Categories B2B

I tried writing a blog post with ChatGPT, so you don’t have to.

If you‘re a marketer who does a lot of writing, you’ve probably heard about writers, bloggers, and other creators using tools like ChatGPT to streamline the writing process.

However, if you‘re a skeptical writer like me, you’re probably a little wary of using AI to craft your content.

You might think: “Can this tool write well? Will it capture the correct voice and tone I want? Is it accurate? How can I use it?”

Fortunately, you don‘t need to wonder anymore. I tried using ChatGPT to write a blog post, and I will share my experience and let you know if it’s worth trying out.

Fun fact: This is my first time using ChatGPT in this way, too, so we’re learning together!

Using ChatGPT to Generate Ideas

Using ChatGPT to Generate a Blog Outline

Using ChatGPT to Write a Blog Post

Final Thoughts

Free Report: The State of Artificial Intelligence in 2023

Using ChatGPT to Generate Ideas

Every blog post starts with an idea, so why not see if ChatGPT can generate a few for inspiration? After logging into the free version of ChatGPT, I was taken to the main chat page.

Screenshot of ChatGPT chat page

After typing my request into the chat (“Give me ideas for a blog post about cats”), ChatGPT generated 15 blog ideas and headlines. The first five are below.

Screenshot of ideas generated by ChatGPT

Not bad, but let‘s take things a step further. Here’s ChatGPT’s response to my second request, “Give me ideas for a blog post about cat statistics.”

Screenshot of ideas generated by ChatGPT

Overall, I like the ideas ChatGPT generated. I especially appreciated that ChatGPT included headlines with its ideas and suggested how to approach the topic.

For example, ChatGPT suggested I approach the topic of cat breeds by providing a list of the most popular cat breeds based on registration statistics from breed organizations.

I prefer ideas involving statistics, so I go with ChatGPT‘s fifth suggestion: “The Economics of Cat Care: How Does it Cost to Raise a Cat?” Now that I know the topic I want to pursue, I’m ready to create an outline.

Pro Tip: It helps to be as specific as possible in your requests. Notice when I mentioned wanting to write a blog post about cat statistics, ChatGPT gave more nuanced answers. This is a pattern you’ll see throughout the article.

Using ChatGPT to Generate a Blog Outline

First, I told ChatGPT to generate a blog outline based on “The Economics of Cat Care: How Much Does It Cost to Raise a Cat?” This is the chatbot’s response.

Screenshot of outline generated by ChatGPT

Below is an excerpt of the outline:

“I. Introduction

A. Anecdotal story or intriguing cat fact

B. Importance of understanding the costs of cat ownership

C. Overview of what the blog post will cover

II. Initial Costs

A. Adoption or purchase fees

B. Essential supplies and equipment

  1. Litter box and litter
  2. Food and water dishes
  3. Cat food
  4. Cat carrier
  5. Bed or scratching post

C. Initial veterinary expenses

  1. Vaccinations
  2. Spaying/neutering
  3. Microchipping
  4. Health check-up”

ChatGPT also provided the following short paragraph describing the breakdown of the outline:

“This outline provides a structured framework to explore the financial aspects of cat ownership, from initial costs to ongoing expenses and unexpected situations, while also offering readers valuable tips for managing the financial aspects of raising a cat.”

The outline is all right; it separates different aspects of the cost of cat ownership into sections like initial costs, ongoing expenses, and more.

However, I want something closer to my outlining style, which includes headings and subheadings. So, I typed in another prompt, asking ChatGPT to generate another blog outline and include subheadings.

This is what ChatGPT generated:

Screenshot of new outline generated by ChatGPT

I prefer this outline because it’s more comprehensive than the previous one and has subheadings that are specific, short, and straight to the point. ChaptGPT also gives a good breakdown of the kind of content to include under each subheading.

Here’s an excerpt of the chatbot-generated outline:

“I. Introduction

A. Why Understanding the Cost of Cat Ownership Matters

B. The Joy and Responsibilities of Cat Ownership

C. Overview of What This Blog Post Will Cover

II. Initial Costs

A. Adoption or Purchase Fees

B. Essential Supplies and Equipment

  1. Litter Box and Litter
  2. Food and Water Dishes
  3. Cat Food
  4. Cat Carrier
  5. Bed or Scratching Post”

The second outline will be the foundation of the blog’s final draft.

Pro Tip: Every writer has their own way of planning and outlining their work. Before asking ChatGPT to generate an outline think about how you prefer your outlines and specify your preference in your request. 

Using ChatGPT to Write a Blog Post

This is where things got tricky for me. I submitted two prompts to ChatGPT to write the blog post and compared the results. My first prompt asks ChatGPT to generate a blog post based on the second outline.

I also direct ChatGPT to keep the post to 800 words and to use an upbeat, friendly, and conversational tone.

The first paragraph of ChatGPT’s post is almost exactly what I wanted:

“Hello, fellow cat enthusiasts! If you‘ve ever wondered about the true cost of having a furry feline friend by your side, you’re in the right place. Cats are wonderful companions, but they do come with financial responsibilities.

Today, we‘ll dive into the economics of cat care and break down the costs associated with raising a cat. Don’t worry; we’ve got plenty of tips to help you budget and ensure your kitty gets the best care without breaking the bank.”

However, the rest of the blog post still reads more like an outline. See the screenshot below.

First draft generated by ChatGPT

Notice the post is mainly numbered and bulleted. I then submitted another prompt asking the same thing, but I omitted any mention of the word “outline.”

ChatGPT’s opening paragraph was similar to the first:

“Hey there, fellow cat lovers! If you‘re reading this, chances are you’ve either got a kitty curled up in your lap or you’re seriously considering adopting one of these adorable furballs.

Cats bring so much joy into our lives, but they also come with responsibilities, including the financial kind.

So, let’s talk about the economics of cat care. How much does it really cost to raise a cat, and how can you make sure your feline friend gets the royal treatment without breaking the bank?”

Once again, I like the opener because it captures my desired tone. However, the rest of the draft still reads like an outline.

second draft generated by chatgpt

I tried regenerating the draft a few times but still got similar results that were bulleted and numbered like an outline.

Pro Tip: Specify the style, tone, and purpose of your article when requesting a draft from ChatGPT. Again, the more specific you are in your prompts, the easier it is for the AI to generate your desired outcome.

Final Thoughts

While I can see how ChatGPT can save writers time, the chatbot is not my preferred method of generating blog posts.

As I mentioned, the opening paragraphs aligned with my vision, but the rest of the content was too bulleted to read like a conversational blog post.

That said, I can undoubtedly see ChatGPT as a valuable tool for planning, such as topic ideation and outlining.

Citing Sources with ChatGPT

Furthermore, if you often have to cite sources in your work, you may encounter a hiccup using ChatGPT. I asked the AI tool to cite its sources when generating drafts.

The first time I asked it to cite a source, ChatGPT said it could not and generated the following response:

“I apologize for any inconvenience, but I cannot provide specific sources or citations for the information in the blog post as my responses are generated based on a mixture of licensed data, data created by human trainers, and publicly available data.

The information in the blog post is a general overview of the costs associated with owning a cat, and the figures provided are based on common knowledge and general estimates up to my last knowledge update in September 2021.

For accurate and up-to-date information, I recommend consulting reputable sources such as pet care websites, veterinary organizations, and financial planning resources.

These sources can provide detailed information on the specific costs of cat ownership in your area and any changes that may have occurred since my last knowledge update.”

The second time I tried, the tool generated a blog post that included links to sources, but some references were outdated or led to dead links.

Update: Since writing this post, OpenAI announced ChatGPT would be able to browse the internet to give users “current and authoritative information” and links to sources.

This means ChatGPT will be able to include information from sources post-2021. 

How I Would Use ChatGPT

I would use ChatGPT as an assistive tool to help me develop blog topics and generate outlines to organize my thoughts.

My concern is that I would spend too much time tweaking ChatGPT‘s drafts to my liking and that I’d be better off writing my own content based on its outlines.

Have you used ChatGPT to write content for you? What was your experience?

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Categories B2B

Twitter is Dead (Kind of): Where X Stands With Consumers [New Data]

Twitter is dead, and from its ashes rises X. Okay, that might be a little dramatic, but it‘s not wrong. Twitter officially rebranded following Elon Musk’s acquisition and is now known as X. So, what could this mean for the platform going forward?

Are users still sticking to the newly named social media site, or will they flock to other platforms?

While I can‘t say for sure what the future holds for the app formerly known as Twitter, we at HubSpot surveyed over 170 social media users to get their perspectives on whether they’ll still use X.

Here’s what I can tell you based on our findings.

Download Now: The 2023 State of Social Media Trends [Free Report]

Are consumers still using X following the rebrand?

Rebranding longstanding apps like Twitter can be risky. Will consumers like the rebrand? Will they leave the app en masse? According to our survey, that may not be the case.

Most social media users (63%) say they’ve used X for at least an hour or more since July 2023. Right behind X is Reddit, with 50% of consumers saying they use Reddit for an hour or more.

Threads comes in third place with 24% of users, and Tumblr comes in fourth with 23% of users.

Oddly enough, the apps projected to compete with or replace Twitter/X need to catch up regarding how often consumers use them for at least an hour. Only 5% of consumers report using Mastadon for an hour or more.

4% say the same about Bluesky, and 3% say this about Spill.

Is Twitter dying; graph shows if users are still using X

We also asked users if their X/Twitter usage changed between July and August. Most users (31%) say their use remains the same, but 22% report substantially decreasing their time on the platform.

The graph below shows you a full breakdown of how social media usage across the platforms mentioned above may or may not have changed.

Is Twitter dying; graph shows usage of apps

Will users spend less time on X in 2024?

Now that Twitter is X and more changes to the platform are on the horizon, will social media users spend less time on X in 2024? Here’s what our survey says.

35% of consumers say they‘ll use X just as much by 2024 as now, and only 17% say they’ll stop using it entirely. 29% of respondents plan to use X more often.

Is Twitter dying; graph shows whether users will still use X in 2024.

Social media users had this to say about X competitors Spill, Mastodon, and Bluesky:

  • 31% of respondents say they will use Threads just as much in 2024 as now, and 26% say they‘ll use it more often. 11% say they’ll use it less, and 16% say they’ll stop.
  • 34% of Spill users in our survey say they‘ll stop using the platform entirely in 2024, and 15% say they’ll use it more. 9% plan on using it less, and 33% say their usage will remain the same.
  • 39% of respondents plan to stop using Mastodon entirely in 2024, and 14% plan to use it more often. 33% say their usage will remain the same, and 7% plan to use it less.
  • In our survey, 37% of Bluesky users say they plan to stop using the app in 2024, and 32% say their usage won‘t change. 16% say they’ll use it more often, and 8% say they’ll use it less.

Will consumers pay for X Premium?

Before the rebrand, Twitter offered a paid premium package called Twitter Blue, which gave users access to features like editing tweets or using a higher word count. These features were in exchange for a monthly fee.

Since the rebrand, Twitter Blue is now X Premium, which offers many of the same features as Twitter Blue, plus new features such as the ability to hide or display a blue verification mark.

Are these features enough to entice consumers to subscribe to a premium package? Is the package sufficient to attract new X users? Let’s see.

22% of our survey respondents said they‘re considering subscribing to X Premium, but 41% plan to remain a free X user. 31% said they don’t use X now and still don’t plan on it despite the package.

Only 6% are unsure or don’t know about the premium package.

So, is Twitter/X ‘dying’?

Based on these results, most of X‘s current consumers will remain loyal to the platform in 2024, and most of its competitors will struggle to compete or keep users. However, Instagram’s Threads will provide strong competition for the app.

As a long-time Twitter-now-X user (I‘ve been on the app for about 10 years), I don’t plan to jump ship. I’ve downloaded apps like Threads, Spill, and Hive but have noticed the same pattern:

First, seemingly everyone will be on X talking about the latest competitor and how it’s worth downloading.

I download the new app and use it sporadically for a week or two, but inevitably find myself back on X because it’s familiar and has an established community and culture.

Conversations are always happening on X, just like when it was still Twitter, and like a moth to a flame, I can’t help but gravitate back toward the app no matter what.

If you ask me, Twitter, as we know it, is gone, but X doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

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Categories B2B

Do People Still Read Blogs in 2023? We Asked Consumers [New Data]

According to our 2023 State of Marketing report, blogs are among the top marketing channels that offer the highest ROI.

Despite numbers showing how blogs can benefit business, some marketers and business owners wonder, “Do people still read blogs?”

To determine where blog readership might stand today, I surveyed 325 people about how often they read blogs. Here’s what I know:

Do people still read blogs anymore?

How to Get More Blog Readers

Building a Better Blog

Start a Blog with HubSpot's Free Blog Maker

Do people still read blogs anymore?

As a blogger who writes daily, my findings were encouraging; most respondents (29%) read blogs 1-4 times a month, 18% read every day, and only 17% never read blogs.

The graph below illustrates a breakdown of how often respondents read blogs.

how often do people read blog posts?; Do people still read blog posts?

While the percentage of people who never read blogs surpasses that of people who read 1-3 or 1-4 times a week, more people read blogs daily than never at all.

So, we know more people are reading blogs, at least sometimes than not all, but are they reading more or less than in the past? According to our respondents, it’s about the same or more.

57% of people in the survey say the amount of blog content they consume is the same as last year, while 35% say their blog consumption has increased. Only 9% say their consumption is less than the previous year.

Are people reading blog posts more or less than last year?; Do people still read blogs?

You may also wonder how people are reading blogs. Are they barely skimming through or deeply reading the content?

According to the survey, 35% of people skim through blogs most of the time, and 38% do a mix of skimming and deep reading.

13% deep read more than they skim, and only 6% navigate to the information they need as quickly as possible and then leave without reading the rest of the content.

How are people reading blogs?; Do people still read blogs?

Our research shows blogging is still an excellent way to reach consumers and expand your business. People are still reading blogs; most are doing more than just skipping to the information they want and leaving.

Furthermore, blogging is still incredibly valuable for search engine optimization. Almost a third of marketers use search engine-optimized blogs to attract and convert leads.

To help you grab attention from large audiences — even if they less frequently read blogs — here are five ways to innovate your blog strategy.

How to Get More Blog Readers

1. Experiment with video and text in your posts.

As of 2023, video is the most popular and most effective marketing media format for the fourth year.

Including video in your blog can add depth to your content and boost engagement since people will be compelled to click on the video and watch it.

On the HubSpot Blog, we regularly add videos to our blog posts to give more thorough details or expert tips on the topic we’ve written about. This way, readers who find the blog post can read or watch the content.

Here’s one example of a blog post where we included a video related to its topic:

Example of YouTube video embedded in HubSpot blog post; Do people still read blogs?

On top of improving the user’s experience, placing videos on your blog can also make web content rank in video-based search results. Additionally, video content can also be incredibly engaging when you share them on your social media channels.

If you think creating videos will be too expensive or technical for your business, there are strategies you can use to produce videos on a budget.

This step-by-step guide walks you through how to brainstorm, script, and affordably shoot videos for your blog or other platforms, even when you don’t have a big budget.

Many AI video generators are also available, making video creation quick, easy, and cost-effective.

2. Add infographics or other original images to your content.

You don’t need to be an expert graphic designer to create visually appealing infographics. When I worked as a digital journalist for local newsrooms, I often had to design graphics on short notice for breaking news.

I wasn’t familiar with Photoshop and had no real graphic designer experience — but I did have Canva. And that got the job done.

With all the technology and design-related apps today, creating basic graphics isn’t impossible, complex, or time-consuming. In fact, I used Canva to make the first few infographics in this article.

If you hire a graphic designer or get the hang of creating graphics quickly, you can also test posting infographics as the center point of your blog posts. Here’s a post where the HubSpot Blog did precisely that:

example of infographic embedded in blog post; Do people still read blog posts?

While it might take a little bit longer to create branded designs and templates for your blog initially, these visuals will be beneficial for gaining image search traffic.

Like video content, original images can be highly shareable and engaging on social media.

3. Publish original data, quotes, and expert insights.

Some bloggers think they can get away with writing short, light-lift blog posts between 200 and 300 words. While tiny, low-effort posts might get some search traffic, they won’t make your content feel original or interesting to the reader.

To compete with more experienced blog sites, write in-depth posts with data and facts to back up each point you discuss. If you need assistance crafting lengthier blog posts, try HubSpot’s AI Blog Writer or Free Blog Maker.

You can post on your blog if you leverage data collection platforms like online survey platforms to collect original data. This will make your content look more credible and trustworthy, but it also can boost search traffic. Here’s how:

When you include your data in blog posts, other bloggers or journalists looking for data to back up their points might link to your posts as evidence.

These links are often called “backlinks.” While getting mentioned on other websites certainly boosts brand awareness, backlinks also improve your authority in search engines.

Like data, original quotes also encourage backlinking. Aside from this benefit, blog posts with quotes or expert insights from industry thought leaders might be shareable or engaging on social media platforms like LinkedIn.

Data, expert quotes, and insights also provide knowledge, and many readers are drawn to blogs that provide an opportunity to learn something.

In the survey, 61% of respondents said they were attracted to the last three blogs they read because they wanted to learn something, educate themselves, or answer questions unrelated to their career or schooling. 

4. Use SEO strategies to build traffic and rank on search pages.

While many of the tips above will help you boost your non-organic traffic and the reader’s experience, you should also pay attention to organic traffic — which will likely account for most of your views.

Aside from videos, visuals, and encouraging backlinks with original information, you can also improve organic traffic by leveraging keyword research and other SEO strategies.

If you‘re new to SEO or search engine optimization, getting up to speed on these strategies is easy.

While some tactics are as simple as adding alternative text to your images, others include internal linking related blog posts to a new piece you’re publishing.

Check out this blog post to get up to speed on a few easy and effective SEO tactics.

5. Promote your content on the right platforms.

Although SEO will likely be your primary traffic source, you’ll still want to ensure you promote blog posts on social media channels.

Why? While it will take time for blog posts to rank in search result pages, you can share your content on social media, email, or other channels to gain non-organic traffic immediately after you publish a post.

Lastly, promoting any content from your website effectively boosts brand awareness. Our survey shows that most blog readers (30%) discover blog posts via social media posts and promotions.

Just 18% find blogs via search engine results.

By posting valuable blogs on your channels, you could gain more followers, post shares, and engagements from audiences you didn’t have before building a social media strategy.

Building a Better Blog

As we go into 2024, we will see even more bloggers adopt competitive strategies that embrace new content formats to gain audiences and prevent low readership. Regardless of which tactics you decide to test out, keep these things in mind:

  • Add videos and visuals: Video and graphic marketing are getting more abundant and effective in generating traffic and leads. Additionally, younger generations engage with this content more than others. If you have the bandwidth, be sure to experiment with visual content.
  • Offer original insights and tips: Original quotes and data will boost your search and non-organic traffic while making your blog more credible.
  • Leverage search and social opportunities: Most internet users are still finding blog posts primarily through search and social media platforms. So, even when experimenting with new content types, leverage keywords, alt-text, and other SEO tactics to ensure you’re paying attention to search opportunities. You should also give them additional promotions on your social media channels.

If you keep the above methods in mind, you can increase readership and boost awareness and conversions for your organization.

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Categories B2B

What is Content Personalization Marketing and Its Importance?

Gone are the days of generic content and ads that lacked any semblance of segmentation.

When 90% of customers find personalization efforts appealing and it drives revenue growth of up to 30%, it’s not a question of whether or not content personalization marketing is relevant, but how to achieve it at scale.

Content personalization marketing caters to all touch points throughout the customer experience journey. Through a combination of first-party data and artificial intelligence (AI) powered predictive analytics, content is tailored based on each user’s propensity to convert.

To translate effective content personalization marketing into positive purchasing behavior, here’s what you need to know—complete with recent examples.

What is content personalization? 

Content personalization is like being a restaurant owner who knows each regular customer’s order. It’s a strategy used in marketing where companies tailor their content—things like blog posts, videos, or advertisements—to each user’s specific interests and preferences.

For example, let’s say a prospect watched a webinar about incorporating AI into your customer support; a company using content personalization would surface more relevant content related to this topic. They use data about what you interact with and like in order to improve the sales process. Essentially, it’s a way for businesses to connect with their audience on a deeper, more personal level.

6 types of customized content

Today’s consumers anticipate that brands will utilize the numerous data points they’ve collected over time—like alert preferences and purchase history—to better understand and reflect their buying needs and provide them with a more tailored shopping experience. 

Enter content personalization marketing.

Content personalization marketing allows for each consumer interaction to be totally unique, helping to eliminate barriers along the customer journey to ultimate conversion. Personalization can take on several forms, including but not limited to these 6 types of customized content. 

1. Dynamic content

Dynamic content adapts or changes based on user data, such as in-session behavior, past behavior, or previously indicated preferences. Typically, a specific variable, such as user location, gender, or other demographic detail, acts as a signal to inform rule-based triggers that influence the content. 

Dynamic content can be utilized in numerous areas of a marketing campaign, including social media advertisements, on-site content, and email marketing, to customize the content a user sees across different channels in real-time. The adaptability of dynamic content makes it highly personalized.

Ex: Dynamic on-site eCommerce ads

If you’ve ever felt like the internet magically knew what you were searching for, dynamic content is likely responsible. Dynamic ads, such as this Staples on-site banner ad, display specific products or offers to users who have previously visited a brand’s website or searched for a certain query. Marketers only need to create a dynamic ad template, and the ad network customizes the rest. 

2. Personalized chatbots

Chatbots have significantly risen in popularity over the past few years, due in part to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, which restricted most sales and marketing conversations to online channels. Chatbots quickly became a solution to provide personalized insights in a fraction of the time. 

Chatbots leverage conversational AI technology, such as natural language processing (NLP) in large language models (LLM), to understand and adapt to customer preferences and behavior. Chatbots can deliver personalized services and recommendations, and answer specific queries in real-time.  

Ex: Online sales associates during offline hours

It’s rare for sales associates to be available around the clock, especially for small-scale or start-up businesses that lack substantial human capital. Personalized chatbots, such as this one, can answer immediate queries about services or pricing and even schedule a sales call to not only capitalize on offline hours but also ensure customers receive high-quality assistance at any hour. 

3. Retargeting campaigns

Retargeting campaigns, often referred to as remarketing campaigns, display specific products or offers to users who have previously visited your website, interacted with your content, or otherwise signaled interest. For instance, a user who signed up for your email list is often later retargeted. 

Because the users in a retargeting campaign have already indicated an interest in your product or service, further personalizing the content helps increase the chances of a conversion by narrowing in a user’s pain points or wants. They are particularly beneficial for upselling and cross-selling. 

Ex: CAT Footwear email campaigns

Like dynamic content, retargeting campaigns are something that seemingly follows users across the digital landscape based on their behavioral history. For example, take a look at this CAT Footwear promotional email, which is personalized with a user’s previous viewing history to encourage a sale.

4. Usage reports 

Usage reports are a type of content personalization marketing that primarily applies to software as a service (SaaS) and other digital products, such as a typing assistant like Grammarly or a fitness tracker like Oura Ring. This content type serves multiple purposes along the customer journey.

In the consideration phase, the addition of personalized insights can act as a unique selling proposition (USP) compared to competitor brands. Once a customer converts, the routine delivery of personalized reports can help customers better use the product and drive ongoing loyalty. 

Ex: Grammarly weekly usage reports

Grammarly, an app to help users improve their communication, delivers weekly usage reports to its customer base on how their writing has progressed. Personalized data points, such as productivity and vocabulary usage, enhance the value of a subscription and encourage long-term engagement. 

5. Quizzes 

Online quizzes aren’t just to figure out ‘Your Celebrity Doppelganger’ or ‘What Ice Cream Flavor matches your personality.’ Many DTC and e-commerce brands figured this out in the mid-2010s. And now more B2B brands are taking notice. 

Ex: G2 Track’s SaaS Management Quiz  

G2 Track helps you make better decisions about your tech stack. They took a boring but important problem and made it fun and interactive with this 8-question SaaS blind spot quiz to help prospects understand the scope of the problem and identify solutions. 

At the end of the quiz, G2 Track sends them “a personalized report.” This serves the dual purpose of not only helping the prospect find a solution, but it is also a great lead source for G2 Track.   

6. Recommendation engines 

Last, but certainly not least, we cannot mention the variety of content personalization marketing available without discussing recommendation engines. As seen on popular eCommerce marketplaces and even across search engines, recommendation engines provide products, services, or content suggestions that are tailored to an individual user’s wants, needs, or existing preferences. 

Like many of the above content personalization marketing initiatives, recommendation engines are powered by AI. More specifically, they’re made possible by certain AI-driven algorithms, known as ‘item-to-item collaborative filtering,’ that suggest products based on a set of user data points.

Ex: Amazon email blasts

Amazon has risen to the top of eCommerce marketplaces, largely due to the fact that the platform enables users to create detailed profiles that generate highly accurate product suggestions. Even simple searches on the platform lead to unique, hyper-personalized emails of recommended items, which Amazon executives report can generate a conversion rate of over 35%.

3 Reasons why personalized content marketing is vital for B2B

Did you know that 70% of consumers say they will exclusively shop with brands that personally understand them, or that 80% of consumers are more likely to do business with an organization that offers personalized experiences? 

With these figures in mind, consider these three reasons why personalized content marketing is integral to the success of B2B marketing campaigns. 

1. Cater to customer needs

While it’s true consumers have become more guarded with the data they share online, nearly a quarter are happy to share some degree of personal data in return for more personalized service. 

B2B customers have come to anticipate that brands will use the data they collect to provide a more tailored user experience that caters to customer pain points. By neglecting user preferences, B2B brands risk higher fallout along all stages of the customer journey and reduced customer loyalty. 

2. Simplify decision-making

Personalized customer interactions through customized content put B2B buyers at the heart of company marketing, which significantly streamlines decision-making. 

All the information a customer would need to make a decision is presented up-front, tailored to their personal needs, and customized to the most relevant offer. In B2B buying groups, which contain more consumers than a typical B2C purchase, shortcuts to decision-making are a must. 

3. Higher return on ad spend

The B2B vertical is packed with fierce competition, especially as it pertains to digital advertising. While digital ad spending has increased by 12%, there’s no clear increase in user conversions.

What does this mean for B2B brands? There must be a better way to market to your buyers. Content personalization marketing can deliver up to eight times the return on investment (ROI) on marketing spend and even lift sales by 10% or more, helping to drive more profitable campaigns. 

So, how can you personalize content?

With the above benefits of B2B personalization in mind, follow these five specific tips to help you customize your content. 

Understand your customer base

A thorough understanding of your customer base is integral to effective content personalization. Review all pertinent consumer demographic data, including age, gender, geolocation, income, and employment, as well as relevant online behavior to best understand your true target audience. 

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention our own tool, Audience Explorer, here.

Audience Explorer helps you gain deeper insights into precisely WHO your audience is by analyzing 180 days of content consumption patterns. It enables precise audience profiling, sharing job titles, industries, and more. This real-time data allows marketers to tailor their strategies to engage the right decision-makers in their niche effectively.

Map out your customer journey

Once you understand who is searching for your products or services, map out the journey they must take to become a customer or subscriber. Be sure to consider the multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, including search ads, social media ads, your website, and email campaigns. 

Segment your audience

With your customer base and customer journey in hand, segment your audience to personalize your content. Segmenting your audience by consideration stage, purchasing behavior, budget, or other factors helps tailor your content and offers to the specific needs of each individual customer. 

Gather first-party data

First-party data refers to the details you directly collect from your customers through sales information or forms on your website. These details can include customer email, phone number, job function, job role, job level, account preferences, communication preferences, and more to totally personalize content efforts.

Leverage AI tools to personalize in real-time

Artificial intelligence is vital to simplify content personalization marketing—from the initial data collection to the ultimate content delivery. AI tools can sift through tons of data in real-time to send customers cart abandonment emails, pre-populate forms, and deliver personalized product offers. 

How NetLine can help with personalized marketing content 

Understanding WHO you need to reach is vital to succeeding in any vertical.

NetLine’s INTENTIVE stands alone as the only buyer-level intent platform, purpose-built to help you supercharge your sales conversations.

Our platform gives you real-time insights that go beyond the basics. It doesn’t just tell you “what” actions an account is taking, “when” they’re taking them, or even (quite uniquely) “where” these actions are happening, it also reveals “who” is showing interest in an account,

This intelligence empowers you to truly understand your prospects, paving the way for successful and meaningful content personalization efforts. Become an INTENTIVE Explorer today by signing up for a free trial.

Categories B2B

The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO in 2023

On-page SEO has the power to bring countless new visitors — and customers — right to your website.

Additionally, on-page SEO is also completely up to you: You get to establish what the topic and/or goal of each page will be. You get to decide on the target audience for that page. And you get to choose the target keywords and phrases you want to focus on.

Download Now: Free On-Page SEO Template

This can be intimidating and empowering at the same time. If you’re unsure how to get started, we’ve built this on-page SEO checklist to help guide you.

Jump To:

Google’s algorithm ranks your website on three main factors: on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO:

  • On-page SEO refers to the page elements that enable search engines to crawl and index a page.
  • Off-page SEO refers to social sharing, external linking, and more.
  • Technical SEO refers to all the SEO elements not included in on-page and off-page practices, such as structured data, site speed, and mobile readiness — the more technical parts of SEO.

on-page seo vs. off-page seo

Note: This SEO “trilogy” isn’t always divided into three clean sections; some of these SEO elements will overlap. You’ll see how and why throughout this piece.


Why is on-page SEO important?

On-page SEO is important because it tells Google all about your website and how you provide value to visitors and customers. It helps your site be optimized for both human eyes and search engine bots.

Merely creating and publishing your website isn’t enough — you must optimize it for Google and other search engines in order to rank and attract new traffic.

On-page SEO is called “on-page” because the tweaks and changes you make to optimize your website can be seen by visitors on your page (whereas off-page and technical SEO elements aren’t always visible).

Every part of on-page SEO is completely up to you; that’s why it’s critical that you do it correctly. Now, let’s discuss the elements of on-page SEO.

All on-page SEO elements fall into three main categories:

You’ll see these elements divided into sections below.

Content Elements

In this section, we’ll focus on keyword research and how keywords should be incorporated into your content. We’ll also discuss the importance of including images in your content.

1. Keyword Research

The first step to creating high-quality content is choosing relevant keywords and topics. Conduct keyword research by searching Google for terms and seeing what surfaces for competitors and other websites. You can also use tools like Ahrefs, AnswerthePublic, and UberSuggest.

Also, read our Beginner’s Guide on How to Do Keyword Research for SEO.

When doing keyword research, consider how your page content falls into the buyer’s journey and visitors’ search intent. This will impact how you will use your keywords and what types of content you will create:

STAGE IN THE BUYER’S JOURNEY SUGGESTED CONTENT/WEBSITE PAGES
Awareness Blog posts, video, homepage
Consideration Buyer’s guides, case studies, about page
Decision Product demos, comparison tools, product or pricing pages, contact page

Now, it’s time to write your page content or clean it up if you’re currently auditing your on-page SEO.

2. Visual Content

Visual content — like images, graphics, and charts — play an important role in on-page SEO for several reasons.

Images can enhance the visual appeal and engagement of web pages. They help make content more scannable and easier to digest. Plus, optimizing images with alt tags (more on that below) can help drive traffic from image search results.

HTML Elements

HTML elements refer to the elements in your source code.

Note: To see the source code for any page in your browser, click View > Developer > View Source in the top menu.

3. Page Titles

Your website page titles (also known as title tags) are one of the most important SEO elements.

SEO page title tag

Titles tell both visitors and search engines what they can find on the corresponding pages.

To ensure your site pages rank for the proper intent, be sure to include the focus keyword for each page in the title. Incorporate your keyword as naturally as possible.

4. Headers

Headers, also known as body tags, refer to the HTML element <h1>, <h2>, <h3>, and so on.

SEO header tag

These tags help organize your content for readers and help search engines distinguish what part of your content is most important and relevant, depending on search intent.

5. Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are the short page descriptions that appear under the title in search results. Although it’s not an official ranking factor for search engines, it can influence whether or not your page is clicked on — therefore, it’s just as important when doing on-page SEO.

example of meta description

Meta descriptions can also be copied over to social media when your content is shared (by using structured markup, which we talk about below), so it can encourage click-throughs from there, too.

6. Image Alt-text

Image alt-text is like SEO for your images. It tells Google and other search engines what your images are about … which is important because Google now delivers almost as many image-based results as they do text-based results.

That means consumers may be discovering your site through your images. In order for them to do this, though, you have to add alt-text to your images.

7. Structured Markup

Structured markup, or structured data, is the process of “marking up” your website source code to make it easier for Google to find and understand different elements of your content.

Structured markup is the key behind those featured snippets, knowledge panels, and other content features you see when you search for something on Google. It’s also how your specific page information shows up so neatly when someone shares your content on social media.

Note: Structured data is considered technical SEO, but I’m including it here because optimizing it creates a better on-page experience for visitors.

structured markup

Site Architecture Elements

Site architecture elements refer to the elements that make up your website and site pages. How you structure your website can help Google and other search engines easily crawl the pages and page content.

8. Page URLs

Your page URLs should be simple to digest for both readers and search engines. They are also important when keeping your site hierarchy consistent as you create subpages, blog posts, and other types of internal pages.

page URL example

For example, in the above URL, “blog” is the sub-domain, “hubspot.com” is the domain, “sales” is the directory for the HubSpot Sales Blog, and “startups” indicates the specific path to that blog post.

9. Internal Linking

Internal linking is the process of hyperlinking to other helpful pages on your website. (See how the words “internal linking” are linked to another HubSpot blog post in the sentence above? That’s an example.)

Internal linking is important for on-page SEO because internal links send readers to other pages on your website, keeping them around longer and thus telling Google your site is valuable and helpful.

Also, the longer visitors are on your website, the more time Google has to crawl and index your site pages. This ultimately helps Google absorb more information about your website and potentially rank it higher on the search engine results pages.

Download our free guide to Internal Linking for SEO.

10. Mobile Responsiveness

Google started favoring sites that are optimized for faster mobile speeds — even for desktop searches.

Mobile responsiveness matters.

It’s critical to choose a website hosting service, site design and theme, and content layout that’s readable and navigable on mobile devices. If you’re not sure about your own site’s mobile readiness, use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool.

mobile responsiveness tool

11. Site Speed

Whether viewed on a mobile device or desktop, your site must be able to load quickly. When it comes to on-page SEO, page speed counts big-time.

Google cares about user experience first and foremost. If your site loads slowly or haphazardly, it’s likely your visitors aren’t going to stick around — and Google knows that. Moreover, site speed can impact conversions and ROI.

Check your website’s speed anytime using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool. If your website is movin’ slow, check out 5 Easy Ways to Help Reduce Your Website’s Page Loading Speed.

Note: Mobile responsiveness and site speed are considered technical SEO, but I’m including them here because optimizing them creates a better on-page experience for visitors.

site speed tool

Now that we’ve covered the elements of on-page SEO, let’s dive into our checklist that you can use when optimizing individual pages on your website.

on-page SEO checklist

1. Make sure your keyword is in your URL.

Add your target keyword to your URL so users and search engines know what kind of content they will find on the page.

For example, imagine you own a hot yoga studio called ADYoga. You have a web page that includes videos of your classes. The keyword for this page is “hot yoga online classes” — so, you’d want to include that keyword in your URL. The URL for this web page may look like this: www.ADyoga.com/hot-yoga-online-classes.

Here are a few tips on how to write SEO-friendly URLs:

  • Remove the extra, unnecessary words.
  • Use only one or two keywords.

Use HTTPS if possible, as Google now uses that as a positive ranking factor.

2. Optimize your page title.

Craft a descriptive title that includes your target keyword and accurately describes the page’s content.

Here are some best practices for when developing a page title:

  • Keep it under 60 characters (per Google’s update) to ensure that your titles display correctly. Although Google doesn’t have an exact character limit, its display titles max out at 600 pixels. Keeping your titles at 60 characters or less ensures the title won’t be cut off in search results.
  • Don’t stuff the title with keywords.
  • Don’t use all caps.
  • Include your brand in the title, i.e. “The Ultimate Guide to On-Page SEO in 2022 — HubSpot Blog”.

Check out our free data-driven guide to writing effective page titles.

3. Use headers.

Organize your content with header tags to make it more scannable and search-engine friendly.

Be sure to naturally incorporate important keywords in your headers, but choose different ones than what’s in your page title. Put your most important keywords in your <h1> and <h2> headers.

4. Include keywords in your body copy.

In addition to your URL, title, and headers, you’ll want to add your keyword throughout your web page(s). Sprinkle your keyword throughout your content as well where it fits naturally.

While keywords are both helpful and necessary for SEO, it’s important to avoid keyword stuffing. This is when you excessively repeat keywords or key phrases in your content with the intention of manipulating search engine rankings.

Keyword stuffing can be detrimental to your website and web page’s SEO. Not only does keyword-stuffing present a spammy and tacky reading experience, but modern search engines are smarter than ever — they’ve been designed to specifically monitor for (and penalize!) content that’s unnaturally stuffed with keywords.

5. Incorporate images, graphics, and other visuals.

Add engaging and relevant visuals to your content to break up large blocks of text and make it more visually appealing. Visuals can also help drive potential image search traffic.

To optimize images for on-page SEO, ensure they are appropriately compressed for faster loading times, use descriptive filenames, and provide informative alt tags. By doing so, you can enhance both the user experience and the visibility of your web pages in search engine results.

6. Add a meta description.

Write a compelling meta description that summarizes the page’s content and encourages users to click through from search results.

Here’s what makes for a good meta description:

7. Optimize visuals with alt-text.

We talked earlier about image alt text. You’ll want to optimize your visual content this way — and be sure to include your keyword in your image alt text. It’ll help with the page’s SEO as well as offer the potential to rank in image search (e.g. on a search engine image results page or image carousel).

Here’s what to keep in mind when adding image alt-text:

  • Make it descriptive and specific.
  • Make it contextually relevant to the broader page content.
  • Keep it shorter than 125 characters.
  • Use keywords sparingly, and don’t keyword stuff.

8. Add internal links.

Help search engines discover and understand the relationships between different pages on your website by adding internal links to your content.

To add internal links to your content, you’ll need to:

  • Identify relevant anchor text. Determine the anchor text (the clickable text) that you want to use for your internal link. The anchor text should be descriptive and related to the content of the page you’re linking to.
  • Identify the target page. Determine the specific page on your website that you want to link to. Choose a page that is contextually relevant and provides additional value or information related to the current content.
  • Place links strategically throughout the page. Aim for a reasonable number of links per page, ensuring they are contextually relevant and add value to the user experience. Avoid excessive linking, as it may be seen as spammy.

9. Add external links.

It may seem counterintuitive to include external links throughout your page considering we just covered multiple reasons why internal linking is so important for on-page SEO. However, external links are also important.

By externally linking to credible and trustworthy sites, Google will know your page is also credible and trustworthy. Not only does Google want to know your site is well-referenced, but your visitors do, too.

Now that you know how to make on-page optimizations for a single page, let’s talk through the steps of auditing and improving your on-page SEO at scale.


If you’ve been in search of a solution for organizing and tracking the various on-page SEO elements, you’re in luck. The HubSpot marketing team released an updated version of our On-Page SEO Template, an Excel document that allows you to coordinate pages and keywords — and track changes — all in one place.

Download Now: On-Page SEO Template

Header Image for free SEO template

In this section, we’ll be using this template as a guide as we walk you through a checklist for your on-page SEO management, step by step. Download the template now and follow along.

Note: The fictional website “http://www.quantify.ly” will be used as an example throughout this post. It’s simply meant to help you imagine how your own website will fit into the template.

1. Crawl your website.

Get an overview of all of your website pages that search engines have indexed. For HubSpot customers, our Page Performance tool (under Reports) will allow you to do this. If you’re not using HubSpot, you can try using a free tool like Xenu’s link crawler.

After crawling your site and exporting the results into an Excel (or .csv) file, there will be three key columns of data that you should focus on:

  1. The web address (a.k.a. URL)
  2. The page title
  3. The page meta description

Copy and paste these three columns into your template.

The URL should be pasted into column B, the page title into column C, and the description into column E.

on-page seo checklist crawl your website

2. Conduct an SEO audit and define your site architecture.

Now that you have a basic index of your site in the template, you’ll want to organize and prioritize your web pages. Start by defining where within your site architecture your existing pages currently sit.

Do this in column A. Note whether a page is your homepage (ideally you’ll only have one of those), a page in your primary (or secondary) navigation menu, an internal page, and so on.

on-page seo checklist: conduct an seo audit

3. Update URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions.

Review your current URLs, page titles, and meta descriptions to see if they need updating.

(This is the beauty of using a template to organize your SEO: You get a broad overview of the type of content you have on your website.)

on page seo checklist: meta descriptions

Notice how column D and column F automatically calculate the length of each element. The recommended length for page titles is anything under 60 characters. (And, actually, a quick and easy optimization project is to update all page titles that are longer than 60 characters.)

The recommended length for page meta descriptions is 155-160 characters. This is the perfect length to ensure none of the description is cut off by the ellipses. Make sure you’re not too repetitive with keywords in this space. Writing a good meta description isn’t tough, but it deserves just as much consideration as the page content itself.

(Note: For some sites, you may also have to update the URLs, but that’s not always the case and thus was not included as part of this optimization template.)

4. Track keywords and topics for each page.

Think of your target keyword as the designated topic for a particular page. If you’re using the HubSpot template, In column O, define just one topic per page.

on-page seo checklist: track keywords and topics for your web pages

By doing this, you’ll be able to go more in-depth and provide more detailed information about that topic. This also means that you are only optimizing for one keyword per page, meaning you have a greater chance to rank for that keyword.

There are, of course, a few exceptions to this rule. Your homepage is a classic example. The goal of your homepage is to explain what your entire website is about, and thus you’ll need a few keywords to do that. Another exception is overview pages like services and product pages, which outline what all of your products and services may be.

5. Establish value propositions for each page.

A very important next step, which is often overlooked, is establishing a value proposition for each page of your website. Each page should have a goal aside from just ranking for a particular term.

If you’re using the template, you’ll do this in column G.

on-page seo checklist: establish value propositions

6. Define your target audience.

Define your target audience — do you have a single buyer persona or multiple personas? Keep this persona in mind as you optimize your site’s pages. (Remember, you are optimizing for humans, too — not just search engine robots.)

In column H of our template, you’ll have the opportunity to define your page’s target audience.

on-page seo checklist: define your target audience

7. Plan new page titles.

Now that you’ve documented your existing page titles and have established value propositions and target audiences for each of your pages, write new page titles (if necessary) to reflect your findings.

You can do this in column K of the template — and double-check each title length in column L.

on-page seo checklist: plan new page titles

People usually follow the formula of “Keyword Phrase | Context.” The goal of the page title is to lay out the purpose of the page without being redundant. You should also keep the additional recommendations we made above related to titles.

8. Add new meta descriptions.

As we covered above, meta descriptions should be a short, declarative sentence that incorporates the same keyword as your page’s title.

It should not reflect the content verbatim as it appears on the page. Get as close as you can to the 150-character limit to maximize space and tell visitors as much as possible about your page.

If you need to create new meta descriptions, do so in column M of the template.

on-page seo checklist: add meta descriptions

9. Review and edit page content as needed.

Good copy needs to be thorough, clear, and provide solutions … so, be compelling! Write for your target audience and about how you can help them. Compelling content is also error-free, so double-check your spelling and grammar.

Aim to have at least 500 words per page, and format content to make it easier to read and digest with the use of headers and subheaders.

Columns P through R can be used to keep track of changes that you’ve made to your content or to note where changes need to be implemented.

on-page seo checklist: review and edit content on your web page

10. Incorporate visual content.

Content can be more than just text, so consider what kind of visual content you can incorporate into each page (if it adds value and serves a purpose, of course). Columns S and T allow you to note which visual elements need to be added. When adding an image to a page, be sure to include a descriptive file name and image alt-text.

on-page seo checklist: incorporate visual content

11. Add relevant links.

As mentioned earlier, incorporating links throughout your pages is a must, but it’s often something that’s easily overlooked.

Make sure that your anchor text includes more than just your keywords. The goal isn’t to stuff in as many keywords as possible, but to make it easy for people to navigate your site.

You’ll want to regularly review your internal and external links to ensure they are still valid and point to the intended destination. Broken or outdated links can harm the user experience and SEO.

Use columns U through W to plan for these elements if you don’t already have them, or to document how you’ll improve them.

on-page seo checklist: add internal links

12. Optimize for conversions.

If you’re also not optimizing your site to increase the number of leads, subscribers, and/or customers you’re attracting … you’re doing it wrong.

Remember that each page of your website presents a conversion opportunity. That means every page of your website should include at least one call-to-action (CTA), though many pages may have multiple CTAs.

Columns X through AF allow you to plan for conversions.

Be sure that your site has a mix of CTAs for different stages of the flywheel.

(Note: The On-Page SEO Template refers to the stages of the buying funnel — top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel. If you are a HubSpot customer, you can even use Smart Content to display these specific CTAs only to people in a specific part of the funnel.)

Also, as you add, edit, or update CTAs, be sure to note conversion rate changes in columns Z, AC, and AF.

on-page seo checklist: optimize your page for conversions

Put Your On-Page SEO to Work

Once you finalize your SEO plans, implement these changes on your website or pass them along to someone to implement for you. This will take time to complete, so aim to work on 5 to 10 pages per week.

Remember: SEO is not a one-and-done deal. It’s something you should continually improve upon. You should treat this On-Page SEO Template as a living, breathing document that will help guide your SEO strategy for months (or years) to come.

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2012 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

download the free on-page SEO template

Categories B2B

Creating a Culture of Inclusion: Revolutionizing Professional Standards

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

In today’s rapidly changing corporate landscape, the concept of “professionalism” is undergoing a transformative shift, one that may completely radicalize the working world for better.

For years, traditional professionalism standards have shaped how individuals present themselves and navigate the workplace. However, these standards have been criticized for their lack of inclusivity, sustaining inequality and limiting opportunities for historically underrepresented groups, especially Black and Brown individuals.

This article explores the historical context behind these constructed principles, the reasons they exist, and ways to empower BIPOC/POC professionals in their respective journeys towards creating more inclusive and equitable workplaces.

Read more Breaking the Blueprint content

Table of Contents:

Unveiling the Origins of Traditional Professionalism Standards

In the corporate landscape of America, the concept of “professionalism” has long been ingrained in the fabric of the working world. But to understand its current limitations and exclusionary nature in the present, we must look to the past.

Standards of professionalism were initially established with the intent of implementing objective measures for evaluating employees’ skills, behaviors, and appearance.

These tenets have inadvertently perpetuated a system and workplace culture that disadvantages and alienates underrepresented groups. And with the acknowledgment of this also comes the uncomfortable recognition of the fact that standards of professionalism have been built to covertly sustain colonial ideologies/behaviors as well as white normative philosophies.

In a candid interview with Forbes, Leah Goodridge — legal scholar, litigation expert, and author of the award-winning UCLA Law Review essay titled “Professionalism as a Racial Construct” — summarized it best: Standards of professionalism, especially in traditional workplace settings, tend to operate as an integrated vignette in a larger structure of oppressive racism.

“Workplace civility,” as Goodridge explained, “has become about not discussing anything that’s deemed politics but the problem is that.. anyone that’s not a white male is considered a political identity.”

According to Goodridge, workplace standards exist in many forms, and can impact POC professionals in many ways, such as:

  • Misogynoir (misogyny explicitly directed towards Black women)
  • Micro-management
  • Discrediting work capability, background, knowledge, and performance
  • Tone and identity-presentation policing
  • Emotional manipulation/gaslighting
  • Inability to receive promotions

The impact of these standards on historically marginalized folks cannot be ignored, as they often find themselves conforming to norms, to environments and guidelines, that do not align with their cultural and individual identities.

This lack of inclusion not only hinders diverse representation in the workplace but also stifles the creativity, innovation, and overall potential of companies/organizations.

To truly combat this harmful corporate ethos and generate a more inclusive culture, it is imperative to re-examine how professionalism as a structure (and not just an employee ask), functions, but also to create space for POC to feel comfortable about speaking out, and to validate their feelings and experiences when they do.

Embracing DEI&B: Catalysts for a Progressive Workplace

The consequences of this lack of diversity go far beyond just a need for representation. Research from Built In actually reports that “Executive teams with high ethnic diversity are found to be 33 percent more likely to perform above EBIT margins as of 2017.” If you didn’t know, EBIT margins are a measure of a company’s operating profit as a percentage of its revenue.

Although this is an amazing development, Harvard Law School’s Forum on Corporate Governance revealed some other striking statistics about DEI&B in C-Suite spaces:

  • 88% of CEO roles are held by white leaders
  • 56% of women in the C-Suite said men find it easier to get promotions, regardless of capability and performance
  • There is only 9% of Asian leadership representation in C-Suite roles
  • There is severe underrepresentation of Hispanic/Latino C-Suite execs (40% of S&P100 C-suites have no representation at all)

These jarring numbers speak loudly. They also echo why there needs to be more of an intentional, aggressive assessment of the linkages between employee representation and success at the corporate level.

By embracing DEI&B practices and employee authenticity, companies can not only create a more inclusive workplace but also acquire a competitive edge by trusting the wealth of ideas and perspectives that diverse individuals bring to the table.

Rethinking Traditional Measures of “Professionalism”

As the need for a more inclusive culture in professional Corporate America becomes increasingly recognized, the focus is shifting towards how companies can effectively do so. The answer? Empowerment and awareness.

This could look like many things in a corporate work setting, such as:

  • Fostering diversity in C-Suite spaces, where leadership representation reflects the true diversity of your organization
  • Creating Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that support multi-cultural experiences, perspectives, ideologies, and identities
  • As suggested by The Harvard Law School Forum, assessing potential of employees, not just experience
  • Tracking development of demographics such as gender, race, and ethnicity quarterly to address diversity gaps organization-wide
  • Allowing all employees to come to work as themselves, not just as a uniformed representative of your organization

But this shift won’t be easy. It will require a collective effort to push back against years of conventions, and an increased awareness of the barriers that BIPOC and other POC face daily.

Organizations can absolutely set a new standard for inclusive professionalism in Corporate America, and the time to start is now.

Forging a Brighter Path: A Future of Empowering, Inclusive, and Diverse Professionalism

As we reflect on the evolution of professionalism in Corporate America, it becomes clear that traditional standards have often failed to embrace the reality of what true, unobstructed diversity and inclusion looks like.

The growing awareness of these limitations of these standards and a collective effort to redefine what it means to be professional.

By actively seeking out diverse talent, challenging norms, and celebrating individuality, we are paving the way for a future where everyone can thrive professionally, regardless of background, identity, or how they look as they strive towards career elevation and success.

Together, we can build a more empowering, inclusive, and diverse understanding of professionalism that reflects the true strength of our organizations and society as a whole.

Click the link to discover more Breaking the Blueprint Content.

Categories B2B

Google AI: How One Tech Giant Approaches Artificial Intelligence

Have you ever sat paralyzed, trying to craft the perfect text message? Well, one experiment from Google AI may provide the perfect solution. The team’s AI-powered Magic Compose provides multiple sample texts, so you just have to choose the right one. You can already join the waitlist to try it out.

This year, we’ve seen an explosion of AI tools — with the rise of Chat GPT and pending developments in AI search. Google is one of the major players looking to bring the power of AI directly to your fingertips.

Get Started with HubSpot's AI Campaign Assistant

In this post, we’ll explore Google AI, its progress, and how the company’s innovations could impact the future.

What is Google AI, anyway?

Announced in 2017, Google AI is a division of the tech company that focuses on artificial intelligence. The group aims to build tools that make AI accessible.

That builds upon the company’s core mission “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

The company published a look back on its 2018 research efforts on the Google AI blog, where it painted an extensive picture of where it has made the most progress within this realm of technology.

At the time, the company wrote, “Some consumers don’t directly feel that impact of AI, even when it carries out tasks that have become an integral part of day-to-day life for so many — shedding light on common misconceptions within this category of tech.”

In the five years since, AI adoption has accelerated. Google AI remains on the cutting edge of research and application.

Google published a look back at the AI announcements made at the 2023 I/O conference. From text-to-video generation to universal translator dubbing, Google’s dive into AI technology is resulting in huge advancements.

Let’s explore how the company’s focus areas have developed, adapting to today’s AI landscape.

Generative AI

With the advent of ChatGPT, the focus of AI has shifted into a world where generative AI tools are widely available to consumers.

AI technology is no longer a distant concept, invisibly built into the tools consumers use. Now, AI is set to become available for a far wider set of tasks and capabilities.

Technologists across the globe are fighting to stay at the cutting edge of these advancements, including Google.

At the 2023 Google I/O Conference, Google unveiled PaLM 2, its largest AI language model to date. The model features highly advanced speed and capability, powering the company’s search experiments and 25 other products.

Developers also launched a new capability called “chain-of-thought prompting.” This allows PaLM 2 to do more complex problem-solving.

With chain-of-thought prompting, language models can break down tough problems into multiple, less difficult steps. Programs can then tackle more complex problems than a standard prompting method.

Case Study: Gemini

Perhaps even more exciting was the announcement of progress in Gemini, Google’s other foundational AI technology. Instead of just text, Gemini takes a multi-modal approach.

With Gemini, users could have the AI interpret text, video, and audio. The program will also be able to generate text and image responses, giving Google a leg up over its text-based competitors.

Gemini, which has not yet been debuted to the public, could help create virtual assistants, chatbots, and educational tools.

If you’re looking to get started with generative AI today, start with HubSpot.

Our content assistant will enable content creators to generate copy for everything from blogs to emails and landing pages. Or, you can use ChatSpot to send follow-up emails, create reports, and manage leads.

Get started with content assistant today.

A Renewed Focus on AI’s Ethics and Mission

Google opened its 2018 report with the importance of ethics and mission-driven purposes within AI. Within the realm of AI ethics, Google spoke to training AI to “avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias.”

Within the broader scope of building ethical AI, Google also emphasized building technology that has a social impact.

To that end, Google launched a course on Machine Learning Fairness and its AI Impact Challenge, in which developers can submit proposals for AI projects that “help address societal challenges.”

Now, in 2023, Google is revealing the exact impact AI can have on these challenges.

For example, traffic engineers are using Google AI to improve traffic flow in cities such as Bangalore and Rio de Janeiro. The models are making traffic lights and traffic flow far more efficient.

Similarly, Google’s FloodHub feature has been expanded to 80 countries in an effort to make flooding more predictable so those affected can better plan and mitigate the impact of flooding.

Throughout all these exciting updates, Google re-emphasized its commitment to a responsible approach to AI and its incorporation into its products.

For example, the DeepMind team is a unit within Google specifically brought together to ensure safety and responsibility in the building of Google AI capabilities.

Case Study: Chirp

To explore ethical and accessible AI use, let’s explore Chirp. Google’s family of AI-powered speech models, Chirp, was trained on 12 million hours of speech.

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The program can automatically recognize over 100+ languages. Of course, the model can understand popular languages like English and Mandarin. Developers also ensured under-resourced languages were included in the AI training.

According to Google AI, Chirp can perform automatic speech recognition in Amharic, Cebuano, and Assamese. The wide range of languages allows more people to speak directly to their technology.

This technology can now help people with different lingual backgrounds, even if they don’t speak English.

Assistive Technology

Much of Google’s AI research has focused on broadening the prevalence of technology that assists users with the execution of day-to-day tasks.

Applications can aid in people’s personal and professional lives — usually in a way that reduces the amount of time spent on mundane tasks.

Case in point: Google’s Smart Compose tool. Launched in 2018, this feature uses machine-taught AI to predict how someone might finish a sentence with suggested text in an email composition.

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Tools like Smart Compose reinforce that everyone should have access to and benefit from AI.

The company has built upon that message with a suite of advanced tools. These experiments can help people do more than generate text. You can generate new content to supplement the skills that you already have.

Case Study: Imagen, Phenaki, and MusicLM

In the past, images and videos required advanced training.

You’d need to take art classes, download special software, and gather the tools needed to create something new. Not every person has the access or ability to make something visually compelling.

Then, AI tools made all the difference.

Imagen and Phenaki are two Google tools that allow people to generate content based on text descriptions. Just type in what you want to create and let AI do the rest. The user just needs to learn how to write accurate prompts.

If you want to see the power of these tools in action, check out I/O Flip. The art in this digital card game, which features Google’s Mascot, was all generated by AI.

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MusicLM also harnesses the power of generative AI. Now, anyone can make up to 20 seconds of music without any formal training. Just describe the mood you’re looking for and new synthetic sounds will be generated.

The Future of Search

If you’re using ChatGPT, you can ask it a question.

For example, I may ask, “Why is exercise part of a healthy lifestyle?” The system will give me a list of the benefits of exercising.

However, when I ask for recent statistics, the system is stumped. That’s because ChatGPT-3.5 is trained on information from 2021. The AI does not have access to more recent information.

That’s where Google’s Bard chatbot shines. This tool is able to pull information directly from the web, giving it access to more recent information.

When I asked Bard for recent exercise stats, it was able to send me relevant information.

Google plans to expand these capabilities beyond a chat-style interface. Soon, AI will change how we search for information.

Case Study: AI-Powered Search

Google plans to expand the availability and functionality of Bard, making it available to 120 countries across 40 languages.

Bard will also be expanded directly into Google search results, with an AI pop-up included alongside traditional results to answer a user’s search query.

In the future, you’ll be able to type a specific query into Google’s search bar. Generative AI will write an answer within a few paragraphs. It will also provide links with more information that you can click on.

From there, you’ll be able to ask a follow-up question or click on a suggested followup generated by AI.

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Innovation in the World of AI

Innovation in AI is driving groundbreaking advancements across industries.

Google is just one major player shaping the future. Soon, how we search, the way we interact with technology, and what we can create will be augmented with artificial intelligence.

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Categories B2B

Referral Traffic: 7 Ways to Drive It (And Get More Leads!)

Referral traffic is a powerful and often overlooked way to give your website a competitive edge.

In the never-ending quest for more traffic, marketers turn to search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click advertising (PPC), blogging, and social media marketing.

The problem is that SEO takes time to work, PPC is expensive, Google is oversaturated with blog content, and it’s tricky to prove ROI with social media. That’s where referral traffic comes in.

So, what is referral traffic, and how can you use it to generate more leads? Today, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know — why it’s important and seven steps you can take to improve yours.

What is referral traffic?

Why is referral traffic important?

7 Steps to Generate More Referral Traffic

1. Publish Your Website To Online Directories

2. Get Published On Review Websites

3. Publish Guest Blog Posts

4. Leverage Social Media

5. Comment On Blogs

6. Be Active On Industry Forums

7. Publish Infographics

Next Steps

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What is referral traffic?

When visitors land on your website from sites other than the major search engines, that’s referral traffic.

When someone clicks a link on a website or social network, and it takes them to another site, tracking software, such as Google Analytics or HubSpot, counts that visitor as referral traffic.

The originating website is the “referrer” since it refers to traffic from one website to the other.

HubSpot’s marketing analytics tools can provide you with insight into your referral traffic. You can isolate this traffic from other categories and determine your best referral sources.

With this information, you can measure the effectiveness of your strategies to boost referral traffic.

what is referral traffic

Get started with HubSpot’s traffic analytics.

Why is referral traffic important?

Referral traffic is valuable to inbound marketers because it sends potentially qualified visitors to your website. This, in turn, gets your content in front of new people, giving your website the opportunity to convert that visitor into a lead.

Your sales team will take it from there, as they then have the opportunity to convert that lead into a new customer.

That’s not the only reason referral traffic is helpful, however. Referral traffic also has SEO benefits. When someone visits your website from another site, they are usually clicking on a link or completing some type of social activity.

Google and other search engines consider these links and social signals as positive ranking factors — as long as they are coming from trusted websites.

why is referral traffic important for marketers

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Sounds pretty good, right? Well, let’s get started on getting you some juicy referral traffic so you can brag about all the hot leads you have rolling in.

7 Steps to Generate More Referral Traffic

Ready to increase your referral traffic? Start with these seven tricks.

1. Publish Your Website To Online Directories

Submitting your website to online directories is one of the easiest ways to get referral traffic, but you don’t want to publish your website to every directory out there.

Instead, focus on the ones that are most relevant to your industry or generate the most traffic. Whether you’re a veterinarian in St. Louis or an assisted living facility in Daytona Beach, Moz has you covered.

It offers a free resource for finding the top directories by category and city.

Once you’ve submitted your website to the top directories for your city and industry, focus on finding directories that can generate some serious traffic. How do you know which directories will accomplish this?

It’s as simple as performing a Google search.

The directories that appear at the top of the search results should, in theory, generate the most traffic.

For example, if you do a search for “personal trainer in Los Angeles,” there are three directories that show up on the first scroll of the search results: Thumbtack, Yelp, and FitnessTrainer. Focus your efforts there to start.

what is referral traffic? top google search results for “personal trainer in los angeles”

You can’t use SEO to pass up these directories in the search results overnight. What you can do, however, is use these directories to your advantage.

List your website on these directories in order to generate quality traffic and get some free SEO juice.

After all, if someone is looking for a personal trainer in Los Angeles and finds your website via Yelp, that referred visitor is just as valuable to you as them landing directly on your website.

2. Get Published on Review Websites

Review websites are another tried and true tool you can use to increase referral traffic. These visitors have already completed the awareness and consideration stages of the buyer’s journey.

They’ve now reached the decision stage and are comparing vendors or products. What better time to get your product or service in front of them for consideration?

Getting listed on a review website can vary depending on whether you are a B2B or B2C company.

If you perform a search for “St. Louis roofing company reviews,” there are seven websites that you would want to be listed on if you were a roofer: AngiesList, Yelp, BBB, This Old House, Expertise.com, Houzz, and Porch.

referral traffic, top google search results for “st louis roofing company reviews”

By adding your website to these seven directories, you’re increasing the likelihood of your website being found during the decision phase of the buyer’s journey.

The next step, however, is getting those reviews. If you’re operating a respectable roofing company that treats customers fairly you should have no problem standing out from other roofers that have not-so-positive reviews.

B2B businesses will find that it is more difficult to get featured on review websites.

A lot of times, you have to “pay to play,” meaning you will basically have to pay to be featured toward the top of the review listings. For example, if you do a Google search for “top mobile app developers,” the first search result is Clutch.co.

They showcase a list of mobile app development firms with reviews, but if you look closely, you’ll notice that they are “sorted by sponsor.” Essentially these companies are paying to have their website and reviews featured first.

It’s a slick way for Clutch to make money but also maintain its reputation as a respectable source for reviews.

what is referral traffic? list of mobile app development firms’ reviews

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3. Publish Guest Blog Posts

Guess what? You’re currently looking at step three of seven for increasing your site’s referral traffic. That’s right — you’re reading a guest blog post by Agile & Co, a HubSpot Partner Agency.

Guest blog posts create numerous opportunities to get referral traffic to your website. External links (like the two in this paragraph), author bios, and calls to action (like the one at the bottom of this post) are typically present on most blogs.

If you can get a post featured on a well-known industry website, you’ll benefit from the referral traffic and links coming to your site.

It’s best to focus your efforts on websites that are considered thought leaders in your industry. Since we’re an inbound marketing agency, HubSpot is the perfect place for us to contribute a guest blog post.

I mean, HubSpot literally coined the term inbound marketing.

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when guest blogging:

  1. Focus on websites related to your industry. No one wants to read about fall fashion trends on a blog about dogs. In most cases, the dog blog wouldn’t even give a fall fashion post an okay.
  2. Keep the target audience in mind while writing. Most blogs have strict guidelines in place for guest bloggers.
  3. Write content under your own name. You deserve to get credit for your work. Plus, with enough blogging, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in the space.
  4. Link to influencers. They will notice and might even help promote your guest blog post, which in return will increase the referral traffic it generates.

4. Leverage Social Media

According to Social Media Examiner, a whopping 86% of marketers indicated that social media generated more exposure for their business. Additionally, 76% found their website traffic increased as a result of their social media efforts.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok were the top six social media platforms used by B2C marketers.

However, most B2B marketers ranked LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and TikTok as their top social media platforms.

Being active on social media isn’t just for fun — it’s a tactic most marketers are using to get more traffic, leads, and sales. And if you’re not leveraging it, you’re seriously missing out.

benefits of social media marketing survey bar graph for referral traffic

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Every time you tweet, share, like, or pin a piece of content, you are creating an opportunity to drive referral traffic to your website. Plus, you’re increasing the likelihood of your content showing up at the top of Google.

76% of marketers using social media reported improved search traffic, and 55% reported improved sales. As mentioned before, referral traffic not only brings more potential customers to your website but also helps with SEO.

5. Comment on Blogs

A question that comes up a lot is, “Does blog commenting help SEO?” Not only can it help with SEO, but it can also generate more referral traffic for your website.

According to Neil Patel, his 240+ comments on blogs have generated close to 4,000 visitors to his website.

Commenting on blogs will definitely increase your referral traffic — just make sure you’re not filling the interwebs with more spam. Here are a couple of tips for the newbie blog commenters out there:

  1. Make sure your comments are valuable. No one likes a complainer or bragger. If your comments are negative or promotional in nature, just keep them to yourself.
  2. Focus on blogs that allow links in the comments. Remember, you’re trying to get more traffic. In order to do that, you need to add a link to your website
  3. If you aren’t first, you’re last. Just like search engines, if your link is at the top of the comments list, you’re more likely to generate more clicks and traffic.

6. Be Active on Industry Forums

Online forums are a great source of potential leads and customers but are often overlooked as a marketing tactic for generating traffic.

Similar to blog comments, you should focus your efforts on forums in your niche and always try to add value without sounding too promotional. Here are a couple of steps and tips below for getting the most out of forum marketing:

  1. Make sure the forum is active. Don’t waste your time on a forum that hasn’t had a new post for a month.
  2. Register using your brand name. You want to make sure people associate your comments with a memorable brand name.
  3. Create a signature with a call-to-action link. This is how you’re going to drive traffic to your website.
  4. Participate. You’ll want to participate in the areas of the forum where you have the most expertise.
  5. Use real-life examples, don’t just offer your advice. Try to provide value using your personal experiences.
  6. Share your resources and start a new thread with a link to a resource you think could benefit the group. If you’re proud of a particular piece of content, it’s likely others will enjoy it too.

7. Publish Infographics

When asked to select the social media platforms they want to learn more about, 68% of marketers selected YouTube and Instagram, which are heavy on visuals. The reason is pretty simple.

Humans have attention spans shorter than goldfish, and it’s easier for the brain to consume an image than a bunch of text.

Plus, you’ve probably noticed that an image of a cute puppy gets liked and shared more than a 100+ page industry report.

referral traffic, attention span of internet user infographic

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The great thing about infographics is they can help people understand complex data with simple visuals.

The goal is to get your infographic shared, liked, and pinned on social networks and have others embed it in their articles (like I’ve done above), thus creating links to your website.

In addition to your own website, there are several websites where you can post an infographic. One of my favorites is Instagram, which 37% of marketers rank, along with Facebook, as the best platform for developing loyalty.

Instagram gives you the option to link your infographic to your website and makes it easy for it to be shared on other platforms.

Next Steps

Once you start receiving additional referral traffic, you’ll want to make sure your website is ready for these new visitors.

Download the FREE eBook below to learn some best practices for ensuring your website is set up to convert visitors into leads for your business.

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Categories B2B

Why You Still Need SMS Marketing & How to Get Started [+Data]

The average person spends five to six hours on their phones, while the average smartphone user unlocks their device around 150 times

What the heck are we doing with our devices all day? Well, when we’re not endlessly scrolling the web or social media, we’re probably texting.

In 2023, 15 million texts are sent per minute while nearly 70% of people open up a new text message within five minutes of receiving it. With endless stats like this in mind, businesses are presented numerous opportunities and touchpoints to engage their target market through SMS. 

Free Download: 30 SMS Templates for Marketing, Sales and Customer Success

What is SMS marketing?

SMS, an acronym for “Short Message Service,” is a communication channel used to send and receive text messages on mobile devices. It allows users to send brief messages, typically 160 characters, to individuals or groups instantly. Text messaging has gained immense popularity due to its simplicity, convenience, and widespread availability across different devices and networks.

On the other hand, MMS, or “Multimedia Message Service”, goes beyond simple text and allows users to send multimedia content such as pictures, videos, audio files, and even formatted text. 

SMS marketing allows businesses to connect with their target audience through personalized and timely text messages. It leverages the widespread use of mobile phones and the convenience of SMS to deliver promotional offers, updates, reminders, and other engaging content directly into the palm of the recipients’ hands. 

Integrating SMS marketing alongside email and social media allows businesses to strike the right balance when it comes to timing and frequency of their messages.

2023 SMS Marketing Usage Data & Results

Based on the compelling trends from 2023, SMS marketing plays a crucial role for businesses in 2024. 

With 86% of business owners and marketing managers having embraced SMS marketing in the past year, it’s clear that it’s become an integral part of marketing strategies. What’s more, 71% of those who used SMS marketing reported an increase in their 2023 SMS opt-in rates in 2023, highlighting its effectiveness in engaging and capturing the attention of audiences across many industries. 

Think people are bothered by SMS from brands? Think again. Today, the unsubscribe rate for SMS subscribers is less than 5%, demonstrating the high level of engagement and satisfaction. This is in stark contrast to email marketing, where approximately 20% of subscribers leave each year. 

Additionally, incorporating an SMS follow-up to an email has shown to increase open rates by 20-30%, proving the effectiveness of a multi-channel approach. Lastly, SMS advertising also boasts an exceptional return on investment (ROI) of approximately $71 for every dollar spent, exceeding the estimated ROI of email marketing, which stands at around $36 per dollar invested.

AI’s impact on SMS Marketing

Gone are the days of spending hours crafting the perfect SMS message. With AI-powered tools at your disposal, you can now quickly generate personalized and impactful messages that will wow your audience. 

Harnessing the capabilities of AI, you can leverage customer data and insights to create tailored SMS campaigns that resonate with your recipients.

ai sms messaging tool

Check out HubSpot’s newest AI tools. >>

How to Get Started with SMS Marketing

1. Identify your SMS use case:

The key to achieving success with SMS marketing lies in effective planning. As you prepare to launch your first SMS campaign, it is essential to have a clear idea of the use case you are addressing with your messages.

By aligning your SMS strategy to the various stages of the buyer’s journey, you gain a deeper understanding of the purpose behind each message and how it contributes to both your target audience’s needs and your business goals. This strategic approach enables you to ensure that every SMS you send serves a specific purpose in guiding your persona towards the desired outcome. 

Consider these common SMS use cases:

Informative:

  • Order updates: provide real-time tracking information and keep customers informed about their purchase progress.
  • Receipt confirmation: ensure customers have proof of their purchase and create a seamless customer experience.
  • Product launches: generate excitement and awareness among customers for a new product.
  • Brand announcements: effectively communicate important updates, new initiatives, or significant milestones to your audience.

Promotional:

  • Seasonal campaigns: leverage the time-sensitive nature of holidays or specific seasons to drive customer engagement, boost sales, and create a sense of urgency. 
  • Loyalty programs: nurture customer relationships, reward loyalty, and promote continued engagement and brand advocacy.
  • Event management: effectively communicate event details, updates, and reminders to attendees for a seamless and organized event experience.

Customer Service:

  • Timely support: providing quick and convenient assistance to customers.
  • Onboarding flows: guide new customers through the process of getting started and ensure successful user adoption.

Sales

  • Marketing to sales handoff: seamlessly transfer leads or prospects from the marketing team to the sales team.
  • Upsell/Cross sell opportunities:  leverage existing customer relationships to offer additional products or services.

Non-Forbidden Messsage Categories

  • If you’re using HubSpot’s SMS tools, you should also be aware of use cases that are non-compliant due to the forbidden message categories. These regulations are upheld by most SMS service providers and are outlined by CTIA
  • If you’re sending your SMS messages using HubSpot, be sure to review your use case against the forbidden message categories in order to ensure you don’t run the risk of being filtered or blocked. 

2. Build a compliant consent process

Establishing a robust and compliant consent process is crucial for the success of your SMS campaigns, protecting you from sending messages to inappropriate contacts, which could undermine the effectiveness of your campaign and expose you to the risk of being blocked.

Depending on the specific use case you have chosen, your consent process may vary, but it should incorporate essential elements to ensure compliance and maximize results. In this section we will explore the key inputs that should be addressed in every consent process, empowering you to build a solid foundation for engaging your audience through SMS campaigns.

Gather explicit consent: Obtaining explicit consent is vital when it comes to SMS marketing, setting it apart as a highly effective and engaged channel. Explicit consent is defined as consent given when you ask an individual for permission to send them marketing materials and they agree. The recipient has to manually opt-in to receive your content through written consent, clicking a checkbox on a form, or by confirming through double opt-in. 

Alternatively, implicit consent is defined as consent given when an individual gives you their email address for some business purpose, but has not explicitly stated that they want to receive marketing content from you.

  1. Utilize opt-in terminology: Contacts have the option to opt in by using any of the three words: START, UNSTOP, or SUBSCRIBE. These keywords allow individuals to express their interest and willingly join your communication channel.
  2. Provide value in exchange for consent: Transparency is key, so it’s important to offer your contacts something valuable in exchange for their consent. Clearly communicate the frequency of messages they can expect and define the specific content they will receive, such as order updates, exclusive discounts, or dedicated customer support. By providing this clarity and promising real value, you’ll build trust and increase the likelihood of obtaining and retaining consent.
  3. Manage contact consent status: Leverage a comprehensive consent management tool to effectively handle and track the consent status of your contacts. This tool should enable you to efficiently manage the consent of your contacts, offering the flexibility to handle consent in bulk or manually as needed.
  4. Always offer opt-out: Prioritize giving your contacts the option to opt out of receiving messages.

3. Register your business for SMS.

Before sending SMS messages, it is crucial to register your business with your SMS service provider. While the specific nomenclature may vary across providers (check out HubSpot’s process here), the registration process typically involves following these steps:

  1. Register your business: Provide specific details about your business including status, website URL, registration number, and industry. 
  2. Provide SMS details: Enter additional information about how your business intends to use SMS and manage consent. Ensuring you have properly outlined your intended use cases and consent process is vital to this step. 
  3. Get an SMS number: Generate a phone number that your business will use to send SMS messages. 

4. Set up your first campaign.

Create a list of contacts: Compile a list of contacts who have provided explicit consent to receive your SMS messages. It is crucial that all contacts on the list have willingly opted in to receive SMS communications from your business.

If you need assistance in expanding this list with qualified contacts, consider implementing a low-barrier opt-in method, such as a QR code, on another channel like social media. This allows for easy and seamless engagement, helping you grow your contact list while maintaining compliance with consent requirements.

5. Write Actionable SMS Copy

Remember, when you’re messaging someone in their SMS inbox, you could be adding to the many texts they’re already receiving from family, friends, and other competitors, so you should ensure that your messaging is valuable, relevant, actionable, and concise so they understand why you’re reaching out to them there and seeing enough benefit in your messages to stay subscribed. 

Customize these messages according to the specific stage of the buyer’s journey your contacts are in. For optimal targeting, consider segmenting your list into smaller, more focused groups based on the various stages of the buyer’s journey. 

SMS Campaign Samples

Re-engagement Campaign:

The SMS copy below reminds users that they’re still a member, user, or past customer of a given service and encourages them to re-engage with a brand in some way – ideally by highlighting perks they’ll discover when they re-engage.

reengagement campaign sms

Event Updates: 

When hosting an in-person or online event, sending event updates can keep your attendees excited, engaged, and in the know before, during, and sometimes even after an event. 

event sms campaign
event sms

Marketing to Sales Handoff: 
When a prospect converts, these messages can help smoothly introduce them to your sales team incase they choose to buy a product.sales handoff smsCustomer service feedback:

After a deal is made, keep the customer journey going by following up and seeing how their experience went by sending customer service feedback or survey messages.

customer service sms

Kickstarting & Reporting on SMS Campaigns

Once your messages have been carefully crafted and thoroughly reviewed, it’s time to initiate sending them to your contacts! Take the step forward and begin delivering your impactful messages to engage and connect with your audience.

To ensure your campaign’s running as planned, analyze key performance indicators such as click-through rate and return on investment (ROI). Monitoring and reporting on these metrics will help you measure the success of your campaign and make data-driven adjustments as needed.hubspot analytics page for an sms campaign

Check out HubSpot’s Analytics tools. >>

SMS Marketing Best Practices 

  • Say hello! Send a welcome message to any new contact. Clearly state who you are and why you’re messaging to provide valuable context. 
  • Manage your subscriber lists: Effective contact management is crucial for successful SMS marketing and ensures you’re sending the right messages to engaged contacts at the right time.
  • Segment different groups: By strategically categorizing your audience into segments, you can tailor your SMS campaigns, ensure message relevancy, and optimize engagement with specific segments of your target market.
  • Get to the point: By keeping messages brief, recipients can easily read and action the information across smartphones, watches, and digital assistants like Siri.
  • Don’t overdo it: SMS is a high cost communication channel. Make sure you reserve SMS for use cases that are deeply personalized and/or express urgency. 

Image comparing a poorly written long drawn out SMS vs. a good quality, concise, and short SMS campaign

  • Personalize your copy: Tailor SMS communication, recommendations, or offers to individuanamescipients and/or acknowledge their name, preferences, and past interactions, to create a sense of relevance and make a meaningful connection with them
  • Incorporate AI: Want to personalize a campaign, but don’t have time to write 1000 individual message,es? AI tools, like workflows or tools can bring a new level of efficiency, personalization, and effectiveness to SMS cahigh-cost 
  • Avoid forbidden message categories: If sending your SMS messages using HubSpot, never send a message that falls into a forbidden category
  • Be transparent: Consistently reintroduce your brand, purpose, and message frequency. 
  • Offer a way out: Every message should include the option to opt out.

Step into SMS with HubSpot Today

Get started with HubSpot SMS for Marketers today! You can learn more about HubSpot’s SMS tools on our knowledge base. For pricing and packaging details, please visit our Pricing and Services catalog.

Not ready to invest in a new product just yet? Check out our free resource with a plethora of SMS templates you can use across many different business strategies by clicking the banner below. 

SMS Templates for Marketing Sales and Service

 

Categories B2B

5 Must-Read Books for Building Brands and Wealth by Entrepreneurs of Color

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

White authors dominate book publishing, and it can be difficult for people of color to find successful entrepreneurship stories written by founders, CEOs, and marketing executives with similar cultural backgrounds.Penguin Random House, a “Big Five” publisher, reported that 76% of their released books in 2019-2021 were by white contributors. This percentage may correlate with 74% of their staff being white.

Read more Breaking the Blueprint content

Between statements to prioritize DEI efforts and leadership restructuring—like at PRH after their bid to acquire Simon & Schuster was halted—time will tell if publishing houses will make significant strides in diversity across their rosters and workforces.

Learning from someone with lived experiences you can relate to is invaluable and affirming. It’s a chance to feel less isolated when creating the blueprints for a company you once thought was an improbable dream.

To learn new avenues for success and strategies to build your business, community, and wealth, here are five must-read books by entrepreneurs of color.

1. This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community–a Life in Streetwear by Bobby Hundreds

this is not a t shirt, bobby hundreds, the hundreds, culture, community

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In his memoir, Bobby Hundreds invites us into the behind-the-scenes journey of building his iconic and culture-shifting streetwear brand, The Hundreds. It’s an intimate story that starts with a tumultuous upbringing in Southern California as a punk Korean-American outsider and cascades into in-depth anecdotes about emerging as a prominent voice in the industry.

Beyond practical advice and the gripping history of streetwear’s global influence on fashion, art, and music, this memoir is a motivating salute for preserving the essence of streetwear and the importance of nurturing the lifeline of a brand–a ride-or-die community.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Review excerpt: “This book is more than just a story of a brand that sold shirts, it shows how in order to build a lasting brand it‘s more than just a cool design or logo, but building a community that will call you out on your BS and support you to the end because you’ve held true to your foundations.”

2. Jefa in Training: The Business Startup Toolkit for Entrepreneurial and Creative Women by Ashley K. Stoyanov Ojeda

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Written in Spanglish, Jefa in Training is a playbook and tool kit for solopreneurs and small businesses in the startup stage. In conversation with Latina immigrants and Hispanic Americans, Ojeda shares first-hand experiences, guest stories, worksheets, and templates to guide women of color to transform their projects into full-fledged businesses.

Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Review excerpt: “This book helps you overcome every fear you have that may be holding you back from starting a business. The quotes at the front of every chapter keep you motivated, the worksheets at the end keep you productive, and the tips/stories from other Latina entrepreneurs remind you that your dreams are attainable.”

3. The Power of Broke: How Empty Pockets, a Tight Budget, and a Hunger for Success Can Become Your Greatest Competitive Advantage by Daymond John with Daniel Paisner

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Shark Tank star Daymond John had humble beginnings. He sold products on the streets of Queens and turned that hustle into the $6-billion brand FUBU. Through his personal story and those of other hustling visionaries with empires, John shares how ambitious entrepreneurs can turn the desperation of being penniless into a superpower to be more efficient and innovative to achieve greater success.

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5

Review excerpt: “The most comprehensive business book I’ve read! So many examples of successful entrepreneurs and their journeys to the top. I enjoyed the format of the book with all of the case studies, I really felt like I learned a lot. Daymond is very authentic and I think that is how people relate to him most. He is very approachable and humble and it comes across this way in his book.”

4. It’s About Damn Time: How to Turn Being Underestimated Into Your Greatest Advantage by Arlan Hamilton with Rachel L. Nelson

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Arlan Hamilton is a Black, gay woman who survived on food stamps and slept on the floor of the San Francisco airport.

Even with no college degree, background in finance, or any contacts in Silicon Valley, her tenacity and hard work propelled her to become a venture capitalist investing in underrepresented and underestimated people like her.

Her book is an unfiltered and inspiring account of staying true to yourself while pursuing success, overcoming obstacles, and staking your claim as an entrepreneur, even if no one like you is breaking into your dream industry.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Review excerpt: “As someone who doesn‘t plan to raise capital as part of my business models, I originally didn’t think this book would apply to me. How wrong I was. From the beginning chapter, I was hooked on Arlan’s story, and her innate ability to weave in business advice, truth and pointed (and poignant) realities, as well as real life suggestions to change the narrative.”

5. We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth and Gaining Economic Power by Rachel Rogers

we should all be millionaires, rachel rogers, women's guide to economic power

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Rachel Rogers is on a mission to rewire the way women think about money so they can take charge of their lives, overcome the history of systemic inequality, and secure financial freedom.

While seven figures may sound wildly unattainable, Rogers’ book is a practical guide on million-dollar decisions, savvy strategies for making and investing money, and tackling mindsets that limit you.

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Review excerpt: “Part autobiography, part roadmap to success, wholly authentic, and 100% relatable – this book is THE new book for women in business. I read a lot of personal development and business books and run my own 6-figure generating business and I can say without hesitation that there is next-level mentorship between these covers.”

No matter your story, success is unlimited, and the path to it differs for everyone. Whether you’re just getting started or have an established company, pick up a book from this list and invest in your business journey by learning from those who endured the highs and lows of entrepreneurship before you.

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