Mike Renahan says, “Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” I’m going to bet he wasn’t talking about sales when he said that famous line, but the sentiment is still applicable to the field. If you’re writing an email that a prospect isn’t going to get any value from, why put the few minutes into writing it? However, it can be difficult to assess whether or not your email provides prospects something of worth. A good test is to look out for a few problematic phrases in your emails that signal a relatively worthless message.... [...]

Sean Zinsmeister says, “Even if you’re not the “early adopter” type, you’ve probably heard about the rise of predictive analytics for sales. Perhaps your marketing team has tried out HubSpot’s new predictive lead scoring capabilities and is recognizing the value this kind of data-driven insight can bring. If you’re wondering whether predictive intelligence could make your sales team’s job easier as well, the answer is a resounding yes. Predictive technology has matured rapidly, and there’s now a whole community of forward-looking businesses that are already showing proven... [...]

Bethany Cartwright says, “Choosing any color scheme — whether for graphics, websites, brands, etc. — is a challenge in and of itself. That choice of colors sets the mood for anything and everything you create. When it comes to data visualization, color is especially important. The color scheme sets the tone of the imagery and each color serves to represent a unique piece of information. The colors you use in your data visualizations represent more than just one idea. The color scheme you choose has the power to display the type of data you’re showing, its relationship, the... [...]

Jami Oetting says, “Many agency leaders think the path to success is through growth. Grow bigger, grow faster, and don’t look back. But do they have the right business practices in place to actually achieve this? And are they prepared for the inevitable changes that occur as a company gets larger? 6 Questions to Ask Before Your Agency Grows 1) How do you want to grow? What do you want your agency to look like in a few years? There are two main approaches to growth, and they look very different. For one type of firm, you can grow through increased sales — or growing by volume.... [...]

Valerie Levin says, “When content marketing first arrived on the marketing scene, it was novel, innovative and pushed the norms of traditional marketing. The idea of inbound marketing seemed outrageous. Letting the customers come to us? Marketers with years of practice in cold calls and direct mail questioned if generating content and letting their audiences find it would even work. With refinement and thoughtful strategy, inbound marketing generated more leads, conversions and increased brand reach. This, of course, was aided by the advancement of technology and the increase in the number... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “With more than 1.65 billion monthly active users, Facebook is a major player in the world of social networking. Businesses looking to market using Facebook have one major tool at their disposal: the Facebook Page. Facebook Pages were specifically engineered for businesses. They provide a public home on Facebook for a business, and they allow businesses to publish content and receive comments and feedback from fans and customers. Facebook Pages are a simple tool, but they allow for many interesting business opportunities. There are some companies out there who really... [...]

Leslie Ye says, “Do you want to improve your sales team’s performance? If not, stop reading now. (And maybe consider changing jobs.) But if you do, and your sales team is lagging behind goals or not overachieving quite as much as you’d like them to, consider implementing a sales incentive program. This could be something as large-scale as President’s Club or as small as weekly SPIFs (sales performance incentive fund). The type of program you implement all depends on the type of reaction you’re hoping to spark. Short-term rewards can key up competition and drive immediate results,... [...]

Lindsay Kolowich says, “Snapchat, the one-to-one messaging app with more than 150 million daily active users, has earned a reputation for fast growth and innovation. But despite its success, it isn’t the most user-friendly app I’ve ever played around with. Many of its best features are so buried within the app that a lot of people don’t even know they exist. In March 2016, Snapchat added even more features in their release of a new version, and some of these features have totally reshaped how people use the app in the first place. For example, did you know that you can use... [...]

Alexi Lambert says, “Even though inbound marketing has been a huge success within so many different industries, there are still some companies that are shackled with misconceptions about whether it will work for them. In fact, we have identified 23 myths about inbound marketing that some people may think are true. Time to bust these myths! 1) “Content creation is inbound marketing.” There’s a common misconception that “creating more content is all we need to do.” Don’t get us wrong. We emphasize the importance of creating content to give your buyers the information they are looking... [...]

Ellen Bartolino says, “As of just last week, Instagram hit a major milestone: the platform doubled its monthly active users to 500 million in just two short years. What’s more, over half of those monthly users — 300 million, to be exact — are active on the platform daily. That’s a whole lot of action. All that said, it should come as no surprise that Instagram has become a place of interest for businesses. And with the massive potential audience in mind, those businesses are looking for ways to create meaningful, quality experiences through Instagram’s ad solutions. You... [...]