, the Story Cutter Android app will let you split videos into smaller segments to upload to your Instagram Story. You can record videos using the app or upload an existing video from your gallery. Pricing: Free with in-app purchases
• CutStory (iOS only): CutStory is a trimmer for Instagram Stories, as well as an editor. Add effects, templates, and text to your Story prior to uploading. There’s a free version, but your Story will be watermarked. We recommend upgrading. Pricing: $3.99

How to View Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories appear at the top of your screen when you’re on the Instagram mobile app. Because they’re often the first pieces of content users see when they open Instagram, these Stories can get a ton of engagement and help you advertise your regular Instagram photo gallery to more users.

Let’s go over how you can view Instagram Stories.

1. Open Instagram and navigate to the home screen.

To start viewing Instagram Stories, open your Instagram mobile app and tap the home icon on the bottom-lefthand corner of your screen. Instagram Stories are not available for viewing on the desktop site.

Once you’ve navigated to Instagram’s home screen, you’ll see a series of circular icons along the top, each of which represents the active Stories posted by the users you follow. These icons are highlighted inside a red square in the screenshot below. As you can see, your own Story is available for viewing (and adding to) on the far left of the Stories you follow.

2. Tap on a circular icon to view that user’s Story.

Each circular icon you see at the top of your home screen will have a gradient circle around it, denoting that the user has recently posted a Story. Tap on it to expand the user’s Story — it’ll either be a photo or a video, and the latter will play automatically once you tap on the Story.

3. Tap to navigate between a Story’s photos and videos.

A single Instagram Story can contain numerous individual photos and videos strung together in order of when the user posted them. The first piece of content you’ll see will be the most recent one. Tap your mobile device’s screen to cut to the next photo or video that the user has posted to their Story.

4. Swipe to navigate from one Instagram Story to another.

Swiping left and right while viewing an Instagram Story will allow you to shuffle between Stories from different users. When you open an Instagram Story after becoming an Instagram user for the first time, you’ll see the following menu:

Use the above screenshot as a reference for viewing the Instagram Stories of the accounts you follow.

5. Use an Instagram Story viewer to view Stories privately.

Did you know that you can use a third-party tool to view Stories without the user knowing? An Instagram Story viewer allows you to watch Stories anonymously. You might want to do this if you’re scouting freelancers and don’t want them to see you first. Some Story viewers allow you to autosave copies of the Stories, while others will offer a paid option so you can automatically save copies of new Stories.

Instagram Story viewers are available on the web; you don’t need to download an app. You can search for any username, and copies of the Stories posted from that username will pop up. Here’s what that looks like in Ingramer’s Instagram Story viewer:

Additional tools you can use include:

• Instafollowers.co
• Stories IG
• Insta-Stories.online
• StoriesDown
• Dumpor

Ready to start posting? Let’s go over how you can create Instagram Stories step-by-step.

You can make successful Instagram Stories too — but it requires a few more hacks and tips to make them look like the Stories big brands and influencers share. (Some of my favorite Instagram Stories are shared by chef Chloe Coscarelli, actress Busy Phillips, mattress brand Casper, and interior design app Hutch — and don’t forget to check out HubSpot‘s Stories as well.)

But first, let’s review the basics of how to share an Instagram Story.

1. Open up the Instagram app and tap your profile picture near the upper left-hand corner.

To start posting a Story, open up the Instagram app and click on your profile image in the top left corner. You can also swipe right or click the plus sign near the top right.

If you click the plus sign, you’ll automatically be prompted to create a post instead of a Story. To get to the Story creator, choose Story at the bottom right.

2. Choose a filter and image capture mode.

Once you start creating your Story, you can choose a filter by swiping right and left on the filter carousel at the bottom of the screen.

Aside from a filter, you can choose a capture mode when taking a photo or filming straight from the app. The options appear on the left-hand side of the screen.

You have a few options to choose from:

Normal

Normal means choosing no option. It means what it says: Tapping once on the camera button will capture a photo, and holding down will record a video. Instagram Stories can be 15 seconds in length, so if you want to share a video that’s longer, film in 15-second stints, or use a tool to split your longer clip into 15-second installments.

Create

Create mode will take you to a screen where you can create a Story from scratch. In this screen, you can choose stickers, place gifs, and write text. 

Boomerang

Boomerang mode films looping GIFs up to three seconds in length.

Layout

Layout mode will take you to a screen with four quadrants, in which you can capture four different photos. You can change the style of the grid.

Multi-Capture

Multi-capture mode allows you to capture photos and videos consecutively without needing to upload them separately to your Story.

Photobooth

Photobooth mode allows you to take four photos that then appear in consecutive order in your Story. There’s a flash in between, giving the effect of photos taken in an actual photobooth.

Hands-Free

Use hands-free mode if you want to set up your camera to film a video for you. Make sure you prop it somewhere stable before you start recording. We’ll talk more about this feature in a minute.

Level

The level option will overlay a grid over your camera so that you can accurately align objects so that they’re straight. You can combine this option with other image capture modes such as multi-capture and photobooth.

3. Capture a photo or video using the camera.

Now that you’ve chosen your filter and image capture mode, it’s time to actually start filming and creating content. Hold down on the button to film a video, and tap once to capture an image.

If you don’t like the filter, you can change it. You can also add stickers, text, and drawings.

4. Once you’ve edited your photo or video, tap “Your Story.” 

You can also save your edited photo or video to your gallery by tapping the “Download” icon up top.

Knowing how to post to your Instagram Story is one thing, but knowing what to post is a different … well, story. For businesses looking to tell their story on Instagram, it’s important to know who your ideal followers are and what they’d be interested in seeing on Instagram. Remember, Instagram is a visual platform, but that doesn’t mean you can’t teach or promote something in the process.

Below, we cover a few ideas for using Instagram Stories to attract followers and build a customer base.

1. Post footage of an office event.

Sometimes, the best thing a business can do on Instagram is be as human as possible. One way to do this is to post a brief video of a company function. Whether it’s an office holiday party or an award banquet, posting footage of it to your Story is easy and in-the-moment entertainment for your followers. This content also shows people you’re a relevant and friendly voice in your market.

2. Post breaking news about your industry.

Just as you might on your company blog, you can use your Instagram Story to report on the latest happenings in your industry. With the right design work, you can turn small news breaks — that don’t merit an entire article — into a Story on your Instagram account.

This keeps users coming back to you to stay abreast with market trends. You can even ask users what they think, as shown in the Instagram Story by HubSpot below. We’ll explain how Instagram “stickers” can help you do this in just a minute.

3. Demonstrate your product.

Your product might not be the simplest or sexiest product in the eyes of the layperson. Well, your Instagram Story is the perfect format for showing potential customers how that product is used. Post a long video, segmented into 15-second clips that show users what your product or service does and how it helps your customers.

If you sell software, for example, you might record a video of your computer screen, using a recording tool like Loom, that shows people how to log in, use the software’s dashboard, and navigate to the various functions included in the product.

Just remember to modify your video’s dimensions before uploading it to your Instagram Story. Remember, Instagram Stories’ image dimensions are 1920px high and 1080px wide, with an aspect ratio of 9:16.

4. Promote a company event.

Does your organization host a trade conference or attend a big one every year? Use your Instagram Story to promote the event and tell your followers to look for you there. Work with a graphic designer, or do some artwork yourself, to illustrate an event flyer with all the information one would need to find you.

Most of this you can do directly in Instagram. For example, use the native text options in your Story to add:

• The event’s name.
• Where the event is located.
• Dates you’ll be attending.
• Your booth number.
• The event’s official hashtag.

5. Preview one of your company’s blog posts or videos.

Your blog posts and YouTube videos need all the exposure they can get. Even if social media isn’t your blog’s primary source of traffic, your Instagram Story can help readers discover that post or video for the first time and find it later.

In the screenshot below, Google Pixel used its Instagram Story to preview a video it published about a customer who used the device. When you tap all the way to the end of the Story, Google prompts you to swipe up with your finger, where it then links you to the full video on YouTube.

6. Mention other companies who follow or work with you.

As your Instagram following grows, you’ll eventually pick up other business accounts who want to follow you as well. Whether those accounts are your business partners or simply fans of yours, consider giving them shout-outs on your Instagram Story. This is a passive but effective way to nurture your relationships with the users that matter most to your business’s growth. We’ll explain how to link to other accounts in an Instagram Story in the tips below.

Now that you know the basics, let’s run through tips and hacks for producing high-quality, clickable Instagram Stories.

Instagram Story Tricks and Hacks

1. Use stickers.

Once you’ve captured a great photo or video, it’s time to jazz it up with some fun stickers. You can access these by clicking “Create,” then tapping the smiling sticker icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen once you’ve captured a photo or video.

Here are some best practices after you choose a sticker.

Change the size of your stickers.

You can pinch the sticker once you’ve added it to your Story to increase or decrease its size. You can also tap and drag it around the frame to change its position.

Check stickers every day for new and unique ones.

Instagram releases unique Story stickers often — whether it’s for a weekday, a holiday, or a season. Check this section every day for new and timely stickers to add to your Story.

Add location, hashtag, poll, and selfie stickers.

Boost engagement on your Instagram Story by opening it up to other people doing the same things you are. Open up the stickers section, and tap any of these buttons to customize your Story:

Location Stickers

Start typing in your location, and you’ll be able to pull in a geographically-specific sticker to show where you are. When people view your Story, they’ll be able to tap the location sticker and see other photos and Stories happening around the same place.

Hashtag Stickers

Same concept here: If you add this sticker and type in a hashtag, your Story will appear in searches for that hashtag, and viewers will be able to click it and see who else is using it. 

Poll Stickers

You can add a two-option poll to your Instagram Story, and you can even customize the possible answers so they’re more unique than “Yes” or “No.” Use a poll sticker to gauge if people are really engaging with your content.

Selfie Stickers

Open up the Stickers menu, and tap on the camera icon.

Then, take a selfie — or take a picture of anyone else’s face (that will work too). Then, you can use that face to decorate your Instagram Story. Somewhat creepy, but very memorable and funny, too.

2. Record a hands-free Instagram video.

If you’re a frequent video-recorder on Instagram, you know you need to hold your thumb against the record button for as long as you’re recording. This can make it tedious when attempting dynamic and interesting videos that require more hand mobility.

But did you know you can record these videos “hands-free“?

The hands-free video feature can be found in the list of image capture options, as shown above. Simply tap the record button once to start the video, and again to stop it after you’ve gotten the footage you want.

3. Let viewers share your Stories.

Increase engagement and views of your Instagram Story by letting viewers share them with their friends — as direct messages (DMs).

To do so, navigate to your app’s settings, then to Privacy, then tap Story.

Toggle on “Allow Sharing as Message” so viewers can DM your Story to friends to increase your audience reach. Voila!

4. Use the pen.

Use the pen to add embellishment, symbols, or more text to your Story. If you tap the pen icon in the upper right-hand corner of your screen once you’ve captured a photo or video, you’ll open up your options.

From there, you can adjust the thickness of your pen stroke or change the color you’re writing with.

I like using the highlighter pen to add emphasis to words — or even to highlight my photo or video.

5. Add a background color.

If you want to share a Story with a background color — like the images I’ve shared above — you can actually select it from the color palette.

Take a picture (it doesn’t have to be a picture of anything in particular), and then tap the pen icon to open up the color palette.

You can choose one of the colors from the three available menus, or if you want a specific shade of one of those colors, you can open up the full color spectrum by pressing and holding one of the colors.

Then, scribble anywhere on the screen, and hold your finger down until you get the background color you want to appear.

If you want to get really crazy, you could use the eraser tool (the fourth option) to create new words or shapes from the background, too.

6. Mention another Instagram account in your Story.

Sometimes, it’s just not enough to send an Instagram Story to a particular person — you need to give them a shoutout in the photo or video itself. In these cases, Instagram allows you to tag up to 10 specific handles directly in your Story’s photo or video.

To mention an Instagram account in your Story, shoot a photo or video and then tap the square “A” icon in the upper righthand corner of the screen. Enter the account you’d like to tag, starting with the “@” symbol and the account’s first letter. Scroll through the suggested accounts that appear below your cursor until you find the account you have in mind, and tap it. See what these options look like below.

Once you post this Story, the person or account you’ve tagged in the photo or video will receive a notification of your shoutout, regardless of whether or not you send the Story to them.

7. Make your text funkier.

The text on Instagram Stories is pretty basic — jazz it up with these tricks.

Customize your colors.

If you’re unsatisfied with the color palette Instagram offers, create your own from one of the colors in the photo or video you’ve captured.

Open up the text icon, and tap the eyedropper icon in the lower left-hand corner of your screen.

Use the dropper to sample a color from somewhere in the image you’ve captured, and use it when typing out text or using the pen tool.

Add a drop shadow to your Story’s text.

If you want to add some extra drama to your text, add highlighting or shadowing by retyping or rewriting your text in a different color. I recommend choosing black or white to add emphasis to a bright color you’ve picked. Then, move the text above or underneath the brighter text to add some drama to your words.

Turn your text into a rainbow.

This one’s tricky, but you can actually turn your text into a gradient rainbow.

Tap the text icon, and type out your message to add to your Story. Then, highlight your text.

This is where it gets tricky: Turn your phone to the side so you can hold one finger down on the right side of your text, and with another finger, tap on a color and hold until the color wheel pops up. 

Then, slowly drag both fingers across both the text and the color wheel from right to left to create rainbow text. Go slowly, letter by letter until you’ve created a rainbow. (This one took me several tries before I nailed it, and I succeeded using both thumbs to highlight the text and the color wheel.)

Gradually add text to a Story.

Sometimes, you might want to add text or stickers to an image to build on it — perhaps to promote a content offer or event, or to encourage viewers to swipe up to read a link you’ve shared (this is only available to verified accounts).

Start editing the photo you want to share, post it, and save it to your camera roll. Then, swipe up on your screen to add the screenshot to the next installment of your Story — adding new text or stickers on top of the first photo. Keep doing this for as long as you want the Story to last. Just make sure to keep taking screenshots of your latest photo so you can add to it.

8. See who has viewed your Instagram Story.

Snapchat users have always been able to see which of their friends have viewed their snapped Stories over the 24-hour period that the Story is visible. Well, Instagram Stories can do the same thing — in exactly the same way.

To see who has viewed your Instagram Story, navigate to the homepage of Instagram on your phone and click on the circular icon denoting your Story. See what this looks like in the screenshot below.

Click on “Your Story” from the Instagram home screen and swipe up from the bottom of your open Story. This will pull up a list of all the accounts that have viewed this content.

Seeing who’s viewed your Story might be an ego boost to personal Instagrammers, but business users can learn a lot about what their followers are interested in this way. By looking at which users view which Stories, you can figure out which types of photos and videos you should keep posting.

9. Center your text and stickers.

When you’re moving around text and stickers on your Story, you’ll see blue lines appear vertically or horizontally in the frame. These are guiding lines you can use to make sure you’re keeping everything centered.

Don’t put your text too high or too low on the screen.

That said, make sure you don’t add anything to your Story too high or too low in the frame — or it will be cut off when viewers scroll through your Story, when Instagram adds things like your name and how long ago your Story was posted that could block out your carefully-crafted text.

10. Add music to a Story (or mute it).

This one’s easy: Turn on music using your phone’s native streaming app, and record a video Story. Once you get ready to edit and share, make sure the sound icon isn’t muted so your viewers can jam with you.

Alternatively, if you’d rather your video be muted, tap the sound icon so a slash appears over it.

11. Upload Instagram Stories from your phone’s camera roll.

Great Instagram Stories aren’t just created through the Instagram app. You can also upload photos and videos from your mobile device’s native camera roll.

To upload a photo or video for use as an Instagram Story, open your Instagram Story’s camera lens and tap the little square icon on the bottom lefthand corner. See what this looks like below.

Tapping the icon shown above will call up your phone’s native media gallery, where you can select any photo or video to publish as an Instagram Story. It’s that easy.

Post Instagram Stories to Grow Your Adience

We hope these tips help you post killer Instagram Stories your audience won’t be able to stop following. There are lots of hidden ways to take your Stories to the next level — some we may not even have covered here. Our best advice? Keep clicking around and see what you can do with the latest updates from the app. Happy ‘gramming!

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

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Marketers, can we be honest with each other for a second? On a scale of 1-10, how much do you really understand the world of paid advertising?

Although 45% of small businesses do some form of online advertising, pay-per-click is still a concept that eludes many of us.

As a marketer, PPC is a skill that you should have in your tool belt — or at least have a basic understanding of.

This guide will help you grasp pay-per-click marketing in its entirety. To start, we’ll begin with the benefits of paid advertising and then get into some key definitions that you’ll need to know.

When done right, PPC can earn you quality leads. If you can create a seamless user journey (which you’ll learn how to do later in this piece), it could mean a massive ROI for your PPC efforts.

Pay-per-click advertising is most common in search engine results pages, like Google or Bing, but is also used on social channels (although CPM is more common).

If you’re wondering where you can find pay-per-click ads, they’re the results you see before and to the right of the organic search results. For instance, check out the ad that came up in my search for “cards.”

PPC Terms and Definitions

What’s a marketing channel without a few acronyms and a little jargon?

If you’re going to enter the paid advertising space, there are a few terms you should know. Below, we review the main elements of a PPC campaign, ranging from broad to the more specific.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

The objective of all forms of digital advertising is to rank for a target keyword, which you can do in several ways. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) refers to any digital marketing (paid or unpaid) done on a search engine, like Google, Yahoo, or Bing.

SEM is an umbrella term that encompasses both paid advertising and search engine optimization, that is, ranking organically for keywords. It’s important to note that not all PPC occurs on search engines — social media has PPC ads, too (think: Facebook Ads).

CPC

Cost-per-click (CPC) is the amount that an advertiser pays for each click on your ad. CPC acts as your bid in an auction that determines where your ad will be placed. As you can imagine, a higher bid equates to better ad placement.

You set your CPC at the maximum price you are willing to pay per click on your ad. What you actually pay is determined by the following formula:

(Competitor’s Ad Rank / Your Quality Score) + 0.01 = Actual CPC.

Let’s go over the terms in this equation, so you know what you’re paying for:

Ad Rank

This value determines the position of an ad on a search engine results page. It’s equal to Maximum Bid x Quality Score.

Quality Score

This is the score that search engines give to your ad based on your clickthrough rate (CTR) — measured against the average CTR of ads in that position — the relevance of your keywords, the quality of your landing page, and your past performance on the SERP.

Maximum Bid

This is the maximum you’re willing to pay per click on your ad.

Here’s an image by WordStream that illustrates what I mean:

Source

You can set your CPC to manual, where you determine the maximum bid for your ads, or enhanced, which allows the search engines to adjust your bid based on your goals. One of these enhanced options involves bid strategies that automatically adjust your bids based on either clicks or conversions.

CPM (Cost per Mille)

CPM, also known as cost per thousand, is the cost per one thousand impressions. It’s most commonly used for paid social and display ads. There are other types of cost-pers… like cost-per-engagement, cost-per-acquisition (CPA), but for the sake of preserving your mental space, we’re going to stick with clicks, a.k.a. CPC.

Campaign

The first step in setting up your PPC ads is determining your ad campaign. You can think of your campaign as the key message or theme you want to get across with your advertisements.

Ad Group

One size doesn’t fit all. That’s why you’ll create a series of ads within your campaign based on a set of highly related keywords. You can set a CPC for each ad group that you create.

Keywords

Each ad within your ad group will target a set of relevant keywords or key terms. These keywords tell search engines which terms or search queries you want your ad to be displayed alongside in SERPs. Once you determine which keywords perform best, you can set a micro CPC specifically for keywords within your ads.

Ad Text

Your keywords should inform your ad text. Remember, your Quality Score is determined by how relevant your ad is; therefore, the text in your ad (and landing page, for that matter) should match the keyword terms you’re targeting.

Landing Page

A landing page is a critical piece of your paid advertising strategy. The landing page is where users will end up once they click your PPC ad. Whether it’s a dedicated webpage, your homepage, or somewhere else, make sure to follow landing page best practices to maximize conversions.

Best PPC Platforms

Now that you understand the PPC basics, I’m guessing your next question is: Where should I advertise?

There are dozens of online spaces where you can spend your coveted ad money, and the best way to vet them is by taking a close look at your potential ROI on each platform.

The most popular advertising platforms are effective because they’re easy to use and, most importantly, highly trafficked. But for a smaller budget, you might consider a lesser-known alternative to these key players.

When choosing a platform, some other things to consider are the availability of keyword terms, where your target audience spends their time, and your advertising budget.

Here a non-exhaustive list of some of the top PPC platforms.

Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords)

How many times a day do you hear the phrase “Let me Google that?” Probably more than you can count … hence why Google Ads is the king of paid advertising.

On average, Google processes over 90,000 search queries every second, giving you plenty of opportunities to target keywords that will get your intended audience to click. The downside is that keywords are highly competitive on this platform, meaning a larger ad spend.

If you’re planning to use this popular platform, start with our free Google Ads PPC Kit.

Bing Ads

The perks of using Bing Ads over Google Ads is a slightly lower CPC at the expense of a larger audience, of course.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads blend in with other posts on the platform.

Facebook Ads is a popular and effective platform for paid ads (more commonly used as CPM than CPC), mainly due to its specific targeting options. Facebook allows you to target users based on interests, demographics, location, and behaviors.

Also, Facebook allows for native ads, which means ads are introduced and blend into the social feed. Not to mention, you can use Facebook Ads to advertise on Instagram as well.

AdRoll

Chipotle retargeting me as I search for dessert recipes.

AdRoll is a retargeting platform that advertises to people who have already visited your website. For instance, say someone read your article on cheese making. You can retarget them on other sites they visit with display ads that advertise your online cooking classes.

While retargeting is possible with Google Ads, the benefit of using AdRoll is that it can display ads on Google and social media sites, which gives you more opportunities to capture clicks or impressions, depending on your goal.

RevContent

RevContent focuses specifically on promoting content through PPC. It has the same impact as a guest post, where your content is displayed on an external site, except it’s in the form of an ad. You still bid on keywords, and your advertisement is displayed next to content relevant to those keywords. With this platform, you’ll reap the benefits of a low CPC and highly engaged traffic.

With that explanation out of the way, now let’s look at some benefits of PPC ads.

1. PPC ads are cost-effective.

With PPC ad campaigns, you have complete control over how much you’re willing to spend.

Since you only pay when visitors click the link leading to your website or landing page — with a high chance of conversion — you’ll be getting your money’s worth.

2. PPC ads produce fast results.

Although organic ranking is great, it sometimes takes months or even years to get on the first page on SERPs. 

If you’re a startup or small business, you likely don’t have the time to wait for the effect of organic, social, or direct traffic to kick in. 

That’s where PPC ads come in. 

With optimized PPC ads, you can shoot yourself to the top of the SERP within hours of launching your campaign.

3. You can easily control and test PPC ads.

It’s easy to control the keywords you’re targeting, ad placement, or budget with PPC ads. You can also run A/B split tests with different ads to identify the one that produces the highest return on investment. You can then scale the ads that do well until it no longer produces desirable results.

4. PPC ads allow you to target your ideal customers.

With PPC ads, you can skip right past cold audiences to target a warm audience that’s ready to buy your products and services.

You can bid on keywords that solution-aware personas would search for online. Aside from keywords, PPC ads also offer targeting options like past online activity or demographics. 

Another excellent use of PPC ads is to create retargeting campaigns targeting visitors who didn’t purchase after landing on your site.

5. Algorithm changes have little effect on PPC ads.

Between the numerous Google algorithm changes and the 200 ranking factors, trying to get free traffic from search engines is a bit unstable compared to PPC advertising. 

With PPC ads, you don’t have to worry about algorithm changes but instead focus on how well your campaigns perform.

6. PPC ads help you rank even with low domain ratings.

Keywords have become increasingly competitive. This makes it more difficult for a business with a low domain authority to get into the top rankings on a search engine or in front of its target audience on a social platform. 

With PPC advertising, you can quickly rank for keywords your audience is searching, irrespective of your domain ratings. 

7. Data from PPC ads can improve your SEO strategy.

You shouldn’t ditch all your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts altogether — your paid advertising should complement your SEO strategy instead of replacing it.

“When people search for your keywords, you know their search intent and can display the most relevant ad to your audience. This means more clicks and a greater chance of conversion.” – Laura Mittelmann, Paid Acquisition at HubSpot

How to Build a PPC Campaign

Now that you understand the benefits of PPC and have your key terms, let’s dive into crafting a quality PPC campaign using Google AdWords or some other platform.

You don’t need to tackle these items step-by-step, but you will need to work through each of them to ensure that you create an effective marketing campaign.

Set Parameters

I know I said that you don’t need to do these things in order, but you should do this step first. Without parameters, you risk your ad being untargeted and ineffective. 

You want to put your ad campaigns into the context of your ultimate business goals. Consider how your paid campaigns will contribute to those goals. Then, think about what you want to accomplish with your ads — whether that be visits, sales, brand awareness, or something else — and how much you’re willing to spend to achieve that goal.

Your ads should encompass a few things:

• Who you want to target
• Theme of your campaign
• How you will measure success
• Type of campaign you will run

Create Goals and Goal Metrics

Your campaign goals will give you something to show for your ad spend as long as you determine how you will measure those goals. Your goal metrics should not be confused with your campaign metrics, which we’ll discuss below.

Let’s touch on some common PPC goals and how to measure them.

Brand awareness is how familiar your target audience is with your company. It might be a good idea to look into display ads for this goal so you can supplement your copy with engaging imagery. You can measure brand awareness through social engagement, surveys, and direct traffic.

Lead generation is the direct result of having a relevant and engaging landing page to follow your paid ad. Since you will create a separate landing page for each ad group, you should be able to easily track lead conversions either in the Google Ads interface via a tracking pixel, or through UTM parameters, if you’re using a tool like HubSpot.

Offer promotion is great if you’re running a limited-time offer, product or service discount, or contest. You should create a dedicated sign-up page or a unique discount code so you know which users came from your ad.

Sales can be measured by how much of your product or service is sold based on your paid ads. You should be able to track this through CMS software or with attribution reporting.

Site traffic is a great goal if you have high-quality content throughout your website. If you’re going to spend money getting people to visit your site, you want to have some level of confidence that you can keep them there and eventually convert them into leads.

Choose Your Campaign Type

You don’t only need to know where you’ll advertise but also how. There are many different types of paid advertising campaigns, and the one you choose depends on where you can reach your audience. That isn’t to say that you can’t advertise through various means; you can also try a combination of campaign types as long as you’re consistently testing and revising.

Search Ads are the most common type of PPC and refer to the text ads that show up on search engine results pages.

Display Ads allow you to place ads (usually image-based) on external websites, including social. There are several ways to buy display ads, including Google Display Network (GDN) and other ad networks.

Learn how to integrate Display Ads into your inbound marketing plan.

Social refers to any ads that you see on social media, including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. You can pay to show up in your target audience’s social feed or somewhere else within their profile, depending on the platform.

Remarketing can use either cookies or a list of contacts that you upload to target people who have previously engaged with your company through some action. That action could be filling out a form, reading a blog, or simply visiting a page on your website.

Google Shopping is most effective for ecommerce sites. Your ad — including image, price, and a short product description — will show on a carousel on a search page based on your target keywords.

Perform Keyword Research

Each ad group you create needs to be assigned a set of keywords to target — that’s how search engines know when and where to display your ad. The general rule of thumb is to select between one to five keywords per ad group, and those keywords should be extremely relevant — your Quality Score depends on it.

Select keywords that are closely aligned with the specific theme of your ad group. If you find keywords you want to target that fall outside of one theme, you should create a separate ad group for them.

It’s important to note that you’re not stuck with the keywords you start with. In fact, you should closely monitor your keyword list throughout your campaign — eliminating those that don’t bring in the types of visitors that you’re looking for and increasing your bids on those that do. Do your best to select the most relevant keywords, but don’t feel pressured to get it 100% right the first time around.

Set Up Google Analytics and Tracking

Google Analytics is free to use, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t install it on your website. The tool provides insights into how your website is performing, how users interact with your pages, and what content is attractive to visitors. The information gathered from Google Analytics can be used for PPC and beyond.

Best Practices for a Quality PPC Strategy

You didn’t think we’d let you spend your hard-earned money on advertisements without providing some best practices to follow, did you? Of course not. We want to make sure you succeed with your next PPC campaign. So, let’s get into some PPC strategies that will help you maximize your efforts and your budget.

As a note, we’re going to dive specifically into paid search ads (those little guys you see in search engines) here.

PPC Ad Copy

Bidding on targeted keywords will get your ad in front of the right people; good ad copy will get those people to click on your ad. Like your keywords, your ad needs to solve for the intent of the searcher — you need to give the searcher exactly what they’re looking for and make sure that is clear through the words you use.

Search ads are comprised of a headline, a URL, and a short description, and each of these has limited character requirements to follow. To make the most of this space, make sure your ad copy does the following:

• Speak directly to your target persona.
• Include the main keyword that you’re bidding on.
• Provide an actionable CTA so the searcher knows what to do next.
• Make the offer appealing.
• Use language that matches your landing page copy.
• Perform A/B Split tests with your copy.

Landing Page Best Practices

Arguably the most important element of PPC (after your ad copy) is the page that you send leads to after they click on your ad. This page needs to be highly targeted, relevant to your ad, deliver what was promised, and present a seamless experience.

Why? Because the point of your landing page is to convert your new visitor into a lead or customer. Not only that, but a high-converting landing page will improve your Quality Score, leading to better ad placements. There’s nothing that will diminish PPC profits like a poorly crafted landing page.

What should a PPC landing page include to increase conversions? Glad you asked.

• Strong headline that mirrors your search ad
• Clean design and layout
• Responsive form that is easy to use with a stand-out CTA button
• Copy that is very specific and relevant to your target keywords
• Presents the offer that was promised in your ad
• A/B tested

A/B Testing Your PPC Ads

As a marketer, you’ll rarely throw something out to your audience that works without testing it. PPC campaigns are no different. A/B testing is as critical to your paid ad campaign as is every other element. The goal of testing your ad is to increase both your clickthrough rate and your conversion rate.

The good news is that ads comprise just four parts that you’ll need to test: headline, description, landing page, and target keywords. Minor tweaks to just one of these elements can significantly alter your results, so you want to make changes one at a time so you can keep track of where improvements come from.

Since there are many variations that you could test one at a time, it’s a good idea to list out all the potential tests you can run and prioritize them by most significant impact. Finally, you should allow your ads to run long enough to gather the data you need and test them early enough, so you don’t waste budget on a poor-performing ad.

Maximizing Your ROI

At a high level, maximizing ROI on your ad campaigns means considering customer lifetime value and customer acquisition costs, which will help you determine how much is worth spending on a new lead and how much of that spend can come from paid advertising.

To get more granular, we need to talk inputs and outputs, that is 1) lowering your input (cost per lead [CPL]) and 2) increasing your return (revenue).

There are a few factors to keep an eye on that will affect both, so let’s break it down.

Ways to Decrease Inputs

• Determine an ad budget before you get started.
• Create more relevant ads. The more relevant, the lower your CPC.
• Improve your Quality Score. The higher your QS, the less search engines will charge you for clicks.

Ways to Increase Revenue

• Follow landing page best practices to increase conversion rates.
• Go after quality leads by being specific with your ad. The more quality your leads, the more likely they will convert and eventually become customers.

Additional PPC Tips and Tricks

There are a few other things you can do to maximize the ROI of your paid ads, whether it’s time spent, budget, clicks, or conversions.

Audiences

Google allows you to tailor your audience so you save marketing dollars and get in front of the right people. You can upload a customer list so that you don’t waste money on people who have already bought from you.

Google also has options for prospecting audiences. For instance, In-Market Audiences employs user behavior tracking to put you in front of prospects who are in the market for a product or service like yours.

You can also increase your bid for more relevant subgroups within your target audience — a practice called layering audiences. For example, HubSpot may layer on people who are in the market for CRM software and add a 30% bid adjustment because those people may be more likely to convert.

Bid Adjustments

Bid adjustments allow you to increase or decrease your bids based on performance. You can even make these adjustments based on different categories, like device, demographics, language, and more.

For example, if a keyword isn’t performing as well on mobile as on desktop, you can add a negative bid adjustment so that when someone searches your keyword on mobile, you’ll bid X% lower than your normal bid.

Custom Ad Scheduling

You can set up ad scheduling in Google Ads to display your ad only during specific days and times. This can cut down on ad spend and improve relevance for your target audience.

Sitelink Extensions

Sitelink extensions allow you to supplement your ad with additional information. For instance, if you’re running an ad for a seasonal promotion at a local store, you can add a sitelink extension to display your store hours and location. These extensions take up more real estate on SERPs and, therefore, stand out. Not only that, but they play a role in improving your Ad Rank.

Conversion Tracking

Conversion tracking monitors how your landing page is performing via a tracking code that you place on the page where people land after completing your form (usually a “Thank You” page). By enabling this feature, you’ll be better equipped to make adjustments that can improve your conversions.

Keyword Monitoring

Don’t let too much time pass before you check how your keywords are performing. You can place higher bids on the keywords that are creating the best results for your campaign, and “defund” or eliminate others.

Match Types

Match Types in Google Ads allows you to choose how closely related you want your ad group to be associated with a search team. There are four match types: broad, modified broad, phrase, and exact match. Google will display your ad in results according to your selection.

For example, if your keyword phrase is “how to catch geese” and you select “broad match,” then Google will display your ad for queries that include any word in your key phrase in any order, including “geese catch” and “geese catch how.”

Negative Keywords

A negative keyword list tells search engines what you don’t want to rank for, which is equally as important as what you do. You might know some of these upfront, but likely you’ll determine these keywords by what isn’t performing so well within your campaign.

Social Media Ads

Although CPM is more common on social platforms, social media sites do offer PPC that works similarly to search engine ads in that you set a budget and bid on ad placements.

The difference is social media ads can show up directly in your news feed on most platforms, decreasing the effectiveness of ad blockers. Social platforms, like Facebook, let you set targeted demographics and target people based on interests. While paid search is more keyword-focused, paid social broadens into a demographic focus, leading to more ways to target your persona.

Social media has two paid ad functions that are critical to ad success — retargeting and Lookalike Audiences. Retargeting is remarketing to people based on site visits or manually uploaded contact lists. Lookalike Audiences reviews the people on your marketing list and creates an audience that parallels your list, expanding your potential target. Paid social also allows for a wider variety of ad types, like images, videos, text, and more.

PPC Management and Tracking

Paid advertising is not “set it and forget it.” You need to manage and constantly monitor your ads to ensure that you’re reaching optimal results. Management, analysis, and tracking are crucial to a PPC campaign because they provide you with valuable insights and help you create a more effective campaign.

What is PPC management?

PPC management covers a wide range of techniques, including creating and adjusting goals, split testing, introducing new keywords, optimizing conversion paths, and shifting plans to reach goals.

Managing your PPC means looking at your strategy and ad spend. On the one hand, it means iterating on your plan to optimize keyword effectiveness. On the other hand, it means thinking about how to allocate resources to specific keywords and how to adjust those resources to maximize ROI.

A good management strategy also pays attention to providers — like search engines, social platforms, and ad networks — to monitor changes and updates that could affect paid campaigns.

Overall, PPC management is a hefty undertaking, which is why investing in solid PPC management tools could be a great idea.

Use our PPC management tool to monitor all of your paid campaigns.

PPC Tools and Software

With all of the variables that you need to track, PPC management tools should make things easier. You can opt to monitor your ads within the platform, but if you’re looking for additional assistance and organization, a robust, easy-to-read spreadsheet or sophisticated software that gives you insight into your ad performance is vital.

If you plan to go the software route, there are some features that you want to look for: multi-user support, cross-platform management, A/B testing, scheduling, reporting, and ad grading.

Here’s a list of some popular, highly-rated PPC software and resources.

• HubSpot offers a robust template to help you monitor and manage the moving parts of your campaign, making it easy to keep track of your ad groups, keywords, and A/B tests.
• WordStream automates the tedious parts of setting up and managing your PPC campaign.
• NinjaCat lets you combine all of your analytics from multiple platforms into one report so you can track your entire campaign in one location.
• Optmyzr has end-to-end PPC support, from creation to reporting, and it offers a free trial of its software.
• SEMRush can help you manage the most important part of your PPC campaign — keywords. You can find relevant keywords, manage and optimize your keyword lists, and create negative lists.
• Unbounce is a landing page builder you can use to create landing pages for each of your different PPC campaigns.
• Databox helps businesses track the performance of their ads and displays key metrics across a single dashboard. You can also use Databox’s predictive analysis to estimate how well your ads would do in the future.
• Ahrefs is more than just another SEO tool. You can use Ahrefs to check how well your PPC ads are performing. You can also spy on your competitors’ keywords with Ahrefs.
• Microsoft Advertising Editor (formerly Bing Ad Editor) is a management tool for PPC ads you run through Bing. With this tool, you can manage your bids, research keywords, and make changes to your ads.

PPC Metrics to Track

Metrics are everything (but you already knew that). Here are some key metrics to track within your PPC campaign.

Clicks refer to the total number of clicks you receive on an ad. This metric is affected by your keyword selection and the relevance of your ad copy.

Cost per click (CPC) measures the price you pay for each click on your ad.

Clickthrough rate (CTR) is the percentage of ad views that result in clicks. This metric determines how much you pay (CPC). CTR benchmarks vary by industry.

Impressions are the number of times an ad is viewed. Cost per mille (CPM) is determined for every thousand impressions. Impressions are most relevant for brand awareness campaigns.

Ad spend is the amount you are spending on your ads. You can optimize this by improving your Quality Score.

Return on ad spend (ROAS) is the ROI of your ad campaign. This metric calculates the revenue received for every dollar spent on ads.

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of people that complete the call-to-action on your landing page and become a lead or customer.

Cost per conversion refers to the cost to generate a lead. This is calculated as the total cost of an ad divided by the number of conversions.

Quality Score (QS) determines ad positioning, so it’s an important metric to keep an eye on.

By paying close attention to each of these metrics, you can increase the ROI of your paid campaign and spend less for better results.

Go Paid!

Whether you just started your business yesterday or have been around for decades, PPC just might be the boost you need to get an edge on your competition — or at least ahead of them in the SERPs. 

Applying the lessons found in this guide about building a PPC campaign and the best practices for a quality PPC strategy would set you well on your way to improving your website’s traffic and conversions.

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

If you took the same Introduction to Economics class that I struggled through in college, you might remember this key lesson:

The law of supply and demand states that a low supply and high demand for a product will typically increase its price.

Why am I telling you about basic economic rules? Because changes in the supply and demand of products can result in the scarcity principle coming into play.

In this post, we’ll learn what the scarcity principle is and how you can use it to create high demand.

What is the scarcity principle?

The scarcity principle of persuasion coined by Dr. Robert Cialdini means the rarer or more difficult it is to obtain a product, offer, or piece of content is, the more valuable it becomes. Because we think the product will soon be unavailable to us, we’re more likely to buy it than if there were no impression of scarcity.

Brands can use the scarcity principle to persuade people to fill out a lead form, purchase a product, or take another desired action. Here’s an example: On many air travel booking sites, such as KAYAK, flight listings are displayed with a note that only a few seats are left at a certain price. Check it out below:

We know that airfare pricing is incredibly volatile — that’s why some of us wait until certain times or days of the week to make purchases — so the knowledge that only one seat is available at that price makes me think I should buy it now, instead of waiting and running the risk of paying more later.

To learn about general consumers, we decided to survey 300 people to see if they were more interested in products that had a limited supply.

45% of respondents said that scarcity makes them want to learn more about a product, while only 17% said that if it was too hard to purchase a product, they’d find it at another company.

See results below:

Data Source

Now that we’re all up to speed on scarcity, we wanted to highlight brands that have successfully used the scarcity principle to market and sell different products.

7 Brands That Used the Scarcity Principle to Promote and Sell Products

1. Snap Inc.

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Ephemeral social media app Snapchat’s parent company, Snap Inc., unveiled Snapchat Spectacles in September 2016: sunglasses that could record 10-second videos from the perspective of the wearer. But instead of selling the new gadget online or at a storefront, Spectacles were initially only sold via Snapbots — smiling, Snapchat-themed vending machines that were randomly dropped in cities around the United States.

Image Source

There were never announcements in advance of the arrival of Snapbots — most awareness was generated on social media channels, and huge lines of people would queue hoping to purchase Spectacles before the Snapbot ran out of stock for the day.

Now, Spectacles are sold online or at a few more permanent pop-up locations, so there’s no need to line up outside a vending machine if you don’t want to. But for the initial launch, the Snapbots was a unique approach to the scarcity complex. Spectacles were available for a limited time only — just the day the Snapbot was in your city, and you had to beat everyone else trying to buy Spectacles before the machine sold out.

Plus, the product’s scarcity meant nobody — ourselves included here at HubSpot — could stop talking about the Spectacles. Blog posts and social media comments about the unique selling approach helped fuel even more interest in the products.

MediaKix predicted Snap would achieve $5 billion in Spectacles sales by 2020, however, Spectacles failed to make an impression in the market and the company had to swallow about$40 million in unsold inventory after it released the first version. Despite that failure, the company is still developing several iterations of the product.

Regardless of how well the products sold, the marketing strategy to use scarcity helped pull people into a product that they might not have been interested in otherwise.

2. Nintendo

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If you weren’t a big gamer back when Nintendo released the Wii gaming console in 2006, you might not remember that the Wii was one of the hottest commodities on the market. When it was officially released in November 2006, people lined up to get their hands on the Wii as soon as possible, but the mania didn’t end there. For nearly three years, the Wii was flying off the shelves, and gaming stores couldn’t keep shelves stocked — despite Nintendo increasing its supply to 1.8 million and then 2.4 million units of production per month.

Supply eventually caught up with demand — 48 million Wiis sold later. By starting out with a low monthly production number, Nintendo ensured that customers would be clamoring to buy more right off the bat. The scarcity complex here made people desperate to buy a Wii whenever they could — especially after a Nintendo executive advised shoppers to “stalk the UPS driver” and to figure out when Wiis were being delivered to stores to get their hands on one.

3. Starbucks

 

As majestic as it is magenta… #UnicornFrappuccino. Color-changing, flavor-changing, potentially life-changing. #🦄 Available for a limited time at participating stores in the US, Canada & Mexico.

A post shared by Starbucks Coffee ☕ (@starbucks) on Apr 19, 2017 at 6:05am PDT

Coffee lovers have decried Starbucks for adding the “unicorn frappuccino” to its menu — made of ice cream, fruit flavors, and sour candy — but people couldn’t get enough of the brightly colored, highly Instagrammable drink. After stating on its website that the specialty drink would only be available for a few days, Starbucks was flooded with unicorn frappuccino orders — which quickly sold out within the first day. There are no sales numbers available for the specialty drink, but there are nearly 160,000 #unicornfrappuccino posts on Instagram.

Starbucks gets a lot of orders — and social media engagement — during another of its notorious limited-time offers — the Starbucks Red Cups. During the holiday season in December, Starbucks starts serving coffee in red cups for a limited time only to drive people into cafes and to get them to share #RedCups photos on social media. In this case, scarcity + food and drink is the magic equation.

4. Girlfriend Collective

 

The Girlfriend legging is here. 🍾✨ The new generation of activewear is yours for just the cost of shipping. You read that right. Our super soft, sheer-proof leggings are designed by veterans of Acne Studios and lululemon, which means you’re not only getting a deal, you’re getting your new best friend. Get yours at girlfriend.com

A post shared by Girlfriend Collective (@girlfriendcollective) on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:29pm PDT

Girlfriend Collective’s offer was simple: For a limited time, if you paid for the cost of shipping, the brand would send you a pair of $100 leggings for free. All you had to do was share a link to its website on Facebook.

Girlfriend Collective had just launched its website, and it was asking its female consumers to spread the word about the leggings so it could dedicate 100% of its advertising budget to leggings production. And if you think about it, that was a smart approach. After all, which are you more willing to trust: a Facebook ad offering free leggings or half of your friends in your News Feed advocating for the offer?

Using this model, Girlfriend Collective “sold” 10,000 pairs of leggings just on the first day of the campaign — in addition to the myriad of fans and buzz it scored as a by-product. The one-two punch of “limited supply” and “free” made this offer irresistible — even to me.

5. Groupon

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Groupon partners with different businesses to offer discounted services in exchange for new customers — and a split of the revenue. The site often uses a limited-time remaining warning (pictured above) to encourage visitors to buy quickly at the risk of missing out on a good deal.

For some deals, Groupon uses a few marketing psychology persuasion tactics to encourage you to buy. Check out the deal below:

This deal uses the scarcity principle and social proof to encourage you to buy it — it’s only available for a limited time, and almost 600 other people have already purchased it and rated it highly. These strategies work well — Groupon made more than $3 billion last year.

6. Spotify

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When the music streaming service Spotify was first launched, the United Kingdom was the only area that didn’t require an invitation from a friend or from Spotify to sign up. But due to high demand, Spotify U.K. actually had to start requiring invitations to manage all of the news users. The caveat to the invitation-only launches of Spotify around the world? Anyone could sign up for a premium, paid Spotify account. Using the scarcity principle, Spotify managed high levels of consumer demand by offering them a way in — for a price. Now, half of Spotify’s 100 million users are paid, subscribers.

7. TOMS

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The beloved TOMS shoes offer a great value proposition beyond comfort and style: For every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need. TOMS takes that a step further by partnering with other advocacy organizations to share sales revenue to benefit other worthy causes.

Because the brand knows its customers are already philanthropic, it’s a safe bet they’ll want to purchase shoes benefiting other causes (such as pandas in the example above), but they still might need a push. So TOMS created a mini-site about why TOMS and WildAid are partnering, along with some fun facts about pandas and unique panda-themed shoe designs.

Then, once the visitor has read the entire compelling site and started browsing the vegan, panda-friendly footwear options, TOMS subtly lets them know that the shoes are only available for a short period of time. In other words, helping cute pandas is only an option for a limited time, too.

TOMS’ approach of using the scarcity complex to encourage shopping and philanthropy works here.

Sometimes, Less Is More

Invoking the scarcity principle to promote and sell a product can be an effective persuasion strategy, but you have to do it correctly. If you phrase the product scarcity as if there used to be a large supply, but due to increased demand, only a few products were left, consumers will be more receptive. But if you phrase the product scarcity as if only a few units of product were ever available, the principle of scarcity won’t be as effective at generating sales.

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

Measuring the effectiveness of digital marketing is one of the greatest challenges facing organizations today.

Successfully evaluating the impact of marketing campaigns requires the use of comprehensive digital marketing analytics. When most marketers hear the term “digital analytics,” however, they tend to think of the web-based metrics typically associated with familiar analytics like Google Analytics which analyzes traffic, bounce rate, and unique visitors.

But this is just the tip of the marketing insights iceberg. While web analytics can provide you with a wealth of insight into the performance of your website, marketers need richer data to understand the impact of their marketing campaigns on conversion rates and the buyer’s journey.

Digital marketing analytics, meanwhile, offers a much more comprehensive view of what’s working (and what isn’t) when it comes to your marketing strategy.

Regardless of how you fit into your company’s marketing mix, learning how to understand and leverage digital marketing analytics is incredibly important. Analytics data not only tells you if your marketing is working, but it also tells you precisely how and where you can improve. This type of insight can benefit everyone.

That’s why we built this guide. We want you to master marketing analytics so your business can grow better. Below, we’ll talk about what marketing metrics to monitor, how to read and apply them to your marketing decisions, and how to leverage them to grow your business and bottom line.

Bookmark this guide for future reference and use the chapter links below to navigate through the content.

Put simply? Analytics draw the line between opinion and fact by giving your business data-driven insight into user behavior.

Before we dive into how to use digital analytics for your business, let’s talk about what marketing metrics you’ll be measuring and analyzing.

Digital Marketing Metrics to Know

Digital marketing metrics are statistical measures that marketers use to determine the success of various marketing efforts as they relate to their overall campaign goals and industry standards.

Let’s get vanity metrics out of the way first. These are surface-level numbers that often tease you into thinking your efforts are working. They’re often big numbers tied to nebulous concepts such social media “impact” and they’re more fluff than fact. While they may make your marketing team feel good, they offer little in the way of business value.

Source

To get a clear picture of your campaign’s impact, you need to look at a wider variety of actionable metrics.

Here’s a comprehensive list of all the marketing metrics you need to know — and what they can tell you.

Best Metrics for Website Marketing Analytics

The following are digital marketing metrics associated with websites and web activity — a.k.a. web analytics.

Visitor

A Visitor (or User) is someone who visits your site. Visitors are tracked by a cookie placed in their browser by a tracking code installed on your site.

Page View

A Page View is when a page on your site is loaded by a browser. A page view is measured every time your tracking code is loaded.

Session

A Session is a series of activities taken by a visitor on your website, including page views, CTAs, and events. Sessions expire after 30 minutes of visitor inactivity.

Traffic

Traffic (or Visits) is the total number of site or page visits in a given time period.

Traffic by Channel

Traffic by channel is the total number of site or page visits per referral channel, (e.g., social media, email, landing pages, etc … ).

Traffic by Device

Traffic by device is the total number of site or page visits per device type, ( e.g., smartphone, tablet, desktop, etc … ).

Ratio of New Traffic to Returning Traffic

The ratio of new traffic to returning traffic is the percentage of net new site or page visitors you receive as compared to the total amount of returning traffic.

Time on Page

The time on page is the average time each visitor spends on your site or page.

Interactions per Visit

Interactions per visit are what actions your visitors took when on your site or page.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of people who visited your site or page but didn’t take any action or look at any other pages as compared to the total number of page or site visitors.

Best Metrics for Lead Generation

The following are digital marketing metrics associated with lead magnets and content offers.

Call-to-Action (CTA) Click-Through Rate

The CTA click-through rate is the percentage of total clicks on a CTA as compared to the total number of page or site visits.

Submissions

Submissions is the percentage of total people who filled out and submitted your web form.

Conversion Rate

The conversion rate is the total number of actions taken (e.g., a download or sign-up) on your lead magnet as compared to the total number of visits.

Free Trial Conversion Rate

The free trial conversion rate is the percentage of free trial users who converted to customers.

Pop-Up Conversions

Pop-up conversions is the percentage of total pop-up form completions that converted to customers.

Ratio of Generated Leads to Marketing-Qualified Leads (MQL)

The ratio of generated leads to MQL is the total number of “good fit” leads collected from your lead magnet as compared to the total number of leads generated.

Leads to Close Ratio

The leads to close ratio is the percentage of leads converted to customers as compared to the total number of leads.

Best Metrics for Email Marketing

The following are digital marketing metrics associated with email marketing.

Open Rate

The open rate is the percentage of opened emails as a proportion of the total number of emails sent.

Opens by Device

Opens by device is the total number of email opens per device type, (e.g., smartphone, tablet, and desktop).

Click-Through Rate

The click-through rate is the percentage of total clicks on an email link, or CTA, as a proportion of the total number of email opens.

Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is the percentage of undeliverable emails as a proportion of the total number of emails sent.

Unsubscribe Rate

The unsubscribe rate is the percentage of people who unsubscribe from your email list over a given period of time.

Best Metrics for Social Media

The following are digital marketing metrics associated with content and social media.

Engagement Rate

The engagement rate is the total number of engagements (e.g., comments, clicks, and likes) as a proportion of the total number of page or post views.

Follows and Subscribes

Follows and subscribes are the total number of people who’ve shown interest in your content and want to receive updates when new posts or pages are published.

Shares

Shares is the total number of times a post or page has been shared on social media, a website, or a blog.

Audience Growth Rate

This refers to the growth of your social audience over time, typically expressed as a percentage. To find it, measure the number of new social followers over a set period (such as two weeks or a month), then divide by your total number of followers and multiply by 100.

Post Reach

The further your social posts reach, the better for your brand. Digital marketing analytics platforms can show you how many of your social followers have seen your last post. Divide by total followers and multiply by 100 again to get your post reach percentage.

Potential Post Reach

It’s also worth evaluating how far your posts could reach. To find this metric, multiply the total number of times your brand is mentioned by the number of followers of the person or brand that mentioned you. The result is your “theoretical reach”, or the maximum number of people it’s possible to reach with your current network. Potential reach is typically two to five percent of this total.

Share of Social Voice

How do your social mentions compare to those of your competitors? Start by searching for mentions of your brand — both the direct @Yourbrand variety and indirect Yourbrand shoutouts — then measure the mentions of your direct competitors for the same time period to see how you stack up.

Approval Rate

While it’s nice to be mentioned, it’s better to be liked. That’s the goal of approval rate measurement — determining how many positive interactions followers have had with your posts. These might include likes, shares, reshares, or even sales conversions, and they can ensure your marketing campaign is on the right track.

Best Metrics for Ecommerce

The following are digital marketing metrics associated with ecommerce.

Shopping Cart Abandonment Rate

The shopping cart abandonment rate is the total number of online shoppers who put items in their shopping cart but don’t complete a purchase as a proportion of the number of people who complete a purchase.

Sales Conversion Rate

More conversions mean more revenue, which means it’s critical to measure your overall sales conversion rate: Out of all customers that visit your site, how many are clicking through to make a purchase?

It’s also worth measuring “mini-conversions” such as moving from home or category pages to specific product pages, which indicates a positive customer inertia toward sales conversion.

Email Marketing Opt-in

Along with purchasing opportunities, e-commerce sites often contain email marketing opt-ins that provide consumers information about new products or sales events. Measuring your total opt-ins and opt-ins by source (mobile, desktop, or platform) can help quantify marketing efforts.

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customers don’t always come cheap. To find your total acquisition cost, divide total marketing budget by total number of customers. The higher the number, the more you’re spending and the narrower your profit margins will be.

Average Order Value

It’s also worth calculating your average order value. Find it by dividing total sales value by number of carts — the higher the number, the better. Then, look for ways to increase average order value, such as offering add-on items, bundle discounts, or even free shipping.

Revenue by Source

Where is your revenue coming from? This metric helps identify where your marketing budget is best spent and where it isn’t working as intended. For example, if traffic analysis shows substantive sales conversion tied to Facebook followers but almost nothing from Instagram, it’s worth reevaluating your marketing campaign approach.

This section serves as a high-level review of the most important marketing metrics per channel. Depending on what software you use or marketing channels you pursue, you may see different metrics.

So, why exactly do digital marketing analytics matter? Let’s take a look at what makes digital analytics so important today, and how they compare to (and improve upon) the insights offered by more basic web analytics.

Quite simply, web analytics (like many of the metrics we defined above)just isn’t enough. The data that web analytics provides alone doesn’t cut it for marketers who need to understand how their work makes an impact throughout the entire marketing and sales flywheel.

Let’s face it: Today’s marketing extends well beyond the bounds of your website. It also includes how your marketing channels interact, the insight you gain from those outcomes, and the progress you track through your reporting.

This perspective provides the foundational data you need to structure your flywheel — delighting your existing customers enough to attract and engage new ones.

Web analytics measure things a webmaster or technical SEO specialist care about, like page load speed, page views per visit, and time on site.

Digital marketing analytics, on the other hand, measures business metrics like traffic, leads, and sales, and allow you to observe which online events determine whether leads will become customers.

Digital marketing analytics include data not only from your website, but also from sources like email, social media, and organic search.

How Digital Marketing Analytics Connects Every Business Activity

With digital marketing analytics, marketers can understand the effectiveness of their entire marketing strategy, not just the effectiveness of their website. Using digital marketing analytics allows marketers to identify how each of their marketing initiatives (e.g., social media vs. blogging vs. email marketing) stack up against one another, determine the true ROI of their activities, and understand how well they’re achieving their business goals.

The central question is: How can you structure an appropriate business goal to visualize your marketing team’s efforts in the most accurate way possible?

As a result of the information they can gather from full-stack digital marketing analytics, marketers can also diagnose deficiencies in specific channels in their marketing mix, and make adjustments to strategies and tactics to improve their overall marketing activity.

You can spend hours slicing and dicing data in web analytics tools, comparing new vs. repeat visitors month over month. But when it comes down to it, you’ll come up short of a truly comprehensive view of your marketing performance.

There’s no doubt that marketers are aware there’s a deficiency in how they’re able to measure the effectiveness of what they do; here’s how full-stack digital marketing analytics makes up for that deficiency.

A digital marketing analysis is the first step to developing a strong digital marketing analytics strategy. This process can be used to structure a business goal into outcomes based on three broad categories:

1. The relationship between different marketing channels
2. People-centric data on the buyer’s journey
3. Revenue attributed to specific marketing efforts

Download our free ebook on inbound marketing analytics — the key metrics your executives really want to see.

Let’s highlight these main differentiators.

1. The Relationship Between Marketing Channels

Digital marketing analytics provides a solid look into the direct relationships between your marketing channels. It’s great to be able to see how each of your individual channels (e.g., social media, blogging, email marketing, and SEO) is performing, but the true power of analytics comes into play when you can easily tie the effect of multiple channels’ performances together.

For instance, let’s say you sent an email to a segment of your database. Digital marketing analytics not only tells you how many people clicked through from your email to your website but also how many of those people actually converted into leads for your business when they got there.

Furthermore, you can compare the impact of that individual email send with other marketing initiatives. Did that email generate more leads than the blog post you published yesterday? Or was the content you shared via Twitter more effective?

2. People-Centric Data on the Buyer’s Journey

As we mentioned earlier, a key differentiator between web analytics and digital marketing analytics is that the latter uses the person — not the page view — as the focal point.

Digital marketing analytics enables you to track how your individual prospects and leads are interacting with your various marketing initiatives and channels over time. How did an individual lead first come to find your website? From Google? Facebook? Direct traffic? Is that lead an active part of your email subscriber base, clicking and converting on marketing offers presented via email? Do they read your blog, and have they downloaded any content offers that could indicate an interest in your products/services?

Full-stack digital marketing analytics can tell you all of this and more, providing you with extremely valuable lead intelligence that can help inform the direction of your future campaigns.

Looking at all of this information in aggregate can help you understand trends among your prospects and leads and which marketing activities are valuable at different stages in the buyer’s journey.

Perhaps you find that many customers’ last point of conversion was on a certain ebook or white paper. Having this data makes it possible to implement an effective lead management process, enabling you to score and prioritize your leads and identify which activities contribute to a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) for your business.

3. Revenue Attributed to Specific Marketing Efforts

One of the most useful functions of marketing analytics is its ability to attribute specific marketing activities to sales revenue. Sure, your blog may be effective in generating leads, but are those leads actually turning into customers and making your business money? Closed-loop marketing analytics can tell you.

Download our free ebook on closed-loop marketing and take your digital marketing analytics to the next level.

The only requirement here is that your digital marketing analytics system is hooked up to your customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

Having this closed-loop data can help you determine whether your individual marketing initiatives are actually contributing to your business’ bottom line. Through it, you can determine which channels are most critical for driving sales.

Perhaps you find that your blog is your most effective channel for generating customers, or conversely, you find that social media is really only as powerful as an engagement mechanism, not a source of sales.

By measuring the relationship between marketing channels, tracking people-centric data, and analyzing what revenue is linked to which efforts, you’ll be equipped to set goals that support your bottom line.

Now, let’s talk about how to use these marketing analytics effectively.

How to Use Digital Marketing Analytics Effectively

Most marketers know they need to be looking at more than just traffic and website performance to get the insights we’ve talked about so far. But why do so many of us still struggle to measure the impact and prove the ROI of our online marketing activities?

Probably one of two reasons:

1. We don’t have solid goals in place for our campaigns, or
2. We don’t have the means to measure our success.

Quite often, you’ll find it’s a combination of the two.

Master SMART Marketing with our free, goal-setting Excel template.

S.M.A.R.T. Goals

One way to mitigate this is to have an actionable business goal combining your marketing team’s priorities. Typically, this can be achieved using the S.M.A.R.T. format. In this strategy, each goal you create must be:

• Smart
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Timely

A good business goal will inherently organize your team’s tasks towards producing specific outcomes or metrics to measure their progress. For marketing teams, this can be broadly summarized into three major categories:

• Web traffic and diversity of sources
• Conversions generated from traffic to produce leads and (eventually) customers
• Identifying net new revenue as a direct result of certain marketing efforts, laying a roadmap for further growth and cost-effective marketing investments

The fact is, in order to gain the insights needed to understand their marketing performance and make sound decisions, most marketers balance a number of different digital analytics platforms. (Remember how many categories of marketing metrics we reviewed above?)

For example, they gather data about their email marketing through the analytics provided by their email service provider, information about their social media performance through their social media monitoring tool, blog analytics from their blogging platform … and the list goes on.

But this fragmented approach to reporting makes it really difficult to connect the dots and make informed decisions about the future of your digital strategy.

The ideal solution is to implement an all-in-one marketing and reporting platform that offers end-to-end visibility on your marketing activities, allowing you to measure everything in one place.

Campaign Reporting

Rather than just looking at canned reports for each traffic source you can use custom reporting capabilities to construct data charts that depict an entire marketing campaign’s progress, not just how certain content is doing through certain channels.

Here’s how you can configure your digital analytics to capture this holistic view, showing you where a potential buyer came and where they are going. We’ll use HubSpot’s Marketing Hub as an example. Here are some of the types of analytics you can see in a quality marketing tool:

Web Traffic by Original Source

This is an easy report that you can configure by date range and/or original source to show what marketing channels you can capitalize on to turn more of that traffic into leads and customers. You can use HubSpot’s Traffic Analytics tool to get access to this.

First Conversion by Original Source/Persona

This report quantifies your impact by the number of new contacts you’re able to create based on the first content offer or form submitted, and tie that back to the original source of that lead.

Another way to look at this is to segment your contacts by a particular persona to show which ones are giving the most return for which your team is creating content.

Contacts Funnel Report

This calculates the conversion rates down the marketing and sales funnel, showing new leads that become marketing qualified leads, sales qualified leads, and, ultimately, new customers.

Marketing Contribution to Revenue

This custom report depends on your use of the marketing qualified lead lifecycle stages, visualizing those that converted into customers and their relative value in terms of revenue generated.

Customer Acquisition Cost

This can be seen in HubSpot by using calculated fields or custom properties to depict the amount of money spent by your marketing team to attract, engage, and delight your buyer persona.

These closed-loop reports are just some of the capabilities available to depict your progress towards your business’s bottom line.

All of the insights, information, and data you can gather from your digital marketing analytics tool(s) is really only useful if you do something with it. The true value of analytics isn’t just to prove the value of marketing to your boss; it’s also to help you improve and optimize your marketing performance — on both an individual channel-by-channel basis as well as an overall, cross-channel machine.

With digital marketing analytics, you should also be able to implement closed-loop reporting, making it easier to prove how your marketing efforts are positively impacting your sales team, who are being fed much higher quality leads.

Digital Advertising Analytics

Digital advertising is an important part of any digital marketing strategy. Nearly one quarter of marketers spend the same amount of their marketing budget on advertising (25%).

Traditionally, the effectiveness of digital advertising (e.g., paid search and social media ads) has been measured by click-throughs and the cost of each click (CPC). While these are powerful metrics, you can’t truly know the cost of each click unless you’re measuring the value of your conversions and ROI of your campaigns.

One way to measure this is by putting a full-stack marketing solution in place to join your impression, click, and cost data from all active digital advertising channels to your CRM. Doing so will help you link the cost of each click-through to the value it provides your business.

Moreover, digital display advertising should be considered powerful tools for brand awareness — not measured by click-throughs (or the lack thereof). These types of digital ads can boost organic and cross-channel performance as consumers see your ad, become interested in your brand, and search for your website or social media.

Apply this new perspective on digital advertising analytics and watch how it transforms your overall digital marketing strategy.

Grow Better with Digital Marketing Analytics

The most important takeaway from this article is: If you’re relying solely on top-level web analytics, you’re missing out on a lot of powerful data that can help inform your marketing strategy and better connect with your audience and customers. So, when evaluating digital analytics tools for your business, be sure you’re looking for evidence of digital marketing analytics, not just web analytics.

While web analytics provide a rosy picture of your top-line activity, digital marketing analytics can help you turn your business objectives into measurable outcomes that support your bottom line. Prioritize the data that reflects people — not pageviews — and you’ll be growing better in no time.

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

Event planner, lawyer, daycare owner, tow truck driver. Regardless of our chosen professions, it’s fair to say that we all want to build our businesses’ customer bases. It’s how we thrive. So it’s only natural for us to want to market our products or services to everyone, in hopes of capturing a larger audience and thus making more money.

But every business has a few “unreachables.” Now, some of these people are placed in that category for a reason. If you sell retirement plans, for instance, your unreachables might be children because they’re simply too young to purchase your product. But that doesn’t mean they have to remain that way forever. Even the most unexpected groups of people could be your biggest advocates later on. You just need to know how to speak to them.

Here are some tips for successfully reaching your unreachables.

How to Reach Customers

1. Make a list of your unreachables.

This is an important step you won’t want to skip. Before you start trying to reach all different types of groups, you’ll want to find out who your individual unreachables actually are. They may or may not be whom you think they are. That’s why researching and surveying are important parts of this process.

You might look at your current demographics for visitors to your website or social media platforms and determine which audiences aren’t connecting with you. You might also try comparing your demographics to your competitors’ to see if they’re reaching an audience you might not be. Or, you could conduct interviews and send out questionnaires to gather additional information. Whatever methods of obtaining this data, be sure that in the end, you have answers to questions like:

• Why are these groups uninterested/uninformed about my business?
• Are they also uninterested/uninformed about the products/services I sell, too?
• Do they know they might want/need what I’m offering?

2. Develop a persona for your unreachables.

At this point, you’ve narrowed down exactly who your unreachables are, but the research stage isn’t over just yet. You still want to find out what their likes and dislikes are, where they live, where they work, etc.

Researching the specifics of their day-to-day lives can be helpful when brainstorming the message and channels to reach them. It can help you create a story that appeals to multiple audiences.

You can create campaigns that are effective because they appeal to multiple audiences by finding common ground through storytelling.

3. Customize your approach to appeal to them, not your current customers.

This is a continuation of the previous action. When brainstorming ways to speak to your unreachables, it’s important to remember that the same message that works really well for your current audience probably won’t be received well by another—or at least not as effectively.

A successful example of this is Dollar Shave Club’s marketing efforts. Marketers realized that they could reach a lot of the younger generations with humorous and quick-witted branding. The success of the brand stemmed from the viral nature of the ads that spoke to a much broader group of people than ever before.

4. Offer them something truly unique.

As wisely stated by Entrepreneur contributor Murray Newlands in his article, “The 8 Fundamentals for a Successful Inbound-Marketing Strategy”, “Think of your website as a hub, not a megaphone.” This applies to all areas of your brand’s presence—both online and offline. Treat your unreachables as if they are already your most loyal customers, rewarding them with valuable resources they can really use. Because if you can provide them with something they can’t find elsewhere, it will build trust and credibility—two things that give you an instant leg up on your competition.

Some valuable, yet still free/affordable resources you can offer include:

• Educational information, like e-books, guides, infographics, blog articles, webinars, tips, downloadable templates, etc.
• Coupons/exclusive discounts for first-time customers
• Product/service samples
• Branded merchandise

As many in the industry may know already, this method of marketing (inbound marketing) has proven to be one of the most successful ways to promote your brand or business.

5. Generate awareness of the want/need for what you have to offer.

Your unreachables are most likely in the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey—unsure whether or not they even want or need the product/service you’re offering, let alone if they want it from your specific company. That’s why you have to create reasons why someone might need you.

Let’s say you’re a hotel that’s running a special vacation package. An example of the awareness-stage buyers would be a mother and father who just found out they’re able to take a vacation with their family soon but aren’t yet sure if they want to stay local, travel abroad, or go on a cruise. By marketing your vacation package as the most all-inclusive, affordable, and family-friendly offer available, you’re successfully generating awareness and a desire for your offer.

6. Demonstrate how your product/service could be the only solution they need.

Maybe your business offers a variety of products or services (i.e. multi-platform digital solutions). Or, maybe it offers something a little more niche (i.e. all-organic coffee). But no matter what you offer, there’s always a way to position yourself as their all-purpose solution.

Your unreachables might not even know your business can handle multiple problems they’re experiencing. They might not know that just how well you’ve mastered your very specific product/service. Or, they might not know they need you. Either way, you’ll want to demonstrate how you’re the only solution.

7. Position your business in the most positive light possible.

Though it may hard to conceive, most people want to find out how you can help them, even if they’re not actively seeking you out. If you’ve piqued their interest in some way, they’ll want to find the good in your business, so they can have a product or service that provides a solution or added convenience to their lives.

A few suggestions for keeping your efforts upbeat and positive:

• Use up-to-date content, design, and resources in your marketing efforts
• Use language that is confident and inviting, not cocky or abrasive
• Avoid negative messaging that puts down specific competitors (it’s tacky)
• Highlight what specifically makes you better than the rest, but say it in a way that makes you look like the hero

8. Find ways to get your advocates to promote to them.

What’s better than having happy customers who love your products/services? Having happy customers who willingly promote your products/services to others. If they’re happy enough, they’ll do it for free, too. It’s like free advertising.

This is your opportunity to reward your #1 fans with things like:

• Refer-a-friend offers/discounts/coupons
• Exclusive content
• Donations to fan-favorite charities
• Answered questions/concerns, personalized shout-outs, and Q&A sessions on social media platforms
• Fan-appreciation events
• Featured fan videos/photos/etc.
• Project involvement

Whether your business is able to spend a lot or a little toward rewarding your advocates, remember that there’s a huge benefit in having people promote your business for you.

9. Show many forms of credibility.

In addition to having testimonials on top-rated review sites (or on your own website), there are a lot of ways to demonstrate that you are credible and trustworthy.

Find unique (yet still truthful) ways to display this in your marketing efforts, such as:

• Noteworthy awards or certifications (place a badge on your website, post a link to your social media platforms with information about the award/certification, etc.)
• Support a local charity (display information about it on a dedicated landing page on your site, post about it on social media, etc.)
• Mention any environmentally sustainable efforts you make at your business (recycling, volunteering for eco-friendly organizations, etc.
• Case studies and testimonials

Though this is certainly helpful for your current customers to confirm they’ve made the right choice with you, those who might not know they need you yet might find your business more desirable than another, simply for your credibility. Research the industry-specific materials you can provide your potential customers to let them know you are not just a viable option, but the best option.

10. Do all of this in stages—not all at once.

Last, but certainly not least, make sure you do these things in different phases. Because it’s not realistic to believe anyone’s effort will magically attract everyone to your business, you should set goals, follow a strategic plan, and measure your results. Rinse and repeat as necessary for each audience.

There are plenty of ways to speak to those who seem unreachable. You just have to find ways to make it about them and why they (specifically) would want or need you. If you’re not sure how to get started, try these tips for expanding your reach.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Sometimes, Excel seems too good to be true. All I have to do is enter a formula, and pretty much anything I’d ever need to do manually can be done automatically. Need to merge two sheets with similar data? Excel can do it. Need to do simple math? Excel can do it. Need to combine information in multiple cells? Excel can do it.

The only problem is that it can be difficult to use for beginners. While inputting the data manually is easy, it can be a nightmare to learn all the formulas and shortcuts you need to master the tool. Plus, even if you use the formulas correctly, there’s always a chance you’ll run into error messages. Simply put, Excel can be extremely hard to use.

Not to worry. In this post, I’ll go over the best tips, tricks, and shortcuts you can use right now to take your Excel game to the next level. No advanced Excel knowledge required.

What is Excel?

Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet software that marketers, accountants, data analysts, and other professionals use to store, organize, and track data sets. It’s part of the Microsoft Office suite of products. Alternatives include Google Sheets and Numbers. Find more Excel alternatives here.

To jumpstart your Excel education, check out a video below on how to use Excel for beginners.

Excel is primarily used for creating financial documents because of its strong computational powers. You’ll often find the software in accounting offices and teams because it allows accountants to automatically see sums, averages, and totals. With Excel, they can easily make sense of their business’ data.

While Excel is primarily known as an accounting tool, professionals in any field can use its features and formulas — especially marketers — because it can be used for tracking any type of data. It removes the need to spend hours and hours counting cells or copying and pasting performance numbers. Excel typically has a shortcut or quick fix that speeds up the process.

Not sure how you can actually use Excel in your team? Here is a list of documents you can create:

• Income Statements: You can use an Excel spreadsheet to track a company’s sales activity and financial health.
• Balance Sheets: Balance sheets are among the most common types of documents you can create with Excel. It allows you to get a holistic view of a company’s financial standing.
• Calendar: You can easily create a spreadsheet monthly calendar to track events or other date-sensitive information.

Here are some documents you can create specifically for marketers.

• Marketing Budgets: Excel is a strong budget-keeping tool. You can create and track marketing budgets, as well as spend, using Excel. If you don’t want to create a document from scratch, download our marketing budget templates for free.
• Marketing Reports: If you don’t use a marketing tool such as Marketing Hub, you might find yourself in need of a dashboard with all of your reports. Excel is an excellent tool to create marketing reports. Download free Excel marketing reporting templates here.
• Editorial Calendars: You can create editorial calendars in Excel. The tab format makes it extremely easy to track your content creation efforts for custom time ranges. Download a free editorial content calendar template here.
• Traffic and Leads Calculator: Because of its strong computational powers, Excel is an excellent tool to create all sorts of calculators — including one for tracking leads and traffic. Click here to download a free premade calculator.

This is only a small sampling of the types of marketing and business documents you can create in Excel. We’ve created an extensive list of Excel templates you can use right now for marketing, invoicing, project management, budgeting, and more.

You can also download Excel templates below for all of your marketing needs. 

After you download the templates, it’s time to start using the software. Let’s cover the basics first.

Excel Basics

If you’re just starting out with Excel, there are a few basic commands that we suggest you become familiar with. These are things like:

• Creating a new spreadsheet from scratch.
• Executing basic computations like adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
• Writing and formatting column text and titles.
• Using Excel’s auto-fill features.
• Adding or deleting single columns, rows, and spreadsheets. Below, we’ll get into how to add things like multiple columns and rows.
• Keeping column and row titles visible as you scroll past them in a spreadsheet, so that you know what data you’re filling as you move further down the document.

For a deep dive on these basics, check out our comprehensive Microsoft Excel guide.

In the spirit of working more efficiently and avoiding tedious, manual work, here are a few Excel formulas and functions you’ll need to know.

Excel Formulas

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the wide range of Excel formulas that you can use to make sense out of your data. If you’re just getting started using Excel, you can rely on the following formulas to carry out some complex functions — without adding to the complexity of your learning path.

• Equal sign: Before creating any formula, you’ll need to write an equal sign (=) in the cell where you want the result to appear.
• Addition: To add the values of two or more cells, use the + sign. Example: =C5+D3.
• Subtraction: To subtract the values of two or more cells, use the – sign. Example: =C5-D3.
• Multiplication: To multiply the values of two or more cells, use the * sign. Example: =C5*D3.
• Division: To divide the values of two or more cells, use the / sign. Example: =C5/D3.

Putting all of these together, you can create a formula that adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides all in one cell. Example: =(C5-D3)/((A5+B6)*3).

For more complex formulas, you’ll need to use parentheses around the expressions to avoid accidentally using the PEMDAS order of operations. Keep in mind that you can use plain numbers in your formulas.

Excel Functions

Excel functions automate some of the tasks you would use in a typical formula. For instance, instead of using the + sign to add up a range of cells, you’d use the SUM function. Let’s look at a few more functions that will help automate calculations and tasks.

• SUM: The SUM function automatically adds up a range of cells or numbers. To complete a sum, you would input the starting cell and the final cell with a colon in between. Here’s what that looks like: SUM(Cell1:Cell2). Example: =SUM(C5:C30).
• AVERAGE: The AVERAGE function averages out the values of a range of cells. The syntax is the same as the SUM function: AVERAGE(Cell1:Cell2). Example: =AVERAGE(C5:C30).
• IF: The IF function allows you to return values based on a logical test. The syntax is as follows: IF(logical_test, value_if_true, [value_if_false]). Example: =IF(A2>B2,”Over Budget”,”OK”).
• VLOOKUP: The VLOOKUP function helps you search for anything on your sheet’s rows. The syntax is: VLOOKUP(lookup value, table array, column number, Approximate match (TRUE) or Exact match (FALSE)). Example: =VLOOKUP([@Attorney],tbl_Attorneys,4,FALSE).
• INDEX: The INDEX function returns a value from within a range. The syntax is as follows: INDEX(array, row_num, [column_num]).
• MATCH: The MATCH function looks for a certain item in a range of cells and returns the position of that item. It can be used in tandem with the INDEX function. The syntax is: MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, [match_type]).
• COUNTIF: The COUNTIF function returns the number of cells that meet a certain criteria or have a certain value. The syntax is: COUNTIF(range, criteria). Example: =COUNTIF(A2:A5,”London”).

Okay, ready to get into the nitty-gritty? Let’s get to it. (And to all the Harry Potter fans out there … you’re welcome in advance.)

Note: The GIFs and visuals are from a previous version of Excel. When applicable, the copy has been updated to provide instruction for users of both newer and older Excel versions.

1. Use Pivot tables to recognize and make sense of data.

Pivot tables are used to reorganize data in a spreadsheet. They won’t change the data that you have, but they can sum up values and compare different information in your spreadsheet, depending on what you’d like them to do.

Let’s take a look at an example. Let’s say I want to take a look at how many people are in each house at Hogwarts. You may be thinking that I don’t have too much data, but for longer data sets, this will come in handy.

To create the Pivot Table, I go to Data > Pivot Table. If you’re using the most recent version of Excel, you’d go to Insert > Pivot Table. Excel will automatically populate your Pivot Table, but you can always change around the order of the data. Then, you have four options to choose from.

• Report Filter: This allows you to only look at certain rows in your dataset. For example, if I wanted to create a filter by house, I could choose to only include students in Gryffindor instead of all students.
• Column Labels: These would be your headers in the dataset.
• Row Labels: These could be your rows in the dataset. Both Row and Column labels can contain data from your columns (e.g. First Name can be dragged to either the Row or Column label — it just depends on how you want to see the data.)
• Value: This section allows you to look at your data differently. Instead of just pulling in any numeric value, you can sum, count, average, max, min, count numbers, or do a few other manipulations with your data. In fact, by default, when you drag a field to Value, it always does a count.

Since I want to count the number of students in each house, I’ll go to the Pivot table builder and drag the House column to both the Row Labels and the Values. This will sum up the number of students associated with each house.

2. Add more than one row or column.

As you play around with your data, you might find you’re constantly needing to add more rows and columns. Sometimes, you may even need to add hundreds of rows. Doing this one-by-one would be super tedious. Luckily, there’s always an easier way.

To add multiple rows or columns in a spreadsheet, highlight the same number of preexisting rows or columns that you want to add. Then, right-click and select “Insert.”

In the example below, I want to add an additional three rows. By highlighting three rows and then clicking insert, I’m able to add an additional three blank rows into my spreadsheet quickly and easily.

3. Use filters to simplify your data.

When you’re looking at very large data sets, you don’t usually need to be looking at every single row at the same time. Sometimes, you only want to look at data that fit into certain criteria.

That’s where filters come in.

Filters allow you to pare down your data to only look at certain rows at one time. In Excel, a filter can be added to each column in your data — and from there, you can then choose which cells you want to view at once.

Let’s take a look at the example below. Add a filter by clicking the Data tab and selecting “Filter.” Clicking the arrow next to the column headers and you’ll be able to choose whether you want your data to be organized in ascending or descending order, as well as which specific rows you want to show.

In my Harry Potter example, let’s say I only want to see the students in Gryffindor. By selecting the Gryffindor filter, the other rows disappear.

Pro Tip: Copy and paste the values in the spreadsheet when a Filter is on to do additional analysis in another spreadsheet.

4. Remove duplicate data points or sets.

Larger data sets tend to have duplicate content. You may have a list of multiple contacts in a company and only want to see the number of companies you have. In situations like this, removing the duplicates comes in quite handy.

To remove your duplicates, highlight the row or column that you want to remove duplicates of. Then, go to the Data tab and select “Remove Duplicates” (which is under the Tools subheader in the older version of Excel). A pop-up will appear to confirm which data you want to work with. Select “Remove Duplicates,” and you’re good to go.

You can also use this feature to remove an entire row based on a duplicate column value. So if you have three rows with Harry Potter’s information and you only need to see one, then you can select the whole dataset and then remove duplicates based on email. Your resulting list will have only unique names without any duplicates.

5. Transpose rows into columns.

When you have rows of data in your spreadsheet, you might decide you actually want to transform the items in one of those rows into columns (or vice versa). It would take a lot of time to copy and paste each individual header — but what the transpose feature allows you to do is simply move your row data into columns, or the other way around.

Start by highlighting the column that you want to transpose into rows. Right-click it, and then select “Copy.” Next, select the cells on your spreadsheet where you want your first row or column to begin. Right-click on the cell, and then select “Paste Special.” A module will appear — at the bottom, you’ll see an option to transpose. Check that box and select OK. Your column will now be transferred to a row or vice-versa.

On newer versions of Excel, a drop-down will appear instead of a pop-up.

6. Split up text information between columns.

What if you want to split out information that’s in one cell into two different cells? For example, maybe you want to pull out someone’s company name through their email address. Or perhaps you want to separate someone’s full name into a first and last name for your email marketing templates.

Thanks to Excel, both are possible. First, highlight the column that you want to split up. Next, go to the Data tab and select “Text to Columns.” A module will appear with additional information.

First, you need to select either “Delimited” or “Fixed Width.”

• “Delimited” means you want to break up the column based on characters such as commas, spaces, or tabs.
• “Fixed Width” means you want to select the exact location on all the columns that you want the split to occur.

In the example case below, let’s select “Delimited” so we can separate the full name into first name and last name.

Then, it’s time to choose the Delimiters. This could be a tab, semi-colon, comma, space, or something else. (“Something else” could be the “@” sign used in an email address, for example.) In our example, let’s choose the space. Excel will then show you a preview of what your new columns will look like.

When you’re happy with the preview, press “Next.” This page will allow you to select Advanced Formats if you choose to. When you’re done, click “Finish.”

7. Use formulas for simple calculations.

In addition to doing pretty complex calculations, Excel can help you do simple arithmetic like adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing any of your data.

• To add, use the + sign.
• To subtract, use the – sign.
• To multiply, use the * sign.
• To divide, use the / sign.

You can also use parentheses to ensure certain calculations are done first. In the example below (10+10*10), the second and third 10 were multiplied together before adding the additional 10. However, if we made it (10+10)*10, the first and second 10 would be added together first.

8. Get the average of numbers in your cells.

If you want the average of a set of numbers, you can use the formula =AVERAGE(Cell1:Cell2). If you want to sum up a column of numbers, you can use the formula =SUM(Cell1:Cell2).

9. Use conditional formatting to make cells automatically change color based on data.

Conditional formatting allows you to change a cell’s color based on the information within the cell. For example, if you want to flag certain numbers that are above average or in the top 10% of the data in your spreadsheet, you can do that. If you want to color code commonalities between different rows in Excel, you can do that. This will help you quickly see information that is important to you.

To get started, highlight the group of cells you want to use conditional formatting on. Then, choose “Conditional Formatting” from the Home menu and select your logic from the dropdown. (You can also create your own rule if you want something different.) A window will pop up that prompts you to provide more information about your formatting rule. Select “OK” when you’re done, and you should see your results automatically appear.

10. Use the IF Excel formula to automate certain Excel functions.

Sometimes, we don’t want to count the number of times a value appears. Instead, we want to input different information into a cell if there is a corresponding cell with that information.

For example, in the situation below, I want to award ten points to everyone who belongs in the Gryffindor house. Instead of manually typing in 10’s next to each Gryffindor student’s name, I can use the IF Excel formula to say that if the student is in Gryffindor, then they should get ten points.

The formula is: IF(logical_test, value_if_true, [value_if_false])

Example Shown Below: =IF(D2=”Gryffindor”,”10″,”0″)

In general terms, the formula would be IF(Logical Test, value of true, value of false). Let’s dig into each of these variables.

• Logical_Test: The logical test is the “IF” part of the statement. In this case, the logic is D2=”Gryffindor” because we want to make sure that the cell corresponding with the student says “Gryffindor.” Make sure to put Gryffindor in quotation marks here.
• Value_if_True: This is what we want the cell to show if the value is true. In this case, we want the cell to show “10” to indicate that the student was awarded the 10 points. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number.
• Value_if_False: This is what we want the cell to show if the value is false. In this case, for any student not in Gryffindor, we want the cell to show “0”. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number.

Note: In the example above, I awarded 10 points to everyone in Gryffindor. If I later wanted to sum the total number of points, I wouldn’t be able to because the 10’s are in quotes, thus making them text and not a number that Excel can sum.

11. Use dollar signs to keep one cell’s formula the same regardless of where it moves.

Have you ever seen a dollar sign in an Excel formula? When used in a formula, it isn’t representing an American dollar; instead, it makes sure that the exact column and row are held the same even if you copy the same formula in adjacent rows.

You see, a cell reference — when you refer to cell A5 from cell C5, for example — is relative by default. In that case, you’re actually referring to a cell that’s five columns to the left (C minus A) and in the same row (5). This is called a relative formula. When you copy a relative formula from one cell to another, it’ll adjust the values in the formula based on where it’s moved. But sometimes, we want those values to stay the same no matter whether they’re moved around or not — and we can do that by turning the formula into an absolute formula.

To change the relative formula (=A5+C5) into an absolute formula, we’d precede the row and column values by dollar signs, like this: (=$A$5+$C$5). (Learn more on Microsoft Office’s support page here.)

12. Use the VLOOKUP function to pull data from one area of a sheet to another.

Have you ever had two sets of data on two different spreadsheets that you want to combine into a single spreadsheet?

For example, you might have a list of people’s names next to their email addresses in one spreadsheet, and a list of those same people’s email addresses next to their company names in the other — but you want the names, email addresses, and company names of those people to appear in one place.

I have to combine data sets like this a lot — and when I do, the VLOOKUP is my go-to formula.

Before you use the formula, though, be absolutely sure that you have at least one column that appears identically in both places. Scour your data sets to make sure the column of data you’re using to combine your information is exactly the same, including no extra spaces.

The formula: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, table array, column number, Approximate match (TRUE) or Exact match (FALSE))

The formula with variables from our example below: =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE)

In this formula, there are several variables. The following is true when you want to combine information in Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 onto Sheet 1.

• Lookup Value: This is the identical value you have in both spreadsheets. Choose the first value in your first spreadsheet. In the example that follows, this means the first email address on the list, or cell 2 (C2).
• Table Array: The table array is the range of columns on Sheet 2 you’re going to pull your data from, including the column of data identical to your lookup value (in our example, email addresses) in Sheet 1 as well as the column of data you’re trying to copy to Sheet 1. In our example, this is “Sheet2!A:B.” “A” means Column A in Sheet 2, which is the column in Sheet 2 where the data identical to our lookup value (email) in Sheet 1 is listed. The “B” means Column B, which contains the information that’s only available in Sheet 2 that you want to translate to Sheet 1.
• Column Number: This tells Excel which column the new data you want to copy to Sheet 1 is located in. In our example, this would be the column that “House” is located in. “House” is the second column in our range of columns (table array), so our column number is 2. [Note: Your range can be more than two columns. For example, if there are three columns on Sheet 2 — Email, Age, and House — and you still want to bring House onto Sheet 1, you can still use a VLOOKUP. You just need to change the “2” to a “3” so it pulls back the value in the third column: =VLOOKUP(C2:Sheet2!A:C,3,false).]
• Approximate Match (TRUE) or Exact Match (FALSE): Use FALSE to ensure you pull in only exact value matches. If you use TRUE, the function will pull in approximate matches.

In the example below, Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 contain lists describing different information about the same people, and the common thread between the two is their email addresses. Let’s say we want to combine both datasets so that all the house information from Sheet 2 translates over to Sheet 1.

So when we type in the formula =VLOOKUP(C2,Sheet2!A:B,2,FALSE), we bring all the house data into Sheet 1.

Keep in mind that VLOOKUP will only pull back values from the second sheet that are to the right of the column containing your identical data. This can lead to some limitations, which is why some people prefer to use the INDEX and MATCH functions instead.

13. Use INDEX and MATCH formulas to pull data from horizontal columns.

Like VLOOKUP, the INDEX and MATCH functions pull in data from another dataset into one central location. Here are the main differences:

• VLOOKUP is a much simpler formula. If you’re working with large data sets that would require thousands of lookups, using the INDEX and MATCH function will significantly decrease load time in Excel.
• The INDEX and MATCH formulas work right-to-left, whereas VLOOKUP formulas only work as a left-to-right lookup. In other words, if you need to do a lookup that has a lookup column to the right of the results column, then you’d have to rearrange those columns in order to do a VLOOKUP. This can be tedious with large datasets and/or lead to errors.

So if I want to combine information in Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 onto Sheet 1, but the column values in Sheets 1 and 2 aren’t the same, then to do a VLOOKUP, I would need to switch around my columns. In this case, I’d choose to do an INDEX and MATCH instead.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say Sheet 1 contains a list of people’s names and their Hogwarts email addresses, and Sheet 2 contains a list of people’s email addresses and the Patronus that each student has. (For the non-Harry Potter fans out there, every witch or wizard has an animal guardian called a “Patronus” associated with him or her.) The information that lives in both sheets is the column containing email addresses, but this email address column is in different column numbers on each sheet. I’d use the INDEX and MATCH formulas instead of VLOOKUP so I wouldn’t have to switch any columns around.

So what’s the formula, then? The formula is actually the MATCH formula nested inside the INDEX formula. You’ll see I differentiated the MATCH formula using a different color here.

The formula: =INDEX(table array, MATCH formula)

This becomes: =INDEX(table array, MATCH (lookup_value, lookup_array))

The formula with variables from our example below: =INDEX(Sheet2!A:A,(MATCH(Sheet1!C:C,Sheet2!C:C,0)))

Here are the variables:

• Table Array: The range of columns on Sheet 2 containing the new data you want to bring over to Sheet 1. In our example, “A” means Column A, which contains the “Patronus” information for each person.
• Lookup Value: This is the column in Sheet 1 that contains identical values in both spreadsheets. In the example that follows, this means the “email” column on Sheet 1, which is Column C. So: Sheet1!C:C.
• Lookup Array: This is the column in Sheet 2 that contains identical values in both spreadsheets. In the example that follows, this refers to the “email” column on Sheet 2, which happens to also be Column C. So: Sheet2!C:C.

Once you have your variables straight, type in the INDEX and MATCH formulas in the top-most cell of the blank Patronus column on Sheet 1, where you want the combined information to live.

14. Use the COUNTIF function to make Excel count words or numbers in any range of cells.

Instead of manually counting how often a certain value or number appears, let Excel do the work for you. With the COUNTIF function, Excel can count the number of times a word or number appears in any range of cells.

For example, let’s say I want to count the number of times the word “Gryffindor” appears in my data set.

The formula: =COUNTIF(range, criteria)

The formula with variables from our example below: =COUNTIF(D:D,”Gryffindor”)

In this formula, there are several variables:

• Range: The range that we want the formula to cover. In this case, since we’re only focusing on one column, we use “D:D” to indicate that the first and last column are both D. If I were looking at columns C and D, I would use “C:D.”
• Criteria: Whatever number or piece of text you want Excel to count. Only use quotation marks if you want the result to be text instead of a number. In our example, the criteria is “Gryffindor.”

Simply typing in the COUNTIF formula in any cell and pressing “Enter” will show me how many times the word “Gryffindor” appears in the dataset.

15. Combine cells using &.

Databases tend to split out data to make it as exact as possible. For example, instead of having a column that shows a person’s full name, a database might have the data as a first name and then a last name in separate columns. Or, it may have a person’s location separated by city, state, and zip code. In Excel, you can combine cells with different data into one cell by using the “&” sign in your function.

The formula with variables from our example below: =A2&” “&B2

Let’s go through the formula together using an example. Pretend we want to combine first names and last names into full names in a single column. To do this, we’d first put our cursor in the blank cell where we want the full name to appear. Next, we’d highlight one cell that contains a first name, type in an “&” sign, and then highlight a cell with the corresponding last name.

But you’re not finished — if all you type in is =A2&B2, then there will not be a space between the person’s first name and last name. To add that necessary space, use the function =A2&” “&B2. The quotation marks around the space tell Excel to put a space in between the first and last name.

To make this true for multiple rows, simply drag the corner of that first cell downward as shown in the example.

16. Add checkboxes.

If you’re using an Excel sheet to track customer data and want to oversee something that isn’t quantifiable, you could insert checkboxes into a column.

For example, if you’re using an Excel sheet to manage your sales prospects and want to track whether you called them in the last quarter, you could have a “Called this quarter?” column and check off the cells in it when you’ve called the respective client.

Here’s how to do it.

Highlight a cell you’d like to add checkboxes to in your spreadsheet. Then, click DEVELOPER. Then, under FORM CONTROLS, click the checkbox or the selection circle highlighted in the image below.

Once the box appears in the cell, copy it, highlight the cells you also want it to appear in, and then paste it.

17. Hyperlink a cell to a website.

If you’re using your sheet to track social media or website metrics, it can be helpful to have a reference column with the links each row is tracking. If you add a URL directly into Excel, it should automatically be clickable. But, if you have to hyperlink words, such as a page title or the headline of a post you’re tracking, here’s how.

Highlight the words you want to hyperlink, then press Shift K. From there a box will pop up allowing you to place the hyperlink URL. Copy and paste the URL into this box and hit or click Enter.

If the key shortcut isn’t working for any reason, you can also do this manually by highlighting the cell and clicking Insert > Hyperlink.

18. Add drop-down menus.

Sometimes, you’ll be using your spreadsheet to track processes or other qualitative things. Rather than writing words into your sheet repetitively, such as “Yes”, “No”, “Customer Stage”, “Sales Lead”, or “Prospect”, you can use dropdown menus to quickly mark descriptive things about your contacts or whatever you’re tracking.

Here’s how to add drop-downs to your cells.

Highlight the cells you want the drop-downs to be in, then click the Data menu in the top navigation and press Validation.

From there, you’ll see a Data Validation Settings box open. Look at the Allow options, then click Lists and select Drop-down List. Check the In-Cell dropdown button, then press OK.

Other Excel Help Resources

• How to Make a Chart or Graph in Excel [With Video Tutorial]
• Design Tips to Create Beautiful Excel Charts and Graphs
• Totally Free Microsoft Excel Templates That Make Marketing Easier
• How to Learn Excel Online: Free and Paid Resources for Excel Training

Use Excel to Automate Processes in Your Team

Even if you’re not an accountant, you can still use Excel to automate tasks and processes in your team. With the tips and tricks we shared in this post, you’ll be sure to use Excel to its fullest extent and get the most out of the software to grow your business.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2017 but has been updated for comprehensiveness.