Posted by Brian Brinkman on Thu, May 17, 2012
Today as part of HubSpot's Marketing Agency and Consultants Office Hour we had the opportunity to get a sneak preview of HubSpot's new Email and Contacts tools. So far, from what I've seen the email process seems more intuitive and cleaner than any other email tool I have previously used.
The new tool will be available to new customers Tuesday (5/22/12), and rolling out to existing clients over the coming months via a migration process. All customers will be migrating to the new email tool regardless of the product version you subscribe to.
Here are some of the highlights from the presentation:
SPEED IMPROVEMENTS
The new email functionality has a completely new architecture than the previous framework. This means users will experience greatly improved speed performance in the front-end and back-end user interfaces, improved search functionality within your leads database and real-time updates as new leads come in.
CONTACTS - INFORMATION
Hubspot has completed revamped the Contacts screen. This includes more fields and also the ability to add your own custom fields. Editing fields can now be done in real-time. This revamped contact section will be awesome for small businesses that currently don't have a CRM. For large businesses, the tool will integrate with Salesforce, Highrise and other CRMs using HubSpot's APIs.
Managing Contacts has also becomes easier. You can now simply click the "Add Contact" button to create one contact at a time. Previously in Hubspot you had to manually enter a new contact in an existing form or upload a CSV to enter a contact.
CONTACTS - HISTORY
The History tab on the Contacts screen shows the complete history for a lead. This includes pages viewed, forms completed, and an audit trail (the audit trail shows if a lead has updated their phone number or other contact info).
CONTACTS - EMAIL
The new Email tab is a dashboard showing Email History for a lead as well as their Subscription Status. The Subscription Status is an overview of all the different Subscriptions (or segmentations) associated to a lead. You can easily add/remove users from a Subscription as well as create new Subscriptions. The benefit for your contacts is they can now unsubscribe from some Subscriptions and keep informed on others.
LISTS
Creating lists has become more granular. Lists can now easily be segmented to any field in the Contacts Database similar to other email systems. Lists can also be cloned to create variations of your segmentations rather than just starting from scratch.
Lists can be static or can dynamically add users, but all lists are updated based on leads that unsubscribe, hard bounce, etc.
During the email submission process you can also block lists (or even individual users) from receiving an email.
CREATING EMAILS
The interface for creating emails has been greatly improved. Personalization of user data has been simplified by adding a large green "button" instead of the usual brackets token (i.e. {first name} ). This helps prevent broken personalization code because of typos.
The WYSIWYG editor includes an HTML button for adding your own HTML templates or if you prefer you can simply choose from one of Hubspot's 12 professional templates. Hubspot's templates allow you to easily swap out logos and color schemes without editing HTML code.
Secondary content can be added through a Call-to-Action (CTA) widget that allows marketers to quickly and easily add CTA graphics from their image library. Social Sharing is also built into the Hubspot's email templates.
Standard plain text versions of emails are automatically generated, but one unique feature they've added is HTML page views for your emails. Most email programs I've used do this, but HubSpot's automatically creates a subdomain for the page (i.e. offers.streamcreative.com/my-great-promo). This adds SEO value: Title, URL, Meta Description etc.
ANALYTICS
Email analytics include all the marketing goodness we've come to know and love from HubSpot. The interface is very intuitive and makes it easy to find what your looking for. One cool feature they've added is Revisions tab so you can easily revert or clone previous versions of your email (based on every time you hit "Save").
For more information on HubSpot's new Email Software and Marketing Database you can refer to the following blog post:
http://www.hubspot.com/blog/bid/32757/HubSpot-Launches-Brand-New-Email-Software-and-Marketing-Database
Posted by Jeff Coon on Tue, May 15, 2012
HubSpot already offers an incredible closed loop marketing system aimed at helping companies get found online. Their software and inbound marketing methodology builds brand awareness, increases online visibility and can turn your website into a valuable lead generation tool.
This is a great system and it keeps getting better.
Over the last three years we've designed and built over a dozen HubSpot sites for our clients and can speak first-hand about the effectiveness of their tools and methodology.
Today, HubSpot announced the enhancement of their email marketing and lead nurturing software. Admittedly, this was the one area of the software that needed a little help, so we are excited to share the news. With this upgrade, marketers can really flex their lead-nurturing muscles.
This enhancement focuses on the middle-of-the-funnel capabilities:
- Email: Take advantage of a vastly simpler interface, easy segmentation and powerful analytics
- Marketing Database: Understand your leads complete history of interactions with your company
- Segmentation and Targeting: Use data to tailor communications to your individual leads
- Marketing Automation: Trigger emails, notifications and updates as your leads evolve
Taking a quick peak inside the inbound marketing software, you can already see how easy it will be to design an email using their templates, add content to an email and preview your work. As always, it provides great marketing analytics and reporting to show you your results.
Interested in learning more? Contact us or sign up for Webinar June 5: A look at HubSpot's New Software.
What email marketing software are you using? How easy is it for you to leverage email to move prospects through the sales funnel? Please let us know your thoughts via the comments below.
Posted by Brian Brinkman on Thu, May 10, 2012
Today Litmus announced a new tool for testing HTML emails for cross-email client compatibility. The new tool they've dubbed "Interactive Testing", allows HTML email developers to view and make real-time edits to their code in each of the popular email clients. This could potentially be a huge time saving feature for trouble shooting issues and giving you piece of mind your email will look flawless no matter what email client your audience is using.
In my limited testing of the tool, I found the process to be very straightforward and intuitive. I simply opened an HTML email. Immediately I noticed the new tab at the bottom of the screen called Interative Testing. Upon clicking the tab an alert came up stating the live testing session was starting.
Once loaded, a coding window pops up containing all the HTML used in the email. I used the HTML editor to make changes and simply hit "Apply Changes" to see how it looked in the selected email client (in this case Lotus Notes). The HTML editor also includes a handy button to export your edited HTML for deployment into your eMarketing service.
I'm looking forward to testing this tool further as I truly believe this could signicantly improve the time needed to properly test eMarketing campaigns. If you have any tools you would like to share regarding HTML emails or cross-platform testing in general please share your comments below.
Posted by Monica Madsen on Mon, May 07, 2012
“There are more than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) shared each week on Facebook.” (Source)
With that being said, how much of that content do you think uses proper grammar and punctuation? Honestly, I don’t know, but I am sure more than half of the content has a good amount of grammar and punctuation errors.
In a world where conversations happen through blogs, tweets, and Facebook posts, using proper grammar is important as it reflects back on the writer and the business he/she is representing. If you want to keep readers and continue the conversation, it is important to use proper grammar to avoid looking silly.
Here is a simple English lesson to help prevent some of the most common grammar and punctuation errors.
Its vs. It’s
- Having the wrong use of its/it's tends to be the easiest and most overlooked mistake in writing.
- Its – possessive form of it
- Example: Its network is down.
- It’s – contraction of it is
- Example: It’s important to understand grammar.
- If you are unsure which form to use in your sentence, replace the form of its/it’s with it is or it has to see if the sentence still makes sense.
Your vs. You’re
- This is another commonly misused word.
- Your – shows possession
- Example: I just read your tweet.
- You’re – contraction of you are
- Example: You’re responsible for proofreading your content.
- Ask yourself what you are trying to say when using this word. Do you mean, you are, or do you mean, it belongs to you.
Their vs. They’re vs. There
- The difference between these three words is quite simple yet regularly mixed up.
- Their – shows possession, belonging to
- Example: Their Facebook page is popular.
- They’re – contraction of they are
- Example: They’re going to update the profile.
- There – shows location, position or place
- Example: There is no excuse.
- When using these different forms, determine if you are talking about a person or a place to help decide the correct use of the word.
Affect vs. Effect
- These are two of the most confusing and misused words because of not understanding and remembering the difference.
- Affect – verb, an action is taking place
- Example: Being able to use this word properly will positively affect your writing.
- Helpful hint to remember the meaning, “Affect is an Action.”
- Effect – used as a noun
- Example: The effect of proper grammar is beneficial for you.
- Helpful hint: An effect never affects you.
Misplaced and Overused Commas
- Commas do not need to be, and should not be, placed randomly throughout a sentence because it may look more grammatically correct.
- The comma is to be used to set off expressions, connect phrases, or to list items.
- Examples:
- Comma in a list: “Please pick up bread, eggs, milk, and bacon from the grocery store.”
- Comma connecting a phrase: “When writing a blog, make sure you check for grammatical errors.”
- Comma to set off expressions: “Grammar, as you may know, is not always easy to understand.”
- The comma has more uses than provided. Go through the Grammar Book for a complete list of rules.
So, before clicking the “send” or “publish” button, be sure to reread the content you just created. It is also a good idea to have other eyes read it over to pick up on misspellings or grammar mistakes you may have missed. Proofreading your posts and blogs will help to ensure credibility and build the loyalty of your readers and followers.
Posted by Steve James on Mon, Apr 02, 2012
How to Use Your Blog to Attract Customers [Customer Story]
RIDE Adventures is in the motorcycle touring business, a type of adventure travel that many avid motorcycle enthusiasts don’t even know exists. When we recognized that few potential customers would be searching for “guided motorcycle tours in South America,” it became obvious that we’d have to find another way to draw people to our website. If motorcycle riders weren’t searching for “motorcycle tours,” what were they searching for? Hubspot’s Keywords and Blog Analytics tools made this easy to discover, and we’ve been blogging accordingly ever since.
Read More at the HubSpot Learning Center
Posted by Monica Madsen on Fri, Mar 30, 2012
As we all know too well, most interactions and communication is done online using a wide variety of social networks. What may not be taken into consideration is the role ethics plays with online sharing and communication, or that there needs to be a place for ethics in social media.
There has been a transformation in communication because of social media. Here are some changes that have taken place:
- People have now become both the producer and consumer of information.
- News can be shared instantly online before it even reaches the television.
- The judgment of communication is both positively and negatively affected.
- It is up to the reader to decide whether or not the information is true and credible. The reader must look at the context, channel, and author of the information.
- Because more people communicate online, the value of face-to-face communication is lost. This has multiple affects on the way a message is received and interpreted.
- People have the ability to filter out and choose the types of messages they want to receive and those they want nothing to do with.
Why do ethical principles need to be applied to social media?
Social media allows anyone to share basically anything online. Within a business, it is their responsibility to build a positive identity for their brand. If policies are not put into place, employees could be free to share anything to anyone. The business needs to find the audience with whom they want to share information. Here are some guidelines a business should follow when communicating online:
- Share information that will give your brand a positive image.
- People want credible information, so give them that. This will build trust for your business, which can help increase leads and customers.
- When sharing, be aware of others’ perspectives and opinions. Be open to what others have to say.
- When you respond, be fair in what you say to create a social wellbeing for your business and customer relationships.
- Be aware of who can see your information, what is being shared, and what is being said and shared about your business.
- If something negative is being shared, analyze it for credibility. If it is credible, respond to it in a positive fashion to show that you care about what is said concerning your business, and that some type of action is being taken to improve.
- Overall, a business should create a positive, credible online presence for both their own benefit and for the benefit of their customers. Think about the business brand and identity that you want to share and build upon.
What should be included in a social media policy?
The action of an employee’s online presence reflects on the business. When creating a policy, the behavior expectation of the employees needs to be addressed. What is expected of a business online, and even offline, should be mentioned to create an identity. Here are some other elements to include in a social media policy:
- The purpose for social media in the business
- Provide evidence of responsibility with sharing
- Provide some business information for credibility and authenticity
- Understand the audience with whom you are communicating
- Provide credit to the right people or businesses
- Protect confidentiality of the business
- Provide value for the consumers and the business
- Find a balance between social media and other work
Social media should be a part of a business and business should not entirely be social media. Communicating online is different from communicating in person or printed messages. Be aware of all the different aspects of social media – who sees your message, who is sharing messages and what are they sharing. Take responsibility for any online behaviors – positive and negative – and understand the logic behind having an online presence.
Do you have a social media code of ethics at your business? Has it proven effective and useful?
Posted by Monica Madsen on Mon, Mar 19, 2012
Part of an inbound marketing strategy is optimizing your content so that it can be found in search engines. Another major part of the strategy is link building from outside sources.
Link building is often overlooked because the focus seems to be on creating content and the on page SEO. But in order to increase your SEO rankings, you have to leave the comfort of your own website and start engaging with other online sources. The inbound link building process requires quality thought and effort, but it will be worth it to see your SEO rankings increase and your business will generate more leads.
- Create quality content on your website and blog – and share it. If your readers like the content, they will share it as well, which spreads it farther across the online world. Add social media buttons to your blog to make it easier for your readers to share the content. It is also important to note that when creating content, include your keywords and keyword phrases for search engine optimization.
- Write guest posts for other blogs to build relationships, earn respect, and create credibility for your company, as well as the business for which you are writing. Commenting on blogs is another great way to ensure the author’s credibility and draw attention to both you and the author.
- Build relationships with outside communities and audiences that you want to share and link to your content. Find and follow credible sources within your industry and start engaging with them on their social media channels. The more your content is linked too the more you will be found in search engines.
The inbound link building strategy takes some time and practice but once you get started, you will see the results. What are some ways you build links for your content? How does your inbound marketing strategy work for your business?
Posted by Monica Madsen on Fri, Mar 09, 2012
As a consumer, have you ever used a “loyalty” or “rewards” punch card? You know the kind that offers you something free after a certain amount of purchases. Have you ever lost that card?
For all the businesses out there, do you ever wish you could have those little punch cards to build relationships with loyal customers? Do you have them but they aren’t working to their full advantage?
Well, here’s a simple solution to help both businesses and customers. Punchh is an easy-to-use app that works for both the business and its customers. With Punchh, you don’t have to worry about losing the punch card for a business because it’s on your phone. (Just don’t lose your phone.)
Businesses in the Milwaukee area are picking up on this “referral and loyalty program” including AJ Bombers, Water Buffalo, Swig, and Smoke Shack. With the Punchh card, you have the opportunity to receive $5 off your bill after only 5 visits! What more motivation do you need than that?
Check out how “AJ Bombers uses Punchh to re-think loyalty.”
Here are some benefits of having Punchh for your business:
- Be in complete control of the loyalty program
- Punchh allows you to track and measure engagement and top customers
- Connect with your loyal customers and even non-loyal customers
- Punchh can connect with an existing Facebook and/or Twitter page for ‘live’ feed
To learn more about how Punchh could be beneficial for your venue or as a personal user, check out the Punchh FAQs.
Interested in trying the Punchh app? Download it for free for the iPhone or Android phone.
Posted by Monica Madsen on Fri, Feb 24, 2012
It’s finally here – well almost. Facebook is slowly rolling out Timeline for Business Pages. The estimated launch time is the end of the month, which is fast approaching. So what does this means for brands with pages? It means you should start prepping for the change and adjust yoru social media strategy, and here’s how.
- If you don’t have timeline for your personal profile, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to switch over now so that you can start playing around with timeline and learn how it works. This way, when timeline comes for pages, you can make the switch and peruse through the set-up process.
- Build a strategy for the new page. Create a cover photo that will define your brand and engage your customers. Develop a way to share your story to inform your customers of who you are a business and what it is you do.
- Timeline gives a business the opportunity to hide specific moments in history that should not be shared, something from the past.
- When sharing exclusive news, Timeline gives you the option to share with a specific group of people so not everyone can see what you are posting. This could be helping when sharing a special offer for fans only. But for posts about your business in general, you can share it with anyone and everyone. Content is just as important on your Facebook page as it is on your web page.
- Get creative with the visual elements that will be on your page, aside from the profile and cover pictures. This could a great opportunity to add videos – both old and new.
- With Timeline, you can date back to the beginning of business. Tell your business story and show how you have grown and expanded from the beginning.
- When the time comes to make the switch, jump on it. Don’t wait until you are forced to make the switch. Also, take the time to play around with Timeline on your own page before right away publishing the new page and its additions.
- Stay up-to-date on what your competitors are doing on their pages so that you can create a way to stand out. Don’t wait until the last minute to add Timeline. Make sure to do your research and be prepared for any possibility. No one is completely sure what the Timeline for Pages will all entail.
How are you getting prepared for the transition to the new Timeline on your business page? What are your thoughts on the change – will it have a positive or negative effect on how businesses are viewed?
Posted by Monica Madsen on Fri, Feb 10, 2012
Businesses incorporate new technology, such as the Apple iPad, to help simplify meetings, social media, and give interactive business presentations. Check out these five apps to help make and present interactive business presentations.
5 Must-Have iPad Apps for Interactive Business Presentations
- Keynote. Part of the Apple iWork suite, the Keynote app is user-friendly and compatible with PowerPoint, which makes it beneficial for a business where everyone may not be using Apple products.
- Prezi Viewer. If you use Prezi to create your interactive business presentations, you can present them with your iPad anywhere.
- Power Presenter.When using a projector for your presentation, this app comes in handy. It also allows you to present a website and write, draw, and highlight on the slides during the presentation.
- Corkulous. Save notes, contacts, ideas, and more on a corkboard. Corkulous also supports iCloud and Dropbox for extra sharing and data saving.
- Sadun’s Whiteboard. Use a virtual whiteboard to present instead of a slideshow. Connect to a projection system using an Apple VGA video-out cable and draw right on an external screen with regular whiteboard markers and erasers.
Just as the iPad and business presentations go together, so do the iPad and the business professional. As a person in the business world, it is important to stay organized, connected, and up-to-date on the latest technology. This is where the iPad comes into the picture. The iPad is there to help with all those different tasks you must complete and keep track of ideas and contacts. Check out these five apps for the sales and marketing business professional.
5 Must-Have iPad Apps for Business Professional
- GoToMeeting. Never miss a meeting again. GoToMeeting app allows you to attend a meeting wherever you are just by tapping the invite link. Share screens with the presenter to view slideshows, charts, reports or whatever needs to be shared.
- Penultimate. Take notes with ease using your iPad instead of ferociously scribbling on that pad of paper. Save and organize notes so they are easy to find and share them with coworkers or friends.
- Evernote. Sync Evernote on all your devices to keep all your notes, to-do lists, reminders, and photos in one place.
- TweetDeck. Be a social butterfly and stay connected to your social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Monitor, manage, and post to your networks from one app.
- Dropbox. Take your office with you wherever you go. With Dropbox, you can save all your files in this one location, and once Dropbox is installed on all your devices, you can access all your files from anywhere with any device.
How has the iPad been beneficial for your business presentations or as a business professional? What apps do you use on a regular basis? Share them with us.
