Jenny Mudarri says, “So, you want to push the envelope with Instagram video but you don’t have the budget, resources, or expertise to get the job done, right? Wrong. Sure, you may have noticed an array of dazzling and creative Instagram videos on the platform, but don’t let mega-brands with huge video teams and endless budgets get you down. Carving out your piece of the pie doesn’t have to be scary, time-consuming, or even expensive. In fact, there are a ton of tips and tricks you can use to produce noteworthy video content without all the fuss”. How to Make Great... [...]

Aja Frost says, “When it comes to icebreakers, “describe yourself in three words” is by far one of the toughest. You’re a complex person, with unique ambitions, experiences, preferences, and traits — how are you possibly supposed to distill yourself down to three mere words? Unfortunately, get-to-know-you conversations aren’t the only time you’ll face this prompt. LinkedIn headlines are essentially the professional version: They ask you to describe who you are and what you do in just one line. It’s not surprising most people end up with the platform’s default option, their... [...]

Alok Chowdhury says, “It’s no secret that the way people buy has fundamentally changed over the years. These days, people are conducting their own research, reading product reviews, and seeking out recommendations before making a decision, and online communities are beginning to play a role in this process. With 74% of business buyers conducting more than half of their research online before making a purchase, B2B communities like G2Crowd or GetApp can be used to educate prospective customers and help them make better buying decisions. These forums provide people with an opportunity... [...]

Adam Honig says, “Are you aware of how insanely popular Pokémon Go is? (If you’re trying to snag a Zubat as you read this, you know.) According to Time Magazine, the game is [b]igger than Tinder and on its way to smashing Twitter’s ‘daily active users’ ceiling. That’s how nuts this Pokémon Go augmented reality experiment has become since it was unceremoniously loosed on the iOS and Android app stores on July 6. In fact, it’s become so big that, according to NBC News, police departments country-wide are issuing proactive warnings in order to protect the safety of... [...]

Leslie Ye says, “According to HubSpot’s 2015 State of Inbound report, 42% of salespeople report that prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales process. And it makes sense — in an age where buyers know more than ever and everyone is incredibly busy, it’s harder and harder to get someone to pick up your call or respond to your email. Dan Muscatello, a HubSpot enterprise sales rep, has a unique strategy that makes this painful process a little easier and more effective: His prospecting emails are all two sentences or shorter. Here’s why Muscatello does it: 1) It’s mobile-friendly. Fifty-four... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “While the content your business creates is important, delivering it to the right people is easily half the battle. Using Facebook’s paid tools to expand your reach might be a no-brainer, but leveraging them to their full potential is another question entirely. Facebook’s advertising platform allows marketers to effectively target a specific audience, which makes it far easier to deliver content to the people that actually want to see it — resulting in higher engagement. Additional functions help you build credibility and relevance when users see and interact... [...]

Dave Rynne says, “When I first started my sales career as an overly aggressive outside salesman, we were taught to knock down doors for business, hunt out prospects, go in for the kill, and one-call close them. (Follow-ups were for losers who couldn’t close on the first date.) In all my time on the job, I had never heard the word ‘upsell.’ Not in any of my trainings at two of the most aggressive B2B long-distance phone service reselling companies, and not in my early years as a broker. Instead, here’s how it went: Hunt them, sell them, and forget about them. Holy shiitake,... [...]

Leslie Ye says, “No matter what you sell and no matter who you sell it to, there’s one question that all salespeople have been asked at least once in their careers: “How do I know this works?” (Variations include “What’s the ROI?” and “Can you show me similar results your other customers have achieved?”) That’s because prospects are savvy. They want to make sure it’s worth their time and money to use your product. We know you’re savvy, too. If you’re going to flip through a 30-slide presentation, you’ll want to make sure it’s worth your while. So I’m going to... [...]

Eddie Shleyner says, “Here’s the truth: There’s no guarantee that anyone will actually read your writing online. You have to compel them to do that. And one way to do so is to create writing that’s effortless to consume. Not sure where to start? That’s okay. This article will teach you the fundamentals. You’ll learn how to drive audiences to read every word you write. You’ll learn how digital copywriters — you know, marketers who use words to convert people online — get and keep the most valuable commodity on the internet: attention. However, in order to... [...]

Aja Frost says, “Most of the time, we don’t realize trends are ridiculous until after they’ve faded away. Think: Pet rocks, shag carpet, Jazzercise, to name a few. These six sales email trends, on the other hand, are so atrocious that we’re not just recognizing how horrible they are — we’re calling for their immediate death. They’re worse than ineffective: They piss off prospects and immediately bring down your closing rate. Read on to see which six email techniques you should stow away with your MC Hammer pants. 6 Horrible Email Trends That Need to End 1) Using a Fake “Re:” According... [...]