Category Archives: B2B

Have you ever heard of the law of attraction? It sounds ‘woo-woo’ but stay with me here. It’s a philosophy that means we can attract into our lives whatever we’re focusing on. More simply put, positive thoughts will naturally bring positivity your way.

Organic marketing works similarly. The goal is to naturally attract your audience to your brand or business. But how do you do that?

In this post, we’ll go over what organic marketing is and how it’s different from paid forms of marketing.

The main goal of organic marketing is to increase brand awareness and build a connection with your audience, whether through educational or entertaining content. Of course, as a business, you’ll need multiple ways to attract leads and convert users. Organic marketing is just one way to do that (paid marketing is another, which we’ll dive into below).

With organic marketing, you can attract visitors to your site, who will hopefully convert to paid customers eventually. The goal is to keep your business top of mind when it comes time for a consumer to make purchasing decisions.

Additionally, organic marketing impacts your paid marketing efforts because if someone organically comes across your website, you can retarget them later with paid ads (on social media, search engines, etc.).

Ultimately, the goal of organic marketing is to drive traffic to your site. While you’ll use social media channels, the best place to spend your time with organic marketing is SEO. In fact, SEO drives 1000%+ more traffic than organic social media.

To measure the effectiveness of your organic marketing efforts, you’ll look at which content is driving the most traffic to your site, leads generated from those campaigns, and which channels drive the highest amount of high converting traffic to your site.

Organic Marketing Examples

Before we dive into the differences between organic and paid marketing, let’s look at some examples of organic marketing:

• Unpaid social media posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tik Tok, etc.
• Blog posts (this very post you’re reading is an organic marketing effort)
• Guest posts
• User-generated content
• Email newsletters
• SEO
• Online PR and link generation
• YouTube

Now, let’s learn a little bit more about inorganic, or paid marketing.

Inorganic marketing strategies include paid search ads, paid social media ads, sponsored posts, display ads, video ads on YouTube, etc. With paid media, you can micro-target your ideal audience and reach people who might never have heard of your business otherwise.

While organic marketing is more like word-of-mouth marketing, paid marketing is similar to sales-focused marketing. The goals for the two are very different. One is to attract audiences and increase brand awareness and the other is to convert audiences on a specific campaign.

You’ll measure the success of paid marketing through return on ad spend (ROAS), driving impressions, achieving high conversion rates, etc.

Now that we know more about the differences between organic and inorganic/paid marketing, let’s dive into how to build an organic marketing strategy.

1. Analyze your current traffic habits.

To build an organic marketing strategy, you should analyze your audience’s current traffic habits on your site and then compare them to your ideal audience.

First, it’s important to know where you get the most organic traffic currently. Is it from your YouTube channel, blog posts, or email newsletters?

Then, think about how your ideal audience usually discovers a business like yours. Do they rely on industry publications, social media, or review sites?

It’s important to understand what type of organic traffic that your target audience is consuming so that you can create that content. Additionally, you need to understand what organic traffic is already working for your business so you can continue creating that content.

Organic marketing only works when you truly understand your audience and what they want to see.

2. Create content.

Once you know which channels you want to focus on and where your target audience spends their time online, then it’s time to start creating content. However, before you can just create content, you need to brainstorm the types of content assets you want to create and build a list of several ideas.

For instance, if you want to focus on blogging, do your keyword research and competitor analysis, and then build a list of keywords you can create posts around. Then, you can start creating content.

However, if you want to focus on creating case studies or research, you’ll have to do first-hand research, and then decide how you’ll publish your findings.

Before you can create content, you’ll need to know which platforms and channels you want to focus on.

3. Optimize your content.

If you were to ask what makes organic content work, the answer would be SEO. You’ll want to optimize all your content so that it will show up on search engines and social media platforms. For example, the strategies might be similar, but you’ll optimize your blog content, video descriptions on YouTube, and social media posts.

To optimize this content, usually, the strategies involve incorporating keywords into your content, having a great design, and using metadata to let search engines know what your content is about.

4. Evaluate and improve.

Lastly, the key to any organic marketing strategy is to evaluate and iterate. You can use tools, like HubSpot’s SEO marketing software to plan your SEO strategy, optimize your content, and measure real return on investment.

This type of software will help you measure and keep track of your KPIs so you can see what’s working and what isn’t.

Organic marketing is all about bringing people to you, instead of reaching out to people via paid methods. With organic marketing, you’ll create several types of content to keep people engaged and interested in your brand. When it comes time to make a purchasing decision, they’ll think of you first.

Emerging platforms provide a unique opportunity for marketers. While it’s important to try new things in your marketing, is it worth trying new things if the platform is still so new that you don’t know if you’ll find success? For example, the once dismissed TikTok is now a social media channel with immense value for all different kinds of businesses.

Discord is now an emerging platform posing the same questions as TikTok once did. Many marketers are unsure how it works and whether it makes sense to leverage the tool as an experimental strategy.

If you’re curious, this post will explain what Discord is, whether it makes sense to join the platform, and how to market your brand or business if you do.

What is Discord?

Discord is a voice and chat platform where users join conversation servers, sometimes through exclusive invites, and talk to other members about niche topics. Initially launched in 2015 for gamers, it has since grown to house a diverse group of users, from influencers to content creators to businesses using the platform as an alternative to Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Considering that it has experienced considerable growth and now caters to various groups, it makes sense that marketers may be curious about joining the platform and seeing if it can help them meet their marketing needs.

Can you advertise on Discord?

Yes, and no.

There are no native advertising tools that you can find on other social media platforms like Facebook or TikTok, but you can still advertise your business organically through community engagement; “Brands can authentically engage with consumers on Discord by leveraging what is already appealing about Discord to consumers — forming relationships around common interests and having discussions in real-time,” said Jesse Nicely, VP and group strategy director at Cashmere Agency, to Marketing Dive.

Which brands should use Discord?

Most businesses can benefit from using Discord, but the benefits are significant for those looking to create an always-on, engaged community of like-minded people that are interested in what your business has to offer. 

Kenny Layton, Discord’s Head of Talent Partnerships, said to EDM.com, “We like to call ourselves the 24-hour diner of the internet, where communities can just come and hang out with each other at any time they want.” While it is possible to create a community on other social channels, most people follow a wide variety of accounts, creators, brands, etc., but your Discord community is focused solely on your business.

Brands that are interested in learning more about their audience should also consider using Discord; “A lot of the time with artists they’re always having to guess what the fans want or are thinking…there’s no better way to know what your fans want than to have them tell you. That can inform…marketing and advertising spend. That data is valuable,” says Brian Barnett to EDM.com.

However, as mentioned above, it is an emerging platform. There are no specific tools for advertising your channel, but, again, it can help you create relationships with your audience, which is a driving factor of customer loyalty.

If you’re interested in leveraging the platform, let’s discuss the different ways you can promote your brand on Discord.

How to Promote Your Brand on Discord

Build your own community.

The best way to promote your brand on Discord is to build a business-specific community server, along with different related channels for conversation. You can then invite users to join, have them find you organically through browsing the platform, or promote it on your other social channels and in marketing materials.

Marques Brownlee, a technology YouTuber, has a Discord community channel called the MKBHD. His community centers around discussions of his content, like podcasts and new videos, but he also created additional channels to promote different topics of conversation, as shown in the image below.

Music streaming service Spotify also has a Discord community that features the channel #listeningparty (shown in the image below). Active users can share links to playlists they’re currently listening to, and voice chat about the music.  

Within your community, you can further promote your brand by sharing links to your external social profiles, as beauty brand Starface has done for their Twitter account in the image below.

In addition to advertising your business, you can also use Discord as a tool for customer service by creating specific channels to house answers to frequently asked questions, or where users can ask questions and get answers from you or other active community members.

When you create a community, you can also set rules to ensure that everyone is respected and welcomed and designate moderators to patrol the channel to ensure rules get followed.

Join communities and servers relevant to your business offerings.

Another way to promote your business on Discord is to join other channels or servers relevant to your business and engage in conversations. Most channels are moderated, but you’ll likely be allowed to share links to your content, like high-quality blog posts that help you to draw in new users.

Can and Should You Advertise Your Brand on Discord?

Nicely said, “Discord’s fast-paced nature makes it fertile ground for emergent culture and trends, and allows brands the opportunity to constantly engage with consumers on interesting topics.”

While the platform doesn’t have the built-in advertising features on other channels, it can be extremely useful for marketers looking to build a community of like-minded users who enjoy your business and want to engage in conversation. However, as noted before, Discord is still an emerging platform for marketing, so it can be challenging to get your foot in the door or see immediate success.

If you take the time to create a unique Discord community with different channels for conversation, engage with users in your community, and you provide them with high-quality content that they enjoy, you’ll likely find yourself with an active channel that teaches you more about your audience.

Tips That Agents Should Embrace

1. Promote the town, not just the house.

Homebuyers want to know the good, bad, and ugly of each town to which they’re considering a move. Yet, most real estate blogs simply give buyers basic demographic statistics and perhaps some flowery language about the area. Instead, use your social media channels to provide potential clients a far richer understanding of the markets you serve, letting them know the pros and cons of each neighborhood.

Many cities have a “@CityOf …” Twitter handle, which you can mention directly in your own tweets. Use these handles to promote properties you have listed in that city. City accounts on Twitter tend to be receptive to these shout-outs and might retweet you — increasing your post’s reach to their followers.

Instagram Business accounts are also prime real estate (no pun intended) for you to post beautiful photos of the town in which your properties are listed.

2. Be yourself.

I’ve heard of many realtors who pay a ghost writer to write their marketing copy, yet this approach has its shortcomings. The copy simply doesn’t ring true; it fails to give clients a sense of who you really are. Studies show that consumers want to make a personal connection with those whom they do business with, and there’s no shortcut to writing your own authentic social media content that resembles who you are as a real estate agency.

Let your personality shine through across each social network you’re on. It’s a great way to open a dialogue with a client before they ever pick up the phone.

3. Educate your buyers.

Some of the most trying days as a real estate agent prove to be great lessons we can share with our clients. Talking about common real estate pitfalls makes your buyers smarter, giving them a smoother browsing experience and qualifying them to work with you.

Social media is the perfect outlet for this. If you have a blog, consider writing articles about home-buying tips, and use social media to promote them. Perhaps you can tweet a “Real Estate Fact of the Day,” hashtagging #realestate while you’re at it.

4. Chat with your followers.

Home buyers today expect instant responses to their questions, but where they ask those questions has changed.

Home buyers are calling real estate agents much less than they used to with questions about a property or neighborhood. They’re going online, using Facebook’s Recommendations feature, and tweeting at real estate offices on Twitter. Be ready for this outreach, answer them, and use these questions as an opportunity to start dialogue with followers who might be in the early stages of the buying process.

5. Respond to comments, good and bad.

Respond promptly and courteously to engage readers who post comments on your social media sites. One caveat: Don’t feel compelled to respond to those who post abusive comments. Social media does lure its share of online bullies, and not every remark aimed at your is worth your breath.

Resist the temptation to get into battle with your harshest critics, and acknowledge those who praise your service. A lot of people who reach out to you are simply looking for more information about a listing — or a listing they might’ve thought was still available, but has been sold or rented. Absorb their frustration and use their comment as an opportunity to pivot their interest to other properties.

Practices That Agents Should Avoid

6. Shouting about your home listings

It’s fine to let people know about the homes you’re marketing, but don’t make the house itself the primary topic of your conversation. Think about common questions home buyers and sellers ask you, and turn these into posts. Provide valuable content and you’ll keep people coming back.

7. Forgetting video

There are more than 8 billion daily video views on Facebook.

It’s tempting to skip the expense of shooting and editing a video, but online video is an important element of home marketing. Think about it: Home buyers are visual buyers, and if done well, a video creates an emotional connection with them that they might not have from just a photo-based listing.

YouTube videos also improve your website’s ranking in search engines like Google — a common place where home buyers and renters start their search for a new home.

8. Assuming you’re only connecting with first-time buyers

According to a recent PDF by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 24% of home buyers in America are 41-50 years old or younger. About 22% of them are first-time buyers. If you think you’re just talking to first-time home buyers on social media, think again.

If you think you think you’re just talking to first-time home buyers on social media, think again.

Social networks like Facebook are great places to engage “fans” and learn what they’re looking for from their agent, but keep in mind they’re not all new to the buying process. Have content suited for all levels of home-buying experience ready to serve up to your fans and followers — you never know whom you’ll be connecting with.

9. Talking to yourself

A post, link, photo, or tweet on your profile might look nice to you, but it means very little if it doesn’t resonate with the people who are following your page.

Social media is more about listening than about talking. Pay attention to what people are saying about you and your brand. Solicit and gather feedback through informal polls or via free survey services like Survey Monkey or Google Forms. This will ensure each and every piece of content you share on social media reflects the interests of your customers.

10. Ignoring your existing clients

Invite your previous buyers and sellers to join you on social media. That way, your sites becomes richer communities of shared experiences and objective advice from those who recently completed the home buying/selling journey.

Using Social Media for Real Estate

It may not seem like the right channel to use for your industry, but using social media for real estate has various benefits. Most significantly, there are more than 3.78 billion social media users globally, and the average person spends close to 2 ½ hours using social media every single day. So, statistically speaking, your audience is already on social media — why not meet them where they already are?

Second, social media also offers targeted advertising options tailored to audiences in specific locations — isn’t that just what realtors look for? 

Lastly, having a social media presence helps you build brand awareness and generate trust with your audience. They may not be ready to make a purchase yet or even reach out to begin a conversion, but if they see you’re consistently active on your platforms, or they come across one of your advertisements, they may make a mental note of what you offer and come back to you when they’re prepared to begin their process. 

COVID-19 has also impacted the real estate market, just as it has for other industries, so leveraging social media will help you stay up-to-date with current trends.

Social Media House-Buying Trends from COVID-19

While social media has always been a tool for realtors to leverage, COVID-19 has brought it center stage. 

One of the biggest changes is the rise of virtual showings. Some agencies reserved virtual viewings for specific circumstances or luxury homes, but it has now become a common practice: “We used to keep our virtual tours for our luxury homes, but we’ve found it adds to the home buying experience for our clients,” says Lisa Alexander, president of Del-Co Realty. 

As health and safety restrictions are lifted, virtual showings are likely here to stay as buyers have realized a significant benefit from them: reduced costs. Buyers searching for new homes in locations they’re not in can save time and money on travel costs until they’re sure about their options. 

The length of the searching process is also lowered, as buyers can view multiple homes in a short period via online video or virtual tour, as opposed to waiting weeks for an open house or for there to be a space for them during a showing. 

Given its relevance, let’s go over the various ways to leverage different social media platforms to share real estate content. 

Real Estate Social Media Content

Realtors can benefit from using many of the same platforms that most businesses can benefit from — Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Let’s discuss how you can use them, and then go over content ideas to share on each platform. 

Facebook for Realtors

Facebook is an excellent tool for real estate professionals. It offers various high-quality options: targeted ads for local listings, Facebook messenger for conversations with clients, and the ability to share multiple forms of multimedia: images, videos, and even live video. 

Instagram for Realtors

On Instagram, Realtors can create a business account and include contact CTA buttons so those who land on your profile can send you a message on the platform, an email about a property image they saw that intrigued them, or other personalized options. 

The platform is great for sharing high-quality image content, and the image below is an example of a new property announcement. 

 

TikTok for Realtors

TikTok is an emerging platform for all industries, but it can be extremely beneficial for realtors, especially considering that the audience favors behind-the-scenes type content, which is exactly what house walkthroughs are (the video below is an example).

 

In addition, TikTok users don’t expect content to be high-quality or professional-grade, which is even better for realtors that can just use a phone camera on-site to take a video. Below we’ll go over additional content ideas to post on social media. 

Real Estate Social Media Ideas

Going live for open house and virtual showings.

Realtors can do this on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and a benefit to going live is that the videos can be saved and later shared to your profile, acting as an additional form of content. 

Answering audience questions. 

All social media platforms are a great place to answer audience questions, as you can engage with your audience and develop a rapport that leads to a working relationship. The TikTok below is an example of a realtor answering an audience question about financing a home. 

 

Another benefit to answering questions publicly is that it’s public, and everyone can see your responses. This can help interested buyers approach you with qualified, further-down-the-funnel questions. 

Share customer testimonials and success stories.

All platforms are a great place to share customer testimonials, helping you use user-generated content to establish legitimacy and credibility with your audience. The Facebook post below is an example of a client testimonial. 

 

 

Property photos.

Property photos are a must for realtors on social media, especially on Instagram and Facebook. You can give clients a sneak peek of what to expect from the property and entice them to reach out to you to learn more through a virtual or in-person tour. 

Here’s an example of high-quality property photos on Instagram:

 

You can share property photos on TikTok as still images, but the platform is better suited for video. 

Property videos and tours. 

All three platforms are great for video, as it gives your audiences an interactive way to learn about different properties. If they’re still curious after watching the video, they can click on a CTA button on your profile to ask for more info. 

Here is an example of a property tour on TikTok:

 

And here’s an example from Instagram:

 

Realtor bios.

Relationships between agents and clients are important, as they trust you to take to heart the things that they care about and point them in the right direction. As a result, using social media to share realtor bios is worth considering. Your audience can learn more about what you offer and reach out if it feels like a good match. 

If you’re looking for more supporting information, the statistics below will further emphasize the importance of using social media for real estate. 

Real Estate Social Media Statistics

• In 2020, 44% of real estate agents generated the most clients via social media, only topped by referrals. 
• 82% of agents plan to improve their social media presence to grow their business in 2021. 
• The National Association of Realtors 2021 Realtor Technology survey found that 53% of respondents say that social media is one of the most valuable technology tools they use. 
• 74% of realtors use Facebook for professional purposes. 
• Clubhouse, a social media app that prioritizes audio, has real estate conversation clubs with over 50k followers. 
• 81% of older millennials, 80% of younger millennials, and 78% of Gen X found their home on a mobile device. 

At the end of the day, your followers may prove themselves to be your strongest property advocates. 

If you take the time to create a social media presence that includes high-quality photos of the properties you sell, you interact with clients, and you follow a consistent schedule, you’ll likely find yourself generating new clients and closing on more homes.

According to research by Podcast Insights, there are more than 2 million active podcasts and counting.

As a marketer for a small to mid-sized business, you might be interested in podcast sponsorship, but not know where to start. Mainly because there are so many podcasts to choose from. How do you know which podcasts your target audience is listening to?

To help you determine what ad strategy is right for you and where to put your podcast dollars, I spoke to HubSpot’s podcasting team and did some additional research to comprise a list of helpful strategies for finding, vetting, and advertising on a podcast that aligns with your brand.

Podcast Advertising Terminology

Tips for Finding and Sponsoring Podcasts

How to Advertise on Podcasts

Navigating Podcast Sponsorship

Podcast Advertising Terminology

Before we discuss the ins and outs of podcast advertising, let’s review the terminology you need to know before reaching out to podcast hosts and networks.

• CPM Rate: CPM stands for “cost per mille.” The CPM represents a flat standard rate advertisers pay for every 1,000 impressions.
• Host-Read Ad: a pre-recorded ad that is voiced by the host(s) of the podcast.
• Dynamic Insertion: the use of software to automatically insert ads into pre-existing podcast audio. These ads can be easily changed across a podcast’s entire catalog without making changes to the original audio file.
• Programmatic Ad: pre-recorded advertisements that do not feature the original host of the podcast. Programmatic ads are typically deployed using dynamic insertion.
• Pre-Roll Ad: an ad placed at the beginning of a podcast episode.
• Mid-Roll Ad: an ad placed near the middle of a podcast episode.
• Post-Roll Ad: an ad placed at the end of a podcast episode.
• CTA: Call to action; unique URLs and discount codes are typically included in podcast CTAs to measure the performance of an ad’s effectiveness on a particular podcast.
• Downloads: how many times a podcast episode has been downloaded from a podcast hosting site. The most common metric to determine the impressions/listens of a podcast.
• Live-Read Ad: an ad that is performed live during a podcast episode, as opposed to being scripted and edited or dynamically inserted into the episode.

Now that you’re familiar with the necessary terminology, let’s discuss how to find and sponsor podcasts.

 

1. Consider podcast demographics.

While different types of TV shows might attract different audiences or demographics, the podcast demographics don’t change drastically from show to show, according to HubSpot’s former Podcast Manager Sam Balter.

Balter explained that the podcast audience demographic, which is generally made up of “affluent educated millennials” is a “good audience for brands pretty much regardless of what show you’re on.”

Why is the podcast audience so good? Because of their age, income, and education level, this particular group of people is old enough to make purchasing decisions and has enough income to make those purchases. Because many of them have jobs or are in higher education, these listeners might be interested in learning about a wide range of products or services that make daily life or work easier for them.

According to Alanah Joseph, Senior Marketing Manager on the HubSpot Podcasts team, understanding the listener of the show is key to successful ad placements. She says:

“When reviewing the custom ad placements on HubSpot Podcast Network shows, we define success through more than one lens. We’re looking at the ad from the point of a listener. Does the ad feel like it’s an authentic part of the show? Is it enjoyable to listen to?

From the lens of an advertiser, we’re measuring success by the size of the audience, specifically the number of downloads. Although there are other metrics we’d like to track and report, we’re limited in the data we can collect.”

Another great thing about podcast listeners is that they’ll tune into podcast episodes for a longer amount of time than they will to other content, like video. The podcast audience also enjoys long-form podcasts that are 30 minutes or longer. Since there’s much less drop-off on a podcast compared to other forms of content, like video, this means that ads could be placed towards the beginning or end of an episode and still have a good chance of being heard.

2. Understand standard podcast ad pricing.

The next question you might be asking is, “How much will advertising on a podcast cost?”

If you’re new to the podcast advertising world, you might not know how ads are usually prices. You might be worried that all podcast ads might have vastly different prices — or that podcasters will charge a lot for a poor ad slot.

Podcast ad pricing might be more transparent than you think. According to Balter, podcasters and podcast networks commonly use the same formula to determine how much an ad in their podcasts will cost.

If you want to get a ballpark idea of what ad slots for a specific show might cost before reaching out to a podcast team or network, plug the metrics you can find for that show’s previous episodes into the formula shown below.

As mentioned in the terminology section, CPM stands for “cost per mille,” or cost per 1,000 impressions.

Balter says that the cost of a standard ad in a podcast usually costs between $10 and $50 with more popular podcasts also charging a premium.

However, if you want to do a more intensive promotion — such as a full sponsored podcast episode — this cost may vary based on what the content will entail from the podcasters. For example, Gimlet, a prominent podcast network that produces shows like Mastercard’s “Fortune Favors the Bold”, offers two tiers of advertising: audio ads and branded podcasts.

3. Look for podcasts that relate to your brand or industry.

Because the pool of podcasts is so large, there are plenty of opportunities to connect with niche audiences that relate to your specific industry.

When an ad relates to the topic of a podcast series or episode, it might feel more natural to the listener. It’s also strategically smart because listeners who are interested in this industry might identify with pain points that your service aims to solve.

For example, if you place an ad about your B2B recruiting service on a podcast that discusses human resources, listeners who own or manage a B2B company, or human resources employees, might want to use your service to make their jobs easier.

Here’s an example outside of the B2B world. On an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience“, a general podcast that zones in on topics like technology, science, and entertainment, Joe Rogan reads a script that talks about how he uses ExpressVPN and Cash App in his daily life. Before going into detail about how he uses these products, he also notes that these companies sponsored the episode.

In the ad, Rogan explains that he uses ExpressVPN to protect his internet data and personal information, while he uses Cash App to pay friends or make transactions on the go from his phone. If you can’t listen to the podcast, here’s a quick excerpt from the ad:

“With all the recent news about online security breaches, it’s very hard not to worry about where your data goes. Making an online purchase or simply accessing your email could put your private information at risk … That’s why I decided to take back my privacy using ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN has easy-to-use apps and runs seamlessly in the background of my computer phone tablet.”

Although Rogan notes that he’s reading sponsored material before beginning the segment, the services he discusses relate to technology, handy apps, and internet security, which are topics that he has covered on “The Joe Rogan Experience”. Additionally, these topics might be interesting to the millennial podcast audience which is highly tuned into smartphone and computer technology.

Lastly, because Rogan describes his own experiences with ExpressVPN, the segment feels less like an ad and more like a friendly recommendation. In fact, listeners who are fans of Rogan might trust that he has used the advertised product and that he had a good experience with it. If they think he’s a credible recommendation source, they might choose or consider ExpressVPN when looking for a data security provider.

After an example, you need a brief section that sums up what readers should get from the example. In this case, something like, “One of the main selling points of advertising on a podcast is that listeners are already comfortable with the host. When the host reads your ad copy, there’s already a level of trust between the host and the audience that wouldn’t be there with alternative mediums like video or display ads. It’s almost like a lightweight celebrity endorsement.”

4. Use your competitors for inspiration.

As with any new marketing or advertising technique, a competitive analysis can help you identify what similar companies are doing, as well as opportunities where you can get ahead of them.

If you have a direct competitor who has advertised on various podcasts, see if those shows might fit your ad strategy as well. Similarly, if there are brands in your industry that provide non-competing services and use podcast advertising, try to identify shows that they advertise on.

From there, you could either look into contacting these podcast producers or their networks or look for podcasts that have a similar level of success and discuss similar topics. While you shouldn’t directly copy what your competitor is doing, a competitive analysis could still inspire you to develop an ad strategy or promotional content that improves upon that of similar brands.

5. Purchase multiple ads for small shows rather than one for big podcasts.

As you start researching podcasts, you might find a long list of shows that will align very well with your product or service. When that happens, do you invest in one expensive ad for the biggest show with the most promising numbers? Or, do you use that money for multiple ads on different podcast episodes?

Balter says, “It’s better to play an ad multiple times on a smaller show than try to a single ad on a big show.”

If major podcasts have a huge listenership and ad premiums, you’ll have to pay much more for one or two ads that may or may not be memorable. While you might get great visibility, this could be a huge gamble. If the ads don’t provide ROI, you’ll lose ad dollars.

That’s why the safest strategy is to follow Balter’s advice and choose frequency over sheer audience reach.

Look at a number of smaller podcasts that still have engaging content and really relate to your product or business. Then invest a bit of your spend in each. If one or two don’t pan out well but the others do, consider swapping the low-performing podcasts out with other shows or purchasing more ads on episodes of podcasts that are giving you revenue or brand awareness.

6. Advertise on multiple podcasts within the same network.

If you plan to invest in multiple podcasts — or multiple ads within a podcast episode — and find a network that produces multiple shows that align with your product, consider building a relationship with that network and putting your ad dollars there.

In the podcast world, Balter explains that advertising on shows within the same network is called a “pulsing” strategy, adding that it’s better than airing multiple ads on one podcast episode but still can have similar reach.

“Because people who listen to Gimlet shows are likely to listen to other Gimlet shows, you can get a solid number of impressions off of a few shows over a relatively short amount of time without inundating listeners with the same ad over and over again.”

Here’s an example of a Hendrick’s Gin ad that Gimlet has circulated on a number of its podcasts and displayed on its advertising page.

The native ad begins by telling listeners that the episode they’re listening to is sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin. Then the ad’s narrator goes on to discuss the flavors associated with the beverage and how people who drink it are looking to escape from their mundane life.

This Hendrick’s ad feels unique but it speaks to a wide variety of people that could be bored with their lives and doesn’t note specific industries. The ad also doesn’t specify the podcast it’s on which makes it easy to place in many different ones.

7. Be vigilant of dishonest podcasters.

As you research various podcasts — especially those that are smaller, you might realize that it’s easy to find numbers and success metrics for some, while others are less transparent. Because of this, you’ll want to do some extra digging and properly vet the podcasts at the top of your list to make sure they’re legitimate.

Balter warns, “Downloads are not algorithmically verified, therefore people sometimes make up how many downloads their show gets. So, if you’re sponsoring a less reputable podcast, make sure to get download numbers for a single episode.”

If you want to verify that the podcast is giving accurate numbers before reaching out to them, here are a few steps you can take.

• Look at all the sites they post their podcasts on: If they post on a major site like SoundCloud or Spotify, you should be able to see general platform-provided view numbers to get an idea of how successful their podcast was.
• Look for them on social media: While podcasters might not be airing episodes on social media, they might have a following or a few social accounts to spread awareness of the show. If they do, look at the follower count, likes, and visual signs of engagement on these pages. If you can find signs of social engagement and a following, this might be a sign that they have a legitimate audience.
• Work with a credible network: Many credible networks might be transparent about podcast numbers to potential and current advertisers. Additionally, you can look at the success of the network’s other shows as evidence that they’re associated with engaging content.

When you do finally talk to the podcast producers, get as much specific data as possible about views and impressions. If they have or have had advertisers in the past, you might want to ask them if their advertisers have seen an ROI. If they can show proof that advertisers make more money than they spend on ad slots, this shows that ads on this podcast can be successful.

8. Consider purchasing back catalog space.

A back catalog is a collection of a podcast’s previously recorded episodes. Back catalog podcast episodes might still be listened to, shared quite regularly by listeners, and up for grabs when it comes to ad space.

Because back catalog episodes have already aired and don’t seem like an obvious ad opportunity, Balter says this tactic is “interesting and something a lot of people don’t consider.”

If you do decide to advertise in back catalog podcasts, zone specifically into evergreen episodes that will continue to remain relevant for a longer period of time.

For example, if you’re a marketer for an e-commerce home-shopping site, you could advertise in back catalog podcasts about DIY ideas or home decorating. This type of podcast won’t age drastically over time and might be relevant to anyone listening to podcasts about those topics.

While these podcasts might’ve already been promoted during their first launch, podcasters are often encouraged to re-promote evergreen back catalog content. Your brand could also share the podcast on your company’s social channels for some added promotion.

9. Determine what type of promotion you’d like to run.

While some companies like to create standard native ads that exist as pre-roll or mid-roll within a podcast episode, other brands might pay the podcast producers to create sponsored content.

Similarly, advertisers might want to script the ad and have the host read it, or have the host casually work product discussion into the podcast conversation, so it feels more natural. Some podcasts may only offer certain types of sponsorship options, but if you still want to consider the different types, here are a few with an example for each:

Native Ad:

A native ad is created by the brand for the podcast. With this common strategy, you’ll create a short audio clip that discusses your product, service, or another promotion related to your brand. These usually run for 30 seconds or less and sound a lot like audio ads you’d hear on traditional radio stations. These ads usually air as pre-roll or mid-roll ads after a podcast host says something like, “And now, a word from our sponsors.”

Below is an example of an ad for the Toyota RAV4. In the 30-second ad, a narrator describes all the unique features that make the car safe, reliable, and fast. Like the Hendrick’s Gin ad noted above, the ad doesn’t acknowledge a specific podcast so it can be shared on multiple different shows.

If you’re looking for inspiration for a quirkier native ad, check out GEICO’s list of ads, which have been aired on both radio and podcasts.

Sponsored Content:

With sponsored content or branded podcasts, you pay the podcast production team to create interesting content about a topic related to your industry of the company.

While the content might not discuss your product outright, the podcast hosts will note that your brand sponsored the podcast — and most likely include some information about your product or service.

If the podcast is valuable and interesting to the listener, they might remember your brand and affiliate informative content with your company.

One recent example was a mini-series called “The Sauce” in 2018. The podcast, sponsored by McDonald’s — and created by Gizmodo and Onion Labs — investigated why people rioted over the removal of Szechuan Sauce from the McDonald’s menu. While the podcast has since been removed from Apple podcasts, you can find a short preview for it on Gizmodo’s Facebook page.

Paid Interview:

This is a type of sponsored content where an expert from or affiliated with an advertising brand is interviewed in exchange for the sponsorship dollars. While this gives your company’s experts an opportunity to spread brand awareness and show their expertise, it also allows the podcast to create interesting interview content about a topic related to its own mission.

In the example below, Daymond John interviews a rep from ZipRecruiter, on the podcast, “Rise and Grind.” Because the podcast series regularly discussed business, entrepreneurship, and management, this ZipRecruiter-sponsored interview about hiring talent, still feels like a natural piece of content.

This paid interview tactic could also work for businesses in other industries as well. For example, if you’re a marketer for a cookbook publisher, you could pay for a chef who created some of a new book’s recipes to get interviewed on a podcast related to cooking, home-making, or DIY.

In another example, if your company sells medical devices, you could pay for your CEO or an executive to be interviewed on a podcast that touches on medical news or technological advances.

In either example, audiences who listen to those podcasts because they want to learn more about topics or products within their industry might hear the interviews, gain insight from the experts, and trust your brand more.

Product Placement:

This is a form of sponsored content where podcasters are paid to mention your product casually in the podcast’s discussion.

In a classic example, the “My Brother, My Brother, and Me” podcast aired an episode about Totinos which was sponsored by Totinos.

While the hosts played games and had random discussions about life, as they’ve done in most of their episodes, they were chewing Totino’s pizza rolls most of the time and made each game or featured piece of content center around the food product.

Direct Response Ads

This is a native ad that feels like a product placement where the host reads a short script written by the advertiser. The ad ends with the host telling listeners to do something, such as click a link or use a coupon code. Unlike the more traditional pre-roll or mid-roll native ad, the listener is still immersed in the experience of listening to the host.

Although the host notes that their discussion is sponsored, it still might make the listener feel like they are getting a solid recommendation from the host.

On Dax Shepard’s podcast, “The Armchair Expert,” he includes at least one direct response ad in the middle of each episode. At the 65:00 mark of this episode, Shepard reads a script that explains the benefits of using the meal-delivery service DoorDash. Then, he tells listeners to download DoorDash and use the code “DAX” to get $5 off of their first order:

10. Purchase ad spots online.

If you’re just looking to purchase a standard ad slot and already have an audio clip, some tools allow you to purchase space and target ads to appear on multiple podcasts.

For example, if you’re just planning to target one or two simple native ads to millennials on Spotify, you might want to use Spotify Ad Studio to create and launch basic native ads on the music platform. If you want to launch to multiple host-read ads in a number of different podcasts, you could consider using a service like Midroll, where you can submit ad information and purchase ad slots in a variety of different podcasts.

11. Or, reach out personally to podcasts you’d like to work with.

If you want to do something that requires more planning, like sponsored content, a paid interview, or preparing scripted product placements, you should make an in-person connection with podcasters. 

“By being intentional when looking for creators, we can create a truly collaborative environment and allow creators to infuse their personality and voice into our ads,” says Joseph.

Once you’ve done your research and found a few podcasts you’re interested in, reach out to begin discussing your advertising options. Send an email with a little bit about your brand and why you think you could work well with them as an advertiser. Be sure to also ask about their growth and key success metrics to confirm that they are as promising as you think.

Need help reaching out to potential podcast hosts or networks you’d like to sponsor? Check out the template below.

Once you find the podcasters you’d like to partner with, keeping them involved in the creative process is key. Avoid handing them a dry script to read verbatim. “I’ve learned the more we allow our podcasters to participate in the creation of the ad, the better the ad will be,” Joseph says. 

12. Monitor your progress.

Regardless of what type of promotion you purchase, you should be tracking your money spent compared to the money the advertisement earned. This will help you determine the ROI of your campaigns.

If you’re publishing promotions on multiple podcasts, this will be an important way to tell which might warrant more advertisements and which might require less to no ad spend.

With this post on marketing ROI, you can learn how to use a simple formula to calculate and find a few examples of how it can be used when strategizing in the real world.

How to Advertise on Podcasts

Ready to launch your advertising campaign on relevant podcasts? Here’s what you should consider.

1. Determine the type of ad you want to run.

As we reviewed above in the podcast terminology section, there are a few different types of podcast ads to consider. The right type of podcast ad for you will depend on your budget and the goals of your campaign.

Host-read ads tend to cost more than programmatic ads, however, according to Nielsen host-read ads are more effective because hosts have already established trust and recognition with their audiences.

2. Select the best ad placement for your campaign.

Additionally, ad placement and length matter. Though the first few minutes of a podcast reaches the widest audience, pre-roll ads, or ads that play at the beginning of a podcast episode, tend to have a lower CPM rate because users can easily skip over the ad.

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On the other hand, mid-roll ad placements tend to have a higher CPM rate because listeners who reach the middle of an episode tend to be more engaged and likely to follow a CTA. In terms of length, 30-second ad placements have an average CPM of $18, while 60-second ad placements have an average CPM of $25.

3. How to write a podcast ad.

Now that you know what type of ad you want to run and have determined the placement, it’s time to tackle the messaging. Whether you are doing host-read or programmatic ads, the on-air talent needs talking points from you to ensure the ad shares information that is relevant to your campaign.

Here are the elements to include when writing a podcast ad script.

Hook the Listener

Begin with a bold or attention-grabbing statement to get the listener’s attention and reduce the likelihood of them fast-forwarding through the ad.

Personal Story

Once the audience is hooked on the ad, the on-air talent should introduce the product and share a quick personal story outlining why they enjoy the product. A simple way to do this is to mention what problem they were experiencing, how they were introduced to the product, and the positive results or solutions they experienced after using the product.

Call to Action

Close the ad by creating a clear call-to-action (CTA) for the listener. A popular CTA used in podcast advertising is special codes and unique URLs specifically for that show. These are easy for the audience to remember because they are typically related to the name of the podcast, and can be easily measured for KPI tracking.

4. How to create a podcast ad.

Once the script has been finalized, share it with the on-air talent so they can record the ad as a standalone mp3 file. During the post-production process, the ad should be placed in the episode audio file during the designated placement time. If using dynamic insertion technology, upload the mp3 file to the podcast hosting software so it can be automatically played during the episode.

Navigating Podcast Sponsorship

The podcast landscape is a pool of growing opportunities for marketers. And, if you’re ready to start testing the sponsorship waters, be sure to keep these key tips in mind.

• Find podcasts that align with your brand: People are listening to an episode to get informed about a specific topic. If your ad aligns well with it, they might be interested in learning more about your product.
• Choose frequency over audience reach: It’s less risky and more efficient to invest in multiple ads on smaller podcasts rather than just one or two ads on a major podcast.
• Consider working with a network: Networks may provide more legitimate view numbers and have a variety of podcasts with similar audiences that you can air your ads on.

With the right strategy in place, you can get your product in front of an engaged community of potential buyers through podcast advertising.

This post is a part of Made @ HubSpot, an internal thought leadership series through which we extract lessons from experiments conducted by our very own HubSpotters.

A few months ago, I came to a startling realization: My job is meetings.

Maybe you can relate. From morning to night, I spend my time jumping from Zoom call to Zoom call. I race to grab a snack in the two minutes I’m afforded in-between calls, and I’m mentally exhausted by the end of the day. It’s a struggle to decompress before spending time with friends and family.

And, equally challenging, the amount of meetings I have takes away from my ability to get my work done.

I’m Chris Saly — an Engineering Lead at HubSpot.

As an engineer, my day job was code. Sure, we needed meetings to discuss things and stay updated as a team, but the main mechanism and value of my job was the quality and reliability of the code I produced.

Now, the primary value of my job is talking to others. Whether it’s as a mentor, being involved in tactical decisions, or helping set a strategic vision, most of these goals are communicated through meetings.

However, there are some very real consequences to my role as an EL. Among other things, my meeting-heavy life was taking its toll on my mental health, relationships, and workplace productivity.

I knew something had to change. Here, I’ll show you how I incorporated a framework into my calendar planning to reduce meetings, and take back control of my time.

My Job is Meetings

As an engineering lead, I manage the 12 engineers in my group and provide a strategic vision for the pillar in collaboration with my project management, business system analysts, and design peers.

We build internal tools and systems that support the HubSpot Sales, Success, Support, Marketing, and Operations teams to do their jobs day-to-day.

As a result, in additional to the typical duties of an EL at HubSpot, there is also a healthy dose of stakeholder management thrown in, as well.

The nature of my role means that meetings cover a wide range of topics. I might go from one meeting talking about the three year vision for HubSpot’s Sales team, to a systems design discussion on something we’re building right now, to a mentoring conversation with a Tech Lead and then into a critsit retrospective.

What I’ve realized is that my job is now meetings.

What prompted this?

I noticed a a number of days over the last several months where despite finishing work at 5 or 6, closing the laptop and entirely disconnecting from work, I was still amped up and my brain was in ‘work mode’ at 9 PM.

I was struggling to decompress. And considering nearly half of professionals report a high degree of exhaustion after numerous daily video calls, I’m willing to bet most of you understand this frustration.

My calendar on Oct 28th last year is a fair example of what a typical day would look like before Christmas:

• Start my day with a 1-1 with a Tech Lead to discuss mentorship and team health.
• Followed by a conversation across multiple product groups on the technical feasibility of a specific suggestion for a 2021 compass item.
• Then a kickoff meeting for our pillar that is partially selling the vision and partially a social chat.
• After a quick break we’re onto an in-depth technical overview of a system we need to start using as engineers.
• Capping off the day with a meeting with ELs+Director in Flywheel that, depending on the day, might cover people management, technical visioning, or our groups strategy.

So … What’s The Problem?

While I was feeling overwhelmed, I didn’t really understand why, so I took a couple of steps to figure out where things were going wrong.

First, I made a table of all of my meetings, categorized by their purpose, and calculated the amount of time I spent on them on a weekly basis (see below for more details on this)

I also did some soul-searching to see how I was feeling about my meetings. Whether there were days I dreaded, or days I really enjoyed, and tried to get in touch with why I felt that way.

This gave me a couple of realizations. First, I realized the ratio of time spent on supporting teams that report to me, working with peers, and staying abreast of things happening in the company felt right to me.

However, the sheer volume of meetings had crept up on me. Over the course of the previous six months, my group had doubled in size and meetings had passed a threshold without me noticing.

I also realized my meeting load on a weekly basis varied depending on when all my recurring meetings happened to fall.

And, perhaps most challenging of all, I realized there were no themes or focus to my meeting days. One meeting might be deep in the weeds, and the next would be a 30,000 foot view. Changing contexts throughout the day like that is hard, and takes unnecessary mental energy.

Plus, as I’m sure most can relate, the pandemic made my life outside of work Zoom-heavy, as well, with remote birthdays and happy hours. All of which is to say: I was tired of all the screen time.

When I thought about how this all affected me, I came up with the following list:

• I sometimes end the day not being able to turn of my brain and spend time with family & friends.
• It’s a mentally taxing thing to change contexts all day long time and it has an outsized effect on how much energy I have for myself at the end of the day.
• I often feel like I’m running in place trying to take notes, digest information, grab a snack, and use the bathroom as I go from one meeting to the next.
• I struggle to make time for things like AMAs, All Hands, Science Fair, Tech Talk & Hub Talks. After Christmas I had a 12 week tech talk backlog because I just didn’t have the time or capacity to watch them.

If this list resonates with you, don’t despair and keep reading. Fortunately, I came up with a solution to my meetings-heavy job.

A New Framework for Meetings

If my job is meetings, I needed a framework for those meetings to live in — which included boundaries and rules to keep my sanity, as the old ad-hoc approach clearly wasn’t cutting it any more.

First, here are the boundaries I set in regards to my mental health:

• No more than 90 minutes of meetings in one go: There’s only so long I can pay attention and go without a bathroom break.
• Scheduled 15/30 minute breaks before and after any 60 minute block: I book these in as ‘meeting gap’ meetings on my calendar to stop people booking over them.
• No more than 2.5 hours of meetings in the periods before or after lunch: If I go beyond this I can’t decompress in the evenings.
• Hard stop of meetings at 5 PM: I need at least 15 mins to wrap up my thoughts for the day, send a few slacks and take notes for tomorrow. Trying to send a message at 6pm when hangry isn’t a good idea.
• Friday has no meetings, and certainly no meetings after 3 PM on Friday: I use Friday as a catchup and focus day so keeping it free of meetings is key to that. I also need time to wind down from the week and if I’m leaving stuff undone it really affects my weekend

Obviously, these aren’t set in stone, and I’m willing to make exceptions to these if there is a genuine need e.g. If there’s a critsit or a big business impact.

But for regular day-to-day meetings, I’ve found there are very few meetings that can’t wait a couple of days. I’ve also realized meetings rarely need to be more than 90 minutes.

If I need exceptions to these boundaries more than once or twice a month, my spidey sense starts tingling.

Once I set those mental health boundaries, I took it a step further by creating a table to organize my meetings and discover patterns.

First, I put all my meetings into a spreadsheet, tagged each with some relevant tags, and used that as my basis for both analyzing and changing my meeting schedule. It allowed me to play with meeting cadences, and see how it would affect the overall picture.

It also gave me a some data I could analyze to answer the following questions:

• How much time was I spending with teams in my pillar versus my peers and the pillar structure versus the larger Revenue Product Group?
• How much time on broader company alignment like tech talk, AMA, science fair, company talks, etc?
• Was I over-indexing on supporting any particular group and did the overall balance feel right?
• Were there any low priority meetings that were too frequent?
• Was the meeting volume per week roughly the same? And is that what I wanted?

Let’s dive into some of the features of this table now.

1. Color Coding

I’ve been color coding my calendar for over a year now and it’s been really useful, but it’s been ad hoc and I often forget or change what the colors mean without thinking about it. This time I wrote it down to keep myself honest, and so I can refer back to it if I need to.

Color coding my calendar makes it easy to see at a glance what my day and week looks like. If there are too many yellows or reds (meaning medium or high priority) on my calendar I know I need to reschedule or skip some meetings. If I have a day that looks like a rainbow, that probably means I’ll be changing contexts all the time and should try to move things. If I have a solid block of color with no grey in it, I have no ‘me time’ and will be fried by the end of the day. Any of these things are enough to get my spidey senses tingly.

Here’s how to change colors in Google calendar.

2. Meeting Frequency

My meetings had a jumble of recurrences that had grown organically and could be on any schedule, which led to a pretty messy and inconsistent calendar. To help make things clearer and more regular I’ve categorized them into buckets with default recurrences:

• Weekly: High value, high impact. Things that require regular and high volume communication e.g. Direct reports/mentorship, an active project that is close to going live.
• Twice a Month: Things that require ongoing close alignment e.g. same level peers and high stakes projects.
• Monthly: Important topics that don’t change all that rapidly e.g. skip-level 1-1s, project updates.
• Every two months: Just keeping in touch e.g social and connection keeping, interesting projects but doesn’t need active involvement.
• Quarterly: Alignment and planning e.g. product group meetings, OKRs, etc.

Using this rubric has a few benefits:

• It made me think about the purpose of meetings and decide what the appropriate cadence is
• It gave me a common benchmark to compare meetings so I have comparably valuable meetings on similar cadences
• With most meetings now happening once or twice a month, I can often pair similar meetings on the same day which means less context switching.

3. ‘Week in Month’ Meetings

Before I started this my recurring meetings were generally on an ‘every X week’ basis — as in all of my meetings recurred every 2, 3, 4 weeks.

The change I’ve made here is to move all meetings to a ‘week in month’ basis. This means that instead of meeting with someone every four weeks, I’ll meet with them every 3rd Thursday, or instead of every two weeks, it’s every 2nd and 4th Tuesday.

This approach has a number of benefits:

• It combines with ‘meeting frequency’ above to allow me to theme days and weeks so I’m not changing contexts all the time
• It gives a certain cadence to the month e.g. it’s the middle of the month so I know I’m talking to team X this week
• There are 12 months in the year but 13 blocks of 4 weeks, so it inherently slightly decreases the number of meetings
• It frees up the 29th, 30th & 31st as mostly meeting-free days
• Aspects of our business and lives often run on a monthly cadence and tying meetings to that same cadence can be a really useful tool. (Examples of this might include Irish public Holidays, which typically fall on the first Friday of the month and people often take the Thursday or Monday to make it a long weekend; performance reviews and ACR often happen at the beginning of the month; and sales have end-of-month targets, which leads to more pressure on the systems in the last few days of the month.)

All of this color coordination and categorization is well and good — but I’m betting you’re thinking, Well … did it work?

Let’s dive into results now.

So … Is It Working?

I’ve been making these changes since the beginning of the year and I’ve had great results so far.

My mental health has improved and I have more time and energy for myself each day after work. I’ve drastically decreased the amount of days that I struggle to decompress when the work day is done.

I’ve caught up on all the tech talks and I’m following up on action items from meetings more reliably and quickly. I also have more time to get non-meeting work done, and generally feel much more productive.

This was a fairly typical way for my calendar to look before:

And this is a typical week now:

Ultimately, what worked for me might not work for you.

But I encourage anyone who feels overwhelmed by their schedule to take the time to proactively assess and diagnose for redundancies, wasted time, or time that could be better spent re-charging. Simply taking the time to analyze my calendar enabled me to create a more efficient schedule that worked for me.

So maybe that’s really the lesson here: Figure out how your job can work for you, not the other way around. Each person is unique with specific preferences, and if you don’t fight for your calendar to look the way you need it to … who will?  

Instagram is a top-rated app, with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Within the app, individual users, influencers, brands, and businesses alike share high-quality photo and video content, interact in comments, and exchange direct messages.

However, as it is a visual-centered platform, some people across the globe have trouble using the app as they don’t have the same access to cellular data and internet connection required to load many of the app’s features.

As Instagram wants its platform to be accessible to all, they created a solution: Instagram Lite. Read on to discover what it is, the features it offers, and how it may affect global social media marketing.  

What is Instagram Lite?

Instagram Lite is an Android app that is significantly smaller in size (2MB vs. 30-80MB+) than the original Instagram app, so users with differing cellular and internet connection can still benefit from what it has to offer without experiencing a lagging app or differing user experience.

The goal was to create a more accessible app for emerging markets. Tzach Hadar, Director of Product Management at Facebook Tel Aviv, says “Our teams build these lightweight versions of our apps for people with low connectivity or limited data plans because our basic premise is to leave no one behind.” As such, Instagram Lite still contains many of the valued features within the original app:

• Photo and video sharing
• Stories, stickers, and gifs
• Explore page and recommendation algorithms
• Messaging/DMs (groups supported)
• Reels and Reels tab
• Dark mode

As it is a less-heavy load on devices, features that require significant data or connection have been left out, such as:

• Animations when switching between Stories
• Story filters and AR filters
• Swipe-to-type controls
• Going Live
• Shopping and Product tabs

The app is able to save such significant space on devices by running off of code saved to the cloud rather than on the phone. Kelly Hendrickson, Social Media Marketing Manager at HubSpot, says “What excited me most about Instagram Lite is that it makes the platform more accessible. It requires less space on a phone as well as less data, making it easier to run. This is key in emerging markets.”

Where is Instagram Lite available?

Instagram Lite is currently available in 170 countries, with India being the largest country of access. Worldwide release is set to happen soon.

What is the Instagram Lite UX like?

The most significant difference between the Instagram Lite UX is the quality of content on the app, and a lack of graphics and animations that need data to load. While images aren’t grainy or pixelated, they may not be HD in order to ensure that users can load content without experiencing any lagging. A prime example is that when navigating between two different Stories, the animation that is present in the original app is missing.

Other than that, the Instagram Lite UX is not much different from the original Instagram app. For instance, users have the same profile tab (as shown in the image below) with their profile photo, follower and following count, an image feed, and a Reels tab for those who create them.

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The home tab, where your Instagram Feed is displayed, is the same as well, with the stories carousel in the top portion of the screen, the heart icon showing likes and interactions, and the messaging arrow button.

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If you want to share a post on Instagram Lite, the post button is in the navigation footer instead of above the Stories carousel.

Will Instagram Lite impact global social media marketing?

When Instagram Lite becomes available globally, it will require marketers to pivot from typical Instagram marketing strategies. As it currently doesn’t support ads, marketers will have to focus on engagement and building an audience rather than using shoppable tools to drive sales. Hendrickson says, “Part of pulling back features, though, is the removal of advertising. This reminds us how vital Instagram is for brand awareness. When someone can no longer purchase from within the platform, you have the opportunity to influence their decisions down the road by becoming a valuable account for them to follow.”

In addition, marketers will need to be mindful of the quality of photos and videos they upload, as the app is meant to save space and require minimal data usage. Instead, your Instagram Lite strategy may focus on high-quality copy and influencer partnerships in new countries as a means of attracting audience attention, driving engagement, and converting users to paying customers via links to website landing pages.

Marketers will also need to create content able to be understood by those in different markets and relevant to their interests.

Before Instagram Lite becomes available in your country, take the time to research emerging markets that already have access to the app, learn more about their interests and pain points, and begin creating a strategy that will help you show them the value you can provide.

Then, when the app becomes available, you’ll be ready to leverage the information you learned to begin posting on the app.

Chances are, you’ve probably spent an afternoon falling down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos.

I certainly have, and I think I’d be pretty embarrassed to see the total amount of time I’ve spent on the platform.

While it’s a great source of entertainment, YouTube has also proved itself to be a valuable tool for marketers. In fact, 70% of viewers bought from a brand after seeing content on YouTube. And, with a global user base of more than 2 billion people, it’s also safe to assume that your target audience is on the platform.

However, just as it is for all social networks, building a presence on YouTube requires understanding which segments of your audience are already there and what they’re watching. Having that information makes it easier to create content that speaks to their interests, maximize ROI, and achieve general marketing success. In this post, we’ll go over key YouTube statistics you need to know for 2021 to help you succeed in your marketing efforts.

Have you ever double-tapped an image on Instagram, reacted to a video on Facebook, or clicked a search result in Google, only to realize afterward that it was actually an ad?

Maybe you never realized it was an ad at all — you just thought it was a cute picture of a dog.

More than ever, ads can be contextual, relevant, targeted, and helpful in ways they never could before. In short, ads today are content.

But the online advertising landscape is changing.

New platforms, ad types, and targeting capabilities are popping up all the time.

Let’s dig into everything you need to know about online advertising across ad platforms for social media, paid search, display, and native advertising.

If you’re only interested in learning about a certain type of online advertising, you can use the table of contents below to navigate to each section.

How to Advertise Online

93% of all online interactions start with a search engine, and with those odds, you can catch the attention of the audience you want through online advertising.

There’s plenty of ways to advertise your business strategically. Think about who you’re trying to reach when you start. Ask yourself “What target demographic am I advertising to?” and “How can I place my product or service offering in front of my target?”.

The answer is to see where your target demographic spends the most time online. Research their most frequented social media channels and most searched keywords. You can take this information and translate it to organic and paid marketing.

Not all online advertising has to cost money, people can find your business organically through social media marketing. Making a business page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or even TikTok can capture people’s interest through engaging posts and content.

Now if you want to use pay-per-click (PPC) marketing, most social media offers business pages the ability to pay a fee to promote posts/ads within the interface. Or if you are looking to advertise on a search engine for targeted keywords, Google Ads or sixads can guide you through the process of payment and execution.

There are three key ways that digital advertising can help you improve the performance of your organic marketing efforts.

With digital ads, organic performance can benefit from:

1. An increase in brand awareness by displaying your content to individuals within and outside of your networks.
2. A better understanding of your audiences by leveraging the targeting and analytics of the ads platforms.
3. The creation of higher-performing content by understanding what ad content helps you achieve your business goals and what doesn’t.

The goal of any ads strategy should be to get a positive return on your investment, which comes down to whether you’re getting more revenue out of the ad campaign than the cost you’re putting in.

How can you determine what your ad spend should be to get the most return on your investment? To start answering that question, we’ll need to understand the bidding system used by the ad networks.

A bid is the maximum amount of money you’re willing to pay for the desired action on your ad. If it sounds like an auction, that’s because it is an auction. Ad networks have a limited amount of ad space, and to determine whether or not your ads are shown to your target audience, they run an auction to see how much each advertiser is willing to pay for ad space.

Just like in an auction, the highest bidder wins. Let’s say you bid $10 for a click on your ad, and the next highest bidder only pays $5 for a click.

Each ad network will only make you pay the lowest amount possible to win the bid. In this example, you might be willing to pay $10, but in reality, you’ll only have to pay $5.01 to win the bid. Winning this “auction,” in addition to the overall quality of your ads, will determine how your ads are displayed on the different ad networks.

Here’s another example of how the ad auction works from WordStream.

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At this point, you might be thinking, “Okay, I get how the auction system works. But how do I figure out how much I should actually spend to see a return on my investment?”

My advice is to work backward from your revenue to determine what your maximum bid should be.

Use this equation:

Lifetime Value (LTV) x Average Lead-to-Customer Rate x Average Conversion Rate

Your LTV is how much a customer is worth to you throughout their relationship with your business. The average lead-to-customer rate is the rate at which your leads become paying customers. And your conversion rate is the rate at which new contacts convert on your content offers by filling out a form.

Combined, these metrics show you how much you should spend on your paid ads to break even.

Let’s say that you want to use digital ads to promote your new content offer. You’re going to need to know what your maximum ad spend should be to see a positive return on your investment. Assume that you know the following about your business:

• Lifetime value: $500
• Average lead-to-customer rate: 10%
• Average conversion rate: 20%

Plug these numbers into the equation above to determine what your maximum ad spend should be: $500 x 0.10 x 0.20 = $10. This means that you can spend a maximum of $10 per click on your ad to break even. Your goal should be to spend less than $10 to see a positive return on your investment.

Types of Online Advertising

Now that we know more about how to advertise online, let’s dive into the various types of online advertising.

Social Media Advertising

Every month, there are nearly 2.5 billion active users on Facebook, 1 billion on Instagram, and 330 million on Twitter worldwide.

Whether it’s to chat with friends, stay connected to people across the globe, or for business and networking purposes, consumers are on social media for a multitude of reasons — and marketers know it. Because of the sheer number of active users on these platforms, advertising spend invested in social media channels is at an all-time high. Social media advertising across the world is projected to exceed $8.5 billion this year.

Advertising on social media comes with many advantages. You can:

• Reach very specific target audiences with the help of targeting features and different audiences across all of the social media platforms.
• Leverage a variety of ad formats to advertise in a way that aligns with your business goals.
• Invest in the specific advertising efforts that drive leads and sales for your business.

Let’s take a look at eight popular social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok. We’ll cover the audiences and ad types available on each one.

1. Facebook

Facebook is the most widely used social media network. Almost 2.5 billion people around the world use Facebook. That’s more than 30% of the world’s population.

With so many people using Facebook, you’re almost guaranteed to be able to reach an audience that’s relevant to any type of business. That’s where one of the most powerful features of advertising on Facebook comes in: audience targeting. The targeting capabilities on Facebook are unmatched by any other social media network.

There are three types of audiences that you can target on Facebook:

1. Core audiences: An audience based on criteria like age, interests, and geography.
2. Custom audiences: Get back in touch with people who have previously engaged with your business.
3. Lookalike audiences: Reach new people whose interests are similar to those of your best customers.

Facebook’s advanced targeting can be used to target your ads to the most relevant audience — and even tap into new audiences you’d otherwise never reach with organic content alone.

Advertising on Facebook includes a range of ad types, including:

• Photo ads
• Video ads
• Story ads
• Lead ads

Photo ads are great for sharing collections of image content. Video ads are great for product explainer videos and branding. Story ads allow you to use a combination of photo and short-form video content. If you want to learn more about the different ad types, here’s a great course from HubSpot Academy all about Facebook Advertising.

Personally, my favorite way to advertise on Facebook is with lead ads because they give you the best of both worlds: sharing visual content and generating leads all at the same time. Facebook Lead Ads allow you to capture lead information without directing people out of the Facebook platform.

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No matter your business’ size or industry, you can use lead ads to find potential customers who are likely interested in your products or services. With lead ads, you provide a helpful piece of content that encourages viewers to sign up for a newsletter, receive a price estimate, or request additional business information. In return, when the viewer fills out the form, the business receives a new lead.

Another way to advertise on Facebook is through Facebook Messenger.

Facebook Messenger is a separate messaging app that comes with its own advertising opportunities. Facebook Messenger is the go-to messaging app in countries including the U.S., Canada, and Australia. Other messaging apps like WhatsApp and WeChat are the more popular choice in countries throughout South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

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Across the world, 20 billion messages are exchanged between people and businesses every month on Facebook Messenger. Ads play a big part in initiating conversations on Facebook Messenger.

There are a few different ways you can use Facebook Messenger as part of your advertising strategy.

• Facebook Messenger call-to-action in ads: Start conversations with ads on Facebook that include a call-to-action to send a message.
• Facebook Messenger Story Ads: Run story ads on Messenger Stories.
• Facebook Messenger Ads: Use messenger ads to deliver content directly into users’ Facebook Messenger chats.

All of these ad types come together to encourage your audience to kick off conversations with your business. They can be used to get in contact with a sales team, request more information on a product, or even share other content like blog posts or ebooks.

My favorite way to advertise on Facebook Messenger is retargeting. Retargeting ads in Facebook Messenger are a great way to start targeted conversations and send personalized offers and content.

Sponsored messages allow you to advertise to people who have already interacted with your business in Messenger. This is a great way to re-engage your audience in a personalized way.

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2. Instagram

You can also advertise on Instagram through the Facebook Ads Manager. Instagram has over 1 billion monthly users globally. That’s a little less than half of the number of users on Facebook. The majority of users are between the ages of 18 and 34.

There are three ways that you can advertise on Instagram:

1. Promote posts and stories directly from your Instagram professional account.
2. Create ads from your Facebook Page and promote them on both Facebook and Instagram.
3. Create ad campaigns in the Facebook Ads Manager to access full targeting capabilities.

I recommend taking the third option and creating custom campaigns for your audience on Instagram.

Instagram has similar ad types to Facebook, including:

• Photo ads
• Video ads
• Story ads
• Ads in Explore
• Shopping Post ads

By far, the most interesting ad types right now are ads in the Explore Tab and Shopping Post ads. People using Instagram Explore are exploring their interests and discovering new content creators. Ads in Instagram Explore are a great opportunity to put your brand in front of a new audience.

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Shopping Post ads allow you to include a tag that shows the product’s name and price within your image. Clicking on the tag takes your prospects directly to a product page where they can purchase the item — all without leaving the Instagram app.

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3. LinkedIn

The LinkedIn platform has over 660 million monthly active members worldwide. Users on the platform are largely made up of working professionals which makes LinkedIn a great place for B2B (business-to-business) advertising. LinkedIn is the go-to platform for working professionals, which provides B2B advertisers a large audience pool to reach.

Plus, the advantage of advertising on LinkedIn is its unique targeting capabilities. On LinkedIn, you’ll have access to unique targeting criteria that isn’t available on other platforms.

You can target users on LinkedIn by unique demographics, including job title, job function, and industry. Maybe you only want to advertise to potential customers at the director level who work in customer service within the recruiting industry. LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities make that possible.

Plus, with the option to include lead gen forms in your LinkedIn ads, LinkedIn can be a lead generation machine. This will allow you to not only reach a very specific audience but drive leads without directing them outside of the LinkedIn platform.

The most interesting ad type of LinkedIn is Message Ads. Message Ads allow you to send direct messages to your prospects to spark immediate action.

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How to use LinkedIn Message Ads:

• Deliver a targeted message with a single CTA.
• Drive stronger engagement and response than traditional emails.
• Measure the impact of your messages.

But a word of warning: Don’t send too many Message Ads to the same people or it will come off like spam. And, make sure the messages sound authentic – if you were writing a LinkedIn message to a friend, what would you write in it?

If your Message Ads are too stiff, they’ll come off as spammy, too. Remember: This channel is a one-to-one conversation. Direct messages are sacred spaces – if you’re going to advertise there, you need to be extra careful about taking the time to make your Message Ads feel personal and relevant to your end-users. Make sure you’re delivering value to them in a way that feels authentic.

4. Twitter

Digital advertising is less common on Twitter because organic reach is still a significant driver of a brand’s performance on Twitter. This is very unique to Twitter – but even so, ads can still deliver strong results depending on what your goals are. Twitter has over 330 million monthly users globally. The majority of users are between 35–65 years old.

Advertisers have discovered a few niches that have high engagement on Twitter: B2B and e-commerce. Many B2B companies are using Twitter as a digital marketing tool, and Twitter users are known to spend a lot of money online. This makes advertising specifically to these audiences a great strategy.

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Twitter breaks down its ads into five goals:

• Awareness: Promote your tweets and maximize your reach.
• Tweet engagement: Promote your tweets and get more retweets, likes, and replies.
• Follows: Promote your account and grow your Twitter following.
• Website clicks: Promote your website and get more traffic.
• App downloads: Promote your app and get more downloads.

All of these can work together to help you grow your audience on the platform and convert users into customers.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest is a unique social media platform with 300 million users who are highly engaged and predominantly female. Some people say that Pinterest is the only platform where users actually want to see ads from brands they love because Pinterest is all about visuals.

How to advertise on Pinterest in four steps:

1. Pick a pin: Promote your best pins so they appear in the most relevant places.
2. Decide who sees it: Set up targeting so the right people see your ads.
3. Pay for results: Choose to pay for engagement or visits to your site.
4. Track what’s working: Once your campaign starts, see how it’s doing and make changes.

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Pinterest is great for businesses relying on photography to sell their products and who have a female target buyer persona.

6. YouTube

YouTube is the second largest search engine, second only to Google, with over 2 billion monthly active users. Ads on YouTube appear before and during other YouTube videos or as a stand-alone promoted video that’s displayed after performing a search.

Since you can target demographic information and interests, you can serve your videos to specific relevant audiences already watching videos from similar brands or on related topics.

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7. Snapchat

Snapchat’s 218 million users are predominantly made up of people between the ages of 18–24.

Snapchat offers a few ad types, including story ads, sponsored tiles in Snapchat Discover, and augmented reality (AR) lenses.

Snapchat’s ad types feel pretty similar to the advertising options on Instagram. What really makes Snapchat unique is the augmented reality lenses. AR lenses are sponsored by a business to create interactive moments that users can use and share with their friends. It might be hard to believe, but in this example from Dominos that pizza isn’t really there — that’s the AR lens at work.

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8. Tiktok

One of the newer — and most popular — players in the social media advertising world is TikTok. TikTok is all about creating short, creative, and oftentimes funny videos. TikTok has exploded in the past few years and has reached 500 million monthly users.

Advertising options are still limited; they are mainly geared towards driving awareness. TikTok doesn’t hyperlink posts to websites and only recently started allowing advertising, so businesses advertising on TikTok focus on boosting brand awareness rather than leads or traffic.

Promoting TikTok videos allow brands to build awareness with a young target audience. Most of the posts you’ll see on TikTok are aimed at getting laughs. From a brand perspective, you’ll want to create videos that are funny and align with other content on the platform. Think of things like dance challenges and memes. This type of content is the most effective.

Paid Search Advertising

People searching online are looking for something specific and will click on the first result they believe is going to be the most helpful to them.

You might be thinking: “I already appear in organic results on search engines. Why should I pay to advertise too?”

Well, there are three key reasons:

1. On average, digitally prepared businesses anticipate four times better revenue compared to the less-prepared ones
2. Advertising on search engines protects you from the competition who may be advertising on your branded terms.
3. Search ads appear first in the search engine results pages (SERPs) above the organic results.

Paid search advertising allows advertisers to capture the attention of their audience in a more targeted way than with organic search alone.

Search ads allow you to anticipate the wants, needs, and desires of your potential customers and serve ads to them that are highly contextual. Over time, the analytics of your search ads can help you analyze and improve those ads to reach even more people.

But how does Google know how to deliver the right ad to the right person? That’s where keywords come into play. A keyword is one word or phrase that someone uses to describe what they need in search. Advertising on search platforms takes the targeting capabilities available on social media platforms, like demographics and location, and layers it with the addition of keywords.

When a Google user types a query into the search field, Google returns a range of results that match the searcher’s intent. Keywords align with what a searcher wants and will satisfy their query. You select keywords based on which queries you want to display your ad alongside.

Keyword research is just as important for paid ads as it is for organic search. That’s because Google matches your ad with search queries based on the keywords you selected. Each ad group you create within your campaign will target a small set of keywords and Google will display your ad based on those selections.

Let’s say Mary is moving to a different house and is looking for a home mover. So she goes into Google and types “who are the best movers.” By searching “best home movers,” she’s going to see results for advertisers that targeted keywords like “moving companies” and “top-rated movers.”

Search engines also consider your intent when choosing the types of ads to display.

In the example above, search ads were the most helpful resource. But what if you’re looking for a location-based business, like a coffee shop? In Google maps, you might see “Promoted Pins” like these, shown in purple on the map and in the search results on the left. Promoted Pins are a great way for businesses to attract customers to their business based on location.

What if you’re looking to make a purchase? Well, Google might show you a different kind of post to match your intent, such as Shopping Post Ads.

In this example below, Google shows you shopping post ads for the keyword “buy snowboard.” Since my query includes the word “buy,” Google knows that I’m interested in making a purchase, so I am shown ads for products I might be interested in.

So how do you select your keywords?

Keywords typically fall under two categories: brand and non-brand.

A brand keyword is a word or phrase that includes a brand’s name or variations of a brand’s name. For example, some of HubSpot’s brand keywords include HubSpot, HubSpot Free CRM, and HubSpot Marketing Hub. These are all variations of the HubSpot brand and the tools that we offer.

Non-brand keywords are all other relevant keywords that don’t include a brand’s name or variations of a brand’s name. Some of HubSpot’s non-brand keywords include inbound marketing, sales software, and customer relationship management.

While these keywords are not part of HubSpot’s brand name, they are relevant terms that allow HubSpot to reach audiences that might be interested in eventually making a purchase.

Brand and non-brand keywords play a role in your digital advertising strategy. Brand keywords help you protect your brand from your competitor’s ads.

If you don’t run ad campaigns for brand keywords, you’ll leave your business vulnerable to losing website traffic to the competition who is bidding on your brand keywords. Non-brand keywords still have a role to play, too. Non-brand keywords allow you to reach new audiences unfamiliar with your brand.

When it comes to when your ad is displayed, you don’t just want to pick a certain group of keywords and have the ad shown only when those keywords are entered into the search engine.

This is where match type comes in. Since there’s an infinite number of ways that people can actually search for one term, Google gives you three match types to choose from: exact match, phrase match, and broad match. You can even use a broad match modifier and exclude negative keywords to optimize where your ads are delivered.

Let’s take a look at each match type:

• Exact match: A keyword set to exact match will only display your ad if the search term includes that exact keyword or a very close variation. Exact match keywords are surrounded in [brackets].
• Phrase match: A keyword set to phrase match will display your ad if the search term contains the same order of the words, but it can also contain additional words. Phrase match keywords are surrounded by “quotes”.
• Broad match: A keyword set to broad match displays your ad when the search term contains any or some combination or variations of the words in your keyword, in any order. Broad match keywords don’t include any symbols.
• Broad match modifier: The broad match modifier allows you to select keywords that must be included in the search query for your ad to be displayed. Keywords with a broad match modifier use a +plus sign.
• Negative keywords: Excludes your ads from being shown on searches with that term. Negative keywords include a -minus sign.

Google vs. Bing vs. Yahoo

There are a few advertising platforms out there for search, including Google, Bing, and Yahoo. But Google is by far the most used search engine out there. With 3.5 billion search queries a day, over 71% of the total searches made daily around the world are done on Google. Google brings in six times more searches every day than Bing and Yahoo, combined.

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But this doesn’t mean you should entirely rule out advertising on these other platforms. In some cases, you can achieve impressive results with a smaller ad spend on Bing and Yahoo than you could on Google since there is less competition from advertisers.

My recommendation is to dig into your organic traffic to identify if Bing or Yahoo make up a significant amount of traffic for any given keywords or topics. This might indicate that advertising for those keywords on Bing or Yahoo could be profitable.

Regardless of where you advertise, the good news is that advertising on all of these platforms more or less work and look the same. So knowing how to advertise on one will make advertising on the others easier.

Native Advertising

Publishers like BuzzFeed and The Dodo produce content that snowballs in popularity on social media almost every day. And they make money by helping other brands do it, too. Brands will pay these publishers to craft posts and videos that follow the publishers’ formula for virality. They also pay publishers to distribute this sponsored content to their massive audience through social media and their website.

This is native advertising.

Check out this example from Geico. It partnered with BuzzFeed to create this video advertisement for morning workouts. It’s a topic that is loosely related to insurance, which Geico sells, and it tapped into BuzzFeed’s expertise to create this video that feels right at home with the rest of the content on the site.

When you pay for a publisher’s native advertising services, you’ll be able to leverage their editorial expertise and audience reach to help your brand tell captivating stories to a bigger and better viewership. And each publisher is going to support different ad formats and creative types.

During the creative process, you’ll collaborate with publishers to craft sponsored content that covers one of their main topics and looks like a regular piece of content on the publisher’s website.

This way, even though your post is technically promotional, it won’t disrupt their audience’s browsing experience. They’ll enjoy reading your post and won’t feel like you or the publisher are advertising to them. This exposes your work to a huge, engaged viewership and attracts new followers to your brand.

Native advertising creates a symbiotic relationship between publishers and brands. Publishers who do sponsored content right reap the benefits of another revenue stream and gain more audience trust if they promote a native ad from a trustworthy brand.

For brands, collaborating with prominent publishers can unleash unprecedented amounts of creativity to help them win over the publishers’ audience and boost engagement — as the click-through rate on native ads far exceeds traditional. For example, T Brand Studio, the New York Times native ad business, crafted sponsored posts that captured as much engagement as some of nytimes.com’s highest-performing articles.

To find the optimal native advertising opportunities for your brand, try using StackAdapt or Nativo.

Display Advertising

Display ads are a controversial topic in the digital marketing community. For almost 25 years, advertisers have abused them by tricking internet users into clicking misleading ads — some malicious display ads have even infected people’s computers with viruses. It’s easy to see why people have developed banner blindness and can’t stop downloading ad blockers: display ads have the reputation of being intrusive, distracting, and irrelevant.

On the other side of the spectrum, though, display advertising technology has advanced to the point where ad networks can leverage data and machine learning to offer advertisers more effective targeting strategies and consumers more relevant ads.

Ad networks like Google Display Network and Facebook’s Audience Network are the leaders in the banner ad renaissance. They can display your ads to the right target audience at the right place and time. And if you want more control of your advertising, they’ll let you decide where to place your ads. Below, we’ll cover each ad networks’ features and targeting capabilities:

1. Google Display Network

When you use Google’s Display Network, you can design visually appealing ads and place them on over two million websites and apps, YouTube, and Gmail.

You can also build new audiences by targeting people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service and remarket website visitors just by importing a list of their contact information.

If you don’t want to build out your ideal audience or deal with bidding, you can let Google Ads do it for you. Its automated targeting and bidding features can identify your highest-converting audience for the best return on investment.

Display ads can be most effective when retargeting an audience that’s already familiar with your brand.

2. Facebook’s Audience Network

With Facebook’s Audience Network, brands can expand their Facebook ad campaigns and use the same targeting data they use on the platform to advertise on a huge collection of websites and apps.

Brands can place native ads, banner ads, full-screen ads, in-stream video ads, and rewarded video ads (for example, “Watch this video ad to get more tokens!”) on the network’s websites and apps that their Facebook audience frequently visits.

This type of advertising can be particularly effective for mobile games, like in the example below from 5agame who was able to attribute 80% of their revenue through their rewarded video.

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Now that you know about all of the digital ad types that are available, the next step is to learn how to leverage the right ads for your business to achieve your goals.

If you want to continue leveling up your ads training, check out HubSpot Academy’s free course on the Digital Advertising Training Course.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Google Chrome browser extensions allow you to increase productivity, reduce distractions, and source content — all in the comfort of your internet browser.

The best part is that you have plenty of options. The Google Chrome web store offers a variety of different tools that help you become safer, smarter, and more productive with just one click. We’ve curated the best ones here.

We can’t guarantee that these extensions will make puppy YouTube videos less tempting to watch, but we recommend them for busy marketers who want to make their time online more efficient. We’ve broken them down into different categories if you want to jump ahead:

• Productivity
• Security
• Social Media
• SEO
• New Tab
• Content Sourcing
• Blogging

Please note: All of these are free tools, but some of the services that they work with may have paid features or subscriptions.

For all of the greatness that the internet affords — cute animal videos, GIFs, and interesting blogs — one of its biggest downsides is how distracting it can be. How many times have you sat down to work and been pulled into a pit of procrastination?

Perhaps you get absorbed in updates on social media, or maybe you click through Wikipedia trying to determine what exactly Gina Rodriguez’s first TV role was (it was on Law & Order). No matter where you click online, it’s easy to be pulled into a black hole of distraction and low productivity.

Check out the extensions below to remedy this problem and be your most productive self.

1. HubSpot Sales

Users: 800K+

HubSpot’s Sales tool connects your email inbox with your CRM. Instead of having to navigate back and forth between the two products, this extension allows you to transfer contact information from your email directly into your CRM. This saves employees time in their day-to-day workflow and retains valuable information about customers.

Another cool feature that HubSpot Sales provides is the tracking and logging of emails. Users can send emails and receive alerts when their message is delivered, opened, and clicked on. The email thread can then be logged continuously into the CRM throughout the entire correspondence.

2. Todoist

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Users: 700K+

Todoist is a project management tool that lets you create highly organized and visually appealing to-do lists across all of your devices. What’s neat about the Chrome extension is that you can see your to-do list, or your team’s shared lists, and add tasks to it without having to open a separate tab, app, or device.

3. Reply

Users: 10K+

Reply’s Chrome extension helps you research and engage with your potential prospects on LinkedIn. This is a fast and easy way to find and verify anyone’s email address — both one by one or in bulk using LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

Once you get the contacts, you can sync them to your CRM — including HubSpot — or connect with the prospects right away.

4. StayFocusd

Users: 600K+

StayFocusd lets you budget your time on specific websites so you can eliminate distractions when you need to buckle down and work. It’s highly customizable — you could set your time limit to 20 minutes on Twitter and only five minutes on Facebook, for example. It also has neat features like the Require Challenge: Once you set time limits on sites, if you want to go back and change your settings, you have to complete a challenge (think: retyping a piece of text without typos or answering questions).

5. LastPass

Users: 10M+

LastPass is a password manager that autofills in passwords for all of the accounts you save with this extension. You only have to remember one password: your LastPass password. This saves you time and headaches and increases the security of your personal data.

6. Add to Trello

Users: 10K+

If you use Trello for project management, team collaboration, your content calendar, or just a personal to-do list, this extension lets you easily add links as cards to your Trello boards.

7. Extensions Manager

Users: 100K+

We couldn’t give you 50+ different extensions to try out without also suggesting Extensions Manager. Try this tool to organize all of your extensions so they don’t take up half of your browser’s screen. It shows you what extensions you have operating on Google Chrome and gives you the option to hide some of the icons to keep your browser better organized.

8. Toggl Track

Users: 300K+

If you often find yourself spending too much time on one task — to the point that you no longer have time to complete other tasks — consider using the Toggl Track Chrome extension. It initiates a timer right within the comfort of the browser. There’s no need to start a timer on your phone. Simply open up the extension and begin tracking the time you spend on tasks.

9. Print Friendly & PDF

Users: 700K+

If you ever need to save a page in a print-friendly format or as a PDF, you can easily do so with the Print Friendly & PDF Chrome extension. The extension removes ads and other cluttering elements from the web page to turn it into a pleasant reading experience. You can also delete images and change the text size.

10. Email Finder

Users: 200K+

Whether you’re carrying out sales outreach, seeking guest blogging opportunities, or looking for the owner of a small website, Email Finder will automatically give you a list of verified emails associated with that domain. It’s an absolutely brilliant tool for sales reps and marketers who want to save time when looking for potential contacts at a company.

1. HTTPS Everywhere

Users: 2M+

“HTTPS” is a website protocol that ensures a site is secure before you visit it. And although you might recognize this tag at the beginning of most websites, it’s not quite ubiquitous across the internet — nor does it guarantee that the site you’re browsing is 100% secure.

The Chrome extension, HTTPS Everywhere, rewrites the request you send to any website you visit in Chrome so you can be sure your browser produces the secure version of that site. Browse assured that all your personal information is kept safe and your computer doesn’t catch malware while you’re online.

2. Click&Clean

Users: 1M+

If you’re constantly searching and downloading work material during the day, it can be a tedious task to clear your browser history. You just don’t have the time to keep pulling up your history page and manually clearing your cache or download log.

The Click&Clean extension for Chrome allows you to clear your cache, URL searches, website cookies, and download history with a single click of a button on your browser toolbar. The extension can also scan your computer for viruses and clean up your hard drive of unused applications — helping your computer run faster as a result.

3. J2TEAM Security

Users: 200K+

J2TEAM Security isn’t your average firewall. This Chrome extension starts with basic virus protection. It also allows you to customize your website block list and ensures your Chrome browser uses the “HTTPS” security tag on blogging sites — preventing you from visiting user blogs that are deemed unsafe.

The extension also offers a variety of Facebook-specific privacy settings, such as blocking the “seen” tag after you read certain private messages and hiding how long you’ve been active in Facebook Messenger.

4. Ghostery

Users: 2M+

Ghostery is a sophisticated ad-blocking extension designed to remove ads that distract or interrupt you while you’re viewing specific website content. It also disguises your browsing data so ad-tracking tools are unable to collect personal information that you’d prefer to keep private. These features help to speed up webpages’ load time and ultimately improve your browsing experience.

5. Checkbot

Users: 40K+

Checkbot combines technical SEO with modern security to help you analyze both how safe and how optimized a website is for search engines. Because search engines like Google prioritize website security in addition to content quality in their rankings, this Chrome extension is a handy one-two punch for content creators and web developers.

Checkbot can test the page speed, SEO, and overall security of more than 250 URLs per domain for free — and help you improve in these three categories to protect you and your website visitors from unsafe material.

6. Avast Online Security

Users: 10M+

Avast Online Security is known as a “web reputation plugin,” examining each individual website you visit for suspicious information. The extension also warns you if the site you’re visiting simply has a bad reputation. In turn, you can rate the websites you visit to help Avast get better at flagging potentially unsafe webpages while on Chrome.

7. FlowCrypt

Users: 70K+

This security extension is specific to emails, allowing you to send and receive encrypted emails (and attachments) to and from your colleagues. It’s one of the best ways to be sure your emails are kept private and secure while in transit to the recipient.

FlowCrypt uses PGP encryption, which stands for “Pretty Good Privacy” — the standard for encryption in most email clients. The tool integrates perfectly with Gmail, adding a “Secure Compose” button to your inbox.

8. Fair AdBlocker

Users: 1M+

Fair AdBlocker offers both malware and adware in one browser extension. The tool protects you from malware as well as distracting ads and pop-ups. Once installed, you can configure your blocking settings to hide the types of ads you’re least interested in seeing — especially those that carry dangerous information that can infect your computer.

9. Speedtest by Ookla

Users: 2M+

Find out how fast your internet connection is and learn how quickly websites are loading. Knowing this information can help you move to another internet connection if needed, and you’ll also get to see performance metrics for your own site.

10. Hola Free VPN

Users: 7M+

Whether you need to cloak your identity online or browse content from another country, Hola Free VPN allows you to do that for free. The tool can help you browse the internet safely and anonymously without needing to pay for an external VPN service.

Chrome Extensions for Social Media

1. Bitly

Users: 500K+

This extension lets marketers quickly and easily shorten links and share them on social media directly from their browser. This is particularly useful for social media marketers and allows for personalization with an Enterprise plan.

2. BuzzSumo

Users: 20K+

BuzzSumo provides insight into how content is performing. When you’re on a web page, click the extension to show metrics such as the number of social shares and backlinks to a piece. This tool provides an easy way to see how much engagement your content is generating. You could also use BuzzSumo to perform competitor analysis and uncover strategies that might make your content more shareable.

3. Pinterest

Users: 8M+

This extension allows you to easily save items onto your Pinterest boards without navigating away from what you’re doing. What’s neat about this tool is that it shows you multiple pinnable items available on each website so you can save more than one item to your board at a time. (Normally, you would have to click into each blog post or image in order to separately pin each to your boards individually.)

4. Save to Facebook

Users: 1M+

Facebook’s “Save” feature lets users aggregate links, images, and videos they find on Facebook in one location in their account. This extension allows you to do the same from anywhere on the web, making Facebook a centralized place to save content you’re interested in checking out later.

5. RiteTag

Users: 30K+

RiteTag shows you how hashtags are performing on Twitter and Facebook before you post content. Once you log in to RiteTag using your Twitter or Facebook credentials, it checks the hashtags you begin typing in real time and color codes them:

• If your hashtag is green, it means the hashtag will help your content be seen now.
• If your hashtag is blue, it means the hashtag will help your content be seen over time.
• If your hashtag is gray, you should select a new hashtag because it has low levels of engagement.
• If your hashtag is red, you should select a new hashtag because it’s so popular, your content will disappear into the crowd.

6. Buffer

Users: 200K+

Buffer allows you to easily share content from any website to your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles. If you’re a Buffer customer, you can also use the extension to schedule posts from your browser without needing to access the Buffer website. You can also queue posts for future publication.

7. App for Instagram

Users: 90K

Want to keep tabs on Instagram notifications without having to constantly check your phone? With this extension, users can see what’s happening on their Instagram content directly within their browser. As opposed to having to check your phone, you can access your Instagram feed right in the browser and see other Instagram user’s content in much greater detail.

8. Reddit Enhancement Suite

Users: 1M+

Do you regularly use Reddit in your personal life or in your marketing efforts? And are you specifically a fan of the old version of Reddit? Download the Reddit Enhancement Suite Chrome extension to enhance your experience on the website and browse posts much more easily than you did before. This extension is only compatible with the original version of Reddit.

9. SocialAnalyzer

Users: 800+

SocialAnalyzer is a social media monitoring tool that allows you to keep up with trending posts in one of your target markets or industries. See the most recently published posts and videos on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, and see whether people are interacting with the content that people are already publishing. You can use this tool to further refine your social media marketing efforts and track brand sentiment.

10. HubSpot Social

Users: 20K+

Are you a current HubSpot customer? HubSpot Social allows you to post on your social media profiles straight from your browser. You can schedule posts in advance, share a quote from an external article directly to your social feed, and share webpages, too. No need to access your HubSpot portal in another tab. Do it straight from your current webpage.

Chrome Extensions for SEO

1. SEOQuake

Users: 700K+

SEOQuake is a Chrome extension that allows SEO marketers to easily get insights about different websites without leaving their web browser. With one click, you can find search ranking and backlink information about the search results on a Google results page. It also provides details about the amount of backlinks the website has (according to SEMRush), shows you the keyword density of a page, and lists external and internal links.

2. Check My Links

Users: 200K+

Check My Links does what it says it will: It quickly scans web pages and shows you which links are working properly and which are broken. With this extension, marketers can ensure that their own websites are functioning properly for their visitors. Additionally, marketers can check for broken backlinks to their content on other websites. That way, they can build backlinks to their content and increase their domain authority.

3. NoFollow

Users: 100K+

NoFollow quickly indexes web pages and identifies links that are coded with the no-follow metatag. No-follow links aren’t crawled by search engines and don’t contribute to search engine authority, so SEOs can use this extension to determine if external sites are backlinking to them with followed, or indexed, links.

Additionally, you might use no-follow links on web pages you don’t want crawled, such as a landing page or thank you page, and this extension can easily double-check if you’ve coded links correctly. In the example screenshot below, no-follow links are highlighted in red.

It’s a brand new month, everyone! It’s a time for new beginnings. New email campaigns, blog posts, and social media strategies are on the horizon.

But, aren’t we forgetting something? With last month’s activities done, we need to pause for a second to examine what worked and what didn’t. You can’t do that just by saying last month’s activities were “great” — because “great” doesn’t pay the bills.

If you can prove that your marketing activities actually made an impact on your business, you’ll have many more opportunities at your disposal. More budget to play with, potential hires to bring on board, and more ideas to put in action. Sounds like every marketer’s dream, right?

So how do you go about first, finding the right metrics to use, and second, proving your marketing’s ROI to your boss? Why, with a monthly marketing report template, of course. Download our completely revamped PowerPoint and Excel templates by clicking here, Keep reading to learn how you can calculate your ROI in marketing through Excel, and use them in real life.

For example, if you’ve been running a $800 campaign for three months, and you’re seeing a average sales growth of 5% per month and $10000 sales growth from the previous month, then your ROI calculation can assess that trend: (10000 – (.05*10000) – 800)/800

Additionally, if you’re a HubSpot customer, you can access an ROI calculator programmed with the same formula in our CRM. But let’s go ahead and break down how it’s done in Excel for you with and without an existing sales trend.

How to Calculate ROI in Excel

Inputting formulas into Excel is a quick and easy way to solve any equation, and calculating return on investment can be done in a matter of seconds. For an equation without a pre-existing sales trend, the simple ROI equation can be plugged in with ease in Excel as follows: (Sales Growth – Marketing Cost)/Marketing Cost

When you have the amount of sales growth collected and the amount it cost to market collected, plug in the variables into their own rows or columns. When completed, select a free cell to type in the formula using your data.

With these steps completed, press “ENTER” and you’ll have your ROI calculated. If the formula doesn’t automatically calculate it as a percentage, make sure the outcome is recorded as such by selecting the Home Tab > Number > Percentage.

How to Calculate ROI in Marketing

Figuring out your return on investment with more factors — or more realistic outcomes — doesn’t have to be a tricky feat.

For example, over a 12-month campaign, your team may identify an existing sales trend in organic growth and can use it to determine a more precise return on investment. Plug in this variable along with the original factors and input them using this ROI equation: (Sales Growth – Average Organic Sales Growth – Marketing Cost)/Marketing Cost

To compute the percentage, press “ENTER” and you’ll have a more precise ROI to base your marketing decisions on for the future.

Now that we’ve reviewed a couple of examples, let’s walk through how to use your data and how a HubSpot resource can make your marketing reporting a piece of cake.

Which Metrics Should You Track?

First things first — which metrics should you be paying attention to in the first place? Not all metrics were created equal, and if you’re going to capture your boss’ attention with this PowerPoint deck, you’re going to need to tell your story efficiently through data. Click through our marketing metrics template and get tips on how you can put together your marketing report deck.

How to Create Your Own Marketing Metrics Report

So now you know what metrics you need, but what about customizing the PowerPoint slides to fit your business? Follow these four steps so you’ll have engaging, accurate, and concise slides to show to your boss.

1. Download our monthly marketing reporting templates for Excel and PowerPoint.

2. Open up Excel, and fill in the metrics you want to track.

Equations and graphs will automatically populate based on the metrics you add.

3. Copy the graphs and paste them into PowerPoint.

4. Customize your graphs and charts to fit your company’s theme.

After crunching a bunch of numbers, you probably need a little creative break anyway. Click on individual elements in the graph to customize them. If you really want to get fancy with your presentation, check out these five simple PowerPoint tips.

5. Add relevant examples to back up your graphs.

If you truly want to explain your marketing team’s success from the past month, don’t forget to include a slide here or there that touches on specific examples. For example, if you have a blog post that drove a crazy number of leads in a month, you could include that example slide with a few bullet-point takeaways after the “Leads Generated by Marketing” slide. These specific examples give color to your presentation and justify the time spent on future projects.

ROI Excel Templates

Excel is one of the best tools to use when tracking and calculating ROI regularly.

Download our monthly marketing reporting templates for Excel and PowerPoint.

In the above collection of marketing reporting templates, you’ll get to fill in the following contents (and more) to suit your company:

1. Reach

In this template, you can calculate your marketing reach. For example, you can calculate the reach of your blog, email, or social media.

Then, the graphs below will help turn your data into a visual graph.

2. Visits

With this template, you can calculate your visits. This will include visits via several sources and channels including paid traffic, direct traffic, and social media referrals.

Then, the graph below will create a visualization of your data.

3. Leads

In this template, you can input how many leads are generated with your marketing campaigns.

In the graph below, you can visualize your leads depending on the sources.

4. Customers

In this template, you can calculate your customers via traffic source. In the below graph, you can visualize your customers.

5. Conversion Rates

In this template, you can calculate conversion rates by inputting your information.

Keep Better Track of Your Marketing in Excel

Excel is a tool meant to help you in your business, and it’s an organized way to track your team’s success. Make sure to use it to your advantage, and who knows, after a few months of this you may have a bigger budget or a brand new marketer on board.

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