Category: Marketing Automation

As an agency keen on signing more clients, increasing revenue, and growing your business, an effective email marketing strategy is non-negotiable. 42% of businesses agree that email marketing remains one of the best lead-generation marketing channels. Clients are the lifeblood of your agency. Hence, you need to have a pipeline of leads that you can…
The post Email Marketing for Agencies: A Breakdown appeared first on Benchmark Email.

I have read articles and seen youtube videos saying, DIGITAL MARKETING IS DYING, AI will replace everything. Facebook is dying! SEO will be Automated You have AI Tools in marketing replacing many jobs roles such as, Copy.AI, Quillbot, Paraphraser, Design.AI, MadgicX, Etc Having been in Digital Mar submitted by /u/mrzedddd [link] [comments]

I have to screenshot my client’s amazon ranking daily. Does anyone know a way to do this automatically? submitted by /u/Acceptable-Towel-593 [link] [comments]

Almost everyone, when given the opportunity, has one oddly-specific topic they can spend hours giving a presentation about. Mine would be young adult books of the mid-2010s, while others are very into football or recreating vintage recipes.Vertical networks — social platforms solely dedicated to niche interests — are there to support those interests. Reddit may come to mind as it is essentially several vertical networks (subreddits) in one horizontal network.Rule of thumb:If there is a subreddit about it, there is a vertical social network opportunity— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) May 25, 2020

In this article, we’ll go through what vertical networks are and the opportunities for businesses to adopt them in their marketing strategy.What are vertical networks?A vertical network — or vertical social network — is characterized by an audience interested in content created to address a specific topic, interest, or industry.These platforms provide an alternative to “horizontal” networks like Twitter or Instagram, which bring together people with diverse interests into one platform – advocating specialization and specific knowledge.The increasing adoption of vertical networks and popular social networks’ efforts to replicate them (Twitter’s Communities and Super Followers features come to mind) show that audiences are increasingly looking for community online.it’s a new yearwe’re excited to share some things we’re exploring for Communities early 2022 🤞— Twitter Communities (@HiCommunities) January 5, 2022

Why brands should keep an eye on vertical networksOn paper, niche social networks are an excellent idea for brands because you can easily identify a platform with your target audience and craft appealing outreach. However, the members of these communities can be protective of their space — rightfully so.Instead of diving headfirst into a new space, take some time to consider what audiences need when they use a vertical network instead of a regular social media platform and focus on them in your strategy. Here are some tips to understand how to approach vertical social networks:1. Don’t just join them — understand themBefore joining, the first step is to research and understand the platform’s purpose and community. Pay attention to their language, overall tone, and what kind of content performs best. For example, some platforms might prefer images, while others prioritize long-form content.2. Go beyond “promotion”The most effective way to use a vertical network is to be a part of the community by joining conversations and providing valuable content. This doesn’t mean that businesses can’t use these platforms to market their products – they just have to be strategic in how they do so.It’s best to avoid the hard sell and provide helpful and relevant content to the community instead. The key is to be genuine and authentic to build trust with potential customers. Additionally, it’s important to remember that these platforms are meant for building relationships – not just for making sales.3. Get content ideas for your regular social channelsAnother – and arguably the main – value proposition of vertical networks is to use them as a content creation tool for your regular social media channels. For example, you could use Goodreads reviews to develop ideas for blog posts or Twitter threads for your indie publishing business. Additionally, you could use them to source images or videos for your website or social media channels.You want to be strategic and intentional in your content creation, which means ensuring that your content is relevant to your target audience – vertical networks can help you with that.What are some examples of vertical social networks?Vertical networks are not only growing in adoption but also in creation. As social media users look for platforms to serve their hyper-specific interests, more networks will crop up to address their needs. Here are some vertical networks you may or may not have heard of:DribbbleDribbble is a self-promotion and social networking platform for digital designers and creatives. It serves as a design portfolio platform, jobs, and recruiting site and is one of the largest platforms for designers to share their work online. Users can share their work and receive feedback from the platform’s 12 million-strong user base.SourceThe platform offers tiered plans for designers of all sizes, from individuals to agencies. If you’re a designer, you can also source clients directly from the platform in addition to getting your work out there.FishbowlFishbowl prides itself as a working person’s virtual water cooler where people can talk to each other about anything work-related, whether it’s about their role, their company’s culture, or the community they are a member of — all anonymously.GoodreadsGoodreads has been described as “Disneyland for book lovers.” The app, owned by Amazon, is where readers congregate to catalog, discuss and rate the books they’ve been reading. With over 60 million users, Goodreads is one of the most popular vertical social networks.SourceLetterboxdLetterboxd is a social film diary where users can rate, review and tag films as they watch them. Co-founded by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow in 2011, the platform is home to both cinephiles and casual viewers who use it for recommendations from friends and Letterboxd influencers.Although it’s been around for over 10 years, it reached new levels of popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Active Letterboxd member accounts nearly doubled, jumping from 1.7 million to 3 million member accounts within a year.NextdoorNextdoor operates a hyperlocal social networking service for neighborhoods. The platform allows users to get local tips, buy and sell items, and stay updated with happenings in their area.SourceBecause users need to sign up with a verifiable home address, brands with a hyperlocal focus or marketing strategy have a lot of opportunities with Nextdoor. According to Modern Retail, brands like Imperfect Foods and Stop & Shop are investing in ads on the platform.If you’re a local business, you can take advantage of the platform to reach potential customers in your area.StravaStrava tackles a significant pain point for athletes – tracking exercise. The app uses GPS data and data from other devices like wearables to automate the process of logging bike rides or runs. Users can invite friends and gain followers while showing off their workout statistics or asking for advice from the community.Fitness and activewear brands have an opportunity to reach their target market easily by participating in conversations with users on the platform.SupergreatSupergreat is a network that has narrowed in on a critical component of beauty videos — the product — and organizes content in line with this insight. Every Supergreat video is about one product, and every product has a page where users can see all of the reviews and click to buy. While watching and making videos, users earn coins they can redeem for “drops” of popular products.Beauty and skincare brands can take advantage of the platform to connect with their customers while also getting user-generated content from users who show off their products to use on other platforms (with creators’ permissions, of course).Vertical network adoption shows that people want community — give them thatThe popularity of vertical networks provides opportunities for businesses to better connect with their target audiences. And their increasing creation and adoption show that people are looking for spaces where they can express themselves to people like them.If you have an engaged audience and focus on creating an excellent experience for them, you can be anywhere, and they’ll come to you. However, it’s essential to approach these platforms thoughtfully to create meaningful relationships with potential customers.Are you using a vertical network in your marketing? We’d love to hear about your experience on Twitter @buffer.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says that over 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 — this is what’s now known as The Great Resignation.
As there has been a significant increase in the number of vacant positions and the number of workers who have left their position, it makes sense that hiring priorities may have changed.
In this post, we’ll discuss The Great Resignation’s impact on hiring with insight from marketing decision-makers and expert HubSpot recruiters.

Has The Great Resignation Impacted Recruiting?
Gabby Reynoso, a Marketing Recruiter, says, “What the great resignation has done is highlight the importance of flexibility, growth opportunities, and work-life balance in the workplace.” She adds that the pandemic has empowered employees, more than ever, to prioritize flexibility, growth opportunities, and work-life balance in the workplace in their current positions and those they are considering.
Kanani Rose, a Senior Sales Recruiter, says, “Anecdotally, I’ve seen a bit of a cool-down in this phenomenon as the market continues to be unpredictable, but I’m certain that one of the long-term effects of the Great Resignation is that workers will continue to be interested in the scope of their work, from a wider lens than just their general job responsibilities.” This can include health insurance, financial benefits, 401K, stock options, work from home stipends — incentives that are becoming just as important as the job itself.
She also says that compensation and job satisfaction were and continue to be top reasons candidates apply for specific positions, but the push that many businesses made to have their employees return to in-person work drove many workers to the job market in search of more flexible work opportunities.
How Has Recruiting Changed Post Great Resignation?
When it comes to the recruiting landscape, candidates are more selective: “Employer branding, pay transparency, and empathy in the recruitment process have all been key strategies on our recruitment team to make sure that we are giving candidates the power to make the best decisions for themselves in a competitive market.”
Rose says, “As a sales recruiter, I’m no stranger to candidates fielding multiple offers during the hiring process, but the market was especially tough in 2022.”
In a recent Glimpse survey, marketing decision-makers in the U.S. have stated that their hiring processes have changed in the past six months, primarily due to the economic changes that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The most commonly reported changes are:

Having a harder time getting recruitment traffic and finding qualified candidates
Using more and more virtual resources in the hiring process (like online recruitment tools and video interviews)
Hiring with remote work in mind as people want more and more flexibility in how they work
Working harder to fill positions and attract qualified candidates through things like referral bonuses, sign-on bonuses, more time off, etc.

Over to You
As recruiting and finding top talent is likely a top priority for your business, it’s important to stay on top of workforce trends and what employees are expecting from the businesses they choose to work for.
If your hiring and recruiting have taken a significant hit post great resignation, consider how your business can speak to employees’ selection criteria when applying for jobs, like offering flexible work options, virtual recruiting, increased benefits, etc. You don’t have to overhaul your entire process, but you can forge a new path to successful recruiting.

Having a strong SEO strategy is critical for reaching new audiences and generating leads for your business.
In fact, 43% of marketing directors, VPs, and C-suite executives reported SEO as one of the most effective strategies their companies currently leverage.
Creating a powerful SEO strategy requires consistent testing and iteration. Over time, certain metrics can help you identify which areas of your strategy are working — and which aren’t.
It can be difficult, however, to determine which SEO metrics actually matter. To truly evaluate the success of your SEO, what should you pay attention to? Organic traffic? Leads? Keyword rankings? Conversions?
Here, I sat down with Semrush’s VP of Brand Marketing, Olga Andrienko, to discuss the SEO metrics she’d advise leaders pay attention to in 2023. Let’s dive in.
The SEO Metrics That Matter Most, According to Semrush’s VP of Brand Marketing
1. Focus on the metrics that tie directly back to revenue — like conversions and new MRR.
You might’ve expected Andrienko to start with organic traffic or rankings as a top SEO metric, but instead, she advises leaders to start with the bottom line — revenue — and work backwards.
Andrienko told me, “When we discuss quarterly goals, we always look at new user monthly recurring revenue (new MRR). And, in that case, conversion is the only thing that matters. I think the metrics that matter are the ones that can tie back directly to revenue.”
She adds, “For instance, using analytics, you can see where the user came from, and how long it took them to convert and become a customer. So if we know most users come from organic search, then organic would be the metric I’d be focused on measuring. Whatever your success element is is the most important outcome. Rankings don’t matter much. People need to land on your website, and they need to buy or show they’re interested.”
Hearing ‘rankings don’t matter much’ from the VP of Brand Marketing at Semrush, a platform often used for online ranking data, initially surprised me. But it makes sense.
Let’s say you rank #1 for the keyword query: “What is marketing?” If your company sells products or services related to marketing, that’s great. But if that same post isn’t driving the right kind of traffic, or isn’t converting that traffic into qualified leads and revenue for the business … Does it matter, really?
Focusing on the metrics that tie back to revenue can greatly impact where you spend your time and resources. To effectively evaluate your content based on revenue, consider making a spreadsheet that tracks all your top-converting posts. Even if those posts aren’t the ones that bring in the most traffic for your site, those are the posts you’ll want to focus your historical optimization attention on — since those have proven most valuable to your business’ bottom line.

2. Don’t forget about branded keyword search volume.
Andrienko admits this next metric likely matters to her because of her role as a brand marketing leader, but it’s worth mentioning since it’s a metric that can demonstrate your brand value.
As she puts it, “For me, being a brand marketing leader, I specifically focus on branded keyword search volume — which means how many impressions and search volume the keyword ‘Semrush’ is getting over time. That gives me an understanding of how good we are at strengthening the brand and growing brand awareness.”
This is a particularly important metric if your goal is to grow brand awareness for your business. As you test strategies meant to increase brand awareness, such as co-marketing campaigns, sponsored events, or new types of content like podcasting, you’ll want to obsess over branded keyword search volume. Is it going up over time? If it is, this is a strong indicator that your brand awareness strategy is working.
While this can seem like a more superficial metric, it’s not. Consumers want to buy from companies they trust — and familiarity is a powerful factor when it comes to developing trust with your prospects.
3. Consider click-through rate and how it correlates to organic traffic.
“If you see a lot of people are searching for select keywords, but your CTR isn’t growing, then that means something is off,” Andrienko told me.
She continues, “For instance, we noticed the organic CTR on one of our keywords was dropping, and we discovered it was because Google added an AdWords top search feature — so we bid on the keyword. Ultimately, we saw that even though organic CTR was dropping, we were able to get the clicks anyway in a different form.”

“It’s important you don’t just look at organic traffic … But also how it correlates with the click-through rate. That’s a very important connection to make.”

In a world where almost two-thirds of Google searches end without a click, it has become increasingly difficult to achieve high click-through rates. And Andrienko admits it’s not always feasible. Consider, for instance, a user who searches “How can I measure click-through rate?” They’ll be shown this featured snippet, which concisely answers their query:

This is where the power of long-tail keywords comes into play.
Andrienko told me about one of Semrush’s customers, a dentist. After struggling for a while with attracting audiences to his website, the dentist decided to search for any dental-related queries. Then, he took those keywords, grabbed a recorder, and went to his doctors. After recording their answers to his questions, he put them up on his blog and started ranking for the long-tail keywords related to his industry.
While this strategy might not work for everyone, it’s worth noting that creating content that requires users’ to click on the link to get the full benefits is critical for optimizing your SEO strategy.
For instance, rather than writing a post that answers the query “how can I measure click-through rate?”, you might also create content that answers more long-form queries, like “What are the best strategies to increase CTR?”.
Informative, helpful content that leverages long-tail keywords isn’t just for attracting audiences. It’s also vital for building trust and creating stronger relationships with your audience. In fact, Andrienko told me her favorite type of content is informational. “It’s where you can really help the user because the information is a direct answer to a problem they’re experiencing. It’s not about your company. It’s about helping them, which is where trust is built.”

4. Don’t ignore rankings, backlinks, domain authority, and user behavior metrics.
Finally, Andrienko provided a list of a few other metrics that she believes still deserve a mention in this post.
For one: Rankings and positions.
She told me, “I wouldn’t focus on rankings and positions as the first metric, but you still need to see how you’re performing against competitors. So it’s an important day-to-day metric to watch.”
A few other metrics Andrienko encourages leaders to watch:

Backlinks
Domain authority
User behavior metrics, like page load speed

There are other metrics she uses for more qualitative purposes too, like bounce rate. She says, “Bounce rate is important to track because it indicates whether the content is actually interesting and compelling to your readers.”
She continues, “And pages per session is another metric you’ll want to pay attention to — because let’s say users land on ‘What is SEO?’. We know they won’t immediately convert on that page. We need to encourage them to go to another page, and another page after that, so we’re able to grab their attention and ultimately convert them. If they only visit one page per session, it means we didn’t do a good job of retaining them.”
The SEO metrics you care about ultimately depends largely on your goals as a marketing leader. As you approach 2023, you’ll want to consider your goals, and then work backwards from there to identify which SEO metrics will help you evaluate how aligned your strategy is with those goals.
Not sure which goals to focus on? Take a look at The Top Goals of Marketing Leaders in 2023, or find other helpful content related to leadership in 2023 in the post, Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader: Data from 300+ Marketing Directors on How to Take Your Team to the Next Level.

Instagram and TikTok are apps typically used to share special moments, connect with others, or promote our brands — but can we also use these platforms to create and share resumes? In 2021, TikTok launched TikTok Resumes, a program designed to “continue expanding and enhancing TikTok as a new channel for recruitment and job discovery,” according to a news release.

The New York Times calls TikTok the new search engine for Gen Z, so it makes sense that Gen Z users could also search for employment opportunities on the app. It also makes sense brands looking for young talent may turn to the app for job postings. But are marketing managers and recruiters watching TikTok videos and accepting them instead of resumes?
To find out, I asked recruiters at HubSpot and surveyed marketing decision-makers for their thoughts on resumes in the form of TikTok videos. Here’s what you need to know if you’re thinking of filming your next resume.

What is a TikTok resume?
A TikTok resume is a 60-second video posted to TikTok showcasing the job experience, skills, and creativity of a user looking for employment. To ensure the resume reaches recruiters, job candidates must include #TikTokResumes in their posts.
Below is an example of a TikTok resume:

Almost half of TikTok users in the U.S. are between the ages of 10 and 29, so the program likely targets job seekers looking for entry-level positions.
What do professionals think of TikTok or Instagram resumes?
Since videos on TikTok often find their way to Instagram Reels, I figured it’d be safe to assume users would also upload their videos to Instagram to get more eyes on their resumes. With that in mind, I surveyed 98 marketing professionals to gauge their thoughts on TikTok or Instagram resumes. Here are the results:

When asked if they’ve ever considered a candidate with an Instagram or TikTok resume, 68% said they have, and 32% said they have not.
When asked if they would review an Instagram or TikTok resume, 71% of respondents said they would.
27% said they would review one, but only with a traditional resume document. The remaining 2% said they do not know and are unfamiliar with Instagram and TikTok resumes.

I also asked respondents to explain their reasoning for why they would (or wouldn’t) accept a TikTok or Instagram resume. Respondents in favor of these video resumes often said they found the resumes to be unique, fun, creative, and interesting.
Respondents not in favor of TikTok and Instagram resumes often said the resumes were unprofessional or wouldn’t give enough insight about the candidate. Once again, some respondents said they’d rather accept the video with a traditional resume document.
I also asked HubSpot marketing recruiters for their perspectives.
“I would more likely want [a TikTok or Instagram resume) as an addition versus replacing a resume completely,” Marketing Recruiter Kassandra Pirela said. “A resume gives more insight on the experience and whatnot … I would like this as an addition to show that they put more effort into applying, and it’s just nice to get to know them a little more.”
Some HubSpot recruiters seemed to agree that video resumes like a TikTok or Reel are best as a supplement, rather than a replacement, for traditional resumes. However, other HubSpot recruiters also pointed out that video resumes can be more efficient than conventional resumes since they’re quicker to view and showcase personality.
However, a common concern brought up by the recruiters is that a video resume could trigger unconscious biases in the job-searching processes. For example, a recruiter may be more interested in the interactive video than a traditional resume, regardless of either candidate’s experience.
Should you make a TikTok or Instagram resume?
In an increasingly digital world, social media resumes could likely become more acceptable in the professional world in the coming years. However, candidates should always research the job they are applying for and adhere to the job posting guidelines.
In other words, if the job posting says to submit a resume document and cover letter — do that. You can include a link to your TikTok resume in your application to stand out, but you still need to have the materials the job posting specifies. A TikTok resume could be beneficial if you’re applying for a reactive position like a videographer or social media manager — but make sure to have a traditional resume on hand.

Every marketer faces different challenges. And, ever since 2020, the ways we’ve had to pivot, adjust campaigns, and address challenges has been unlike anything many of us have had to do before.
And, even if you’ve somehow navigated the past three years without any surprising or tough marketing challenges, there’s likely at least one task, tactic, or strategy you’ve always wanted to improve upon. 
Today, marketing is so fast-paced that it can be difficult to identify which areas you’ll want to develop to facilitate stronger growth in 2022 and beyond. For that reason, it’s important to pause for a moment and reflect on the biggest challenges marketers feel they’re facing this year.
Below, let’s review the current global marketing issues impacting the industry, according to data from HubSpot’s 2023 Marketing Industry Trends Report and marketing experts.

1. Generating Traffic and Leads
While this was the second biggest marketing challenge in 2022, it’s the top challenge marketers will focus on in 2023, with 19% of survey respondents saying it will be their biggest hurdle. As you might expect, generating traffic and leads is always top of mind with marketers. And, even if teams are doing well with these metrics, they’ll always want to improve them. 
Why It’s a Challenge
John Lee, Head of Evangelism at Microsoft Advertising, believes that generating leads will be a particularly big challenge for marketers. He told me, “Getting quality traffic isn’t a challenge today, and likely won’t be tomorrow. There has been growth in search and content marketing in 2021. New channels continue to surface and show promise, too (TikTok or audio chat rooms anyone?).”
Lee adds, “‘Sea change’ is the phrase that comes to mind for the state of digital marketing today. Change in the realm of privacy, identity, and changes to cookies. Change in the form of lost data clarity (will cookie-based conversion tracking continue to work, GA4, access to search queries, etc.). And all of this sits within the context of change to how and where we work and economies in flux as the world continues to move through the pandemic.”
Fortunately, privacy changes don’t mean the end of generating leads — it simply means learning how to re-think strategy.
As Lee told me, “To weather this storm of change, marketers need to be vigilant in monitoring and understanding industry-wide acceptance of privacy protocols and updates to search, social, and display/native platforms (consumer-side and marketing/advertising-side). And last, but not least — lean into the power of peer support and networking for sharing best practices and learning.”
Additionally, marketers are struggling with producing enough demand for their content. And as the year’s progress and competition stiffens, this will only become truer. With so many options of platforms for marketers to publish their content and even more ways to promote it, it’s hard to know where to focus your efforts.
What You Can Do
When it comes to creating content that produces enough traffic and leads, marketers should ask themselves two questions: Are you truly creating high-quality content — the type of content people would pay for? And, do you know the type of content your audience actually wants?
For instance, when asked how they’d most like to learn about a product or service, 69% said they’d prefer to watch a short video over a text-based article, infographic, or ebook. This means, if most of your product-related content is in ebook format, you could be missing out on the majority of consumers who prefer video.
Additionally, the length of videos produced by businesses has increased (albeit more slowly than the increased creation rate of short video). While short-form video is still King/Queen, the number of videos in the 30-60 minute category grew 140% in 2021, compared to 2019 — suggesting that long-form video content is still a viable option for companies.
To ensure you’re creating content that resonates best with your audience, you’ll want to refer to analytics often. Use effective tools to properly track the types of content that perform best with your audience to generate more leads in 2022.
Additionally, once you know you’re creating the type of content your audience wants, the focus shifts to promoting it in a way that makes your audience take notice.
More than ever before, people are being flooded with content. Consumers don’t have to use a search engine to find answers. Instead, articles fill their news feed or buzz in their pocket via mobile notifications. To keep up, consider exploring alternate distribution methods — like social media or podcasting — to increase brand awareness.
Lastly, if you have the budget for online advertising, one example of a helpful distribution method is by promoting your content with HubSpot’s LinkedIn Ads Integration. Learn more about it here.
2. Hiring Top Talent
While “Hiring Top Talent” was low on the list of challenges faced by marketers in 2022, it’s expected to be the biggest challenge of 18% of marketers in 2023.
And, we’re not too surprised. Hiring talent with a great track record takes time, effort, and money — which many marketing teams do not have. 
While hiring is a challenge marketing teams have faced throughout the past five years or so, concerns are continuing news of worker shortages and recruiters competing for applicants that have chosen to shift roles due to the global pandemic or management interests in mandatory office returns. 
Why It’s a Challenge
Many companies are shifting more resources to inbound marketing, which means higher and higher demand for top marketing talent. But supply simply isn’t keeping up. From sourcing the right candidates to evaluating for the right skills, finding the perfect person could take months … or more.
What’s more, the type of marketing talent companies are looking for is changing, too. According to a report from LinkedIn, employers are seeking marketers with soft creative skill sets as well as hard technical skills. And the quick rate at which the demand for these jobs are rising has caused a marketing skills gap, “making it difficult to find candidates with the technical, creative, and business proficiencies needed to succeed in digital marketing.”
What You Can Do
In 2023, hiring talent could grow even more difficult — particularly as more companies deal with transitions back to office life, competitive hybrid perks, as well as salary budget limitations due to the shifting economy.
Stefanie Grieser, co-founder of Shine Bootcamp, a professional speaker accelerator for women, understands the challenge of hiring top talent.
She told me, “When I talk to high-growth companies or marketing agencies (and the marketers running those teams), I’ve found that hiring not only top talent, but diverse top talent is extremely challenging. In fact, I was just having a conversation with an agency owner who hires SEO and paid marketers, and he told me, ‘Hiring is still the biggest challenge we face.’”
Fortunately, Grieser provided me with a few tips for employers to stand out from the crowd. She told me, “My suggestion here is for marketers to invest heavily in their employer brand for the long-term. Just like you need to market your product, you also need to dedicate resources, time and energy into marketing your company as an employer.”
Grieser adds, “I would suggest Diversity Tech Co, Tech Ladies, and Girlboss as go-to resources to post jobs. These organizations are run by incredible individuals who really care about diversity, equity, inclusion and intersectionality. I’m also seeing niche communities and job boards pop up. For marketers specifically, I would post your open roles here: Dave Gerhardt Marketing Group, Hey Marketers, and Superpath (which is focused on content marketers specifically).”While it might seem random to discuss employer branding in a post about marketing challenges, it isn’t — since it’s often the marketing team that cultivates a strong employer brand. As Grieser points out, “Airbnb has an Engineering and Data Science blog, Intercom has an Instagram dedicated to their design team, and Dooly posts short, LinkedIn posts (see an example here) interviewing their fun team with a few fun hashtags #doolydreamteam and #meetadooligan.”
“Guess who leads this initiative? The marketing team. Think about how you and your team can showcase your work and your team’s work. I won’t try to assume that employer brand falls solely in your court, but as a marketer, you have natural skills that will lend themselves to marketing the company as whole.”
LinkedIn data shows that the number one reason candidates will consider or accept a job is career growth. This means that job listings and a company culture that offers employees a plan for growth will see the most interest from talent.
3. Marketing Plan Pivots
In 2020, we began learning the art of the pivot as many brands had to stop everything they had planned, observe the current state of everything, and navigate the bbest way forward. But, every time we think we get closer to a boring day in the marketing world, something evolves or changes that will cause us to need to pivot.
And, while some marketers are excited by the idea of working in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment, it can get very tiring for others. That’s why we’re not shocked that 17% of marketers say that marketing strategy pivots will be the biggest challenge they face in the new year. 
Why It’s a Challenge
While you might think pivoting during COVID-19 gave you all the skills needed to change course when its necessary, every unprecedented event that we aren’t expecting often poses new challenges (as those definitions suggest). When marketers don’t plan for the unexpected, they could risk their performance metrics, budget, or even their audience if they market to targets that are forward-thinking and find untrendy or out of touch brands uninteresting to them. 
What You Can Do
At HubSpot, and many other companies with excellent marketing departments, our marketers always try to be one-step ahead of the potential result (or even a lack of results). 
When creating a large campaign or implementing a big strategy, it’s important to ask yourself and your team, “What do we do if it doesn’t work?” or “How do we pivot if the world changes overnight?”
When it’s time to make that pivot, try to gather as much information as you can about your customers, audiences, and platforms to learn how everything has changed or evolved, and then use what you’ve learned to determine the best course of action. For example, when COVID-19 was declared an emergency, many of our marketers paused comms with audiences and notified them through emails or social posts that it was because we wanted to focus on offering the most helpful or valuable content unrelated to sales and revenue at that time. Then, while we were on pause, we met with each other and performed market research to help us put ourselves in the audience’s shoes and learn how we could best help them.
If you do pivot, learn from what worked effectively and what didn’t. This will help you in future scenarios where a pivot is necessary — even if the situation is totally different next time.
For more information and expert tips on how to change up your content plan in a rush, check out this helpful post.
4. Training Marketing Teams
In 2022, training top talent was the top challenge marketers were focused on. However, as more marketers now focus on recruiting and retaining greaat talent in this time of faster workplace movement, training seems to have fallen to number four. 
However, this doesn’t mean training isn’t an important factor to pay attention to, especially if you have a growing workforce.
After all, even top-tier talent need to have paths to grow, challenge themselves, learn, and become even better at what they do. 
If you’re a manager or marketing leader, you’ll need to take time to teach that employee how your company works. This could include voice and messaging training, helping them understand buyer personas, or getting them acclimated to the tech stack or processes you use. 
Meanwhile, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned marketing team employee or new hire, you might wish your company had more opportunities for training, onboarding, or professional development that could allow you to excel and learn while also hitting your KPIs.
Why It’s a Challenge
Unfortunately, in the fast-paced world of marketing, it can be challenging for leaders to find the time to train while employees might not have the time or money to access professional development outside of their day-to-day tasks. 
That’s why it’s not shocking that 30% of marketers say that team training was the biggest challenge of 2021 and 21% say it will continue to be the top challenge for marketing departments in 2022. 
What You Can Do
The first step to solving this problem, regardless of whether you’re an individual contributor or manager, is reframing what “training” means to you. Remember that even the most top-tier, ROI-generating unicorn marketer will need time to get used to how your company works and grow as an employee and potential leader.
Ultimately, businesses should think of training and professional development offerings as indirect ROI generators. Ultimately, even the most top-tier, unicorn talent will need time to get used to how your company works.
On one end of the spectrum, companies and leadders can retain employees and save money on talent searches because of their offerings. Meanwhile, their talent will learn more, grow more, become even more competitive, and — most importantly — feel more fulfilled and supported in their role. Additionally, you don’t always have to hire instructors or take time out of your day to train. For example, you can:

Encourage project managers or individual contributors looking for visibility to present experiments, strategies, or learnings at events, weekly meetings, or annual team conferences.
Book an annual professional development day during a slow season where all employees are asked to take a free online course of their choosing and report back on how it went.
Consider hosting quarterly or bi-annual new employee or new manager training days where newer hires and new managers can plan to go to in order to train with minimal impact on their quarterly projects. 
Create evergreen training videos, internal quizzes, or other resources that you can send to new or newly promoted employees on their first day.
Have managers develop 100-Day Plans for new hires or those that transfer to their team which includes training assignments, resources to read through, and a contact list of people to meet or schedule training with.  

On the other hand, if you’re an individual contributor, participating in your company’s professional development training and/or taking free or affordable courses online could help you negotiate a stronger role and salaries for yourself at your company or elsewhere. 
If your company doesn’t offer training or reimbursement for it, check out this list of free courses. 
5. Keeping Up With the Latest Trends
As you’ve seen, the world is always changing. Even aside from the things you’ve seen all over the news, a brief skim of any social media feed once weekly will show you how much trends change. In one day, we’ll open our TikTok feed and see constant clips filled with “Stranger Things” references all over the place. The next day, we’ve moved on to “CornTok” (a trend that involved us sharing videos with a remixed song sung by a boy who really loves corn). 
Why It’s a Challenge
Essentially, no matter where you look, trends are constantly changing. And, if you’re publishing out of touch content that leverages very out of date or out of touch trends, your audiences might get bored and move on to a brand that feels more interesting to them.
Unfortunately, marketers might not always have the bandwidth or budget to lean into every trend out there. So, what are we supposed to do?
What You Can Do
Just like picking the right channels or social platforms that make the most sense for your brand, pay attention to the industries and trends that make the most sense for you to lean into, or brands that you know most of your target audience is leaning into. For example, one brand that perfectly leaned into “CornTok” was Rumba, which creatively published a TikTok of its products cleaning up — you guessed it — corn. 

@irobot Let’s pretend for the sake of our jobs and the Roomba that this is dried corn🌽
#corn
#cornsong
#trend
#fyp
♬ It’s Corn – Tariq & The Gregory Brothers & Recess Therapy

 
 
6. Facing Competition
In our 2023 survey, 16% of marketers cited their biggest challenge as “increasing competition from other brands.” And, that’s not shocking at all.
Business competition is a tale as old as time. And, even when you feel like you’re winning on one channel or another, competitors can come at any moment ready to outperform you. That’s why every platform, from social media to search engines, has gotten vastly more competitive over the past 10 years — and will only get more saturated with competition.
What You Can Do
The concerns of competition are obvious. Ultimately, they could take business or attention away from you and harm your revenue. Luckily, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to get ahead of them. 
Start with a competitive analysis of all of your biggest competitors that you’re most likely to lose audiences or customers to. Examine their websites, social media, search keyword profiles, and other channels and make a list of what they’re doing right that you can learn from, what they’re doing wrong that you’ll avoid, and the gaps in their strategy that you can take advantage of.
While we encourage you to highlight your unique perks and not copy the competition exactly, use your analysis results to think about the competitive selling points you can market and strategies you can use to innovate on what they’re missing. 
7. Securing Your Budget
In 2023, 16% of marketers are concerned about securing. gaining, and keeping stakeholder support for their marketing budgets. And, although we aren’t surprised that a large chunk of marketers selected this concerm, we were a bit shocked that more marketers aren’t seeing this as top of mind given the current economic landscape.
Why It’s a Challenge
Securing a budget has always been a pressing challenge for marketing globally. And, while marketers seemed to be getting what they needed for budget in 2022, companies could be eager to shift back to pre-pandemic strategies of placing money into sales, facilities, and other departments in the future — especially if the U.S. or other countries enter a recession.
Often, getting and keeping more budget is easier said than done — especially for smaller organizations that aren’t working with sizable or flexible marketing spend. But the key to securing more money for your team might not be that complex. Here’s what you can do.
What You Can Do
The key to unlocking budget lies in being able to prove the ROI, of your marketing efforts (as we’ve noted above). Use your whole budget to demonstrate need, but also ensure you’re spending money on things that will provide high performance, like high-traffic, lead-gen, or revenue-generating projects or headcount.
According to our research, organizations that can calculate ROI are more likely to receive higher budgets.
Again, success with inbound marketing also plays a large role in driving higher budgets. Effective strategies obviously produce results and make a strong case for increasing your budget. But remember, inbound marketing is a long game. If you get off to a slow start, you shouldn’t back off — in fact, you might consider doubling down.
To learn more about how to understand and leverage marketing ROI, check out this simple guide.
8. Demonstrating ROI of Marketing Activities
While this item didn’t make our top challenge list this year, we still think it’s very important to highlight here and focus on in 2023, especially if your business is focused on spending budget wisely — or only on things that provide ROI. 
And, in 2021. 28% of marketers saw it as their top challenge, while 21% of marketers expect to see this continue to be their biggest issue in 2022. 
Measuring and gaining ROI continues to be a vital way for marketers to understand the effectiveness of each particular marketing campaign or piece of content. It also can be what decision-makers at your company rely on when determining if they’ll invest more in your project, deparment, or team headcount in the future. 
Ultimately, proving ROI often goes hand-in-hand with making an argument to increase budget: No ROI tracking, no demonstrable ROI. No ROI, no budget.
Providing ROI often comes down to using effective analytics measurement tools. For instance, Beautiful.ai Director of Marketing Kim Giroux told me, “Marketers are constantly challenged to illustrate the ROI of their efforts and [this year] is no exception. Proving ROI doesn’t always have to mean extra work or effort though. In fact, certain technologies bake ROI into existing work processes.”
Giroux adds, “Take presentation software, for instance. Savvy marketers today can create and use pitch decks with built-in presentation analytics that offer real-time data — such as how much time was spent viewing individual slides. Armed with these insights, marketers can better gauge stakeholder interest, inform their strategies, and adjust their campaigns.”
Christina Mautz, CMO of Moz, believes measuring ROI comes down to redefining the marketing process as a whole. She told me, “My biggest challenge, and one all marketers face in providing ROI, is the prospect of meeting traditional KPIs in the modern workspace.”
Mautz says, “Instead of leads and trade show success, marketing wins are now largely digital: engaging prospects and generating more clicks, downloads, and page visits.”

CMO of Moz Christina Mautz says, “To better measure marketing progress, we have to redefine the marketing process, encouraging collaboration with sales and reaching KPIs together.”

“For example, statistics such as page visits per sale or rising higher in the search engine results page (SERP) give marketers and SEOs tangible evidence as to how their work is meeting their ROI. New buying patterns and a customer-centric world require a divergence from the old, but measuring ROI will look far different than it did before and some leaders may not understand how or why.”
When it comes to providing ROI, there’s a strong case to be made for dedicating time and resources to establishing links between marketing activities and sales results.
This means using both marketing software (like HubSpot) and a CRM solution (like HubSpot’s free CRM) and then tying them together to close the loop between your marketing and sales efforts with a service-level agreement (SLA). That way, you can directly see how many leads and customers are generated through your marketing activities.
Other Common Challenges
While our survey identified the biggest challenges in marketing, teams are still facing dozens of other challenges that are worth mentioning, but weren’t one of the top concerns. Here are just a few:
Website Management
In 2021, 64% of companies said they were investing in website upgrades. Meanwhile, 27% of survey participants said that managing their website was the top challenge in that year, with a chunk more saying they continued to rise to this challenge in 2022. 
In 2023, website challenges aren’t going anywhere. If you have an online presence for your business, your website serves as a key place that consumers will go to when researching your brand.
There, they might find company information, marketing content, and other resources that nurture them into becoming a lead or buying your product. On the marketing end, your site can also be a tool that can help you drive search result and social media awareness when it is optimized and shared around the web. 
Although managing a website is consistently a challenge to marketers, it seems to be growing less threatening. While website management was the third-biggest challenge facing marketers in 2021, it didn’t even make the Top Five Challenge list for 2022. 
Chances are, your website’s performance is high on your list of priorities — particularly since website speed and performance plays a major role in your website’s SEO ranking. It’s an asset that works around the clock to draw in visitors, convert them, and help you hit your goals.
Issues with website management include a variety of different factors, from writing and optimizing the content to designing beautiful webpages. Here are a few things marketers can do to deal with this challenge.
What Can You Do?
First, try HubSpot’s free website grader to determine how your website stacks up on key metrics including SEO, mobile, and security performance — and how you can improve it. 
If your primary challenge with managing a website has to do with the skills and resources you have available, you aren’t alone. This is especially true for small companies who don’t have all the talent in-house required to cover content, optimization, design, and back-end website management.
One solution? Hire freelancers and agency partners. To find freelancers, we recommend:

Tapping into your personal and professional network by posting on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social networks with a description of what you’re looking for.
Browsing freelance writers and designers based on their portfolios and areas of interest. 
Browsing HubSpot’s Services Marketplace, which lists a wide variety of designers from partner companies and agencies we’ve deemed credible.

Overall, you can make website management easier on your team by hosting your website on a platform that integrates all your marketing channels like HubSpot’s CMS.

Social Media Marketing Challenges
In our survey, 16% of marketers said that their biggest challenge of 2023 will involve keeping up with the latest social media platforms, as well as their growing lists of new features. 
And, with the constant evolution of how social media looks, feels, and functions comes a mess of other social media challenges that marketers are worried about, including — but certainly not limited to:

Creating engaging content (which 22% of social media marketers cited)
Gaining and keeping followers (22%)
Reaching your target audiences (21%)
Finding ideas for content (21%)
Creating content that generates leads (20%)

Content Marketing Challenges
The content marketing world is vast and full of different strategies. And, each major tactic comes with its own challenge. 
For example, if you’re a blogger or video creator, SEO and ranking on Google will likely be one of the biggest hurdles and opportunities your team will face because both blogs and videos are always competing for the covered first page of search results on Google.
Meanwhile, if you focus on multimedia, such as videos, podcasts, or design, views, view-time, and shareability could be key to nurturing a lead. And, as many marketers struggle with demonstrating ROI — your efforts will be no different. While bloggers could include a form, purchasing link, or landing page URL in their posts which are easier to track, you won’t always be able to easily determine the ROI of content that doesn’t allow URL embedding in it. 
As a content marketer, it’s important to determine which goals are most important to your team and company’s growth and focus first on the challenges that will hinder reaching them. 
Email Marketing Challenges
Over the last year, email marketers have run into all sorts of challenges, such as pandemic-related low engagement and Apple iOS 15’s privacy protection policy impacting open tracking and open-rate based strategies. 
But, by far, the biggest challenge email marketers will probably always face is gaining and retaining subscribers. In fact, our research found that 19% of marketers see email and social media list growth being a top challenge throughout the year. 
If you identify with our participants, check out this post with more data on why consumers subscribe and unsubscribe from email. 
Some of these challenges aren’t new.
If you’re a marketer who sees the same challenge year-over-year, it might be a barrier worth putting on your radar. However, some challenges can be industry-wide. Year-over-year challenges across the industry are incredibly important to note, regardless of whether they impact you or not.
Why? These challenges might not just be something you’re facing, but could also be faced by your competitors. If you can figure out how to navigate a reoccurring industry challenge effectively, you could have a leg up against the competition. 
Way back in 2021, I surveyed over 120 marketers on our HubSpot Marketing Blog subscriber list to gauge the biggest challenges affecting the industry. Here’s a quick graph highlighting what they said. 
By far, “Generating traffic and leads” was marked by nearly half as the biggest challenge marketers are facing this year. 
This challenge was followed by 21% who said “providing ROI for your marketing activities” was their biggest challenge. 
“Delivering an account-based marketing strategy” (8%), “securing enough budget” (6%), and “managing your website” (5%) were the other three notable challenges marketers feel they’re facing in 2021. 
It’s important to note, a few other marketers marked “targeting content for an international audience”, “training your team”, and “hiring top talent” as their top challenge … but these three challenges were marked by less than 3% of the respondent pool, so they’re less statistically significant. 
Identifying Your Marketing Challenges
A thorough analysis of your marketing strategy and its current performance will help you discover where your biggest marketing opportunity lies. This will allow you to focus on improving the areas that need the most attention, so you can start making your marketing far more effective.
Another thing to keep in mind is that, sometimes, the best challenges to focus on could involve solving for the biggest pain points of your companies executives or leaders. And while the post above focuses on the challenges of general marketers at all levels, we also did a follow-up survey to learn about the key challenges and pain points director+ marketing leaders are facing daily. Check out this post, from our Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader blog series (fully launching Nov. 1), which includes tips from marketing execs and experts at companies like Microsoft, HubSpot, Help Scout, ZoomInfo, Sprout Social, and more.
Just interested in learning about general marketers? Be sure to check out our 2022 State of Marketing Report, which you can download for free below — or get our predictions for how marketing will change in the next year with the HubSpot Blog’s follow-up 2023 Marketing Trends Report.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in November 2012 and has been updated annually to include new, exclusive HubSpot data and expert insights. 

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Pulling a Marketo quick-start guide for onboarding, and super curious what your best tips, tricks, and workaround are for the platform. Most people reading it will have some Marketo experience, but open to anything from beginner to advanced. Thanks! submitted by /u/wdwm_ [link] [comments]