Category Archives: B2B

As we embark on the new year, marketing managers and project leads will determine their strategy for the first quarter based on the big question, “Are we in a recession?”.

Typically, a recession is considered two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP). The U.S. entered a recession in the Summer of 2022, but according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, GDP actually grew slightly at 2.6% in Q3.

So while we can’t fully confirm that we’re going to be in one again, we know that your marketing team is looking to you for answers. In this article, we’ll provide industry insight into the current state of the economy and best practices for marketing leaders to better address employee concerns.

Are We in a Recession?: Marketing Leaders and Data Weigh In

To see what brands think about the current economy, we used Glimpse to survey 300+ U.S. marketers to ask them if they think we’ve entered a recession in detail.

1. Do you think the U.S. economy is in a recession?

Marketers overwhelmingly (78%) say the U.S. is currently in a recession. This comes as no surprise as many marketers are already adapting strategies in response to changing consumer spending habits. Let’s go through some of the sentiments behind their answers.

Reasons Why We Might Be in a Recession

• Consumers are spending less and exercising more caution and discretion.

People are spending less because they don’t know how long the recession will last. As a result, they pay less for products or services. They’re focusing on using their money for sustainability over risks and are spending less on nonessential goods.

• Inflation has made everything more expensive for marketers and consumers.

In plain terms, higher prices make it harder to make ends meet. Instead of shopping for the latest, innovative tech, many have to delay payments, purchases, and planning. After all, no one wants to spend money when gas and food are priced so high.

• Marketers are struggling with their budgets — and 37% have already seen budget cuts.

Consumers aren’t spending as much, and in response, many businesses’ marketing budgets are shrinking. This limits the projects marketers can conduct and impacts how many and what type of marketing activities they can do. One survey respondent even said, “We’re needing to spend more to get similar results from six months ago.”

2. Do you expect the U.S. economy to be in a recession in the next three to six months?

Most (67%) marketers expect the recession to last over six months, and one-third expect it to last more than a year if we break down the stats even further.

One of the respondents left a resounding statement summarizing this prediction better than we could’ve put it ourselves. “Between COVID-19 uncertainty, high prices due to inflation, supply chain and venue availability issues, people are hesitant to plan large events for the next 12 months. I expect that will continue at least for another year or until there is some sense of stability in the market.”

The first year of the pandemic was the shortest recorded recession on record. Many wonder how our economic path may look, so we also asked how they think a recession now would compare.

Marketers expect the impact of the recession to be on par or worse than COVID.

One-third of marketers say the recession will have a more significant impact than COVID, while another-third expect the effects to be about the same. It’s an ongoing debate that only the Federal Reserve can speak to. Still, according to recent financial news, the trend for economic growth is projected to be negative in the first quarter of 2023.

Financial figureheads such as Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive of JP Morgan Chase, shared in an interview with CNBC that consumers and companies are in good shape, but that trend “may not last much longer as the economy slows down and inflation erodes consumer spending power.”

How to Navigate Uncertainty as a Marketing Manager or Project Lead

1. Take steps to recession-proof your business.

Learning how to recession-proof your organization takes time. It requires leaders to take a step back and think creatively about how they approach business. Some actions you can take include sales forecasting, fostering stronger business relationships, or diversifying your revenue streams.

2. Lead with transparency.

Your team may already be aware of economic uncertainties, but it’s your job to ensure they know how it could impact their jobs. Amidst uncertainty, the best thing you can do as a leader is to openly share information and manage expectations — so none of your employees panic or wind up blindsided

Business.com has even identified a link between transparency and morale, citing that increased transparency can improve employee morale, boost retention, and create a better bottom line for your company.

3. Reduce spending where you can, but not to your detriment.

Rethinking your budget is smart, but you still want to empower your marketing team to do impactful work. Look at your systems and processes and determine which ones add the most value to your team’s objectives. You might even identify redundancies and save time and spend.

4. Keep benefits that your employees rely on the most.

Cutting frivolous employee perks and benefits is an agreeable — if uncomfortable — course for leadership to take in times of uncertainty. The benefits to keep should be essential to your company’s compensation philosophy. And don’t take away too many, like healthcare or time off — you don’t want to risk losing talent because their priorities aren’t being met anymore.

Are we headed for a recession?

As marketers, we’re not experts in financial markets and shouldn’t be a source for investment, HR, and legal advice.

It’s not our call to make, but for 2023 — regardless if we’re officially in a recession — we advise that marketing managers and project leaders stay vigilant and expect the unexpected. Have a game plan to present your team and prepare for uncertainty.

Virality. Many brands want to go viral, but it’s more of a mystery to create viral content in a digital age where the most unpredictable content can reach millions of views overnight. There is no secret recipe for the perfect viral video, and yet there are videos that receive millions of views every year. What’s the secret?

Unfortunately, virality is more of an art than a science. While there is no tried-and-true formula for virality, there are some elements that we consistently see — and knowing what that puts you one step closer to attaining that viral glory.

So let’s identify some of the commonalities that can make them internet-famous.

The Science of Virality

From the latest trending Twitter or TikTok moment to some of the oldest viral moments to come from YouTube, like “Keyboard Cat” or “Charlie Bit My Finger,” the science of a viral video is an ever-changing imperfect formula.

How do videos go viral?

While for YouTubers of today, it may take a lot of luck, some common elements of viral videos can set you up for success. According to HubSpot research in the 2022 Video Marketing Report, these are the most prevalent characteristics:

• Title length: Videos had short titles (3 words or less)
• Run-time: Videos had shorter run times (3 minutes or less).
• Captures viewer’s attention in first few seconds: Videos featured the element of surprise (defined as seeing or hearing an expression of surprise, such as a scream or gasp) or interesting propositions breaking of norms.
• Content is relatable in nature: Videos featured relatable circumstances, situations or subject matter that viewers of multiple different backgrounds could relate to.
• Production quality: Videos displayed a musical elements reflecting high production value in resolution, props, and well-thoughtout ideation.
• Talent: Many viral videos were composed of songs, dances, or performances that required practice and talent.

The Art of Viral Videos: Applying Data to Real-Life Scenarios

The Marketing Report also includes survey data marketing professionals about which factors are most effective for creating viral videos, the most commonly cited characteristics are as follows:

• Short and concise title (3 words or less) and run-time (3 minutes or less)
• Uses engaging story-telling format
• Invokes pleasant emotions like laughing
• Involves elements of irony or surprise
• Allows participation to be made public
• Is practically useful

You can translate this list to craft a unique, viral message representing your brand, and we’ll give you our take on how to tap into each.

And while some of these items (like a short title and run-time) are self-explanatory. But others (like story format, elements of irony and surprise, public indicators of participation, and practical use) may need to be more evident, so here are some tips for addressing these more complex factors.

1. Tell a Story

Since the beginning of language, humans have been programmed to consume stories. Stories influence our thinking and provide sensory experiences. Because of these responses, people are attracted to content in a conventional story format.

Ensure you have the traditional elements of a narrative (beginning, character, conflict, climax, and resolution) present in your video, and your viewers will identify it as a story.

You could also experiment with using well-known tropes in your video — for example, you can convey an idea through a common tale like a pirate story to simplify what it’s like to use a “Smooth CRM for Rough Seas” like HubSpot:

The ad narrates how giving our CRM platform to characters, such as pirates, would alter their stories and help them find the treasures they’re looking for. This kind of video is a cute, funny way of incorporating that theme while still focusing on the brand’s mission.

2. Be Ironic

Irony is among the most common factors among viral videos at an astounding 90% of surveyed videos. That makes it a high priority when crafting your viral message.

How do you incorporate irony? You do what the majority of the sample videos did — demonstrating the breaking of social norms.

Think: Are there any social norms associated with your brand or product? Can you break one of those relevant norms in an ironic yet on-brand way?

Let’s take a look at an example. Marvel published a brilliantly ironic video for the release of Thor in 2011. Called “Little Thor,” the video is a parody of the adorable Volkswagen Super Bowl commercial that starred a little boy dressed as Darth Vader trying to harness the power of the force.

In “Little Thor,” a girl dressed as Thor is going around the house, trying to use Thor’s hammer to wield great power on the dog (appropriately named Loki), a doll, and her peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

As we watch this, it’s practically identical to the Volkswagen commercial, and we assume it’s probably another video in the same series. Ultimately, the father comes home, and she runs outside for one last attempt with her hammer. We assume that her father will sound the car’s alarm, just as the father did in the VW Super Bowl commercial, but instead — the car explodes! We then realize this commercial is not for Volkswagen but for the upcoming Thor movie.

This video is ironic on multiple levels. First, it’s an ironic parody of a popular ad. Second, the child dressed as Thor is a girl, which goes against gender stereotypes (and breaks a social norm). Third, the car explodes, which is ironic since the video is a spoof of a car commercial.

An ironic video like that is a humorous way to introduce people to your brand personality.

3. Surprise the Audience

Half of the viral videos contained an element of surprise.

Why do people like to be surprised? In a world where we view thousands of ads daily, people are tired of seeing the same things repeatedly. A surprise is a nice, refreshing change of pace to all that monotonous content.

So how do you incorporate elements of surprise while still making your video relevant to your company?

Your company should be the surprise.

More specifically, your company’s benefits should be the (pleasant, funny, cheerful, etc.) surprise element to your video.

Take the iconic Old Spice commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” video campaign. It’s an excellent example of using a surprise element to exaggerate the benefits of their body wash in a fun, ironic way.

The ad features a towel-clad actor in a bathroom with the shower running behind him. He says that, while your man is unfortunately not him, your man could smell like him with Old Space body wash. Then suddenly, the shower backdrop is pulled right out from behind him to reveal that he is on a boat! This story continues with constantly changing wardrobe, props, and backgrounds.

Viewers are constantly surprised and excited to see what “the man your man could smell like” will do next.

While not every brand has the budget to do a video like Old Spice, think about how you can surprise your audience in small and big ways — it could help your video get shared.

4. Encourage Sharing

Berger said that people are more likely to participate if they can publicly indicate their participation. Why? Because people like to show off and feel like they’re in the know.

It’s easy for people who interact with you in person — a branded t-shirt, bumper sticker, or pen will do the job just fine. But it’s harder to provide public participation indicators for people who interact with you online.

Correction: it was harder to provide them before social media came around.

Nowadays, social sharing buttons are on practically every form of online content: YouTube videos, website articles, audio clips, etc. This allows people to share the content they enjoy with their friends, who can then share it with their friends, etc.

By incorporating social sharing buttons on your videos and wherever you end up hosting them, you meet your audience’s need to share their experience with others.

5. Think Practicality

The two things we all have in common are that we all have problems, and we’re all looking for solutions to fix them.

People always search for informational content, from headache remedies to looking up recipes for a last-minute potluck dinner. Chances are, your customers are also looking for information regarding your field or industry. And it’s in your best interest to provide it for them.

By creating a practical, useful video, you accomplish a few essential things:

1. You provide information to people who prefer to seek it on their own.
2. You can encourage those people to share that information with their networks (accommodating those seeking advice from their friends).
3. You establish yourself as a helpful tool and source of information, increasing trust (and hopefully loyalty).
4. If you have strategically placed calls to action in your video, you can convert viewers to the next stage of the buying journey.

Can your video provide practical information that your customers might be looking for? A good first step is to identify a problem your customers are having and provide information on how they can fix it.

Maybe you sell makeup, and you have a lot of customers who aren’t sure how and when to apply it — you could create a how-to video for tips and tricks to apply makeup. Or maybe your company provides eye exams, but many first-time children are scared of the visit — you could film a tour of your office, with a step-by-step explanation of the eye exam for mothers to show their children.

By providing this helpful information, you help people associate you with solutions — which come in handy when they want to buy something down the road.

Take Pillsbury’s video for “Crescent Mummy Dogs,” for example. It’s an instructional video that shows how you can make a fun, playful dish for your children at Halloween. Parents might be searching for a recipe like this for their child’s school party, and Pillsbury has provided the recipe and a how-to video to accompany it. This way, they make completing this recipe as easy as possible, so parents who try it love it and will be more likely to share it with their friends — and heck, maybe even buy Pillsbury dough to make the recipe.

Set Your Next Video Up for Success

There’s no magic formula for the perfect viral video — but there are some general guidelines to help get you there. By understanding the elements that make content successful, you can predict (and even create) the content that will become popular. It’ll allow you to create videos that are more likely to be widely distributed online strategically.

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

Twitter has been going through many changes over the last few months, prompting some brands and marketers to wonder if they would consider leveraging other platforms.

Here are some alternatives if you want a backup in case Twitter changes too much or is no longer the place for your brand. Keep in mind that by including this list of alternatives, we aren’t suggesting that marketers should abandon or majorly pivot a Twitter strategy that works for them. We are merely providing similar platform options for those preparing for potential future pivots.

Top 3 Best Twitter Alternatives

These alternative social media have similar features to Twitter.

1. Mastodon

Launched in March 2016, Mastodon has about 2.5 million monthly users. Like Twitter, the platform allows users to post and follow their favorite people and organizations and like and repost content. However, there is one major difference between Twitter and Mastodon. While Twitter is a single platform, Mastodon is a “federation” comprised of interconnected, independently operated servers.

These interconnected servers are called the “fediverse,” and each server has its own rules. As a user, you can interact with users from other serves outside your own, but the rules of the server you’re assigned determine what you can do. If you don’t like your server, you can switch to a different one, but then you have to abide by the rules of your new server. However, you can keep the relationships and connections you made in your original server as you move to a new one.

Mastodon emphasizes community, therefore marketers may have a difficult time finding their footing for their business in fediverse.

Pro Tip: If you’re interested in pivoting, I’d suggest investing in influencer marketing to connect with your target audience on Mastodon.

2. Hive Social

Hive Social was launched in 2019 and has about 2 million users. The mobile-only app looks similar to Twitter, allowing users to scroll through the platform and “heart” and repost content. Users can also use hashtags to find desired content or audiences. But that’s about where the similarities stop.

Unlike Twitter, Hive boasts a much simpler chronological feed — rather than one that is algorithm-based. It also doesn’t have a character limit, allowing much longer posts that resemble Tumblr posts.

And finally, Hive Social is much more customizable than Twitter. Users can choose background colors for their profile, and add their pronouns and astrological signs. One unique customization feature that stands out is the ability to sync your Apple Music or Spotify account and play a song or two for users visiting your profile.

For now, Hive Social doesn’t have a “verify” feature like Twitter, which can pose a problem for brands and content creators concerned about users impersonating them.

Pro Tip: Should you decide to pivot to Hive Social, you should be aware that the app is only run by three people who are still working out different bugs as more people flock to the app. One bug is the app’s tendency to crash since the massive influx of users.

3. Cohost

According to its website, cohost is a web-only social media platform with over 111,000 users. The platform was launched in February 2022 and is invite-only for now.

Like Twitter, Cohost allows users to follow other users and share, like, and post comments under posts. However, users cannot publicly see a post’s likes or see who or how many people follow another user.

The platform also doesn’t allow ads, doesn’t have a character limit, and it doesn’t have a recommendation algorithm — so posts appear in chronological order and can be pretty lengthy.

Pro Tip: Cohost also stands out because multiple people can co-own a single page — a great feature for brands and content creators doing collaborative projects.

Twitter Alternatives for Building Community

If you’re looking for a social media platform that allows you to build a community around your brand, the following platforms are worth looking into.

4. Reddit

The longest-running app featured in this blog, Reddit was founded in 2005 and has 430 million monthly active users. Reddit is a social sharing site split into thousands of smaller communities called “subreddits.” Each subreddit is dedicated to a particular topic. Most subreddits have their own set of community rules users are expected to follow.

Users can submit links, pictures, videos, questions, and information for other users to vote on. The more likes a post gets, the more visible it becomes. The more downvotes a post gets, the less visible it becomes.

Marketers can host Q&A forums called Reddit AMA’s (Ask Me Anything) to engage with their audience and answer questions about a product or service. Marketers can also be active in subreddits that correspond with the niche.

Pro Tip: Reddit also has Reddit Ads feature that marketers can use to stand out on the website, measure the success of their content, and connect with their target audience.

5. Discord

Discord is a voice and chat platform launched in May 2015, and it now has over 150 million monthly users. Users are able to start and join different servers within the platform to discuss niche topics or connect with their favorite creators.

Pro Tip: The platform doesn’t have any native advertising tools, but it’s a great avenue for brands to discuss with their audience about shared topics of interest in real time.

6. Tumblr

Microblogging website Tumblr was launched back in February 2007 and now boasts 135 million monthly active users. Tumblr allows users to share texts, photos, videos, quotes, music, and more in an infinitely scrolling blog format. The platform seems to be experiencing a resurgence in popularity. In fact, between October 4, 2022, and November 17, 2022, there were over 1 million tweets about Tumblr.

However, if marketers are interested in leveraging the platform, it’s important to note the platform appeals to younger and more alternative crowds. About 2 out of 5 users on Tumblr are between the ages of 18-25 and most media on the platform appeals to millennials and Gen Z.

Pro Tip: Fandom content as well as niche products and clothing lines typically do well on the platform.

Twitter Alternatives for Audio Content

One of Twitter’s most popular features is Twitter Spaces, which allows users to host and participate in live audio conversations. Here are some social media platforms that have similar features.

7. Clubhouse

Launched in April 2020, Clubhouse skyrocketed in popularity at the start of the pandemic when many people were stuck at home and looking for community. The audio-chat app attracted notable public figures and creatives like Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Mark Zuckerburg, Ashton Kutcher, and Malcolm Gladwell. They would use the platform to connect with fans and promote their work.

While the app has since waned in popularity as other platforms dabble into audio chats, Clubhouse still boasts 10 million weekly users as of mid-2022 — meaning there is still a sizable audience to tap into on the app.

Pro Tip: Marketers can use Clubhouse to have live conversations, Q&As, and panel discussions with their followers.

Twitter Alternatives for Short-Form Content

Twitter is mostly a micro-blogging and text-based platform, but it’s common for marketers, brands, and content creators to post short-form video content. Here are some alternative platforms that prioritize short-form video content.

8. IG Reels

Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users, all of whom interact with IG Reels. Instagram Reels was launched in August 2020 to compete with TikTok. Videos on IG Reels can be up to 90 seconds long, and users can add music, viral sounds, and various special effects and filters to their videos.

Pro Tip: Users can earn money from Reels via the Instagram Reels Play Bonus program. This program is invite-only and allows creators to earn money based on the reel’s performance, the number of reels produced, and the creation of themed reels.

9. YouTube Shorts

Launched in September 2020 to compete with TikTok, YouTube Shorts is the short-form video section of YouTube that boasts vertical videos that are 60 seconds long or less. As of June 2022, YouTube Shorts has amassed 1.5 billion monthly active users and over 30 billion daily views from global users.

Another incentive to pivot toward YouTube Shorts is its future monetization program that will launch in 2023. Starting in early 2023, creators can apply to the YouTube Partner Program by meeting a threshold of 1,000 subscribers and 10 million Shorts views over 90s days. Both current and future YouTube Partner Members will also be eligible for revenue sharing on Shorts, according to YouTube.

Pro Tip: Marketers can tease long-form content like longer videos and podcasts by condensing compelling snippets into YouTube Shorts.

10. IG Reels

Instagram has 2 billion monthly active users, all of whom interact with IG Reels. Instagram Reels was launched in August 2020 to compete with TikTok. Videos on IG Reels can be up to 90 seconds long, and users can add music, viral sounds, and various special effects and filters to their videos.

Pro Tip: Users can earn money from Reels via the Instagram Reels Play Bonus program. This program is invite-only and allows creators to earn money based on the reel’s performance, the number of reels produced, and the creation of themed reels.

11. TikTok

With 1 billion monthly active users, TikTok was launched in 2016 and propelled short-form videos into mainstream popularity at the start of the pandemic. Though there are several ways to monetize content on TikTok and paid ads are available, brands and marketers often have to leverage influencer marketing on the platform to connect with their target audience.

The reason is that many of TikTok’s users are younger and fall into the Gen Z demographic, and Gen Z is less keen on content from brands and more interested in content from people.

Pro Tip: TikTok videos can also be repurposed into Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts to give them a second life in front of a wider audience.

If your current Twitter strategy has remained successful throughout all the platform’s changes, you likely won’t need to look into any alternatives. However, if you’re looking for a new platform to pivot to in the event Twitter changes too much for your brand, you now have 11 new platforms to check out.

Back in September, we covered quiet quitting: Specifically, what it is, how the term got popular, and ways to address it.

Now, we’re hearing directly from marketing leaders and getting their thoughts on the phenomenon, courtesy of our Executive Leadership survey of 500+ leaders.

In this article, you’ll find out what they think about quiet quitters (Spoiler alert: It’s not pretty), why they think it’s happening and how they plan to address it.

What Marketing Leaders Know about Quiet Quitting

To start things off, most of the marketing leaders we surveyed (73%) say they’re familiar with the term “quiet quitting.”’ In fact, 57% agree that quiet quitting is happening to some degree within their organization.

To what extent? Well, marketing leaders think only 17% of their employees are quiet quitting. However, our consumer trends data suggests otherwise.

In our survey, 33% of full-time employees reported that they are quiet quitting their current job. Since this data is self-reported, this figure is likely higher.

Yet, 80% of leaders surveyed say they would know if an employee on their team was quiet quitting.

This suggests that two things could be happening: Employees are great at hiding the fact that they’re quiet quitting or leaders are a bit out of touch with their employees.

Regardless of where the true number lies, 57% of marketing leaders are concerned about this phenomenon and 66% have explicitly discussed how to address it with their leadership team.

What Marketing Leaders Think about Quiet Quitters

It’s fair to say that marketers leaders aren’t fond of quiet quitting – 77% of those surveyed say it’s “unacceptable.”

Despite studies suggesting that quiet quitting is a reaction to bad management, that’s now how most marketing leaders see it.

64% of those surveyed believe quiet quitting is a reflection of poor work ethic, while one-third of respondents view it as setting healthy boundaries.

When asked why they believe employees engage in quiet quitting, 39% of respondents placed the blame on employees and say it’s due to a lack of accountability.

• 38% said employees see no benefit in going above and beyond at work.
• 36% said burnout.
• 34% said employees are unhappy with the workplace culture.
• 32% said lack of work-life balance.

Our Consumer Trends survey does suggest that burnout and workplace culture play a major role in job satisfaction.

The report found that of the 29% of consumers who are considering leaving their current job, 25% say the reason is burnout and 20% say they’re not happy with the workplace culture.

Now that we know how marketers leaders view both quiet quitting and those who engage in it, let’s cover what they plan to do about it.

How Marketing Leaders Plan to Address Quiet Quitting

Although most marketing leaders believe quiet quitting is a reflection of the employee rather than the employer, 77% admit that it’s their responsibility to prevent it.

Where do you start? Well, 73% believe the determining factor in an employee’s desire to quiet quit is their relationship with their supervisor.

This theory was supported by a Harvard Business Review workplace study, which found that managers who were successful in managing employee and business needs had the highest percentage of employees willing to go the extra mile for the company.

In addition, 37% of company leaders believe motivating employees with rewards is a way to prevent quiet quitting.

Other measures included:

• Employee recognition
• Work-life balance
• Mental health and wellness support
• Accountability
• Work culture improvement
• Career growth opportunity
• Remote work
• Management training

Based on responses from both employees and leaders, it’s clear there’s a disconnect regarding who’s to blame for quiet quitting along with how common it is.

Leaders are looking at employees and vice versa. The one area there is some overlap is when it comes to addressing it.

Marketing leaders agree that they should take an active role in preventing it and their solutions seem to align with what employees are looking for.

It’s unclear how this phenomenon will evolve but one thing’s for sure: Leaders will have to take accountability if they want to prevent this issue they deem so unacceptable.

If you’ve watched the news recently, it seems that the possibility of a recession has captured everyone’s attention.

Americans have already seen signs like the inflation of rent, gas prices, groceries, and other necessities that pre-existing wages can’t meet. But, still, some experts say that we could still avert a recession – and if we don’t – a recession might not last as long as 2008’s.

With all these changes and news bites in mind, business decision-makers might wonder how their potential customers are reacting. And, if their spending habits could be changing in the near future as a result?

While we don’t know if we’ll head into a recession, this post aims to help brands and marketers prepare to continue to meet consumers where they are – even in uncertain times.

To give readers insight on how spending behaviors are or could be shifting, we surveyed more than 200 U.S. consumers across all age groups once in the summer of 2022 and again the following winter.

Before we dive in, we’ll briefly explain the concept of a recession:

Recessions are a normal part of the business cycle and can be induced by global economic shocks, changes in consumer confidence, and other large-scale economic changes.

But this year, in particular, there are a select few factors that have spurred concern about a potential recession, although one still hasn’t been declared or confirmed.

For more on the cause of recessions and why some are concerned about them happening in the near future, check out this helpful post from our partners at The Hustle.

Are We in a Recession?

According to multiple sources, including Forbes, we are not currently in a recession.

“The current economic indicators of a recession have yet to appear,” one Forbes article said.

Forbes went on to say there is still concern that a recession is expected in 2023. While we may not be in a recession right now, many consumers are considering changing their spending habits just in case.

How Consumer Spending Habits Could be Changing Today [Data]

1. How has the news of a potential US recession impacted your spending habits?

When we asked this question in the summer of 2022, we found that most respondents (30%) were purchasing less and spending money more concisely than they were in previous months (28%).

When we posed the same question again the following winter, we found that 30% of respondents said they were making very few purchases because of the potential recession, and 24% said they are spending money more conscientiously than they have in previous months.

We also noticed that the number of respondents who said news of a potential recession might impact their spending rose from 13% to 20% between summer and winter. The number of respondents who said the new hasn’t impacted their spending also dropped from 17% to 13%.

Rising costs of goods and services often cause consumers to become more cautious in frivolous spending, and we’re sure Americans are feeling the effects arise quickly.

As a marketer or brand leader, now might be a good time to consider discounts, sales, deals, or freemium marketing. While people are potentially tightening their wallets, they still might purchase items, services, or experiences that are affordable or provide bang for their buck.

How Spending Could Change In a Recession

When thinking about consumer spending behavior, it’s often contingent on outside factors, and news of immense changes in the economy is worth looking into. Below is the distribution of varying consumer decisions and how they’d respond to financial uncertainty or a potential recession in the future.

2. If a recession is declared, how will your home budget change in the first three months of this new financial era?

Unsurprisingly, most consumers polled in the summer (64%) said they’d decrease or continue to decrease their home budget if a recession was declared.

By winter, that percentage dropped to 57%; however, only 27% said their budget would stay the same and only 15% said it would increase at all.

As of November 2022, inflation hit 7.1%, but, wages aren’t moving to match these changes. Naturally, the public is already looking for ways to avoid breaking the bank — by reducing their budgets.

If you market B2C brands or products that would be used specifically in the home, this is important to keep in mind if financial uncertainty continues. While you shouldn’t panic and change your whole marketing strategy over just one small survey, you might want to consider strategies like marketing your most affordable, discounted, or essential products over higher-priced or luxury items.

3. During uncertain financial times, what did you spend the most money on?

We also asked consumers to reflect on their purchasing behavior in previous economic eras with the question, “During uncertain financial times (such as past recessions or during the COVID-19 pandemic), what did you spend the most money on?”

When surveyed in both the summer and winter, the most prominent goods consumers have bought in uncertain times are typically considered basic necessities.

• Essential Groceries and Food
• Rent, Mortgage, Housing Bills
• Essential Personal Care Products
• Medication and Healthcare

The data reflects a shift to self-preservation and less on shopping for pleasure or taking on risks comes as no surprise. By eliminating costs for leisure or entertainment, people can ensure their families are taken care of before taking their dollar to do things like start a business, take a stroll to the movies, or invest in an unpredictable market.

The good news? This doesn’t necessarily mean a complete pause in retail, entertainment, or other non-essential services. Almost 10% still plan to invest in digital or online entertainment, around 9% would still invest in restaurants and bar outings – as well as education and academics, and over 16% would invest in clothing and apparel, So, unlike the pandemic, we probably won’t see entire economies close up completely for months at a time.

How an Upcoming Recession Could Differ from 2008

There are key differences between this recession and 2008, mainly in the factors that caused it and its projected duration.

According to Morgan Stanley, the possible recession would be largely pandemic-induced and credit-driven.

COVID-related fiscal and monetary stimulus contributed to inflation and drove speculation in financial assets. This is very different from the Great Recession of 2008.

The 2008 recession was due to debt-related excesses built up in housing infrastructure, which took the economy nearly a decade to absorb. By contrast, excess liquidity, not debt, is the most likely catalyst for a recession today.

Due to the difference in causes, experts at IMF predict a new recession could be short and shallow.

With that said, 58% of respondents said their spending habits would be the same as they were during previous uncertain times such as COVID-19, the 2008 recession, or times of person financial uncertainty.

Key Takeaways for Businesses in 2022

As marketers, we’re not experts in financial markets and shouldn’t be seen as a source for investment, HR, and legal advice. And no one ever knows for certain if or when there will be a recession.

It’s also to keep in mind that while the results above can certainly help you navigate how to market your brand, they’re just a portion of one small survey and a brief look into the eyes of consumers. Before making any major decisions about your marketing department, spend, or business, you absolutely should do your research, analyze multiple data points, and consult experts in your industry.

While your decisions should be based on a deep dive of data, the survey results above do show that marketers should be cautious about how their efforts might need to pivot with changing consumer needs or trends.

Here are a few takeaways to keep in mind.

• A recession today might not be the same as 2008. While consumers likely will tighten budgets and look for products that offer the most value or necessity for their dollar, they might not be in detrimental financial conditions. They could still be persuaded to buy a great product that’s marketed to them in the coming months.
• Market your product’s affordability, value, and/or necessity: As consumers and businesses tighten their budgets, making sales, retaining customers, and persuading people to buy non-essential products will be more difficult. Make sure you are marketing that your product has added value or importance, other than being flashy, trendy, or cool.
• Marketers might want to explore more cost-effective strategies. (Think reducing excess ad spend and focusing on organic social, SEO, or email marketing instead.)

Remember, financial uncertainties – and even recessions – are common. And while it might become more challenging to win customers in the coming months, business and consumers will still keep moving (and making purchases) even as we wait for the cycle to run its course.

When you’re trying to meet personal and/or professional goals, one of the first things you evaluate is your productivity.

Are you managing your time well? Are you checking off items on your to-do list? Or do you find yourself falling behind? If so, this article’s for you.

Discover low-effort ways to boost your productivity – whether you’re working from home or heading to the office.

• How to Increase Productivity at Work
  • Figure out your productivity patterns.
  • Don’t multitask.
  • Be accountable.
  • Break up large tasks.
  • Block off your calendar.
  • Use productivity apps.
• Ways to Increase Productivity at Home
  • Limit distractions.
  • Stick to a routine.
  • Prioritize breaks.
  • Set up your environment.
  • Have a designated workspace.

How to Increase Productivity at Work

1. Figure out your productivity patterns.

Just because the average work day is between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. doesn’t mean those are the hours in which you do your best work.

Some of us focus best in the early morning before the sun is even up and some of us are night owls.

The first thing you should do when working on your productivity is first to observe yourself – specifically when you get the most or least done. Because some days are naturally more hectic than others, do this over a period of a week.

Identifying these ‘sweet spot’ days and hours will enable you to plan your day better and perform tasks faster without compromising on quality or accuracy.

For instance, I’ve designed my Mondays to include low-effort tasks because I tend to be in and out of meetings. This makes it hard to get anything done that requires intense focus. As a result, I schedule tasks that are short and quick.

Tuesdays, on the other hand, are very quiet and I do my best work between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. With that in mind, I get my heavier tasks done like research and writing.

Once you’re aware of which hours you work most efficiently, you can allocate projects accordingly and use that time for difficult tasks.

Many of us think we’re lazy or unproductive when the truth is, we’re not listening to our bodies. Identifying which parts of the day bring out the best in you is likely the key to increased motivation and effectiveness on the job.

Once you do that, all that’s left to do is adjust your schedule accordingly.

2. Don’t multitask.

It seems like we all got a memo as young adults that multitasking was peak productivity. Turns out, it’s not. In fact, recent studies suggest that attempting to multitask will actually hinder your productivity.

Although switching back and forth between multiple tasks may seem quicker, it ends up taking longer because the mind can only focus on one activity at a time. As such, your brain ends up doing double the work to refocus on each task.

Ever have a conversation with a friend but then get realize you didn’t register something they said because you got distracted? With multitasking, you may not realize it and end up making mistakes.

Your best bet is to focus your energy and attention on one task at a time. You’ll clear out distractions and allow your mind to be more present.

You will find that giving yourself enough that space leads to much faster completion times and higher quality work overall.

3. Be accountable.

Accountability can be a major productivity driver for both personal and professional goals. They often remind you of your “why” and serve as motivation to keep going.

At work, that accountability will have to be self-imposed, unless you have a co-worker or a team you can depend on for this.

Being accountable looks like this:

• Blocking out times on your calendar to get specific tasks done.
• Putting a 1-hour timer on to complete a task.
• Scheduling a reminder.
• Setting deadlines, even if your task or project doesn’t require it.

If you work from home, having an accountability partner can be especially helpful. Maybe your team gets together on Mondays for an hour to work together via Zoom, even if it’s in silence.

Or you could meet with your co-worker once a week to give each other progress reports on upcoming projects.

Whether it’s personal or shared, accountability can significantly increase your productivity.

4. Break up large tasks.

Imagine you have a high-impact project due in a few weeks. Every time you think about it, you picture the project as a whole and how far away you are from completion. That’s a recipe for disaster.

To remain productive, it’s essential that you break up your tasks into bite-size, actionable chunks. This will decrease (or remove) the anxiety often associated with the work itself and enable you to stay motivated as you reach important milestones.

5. Block off your calendar.

There’s nothing more frustrating than attempting to get in the zone but being interrupted by a last-minute meeting or a Teams notification.

One way to protect your time is by blocking out your calendar during set times to tackle your to-do list. This will create necessary boundaries to avoid interruptions while also setting expectations for your colleagues on when you’ll be available.

If they ping you during this time, don’t feel obligated to respond immediately.

Better yet, turn on the “Do Not Disturb” feature on your group messaging application to indicate you’re unavailable.

Most of the strategies for increased productivity require you to take a proactive approach, rather than a reactive one. And this is one where the benefits are immediately clear.

6. Use productivity apps.

If all other techniques fail, there’s likely an app to help you increase your productivity.

Productivity apps will range in purpose and function. Some focus on time management while others zero in on the organization. Here are a few top options:

• Toggl – A timer to use when using the Pomodoro focus method and when tracking how much time each task takes to complete.
• Notion – A digital workspace to store your documents, to-do lists, and more.
• Mindfulness – An app to use during your breaks to recalibrate.

Ways to Increase Productivity at Home

1. Limit distractions.

Distractions can be a major obstacle to productivity at work, which is why it’s so important to limit them as much as possible.

When you read this, you might be thinking about things like social media and the TV. Those are bad too but there are some unsuspecting distractions to consider.

The first is roommates – whether they’re talking directly to you or in the background, they’re hard to ignore. If you can, make sure you isolate yourself during your most productive hours to ensure you can get your work done.

Pro-tip: If separation is not possible, put on headphones to block out the noise.

Next is your pet(s). Sure, they’re fluffy and adorable but when they’re having zoomies or begging for attention, that can quickly become disruptive.

Lastly, your cellphone. It’s likely what you’re reaching for any time you look away from your computer but it’s also what will keep you from going back.

One way to avoid this is by placing your phone outside of your workspace. If you’re worried about missing calls, put on your loud ringer to ensure you hear your calls.

Keeping distractions to a minimum can do wonders for your productivity, as they’re little time sucks you often don’t account for.

2. Stick to a routine.

When I operate outside of my normal routine, that’s when my productivity is at its lowest.

That’s because the mind loves what’s familiar. From the time you get up to the music you listen to at your desk, every step in your routine serves as cues for your behavior.

So, when you fail to maintain a consistent routine, it can be difficult to focus and be productive.

A routine can look like this:

• Starting and ending work at the same time every day.
• Having a designated work space.
• Taking breaks every two hours.
• Associating each work day with a set of tasks. E.g. Mondays for meetings, Tuesdays for writing, and Wednesdays for analytics.
• Listening to music when completing certain tasks.

3. Prioritize breaks.

To keep productivity levels high at home, taking regular breaks is key.

In an office, breaks are embedded into the environment. You might stop to chat with co-workers or get up to grab snacks or coffee. At home, you have to structure your breaks or you run the risk of burning yourself out.

Stepping away from your desk – even for just five minutes – serves as a reset, a brain refresher that will actually help you stay focused throughout the day.

In addition, a break doesn’t have to look like a food break. It can be:

• Taking a walk
• Sitting outside
• Doing breathing exercises
• Working out
• Stretching
• Journaling

Unlike doom scrolling, these activities are considered energy boosters that will help you stay productive during work hours.

4. Set up your environment.

Just as your routine serves as a cue for your productivity, so will your environment. As such, it’s important that you set yourself up for success in this area.

Start by organizing your desk to keep it neat. Though it will likely get messy throughout the day, make sure you end each work day by tidying up for the next day. Think of it as a small investment into the future you.

Music can also be a great cue to start your work day. My personal favorite is my Cafe con Leche Spotify playlist. It’s soothing but upbeat and indicates that it’s heads-down work time.

Whether it’s jazz or Dembow, music can be a huge productivity booster if you use it wisely.

5. Have a designated workspace.

Working from home has become a long-term reality for many, but the change of scenery can be difficult if you don’t take the time to establish an effective workspace.

Having a designated area set up specifically for work will help keep you focused and organized. It will also provide a physical and mental barrier between home life and business – which is essential when trying to remain productive.

Being able to switch into ‘work mode’ as soon as you sit down at your desk or table can enable you to get into the right mindset for achieving your goals.

Once in place, having a designated workplace is sure to make it easier to stay focused on your work while still enjoying the benefits of taking it on remotely.

Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way to becoming a productivity powerhouse.

A company’s reputation matters more than ever during a job seeker’s search, as 86% of workers would not apply for, or continue to work for, a company with a bad reputation with former employees or the general public.

Ultimately, you spend plenty of time creating a compelling brand story surrounding your products or services, but how do you build a strong employer brand that attracts top talent? Here, we’ll explore what employer branding means, examples of good employer branding, and how you can implement your employer branding strategy today.

Table of Contents: 

• What Is Employer Branding?
• Why Is Employer Branding Important?
• Employer Branding Strategy
• Employer Branding Examples

What Is Employer Branding?

Employer branding is the reputation you have as an employer among your employees and the workforce. It’s also how you market your company to job seekers and internal employees. 

The better you are at employer branding, the more likely you are to retain and attract your top talent, as 69% of surveyed employees think it’s extremely/very important that their employer has a brand they’re proud to support.

Let’s say you’ve done a phenomenal job building up a strong brand with your products or services. Unfortunately, that alone won’t convince someone to work at, or stay at, your company. You need to implement the same branding strategy when communicating your company’s leadership, values, and culture.

If a job seeker asks an employee at your company, “What’s it like to work there?” the employee isn’t going to say, “We’ve built some awesome merchandise.” Instead, he’s going to lay into the day-to-day of people management, company values, and workplace culture. To ensure a good employer brand, you need to tell a compelling story.

Employer branding goes deeper than storytelling — you also need to walk the walk. Telling your employees and the general public that having a ping-pong table makes you a great place to work isn’t going to cut it. 

Why Is Employer Branding Important?

At this point, you might be wondering, does this really matter to me and my company? 

Yes — employer branding is critical to your bottom-line. It can reduce turnover rates and cut your costs per hire in half, helping you save money. Additionally, active job seekers are more likely to apply for a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand. 

You have an employer brand whether you’ve put effort behind it or not — so why not put effort in to ensure it’s a brand you can be proud of?

Next, let’s explore how you can implement an employer brand strategy today.

A good employer branding strategy can help you attract better talent, cut down on hiring costs, and reduce employee turnover.

1. Know your company’s unique value proposition.

A powerful employer brand begins by focusing on your company’s mission statement, values, vision, and culture. It can be helpful to identify what your business needs are and work backward to understand the type of talent you need to fulfill those objectives. 

For instance, consider Teach for America’s mission statement — “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”

With this statement, Teach for America can tell a compelling brand employer story on their Values page, where they promise employees the chance for continuous learning, stating, “We operate with curiosity and embrace new ideas to innovate and constantly improve. We take informed risks and learn from successes, setbacks, and each other.”

In this way, they’ve aligned their values, and their employer brand, with their business goal.

2. Conduct an employer brand audit.

You might not be fully aware of your company’s reputation among job seekers, or even your employees. 

Conduct a brand audit and send out internal surveys, conduct social media searches, monitor career sites for reviews, or hire a firm that monitors reputations. Your research should help you uncover your employee’s favorite aspects of your company culture that you can focus on highlighting and any areas for improvement to ensure a strong employer brand. 

Glassdoor found that brands with above-average or leading employer brands devote time to monitoring employee engagement, take action on employee feedback, and keep an eye on brand health, more than average or below-average employer brands. 

3. Write an employer value proposition.

Once you’ve researched, cultivated a list of business values, and learned about your existing perceptions, you’ll want to create an employer value proposition. 

An employer value proposition is a marketing message and a promise, so say things that are factually true about your business that your employees would agree with. You can use this value proposition on your website, recruitment materials, or LinkedIn Company Page, and recruiters and HR teams can discuss it with potential candidates. 

It’s important to note that your value proposition should have nothing to do with compensation. Instead, you want it to evoke passion in employees and potential candidates by expressing your company’s deeper purpose and positive impact on the world. People want to feel their work is meaningful, often even at the expense of a bigger paycheck. 

For instance, Accenture’s employer value proposition is prominently displayed on its Careers page:  “Every day our People of Change are doing incredible things by working together to pursue our shared purpose–to deliver on the promise of technology and human ingenuity. Come be part of our team–bring your ideas, ingenuity and determination to make a difference, and we’ll solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.”

4. Leverage current employees.

Job seekers that want to learn more about your employer brand want to hear from and see real employees at your company. In fact, your employees are three times more credible than CEOs when talking about the working conditions at your company. So, your employees are some of your best advocates for building your employer brand. 

Leverage their sentiment towards your business however you can, like sharing reviews and testimonials on your hiring pages or creating short interview videos for your social media channels. 90% of companies with leading and above-average employer brands agree that their employee experience is a big part of their brand, meaning that what they say can significantly impact perception.

5. Cultivate a strong onboarding process.

Onboarding is a new hire’s first experience, and a negative impression can have big consequences. In fact, people who have a negative onboarding experience are twice as likely to seek a different opportunity.

Ultimately, instilling a positive company brand image starts with a good onboarding process. Getting employees engaged and excited about their roles and their teams is important from the start. You’re ensuring a smooth transition, lower turnover rates, and more productive teams by arming your new employees with the instructions and tools to excel in their roles.

6. Offer learning and development opportunities.

A large reason why people quit and leave their jobs is that they’re bored and need a new challenge. Ultimately, this should be a relatively easy fix. 

Giving employees the opportunity to pursue learning opportunities and become proficient in new skills shows your commitment to on-the-job learning and professional development. And by challenging your employees, you’re ensuring they won’t get bored in their roles — which could lead to higher retention rates. 

Plus, as they develop new skills, they become more valuable employees for your company. A win, win.

7. Use videos, blog posts, photos, and slideshows to tell your company story.

When implementing a strategy to improve the market’s perception of your brand, use multiple channels. Share videos, photos, slideshows, blogs, and other forms of messaging to ensure you reach a large group of audiences on the platforms they already use. 

Similarly, it’s critical you use high-quality videos, photos, and text to tell your company story. You might consider putting employee interviews on your job page or a slideshare created by your CEO on your About Us page.

8. Create a strong diversity and inclusion initiative.

A pillar of a strong employer brand is a continuous commitment to building diverse and inclusive teams. 

There are plenty of benefits to this, most significantly being that all your employees will feel like they belong and are safe at work. People who feel seen, recognized, and respected among their colleagues are more likely to bring their best selves to work and commit to their day-to-day tasks. Plus, a McKinsey study found that companies that are more diverse and inclusive are more profitable. 

A commitment to DI&B ensures you’re extending your brand’s reach to everyone, especially considering that 3 out of 4 candidates say a diverse workforce is an essential factor when evaluating companies and job offers. If someone can see themselves in the people who already work at your company, they might be more inclined to apply.

9. Be transparent, honest, and genuine. 

One of the most important factors in developing an employer brand is honesty, transparency, and being genuine. 

Don’t ask for employee feedback because you want to hear the positives to share on your career pages. Negative feedback can also help you learn about areas for improvement, and making changes can help you meet more of your employees’ needs. In turn, satisfied employees have higher retention rates and are more likely to promote your business and boast about the culture they’re happy to be part of. 

The same goes for job seekers and the general public. Making false statements and promises about your values, culture, and happenings will come back to haunt you if your conditions are too good to be true, like if prospects accept job offers based on promises you don’t fulfill. 

Be genuine and honest in your efforts, and commit to building a culture exactly as it seems — doing the opposite can cause more harm than good.

1. Starbucks

Starbucks works to cultivate a strong community among its employees. For instance, it refers to current employees as partners, instilling a sense of pride, and has Instagram and Twitter accounts (@StarbucksJobs) to promote its employer brand and interact with job seekers.

By creating social media accounts to demonstrate appreciation for current employees and evoke passion in potential candidates, Starbucks shows its commitment to being more than just a product. The company also uses the platforms to demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

 

2. HubSpot

HubSpot’s Culture Page features something called the Culture Code, which publicly shares every vision and value HubSpot hopes to promote and instill in employees, candidates, and customers. 

Further down the page, you’ll learn more about opportunities for learning and development, HubSpot’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, and insight and reviews from real employees. The language also consistently focuses on the job seeker: “Picture yourself at HubSpot.” 

3. Wistia

For consumers, Wistia brands itself as a video marketing software that helps grow audiences and build brands. It only makes sense that it would be brand-conscious and use its software to underscore the ideas they want to convey to job seekers. 

Rather than brag about how great a workplace they are, the first message on its Careers page encourages job candidates: “We’ve got big plans — and they include you!” They continue to underscore that idea with multiple videos about the people who make up the company and the culture they instill.

4. SoulCycle

SoulCycle aims to transform traditional corporate culture by offering benefits that evoke a sense of purpose and belonging to each employee. 

For instance, Soul gives its employees two paid business days off per year to volunteer at a charity of their choice with the hope that the charity days will help employees feel happy and more fulfilled. Additionally, employees can take classes for free at any time that suits their schedule. This displays Soul’s deeper commitment to making fitness fun and using exercise to de-stress and connect with the community.

With high ratings on Indeed, SoulCycle has undoubtedly cultivated a strong employer brand.

5. Canva

Canva’s employer brand stands out because of its commitment to its mission. Its Careers page highlights its values for job seekers in an interactive carousel and pairs each value with key facts, underscoring the idea that design can be a force for good. 

Canva also doubles down on this idea on its social media channels, which are full of inspirational content and ideas furthered by design.

6. Eventbrite

To demonstrate its commitment to recruiting high-quality talent, Eventbrite created a web page to introduce job seekers to its recruitment team. The bios are funny and relatable with fun facts about each recruiter.

Additionally, the Eventbrite recruitment team page states, “Interviewing shouldn’t be nerve-wracking —– it should be exciting. It should spark great conversation. We believe in respect, transparency, and timely responses (we don’t leave anyone in the dreaded recruiting black hole).”

Its language reflects their values, likely inspiring job seekers to apply.

7. Jet

The ecommerce site Jet created this inspirational, employee-focused video to spread awareness for its fun, engaging, motivational workplace. The video is especially powerful because it uses real employee interviews, giving the job seeker a sense for Jet’s work culture and values.

Additionally, the video is likely empowering and pride-evoking for current employees, who can see their company’s clear commitment to carrying out its mission statement through videos of its workers.

8. Shopify

It can be challenging to find qualified applications to fill tech jobs. For many companies, their leverage is having an incredible employer brand and great perks to attract top talent. Companies can take a cue from Shopify, where it recognizes this and tell job seekers that it’s its turn to apply to you.

This acknowledgment is one step toward earning rapport with a potential candidate, and they continue to empathize with the reader by stating that finding the right job and fit is hard work.  The rest of its careers page provides all the information someone would need to take a chance and apply to Shopify. 

Each one of the examples on this list has in some way shown their empathy, a human element, and a slice of their culture to begin attracting great employees. Human capital is your biggest investment and asset, but remember that your candidates are also investing in you.

If you work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that’s over 2,000 hours a year spent with the same coworkers (give or take a vacation or two, of course). Therefore, if it isn’t already your top priority, being a great coworker definitely should be.

Strong relationships are the foundation of a positive work environment and set the tone for nearly your entire work life. Even if you hate how Jim blows his nose at his desk, or you cringe every time Stacy brings up her cats, these people greatly influence your work day-to-day.

The bottom line is that collaboration and connection will get you much farther than you may think. (Trust us! Hubspot has been named #1 for happiest employees and #2 for best place to work.) For our exclusive insider tips, keep reading.

1. Appreciate and acknowledge.

When people feel unappreciated in the workplace, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to see the benefit of going that extra mile. With no recognition, there’s little motivation to continue.

That’s where you come in. Whether you’re a manager or just a grateful peer, make an effort to give credit.

Taking time in a meeting to give kudos, writing an email, or sending a Slack message takes minutes. However, this gesture can make someone’s entire day.

“As an intern, I assumed I would mostly go unnoticed and fly under the radar in my day-to-day work. However, this summer, I never felt so uplifted and praised for the hard work I was contributing to my team,” says one incoming HubSpot marketing associate and summer 2022 marketing intern. “Even my out-of-office accomplishments were recognized!”

2. Respond to emails or calls promptly.

Everyone has a job to do. And if your approval or feedback is required for one of your coworkers to move the needle on a project, don’t make them wait.

Bottlenecking a project is not only frustrating, but it can also have a significant impact on a person’s ability to reach team or company-wide goals.

Pro tip: If you’re unsure whether or not you’re guilty of this, ask your teammates to specify a time frame within the body of their emails to help you keep track of priorities.

If you don’t have time to respond immediately, one HubSpotter suggests shooting them a quick ‘I’m held up right now, but I’ll look this over this afternoon or tomorrow’ message.”

3. Be reliable.

Outside of prompt email responses, being reliable overall will go a long way. Your coworkers want to know they can trust you to complete assignments, offer support, and provide assistance during tough times.

Reliability not only improves your relationships. You’ll also play an important role in pushing projects across the finish line.

“To me, a great coworker is a reliable coworker, someone I know will get things done one time and with great execution,” says Jamie Juviler, a marketing manager at HubSpot. “That’s especially important in projects with many stakeholders and moving parts. If everyone stays on track, things get done.”

4. Be humble.

Being humble doesn’t mean selling yourself short. Instead, humility actually shows that you have a clear perspective, and you’re self-aware. In fact, this attitude is one of HubSpot’s core values.

In an office setting, this ability to recognize your own limitations can make it easier for you to build meaningful relationships with your coworkers. You’ll also be able to ask for help when needed, which improves the quality of your work.

Pro tip: Ask your colleagues for assistance when needed. This signals to them that you’re open to other ideas. They’ll also feel comfortable reaching out to you for your expertise in the future. Sounds like a win-win!

5. Create clear documentation.

You may be great at your job, but your impact will be minimized if no one knows what you do.

Take the time to clearly document your role, how you complete these tasks, and which processes you own. A few written documents (or even bullet points) can help people understand how to work best with you.

“Whether you’re in a small or large team, taking the time for proper process, project, or training documentation will make you the ultimate team player — all while saving you some time in the long run,” says Bianca D’Agostino, a senior marketing manager and SEO strategist at HubSpot.

Documentation becomes even more important if you are at a global company with employees in different time zones.

“My teammates and I take extra time and care noting down what we know, what we’re asking of each other, and being super transparent about our timelines/goals,” D’Agostino adds. “Since our team is global and scattered across a few different time zones, this skill has made our team so much stronger!”

6. Reach out to new teammates.

New job nerves are the pits. You toss and turn the night before your big first day, worrying about everything from what shirt will look best to whether or not your fun facts actually are some semblance of fun.

Experienced workers, do your part to help new team members feel at ease. Make an effort to help them get situated during their first few days or weeks on the job.

“It’s always awkward being the ‘noob’ walking into a room of unfamiliar people, so sit next to them at their first meeting. It’s a small gesture that will make them feel all the more welcome,” suggests Anum Hussain, a former team manager at HubSpot. Today, Anum is the head of content marketing and audience growth at Reforge.

Pro tip: Ask your new teammates welcoming questions, or invite them to join you for lunch (either in-person or virtually).

7. Steer clear of gossip.

Ah, the office water cooler. Whether in an office or on a Zoom call, we all can fall victim to slipping in a cheeky comment or two.

It’s easy to get caught up in complaining about Steve’s work ethic or to gush about a suspicious relationship between two interns. However, engaging in office gossip is both risky and unprofessional. Plus, gossip can result in some pretty sticky situations.

Pro tip: Keep lines of communication open. The more transparent and honest you and your team are with one another, the less room there is for speculation.

(Want more on this? Check out this post on how to deal with office politics).

8. Avoid annoying office habits (remote or in person).

We all have quirks and idiosyncrasies. Even so, self-awareness matters, as does keeping tabs on behaviors that rub colleagues the wrong way.

So which office habits are considered annoying? In 2022, Quality Logo Products surveyed over 1,900 workers to find out. Interrupting (48%), taking credit for someone else’s work (47%), and oversharing (45%) ranked among the most annoying behaviors.

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Working remotely doesn’t automatically solve the problem. Quality Logo Products found that remote workers face a different set of challenges.

Slow responses to emails or instant messages ranked as the most annoying behavior in remote colleagues at 48%. Background noise during calls (47%) and eating on camera (43%) were also at the top of the list.

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The lesson: Be considerate of others and how you are in each space. If you share a common space such as a meeting room, be sure to clean up after yourself. If you’re on a Zoom call, be aware of your settings. These are simple tasks that truly go a long way for everyone around you.

“It took me a few weeks into my first job out of college to realize just how loud my chewing was in the roomful of quiet, concentrating people. Were my coworkers wearing headphones because they liked listening to music, or because I’d been chowing down on carrots for the last 20 minutes?” jokes Lindsay Kolowich Cox, a former marketer at HubSpot.

For more tips on how to be more considerate in the office, check out Lindsay’s article on breaking annoying office habits.

9. Share your resources.

Take a look at the people you work closely with. They’ve all been hired for a reason, right? Maybe Nathan is really great at problem-solving, while Sue can negotiate like no other. There’s something you can learn from everyone.

Regardless of our unique strengths and specific titles, sharing helpful resources can benefit your whole team.

“Find something particularly inspiring or thought-provoking? Whether it’s a blog post or intriguing design, it could be just what your neighbor needs to kickstart their big project,” insists one HubSpotter.

10. Gather feedback.

Competition hurts collaboration. Make sure your team has a psychologically safe environment where they feel encouraged to share ideas. That can include offering suggestions or pitching something entirely new.

“One of the biggest, and sometimes hardest, things you can do as a teammate is giving space to other coworkers to pitch their ideas and suggestions (even if you disagree with them),” says Pamela Bump, the manager of HubSpot’s Growth Team.

“When you work with or manage a team, it’s easy to hog the keys to the car. Because many workplaces can feel competitive, this is an instinct we all struggle to shove off.”

If you struggle with creating the space for contribution, remember that more voices can unlock new perspectives. A colleague can help you solve that problem you’ve been struggling with for months.

“Especially when building something from scratch, more voices can lead to more success,” Bump says. “By building a time or space for people to share their thoughts … you can get those great perspectives without getting overwhelmed by too much feedback.”

Pro tip: Consider building a feedback session into your meetings, holding a dedicated brainstorming workshop, or creating a collaborative Google Doc to gather ideas.

11. Be respectful of people’s time.

It’s no secret that we are all busy. Often, we wish there were more than 24 hours in a day.

While you can’t resolve these problems with the wave of a wand, you can take small steps by respecting your coworkers’ time. Be aware that 5 minutes here and 20 minutes there can add up during the day. Make an effort to show up on time and come prepared.

“If a meeting ends early, don’t try to fill the time. If a meeting doesn’t need to happen anymore, cancel it. Being respectful of people’s time is appreciated,” urges a HubSpotter.

12. Find ways to connect online.

If you work in a hybrid or remote environment, you’ll need to try a bit harder to form close connections with coworkers. Instead of being able to peer over your cubicle to say hi to neighbors, you now have to schedule in time for those casual catch-ups.

Pro tip: Set up weekly Zoom lunches, monthly team show-and-tells, or just ping a friend living across the country to grab a virtual coffee. These simple conversations go a long way, especially when it’s so easy to get caught up in heads-down work at home.

Aside from being a great excuse to socialize during the day, they provide a shared experience to look forward to while strengthening your company’s identity and culture.

13. Make valuable introductions.

Heard one of your coworkers is looking for a freelancer for the project they’re working on? If you know just the person, make a connection.

“Two networks are always better than one,” insists Eric Peters, a product lead at HubSpot.

Help your coworkers achieve their goals by making introductions between folks who would benefit from knowing each other.

Maybe you recommend a potential candidate for an open position or connect a new hire with a tenured employee to provide them with some guidance. These intros show that you’re a team player.

14. Get coworker buy-in.

If you’re running a project or initiative, make sure your coworkers feel connected toward their work. A common mission improves the culture of your team and strengthens colleague relationships.

“When you include people, try their ideas, or even just take the time to hear them out, they feel included — even if you respectfully disagree with one or two suggestions,” suggests Bump. “Involving your team will motivate them around a joint project which will be good for you and them in the long run.”

Buy-in creates a better work experience and establishes you as a trusting, empathetic colleague.

“Many will even want to work with you more often,” Bump says, “all because YOU gave them a platform to speak when others would have just micromanaged.”

15. Lighten the OOO workload.

Anytime you miss a couple of hours or days in the office — whether for personal reasons, a vacation, or an illness — it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

With this feeling in mind, act accordingly: Help your coworkers avoid this vicious cycle by stepping in to lend a helping hand when and where you can.

“Offer to help take over some of their work so they don’t come back to a pile of it and won’t worry about getting stuff done when they need to be away,” suggests Corey Wainwright, HubSpot’s former director of content.

Even if you can’t add more to your plate, remember to act with empathy and remind your colleague that they should take whatever time they need to catch up. There’s no need to make up all of the work in one day.

16. Listen.

Often, the most helpful thing you can do for a coworker is to give them a chance to talk through something. Whether it’s regarding their strategy to approach a complicated task or solely to share how much is going on in their personal lives and how they feel overwhelmed.

Active listening is a skill that will help you empathize with what your coworker is going through, even if you can’t put yourself in their shoes directly.

“I appreciate a teammate who is an active listener. I like to feel like I’m being understood and listened to during conversations, and I hope my coworkers also feel that from me,” says Flori Needle, a marketing manager at HubSpot. “I let people know that I’m listening by asking follow-up questions and being engaged during conversations, and I appreciate the same from my coworkers.”

Pro tip: Sometimes, people don’t need you to propose a solution. Instead, they just need to hear their thoughts out loud. Lending that ear can go a lot farther than you may assume.

Furthermore, these small acts of kindness help establish trust and comradery, feelings that bolster a productive and effective work environment.

This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. 

The beginning of January is like the Superbowl for fitness and wellness brands.

Year after year consumers set goals to form healthier habits in the new year and 2023 is no exception. According to Statista’s Top New Year’s Resolutions Survey, 52% of American adults want to exercise more, 50% hope to eat healthier, and 40% are looking to lose weight this year. 

You would think fitness brands would be going all-in to capitalize on this momentum, right? Well, upscale fitness chain Equinox had other plans.

On January 1, Equinox updated the company website and shared controversial social posts claiming the company “Doesn’t Speak January” and isn’t allowing new members to join during the month to prioritize those who are dedicated to fitness year-round.

The statement has been controversial, with some consumers criticizing the brand for shaming those at the beginning of their wellness journey and being exclusionary.

Reading through the tweet replies left me wondering: do we truly expect a company that charges upwards of $330 per month for membership dues to be the poster child for inclusivity?

New Year’s resolutions, especially those geared towards fitness, have a bad reputation because so few people achieve them. Many believe those who don’t achieve their resolutions fail because they aren’t motivated enough to stick with it when in reality it’s often because people don’t have the tools, resources, and support they need to make lasting changes.

As a consumer, frequent year-round gym-goer, and former fitness professional, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and disagree with Equinox discouraging new members from joining in January.

As a marketer, I could see the messaging from Equinox did exactly what it intended to do — create a viral moment that got people talking (we know the brand is no stranger to controversy).

If the goal of a brand is to help people live healthier lives, forming the habit of exercise should be encouraged year-round especially when people feel motivated and excited to do so. But I would argue that isn’t the primary goal of Equinox.

Instead, the goal is to sell a lifestyle that prioritizes upscale experiences and social status, not accessible wellness solutions.

When exclusivity is part of a brand’s ethos, exclusive messaging may be disappointing but is ultimately on-brand. 

Marketing Snippets

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Remember the “Tide Pod Challenge?” That horrendous time at the beginning of 2018 when adolescents filmed themselves ingesting laundry detergent?

While it was a funny (albeit dangerous) start to the new year, this small boost of infamy was a PR mess for the detergent brand in question, Tide, whose crisis communication team had to figure out how to respond to America’s teens swallowing their toxic product. Tide’s parent company, Procter & Gamble, was swift in their response, thanks in large part to their communication plan.

In this post, you’ll learn how to create an effective communication plan that prepares you and your company for any situation.

Communication plans can help you clarify the purpose of a product launch or new initiative and officially determine the messages you want to deliver to your intended audience(s).

Additionally, a communication plan can help your business during a time of crisis if a previous marketing message or business decision damages your reputation with internal stakeholders or customers.

If companies don’t have a communication plan, they’ll be unprepared when disaster strikes. It may be unlikely that your company will find teenagers eating your product for internet fame, but not so unlikely that you’ll never find yourself needing a procedure to effectively handle difficult situations.

Need a free, easy-to-use communication plan template? HubSpot has 12. Check out this toolkit for everything you need to build your own.

This is part of a template offered in the toolkit. For this particular template, the organization is separated into phases, a description of that phase, and who needs to complete that action.

Download These Templates for Free

Now that we’ve gone over how a communication plan can be helpful, let’s learn how to write one that will be effective.

1. Conduct an audit of your current communications materials.

Before sitting down to get rollin’ on your plan, you need to first decide where it’ll fit into your business. So it’s important you complete a “state of the union,” or an audit of the current climate of communications within your company. This can help you identify any problem areas.

For instance, let’s say you need to create a communications plan for a new product launch. To create your plan, you’ll first need to perform an audit to identify gaps in your current marketing approach.

After performing the audit, you might find there is a major gap in your marketing materials in which you rarely discuss a topic that aligns well with your new product. You’ll want to ensure this topic makes it into your communications plan.

To conduct an audit, you’ll need to carefully gather and interpret data on your current marketing plan performance and build a path forward based on those results. Additionally, you might consider hosting focus groups or sending surveys to your audience to find gaps in your current communications materials.

Of course, you’ll want to have the goal of your communications plan in-mind when conducting an audit. In the example above, noticing you’re lacking material on a certain subject only matters if your goal is to drive leads and conversions to a product that aligns with that subject.

For instance, if you’re launching a new email marketing tool and you notice you’re lacking content on Google Ads, this might not be relevant information for your communications plan. However, if you’re missing content on email marketing best practices, that’s important information you can use to tailor your communications plan appropriately.

2. Set SMART goals for your communications plan based on the results from your audit.

After your audit, you’ll want to lay out a few goals based on the data from the results. What do you want to achieve with this plan?

When in doubt, remember that your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based.

For instance, if a small agency is writing a communications plan for its client, they might write a goal along these lines: “We plan to increase employment applications for our client by 25% over the course of one quarter.”

Alternatively, perhaps your HR team needs to write a communications plan to pitch designing a new growth matrix for individual contributors who don’t want to become managers.

If that’s the case, your HR team will need to identify specific goals they hope to achieve as a result of their plan, even if the results are less quantifiable — for instance, their goal might be to “increase employee retention rates by 10% over the next year” or even “increase employee satisfaction, as indicated by their next NPS scores.” They’ll need to pitch these goals to stakeholders to get leadership on-board.

Download Your Free SMART Goal Template

3. Identify the audience to whom you plan to deliver your communications plan.

Good communication starts with knowing and understanding your listener. In this case, if a crisis communication plan is for stakeholders, which one(s) are you writing for? Stakeholder examples include employees, investors, customers, local government officials, or media outlets.

If you’re writing for media outlets, a press release detailing your goals is a good idea for that audience. There should be a process for who will speak to the media outlets, an outline of what they will say, and an action plan put in place moving forward.

Alternatively, if your audience is your employees, you might want to create an up-to-date internal document for employees to refer to, as well as the contact information for the internal DRI if they have follow-up questions.

4. Outline and write your plan, keeping your audiences in-mind.

When you’re ready to outline and write your plan, it’s likely easiest if you start with a table or chart to identify the messages you need to promote, to whom you’re targeting those messages, and on which channel(s).

Once you’ve created a general outline, here’s how you’ll want to structure your communications plan (feel free to copy these sections into a Table of Contents for your own plan):

• Purpose (what is this communications plan for)
• Escalation Framework (including ‘first line of defense’ and ‘greater response team’)
• Roles and responsibilities of each employee
• Do’s and Don’ts
• How to maintain an effective response plan

(If you need help writing a communications plan, download our free, ready-to-use communications plan templates.)

When writing your communication plan, work with groups or representatives from your stakeholders to improve accuracy. Strategies should solve for goals or potential risks.

For instance, if you work for an agency aiming to promote a client’s product, a risk might be spending money on paid ads without a guaranteed ROI. To solve for that risk, the agency should detail different steps to ensure the ads are effective before going public.

5. Determine the channel(s) on which you need to deliver your messages.

The channels you choose to communicate with your audience depends on your message, and to whom you want to deliver that message. For instance, if you’re creating a communications plan for internal employees, you might send out your communications plan in a company-wide email, or use in-person team meetings to deliver your message.

Alternatively, if you’re communicating with customers, you might determine it’s best to communicate via an email newsletter, or via a press release.

Of course, the channel(s) you choose will depend on your goals, but it’s important as you’re writing your communication plan that you keep your distribution methods in-mind.

6. Decide which team members are responsible for delivering the message.

Once you determine your audience and channel(s) on which you’ll deliver your communications plan, figure out the DRI for delivering the message.

For instance, if your HR team is pitching a new growth matrix to leadership, you might ask your Director of HR to deliver the initial pitch in the first meeting. Once leadership is on-board, you might ask each HR representative to deliver one training session for each internal team to ensure every employee understands what’s changing internally, and why.

7. Estimate a timeline for how long each step should take.

You should have a ballpark estimate of how much time each step in executing your strategy will take. For instance, if your plan needs to go from the higher-ups down to the employees, it’s good to take into account how long going through the chain of command will take. It’s also smart to infer how long a media cycle will last.

For instance, for a minor slip-up on an ad campaign, the advertising agency might estimate the cycle for controlling the issue will take a month — including meeting with the client, stakeholders, and employees to discuss steps moving forward.

8. Measure the results of your plan after presenting to stakeholders, and determine successes and areas for improvement.

There’s always room for improvement. Measure the results of the plan after presenting it to stakeholders, and determine aspects that went well, and areas for improvement next time.

For instance, the ad agency might not have met its goal of increasing prospective applications by 25% within a quarter. They might rework their goals to give themselves more time or pivot their quarterly focus to fit those goals.

Alternatively, if you notice certain language in your communications plan evokes a level of stress or fear with internal stakeholders, consider how you can re-word next time to ensure your communications plan feels helpful, beneficial, and positive.

Some aspects of building a communication plan can be a “choose your own adventure” journey. The key is choosing aspects that best reflect what your business needs in times when effective communication is key. What do your stakeholders need to know, and how are you going to best communicate that?

Communication plans can get tricky, but writing an effective one will prove itself with its longevity. The following communication plans include analysis for stakeholders you’d respond to and the procedures for what to include in those communications.

1. Strategic Communication Plan

Bright Hub Project Management’s communication plan explains how, when, and why communication happens within its organization.

This example is great because it details how communication managers write crisis plans and acknowledges that sometimes the busy marketer or project manager takes on this responsibility.

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2. Project Communication Plan

Here’s an example of a Billing Upgrade Project from Simplicable. This communication plan maps out all the important meetings and documents needed for the project. As you can see, it also includes necessary sections including audience, goals, format, and DRI.

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3. Marketing Communication Plan

A marketing communication plan is essential for communicating to your target market, especially when launching new products or initiatives. This example from Smartsheet allows you to plan marketing communications strategies for customers, sales prospects, media partners, internal stakeholders, and events.

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4. Corporate Communication Plan

Corporate communication plans outline how organizations communicate internally and externally. This example from Smartsheet is a nine-step roadmap that includes space for a mission statement, executive summary, situation analysis, key messages, and more.

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5. Crisis Communication Plan

This communication checklist below, by Prezly, gives a great overview of the details of a crisis plan from beginning to end. It can be used as an effective guide when drafting a crisis management strategy.

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Communication Planning Tips

Communication planning can be tricky, so here are some extra tips to keep in mind to help your plan shine: when describing procedures for handling crises, include who the situation involves. This lets stakeholders envision decision-making processes.

Additionally, if you’re part of a larger company with a broad stakeholder list, it’s okay to split up target audiences for your plan.

For instance, maybe your audience is more than just “consumers.” Split stakeholder groups for easier comprehension and more distinct solutions.

Ultimately, your communications plan needs to clearly and succinctly provide necessary information to everyone involved in the business decision, product launch, or PR crises. Use the strategy mentioned above, as well as our communication plan templates, to ensure yours is as effective as possible.

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