Author: Franz Malten Buemann

Are you knocking it out of the park with your email campaigns? Any marketer would rarely answer yes to that question. No matter what your strategy looks like or how effective you think they are, email marketing mistakes happen, and results, open rates, and conversions can always be improved.  There are different types of emails,…
The post The Different Types of Emails and Why You Should be Sending Them appeared first on Benchmark Email.

If your product team is working on the next big thing, there ought to be an equally awesome promotion strategy to spread the word.
While some companies are guilty of drafting a press release, crossing their fingers, and hoping that the users will come, there’s actually much more to it than that.
Quite simply: If you have big news, you need a big strategy. And that’s where your product launch marketing plan comes in.

From establishing the proper messaging and creating the assets to enabling your sales team and keeping momentum, there’s a lot that goes into putting together a solid product launch plan.
At HubSpot, I work on the product marketing team, and we’re responsible for launching all of HubSpot’s new products. Our experience has shown us that there are three distinct phases of a product launch: the pre-launch, the launch, and the post-launch.
Pre-Launch
Before you launch, take the time to get really close to the product. Work with your product team to understand the problem they are trying to solve. Join them as they do users tests. Chat with them about their product philosophy. And most of all, ask a ton of questions — especially if you’re not familiar with the space.
Focus on understanding their vision and becoming a product expert. Outside of the product manager, the marketer launching the product should be the most knowledgeable person at your company about that product.
By understanding the product and performing market research, you’ll be able to align your messaging strategy with the product. The primary goal will be to bridge the gap between what the prospects’ pains are and what the competition is not doing to address them. The pre-launch stage also includes the necessary promotion planning as you decide:

Where you’ll advertise (e.g. search engines, social media, traditional channels)

Where you’ll promote your message organically (e.g. social media, blog, website homepage, events)

How you’ll get picked up by media outlets (i.e. your PR strategy and media outreach)

Who you’ll rely on to spread the word (e.g. partners, communities, forums, third-party marketplaces)

Launch
During the pre-launch phase, you’ll have decided what channels to promote on, established relationships with any partners who will help you do so, and created the assets that will draw attention to your messaging on these channels.
The launch phase is simply the execution of all your planning. This phase is much shorter than pre-launch: it can take a day, or a week — depending on how long you feel you need.
As you prepare to move on to the launch, you want to stay focused on the work and be ready to put out any fires.
Post-Launch
The work isn’t over simply because the product is launched. In the post-launch phase, you’ll do a retrospective, pulling together the data to determine what went well and what didn’t go so well.
In addition, a product still needs to be maintained and improved upon beyond its launch, taking into account customer feedback in order to maintain adoption and retention.
This is, of course, a high-level overview of a product launch. However, there are some specific tactical things that you can do to help your launch go off without a hitch.
Pre-Launch
1. Research the space in-depth.
At most companies, the product manager will own the problem that the product solves. They’ll have a deep understanding of who the end-user is and what their unique needs are.
The product marketer’s job is to understand the market. They must be able to answer questions like:

What’s the larger narrative around this space?
How do current customers feel about it?
What do people like and dislike?
Is it growing and cutting edge or old and getting disrupted?
What are the leading strategies and tactics in this space?
What is your company’s unique point of view when it comes to this space?
How does your new product fit in?

2. Focus on a single buyer persona.
You may not need to reinvent an existing buyer persona, but you should outline who amongst your target audience is a great fit for this new product. What kind of challenges do they have? How do they work? How big is their team? Talk to people who fit this profile to really understand their needs and goals.
If you need help organizing this information, check out these buyer persona templates or this handy tool.
3. Write a mock press release.
At HubSpot, we write a mock press release before we launch a product. We do this very early on in the product’s life to ensure that everyone involved in the launch is aligned on the messaging.
To give you a better sense of how this exercise unfolds, here’s an example:
But we’re not the only ones practicing this approach. In fact, the folks at Amazon use this exercise, too. The idea is that when you work backward and start with the press release, it’s easier to put yourself in the customer’s shoes.
If the press release doesn’t sound very interesting or fails to conjure a reaction, it’s likely that there’s more work to be done.
(Need some help getting started here? Check out these free press release templates.)
4. Build your messaging — but don’t marry it.
Messaging or positioning is mostly about refining your product narrative to focus on only the most valuable aspects of the new product via a simple message.
This is tough.
Most product people have the urge to communicate how great individual features are –something you want to avoid in launch messaging. At launch, you may only have someone’s attention for a few minutes or seconds, so your messaging needs to be persuasive, simple, and unique. It needs to communicate what your product actually does and communicate its high-level value.
You want to get this right, but don’t over-commit to messaging. It can (and should) change as you share your messaging with internal folks and customers.
Elements of good position often include:

A tagline
The problem it solves
A list of core features
The value prop
A 10-word positioning statement

In the screenshot above you can see some of these elements in action on the HubSpot Ads product page.
5. Share your messaging with everyone.
It’s time to take the messaging you’ve been slaving over and get it in front of your co-workers, customers, and prospects.
This is often the least fun part of a product launch. Mainly because no matter how good your positioning is, it takes time to get the pitch down, and not everyone will get it.
It’s good to start with individuals who may be a little more forgiving and honest before presenting to executives. Use every meeting to pitch people and ask questions. You want to gather as much info as possible here and root out any confusing or bad messages.
6. Get involved in the beta.
Having a group of beta testers evaluate your product before you release it to the public is a really important step. At HubSpot, we release products to a group of folks — our beta testers — that have opted-in to give us feedback in exchange for early access.
If your company does this, make sure you are talking to the customers using the tool in the beta. Capture their stories, review their performance, and validate your value prop with them. This is your opportunity to test your messaging and build real-world proof to support your pitch with an audience that is ready to share feedback.
7. Change your messaging and find the best hook.
After talking to prospects and salespeople, and seeing how beta users use the product, it’s likely that you’ve uncovered a thing or two about your messaging that you might want to adjust. That’s good.
If you’ve done things right, this won’t mean drastic changes, but most likely a tweak to the value prop or tagline.
8. Set ambitious goals.
You need to be deliberate and ambitious with the goals you set, and that can be challenging when you have a new product without benchmarks. To combat that, we ask the question: “If everything went exactly right, what is the highest possible number — whether that be leads, users, etc. — we could achieve?”
This sets a ceiling for your campaign — a number that is realistically almost never achieved.
If I project that the highest possible number of leads the campaign can generate is 500, and I end up with 450, I know we got just about everything right. If I generate 550 leads, it means I probably didn’t do a great job of setting a realistic ceiling. And if we only generate 300 leads, we know some tactics didn’t work at all.
The image below can be a useful slide as part of your go-to-market plan:

9. Take the time to get the market ready.
If you’re launching a new product that enters your company into a new space — potentially a space where your company doesn’t have a ton of authority — start creating content about that space pre-launch.
You’ll want to seed this content for SEO purposes and to establish your company as experts in the market. It’ll also give you a chance to see what kind of content resonates prior to the launch, as well as help you surface any issues.
10. Build compelling creative assets.
At this point, you’re close to launch and it’s time to start building launch assets. But before you start writing emails or building landing pages, think about the customer journey:

How do people make purchase decisions in your space?
What do they need before buying?
Is it a free trial? A demo?
Is it best for them to talk to a salesperson?
What do they need to know before they get to that point?

Once you’ve answered those questions, outline your conversion path. How will you first get people’s attention? Perhaps it’s an email, that drives people to a landing page, where users are encouraged to fill out a form.
Once you have this, get to work building the actual forms, site pages, videos, social posts, emails, and other tactics that will drive users down your funnel and to your conversion point.
(If you’re looking for inspiration, check out this list of the best promotional product videos we’ve ever seen.)
11. Assemble your go-to-market strategy.
All the elements I’ve mentioned should come together in a deck or a doc — something that is clear, complete, and easily shareable.
This is your go-to-market guide: A holistic document of all launch activities, planning, and goals. This can include pricing recommendations, market research, competitive analysis, and any other relevant information you might need.
Launch
12. Choose the right channels.
During the planning phase, you should have outlined the channels you want to use to share your message. This is not a “the more the merrier” sort of thing — a mistake new product marketers often make.
Be sure to avoid channels where the audience may not be the right fit. Pick one main channel — an event, a Product Hunt post, or blog post — and use email, social, paid, and other channels to support that main post.
For example, in 2018, we launched HubSpot’s free email marketing tools on Product Hunt. We choose Product Hunt because it serves as a great way for startups and technology companies to introduce new products to a community of product-centric influencers.

Before you launch, do a final check to ensure that everything works — buttons are functioning, forms are working, copy and creative looks good, and so on.
If you’re at an event, make sure you’re over-communicating with your team. At this point, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Be prepared for that.

13. Activate your sales team.
Work with your sales team to coordinate meetings and outreach the day of the launch, or directly after. And use signals from your marketing efforts to drive the hottest leads to sales right away.
If you running an event, make sure your sales team has the opportunity to talk to customers in an organized way. That might mean ensuring there is a comfortable space for them to meet with customers, computer access, or a system for booking meetings.

14. Make it an event.
Even if your launch isn’t a live event with speakers, you can still make it an occasion.
Host a webinar or Hangout On Air, do a Reddit AMA, or try out a live social chat. Leverage apps for startups to manage and host events for free. (Here’s a helpful guide to get you started on the right track with Facebook Live.) Invite influencers to check out your product. Bring customers and press into your office for a live demo of the new product from your product team.
Whatever you do, strive for an in-person element. It’ll help propel your launch even further.
Post-Launch
15. Don’t lose your momentum.
You’ll reach a lot of people with your launch, but it often takes several touchpoints before someone is convinced to start a trial or get a demo. Make sure to continue to move folks who’ve raised their hands as “interested but not ready to buy” down your funnel.
This means nurturing emails, free trials, demos, and more in-depth, product-focused webinars and activities. Build extra creative, like a longer video or social media posts that you can save for after the launch. This will give you fresh assets to share.
And don’t forget about educating your sales team. It will take a while before all your salespeople feel comfortable with this new product, so it’s important to arm them with amazing sales collateral (demo video, one-pagers, etc.).
Beyond that, you can make a big impact by joining their calls: Getting on the phone and pitching the product with them the first couple of times will give them the confidence they need to carry the torch.

16. Revisit your “go-to-market” doc for reporting.
With all the work that’s going into launch, you don’t want to have to retroactively figure out what to report on. If you’ve done a good job with your go-to-market doc, you should be able to create a new slide and fill in your results with real numbers.
Once you’ve had a little more time away from your launch, spend some time analyzing the results. Where did your campaign succeed and fail? What did you fail to anticipate? What did you learn? Post these to your internal wiki or as a public blog post.
17. Shift your focus on retention.
Now that you’ve successfully launched a new product, shift your attention to retention. Marketing can generally play a bigger role in driving new users, but it’s important to work with your product team to figure out how you can help keep those users around.
This means more ongoing education like post-launch product webinars, as well as sharing case studies and success stories to show your users what they can achieve with your product.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.

In Q1 of 2021, ebook sales increased 38% for publisher Harpercollins, following a trend of increased revenue earnings for the company. Although this is a snapshot of one publisher’s success, it speaks to a larger movement toward digital content consumption among marketers.
Lead magnets come in many forms, but the ebook still reigns supreme. They give the reader:

In-depth digital content in an environment largely overrun with quick headlines and soundbites
Visual data that compliments the editorial content
On-demand access to the ebook content

Your business benefits from publishing an ebook, too. Turning a profit, acquiring new customers, generating buzz, and becoming an industry thought leader are just a few of the advantages of this type of content.
But what exactly is an ebook and why do they deliver such great results for marketers?

18 Free Ebook Templates – Download Now

Download HubSpot’s 18 free ebook templates to create an ebook on PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Adobe InDesign.
What are the benefits of an ebook?
Let’s say you have an amazing blog full of long-form content. Why in the world would you want to offer your readers an ebook? Is it even worth your time?
Here are some advantages ebooks offer content creators:

Unlike long-form printed publications that are purchased in-store or shipped, an ebook is immediately accessible the moment you’re ready to read.
You can put it behind an opt-in of some kind, incentivizing your website visitor to become a lead if they want the information.
In some ways, ebooks have design capabilities like in-depth charts, graphs, and full-page images which you may not be able to achieve on your blog.
After the initial creation of the ebook, you can distribute the file a multitude of times with no additional production cost. They also have no associated shipping fees.
You can embed links to other media in the ebook file, encouraging the reader to further engage with your content.

Perhaps more importantly, ebooks offer a number of advantages for your audience:

Ebooks are extremely portable, able to be stored on a number of devices with no physical storage space associated.
The reader gets the choice to print the ebook out if they want to consume the information in a traditional physical format. Otherwise, the digital format is environmentally friendly.
Ebooks are accessible with the ability to increase font sizes and/or read aloud with text-to-speech.
They’re also easily searchable if the reader is looking for something specific.

Are ebooks profitable?
They can be. Ebooks are high-volume, low-sales-price offers. This means you’ll need to sell a lot of them at a relatively low price point in order to compete in the market and turn a significant profit. Depending on your industry, ebooks can range from free to more than $100.
Before setting a price for your ebook, do some research. Determine who your audience is, what they’re willing to pay, and how many people within your target market might be willing to buy it. Then, determine the platforms you’ll sell your ebook through. Amazon? Apple Books? Your own website? You can research how much ebooks usually go for on these sites and incorporate this insight into your pricing strategy.
How is an ebook structured?
There’s no set rule for organizing your content into an ebook. It generally mimics the structure of a novel or textbook (depending on what it is you’re writing about). But, there are some aspects of an ebook you should be sure to adhere to.
Ebooks typically have a system of chapters and supporting images. Similar to a blog post, they also do well when further segmenting their text with subheaders that break down the discussion into specific sections. If you’re writing about professional sports, for example, and one of your chapters is about Major League Baseball (MLB) in the U.S., you might want to establish subchapters about the various teams belonging to the MLB.

What can an ebook be about?
Anything. Well, within reason. Ebooks are simply a marketer’s way of delivering lots of critical information in a form their potential customers are most willing to read. An environmental company might write an ebook about water conservation. They might also focus an ebook entirely on how their water-saving product is used, or how it helped a customer solve a problem. Discover more ebook ideas at the end of this article.
No matter what topic your ebook takes on, research is a significant part of ebook creation. Contrary to short-form content like articles and videos, the content of an ebook is predicated on trust and evidence. A user who obtains (or requests access to) your ebook wants the full story, not just the bullet points. That includes all the content and testing you went through to produce the ebook.
Can you edit an ebook?
Nope. An ebook can’t be edited once it’s been saved in one of the major file formats, so it’s best to ensure you have an editable version saved in a program like Microsoft Word.
But why would you want your ebook to be uneditable? Making ebooks uneditable ensures the content remains unchanged — both the format and the information — as it’s shared between multiple uses.
You can edit ebooks if they’re saved using an editable PDF, a feature that is specific to Adobe Acrobat — the founding program of the PDF file type. Learn how to edit PDFs in this blog post.
How do you read an ebook?
You can read an ebook on many different devices: iPhone, Android smartphones, a Macbook, PC, and e-readers such as the Nook and Kindle. The latter two devices are typically used to read novels in digital form. Nook and Kindle owners can store thousands of books (literally) on a single Nook or Kindle.
But making an ebook can be overwhelming. Not only do you have to write the content, but you also need to design and format it into a professional-looking document that people will want to download and read. With lead generation being the top goal for content marketing, however, ebooks are an essential part of a successful inbound marketing program.
In this post, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of creating an ebook by, well, creating an ebook. And if you’re worried about your lacking design skills, fret not …

18 Free Ebook Templates in PowerPoint, Google Slides, and InDesign [Free Download]
Got your free ebook templates? Ready to make an ebook? Great — let’s get to it.

What ebook file format should you use?
Ebooks can be saved in one of several formats. Depending on your end-user, though, you might find a use for any of the following file types:
PDF
PDFs are likely the most well-known file type. The “PDF” extension stands for “Portable Document Format,” and is best for ebooks that are meant to be read on a computer (digital marketers, you’ll want to remember this one). We’ll talk more about how to save your ebook as a PDF later in this article.
EPUB
This file type stands for “Electronic Publication,” and is a more flexible ebook format. By that, I mean EPUB ebooks can “reflow” their text to adapt to various mobile devices and tablets, allowing the ebook’s text to move on and off different pages based on the size of the device on which a user is reading the ebook. They’re particularly helpful for viewing on smaller screens, such as smartphones as well as the Nook from Barnes and Noble.
MOBI
The MOBI format originated from the Mobipocket Reader software, which was purchased by Amazon in 2005 but was later shut down in 2016. However, the MOBI file extension remains a popular ebook format with compatibility across the major e-readers (except the Nook).
While the format comes with some limitations, such as not supporting audio or video, it does support DRM, which protects copyrighted material from being copied for distribution or viewed illegally.
Newer Kindle formats are based on the original MOBI file types.
AZW
This is an ebook file type designed for the Kindle, an e-reader device by Amazon. However, users can also open this file format on smartphones, tablets, and computers.
ODF
ODF stands for OpenDocument Format, a file type meant primarily for OpenOffice, a series of open-source content creation programs similar to Microsoft Office.
IBA
IBA is the proprietary ebook format for the Apple iBooks Author app. This format does support video, sound, images, and interactive elements, but it is only used for books written in iBooks. It is not compatible with other e-readers.

Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and Graphs [Free Download]

1. Choose a topic that matches your audience’s needs.
Remember: The goal of your ebook is to generate leads for your sales team, so pick a topic that will make it easy for a prospect to go from downloading your ebook to having a conversation with your sales team.
This means your ebook shouldn’t deviate much from the topics you cover in your other content marketing channels. Rather, it’s your opportunity to do a deep dive into a subject you’ve only lightly covered until now, but something your audience wants to learn more about.
For example, in listening to sales and customer calls here at HubSpot, I’ve learned that creating ebooks is a huge obstacle for our audience, who are marketers themselves. So if I can provide not only this blog post, but resources to make ebook creation easier, I’m focusing on the right topic that will naturally lead to a sales conversation.
To get your creative juices flowing, here are some example ebook titles to consider. (Note: Replace “x” with an appropriate number.) You can also use our free Blog Topic Generator tool to come up with more ideas. Most blog topics can be made comprehensive enough to serve as longer form ebook topics.

X Best Practices for [Insert Industry/Topic]
An Introduction to [Insert Industry/Topic]
X Common Questions About [Insert Industry/Topic] Answered
X [Insert Industry/Topic] Statistics For Better Decision Making
Learn From The Best: X [Insert Industry/Topic] Experts Share Insights

For this blog post, I’m going to use the PowerPoint version of template two from our collection of five free ebook templates. Through each section of this post, I’ll provide a side-by-side of the template slide and how I customized it.
Below, you’ll see my customized cover with my sales-relevant ebook topic. For help with writing compelling titles for your ebooks, check out the tips in this blog post.

2. Outline each chapter of your ebook.
The introduction to your ebook should both set the stage for the contents of your ebook and draw the reader in. What will you cover in your ebook? How will the reader benefit from reading it? For tips on how to write an effective introduction, check out this post.
Some ebook creators say that an ebook is simply a series of blog posts stitched together. While I agree you should treat each chapter like an individual blog post, the chapters of your ebook should also flow fluidly from one to the other.
The best way to outline your ebook is by thinking of it as a crash course on the sales-relevant topic you selected. In my example of creating an ebook, I know I need to cover how to:

Write effective copy
Design an ebook
Optimize ebooks for lead generation and promotion

While my example has a few chapters, keep in mind that your ebook does not need to be lengthy. I have one golden rule for ebook length: Write what is needed to effectively educate your audience about your selected topic. If that requires five pages, great! If that requires 30 pages, so be it. Just don’t waste words thinking you need to write a long ebook.
With that, let’s move on to the actual copy you’re writing.

3. Break down each chapter as you write.
Get writing! Here, you can approach each chapter the way you might write a long blog post — by compartmentalizing each chapter into smaller sections or bullet points, as shown in the picture below. This helps you write simply and clearly, rather than trying to use sophisticated language to convey each point. It’s the most effective way to educate readers and help them understand the new material you’re providing.
Be sure to maintain a consistent structure across each chapter, as well. This helps you establish natural transitions between each chapter so there’s a clear progression from one chapter to the next (simply stitching blog posts together can rob you of this quality).
These practices should hold true for all your other marketing efforts, such as email marketing, call-to-action creation, and landing page development. “Clarity trumps persuasion,” as Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MECLABS often likes to say.
Want to make sure you’re keeping your ebook exciting for readers? Here are some key tips to keep in mind:

Use keywords in the title that emphasize the value of your offer. Examples include adjectives like “amazing,” “awesome,” or “ultimate.”
Keep your format consistent so you create a mental model for readers and enhance their understanding of the material.
When appropriate, make use of formatting — like bulleted lists, bold text, italics, and font size changes — to draw people’s eyes to your most important content or emphasize certain points you want readers to remember.

4. Design your ebook.
Our downloadable ebook templates are offered in both PowerPoint and InDesign. For this example, we’ll show you how to do it in PowerPoint, since more people have access to that software.
You’ll notice we only have one “chapter page” in the template (slide three). To create additional chapter pages, or any pages really, simply right click the slide and choose Duplicate Slide. This will make a copy of your slide and allow you to drag it to its proper place in your ebook via the sidebar or Slide Sorter section of PowerPoint. You can then customize it for any subsequent chapters.

5. Use the right colors.
Ideally, our free ebook templates would magically match your brand colors. But, they probably don’t; this is where you get to truly personalize your work. However, because ebooks offer more real estate for color than your logo or website, it’s a good idea to consider secondary colors within your brand’s color palette. Ebooks are where this color scheme can truly shine.
To learn how to add your brand’s colors to PowerPoint, check out this blog post. That way, you can customize the color scheme in our ebook templates to match your brand!
6. Incorporate visuals.
Images and graphics in ebooks are hard to get right. The key to making them fit well is to think of them as complementary to your writing. Whether you add them during or after you’ve finished writing your ebook’s copy, your visuals should serve to highlight an important point you’re making or deconstruct the meaning of a concept in an easy-to-understand, visual way.
Images shouldn’t just be there to make the ebook easy on the eyes. Rather, they should be used to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material you’re covering. If you need help gathering visuals, we have three sets of free stock photos that might help you along the way:

75 Standard Stock Photos
160 Business-Themed Stock Photos
250 Holiday Stock Photos

And if you’re compiling a data-heavy ebook, you might want to download our free data visualization ebook for tips about designing compelling charts and graphs for your content.

7. Highlight quotes or stats.
Another way to enhance your ebook is by highlighting quotes or stats within your design. Just be sure the quote or stat you’re using genuinely adds value to the content.
Whether you’re emphasizing a quote or adding a visual, keep all your content within the same margins. If your copy is consistently one-inch indented on your page from both the left and right sides, keep your designed elements aligned using that same spacing.

8. Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.
Now that your content is written and designed, it’s time to optimize it for lead generation, reconversion, and promotion.
Think about how you got here — you clicked on a call-to-action (CTA) in an email, on a social media post, or somewhere else. A CTA is a link or visual object that entices the visitor to click and arrive on a landing page that will get them further engaged with your company. Since your ebook readers have probably converted into leads in order to get their hands on your ebook to begin with (more on this in step below), use the CTAs within your ebook to reconvert your readers and propel them further down your marketing funnel.
For instance, a CTA can lead to another offer, your annual conference’s registration page, or even a product page. Depending on what this next action is, CTAs can be an in-line rectangle or a full-page teasing the next offer (see both images below).
To hyperlink the CTA in your ebook (or any image or text in your ebook) to your destination URL, simply go to Insert >> Hyperlink in PowerPoint.

We’ve even designed 50 customizable calls-to-action in PowerPoint you can download and use in your ebooks. You can grab them here.
Now, we don’t have a dedicated CTA template slide in the PowerPoint ebook templates for you to customize … but it’s still simple! All you have to do is duplicate slide four (the Header/Subheader slide) and customize copy or add images as needed. You can also go to Insert >> New Slide and work from there.

9. Convert it into a PDF.
Once you’ve finished writing your ebook — CTAs and all — it’s time to convert it to the right file type so it’s transferable from you to your recipient.
To convert your ebook to a PDF, click File >> Save As in the ebook template you have open. Under File Format, select PDF and select a destination on your computer for this new file.
Why can’t you just attach what you have to a landing page and be done with it? Word documents, PowerPoints, and similar templates are perfect for creating your ebook, but not for delivering it. Because these templates are editable, the contents of your ebook are too easily corrupted, distorted, or even lost when moving from your computer to the hands of your future leads. That’s where PDFs come in.
You’ve seen these letters at the end of files before. Short for Portable Document Format, the .PDF file type essentially freezes your ebook so it can be displayed clearly on any device. A popular alternative to PDFs is the .EPUB file type. See a comparison of EPUB to PDF here.
10. Create a dedicated landing page for your ebook.
Your ebook should be available for download through a landing page on your site. A landing page is a web page that promotes/describes your offer and provides a form that visitors need to fill out with their contact information in order to access your ebook. This is how you are able to convert your visitors into business leads that your sales team can ultimately follow up with.
For instance, you went through this landing page in order to access this ebook template. To learn more about how to optimize your landing pages for conversion, download this free ebook.

11. Promote your ebook and track its success.
Once your landing page is all set, you can use that destination URL to promote your ebook across your marketing channels. Here are five ways you can do this:

Advertise your new ebook on your website. For example, feature a CTA or link to your offer’s landing page on your resources page or even your homepage.
Promote your ebook through your blog. For instance, consider publishing an excerpt of your ebook as a blog post. Or write a separate blog article on the same topic as your ebook, and link to it at the end of your post using a call-to-action to encourage readers to keep learning. (Note: This very blog post is the perfect example of how to promote an offer you created with a blog post.)
Send a segmented email to contacts who have indicated an interest in receiving offers from your company.
Leverage paid advertising and co-marketing partnerships that will help you promote your ebook to a new audience.
Publish posts to social media with a link to your ebook. You can also increase social shares by creating social media share buttons within your ebook, such as the ones at the bottom right of this ebook.

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll also want marketing analytics in place to measure the success of your live product.
For instance, you should have landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook and converted into leads, and closed-loop analytics that show how many of those people ultimately converted into opportunities and customers for your business. Learn more through HubSpot’s Landing Pages App.
And with that, we’ve built an ebook, folks! You can check out the packaged version of the example I built through this post here:

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll need to have marketing analytics in place that measure the success of your ebooks. For instance, having landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook, or show how many of those downloaders converted into opportunities and customers for your business.
Ebook Ideas
So, what should you write about in your ebook? I’ll answer that question with another question: What do you want your readers to get out of this ebook? To identify an ebook idea that suits your audience, consider the type of ebook you’re trying to create. Here are a few ideas.
New Research
Conducting an experiment or business survey? This is a great way to develop proprietary knowledge and become a thought leader in your industry. But how will you share your findings with the people who care about it? Create an ebook that describes the experiment, what you intended to find out, what the results of the experiment were, and what these findings mean for your readers and the market at large.
Case Study
People love success stories, especially if these people are on the fence about purchasing something from you. If you have a client whose business you’re particularly proud to have, why not tell their story in an ebook?
Ebook case studies show your buyers that other people trust you and have benefited from your product or service. In your ebook, describe what your client’s challenge was, how you connected with them, and how you were able to help your client solve their challenge and become successful.
Product Demo
The more complex your product is, the more information your customers will need to use it correctly. If your product or service can be used in multiple ways, or it’s hard to set up alone, dedicate a brief ebook to showing people how it’s done. In the first section of your ebook, for example, explain how to launch your product or service. In the second section, break down the individual features and purposes your product is best used for.
Interview
Interested in interviewing a well-known person in your market? Perhaps you’ve already sat down with an influencer to pick their brain about the future of the industry. Package this interview into an ebook, making it easy for your customers to read and share your inside scoop.
Playbook
A “playbook” is a document people can use when taking on a new project or concept that is foreign to them. Think of it like a cheat sheet, full of tips and tricks that help your customers get better at what they do.
When done right, a playbook equips your customers with the information they would need to excel when using your product. For example, a software vendor for IT professionals might create a “virus protection playbook” that makes support teams better at preventing viruses at their respective companies.
Blog Post Series
Sometimes, the best ebook for your business is already strewn across a series of blog posts. If you’ve spent the last month writing articles all on the same subject for your business, imagine how these posts would look stitched together?
Each article can begin a new chapter. Then, once this ebook is created, you can promote it on a landing page, link to this landing page from each individual blog post, and generate leads from readers who want to download the entire blog series in one convenient ebook.
Share Your Expertise in an Ebook
Ebooks are one of the top converting lead magnets a business can offer to its audience. Creating an ebook is all about delivering high value at a low price point to generate a high volume of sales. Ebooks work well for new businesses looking for brand awareness and established companies securing a spot as an industry thought leader. So long as you and your team have outlined what success looks like for your ebook launch, you’ll reap the rewards of this stand-alone asset for months — or even years — to come. Get started on your own ebook using the free template available in the offer below.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

By aligning team members and different teams, your business’s employees are able to work together to create delightful experiences that make prospects want to convert and stay loyal to your brand.
One example of a process in which this type of collaboration only improves your ability to convert prospects into loyal customers is lead qualification.
Think about it this way: If your marketing team can align with sales on what makes for a high-quality lead at your company, then marketing can identify and handoff these leads to reps after a lead’s initial interaction(s) with your brand. Then, once sales has these contacts from marketing, reps can also qualify them and nurture them accordingly. This leads to time being well-spent across the org and ensures sales reps aren’t wasting their time trying to identify leads that marketing has already engaged and vetted.
These leads that marketing engages, vets, and passes along to sales are called marketing qualified leads (MQLs).

MQL
In this post, we’ll talk about what an MQL is, why identifying MQLs is worthwhile, and MQL criteria you can establish on your team.

How does the qualification process for an MQL work?
At a high level, a lead becomes an MQL, then a SQL, working their way down the funnel until they (hopefully) become a customer.
As mentioned, if a lead becomes an MQL, they’ve been vetted by the marketing team. In other words, the marketing team determines whether or not they believe sales would have a good chance at successfully nurturing and converting a specific lead into a customer.
If the sales team does agree with the marketing team — and believes they have a good chance of converting an MQL into a customer — then that MQL becomes a sales qualified lead (SQL).
Why You’d Want to Mark a Lead as an MQL
Whether through a content offer, social post, virtual or in-person event, web page, blog post, subscription, podcast, or ad, marketing has many potential touchpoints with leads, prospects, and target audience members before anyone else at your business does.
The resulting engagement data (and contact information, if any) is vital to the success of your business. It’s how your marketing team can efficiently sift through those prospects to identify the highest-quality leads based on criteria (which we’ll talk more about below) set by your business.
Once marketing has identified MQLs for your business, then can send them along to your sales team — this propels sales through the initial steps of their roles (e.g. discovery and prospecting), and provides them with leads their marketing counterparts believe are worthwhile.
Sales then performs their own qualification process and pulls out the top-tier prospects from that list of MQLs.
Not only does this save sales reps time, but it also ensures marketing and sales are aligned on who your buyer personas are, what type of marketing content brings the right prospects for your business in, and more.

Marketing Qualified Lead Criteria
Setting accurate MQL criteria is how you ensure your sales team is sent leads of the highest quality. Establishing these criteria is also worthwhile because it helps marketing determine which type of marketing materials, content, and offers will do best among your audience members who fit that criteria. In other words, establishing solid MQL criteria is a win-win for both marketing and sales.
How to Establish With MQL Criteria (Plus Examples of MQL Criteria)
1. Establish a working marketing and sales team relationship.
As mentioned several times throughout this article, a major aspect of MQL success is the process of maintaining open communication and alignment between the marketing and sales teams. Marketing cannot target or identify high-quality leads without aligning with sales. And sales will not have access to MQLs without the help of marketing.
You might start by reiterating the importance of this relationship to the marketing and sales orgs so they understand the value that will come from cross-team communication.
Then, you might set recurring meetings to discuss alignment as well as roles and areas for potential growth (e.g. which marketing content is working best among prospects, which enablement materials sales feels like they’re missing, or prospect feedback that reps get directly from the source and can share with marketers to help their campaign targeting, etc.).
There may be a dedicated amount of time during these meetings for discussion about how to improve the marketing and sales relationship and alignment, and another portion of time set aside for feedback, ideation, and fact sharing.
2. Create lead definitions.
Marketers and salespeople should also work together to develop lead definitions for your business. Meaning, marketing should meet with sales to identify, explain, and record the main characteristics and traits that make up an MQL on your team.
For example, your marketing managers may meet with your sales managers to create a definition of an MQL. This process will look likely look a lot like the process you used to develop your buyer personas.
Here are some examples of questions to ask while defining MQLs:

What type of marketing content should be engaged with in order to define someone as an MQL?
Which specific defining traits (demographic and firmographic) are necessary to call someone an MQL?
Which pain points or challenges should a person have to make them an MQL?

Based on the lead definitions you create, you can go a bit deeper and assign point values for various MQL qualifications in order to form the basis of a lead scoring system. This will ensure your sales team is delivered high-quality leads in an organized fashion so they stay as productive as possible.
3. Revisit your lead definitions and regularly.
Not only do your business, internal teams, and customer base grow in size over time, but your prospects, buyer personas, and leads also evolve. That’s why it’s so important to circle back to your lead definitions regularly and update them as needed.
For instance, maybe your marketing team revisits your lead definitions quarterly — they may review them as a team and then present any changes they believe are necessary to sales in order to get their feedback. Or maybe marketing and sales review the definitions together and update them accordingly in a collaborative meeting.
Either way, remember that just because something works for you now doesn’t mean it’ll be something that works for you in the future. Be cognizant of the fact that your lead definitions will need updating in order to ensure marketing is targeting, identifying, and presenting high-quality leads for and to sales reps.
Start Creating and Using MQLs
Now that you see the power of MQLs, it’s time to start creating your own. Think about the tips we covered above to get started identifying and converting more qualified leads.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

 

Our product strategy remains to deliver best-in-class solutions for online stores. But what our customers love is not only the current great state of the platform but more importantly they buy the future of our platform’s growth. We love being on the martech market because it constantly opens new opportunities for marketers. With our world class IT and product teams we boast the fastest time to market which over the years helped to build significant advantages and USPs.

 

We believe that our end to end strategy of building a Customer Data Platform with perfectly integrated and natively built features has considerable advantages over the strategy of buying separate best in class products and integrating them. Our customers enjoy the immediate possibility of using AI, customer data and personalization to power all execution channels and also the fact we are constantly adding new stuff that helps them build momentum of marketing and commerce innovation.

 

Let’s have a brief tour around the latest features we have introduced in Q2.

 

Marketing Insights 

 

 

Marketing Insights is an AI-powered solution that analyzes SALESmanago customer data, transactions, and behaviors within the context of platform usage. Marketing Insights automatically generates tips and insights for direct actions to be taken by marketing teams. Marketing Insights includes the following: 

 

Actionable eCommerce Insights translate real-time data into ready-made business solutions. They offer a helping hand in different areas, such as automation processes, email marketing, and lead generation. 
Tips & Tricks give you access to the know-how of top marketing automation specialists. Tips will guide you step-by-step through new solutions.
Checklists enable you to deploy the full potential of the platform and its feature richness for the best marketing result.

 

Hyper Segmentation Center

 

 

The Hyper Segmentation Center is a cutting-edge solution that allows easy, one-click creation of the most advanced segments that combine all data collected in CDP, such as behavior, transactions, and customer characteristics. It is a single place where customer data can be managed, with extensive filters and advanced criteria to specify recipients according to the context. It is a simply unbeatable feature, affording unlimited segmentation possibilities, and it will become the best such module on the market. 

 

Go beyond basic demographics with hyper segmentation that considers the interests and behaviors of consumers.
Identify segments and accounts with a high purchase probability to target and deliver the right messages and offers at the right time.
Create, edit, manage, and analyze all segments from one unified, user-friendly center—and from all areas of the system where contact selection occurs.
Use a unified interface that allows instant, no-code data processing and leverage accessible and editable segmentation creators that save time while enabling precise targeting.

 

Web Push Notifications 2.0

 

 

Web push notifications remain one of the most popular communication channels. One of the hottest marketing trends involves messaging customers in their language. Such personalized communication fosters a top-notch customer experience from the very first step of the customer-brand relationship. CSA Research found that 65% of consumers prefer content in their language, even if the content is of low quality. Moreover, 40% will not buy from websites in other languages (Shopify).

 

Web Push Notifications 2.0 outperform traditional web push notifications in many ways—from codeless implementation and multilingualism to dynamic content and advanced segmentation of addresses. 

 

Reach and engage both anonymous and identified customers by offering them bespoke content—including multilingual versions of notifications and consent forms—in one of the best consent-based communication channels, through personalized web push notifications. 
Use multifaceted CDP data to hyper-target your campaigns and enrich your omnichannel strategy. Choose whether you prefer communicating with consumers using a desktop computer, mobile device, or both. 
Stay in touch with the users that are interested in your offer but are not yet ready to provide their contact data.

 

Personal Shopping Inbox

 

We aim to be MarTech trailblazers, so we prefer to move towards innovation instead of reproducing schemes. To this end, we created this amazing new feature – the Personal Shopping Inbox! 

 

The Personal Shopping Inbox enables you to enhance your visitor’s customer experience with a fully customizable, easy-to-use, three-in-one communication channel that combines an eCommerce wish list, recommendation engine, and notification center. 

 

Boost “customer stickiness.” Encourage customers to create wish lists and save their dream products for later. Also, enable them to quickly view products they are interested in through a “like a product” mechanism. 
Increase your sales by recommending recently seen products to your customers. 
Leave personalized offers for customers and anonymous visitors in their multilingual notification inbox, and ensure they can access those offers even after they leave and return to a website. 
Enhance user engagement through loyalty programs by increasing the accessibility of their status information. 
Display the information directly in the eCommerce inbox. Recommend to customers the products they are dreaming of, and use wish lists as data sources for the recommendation engine.

 

During the first half of this year, we focused on developing solutions aimed at improving customer satisfaction. We also successfully addressed the decreasing importance of third-party cookies to enable our customers to maintain their marketing campaigns without delays. The features we introduced during H1 2021 touched on website personalization, marketing communication channels, and advanced management of CDP data.

 

Now we have another six exciting months ahead of us. We will spend this time working on the next surprising features. Our ambition is to assist you not only to achieve new business benchmarks but also to enhance the customer experience for you and your customers.I like to be in touch with our clients and people who love technology. Please do not hesitate to contact me: katarzyna.rejdych@salesmanago.com

In 2020, it was more important to us than ever to support small businesses and non-profit organizations.
There are so many organizations offering essential services to their communities, and we have felt so lucky to be able to support them while continuing to support our own customers. We always want to give back each year — the amount might change, depending on our profit, but we’ll always give back. It’s a habit worth building and continuing.
We’d love to highlight the organizations we supported in 2020 and the important work they’re doing, and how we came to support them.
An evolution of giving back and choosing flagship causes
Back in 2017, we committed to donating 20% of our profit each year to charitable organizations and, each year, we’ve chosen those non-profits in different ways.
The first year in 2017, we invited our team to nominate any organization they wanted and chose seven that got the most votes. It was a very open-ended prompt! In 2018, we focused our search a little bit, still taking in any team nominations but ultimately choosing one organization to represent each of our six company values.
In 2019, we put a stake in the ground and decided to focus our giving efforts on a core Buffer stakeholder — the environment. We worked to calculate our carbon footprint and found projects to fund that would prevent, remove or reduce carbon emissions of the same amount. Then, we asked our team to tell us their favorite organizations that produce clean energy, remove carbon from the atmosphere, support sustainable energy sources, or otherwise contribute toward the health of our planet, and ended up choosing five of them to support.
As we entered 2020, climate action was still a core cause we felt committed to supporting, but it became obvious that there was another area where there was significant work to be done. Combatting racial injustice and actively pursuing anti-racism became a priority for our company, and we worked to establish several programs to support BIPOC activists, as well as Black- or POC-owned or -led organizations engaged in anti-racism work.
When we started looking into our 2020 charitable donation, we decided we wanted to make a significant contribution to organizations tackling one of these two core causes — climate action and anti-racism — and that had a strong alignment with our vision: a world with more small businesses that do good while doing well.
The selection process
As we’ve always done, we invited our team to tell us about organizations that inspired them. Here’s what we shared about each cause and why it was important to Buffer’s vision:
“Without a habitable planet and the stability that provides, no small businesses will be able to thrive, including Buffer. Simultaneously, the climate challenge also creates tremendous opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship, hence more startups and small businesses! It feels crucial to do our part in building a sustainable and healthy environment where small businesses can have long-term success.”
“Systemic racism is not only injustice, but it is also bad for business. Research ‘estimates that aggregate economic output would have been $16 trillion higher since 2000 if racial gaps had been closed.’ When it comes to a world with more small businesses, we’ll also want to see more diversity in those businesses. By making our contribution to a more equitable and just future, we can create a world where more people from underrepresented groups can start small businesses and have the means to support small businesses within their communities.”
From these prompts, we collected team nominations and we learned about some amazing organizations. After a team-wide vote, we settled on four organizations to each receive $12,152.25 USD — an equal split of $48,609 USD, which was 20% of our profit share from 2020.
Our 2020 charities and the work they’re doing
We chose two organizations to represent our focus on anti-racism and two that represent climate action. We’re proud to support these organizations that are truly working toward a more equitable and sustainable world. Read on for more information about their work!

GiveDirectlyWhen we zoom out to the global level, there is huge inequality between people born and living in developed versus developing countries. The differences in wealth and access to opportunities remain massive. Currently, there is strong evidence that giving unconditional cash grants to people living in poverty is one of the most effective ways to drive positive change in their lives.
GiveDirectly gives cash grants that enable folks to invest in the projects, businesses, and items that are most impactful for them, instead of relying on organizations to choose for them. From their website: “We believe people living in poverty deserve the dignity to choose for themselves how best to improve their lives — cash enables that choice.”
We are excited about supporting GiveDirectly as a way to catalyze more small businesses — especially by folks from underrepresented groups — starting up all over the world.

digitalundividedThere is no doubt that the U.S. tech and startup scenes have long been homogenous in many ways — with race and gender in particular. We get really excited when we hear about organizations that are supporting underrepresented groups and lifting them up to get the same shot as other founders, and digitalundivided is doing just that.
At digitalundivided, they run training programs, pre-accelerator programs, and a fellowship to help Black and Latinx women founders get the resources and mentorship they need to develop their businesses. On top of that, we were excited to see that they conduct research about Black and Latinx women founders in the U.S and that they use their research as a catalyst for change and action. From their website: “At digitalundivided, we use original, proprietary research to develop a data-driven ecosystem that expands the current body of knowledge about entrepreneurship in emerging communities.”
Their mission is all about doing good while doing well — supporting Black and Latinx women in their entrepreneurship journeys, all while catalyzing economic growth in their communities.

Cool Earth Trees are a powerhouse for our planet, constantly pulling carbon out of the atmosphere — so deforestation is a huge contributor to the climate crisis. Cool Earth works directly with rainforest communities to halt deforestation. They do this by meeting and learning from rainforest communities around the world, many of whom are indigenous communities that have intimate relationships and immense wisdom about their local forests.
Cool Earth partners with these communities to develop solutions that are unique to each location. In many situations, they support the local communities to develop sustainable incomes so they can be self-sustaining without causing harm to the rainforests. From their website: “Cool Earth supports local and indigenous knowledge to develop innovative ways to address threats to the forest while making communities stronger and more resilient.”
Cool Earth takes a tangible climate action while empowering and supporting indigenous communities, and it’s an approach we are honored to support. VertueLabCleantech is a growing industry of companies working to support the environment through clean energy, the sustainable use of resources, carbon sequestration, and more. VertueLab works to tackle the climate crisis by providing funding and entrepreneurial support to early-stage cleantech startups whose products can deliver a measurable impact on reducing greenhouse gases. They also intentionally prioritize the growth of diversity, equity, and inclusion across cleantech industries.
In other words, VertueLab is directly nurturing small businesses that strive to make a difference in the climate space, and that shape a more sustainable and equitable world. From their website: “[Our mission is] to unleash innovation and entrepreneurship that will solve environmental challenges and catalyze shared economic prosperity.”
VertueLab actively fights against the climate crisis with a very similar vision to ours — to see a world with more startups that are doing great work for the planet and doing well in the process.
Additional donations to anti-racism organizations
In mid-2020, separately from our annual profit share donations, we also committed to donating $100,000 USD to organizations for and by Black people working to dismantle racism. After consulting with our Black teammates to determine the organizations they wanted to see the money go toward, we donated to three wonderful organizations:
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute, which protects and defends the human rights of Black transgender people.
The Marshall Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system.
Brave Space Alliance, a Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ center designed to create and provide affirming services for the LGBTQ community of Chicago.
We encourage you to read more about these organizations and the daily impactful work they do to support Black communities.
Learnings for next year
We’re a team that loves to give, though our approach up until now has been to “figure things out as we go.” That’s worked for us thus far, but now that we’ve established several charitable initiatives, we’re excited to think through a more holistic approach to charitable giving.
Having our two flagship causes is a great help with this, as is our annual choice to donate 20% of our profit. We’re committed to continuing our anti-racism programs, internally and externally, and working to be as carbon neutral as possible.
We’re honored to support these organizations and hope you’ll look into their work as well. We list even more anti-racist organizations worth supporting over here. There’s much more work to be done!

Photo by Scott Webb on Unsplash

As a legally blind woman, it took me years to disclose the full extent of my disability to employers. When I did, I downplayed my blindness as “just a bit of nearsightedness,” or I had to give a disclaimer of, “It’s never held me back and I have references to prove it.”
And, if I had to go back in time, I’d do the same thing.
Why? Even if I had a great manager, I couldn’t deny the stats that were engrained in my mind. Although one in five U.S. adults has a disability, more than one-third of corporate employees report negative bias or discrimination at work.
If that stat seems tough to swallow, imagine reading it as a young professional with a disability.
Because of hard data, combined with the fact that I knew no one like me in my field, I was terrified to mention my disability.         
Now, at HubSpot, I’ve safely opened up about my blindness. Through doing so, I’ve met others with disabilities. I’ve even helped other colleagues to form HubSpot’s first Disability Alliance group, which provides education, virtual meetups, and resources to our allies and others in the disabled community.
One thing I’ve discovered is that disability impacts almost all of us, regardless of race, gender, or geographic region. If you don’t have a visible or unseen disability right now, you might learn how to navigate one as you age. If not, you might have a friend or family member that navigates a disability every day.
Unfortunately, there are still employers that will ignore someone’s achievements due to physical or mental disabilities. Sadly, because disabled people might be limited by location or financial restraints, they might still have to endure judgment in the workplace to earn a living wage.
Luckily, in 2021, we can and should work towards changing this. And, there’s no better time to start than in July (a.k.a. Disability Pride Month).

These endeavors encourage those with disabilities to show pride in what makes them unique while encouraging allies to promote the visibility and representation of those in this group.
Disability Pride Month is also an important time to look back and reflect on all the great strides that the disabled community has made in the past. When we look back on positive historical outcomes, it can motivate us to act for a change and a better future for those with disabilities.
Why Marketers and Businesses Should Embrace Disability Pride
Although Disability Pride Month is only observed in July and primarily within the United States, Disability Pride can be celebrated every day by marketers, managers, and companies around the globe.
While marketers can take time to brainstorm new ways to make their campaigns, offerings, and content more inclusive and accessible, managers and employers can consider how they can help all employees receive the accommodations and support they need to succeed.
To inspire future action and change, here’s a brief history of how disability rights have changed and improved around the world — leading up to Disability Pride Month, declared in 2015. This is not an exhaustive list of wins for the disabled community, but it highlights a few people, landmark court cases, and international events that spread disability awareness or encouraged disability equality.
A Timeline of Disability Pride
Disability in the Late 1800s and Early 1900s
1880-1986: The Era of Helen Keller
Helen Keller, a deaf and blind woman who was nearly institutionalized for her impairments as a child, proved many skeptics wrong when receiving degrees from Radcliffe College, within Harvard University; Cambridge School in Weston; and Wright-Humason School of the Deaf.
Keller went on to work in public service and wrote a number of best-selling books.
Keller’s early life and work with teacher Anne Sullivan were chronicled in a groundbreaking book titled “The Miracle Worker.”
1930: The Mental Treatment Act 1930
This was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permitted voluntary admission to, and outpatient treatment within, psychiatric hospitals. At this point, “asylums” transitioned to “mental hospitals.”
1946: Psychiatric Hospital Employees Tried for Murder
German courts tried members of the Hadamar Psychiatric Hospital staff for the murders of nearly 15,000 citizens at the facility. Adolf Wahlmann and Irmgard Huber, the chief physician, and the head nurse, were convicted. This trial was a landmark case that put the livelihood importance on those with mental illnesses as those without them.
1947: Japan Enacts Accessibility Laws
During this year, Japan enacted three laws including

The School Education Law: Provided education for disabled children such as general classes, special classes, non-residential classes, special schools, and itinerant teaching.

The Workmen’s Accident Compensation Insurance Law: Provided disability pension and disability lump-sum payments, as well as welfare services such as special allowance, medical services, health care, or supply of prosthetic appliances.

1947: The Mail Law: Made postage for Braille paper and recorded mail for visually impaired persons are free of charge, and parcels for disabled people can be mailed at half the cost. The postage for periodicals published by disabled person groups can be mailed at a small charge.

1973: Rehabilitation Act. Section 504 is Passed by US Congress
The passage of section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act guaranteed that people could not be denied services or federal funding on just the basis of disability. It also recognized those with disabilities as a minority for the first time. This law was also incredibly historic because it labeled the exclusion or segregation of children or adults with disabilities as illegal discrimination. Because of this, disabled people were now able to be educated or work in similar roles as those without disabilities.
The landmark law passage was highly publicized and led to more conversations about disability rights and equality in the U.S. Ultimately, it was seen as the foundation for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Disability Pride Celebrations Begin with the ADA
1988-1990: The Americans With Disabilities Act is Proposed and Passed
The ADA was drafted in 1988, brought through Congress within the next two years, and was ultimately passed and celebrated by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.
In its earliest form, the act aimed to protect those with disabilities from discrimination both in and out of the workplace. A few of the act’s major regulations include:

State and local governments must give people with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from all of their programs, services, and activities (e.g. public education, employment, transportation, recreation, health care, social services, courts, voting, and town meetings).
Employers with 15 or more employees must provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others.
The act prohibits discrimination in recruitment, hiring, promotions, training, pay, social activities, and other privileges of employment and restricts questions that can be asked about an applicant’s disability before a job offer is made.
All employers must make reasonable accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities unless it results in an undue hardship.
Public transportation authorities can’t discriminate against people with disabilities in the provision of their services.
Public transit must also comply with requirements for accessibility in newly purchased vehicles, make good faith efforts to purchase or lease accessible used buses, remanufacture buses in an accessible manner.
Paratransit must also be provided on fixed-route bus or rail systems.
Businesses must comply with basic nondiscrimination requirements that prohibit exclusion, segregation, and unequal treatment. They also must comply with specific architectural standards for new and altered buildings, such as reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures. Additionally, public businesses must remove physical disability barriers in buildings.

Disability Pride Celebrations Begin
The first Disability Pride Day was held in Boston in 1990 to coincide with the passing of the ADA. Later, in 2004, the first Disability Pride Parade in the U.S. was held in Chicago, which made the celebration an annual tradition in the city after the first drew thousands of people into the city.

Image Source
Disability Pride did not become a full month until 2015 — when Mayor Bill De Blasio designated July as Disability Pride Month in New York state to celebrate ADA’s 25th anniversary. Aside from 2020, when public gatherings were canceled, NYC’s Disability Pride Month Parade has become a major annual celebration that pulls in people from all around the world.
Disability Pride Today
In the past decade, we’ve seen more representation of disabled people in the media and workplaces than ever before. While there are still a number of changes we’re fighting for, equality rights have come a long way. Here are a few great examples of where we’re seeing groundbreaking disability pride:
Books
One area where disability stories have particularly been embraced is in the world of literature. Even in the 1900s, we had groundbreaking books like, “The Miracle Worker” which followed the early life of Helen Keller (noted above). Today, there are thousands of great works written by disabled figures, their advocates, or their followers. Here’s just one long list to start with.
Television
Here are two awesome examples of current or upcoming shows that feature disabled actors playing a character with a disability:

Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix, YouTube)

This Netflix documentary follows a groundbreaking Woodstock-era summer camp that inspired a group of teens with disabilities to build a movement and forge a new path toward equality and independence.

Ramy (Hulu)

A few members of HubSpot’s Disability Alliance have recommended Ramy, a Hulu dramedy that follows a first-generation American Muslim, played by comedian Ramy Youssef, on a “spiritual journey in his politically divided New Jersey neighborhood.”
While the show’s been buzzed about for its plotline, it’s also made news because Youssef cast his best friend, a standup comedian with muscular dystrophy named Steve Way, to play his onscreen pal.
Here’s an interview Way gave about the show and how the casting was a groundbreaking move in streaming content:

This Is Us (NBC, Peacock, Hulu)
The most recent seasons of This Is Us have partially followed the parents of a blind character named Jack. As Jack grows up, he gains independence, struggles as a musician, and eventually becomes a famous singer and parent. Not only is the story hopeful, but the character is incredibly realistic because he’s actually played by a blind man.
Here’s an interview with Blake Stadnik, who plays Jack, talking about his experience on This Is Us:

Social Media
Social media has become a major platform for those with disabilities, and their allies, to tell their stories. Below is a list of just a few great accounts to follow, courtesy of HubSpot’s Disability Alliance:

Diversability: Instagram, Website

Tiffany Yu (Founder of Diversability)
Sinéad Burke: Website, Twitter, Podcast

Tess Daly:  Instagram

Jillian Mercado: Instagram

Tae McKenzie: Instagram, Website

Madeline Stuart: Instagram, Website

Haben Girma: Instagram, Website, Twitter

Keah Brown: Instagram, Website

Andrea Dalzell: Instagram,
Annie Segarra: Instagram, Youtube 
Chella Man: Instagram, Website 
Imogen Fox: Instagram, Website

Rebekah Taussig: Instagram, Website

Angel Giuffria: Instagram

Holly Scott-Gardner: Website, YouTube

James Rath: Instagram, YouTube

The Blind Life Sam: Instagram, YouTube 
Squirmy & Grubs (Shane & Hannah): YouTube

Molly Burke: YouTube

Megan Absten: YouTube

Cole & Charisma: YouTube

Where We’re Continuing to Increase Awareness
Disability Pride Month is a great time to recognize how far we’ve come, and how far we can still go. As we continue to boost awareness, July is also a time to ask ourselves questions like:

“Am I being a good ally for those in the disabled community?”
“How can we push businesses and people to become more inclusive?
“How can we make workplaces safer for those with unseen or mental health disabilities?”
“How can we prevent people with disabilities from feeling like they have to hide their identity to have job security?”

By continuing to learn, tell our stories, and listen to others, we can better reflect on where we can better improve the lives of those with disabilities.
Ultimately, landmark laws, regulations, and change — like what we’ve seen above — come from a combination of advocacy and allyship. By telling and listening to Disability Pride stories, those with disabilities can be empowered to advocate for themselves. Meanwhile, those without disabilities can learn how to serve as stronger allies.
To learn more about building inclusive campaigns or offices, check out these recent posts:

7 Brands That Got Inclusive Marketing Right
Why Accessible Marketing is the Future, According to an Inclusive Design Expert
25 Stats That Prove Why Workplaces Need to Embrace Diversity
39 Stats About Diversity In Entrepreneurship

Want to learn more about how HubSpot celebrates Disability Pride Month? Follow HubSpot Life on Instagram to catch takeovers from myself and other members of HubSpot’s Disability Alliance.