Author: Franz Malten Buemann

If you’re a Gmail user, either in your personal life or at work, you’re likely already a convert to the beauty of seamless app integrations. The ability to add a meeting to your calendar or reply to a comment in a shared document directly from your email inbox not only saves you time but also…
The post How to Manage Your Customers Without Leaving Your Inbox appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Hello friends how are you? I want to tell you about a project called Onlive.co (the App is available for ios devices until now) we upload quality live and recorded content. I have been working on attraction campaigns and it has done very well, however we have had little retention even though the content is quite good. What comments could you give me about the App? What do you think could be improved? I would greatly appreciate your comments. Thanks in advance!
submitted by /u/ceriseexplosive [link] [comments]

With more than 2.8 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 your brand, allow you to publish content, and let you see comments and feedback from fans and customers.

Facebook Pages are a simple tool, but they offer countless interesting business opportunities. There are some companies out there who really take advantage of the cool stuff you can do on a Facebook business Page to connect, engage with, and delight fans, as well as drive traffic to specific parts of their website.
So, we combed through the web to find the top pages to inspire your Facebook marketing strategy. But first, we answer the quintessential question: What makes a good Facebook page?
What makes a good Facebook Page?
A good Facebook business Page accurately represents your brand, focuses on the customer, and answers for potential followers’ needs. The page should also entice potential followers to engage more meaningfully with your brand — whether by visiting your website, signing up for a free event, or joining your company’s Facebook Group.
In your Facebook page, you should have:

A name that reflects your business in a professional and succinct way.
An accurate page category that immediately tells users what you do.
A description that establishes the benefits of following your Page.
A profile picture that represents your brand and its colors.
An engaging and descriptive cover photo that speaks to your customer’s core desire or pain point.
A constant and steady stream of recently published posts that have links to other company assets and properties.

Not sure how to use Facebook for business? At a loss for how to be engaging on Facebook?
Check out our free Facebook marketing course to nail down the basics; then, check out the Pages below for inspiration.
Best Facebook Pages
1. L.L. Bean

Page Likes: 1.17M
L.L Bean is an outdoor equipment store whose Facebook Page effectively focuses on the customer and engages visitors beyond inviting them to like the posts. The content it posts is highly relevant for its target audience: cool photos, videos, and tips for outdoor adventures, each with a link and a hashtag. The Page also includes tabs dedicated to events, open job opportunities, and stores.

The description is especially notable, telling users the value they’d receive if they follow the Page:
“Welcome to the official Facebook page for L.L.Bean! Follow along for inspiring outdoor stories and photos, expert tips and advice, and a community devoted to helping make the most of every moment outside. #BeanOutsider”
2. Intrepid Travel

Page Likes: 601K
Travel agency Intrepid Travel has put together a great Facebook Page — complete with a special tab that shows trip and tour reviews, and one that lets users search and save trips without having to leave the Page. For instance, if you’ve been dreaming of a family holiday in Scotland, you can save it and come back to it later. This ensures users return to Intrepid Travel and its offerings every time they visit Facebook.
The brand also consistently posts compelling videos and testimonies that’ll have you itching to pack a bag and hit the road.
3. Shopify

Page Likes: 3.8M
Shopify is an ecommerce website platform whose Facebook Page features engaging multimedia. While the photos section consists of branded infographics that share data from the industry, the video section is full of how-to clips you’d normally see in article form.
The company’s case study series, “My First Sale,” is what really helps the Page shine. Check out just one of Shopify’s case studies from its Facebook Page below.

4. Salone Monet 

Page Likes: 1.2K
Salone Monet is a footwear brand that has tons of great images on its Page. Most notably, the cover photo features the types of shoes it sells, and even more, the image reflects the founder’s mission: To create “color-inclusive nude shoes to match you & all your favorite outfits.” It also includes a “Shop” tab where you can begin browsing the brand’s shoes.
All in all, Salone Monet does a great job of creating a fantastic brand experience that doesn’t require the user to leave Facebook. Plus, the Page has a widget above the “About” section that prompts visitors to ask them a question, increasing engagement right from the moment a visitor lands on the Page.
5. Essence

Page Likes: 2.9M
For a traditionally print magazine, Essence is almost all video now. But combined with its mesmerizing images and pop-culture-friendly articles, this publisher has turned its Facebook Page into the ultimate hub for hot takes on the latest entertainment industry news.
It doesn’t even matter what medium you consume Essence in now — it’s all just solid content to have on your news feed. And for as prolific and diverse as the publication is, its Facebook Business Page balances all of it quite nicely.
The company also broadcasts from Facebook Live every month. Check out its live video library below.

6. Dang Foods

Page Likes: 22.8K
The folks at Dang Foods have the unique challenge of having to find an infinite number of ways to feature a small collection of products so its social media content stays fresh and interesting. The key to its success? A wide variety of interesting visual content.
Much of its video and photographic content is centered around the ways its snacks are different from others in the industry. The products are Asian-inspired, and the brand is Asian-owned.
For instance, in the following post, it announces it’s one of the Asian-owned brands featured in a subscription snack box:

The one thing that its Facebook page is missing is more customer-centric content — but by centering its posts on company news, it can establish itself as a buzz-worthy newcomer to the industry.
7. Zappos.com

Page Likes: 2.4M
Zappos.com is known for great customer service, and it keeps that reputation going on its Facebook Page. For example, it has a badge in the “About” section that says it’s “Very responsive” to customer messages. That’s a great honor — especially considering the fact that it has nearly 2.4 million followers. That’s a lot of people the company could potentially need to respond to.
The Page also has a small section dedicated to visitor posts, which features customer testimonials about Zappos’ great customer service on and off Facebook. Not to mention, the brand is committed to responding to comments — and it isn’t afraid to have fun with the responses:

Customer service aside, Zappos has also fully taken advantage of Facebook’s call-to-action button feature by placing a “Shop Now” button at the top of its Facebook Page.
8. McBride Sisters

Page Likes: 32.6K
McBride Sisters is a wine and spirits brand that immediately greets users with its Black Girl Magic line of wines in the cover photo. In doing so, it immediately appeals to its customers and exhibits its commitment to representing excluded voices in the industry.
While it mostly shares company news as opposed to customer-centric tips, it strikes the right balance by only sharing what its customer base cares about. For instance, in the following post, the company shares an upcoming event. If you’re a fan of Patti LaBelle and a lover of wine, you’d be compelled to attend — even if you don’t yet plan to buy a bottle of wine from McBride Sisters.

9. JetRockets

Page Likes: 119
First things first: JetRockets, a small web development agency, has an illustrated cover photo that is so fun to look at. As a result, the company gives visitors an early glimpse into its versatility and attention to detail.
As you can see from the image above, the company also features a call-to-action (CTA) button below the cover photo that tells users to “Call Now.” Right away, the button invites visitors to engage with the brand. With how quickly you must act to get customers’ business, this is a valuable feature of JetRocket’s business Page.
While the Facebook Page’s photo section is rich with employee photos showing off the company’s culture, its feed is filled with a mixture of company news and testimonies that prove the effectiveness of its services and offerings.
10. Glamnetic

Page Likes: 67K
Glamnetic rocks Facebook. Its Page prioritizes the things it knows users care about most when visiting Facebook: tutorials, live streams, discounts, and giveaways. At every turn, it gives users the chance to get Glamnetic products for free.
Not only that, it’s constantly putting out relatable and compelling visual content that gets high levels of engagement from its fans. For example, it partners with a wide collection of influencers who represent its customer base, and it also presents its new products in time for the upcoming season.

11. BET

Page Likes: 7.5M
BET, a news and entertainment company, leans on social media sites like Facebook to share its newest articles.
It does a great job of keeping its Facebook content fresh and up-to-date, which is especially important for a broadcasting company. Not to mention, each article it posts gains a ton of traffic as a result of its Facebook marketing strategy.
The folks that run the Facebook Page always find clever ways to keep the BET family connected and engaged using hashtags like #BETBuzz:

12. Helen Keller International

Page Likes: 17K
Helen Keller International is a charity organization that’s committed to decreasing poverty and preventing vision loss. It does a fantastic job engaging its volunteer and donor bases on Facebook. It right away invites donations by including a “Donate” button right underneath its cover photo, and its posts and photos feature the personal stories of patients who were helped thanks to the generosity of people like its Facebook Fans.
Its Page also offers tabs that allow you to create a fundraiser, browse careers, look at photos, and more.
13. Starbucks

Page Likes: 36.5M
Starbucks was an early social media adopter, and it comes through in the polish and features of its Facebook Page. The “International” tab leads you to its local Facebook Pages, so non-English-speaking fans can easily navigate to their country’s Starbucks Page.
Beyond that, Starbucks uses its Page to showcase rich visual content, run contests for seasonal products, highlight job openings, and interact with followers. It takes a fairly minimalist approach and uses short captions, like it does in the post below:
It also offers a slick store locator that allows you to find the location nearest to you.
14. Hint

Page Likes: 3.2K Likes
Hint is a Mexico-based marketing agency with a simple but effective Facebook business Page. Part of this impression comes from the company’s consistent and on-brand posts. It immediately invites users to message the brand via WhatsApp, one of the biggest messaging platforms in Latin America.
One of this Page’s premiere features, shown below, is its “Services” section, offering branded tiles that briefly describe Hint’s lines of business. From the unique and location-specific call-to-action to the warm color scheme, this business Page effectively engages users.

15. Adobe

Page Likes: 1.3M
Adobe is a computer software company that could post all about software and technology all the time … but it does a great job of catering its content to Facebook users, who tend to log on to socialize, read or watch fun content, or read the news. 
Its posts strike the right balance between conversational and authoritative. For instance, in one of its posts, it uses fun emojis while inviting users to celebrate World Emoji Day with an interdisciplinary artist:

16. Canva

Page Likes: 1.6M
Your customers can be your best sources for market research. The Canva Facebook Page places its Review tab at the forefront, whereas most Pages place the “About” or “Photos” tabs in the same spot. Customers have the option to post their unfiltered thoughts, recommend Canva, and share their opinion on their own Facebook Pages.
It also has a running series called “Design Stories,” where it shares touching anecdotes. 
17. EasyLunchboxes

Page Likes: 272K
With all that space in the cover photo, why not pair colorful visuals with a strong value statement? That’s exactly what EasyLunchboxes does. It puts it all out there as soon as a user lands on its Facebook Page.
In addition to posting fun pictures, videos, and tips like “lunch box hacks,” the Page also includes tabs that let users ask questions, sign up for the newsletter, follow the brand’s blog, and even get recipe and meal ideas. Overall, the Page is on-brand and clearly displays the utility of the product.

18. Pure Barre

Page Likes: 334K
For a company that’s been around for over 20 years, Pure Barre has shown that it can keep up with the times on its Facebook Page. Its posts include a mixture of testimonies, challenges, and reposts from current Pure Barre customers. Overall, it keeps engagement high by posting lots of content, much of which features members’ inspirational fitness journeys.
It also has a handy “Store” locator app within the page so that prospective members can easily see whether there’s a location nearby. To ensure that users engage as quickly a possible with the brand, it includes a “Sign Up” button right below the cover photo.
Pure Barre also knows its target customer base quite well. For many, seeing people’s progress is key to making a fitness investment, so the Page includes reviews right next to the Home tab.
19. Stella & Dot

Page Likes: 530K
As a company based on creating flexible entrepreneurial opportunities for women, Stella & Dot relies on platforms like Facebook to help grow its business via word-of-mouth marketing. It’s a great example of an organization that’s successfully built a community on Facebook.
Stella & Dot uses its Page to share styling tips with its social community, show how its pieces are designed and made, and post videos on how to wear its jewelry. All of its visual content is vibrantly colored and beautifully shot.

It has also taken advantage of Facebook Live by posting live videos of trunk shows, which can help prospective trunk show hosts learn how to do one — or just bring entertainment to anyone watching.
(Read this article for more awesome Facebook Live use cases.)
20. Mabel’s Labels

Page Likes: 215K
Like Zappos, Mabel’s Labels — creators of high-quality labels for the stuff kids lose — has also taken advantage of Facebook’s call-to-action (CTA) button feature with its “Shop Now” CTA, linking to its homepage.
In terms of content, it has mastered the art of posting the perfect balance of engaging videos, photos, and GIFs that align with the interests of its target audience: Moms who want their children to have a stress-free and positive childhood. For example, check out this photo it posted about the inclusivity of its products:

Mabel’s Labels has also taken advantage of Facebook Live and posted tons of videos that would be of interest to its audience. 
21. UNICEF

Page Likes: 12M
UNICEF’s Facebook Page is all about teaching Facebook users about its mission and giving them opportunities to get involved. For instance, they can click on the “Learn More” call-to-action button to visit the official website, or they can navigate to the “Guides” tab to browse through the organization’s guides on humanitarian values.
UNICEF also lets you create a Fundraiser straight from the Facebook page. The organization is known for creating powerful content to spread awareness and positive messages about current events. During the pandemic, for example, it created a video series to help individuals navigate hardship.
22. Black Lives Matter

Page Likes: 744K
Black Lives Matter is an organization whose Facebook Page is founded on uplifting historically excluded voices. In the same way, you can create a Page that highlights external experts on industry topics.
The organization’s posts include a mixture of Black history, organizational news, and political activism. Its video tab includes videos that bring attention to American issues, such as voting and abolition. In doing so, it effectively appeals to its followers and target audience.
23. Innclusive

Page Likes: 17.5K
Innclusive, an Airbnb competitor, uses its Facebook page to bring awareness to an issue by including an attention-grabbing statistic in its description. “A few months ago,” the Page’s description says, “a study conducted by Harvard University found that Airbnb hosts are 16% less likely to book users with ‘distinctively African-American names.’” In doing so, the Page immediately shows why the company’s services are needed.
It also invites users to book with them using a simple but effective line: “Come stay with us!” Another successful aspect of this page is its CTA button under the cover photo inviting visitors to sign up on the Innclusive website.
24. Rebundle

Page Likes: 363
Rebundle is a plant-based hair extension company that effectively conveys its ecologically centered products in its cover image and profile picture. It also invites users to engage immediately by including a “View Shop” button, which takes you to a page with pictures of its products in use.
In its posts, the Page shares company news, videos from other users, and photos of its customers successfully using the hair extensions.
25. Rhymes with Reason

Page Likes: 860
Rhymes with Reason is an education-technology startup that uses hip-hop music to teach vocabulary to students. It effectively uses its Facebook Page to spotlight stories from current and upcoming customers, share the Word of the Week, and highlight the artists it features on the platform.
Rhymes with Reason’s Page is an excellent example of striking the right balance between serving your target customers and sharing company news. In all of its posts, it uses its brand colors and aesthetic; that way, visitors can expect a consistent experience every time the brand publishes a post.
In its Community section, the brand allows anyone and everyone to tag them in posts, encouraging conversation and engagement.
Best Facebook Page Names
Your Facebook Page name would ideally be your business name — no frills and no keywords cluttering up the name. It should also be highly unique. Keep it simple like in the examples below:

Rebundle
Innclusive
Canva
Adobe

These names work well because they directly reflect the brand and are simple to remember.
If you need name ideas for your business, check out more business name ideas to inspire you.
Let These Winning Facebook Pages Inspire You
Use these awesome Page examples as inspiration to finally create a Facebook Page for your business or as motivation to improve your existing Page. You don’t have to do everything. Instead, focus on the core needs of your fans and customers, keep your messaging and imagery consistent, and watch your Facebook Page grow exponentially.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2013 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

{{slideInCta(‘f8cf3a1d-153d-4b0e-aaa3-a96f862ab54e’)}

Growing up, a few of my baseball coaches were some of the most ruthless and demanding people I’ve ever met. They used fear to push my team to our physical and emotional limits, intimidated us with cruel ultimatums, and didn’t really seem to care about us as people. They did everything they could to win — and punished us when we didn’t.
When I started doing internships in college, I expected my managers to be just like my coaches. Since businesses actually have to make money, and not just win a few games, I was scared to mess up.

But at the end of my last internship, I realized I’ve never really felt afraid to fail in the working world because my managers were the complete opposite of my coaches. They were patient, understanding, and, most of all, nice. It seemed like they cared about me just as much as they cared about their job, even though there’s a lot more at stake in the office than on a high school baseball field.
Although my managers have treated me well, there are still managers out there who are just like some of my baseball coaches: fear-mongering, intimidating, and mean. These tactics might produce short-term results, but, in the long-term, all they lead to are unhappy employees, underwhelming results, and a high turnover rate.
You don’t want to be a jerk at work, especially if you’re a manager, so check out this overview of the best leadership styles to adopt — and the worst ones to avoid.

1. Visionary Management Style
A visionary manager communicates a purpose and direction that her employees believe in, which convinces her team to work hard to execute her vision.
After setting their team’s vision and overarching strategy, visionary managers usually let their employees get to work on their own terms, as long as they’re productive. Managers will mainly check in on their team to make sure they’re on the right track or to share new insights.
This gives their employees a great sense of autonomy, which all managers need to provide — after all, self-direction is a basic psychological need. When humans work on tasks that they have more control over, they feel more satisfied and motivated to complete them. Letting their employees’ personal motivations determine the direction of their work is the best way for managers to boost their team’s engagement and confidence.
Visionary managers are also known to be firm yet fair. Their vision is usually set in place, but they’re always open to listening to their employees’ ideas and willing to change their plan if a great idea is presented.
To better execute their vision, visionary managers give a lot of feedback to their employees about their performance and praise them when their performance meets or exceeds expectations.
This type of management style is hard to pull off, though. It’s crucial that you sell your employees on the purpose of your vision before you expect them to execute it. If you don’t, they won’t be inspired to turn your vision into a reality.
Example of the Visionary Leadership Style in Action: Elon Musk

Image Source
It takes a clear vision and persistent leader like Elon Musk to transform a company like Tesla into the tech giant it is today. While some may mock the CEO’s cryptocurrency hobby and scoff at his larger-than-life plans to send everyday people to space, there’s no denying that his visionary leadership style has impacted not only his employees but the global community.
2. Democratic Management Style
In democratic management, the majority rules. Managers let their employees participate in the decision-making process because they value their team’s diversity of ideas, and understand that people are the key to a team’s success.
Democratic managers ultimately approve of all decisions, but since their employees are so involved in the decision-making process, their team has a lot of influence in their manager’s decision.
Employees are so heavily involved in the decision-making process because managers know it makes their team feel valued, boosts their morale, and forges a healthy, trusting relationship between the two. It also makes it easier for managers to convince their employees to buy into a team’s vision — after all, they’re executing a plan that they’ve created together.
Many employees like this leadership style because their managers trust them with a lot of responsibility and real work, which lets them use their skills to their full potential.
But when executed poorly, a democratic management style can be inefficient. Managers who keep mulling over a decision even after consulting their whole team about it can slow down progress. And if you want your employees to feel like they’re all leaders of your team, you need to make sure they’re helping you make progress. Or else they might start thinking you’re just making empty promises.
Example of the Democratic Leadership Style in Action: Judy Vredenburgh

Image Source
Judy Vredenburgh is a democratic-style leader and President and CEO of Girls Inc., a nonprofit that inspires young women to be their best selves. Because this NGO relies on its board of directors, volunteers, and members to achieve its mission, it’s critical that she carries out her responsibilities in a way that is fair, equitable, and proves that the organization’s leadership and staff are good stewards of the donated resources that Girls Inc. receives.
3. Transformational Management Style
Transformational managers’ are innovators. They usually believe change and growth is the only way to stay ahead of the curve, so they push their employees past their comfort zone, making them realize they’re more capable than they originally thought. This motivates employees to keep raising the bar, leading to improved team performance.
Employees led by transformational managers are usually more dedicated and happy — their managers constantly challenge them and motivate them with the idea that they can reach their potential if they just keep pushing themselves. These managers are also right by their employees’ side, doing whatever they can to help them get better and succeed.
These teams are innovative, so they can adapt to drastic industry changes. But they can also risk moving too fast and spreading themselves thin. Constantly challenging the status quo is crucial for innovation and staying ahead of the curve, but, as a manager of people, it’s important to know how far you can push each of your employees before they start burning out.
Example of the Transformational Leadership Style in Action: Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah

Image Source
You know HubSpot as the powerhouse CRM tool that supports marketing, sales, service, and ops teams in scaling and enterprise businesses, but the company wasn’t always this way. In 2006, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah identified an issue with the way companies were generating leads. Outbound marketing simply wasn’t creating remarkable customer experiences.
Rather than finding a new way to bombard people with advertisements, the two created a platform that would bring customers to the companies that had solutions to their problems. Thus, “inbound marketing” became a corporate war room name, thanks to Halligan’s and Shah’s transformational leadership approach.
4. Coaching Management Style
Just like a sports coach, a coaching manager strives to improve their employees’ long-term professional development. They have a passion for teaching and watching their employees grow. And they’re more patient with short-term failure, as long as the team learns and improves as a result.
Coaching managers motivate their employees with professional development opportunities, like a promotion or more responsibility — these rewards make employees hungry for knowledge, and their steady development improves the team’s performance.
By constantly teaching their employees new things and offering career opportunities, coaches can build strong bonds with their employees. But doing this could also create a cutthroat environment that’s toxic for their team’s relations.
Leaders with a coaching style have two main focuses: overseeing employees’ individual development and bringing your team together. The best teams are the most united teams, and an employee experiences the most professional growth when both their coach and teammates invest in their development.
Example of the Coaching Leadership Style in Action: Bozoma Saint John

Image Source
When it comes to trailblazing a path for women of color to become leaders in the workplace, Bozoma Saint John truly shows up. As Netflix’s current CMO, she leverages her position as a tech executive to coach other women on their path toward professional success. Through authentic storytelling, Bozoma reaches her team and the greater tech industry with her visible and motivating leadership style.
1. Autocratic Management Style
Autocratic management is the most top-down approach to management — employees at the top of the hierarchy hold all the power, making decisions without collaborating or informing their subordinates. After the leader delegates action items, they expect immediate acceptance and execution from their subordinates, with no questions asked.
If one of their employees doesn’t follow orders, they’ll punish them by chewing them out or threatening their job. They’ll even publically humiliate them in front of their peers if they really want to make a statement to their team. Fear, guilt, and shame are an autocratic manager’s main weapons of motivation.
Autocratic managers are also the ultimate micromanagers — they police their employees every move to make sure they’re obedient, allowing little to no flexibility at work. Employees do what they’re told, and managers don’t want to hear their feedback. They see their conduct as a means to end for great financial success.
Teams and companies led by autocratic managers don’t usually reach great financial success because they can’t innovate. The same few minds call the shots which leads to groupthink and a stagnant ideation process. If they won’t let their employees, who have many different perspectives than them, share their new and possibly breakthrough ideas, then they’ll only leverage the same strategies that they’ve always been comfortable with.
The autocratic management style allows managers to make decisions extremely fast, but employees hate working under it. It’s also one of the most ineffective management styles: underdeveloped employees feel overwhelmed — they won’t get any help — and the most skilled employees can’t let their talents shine in such a rigid environment. Everyone’s professional growth is stunted.
Another problem with autocratic managers is that they don’t try to convince their employees to buy into their vision. Instead, they force them to do it. Even though coercion might work in the short-term, it won’t last in the long-term. No one likes to be controlled. And if people don’t know why they’re supporting the company’s vision, morale will plummet, leading to low-quality work and a high turnover rate.
The only time this management style is effective is when it’s temporary. For example, an organization might experience a crisis situation and needs to make important decisions — fast.
2. Servant Management Style
Servant managers put people first and tasks second. They prioritize their employees’ well-being over their team’s results, so they can foster a harmonious relationship with their employees and keep them as happy as possible. They do everything they can to support and encourage their team, and, in return, they expect their employees to be motivated to work hard.
But since servant managers don’t prioritize performance and avoid confronting their employees, even when they do a lackluster job, there’s no pressure to succeed. This can make employees complacent, leading to average or even sub-par work.
Servant managers also might spend too much time on team bonding rather than work, which could frustrate employees who are goal-oriented. They’ll feel like they can’t perform to their full potential because they have to spend a bunch of time doing trust falls.
3. Laissez-Faire Management Style
Laissez-faire managers monitor their team’s activities, but they’re completely hands-off — they expect their team to perform up to a certain level even though they don’t proactively help or check-in with their employees.
Employees led by laissez-faire managers hold all the decision-making authority, working on whatever they want with minimal to no intervention — which is a nice perk. They can also seek their manager’s guidance when they need help.
But most of the time, the team barely has any guidance or vision. Employees might feel pulled in every direction, so they can’t accomplish anything worthwhile. This is the least desirable and effective management style because, without any guidance or vision, most employees feel neglected.
4. Transactional Management Style
Transactional managers use incentives and rewards — like bonuses and stock options — to motivate their employees to carry out their commands. Their motto is “If you do this for me, I’ll do this for you.”
But psychological research tells us that extrinsic motivation, like financial rewards, wears off in the long-term and could even diminish your team’s intrinsic motivation to succeed at work.
After a while, rewarding intrinsically motivated employees with external incentives will trigger a self-perception loop. Employees will base their attitudes about their motivation at work off their behavior at work — making them think they were motivated to succeed because their manager rewarded them with some stock options and not because they had a passion for the team’s mission.
Intrinsic motivation is a stronger motivator than extrinsic motivation because the former is a better indicator for producing quality work, while the latter is a better indicator for producing a higher quantity of work.
Effective Management Styles for a Thriving Team
Management is one of the hardest jobs in the working world. There’s a reason why we’ve all had at least one terrible boss, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Now that you know the four leadership styles to adopt and which ones to avoid, you’ll be better equipped to lead your team through challenging and successful times.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Your customers, leads, and audience members want valuable content from your business. And that content needs to reach audience members in a way that feels natural and organic versus being disruptive. Content marketing helps businesses do this, and it describes the process of attracting, engaging with, and delighting your target markets.
By honing in on effective content marketing, you can do just that — and as a result, increase conversions, improve brand awareness, boost revenue, establish yourself as an industry leader, and more.

Whether you’re just starting to devise a strategy or you’re refreshing your existing one, it never hurts to re-assess your process and come up with new ways to create and share the content your audiences want. In this guide, we’ll give you a birds-eye-view of content marketing, types of content marketing, content marketing examples, and how to get a strategy going.

Content Marketing
Today, outbound marketing strategies (or anything that interrupts your audience members) aren’t as effective at resonating with and converting audience members as they once were.
Today, your content needs to reach your audience in a way that feels natural (a.k.a. inbound). A common way of doing this is by creating a narrative for your content — or telling a story. In doing so, your content will feel more authentic, engaging, and tailored to your audience.

So, what defines content marketing anyway?

Why is content marketing important?

Educate your leads and prospects about the products and services you offer
Boost conversions
Build relationships between your customers and business that result in increased loyalty
Show your audience how your products and services solve their challenges
Create a sense of community around your brand
Now let’s look at the various types of content marketing.

Types of Content Marketing
There are many types of content marketing that you may choose to incorporate in your strategy — here are some of the most common:
1. Social Media Content Marketing
With over 3.6 billion global social media users, it’s easy to understand why so many businesses invest in social media marketing. There are a number of platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat) to work with and several ways you can create and share content on each of them (e.g. photos, live videos, pre-recorded videos, stories).
Featured Resource: Social Media Content Calendar
2. Infographic Content Marketing
Infographics display content, information, and data in an easy-to-understand, graphic format. With a mix of simple wording, short statements, and clear images, infographics are a great way to effectively communicate your content. They work well if you’re trying to distill an educational and/ or complex topic down so all audience members can understand it.
Featured Resource: 15 Free Infographic Templates
3. Blog Content Marketing
Blogs are a powerful type of inbound content and allow for a lot of creativity in terms of their purpose and topic. With a blog, you can do things like promote other internal and external content and blog articles via links, add social share buttons, and incorporate product information.
Featured Resource: Start a Successful Blog
4. Podcast Content Marketing
A 2020 survey found that 49% of 12-to-32-year-olds in the U.S. had listened to a podcast within the last month, with an average of six listening hours a week. For this reason, many businesses and media outlets have begun creating and sharing their own podcasts.
Podcasts allow for a lot of creativity as they can be about any topic of choice. Additionally, you determine other factors related to the podcast such as cadence of episodes, who’s on the podcast, where you advertise the podcast, and how long episodes are.
Featured Resource: How to Start a Podcast
5. Video Content Marketing
According to Wyzowl research, 69% of consumers say they prefer to learn about a brand’s product or service through video. Additionally, video marketing can boost conversions, improve ROI, and help you build relationships with audience members. You may choose to share your video content on social media platforms, landing pages, or on a co-marketer’s website.
Featured Resource: The Ultimate Video Marketing Starter Pack
6. Paid Ad Content Marketing
Paid ads can help you reach a broad audience and allow you to position yourself in all of the places you want to be seen — paid ads are especially beneficial when paired with inbound marketing. There are many places you can share paid ads including on social media, landing pages, banners, and sponsored content.
Featured Resource: The Ultimate Google Ads PPC Kit
Next, let’s look at some content marketing examples that are associated with those types of content marketing we just reviewed.

Content Marketing Examples
The following examples will give you a better understanding of how you can incorporate content in your greater marketing strategy.
1. Example of Instagram Content Marketing

Source
Lush Cosmetics’ Instagram account is on-brand and complements the rest of their marketing content — if the page didn’t say “Lush Cosmetics” anywhere on the profile, customers would likely still know the profile belongs to Lush.
The Instagram page shares the Lush product line, displays different color and scent options for the products, and shows the various ways each product can be used. The profile feels and looks colorful and uniquely Lush, and depicts members of their wide customer base.
2. Example of Infographic Content Marketing

Source
IBM created an infographic when they launched their Cloud marketplace. Their infographic is on-brand, well-organized, and easy to read. It clearly explains what they’re doing with their Cloud marketplace and how customers can benefit from it. It also tells audience members how they can access the marketplace and get started using it.
3. Example of Blog Content Marketing

Source
Expedia has a blog called “[Out There Starts Here]” that shares travel-related information including hotel recommendations, great places to visit, and travel-related activities you can take part in around the globe.
Expedia regularly publishes their blog content to keep readers interested and engaged. It includes a wide range of topics related to any type of trip you could imagine.
The blog is on-brand and all articles relate to the travel technology company’s goal and mission of gaining customers and boosting brand awareness. They do this by linking to their services and writing about customers who have already had positive experiences with the company.
4. Example of Podcast Content Marketing

Source
Harvard Business Review (HBR) has a weekly podcast called HBR IdeaCast which features industry leaders in both business and management. You can either subscribe to consistently receive their hundreds of podcasts or pick and choose which ones you want to listen to.
The podcast is on-brand and complements the rest of HBRs published content. It also serves as a great way for HBR to connect with their target audience, enhance brand awareness, and gain a following of audience members through a medium that differs from their typical work (e.g. podcast versus HBR article).
5. Example of Video Content Marketing

Source
Much of Dollar Shave Club’s video content has gone viral. Their marketing efforts are on-brand, humorous, and entertaining. In fact, one of their videos has over 27 million views on YouTube. By establishing a name for themselves via online video content, Dollar Shave Club has experienced impressive growth and brand recognition.
6. Example of Paid Ad Content Marketing

Source
Revolve — a clothing and accessories company — uses paid and sponsored ads on social media (like this one on Facebook) to reach their target audience while they browse their news feeds.
The content ads feature some of their products as well as details about their free shipping and return policy to drive target audience members to their site (and, hopefully, convert them into paying customers).
Lastly, let’s cover your content marketing strategy. By implementing a strategy, your content marketing efforts will be impactful and effective in converting leads and reaching your target audience.
7. Example of Twitter Content Marketing

Source
HubSpot uses Twitter to market software as well as create a community among customers, target audience members, and industry leaders and experts.
HubSpot shared product information, relevant tips, industry knowledge, and original research on Twitter. HubSpot also interacts with users and ensures anyone in need of customer support knows exactly where to go for help.
8. Example of TikTok Content Marketing

Source
Chipotle is a very active brand on TikTok — the company uses the platform to reach and engage their customers and target audience members. In addition to reacting to others’ Chipotle-related TikTok content, the brand posts TikToks of their menu items, recipes, people enjoying their food, their restaurants, and more. They have over 1.6 million followers and over 30 million likes.
9. Example of Viral Content Marketing
Source
This viral content marketing example was one that came from a TikTok video — Nathan Apodaca’s original TikTok video included him sipping Ocean Spray cranberry juice while skateboarding and listening to “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac.
As a result of the viral video, TikTok used part of Apodaca’s video in their ads, Ocean Spray used Apodaca in their ads, Ocean Spray saw a bump in sales and brand awareness, Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” was number one on iTunes, and there were thousands of videos posted by other TikTok users who bought the cranberry juice and recreated Apodaca’s original video.

You can think about your content marketing strategy as you would your content marketing plan — let’s dive into the steps you’ll want to work through in order to develop an effective strategy.
1. Set SMART goals.
The first part of your content marketing strategy is to set SMART goals. These should be specific to your business — they’ll likely complement your broader marketing and company goals.
Here are some SMART goal examples:

Improve brand awareness
Boost revenue
Increase conversions
Improve brand loyalty
Increase customer engagement
Build rapport and trust among prospects and customers
Attract strategic partners

2. Determine your KPIs.
Next, set key performance indicators (KPIs) for your SMART goals. KPIs are quantifiable data points you can use to measure your actual performance against your goal.

smart goal
related kpi

Brand awareness
Site traffic, social media followers, subscription sign-ups, mentions (by customers and partners)

Revenue
Daily sales, site traffic

Conversions
Conversion rate, shopping cart abandonment rate, associated shipping rate trends, competitive price trends

Brand loyalty
Returning customers, promoters, product reviews, referrals

Customer engagement
Likes, shares, follows, mentions, backlinks

Rapport and trust
Returning customers, promoters, followers, mentions

Strategic partners
New partnerships, mentions, backlinks

3. Decide on the type of content.
Next, choose the type of content you’ll create. To do this, start by thinking about your target audience and buyer personas.

Answer the following questions about your target audience to help you narrow down the right types of content for them:

What do they need from you?
What challenges are they looking to overcome?
Why do they need your product or service?
How can you help them succeed?
Where do they spend their time?

Then, take a look back at the various types of content we reviewed earlier to decide which types of content you’ll create.
4. Choose your content channels.
Once you’ve decided on the type of content you’ll market with, it’s time to choose your specific content channels. Where will you share your content? Where will it live and be shared from?
For some of the content types, the channel you need to work with will be obvious. For example, if you’re creating Facebook content, your channel will be the social platform itself.
5. Set a budget.
Now, set your budget. Think about the type of content you’re creating and which channels you’re marketing that content on.
Then, ask yourself the following questions to determine your budget:

Do you need to purchase any software or technology to create the content (such as graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop, a subscription to Canva, a camera to take high-quality photos and videos)?
Do you need to hire any content marketers or designers (such as artists, writers, editors, designers)?
Do you need to pay for ad space?
Do you need access to specific tools or resources to enhance or measure your specific type of content?

Make note of how your responses impact your budget — whether that’s an increase or decrease in what you may have already estimated.
6. Create and distribute the content.
Create and distribute your content so your audience members can consume it — and possibly convert. To ensure you’re consistently producing content and sharing it among your prospects and customers, use a social media calendar or an editorial content calendar.
This will help your team stay on top of all of the content being created as well as allow you to schedule it ahead of time.
Use a free editorial calendar to schedule and optimize all of your marketing content to help you boost conversions.
7. Analyze and measure results.
Lastly, analyze and measure your results so you can make any necessary changes to enhance your content marketing efforts and reach more audience members.
Look at your SMART goals and KPIs to determine the success of your content marketing strategy. Did you achieve your goals and KPIs? Were you close to reaching them, or were you off in your estimations?
Here are some tools to help you with your content marketing strategy analytics and results:

HubSpot Marketing Analytics Software

HubSpot Social Media Management Software
Mention
SharedCount
Sprout Social
Google Analytics

There are hundreds of thousands of tools available today that qualify as excellent content marketing resources. For the sake of this article, we’re going to keep things simple by providing a handful of our favorite options today.

HubSpot Academy for free education on how to become an effective content marketer.

HubSpot’s Free Content Creation Resources for access to resources that will propel your content marketing strategy towards success.

Content Marketing Institute for access to some of the best content marketing online education, print, and events available today.

Blog articles on content marketing, trends, strategies, and tips by industry experts (like HubSpot).
Podcasts about content marketing, such as This Old Marketing, or business trends, such as HBR IdeaCast, to inspire your content marketing strategy.

Google Trends, which allows you to search for trends across broad topics like content marketing or for niche topics within content marketing.
Ebooks and case studies about content marketing or content marketing strategies, like this one by Mention.

Latest content marketing statistics by a reputable database source like Statista.
Easy to use visual content and design software, such as Canva.
Free or paid social media management tools, such as HubSpot, Buffer, or Sprout Social, to help you create and share your social content.
Free or paid content and project management tools, like Trello or Asana, to plan and organize your content marketing strategy.
Free or paid marketing software to connect your content marketing team, plan, strategy, and results to your greater marketing plan (and even your CRM).
Free or paid email marketing software, like HubSpot or Mailchimp, to handle all aspects of your email campaigns and content.
Your network, on platforms like Twitter or LinkedIn, where you can connect with those in your industry to discuss relevant trends, answer each other’s questions, and provide or ask for feedback.
And speaking of tapping into your networks on sites like Twitter and LinkedIn, here’s some inspiration from a few of the greatest content marketers to follow on both platforms today.

3 Marketers to Follow on LinkedIn
1. LinkedIn: Luvvie Ajayi Jones

Luvvie Ajayi Jones is a best-selling author, digital strategist, podcast host, and speaker. She’s known for combining humor with her experiences and background in marketing, communications, and new media. Her LinkedIn is sure to inspire you whether you’re thinking about/working on culture, authenticity, leadership, content, marketing strategy, and more.
2. Zontee Hou

Zontee Hou is a digital marketer and strategist, speaker, and consultant. She works with scaling companies to help them establish effective marketing strategies that work for their unique goals and audiences. On her LinkedIn profile, Hou shares her expertise in content marketing, social media marketing, marketing analytics, and digital marketing.
3. A. Lee Judge

A. Lee Judge is a co-founder and digital marketing strategist at Content Monsta. He’s also a podcast and video producer, speaker, and rev ops practitioner. On his LinkedIn profile, he covers a wide range of topics related to lead generation, social media marketing, how to apply marketing analytics and data, digital experiences, multi-channel marketing, the importance of sales and marketing alignment, and more.
3 Marketers to Follow on Twitter
4. Ann Handley

Ann Handley, Head of Content at MarketingProfs, is a bestselling author and speaker. She provides education and training around marketing that businesses can learn from and apply. She offers in-person and virtual trainings for companies on content marketing, storytelling, lead generation, and branding – all of which are topics she alson talks about, and shares content about, on her Twitter page.
5. Neil Patel

Neil Patel is a bestselling author, marketing expert, speaker, and website and SEO consultant. He’s a thought leader and industry expert in content and digital marketing. His Twitter page includes information about his trainings and services, industry trends, marketing strategy tips and resources, and questions/conversational topics meant to engage followers and other industry experts.
6. Guy Kawasaki

Guy Kawasaki is a marketing strategist, author, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcast host, and the chief evangelist of Canva. On his Twitter account, Kawasaki asks followers thought-provoking business questions as well as provides links to, and information about, new podcast episodes, industry trends, marketing strategy tips, and insights based on his experiences.
Engage Your Target Audience With Content Marketing
With effective content marketing, you can reach your target audience and increase conversions. There are several ways to market with content to boost revenue, grow your brand awareness and recognition, and build relationships with your prospects and customers.
And don’t forget to extract more value from every piece of content you create.
To get started, determine which type of content works best for your business and audience, and develop a content marketing strategy to begin boosting your bottom line today.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Email design has lagged behind website design for years. Largely, this is because email clients have not optimized as quickly to the changing digital design landscape (especially the rise of responsive design). 
However, in the past five years, email clients have begun to support capabilities initially reserved for the web. Most notably was the announcement in 2016 that Gmail would now support embedded CSS and media queries — two tools that enable responsive design. 
Email designers finally have the opportunity to apply to email what web developers have learned over the past two decades about modern design. Here’s what email designers can learn from web developers. 
Ensure responsive design, especially on mobile
In 2019, more emails were opened on mobile devices than on desktop. Email designers today must prioritize how emails render on mobile devices without sacrificing readability on desktop or tablets. 
This is where responsive design comes in. Responsive design means that your design will adapt to the screen size and resolution of the device it’s read on.
We recommend following the example of website developers and creating three different wireframes for each email (or each email template): one for mobile, one for desktop, and one for tablets. 
Then, use media queries to tell the layout how to render based on factors like screen size, or use the fluid method for email clients that don’t support media queries.
Let’s look at the difference. A non-responsive email may render in mobile with small text that’s hard to read: 

Responsive email design, on the other hand, appears optimized for mobile reading: 

Keep design simple to improve readability
Website developers know that when it comes to mobile readability, simple design is best. Smaller screens make it impossible to comfortably navigate multiple columns or creative fonts and designs. 
Here are the best ways to keep the design simple: 
Use a single-column layout
Single column layouts render most clearly on smaller screens like mobile devices. Additionally, they allow designers to create a single flow of information that guides readers toward taking a desired action (like clicking a button). 
This single flow of information is also a better user experience than having to scroll side-to-side or zoom in on a small smartphone screen to access all the content. 
Reduce visual clutter
Visual clutter is any design element that can be removed and not change the impact of the message. 
For example, dividers to separate sections instead of white space could be considered visual clutter. Similarly, font styles like bold, italics, and different headings could be considered clutter if they are not absolutely necessary to convey the message. 
Aim to create as clean a design as possible, and you will likely enhance the user experience. 
Have only one CTA button
Having mastered the art of conversion-focused design, developers know that it’s crucial to not ask readers to choose from multiple actions to take. Instead, designers should have only one call-to-action so it’s clear what readers should do next.
Additionally, make your CTA a larger, contrasting button rather than hyperlinked text. A button is easier to tap with a finger on a mobile device or tablet than hyperlinked text. 
For example, this single-column email from Planoly is visually minimal and leads directly into a single CTA button:

Borrow advanced responsive design strategies from the web
Creating a single-column design for mobile is the minimum email designers must do to create responsive emails. However, designers who want to make the user experience even better on all devices can take advantage of these slightly more advanced strategies: 
Use progressive disclosure for text-heavy emails
When emails are written like mini-essays, readers experience a seemingly endless scroll of text on a mobile device, even though on desktop, the email doesn’t seem long.
To solve this problem, email designers can borrow the “progressive disclosure” strategy from web developers. This is when certain elements of the email (such as sections of text) appear hidden under interactive elements (such as headings) and are revealed only when the reader taps. 
Progressive disclosure allows readers to experience the email as organized and minimal and skip to the section they want to read. 
Overlay text on images with live text + background images
Previously, any time an email designer wanted to show text overlaid on an image, they had to create a standalone graphic of the image and the overlaid text, and then insert that graphic into the email template. 
This works okay unless the email client fails to render your graphic correctly — and then suddenly, your message is missing a crucial headline. Additionally, it requires designers to create different graphics for each device wireframe, which is extra time spent. 
Instead, designers can borrow a strategy from website developers: Use live text and a background image to create your text overlays. This allows you to have the overlaid text image automatically adjust for each device — without risking a failure to render. 
For example, The Royal Children’s Hospital used live text over a background image to create this dynamic email: 

Source
Wrap up
Email clients are finally catching up to website platforms in terms of design capabilities. Email designers should look to web developers for how to take advantage of these new capabilities and create more responsive, beautiful, and conversion-friendly emails.
The post What Email Designers Can Learn From Web Developers appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

Get a head start with this B2B email marketing guide where we share tips, best practices, and examples of effective B2B email campaigns from the top brands.

Manual data entry might be one of the most tedious and inefficient tasks in the corporate world. Not only does it put you to sleep, it also wastes precious time and resources, slashing your productivity to bits.
Fortunately, there’s technology that can automate these mind-numbing tasks, eliminating human error and letting you focus on the work that actually matters — workflow automation.

By leveraging self-operating processes that run manual tasks, workflow automation can help your business save time and money, diminish errors, and boost productivity.
How does workflow automation work?
Workflow automation typically relies on a series of if/then statements to trigger another task. It then branches off depending on the action that was taken by a lead, employee, or another stakeholder.
Let’s walk through an example workflow for turning a form submission into a deal opportunity.

A website visitor submits a form.
The action automatically enrolls the visitor in a drip campaign. It creates a new deal and sets the status to “New.”
The first email of the drip campaign is sent to the lead, requesting to schedule a meeting.
The lead clicks through to the meeting scheduler and creates an appointment.
A thank you email is sent to the lead, confirming the date and time.
The CRM creates a new task and assigns it to a sales rep.
The sales rep then reaches out personally, ending the automated workflow.

Here’s what a workflow can look like from start to finish.
Image Source
Almost every department in your business can benefit from workflow automation. Whether it’s marketing, human resources, or finance, the technology can help you work smarter, not harder.
Below, we’ll cover some of the most popular workflow automation examples.
Workflow automation can be used in virtually any team and in any business scenario. While it’s mostly related to marketing and sales, it can also be used in customer service, operations, human resources, and finance.
Marketing Workflow Automation

Image Source
Some of the most repetitive tasks in marketing, such as sending emails and posting social media updates, can be automated with workflow automation. With marketing automation software, you can schedule your entire social media calendar and set up workflows that nurture certain types of prospects with email offers.
Automated workflows in marketing include:

Subscribing a user to a drip campaign when they download a resource from your website
Welcoming a user to your company after they purchase a product
Reminding a user to check out after they’ve added various items to their cart
Scheduling social media posts across multiple platforms
Distributing marketing tasks across team members

Additional Reading

Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Automation
Marketing Automation Benefits
B2C Marketing Automation
Email Marketing Workflows

Sales Workflow Automation

Image Source
Sales workflow automation streamlines tedious lead and prospect management tasks, so that reps can focus on selling, not entering data. Aside from taking leads automatically through the pipeline based on their actions, an automated sales workflow can enroll prospects in drip campaigns and update deal stages as the deal moves forward.
Automated tasks in sales include:

Placing each lead at a different stage of the pipeline when they take a certain action
Moving a lead out of the pipeline if they’ve stopped responding to emails
Sending an introduction email from a sales rep to a lead after they download an ebook
Updating the deal stage once the lead has scheduled an appointment or meeting
Creating tasks for sales reps once a lead has scheduled a meeting

Additional Reading

Beginner’s Guide to Sales Automation
Sales Automation Stats
Sales Force Automation
CRM Automation

Customer Service Workflow Automation

Image Source
Workflow automation is incredibly useful in customer service. Aside from launching surveys, workflow automation can take care of tickets, cases, and common questions by sending a series of emails or creating tasks.
Automated tasks in customer service include:

Creating a new ticket in the system when someone reaches out through social media or email
Onboarding customers with a series of helpful emails
Sending NPS® surveys and enrolling them into different email campaigns depending on their rating
Assigning tickets a priority label depending on the tone of the message or email
Resolving and archiving tickets once a resolution has been reached

Additional Reading

Beginner’s Guide to Customer Service Automation
Customer Relationship Automation
Customer Service Software Tools
AI Chatbots Tools

Operations Workflow Automation

Image Source
Operations is the lifeblood of any organization, and it, too, can be automated to reduce instances of manual data entry.
Automated tasks in operations include:

Deleting duplicates once they have been detected or merging two properties if they’re the same
Managing team permissions for new team members
Establishing priorities for different businesses processes
Automatically compiling reports at the end of every quarter
Creating tasks in third-party tools such as Asana, Slack, or Zoom

Additional Reading

Guide to Business Process Automation
Ultimate Guide to Operations Hub

Human Resources Workflow Automation
Instead of having to manually enter all your new hires’ personal information — like addresses, social security numbers, and other employee information into payroll, expense, and insurance systems — HR automation software can do it for you in minutes.
Automated tasks in human resources include:

Removing candidates from the database if they’ve been inactive for a period of time
Sending emails to candidates that haven’t made it to the final round
Filtering candidates with certain keywords in their job history
Sending W2s to current employees
Collecting employees’ feedback after they’ve been at the company for a period of time

Finance Workflow Automation
By allowing you to build forms, design workflows, and track processes, finance process automation software can streamline all of your travel requests, reimbursements, and budget approvals.
Automated tasks in finance include:

Taking an expense approval process from start to finish
Managing vendor and contract approvals
Assigning priorities to ACH and wire requests
Managing travel expense requests depending on location and activity
Approving budgets based on a predetermined set of parameters

Now that you know everything about using automated workflows, let’s take a look at the top tools you can use.
Best Workflow Automation Software in 2021
1. HubSpot: Best All-in-One Workflow Automation Software

Image Source
HubSpot’s marketing, sales, service, and operations software operates on a single platform, making it one of the best choices for all-in-one workflow automation. Everything is linked together, allowing you to align all of your teams’ processes and reducing friction from task to task.
You can easily hand leads from marketing to sales, connect a service ticket with an existing contact record, and clean up customer data — all in one user-friendly platform.
Best for: HubSpot is highly recommended for growing businesses that have yet to try workflow automation and for enterprise businesses with established processes. You can begin with a Starter subscription, then upgrade as you require more functionalities. Especially recommended for marketing, sales, service, and operations departments.
Pricing for Marketing Hub: Free; $50/month (Starter); $890/month (Professional); $3,200/month (Enterprise)
Pricing for Sales Hub: Free; $50/month (Starter); $500/month (Professional); $1,200/month (Enterprise)
Pricing for Service Hub: Free; $50/month (Starter); $400/month (Professional); $1,200/month (Enterprise)
Pricing for Operations Hub: Free; $50/month (Starter); $800/month (Professional)
2. Nintex: Best Enterprise Workflow Automation Software
With over 3 million workflow applications operating on their platform right now, Nintex helps more than 8,000 enterprise customers manage, automate, and optimize their business processes, with no coding experience required.
By offering a multitude of workflow automation tools — like process mapping, advanced workflows, and process intelligence — your business is able to map out each of your processes, execute them, and monitor their performance.
Best for: Nintex is highly recommended for enterprise businesses with established processes. It’s a robust software that pairs a user-friendly workflow design tool with powerful integrations that will connect every single one of your apps. Especially recommended for IT, law, HR, and finance departments.
Pricing: $910/month (Standard); $1,400/month (Enterprise)
3. Kissflow: Best Beginner-Friendly Workflow Automation Software

Trusted by over 10,000 companies, including Domino’s, Michelin, and Pepsi, Kissflow offers an all-in-one workflow automation software that lets your business create workflows that automate tasks in your human resources, sales, finance, administration, marketing, and purchase departments.
With over 50 pre-installed business process management apps — such as expensing and sales orders, conditions and triggers, and reporting dashboards for your workflows — Kissflow can streamline almost all your business processes.
Best for: Kissflow is highly recommended for small companies that are just now starting to try workflow automation. The tool’s simplicity and user friendliness will make it easier to begin automating processes. Especially recommended for procurement, HR, and finance departments.
Pricing: $200/month (Basic); $495/month (Advanced); $1,900/month (Fully Loaded)
4. Integrify: Best Everyday Administration Workflow Automation Software

Integrify is a workflow automation software that lets you build workflows in a drag-and-drop builder and run parallel or sequential flows. By being able to collaborate on tasks and requests, test your processes, and set up reminders, you can easily streamline your business processes and automate manual tasks.
Integrify also offers workflow examples and a user knowledge base, a rest-based open API that allows you to integrate with external databases, and the ability to import and export data from Excel and even PDFs.
Best for: Integrify is highly recommended for small-to-medium businesses that are looking to automate everyday tasks. Its drag-and-drop “Process Builder” makes it simple and easy to take a process from start to completion. Especially recommended for administration departments.
Pricing: Pricing available upon request
5. Zapier: Best Workflow Automation Software for Connecting Apps

With the ability to connect to and share data with over 1,000 web apps, like Facebook, QuickBooks, and Google Drive, Zapier can automate almost any type of business process. All you have to do is build a workflow in their editor, pick the apps you want to include in your workflow, and design it.
For example, if you want to be able to save all your attachments in Dropbox, you can design a workflow that automatically copies any attachment from your Gmail inbox to Dropbox and then sends you a Slack message about the download.
Best for: Zapier is highly recommended for freelancers and small-to-medium businesses that use a wide variety of tools that aren’t talking with each other. For instance, if you’re using MailChimp to send emails and Typeform to collect leads, you could connect those two tools using Zapier. Especially recommended for marketing and service departments.
Pricing: Free; $19.99/month (Starter); $49/month (Professional)
6. Flokzu: Best Project Management Workflow Automation Software

Without writing any code, Flokzu allows you to create tasks, deadlines, business rules, and notifications. Their software also sends pending tasks to each of your project’s assignees’ inboxes, and as each stage of a workflow is complete, it’ll automatically assign each new task to a user or role.
Additionally, Flozku offers a reporting dashboard that displays your business processes’
performance and metrics, like the amount of currently delayed tasks there are, tasks assigned to each user and role, tasks completed, and the time each task took, which will give you the necessary data to refine and optimize your future workflows.
Best for: Flokzu is highly recommended for individual teams that want to optimize their time management and task workflow. A key feature of this tool is that users will receive pending tasks in their inbox, making it an excellent project management tool. Recommended for any team.
Pricing: Free; $19.99/month (Starter); $49/month (Professional)
Workflow Automation Will Help You Grow Better
Workflow automation is critical for businesses that want to scale and grow without letting anything fall through the cracks. By letting technology complete manual tasks, you can effectively grow your business without any growing pains.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.