Category: Marketing Automation

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Last Updated on June 10, 2022 by Rakesh Gupta Big Idea or Enduring Question: How to add a Rich Text Area field to a flow screen? Objectives: After reading this blog, you’ll be able to: Create a Lightning Web Component for Screen flow Add a custom property editor for a
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We use mailchimp newsletters and sell banner sponsorships, and each client needs a report on impressions/clicks. If we use a unique tracking URL, I’m sure we can easily get the clicks tracked and uploaded to Airtable/Sheets, but can this also track impressions too? That would make our workflow so much easier. Not sure if it’s possible to automate that. submitted by /u/NoItineraryNeeded [link] [comments]

As a salesperson, your success rests largely on quota attainment. Make quota consistently, and you’re a superhero. Miss quota a few months in a row, and everyday inches you closer and closer to a performance plan.
For reps or managers in the latter bucket, desperate times often call for desperate measures. First, maybe hitting the number is a matter of closing a few more deals. Then, suddenly, you’re stretching the truth on features and saying, “Sure, we can do that!” when you’re not sure you can really do that — or worse, you’re sure you absolutely cannot do that.
Sales is a notoriously stressful job, and the pressure to fudge the truth with prospects can become overwhelming when your goal is a long way away. But the unpleasant repercussions are not worth it. But before we delve into why lying doesn’t pay, let’s first see why salespeople lie.

Why Do Salespeople Lie?
An “honest salesperson” is a myth and a perfect example of an oxymoron to many. But why do salespeople lie?
We list three reasons why they do. Perhaps after reading this section, you’ll be more sympathetic towards them.
1. They don’t know the product
This is one big reason why the average salesperson distorts the truth. They simply don’t know what a product can or can’t do, so they stretch the truth about its capabilities.
As salespeople, they’re expected to know everything about what they’re selling, so it’ll be pretty embarrassing to admit, “Oh gee, I don’t know whether it can do this.”
2. They want to build a relationship with the customer
Most people have an innate desire to be liked, and salespeople are no exception. Thus, they tickle the ears of the customer because they want them to like them enough to make a purchase.
3. To make more money
No, we aren’t going to skip the primary reason people lie: to make money. Many salespeople lie about products and services to make a quick sale and move on to the next prospect.
Why Salespeople Shouldn’t Lie During the Selling Process
We now look at nine reasons why lying during the selling process is definitely not worth it.
Your new customer won’t be happy for long.
If you promised something that your company can’t deliver on to make a sale, your new client would learn the truth in short order, and warm, fuzzy feelings will turn into buyer’s remorse. By not being 100% honest, you might have sold them a defective product or service for their needs.
They may give you or someone else at your company an earful and leave it at that. Or, they could take to social media to air their grievances — which you never want to happen.
You’ll cause damage to you and your company’s reputation.
An angry phone call is bad, but an angry tweet or Facebook post is far worse. Your company just got crossed off vendor shortlists — not good for your organization’s brand perception or your personal reputation. Reaching trusted advisor status is the goal of many salespeople today, and that’s much harder to do with that type of baggage.
You’ll kiss upsell opportunities goodbye.
One of the perks of becoming a trusted advisor in your clients’ eyes is that they’re more receptive to upsell suggestions.
However, if you’ve already shown yourself to be a fibber, why should clients take your word on any additional items? You might have won a quick buck originally, but it could cost you additional revenue in the long run.
You may lose referrals, too.
Referrals are the best. You can skip a large portion of the prospecting and initial interest stages and dive right into the meat of your sales process with a higher success rate. In fact, according to NoMoreColdCalling.com, the close rate for referred clients is about 50%.
But if your new customer has caught you in a lie? I doubt they’ll be referring your company to much of anything, except maybe the door.
You’ll risk making internal enemies.
Let’s say you sold a product on a promise for a special kind of support you know your company wouldn’t typically provide. The client signs the contract, and you pass the buck along to the implementation team.
On to the next month? Well, not quite. What happens when the customer starts asking about the support you pledged? You committed another department to something they might not be able to give, and they’ll be understandably upset. Once your colleagues find out who’s to blame for their misery, you’ll garner a negative reputation internally.
You’ll contribute to sales stereotypes.
As part of his research for the book To Sell Is Human, Daniel Pink and Qualtrics conducted a survey called “What Do You Do At Work?” The question “When you think of ‘sales’ or ‘selling,’ what’s the first word that comes to mind?” aimed to gauge people’s perception of the sales profession.
If you’re sensitive, you might want to stop here. Among the most prevalent words were “pushy,” “sleazy,” “ugh,” “yuck,” “dishonest,” and “manipulative.”
If you’re a salesperson who takes pride in your work, this is worth bearing in mind. Whenever you bend the truth to make a sale, you feed into the general psyche’s negative perception. Don’t be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your commitment to honesty might just change some deeply-rooted opinions about your industry.
Your customers will realize it.
Your customers are likely more intelligent than you give them credit for. Many can tell when you’re lying to them, skipping important information, or telling them what you think they want to hear.
Because of this, you’re far less likely to make a sale. So while you might meet someone that swallows your lies once in a while, you’ll lose more sales in the long run when you get called out on your lies.
Lying is counterproductive to your goals.
A lying salesperson might have contacted your current prospect, so they didn’t make a purchase. But when you bring honesty to the table, you’ll increase your chances of signing them up or making a sale.
Your self-esteem could suffer.
Having a reputation as an honest salesperson will boost your self-esteem. You’ll be happy knowing that you haven’t tricked or lied your way to making a sale.
A reputation for honesty improves professional and personal relationships. Furthermore, clients who trust your products stay loyal to your company, even through tough times.
Can Sales and Lying be Mutually Exclusive?
Although prospects are wary from the start because of past experiences with lying salespeople, you can set the foundation for a profitable relationship by being honest.
So, don’t ever lie to your clients. It might seem difficult to be upfront with customers, but they’ll appreciate your honesty, and you’ll be proof that sales and lying can be mutually exclusive.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Press releases remain a critical link in the communications chain. According to Cision’s 2021 Global State of the Media Report, 78% of journalists say they prefer press releases and news announcements to other content types.

The problem? Writing a press release is simple — writing a good press release is no easy task. In this piece, we’ll break down 14 common bad press release characteristics and offer suggestions to help your team avoid press release mistakes.

14 Rookie Press Release Mistakes to Avoid
While there’s no such thing as the “perfect” press release, your team can get closer to the mark by avoiding common errors. Here’s a look at 14 of the most common rookie mistakes — and how to reduce your chance of making them.
1. Forgetting to Add Links
Press releases are not just for the press. Releases will likely be published on your website, and your team might also submit releases to wire services. The result? Press releases now live in a digital world — and they need links that drive readers to other relevant content. For marketing teams still using the traditional model of press release production, however, it’s easy to miss out on links.
The result is a release that might have great content but doesn’t go anywhere, meaning your team can miss out on potential conversion opportunities.
The Solution: Ensure all press releases are reviewed prior to publishing. If there’s no obvious place for a link, revise the release to include it.
2. Not Optimizing for Search Engines
Not only should you have links to your company website, you should also craft the “link text” (or “anchor text”) of some of these links so that they contain relevant keywords for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) purposes. For example, if you are in the internet marketing software business, you would have a link in your press release somewhere such that the text of the link has internet marketing in it. On a related note, the page that you are linking to should have matching keywords in its page title and meta description.
The Solution: Check your press releases for SEO relevance using tools capable of measuring the impact of your content and offering suggestions before you publish.
3. Putting Your First Link Too Late
Try to get at least one link in the first third of your content. The reason for this is that when releases get picked up by aggregators or services, they often only include just the first paragraph or two, and the rest gets automatically placed into a subsequent page with a “read more” button.
The result? You might have two or three great links in your content that never see the light of day because readers are only skimming the first few lines of your press release.
The Solution: If you can’t find a place for links in the top third of your content, opt for a rewrite rather than running the risk of burying the link after the jump.
4. Not Including Contact Information
No contact information in your press release — including a phone number and email address — means interested parties have to do the work of looking up your company details and following through. While the effort here isn’t substantial, it’s often enough that potential contacts will simply forget about finding your number or will connect with companies that make their contact information more obvious.
The Solution: Make sure every release includes at least two ways for customers to get in touch — and make sure both still work. There’s nothing worse than sending out an email address that bounces back messages because it’s no longer active.
5. Leaving Out the “About Our Company” Section
Sure, most people aren’t going to read all the way through to the bottom of your press release. But those that do are primed to connect with your company, if you can provide the last little push into action.
This is where the “About Our Company” section comes in. It doesn’t have to be complicated, just a small blurb about what you do and why you do it, but it’s worth including in every press release.
The Solution: Create an About Our Company section that’s clear, concise, and to the point. Then, regularly review it to ensure it’s up-to-date.
7. Ignoring the “Why”
Why should readers care about your press release? What’s newsworthy or interesting about your announcement? While it’s critical to communicate key information, the message also matters: Dry, dull, and boring press releases may get published — but they won’t get read.
The Solution: Lead with a compelling headline and first paragraph. Even if your release gets more detailed as it goes, capturing user attention up-front increases the chance that readers will actually reach the end.
8. Using Uninspiring Quotes
While it’s great to have quotes from executives or team leaders at your company, it’s worth steering clear of quotes from executives or team leaders that talk about how “excited” or “proud” they are about the information in your release. Why? Because these quotes don’t add any value. Of course staff at your company are interested in your announcement, but that doesn’t offer any insight for journalists or readers.
The result is a press release that looks like a carbon copy of similar content and won’t get much traction.
The Solution: Where possible, talk to the people involved with the project or product you’re announcing and get quotes about why it matters to the target audience — what pain points can it address? How does it transform existing processes?
9. Over-Emphasizing Your Brand
Your press release is about your brand — but it shouldn’t be all about your brand. If all you do is talk about how great your company is and how much work you’ve done, you’re not giving readers any reason to keep reading. Instead, they’re left wondering how much of what you’re saying is true and how much is hyperbole.
The Solution: Press releases are about walking the line between promoting your brand and highlighting the impact of your newest project, service, or research. A good rule of thumb? Make sure the headline and first paragraph are about what you’ve done, not how great you are.
10. Under-Supporting Press Release Promotion
Press releases are part of larger marketing campaigns. As a result, it’s easy to spend big on other efforts such as social media and search ads, and under-support press releases. This creates a gap in your marketing efforts that reduces the newsworthy impact of your announcement.
In practice, this limits the reach of your campaign and can frustrate efforts to generate market interest.
The Solution: Start with strategy. Sit down with your team before new campaigns get up and running to ensure there’s a plan for press releases that includes specific budget allotments and targeted news sources.
11. Opting for Style Over Substance
Creating a great headline and compelling first paragraph is a great way to get readers interested — but you’ll lose them in the next section of your press release if you can’t back up initial style with substance.
Consider a press release about a new product that claims to solve specific issues for your target audience. If you spend the first two paragraphs talking about the potential positive impact but don’t back it up with data, quotes, or other evidence, your press release won’t land.
The Solution: Start with solid data. Talk to your product teams and evaluate your market to see where your new solution fits and then find specific data that showcases your results.
12. Forgetting to Ask for Permission
Quotes are a great way to connect with your audience and increase the impact of your press release. The caveat? Always get permission. Internally, this is typically no issue, but if you’re using quotes from a third-party source, even if they’re directly and positively talking about your product, make sure to get express written permission.
If you don’t — and the source doesn’t want their quote used — you could end up doing serious damage to your reputation.
The Solution: Create a clear permissions process that involves identifying great quotes, reaching out to sources, and getting express permission in writing to ensure you’re on solid source ground.
13. Rushing the Release
Timing is everything when it comes to press releases. While it’s tempting to get your release out as soon as possible, if your release goes out before the rest of your campaign is ready, you may find yourself turning away potential customers until your product or service is actually ready for launch.
Best case scenario? You play catch-up and customers stick around. Worst case? They take their business elsewhere.
The Solution: Create a marketing timeline for new campaigns that specifically calls out press release dates and aligns them with other campaign efforts.
14. Trading Accuracy for Speed
The more quickly you can capitalize on emerging trends and customer sentiment, the better. The challenge? Trading press release accuracy for speed. If your release goes out on time but is riddled with spelling or grammar errors, it won’t have the same impact and could convince customers to take their business elsewhere.
The Solution: Put every release through at least two rounds of edits and evaluation to minimize mistakes.
Don’t Stress — Impress By Avoiding Common Mistakes
A bad press release can sink your marketing campaign. Improve your impact and cultivate a strong brand presence with your audience by avoiding these 14 common mistakes. 
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Google Sheets offers many data visualization tools within its platform, with one of the most popular ones being the histogram.

Read more to learn what exactly a histogram is, what it’s used for, and how to make one on Google Sheets.
What is a histogram and what is it used for?
A histogram is a graphical representation showing the distribution of data points that have been grouped into specific ranges or categories.
Say you have a blog and you have blog posts ranging from 1 to 500 words, 500 to 1,000 words, and 1,000 to 2,000 words. You want to analyze which bucket gets the most organic traffic. You can use a histogram to accomplish this.
While a histogram looks like a bar chart, the two are not interchangeable. A histogram displays the frequency distribution of variables within a data set. A bar graph, however, serves as a comparison between separate variables.
Now that you know how to use it, let’s go over how to make one.
How to Make a Histogram on Google Sheets

Select your data set.
Click on “Insert” then select “Chart.”
Click the drop-down menu in “Chart Type” then scroll down to the “Other” section.
Review your histogram.
Edit your chart by clicking on the three dots and then clicking on “Edit chart.”

Use the chart editor to get the most out of your histogram. You can edit:

The chart style by showing item dividers or changing bucket size for instance.
The titles
The series
The legend
The axis (both horizontal and vertical)
The gridlines

There you have it – another helpful visualization tool you can use to understand your data. 

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