Category: Marketing Automation

Last Updated on April 23, 2022 by Rakesh GuptaBig Idea or Enduring Question: How do you automatically remove HTML markup from the rich text area field and return plain text? Objectives: After reading this blog, you’ll be able to:  Understand how to use stripHtmlTags sting method Understand how to check
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Hi! My team is looking for a tool that works with Marketo to automatically create a visual flow of all of our email journeys. Ideally it would update the visual pieces as we change them, show any A/B variants, etc. Imagine an automated MIRO board (does not have to be Miro). Any suggestions/ideas? submitted by /u/Born-Double-6751 [link] [comments]

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When it comes to business, the old adage “You’ve got to spend money to make money,” couldn’t be more true. Aside from the financial outlay to develop your product and manufacture it, and all the overhead that comes with owning a business, you are responsible for marketing your product so the public knows that your product exists.

You’ve set aside some marketing dollars to spread awareness and attract people to your brand and your website. You’ve looked into a variety of advertising options, and determined that pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a sound way to spend your marketing budget. After all, you only pay when users click on your ad, so you only pay to advertise to people who are at least mildly interested in what you offer.

PPC advertising can provide a healthy return on investment – unless you become the victim of click fraud. By understanding what click fraud is, and being aware of the tools that are available to protect yourself and your investment, PPC can be an excellent choice to market your business.
What is click fraud?
Click fraud happens when a person or a bot clicks on an ad, button, or hyperlink to trick the platform into thinking there is more interaction than there actually is.
With PPC advertising, click fraud can happen for one of two reasons:

The website owner who is hosting the ad will click on the link repeatedly to increase the amount of money the business must pay them.
A company’s competitor may employ click fraud to divert from the business’s marketing budget.

Interestingly enough, sometimes it’s the business itself that will engage in click fraud. Search engines like Google rely on the click-through rate – how many people have visited a site because of a certain link – to determine search rankings. Sometimes, a business owner will attempt to scam the system, inflating the number of clicks through click fraud and moving up the search engine ranks so that more actual users will find and visit their page.
Any type of click fraud can be damaging to a business which is why you’ll want to protect yourself against this illegal practice.
What is a click bot?
You’ve likely heard of click fraud bots, but do you know how they operate? It’s estimated that bots comprise roughly 52% of all internet traffic. Harmful bots (like fraud bots) make up a large part of this number.
So what are click bots and what are they doing to our websites? Click bots are designed to carry out click fraud. They vary from relatively simple (access webpage and click on the desired link) to advanced (mimic the actions a human would take such as moving the mouse and clicking at uneven intervals). The more advanced a bot is, the more difficult it is to distinguish it from a legitimate user.
Rather than attempt to create hundreds of thousands of clicks from one device with a single IP address (this bot traffic would be immediately suspicious), bots are installed across many devices, often through malware. This means that the device owner is completely unaware that their electronic property is being used for nefarious purposes.
Bots aren’t always to blame for click fraud. Some scammers will employ people to manually perform click fraud. While it’s more difficult to recognize human fraud, it’s considerably less efficient than utilizing fraud bots.
Click Fraud Prevention
Instances of click fraud are not uncommon. A recent study from the University of Baltimore found that in 2020 click fraud cost marketers over $35 billion.
Search engines like Google have put practices in place to protect businesses from click fraud. These include:

Automated detection systems built with machine learning and complex algorithms to keep ad platforms clean.
Manual reviews when invalid activity is suspected or brought to their attention.
Advanced research to uncover sources of invalid traffic and prevent them from entering their networks.

Knowing that Google is looking out for your business is great news, though it’s still important to be proactive to protect your business. The first step is creating ads that are more difficult for scammers to target. You can consider allocating more budget to social media ads that are less keyword-focused and therefore harder to search for.
You also have the option to be more targeted with your desired audience which will lessen your chances of encountering click fraud. Being more specific about the geographic locations your ads target and avoid can also provide an added layer of protection from click fraud.
Next, you can help prevent click fraud by keeping a close eye on your ads and your ad spend. The moment you suspect fraud, it’s time to jump into action. If you’ve detected fraudulent clicks coming from specific IP addresses, Google Ads will allow you to block these IP addresses.
Click Fraud Detection
While preventing click fraud is an admirable goal, it’s not always possible. Scammers have created highly advanced and indiscernible methods for perpetrating click fraud which is sometimes impossible for the average business to protect against.
Thankfully, there are a number of click fraud detection protection services available. Here are a few recommendations.
1. ClickCease
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ClickCease blocks bot traffic from Google and Facebook ads before these clicks can impact your ad spend budget. Users can also create custom detection rules to provide the level of support their business needs.
Price: Standard Plan starts at $59 per month; Pro Plan starts at $79 per month
2. PPC Shield
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PPC Shield offers holistic support to protect your Google Ads campaigns from fraudulent clicks. Notable features include instant blocking of suspicious IP addresses, detailed reporting, and a budgeting tool to help you allocate ad spend saved from click fraud prevention.
Price: Basic Plan starts at $39 per month; Standard Plan starts at $55 per month; Professional Plan starts at $119 per month
3. AppsFlyer
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Looking for protection for your ads against mobile fraud? If so, the AppsFlyer fraud protection tool is worth looking into. This tool provides multi-layered protection against click fraud and has an extensive partner network to keep companies safe from emerging threats.
Price: Free with paid plans starting at 6 cents per conversion
4. Singular
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Singular provides a comprehensive fraud prevention tool with a suite of features including iOS and Android click prevention, hyper-engagement detection, and geographic outliers to keep your ad placements safe.
Price: Free, with custom paid options available
5. ClickGUARD
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ClickGUARD’s platform is a powerful click fraud prevention system. Offering a Google Ads shield to protect conversions and prevent invalid clicks and advanced bot detection, this tool identifies and prevents threats from targeting your ads.
Price: ActiveGUARD plan starts at $79 per month; PremiumGUARD plan starts at $79 per month; EliteGUARD plan starts at $99 per month
Unfortunately, click fraud is a very real threat to your PPC advertising campaigns. While it has the potential to drain your budget and leave you short of your marketing goals, with the right protections in place, it’s still a viable option for your business. Investing in education and services to prevent click fraud is a worthwhile expense.

As a marketer, you already know you love Google Sheets for storing data, tracking performance metrics, and creating collaborative reports. But are using the full arsenal of Google Sheets shortcuts available to streamline your workflow and save valuable time?

Whether you’re experienced with Google Sheets or you’re just getting started, you’ll be happy to know there are many simple and time-saving Google Sheets keyboard shortcuts at your disposal.
Keeping track of the numerous keyboard shortcuts may sound daunting but, luckily, I’m here with a list of Google Sheets shortcuts you can bookmark and return to again and again.

30 Google Sheets Keyboard Shortcuts
1. Select column
Ctrl + Space (PC and Mac)
2. Insert columns to the left
Alt + i, then C (PC), Ctrl + Options + i, then C (Mac)
3. Insert columns to the right
Alt + i, then O (PC), Ctrl + Option + i, then O (Mac)
4. Select row
Shift + Space (PC and Mac)
5. Insert rows above
Alt + i, then R (PC), Ctrl + Option + i, then R (Mac)
6. Insert rows below
Alt + i, then W (PC), Ctrl + Option + i, then B (Mac)

7. Select all
Ctrl + A (PC), Command + A (Mac)
8. Fill range
Ctrl + Enter (PC), Command + Enter (Mac)
9. Fill down
Ctrl + D (PC), Command + D (Mac)
10. Fill right
Ctrl + R (PC), Command + R (Mac)

11. Save
Ctrl + S (PC), Command + S (Mac)
12. Open
Ctrl + O (PC), Command + O (Mac)
13. Paste values
Ctrl + Shift + V (PC), Command + Shift + V (Mac)

14. Insert new sheet
Shift + F11(PC), Shift + Fn + F11 (Mac)
15. Insert time
Ctrl + Shift + ; (PC), Command + Shift +; (Mac)
16. Insert date
Ctrl + ; (PC) , Command + ; (Mac)
17. Insert date and time
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ; (PC), Command + Option + Shift + ; (Mac)

18. Format as decimals
Ctrl + Shift + 1 (PC and Mac)
19. Format as time
Ctrl + Shift + 2 (PC and Mac)
20. Format as date
Ctrl + Shift + 3 (PC and Mac)
21. Format as currency
Ctrl + Shift + 4 (PC and Mac)
22. Format as percentage
Ctrl + Shift + 5 (PC and Mac)
23. Clear formatting
Ctrl + (PC), Command + (Mac)

24. Show all formulas
Ctrl + ~ (PC and Mac)
25. Insert array formula
Ctrl + Shift + Enter (PC), Command + Shift + Enter (Mac)
26. Collapse an expanded array formula
Ctrl + E (PC), Command + E (Mac)
27. Show/Hide Formula Help
Shift + F1 (PC), Shift + Fn + F1 (Mac)
28. Full Compact Formula Help
F1 (PC), Fn + F1 (Mac)
29. Absolute/relative references
F4 (PC), Fn + F4 (Mac)
30. Toggle Formula
F9 (PC), Fn + F9 (Mac)

An Alternative to Google Sheets Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
In the past, Google Sheets custom keyboard shortcuts were an option users could perform to customize their shortcuts in a way that suited them best. However, nowadays custom keyboard shortcuts in Google Sheets are not an option.
But don’t worry! Another feature that can help you further streamline your work in Google Sheets is the ability to use compatible keyboard shortcuts from other digital spreadsheets, like Excel, in Google Sheets.
To do this, press Ctrl + / then click the button next to “Enable compatible spreadsheet shortcuts.”

Afterward, you’ll have more than 100 new keyboard shortcuts you can use to record and sort your data in Google Sheets.
Work Smarter, Not Harder, with Google Sheets Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts allow you, as a busy marketer, to streamline your workflow and cut down on the time it takes to record and sort data in Google Sheets. Best of all, these shortcuts are easy to implement whether you’re on a Mac or PC.
Not only will these time-saving shortcuts make data recording more convenient, they’ll also allow you to spend more time focusing on other tasks —because, let’s face it, a marketer’s work is never done.

When you’re calculating the average for a set of values, you’re generally working with values that have the same weight and importance.
 
But what happens if some values weigh more than others? This is where the weighted average formula comes in.

In this article, we will break down how to use this formula in Excel, plus provide some examples.

How to Calculate Weighted Average in Excel

To calculate the weighted average in Excel, you must use the SUMPRODUCT and SUM functions using the following formula:
=SUMPRODUCT(X:X,X:X)/SUM(X:X)
This formula works by multiplying each value by its weight and combining the values. Then, you divide the SUMPRODUCT but the sum of the weights for your weighted average.
Still confused? Let’s go over the steps in the next section.
Using SUMPRODUCT to Calculate Weighted Average in Excel
1. Enter your data into a spreadsheet then add a column containing the weight for each data point.

2. Type =SUMPRODUCT to start the formula and enter the values.
3. Click enter to get your results.

How to Find Weighted Moving Averages in Excel
A weighted moving average is a technique used to keep the time period of the average the same as you add new data or give more weight to certain time periods. This can allow you to identify trends and patterns more easily.
For instance, say you have the number of views your website got in the last five days, you can easily determine the average views in a five-day period.
Now, say the next week, I ask for the five-day average, you would use data from the last five days, not the original five days from the previous week.
As such, you’re still relying on the same time period but updating the data to generate the moving average.
For a weighted moving average, you give more weight to certain time periods than others. You may say that day 5 weights 60% with the remaining percentages decreasing by day.
As such, you’ll need to manually calculate this formula.
WMA = [value 1 x (weight)] + [value 2 x (weight)] + [value 3 x (weight)] + [value 4 x (weight)]
Once you get the hang of it, using the weighted average formula is easy. All it takes is a little practice.

For most of my life, I never thought I would be a business owner.For starters, both of my parents started businesses, and I saw firsthand the emotional and financial toll it could take. But I was also an introvert who struggled with anxiety. All of the founders I saw were confident and charismatic, seemingly able to calmly handle every business challenge that came their way and pitch their business on a whim to any stranger they met. Plus, when you’re dealing with anxiety mixed with introversion, you tend to talk yourself out of the risky moves and bold decisions that are often required to succeed in growing a company. It felt like starting a business would be even more of an uphill battle for me than it is for most. But then I had the spark of inspiration that starts every entrepreneur’s story—the idea I just couldn’t get out of my head, the vision for the impact I wanted to make on the world. I had struggled so much with finding mentors through the various stages of my career, and I wanted to build a platform to make this powerful development tool easier for anyone to access, Dreami. Around the same time, I was doing a lot of self-reflection around where I was in my life and my career. I suddenly felt this urge to step away from all the mental limitations I had and step into a more limitless version of myself—which is actually what my name means in Sanskrit: limitless. I wanted to embrace and honor my personality as much as I could, without letting it hold me back from taking steps that would make my life more fulfilling. I had my vision and the fuel to drive me forward: Now, here’s how I actually overcame my challenges to get my company off the ground, land our early customers, and even get into a competitive accelerator.Here’s what fuels us, even when it’s tough: we have the unique ability and opportunity to truly make a life-changing impact on someone’s life. That is a privilege, and we won’t take that for granted. #startups #mentorship— Dreami (@JoinDreami) March 31, 2022

I started small to build my confidenceIn the beginning, when I was just getting comfortable with the idea of being a founder, I spent a lot of time in Clubhouse rooms. In theory, this was the perfect platform for an introvert like me. The whole point of the app is to make the facilitation of conversation easier, and I already knew I had an interest in common with everyone in the room. I also didn’t have to show my face and could even have notes in front of me if need be. Best of all, I was listening to all of these conversations that would be perfect for getting the word out about Dreami: women in tech opening up about how they feel unsupported and don’t know where to look for help. But no matter how many times I found my finger hovering over the mute button, my crippling anxiety stopped me from pushing it. Who was I to say I had a solution? Where were my qualifications? What would others think of me? While anxiety was pestering me from one shoulder, frustration was shouting from the other. How could I keep letting great opportunities slide? Other people would love a forum to talk openly about what they’re working on! Finally, frustration won, and I wrote down in my planner a small goal that day to speak up in just one Clubhouse room. It went great! The positive feedback and new followers I got from that pushed me to speak up more, and the ball was rolling. It’s not that every speaking gig from that moment went swimmingly, but I understood the power of putting my voice out there. And I had the practice and confidence to say yes when bigger opportunities came my way, like speaking at TEDx and pitching my company to the Techstars accelerator. I delivered a TEDx talk about going from limited to limitless.I built habits to support my mental healthEven with practice putting myself out there, sales were never going to be easy for me. My introversion made constantly being on sales calls very draining on my energy, and my anxiety made me take every conversation that didn’t end in a “yes” personally. I would sometimes have days when I couldn’t get anything else done because my self worth was deflated by a rejection or lack of response, and I was ruminating on what I could have done better.I knew this wasn’t a good cycle and that it would lead to demotivation or burnout fast. But I also knew that sales is a numbers game, and that if I wanted to get us those early customers (to eventually be able to hire someone to delegate sales to), I’d have to find a way to make it work. While I worked internally on separating my self-worth from the success of my business, I also implemented some external habits to better take care of myself. 0:00/1×Here’s me on TikTok talking about making the ask. I started by batching all of my sales calls at the tail end of the week, giving myself a few solitary days to get strategic work done before any conversations wore me out or knocked me down. Since this would lead to long days of back-to-back calls, I also worked with a coach to figure out how to care for my energy. She recommended leaving enough time between meetings to do something that recharges me: write in my planner, do a short meditation, or take a walk around the block. I’ve been shocked by how big of a difference even just five to ten minutes of “me time” between calls makes. Ultimately, I think this need to be extremely intentional with my time and energy has actually turned out to be a superpower as a founder. Whereas other business owners may spend years figuring out their time management, it was an immediate necessity for me that came pretty naturally.I found mentors like me—and mentors who could push meAt Dreami, we always talk about building your personal board of directors—multiple mentors who bring different things to the table. When seeking other business owners to learn from, I found it helpful to take a similar approach, with a mix of introverted and extroverted mentors to help me both work with and push past my personality. For instance, my introverted mentors have helped me become more comfortable with saying no to meetings that don’t drive my business forward (even when it feels tempting to say yes) so that I can preserve my limited energy for the most impactful tasks. They’ve also taught me that it’s okay to be upfront about my anxiety or introversion. I always felt like it was something I had to hide, but I’ve been shocked by how understanding people are when I’m clear about the boundaries I need because of my personality.My extroverted mentors, on the other hand, give me something to aspire to. Every time I have a big meeting or speech, I envision the extroverted leaders I admire and try to embody their energy. Suddenly, I find my anxiety abating, my voice coming out a little stronger, and my presentation becoming more engaging. It’s a weird trick, but I swear it’s what got me through the final pitching process to get into Techstars, and it’s helped me every time since when I’m feeling nervous before a crowd. I know this all sounds like a real fake-it-til-you-make-it story, but I won’t sugarcoat it: There are still hard days where my introversion is making me hesitate or my anxiety is throwing me into a spiral. But, with time and some smart techniques, I’ve learned how to bounce back from these moments faster. And, more importantly, I believe they don’t have to hold me back from succeeding in business.

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Email is the darling of the marketing world, and for a good reason. With 99% of email users checking their inbox every day, it’s an excellent way to connect with customers. 
However, the popularity of email marketing means you have to work harder to stand out among competitors. It’s not enough to just write great content. You have to make your emails feel personalized and look professional too. 

We’ll show you how you can create a handwritten signature for your emails to give them an extra human touch.
Why You Need a Signature
Of the billions of emails sent and received every day, more than half of them are spam. As a professional, you want your emails to look trustworthy and credible so customers don’t discard them. 

Creating a high-quality, handwritten email signature helps you build trust with customers. You can also use the signature to reinforce your brand identity, evoke professionalism, and add a personal touch.
You can create a handwritten signature in five straightforward steps. Let’s dive in. 
1. Go to a signature maker website.
To create a handwritten signature, you need to use an online tool. The good news is that several websites like Signature Maker and Create My Signature digitize your cursive signature for free.
If you want your signature to match your brand colors and style, look for a tool where you can customize the thickness and color of your “digital pen.”
2. Select “Create My Signature.”
Once you go to Signature Maker or another tool, select the “Create My Signature” button. 
 
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If you use another online signature maker, you might be given the option of typing or drawing your signature. Select the “draw signature” option.
3. Specify your pen settings.
On the electronic signature maker page, you have two customization options for your pen: width and color. 
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Use the numbers to select the pen width. Higher numbers generate thicker lines. Then, you can choose a pen color. 
The tool has three categories for colors: basic, saved, and advanced. If you can’t find the right color in the basic selections, you can use the advanced tab to select your color and adjust lightness and saturation. 
In general, it’s best to use a black pen or choose a color that matches your branding. When using a color that fits your brand, ensure that it’s easy to read on a computer. 
4. Draw signature.
Once you have the settings customized to your liking, draw your own signature using your mouse. If you’re on a touch screen device, you can also use your finger or stylus pen. 

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You can use the “Clear” button to start over if you don’t like your drawing or want to change your pen settings.
Learning how to do a signature with your mouse or trackpad can be challenging, so you can always try on a touch screen device or generate a cursive signature using handwritten fonts.
5. Save and download your handwritten signature.
When you have a handwritten signature that you’re happy with, click “Save.” You’ll then see a button that says “Download Signature.” Click the download button to save your digital signature as an image file (.png or .jpg format).
Your downloaded image will have your personal signature against a transparent background. That way, you can add it to emails and even use it to electronically sign PDF documents.
How To Add Your Handwritten Signature to Emails
Now that you have a file with the image of your signature, it’s time to add it to your emails. 
Option 1: Create an Email Signature Using a Professional Template
If you want a more professional signature with more formatting options and social media icons, you can create one using HubSpot’s free Email Signature Tool.

Before you get started, you’ll need to upload the image file with your handwritten e-signature to Dropbox or Google Docs to get the image URL.
Once that’s done, navigate to HubSpot’s Email Signature Tool, and select a template on the left-hand side. 
Use the second tab to enter your signature details, including your name, job title, and contact information. 
Then, navigate to the fourth tab, with the picture icons, to upload a custom image. 

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Go to your Dropbox image and click on “Copy URL” to get the link to your digital signature image. Paste the link under “Profile Picture” on HubSpot’s tool to add your handwritten signature.

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You can use the third tab, with the paintbrush icon, to change the theme and colors of your signature to match your brand.
Once you have the perfect signature, select “Create Signature” to fill out your information and download your new email signature.
Option 2: Using Your Email Client Signature Settings
Since your signature file has a transparent background, you can upload and insert it as an image in your custom signature using your Gmail or Microsoft email settings.

Make sure you resize the image manually or use the “small” size to ensure the signature image isn’t too big. 
Final Thoughts: How To Create a Handwritten Signature for Your Emails
Email marketing is one of the best channels for reaching customers, and your competition knows it too. If you want to stand out, you have to pay attention to every element of your email, not just the content. 
Using a professional template with a handwritten signature balances professionalism and personalization in a way that helps you stand out from the crowd.