Category: Marketing Automation

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Owning a small business has tons of benefits. You’re essentially your own boss. You make the rules, and you hand-pick your staff. You get to steer your own ship, which is a huge privilege. However, with privilege comes sacrifices as well. You dedicate a lot of time and resources to ensure your small business thrives,…
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As industries prepare to make changes to marketing personnel in the coming months, marketing department restructures are on the horizon. If you’re facing the pressure to grow revenue through marketing while keeping headcount to a minimum, you’re in luck.
We’ve cracked the code on how to structure a high-performing marketing team, and now, I’m going to share those insights with you.

In this post, I’ll walk you through what a marketing team structure looks like for small, midsized, and enterprise businesses, which structure will work best for you, and how to make your first or next marketing hire.
Marketing Team Sizes
First, let’s define what we mean by different company sizes. You may not agree with all of them, and that’s OK; we’re only using these numbers to establish a common lexicon in this guide.

Small to Medium Sized Business (SMB): 5-100 Employees
Midsized Business: 101-1,000 Employees
Enterprise: 1,000+ employees (not including the massive Fortune 500 orgs)

Now that we’ve agreed on sizes, let’s talk about the marketing department structures you have to choose from.
How to Structure a Marketing Department
Here, I’m outlining three types of marketing department structures. These are dependent upon how large and how predictable your business is. Midsize companies with less predictable revenue forecasts may find a team structured by specific marketing disciplines will work better for them, while enterprise organizations with more predictable revenue forecasts can use a structure that has more opportunity for experimentation.
1. Marketing Department Structure by Discipline

Marketing departments that are structured by discipline are the most common. You’ll see these structures in midsized companies where marketing owns a revenue number and is responsible for driving leads and contributing to the pipeline of the business. These teams will collaborate to execute campaigns frequently throughout the year in order to hit the company’s revenue goals.
Here are some of the most common teams within the marketing department that are structured by discipline:
Social Media
Skills needed: Content creation, graphic design, social media management, project management, data analytics, and storytelling

Your social media team will create and execute social media marketing efforts. This team will need to have knowledge of how to make engaging content to drive brand awareness, generate leads, and connect with audiences.
To properly perform these job functions, your social media team should have a working knowledge of creating, scheduling, and measuring the performance of social content.
Basic graphic design skills or knowledge of design tools like Canva or Adobe will be necessary for the content creation side, while social media management tools will help teams track performance, measure success, and schedule content.
Teams also need to be comfortable with customer service, as social media teams will be the ones responding to customers who engage through social media tags or posts. They will also be communicating to customers through content copy, blog posts, and comment sections, so an understanding of the company voice and ideal customer is key.
To help small teams, social media management software provides marketers with the tools they need to execute an entire social media strategy, such as the tools within HubSpot’s Marketing Hub.
Social media structure by team size:
SMBs with a team member dedicated to marketing should have a general comfortability with basic marketing practices and social media experience to build an online presence. If you can afford multiple marketing roles, start specializing in marketing functions like social media manager, which can be its own role.
Enterprise teams can structure their social media team by having specialists and managers to lead and oversee social media strategy, as well as roles for day-to-day social media activities, such as creating Instagram Stories and Posts, video editing for Facebook, and content management.
Potential roles:

Head Account Manager
Social Media Specialist
Content Creator
Social Media Analyst

Content Marketing
Skills needed: Writing, editing, organization, graphic design, project management, SEO, HTML, and storytelling

Your content creators will be the ones making sure your brand has enough content to tell a cohesive, compelling story. The content they produce will be useful in every facet of your marketing functions, from video to blog posts.
Content creators are skilled writers; they usually know how to create a solid blog post or webinar. They also have to be keen on editing — their blogs, videos, and social media content depend on it.
This team will be the go-to for the production of high-quality multimedia assets for your business, including podcasts, videos, ebooks, or other materials as needed. They may have to work on projects with other teams to make sure the messaging is correct, so your content creators should be ready to collaborate with others.
When building this team, make sure that your content creators are familiar with online management software, like HubSpot’s Marketing Hub. This makes their job easier. Instead of having to analyze data from multiple different sources, online software keeps all of that data in one place.
Content structure by team size:
In a startup, your content creation team might also be your social media and product marketing team. Though the roles are similar, content marketers need to have good organization and time-management skills in a fast-paced environment, so make sure the person you hire can work autonomously and in a team setting.
Hire a content creator who understands the story of your brand and brand voice. Their methods of sharing your voice through video, podcast, or ebooks should ultimately incentivize prospects to learn more about your business.
Larger companies hiring for a content creation team can hire by skill or by the needs of other teams. For example, Social Media Agencies need content creators for every client or group of clients.
Potential roles:

Head of Content
Video Producer
Staff Writer
Content Creator
Jr. Content Creator

Product
Skills needed: Research, analysis, strategic planning, cross-functionality, writing, customer service, a creative problem-solving mindset, technical knowledge, pricing strategy, and solving for the customer

This team is so important because they will communicate the features and benefits of your product to the customer. They’ll organize and drive the messages of a product and how it connects to your brand and the customer.
Product marketers identify target audiences to communicate with through product pages and ad copy. In addition, product marketers need to be star planners with keen attention to detail, as they will be planning campaigns for your products or services.
When you hire a product marketer, look for someone who demonstrates a deep understanding of overall marketing functions since, for start-ups, they might be your only marketer. They need to know how to research, analyze metrics, use that knowledge to plan future campaigns and target the customer’s needs in all of your business’s marketing materials.
In order to bring a product to life, a product marketer needs to know how to build an effective product page, and include content that will highlight that. They need to be able to present their strategies to other decision-makers and have plans for every strategy.
Product structure by team size:
The product marketer you hire as a small business owner is likely your only marketer, or the one leading marketing efforts with another team member. Hire someone with a background or demonstrated knowledge in writing, presenting marketing, and business.
Remember, the product marketer will communicate the product’s usefulness to customers, so the team member’s skills should be robust. If you are hiring for a larger team, then, you can have a little more flexibility. You can hire product marketers by product stack, so for instance, phones and personal laptops could be product stacks for a tech company.
You can structure your product marketing team by specialty, as well—a role based solely on developing copy or producing strategy, for example.
Potential roles:

Brand Specialist
Product Marketing Specialist

Search Engine Optimization
Skills needed: Writing, editing, problem-solving, experience with programming and technical thinking, analytics, spreadsheets, drive, and the ability to adapt

The SEO team will mainly be driving traffic to your webpages by optimizing content and ensuring your brand is aware of the keywords necessary to rank on the SERPs for topics related to your product or service. Occasionally, they’re also required to lend expertise to make business decisions. To accomplish these goals, SEO teams need to be made up of individuals with strong technical, programming, and writing skills.
Some SEO functions require writing, editing, and proofreading content to optimize it for audiences. This is where having a strong writing background will come in handy. SEO teams should be excellent problem-solvers and think about how to optimize content specifically for search engines.
These hires should be comfortable finding and implementing keywords, which will improve how high your business ranks on Google. They will also have to develop strategies for link building and develop a basic SEO protocol for the company.
In addition, SEO specialists should be fluent in analytics software to ensure they’re able to incorporate the lessons from those metrics into their overall strategy.
SEO structure by team size:
If you work for a small company, your SEO strategist might be melded with another role. If that’s the case, make sure that the SEO functions are being carried out by someone who has an understanding of analytics and optimizing content for search engines, as well as conducting thorough keyword research..
In other words, if they can’t speak Google or Bing’s language, they probably aren’t the right fit.
Comprehending analytics and optimizing content for SEO purposes will help your business rank on search engines and reach new prospects, or nurture leads until they’re ready to purchase..
For businesses that are large enough to build a team, hire for different specialties within SEO. For instance, you can hire for historical optimization, link-building management, or raising webpage traffic.
From there, you can hire project managers and team managers who are experts in the field of SEO and can offer seasoned advice to other team members, as well as manage multiple SEO projects at once.
Potential roles:

SEO Strategist
Senior SEO Strategist
Historical Optimization Writer

Website
Skills needed: Programming, Creative Suite programs, interpersonal communication, Website and email design, user-experience orientation, content management software, understanding of web standards and best practices, and SEO

Of course, any business needs a website. And as your company grows, you may find the need to hire someone full-time to maintain your website. This team will be responsible for all things dot com, so you should hire a creative proficient in web design, web strategy, and optimization.
Your web design team will use their mastery of programming and web design tools to create and maintain the message your website is conveying. They will work closely with product marketing and content teams on web page execution, so the ability to collaborate across teams is essential.
They will be the point of contact for someone who runs into a problem on your website and should be able to fix any technical issues that may arise. You should trust your web design team to create a user experience that keeps customers coming back.
Website structure by team size:
The general function of a web designer is to make the web page experience seamless, optimized, and engaging for every visitor. They’ll use their expertise to deliver a delightful experience to customers who interact with your business’s web pages.
You can structure your web design by need, but if you can afford to build out an entire team, you can start hiring Senior Web Developers to bring your site up to current standards and maintain it, while Associate level hires can assist with those job duties as your design team grows.
Potential roles:

Web Developer
Senior Web Developer
UX / UI Designer
Front-end Web Developer
Web Designer
Visual UX Developer
Graphic Design Specialist

Acquisition
Skills needed: Customer centricity, written and verbal communication, solution-driven mindset, and attention to detail

Though the entire marketing team should be customer-obsessed, your Acquisition team will be made up of those who live and breathe methods for delighting the customer through every step of their buyer’s journey.
Acquisition hires are the first contact with customers — they will introduce audiences to your brand. Your acquisition team will communicate to the customer as a representative and advocate for the company, and need excellent customer-facing skills and company knowledge to do so.
Another skill valued in an acquisition team is attention to detail; these teams have to be experts in how products can help customers and capitalize on little moments that can enhance the customer experience.
The biggest question for an Acquisition team to answer is, “How can we delight the customer for every stage of the buyer’s journey?” and projects should reflect that. For instance, creating compelling content offers and tracking the performance of these CTAs will be essential for teams to make impactful strategies for driving growth.
Acquisition structure by team size:
For companies whose members don’t have the resources to build a full Acquisition team, make sure the team member you designate for acquisition can effectively communicate your brand. They should know how to delight customers every step of the way.
If you’re building a team for a larger company, hire for an Acquisition team with roles that are either exclusively customer-facing or exclusively non-customer-facing. Individual hires will be able to focus their job functions based on their interaction with customers.
For example, someone in a non-customer-facing acquisition role could have duties such as developing CTAs and content offers, so writing experience and an understanding of basic graphic design practices are critical. Customer-facing roles, then, will onboard customers, source and contact them, and identify and ease pain points they might have in their journey.
Potential roles:

Lead Acquisition Specialist
Customer Acquisition Specialist
Content Acquisition Manager

2. Marketing Department Structure by Function

A slightly more traditional organization structure than the product structure above, the functional department structure leans heavily on the nuts and bolts of what makes great marketing work. This structure is similar to that of a bare-bones agency. It includes the pillars of taking a campaign from ideation to completion.
The functional marketing department structure works well for small teams that have limited headcount, resources, budget, and bandwidth. A team like this may be made up of a few full-time folks, part-time people, or it could be staffed completely by contractors.
For this structure, it’s common that your marketing department won’t own a revenue number and attribution won’t be too important (non-profits, very small service-based companies). If you’re a marketer who wears many hats and needs to hire folks with a similar work ethic, try this structure.
Operations
Skills needed: workflows, automation, written and verbal communication skills, problem-solving, team-building
Your operations team is responsible for managing the technical aspects of your marketing efforts. They’ll maintain the tech stack, handle marketing automation, manage email marketing workflows, and schedule and produce webinars.
Potential roles:

Marketing Ops Specialist
Email Marketer

Creative
Skills needed: graphic design, written communication, video production, photography, copywriting, front-end web design
The creative team is in charge of what your clients or customers see when they come across your brand. This team will take on graphic design, copywriting, video production, and some web design.
Potential roles:

Graphic design
Copywriter

Project Management
Skills needed: organization, project management, agile framework, budgeting, time management, written and verbal communication
To keep everything on schedule, within budget, and within scope, the project management team will step in. The individuals in this role will typically coordinate with both operations and creativity in order to keep things moving. They’ll manage vendors, contractors, and freelancers and also work as an event planner if needed.
Potential roles:

Project manager
Event planner
Vendor manager
Procurement specialist

3. Marketing Department Structure by Product

This marketing department structure organizes marketing teams by product. You might be thinking, “But marketing doesn’t own a product?” and that is true in the literal sense of the term, but when you think of marketing as a figurative product, you can better organize people around that product’s goals.
This approach works well for enterprise teams with predictable revenue patterns that don’t need to run frequent, stand-alone marketing campaigns to generate business. If there’s a proven marketing system in place to generate demand for the business, you can leverage a product-style marketing structure to grow in new, innovative ways. Global teams may also appreciate this structure because it reduces role redundancy across regions and gives hiring managers an opportunity to recruit talent globally.
There are three typical “products” within this type of marketing structure, plus one emerging “product” that can help differentiate your business if it makes sense within your industry.
Brand Team
Skills needed: strategic thinking, written and verbal communication, creativity, copywriting, social media management, customer journey mapping, and buyer journey mapping

Brand includes everything about your business and distills it in such a way that potential, new, and existing customers can relate to it and external entities can appreciate it. When you’re thinking about building your marketing team around brand as a product, consider these ideas:

Who would be responsible for the brand strategy?
Who would be responsible for the way the brand looks, sounds, reacts, and shares ideas?
Who would be responsible for influencing the brand in other parts of the business?
Who would be responsible for the day-to-day championing of the brand?

Growth Team
Skills needed: Content marketing, content strategy, SEO, copywriting, web design, UI/UX design, and HTML

Growth marketing is responsible for generating demand and leads for the business either in existing or new markets. When you’re thinking about building your marketing team around growth as a product, consider these ideas:

Who determines how much we grow, how fast we grow, and in which markets we grow?
In which channels do growth opportunities exist?
What is the short and long-term payoff of the growth strategy?

Acquisition Team
Skills needed: conversion rate optimization, UI / UX design, HTML, content development, content design, and data analysis

Once you’ve drawn the audience in and you’ve set growth goals, you’ll look to your acquisition “product” to secure leads and fill the pipeline for sales. When you’re thinking about building your marketing team around acquisition as a product, consider these ideas:

Who would be responsible for the acquisition strategy?
Who will be responsible for lead scoring and lead nurturing?
How will the team attribute success?

Media Team
Skills needed: Video production, video editing, public speaking, creative writing, research, data analysis, and journalism

This emerging marketing “product” can and should encompass each of the three mentioned above, but it does so with an emphasis on the audience experience. Media products are best built when your brand product has a strong foothold in the market. When you’re thinking about building your marketing team around media as a product, consider these ideas:

Is my company’s brand well-respected and sought after for thought leadership, publishing opportunities with highly-respected institutions, and generally regarded for setting the industry standard?
Are both customers and non-customers engaging with existing marketing content from my company?
Do the decision-makers within my industry consume media regularly enough to make this “product” worthwhile?

Types of Marketing Team Roles & Positions
Any successful marketing department structure needs a leadership and individual contributor hierarchy. How deep or wide you choose to organize your team is up to you, but here are the primary roles (in total or in part) you can expect to see in any marketing team.
Use this list to ascertain which roles you already have on your team, who in your company you can prepare for these roles, and who you should hire next.
Marketing People Leader Roles
1. Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
Decision-making, owning the vision, and championing the team culture is the job of the CMO. This role sets the tone and standard for the entire marketing team and makes the call when the structure needs to change. The CMO reports to the CEO of the company with regard to how marketing is contributing to the business’s bottom line.
2. Vice President of Marketing
Setting the strategy for the marketing department at a high level is the responsibility of the VP. VPs may have ownership of specific products, functions, or disciplines which shapes the details of what this role looks like. They’ll have directors as direct reports and will interface regularly with skip-level reports.
3. Director of Marketing
You may see this role called a “Head of” instead of a director. The director of marketing is closely tied to their specific team which could be the entire marketing department at smaller companies or a subteam, like social media, for larger orgs. Their duties consist of putting the strategy from the VP into an actionable plan that managers can rally their teams around.
4. Marketing Manager
Marketing managers are people leaders on the front lines who manage individual contributors. Their day-to-day consists of weekly check-ins with direct reports and the director of marketing. They’re responsible for guiding their team toward meeting the goals and KPIs of the strategy.
Marketing Individual Contributor Roles
1. Marketing Consultant
A marketing consultant is typically an expert in a specific discipline like SEO or content creation. They are hired as a freelancer, contractor, or even on a part-time basis to help marketing teams reach their goals. Marketing consultants are critical to the mission of the team, but their expertise is needed in a limited capacity. If you don’t need a full-time hire on your marketing team, but would like to explore new channels, strategies, and tactics, consider bringing on a marketing consultant.
2. Principal Marketer
This individual contributor role is one of the highest-level full-time roles an individual contributor can attain in their career. These individuals are masters of their discipline rather than a jack of all trades. Internal and external team members look to them for guidance and industry-standard best practices. They may have more than a decade of experience in their discipline, but oftentimes, they have even more experience in other areas of marketing under their belt.
3. Senior Marketer
A senior marketer is one step below the principal marketer. They’re honing their skills in a specific discipline, but they may take on projects with a wider scope to build other soft and hard skills. They’re savvy with the latest trends in the marketing space and can serve as a mentor to junior members of the team.
4. Marketing Specialist
A marketing specialist plays more of a generalist role on the team. If the principal marketer is a master of one, the marketing specialist is a jack of all trades. They’re encouraged to explore a wide variety of marketing disciplines to gain an understanding of how tactics work together to achieve the strategy. From there, they’ll develop their skill set in one area of marketing that they’ll use to guide the rest of their careers.
5. Marketing Coordinator/ Marketing Associate
A marketing associate is an entry level position for recent graduates or new marketing professionals who want to change careers. They’ll take on ad-hoc assignments in various marketing departments and begin to build relationships with more senior team members. They may have an interest in one area of marketing, but they’ll work on several projects to become familiar with marketing as a whole.
6. Marketing Intern
The marketing intern is a temporary employee that is completing a degree of some kind, usually in an area of marketing or communications. They’ll explore various disciplines during their time in the company and learn how to apply the marketing lessons they learn in class to real-world situations. They may be offered a full-time position as a marketing associate or coordinator upon graduation.
How to Build a Marketing Team
1. Create a hiring strategy.
Before you can hire anyone, you need to put a strategy in place for building your marketing team.
You’ll need a clear understanding of your organization’s hierarchy. Consider how the roles within these teams overlap. For example, think about how the Acquisition and Content teams will work together.
2. Write the job descriptions.
After that, you can start to write the job descriptions and begin recruiting.
You can post jobs on your website, or on job boards like Indeed. When the applications begin rolling in, you can start to interview and vet your candidates.
It’s important that the people you hire mesh well with your team, so don’t hesitate to ask marketing friends for referrals.
Additionally, pay attention to LinkedIn connections while you’re vetting potential candidates in case you have a mutual connection. Leadership skills and the ability to fit in with your company’s culture are key here.
Plus, keep in mind that you want to hire experts. Your team should have experience and know what they’re doing.
3. Source candidates.
Before you begin recruiting candidates from external sources, look to your current team to see if anyone is interested in a marketing career. Not only does an internal candidate give you an opportunity to help someone progress their career, it saves you time and resources that you’d otherwise spend looking for external talent and getting them up to speed on your business.
If you’ve exhausted your internal talent pool or you need a more specialized skill set, there are several resources available to make this happen. Look to recruiters, headhunters, and candidate sources to help with the search. You can also browse candidate collectives or private membership groups like Black Marketers Association of America to list your job posting.
4. Extend an offer.
There’s a lot of discourse about how to interview for top marketing talent. How many interviews are too many? How do you know which candidate is the right fit? How long should the process take? We know that can be a challenge for small and large companies alike, so use this free resource to understand what you need to ask to evaluate your candidates objectively.
Once you’re ready to extend an offer, consider all the variables: their experience, their interview performance, their formal marketing training (courses, degrees, certifications), and any special skills that will help round out your team.
Use this information to craft a fair offer that aligns what they bring to the table with what the market demands. Be prepared for negotiations and questions about commonly overlooked benefits like insurance, on-call responsibilities, and professional development allowances.
5. Onboard the team.
After you’ve hired your team, you aren’t done building a great team. Building a great team continues long after the hiring process. For example, your onboarding process should help your employees understand the team culture.
Over time, building a great team is about documenting your goals, identifying gaps, and iterating on your process.
Build Your Marketing Dream Team
Hiring the best talent will require knowing the best skills for each role. Even if you’re hiring for a startup or small business and only have resources for 1-2 marketing roles at the moment, it’s still helpful to know the most transferable skills that will help you hire people who can grow into new roles in the future.
When you start with the right structure for your business type, put the right steps in place for hiring, and get the team aligned on a common vision, you’ll have a marketing team that will make even some fortune 100 companies envious.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

When the modern job search is incredibly competitive, how can you ensure your resume stands out among hundreds of applications? An infographic resume could be just what you need.

Here, we’ll explore when to use an infographic resume, what hiring managers have to say about these types of resumes — and how to make one for yourself.
Table of Contents

What is an infographic resume?
When to Use an Infographic Resume
Infographic Resume Templates
How to Make an Infographic Resume
Infographic Resume Examples

What is an infographic resume?
An infographic resume is a visual representation of your job experience, skills, and qualifications.
Instead of being text-based like a traditional resume, an infographic resume uses graphic design elements such as icons, graphs, and timelines to present your information.

When to Use an Infographic Resume
While infographic resumes certainly stand out among a sea of submissions, this type of resume isn’t appropriate for all job applications.
If you submit a resume in this format through an applicant tracking system, you could disqualify yourself if the technology can’t read visual information — so it’s best to stick to the format prescribed by the job posting.
Additionally, while an infographic resume might be a good idea for a more design-related role, it’s likely not a good idea for most non-design roles.

Infographic Resume Templates
If you’re interested in creating your own infographic resume, let’s take a look at some templates you can use to get started.
1. Simple infographic resume template.
This simple and minimal infographic resume template is from Venngage.
In this example, there’s plenty of white space. The resume also highlighted creative and software skills and left space for hobbies.

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What we like: It’s clean and easy to follow. Each section is clearly defined and easy to scan. Plus, the round icons create a cohesive design element that brings the whole look together.
2. Graphic design infographic resume template.
This template is also from Venngage. This infographic template would be best for someone in a design role such as a graphic designer, or even a technical role.

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What we like: The design feature at the top of the resume immediately grabs the attention of the viewer and offers a visual overview of the applicant’s skills.
3. Marketing infographic resume template.
In this template from Venngage, you’ll see technical skills and educational training take up the majority of the space on the resume, signaling that this is the most important information.

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There’s also a timeline of work experience at the bottom, which is a creative way to showcase your career progression.
What we like: This template is best for a marketing role as it offers a balanced way to showcase both technical skills and creative elements.

How to Make an Infographic Resume
1. Start with a good structure.
Start by figuring out which tool you’re going to use to create your infographic. You might choose to create one in PowerPoint or use pre-made resume templates on a design website like Canva or Venngage.
Once you choose your tool, identify a good structure. Do you want your name and a brief opening description at the top? Would you prefer to put the education section at the beginning, or end? Are you going to include previous positions, or focus on just the current one?
Additionally, you might want to figure out whether you’re going to focus more on icons and images, or data.
“I love when candidates use infographics as an opportunity to highlight their creative or design abilities,” shares Devon Brown, Director of Global Executive Recruiting at HubSpot.
However, she urges candidates to ensure their design is clean and easily digestible.
“It has to be formatted in a way that makes it just as easy to read as a typical resume,” Brown advises. “The flow of information, and how it’s presented, is critically important if a candidate chooses to go this route.”
2. Take note of everything you want to include in your infographic resume.
Once you’ve chosen a structure, pull up an existing resume and take note of everything you want to transfer over to the infographic resume.
“I’ve had candidates share graphics on the types of roles they’ve supported, as well as metrics related to their current role,” says Kenny Nestle, HubSpot’s G&A recruiter.
For instance, if you want your infographic resume to be data-heavy, write down a few key metrics related to your current role, such as “43% YoY growth” or “12% increase in MRR.”
It’s easier to design your infographic resume once you know what you’ll need to include.
3. Choose a good color scheme.
A cohesive color scheme is a critical component of any good design, and this is no exception.
Consider using clean, complementary colors — like white, black, and orange, or yellow and teal — to help your resume stand out without becoming too distracting.
4. Have a strong opener.
This is a best practice for any resume, but particularly for an infographic, you’ll want to start with a good, powerful opener.
Tríona O’Sullivan, HubSpot’s former global marketing recruiter, shares how essential the opener is on any resume.
“Given how competitive and busy the job market is today,” O’Sullivan says, “it’s more important to ensure your resume is easy to review and states your experience and achievements clearly and quickly since that’s what someone is going to look for first when reviewing.”
Ultimately, your opener is your value proposition. What will you bring to the role that the hiring manager can’t find elsewhere?
5. Use good design principles.
If you want to create an infographic resume, it should use the same design principles as anything else you’d design.
These principles include:

Creating balance using either symmetrical or asymmetrical designs.
Leveraging contrast to highlight certain elements.
Using movement to create a narrative and provide a high-quality user experience.
Ensuring there’s unity in your design — i.e. your composition’s elements are in agreement.

Take a dive into design principles in this post to make sure your resume is top-notch.
But even if you’re making a design-forward resume, make the context a priority over everything else. Amelia Towle, HubSpot’s head of brand infrastructure and design team manager, spoke with her team on the potential merits of an infographic resume.
Keep your design simple.
“If I think about the purpose of a resume, it’s a document that your intended audience typically wants to scan as quickly as possible to glean information in an efficient way,” she says.
She continues, “If you drastically alter the format, you are perhaps forcing extra cognitive load on a busy recruiter who is just trying to narrow down a potentially vast pool of applicants.”
6. Make it actionable.
Even with additional design elements, there’s only so much information you can fit into an infographic resume.
To give recruiters another place to learn more about your work qualifications, make your resume actionable by including links to your portfolio, website, or LinkedIn.
“While I don’t love super creative infographic-style resumes, I love when someone hyperlinks to their portfolio or website, etc,” O’Sullivan adds. “That’s an amazing way to showcase both their experience and their thought process when it comes to applying for roles. If I see a hyperlink for one, 99% of the time, I will go and check that out.”
If you do choose to create an infographic resume, take a look at a few of these examples for inspiration.

Infographic Resume Examples
1. The colorful, graphic-heavy infographic resume.
The resume below uses plenty of visuals and numbers to highlight relevant information. For instance, there’s a graph to showcase the blog posts Caroline has written that have earned a spot on the first page of Google.
There’s a large “12” to highlight the years of content creation under her belt. There’s even an image of 10 stick figures to demonstrate her individuality.

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Consider how you might use one font, and a complementary color palette, to create a similar infographic.
Caroline designed this one using one of HubSpot’s free infographic templates, so feel free to create the same one using the templates, as well.
2. The data-heavy infographic resume.
In the following infographic resume (also created using HubSpot’s templates), you’ll see Caroline highlighted most of her accomplishments using data — such as the 45% YoY growth, 1,400 additional subscribers, or 24,000 hours managing deadlines.

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She also used icons of a smiley face, pencil, and painter to demonstrate some of her skills in a more visual form.
3. The minimal infographic resume.
The infographic resume below more closely resembles a traditional resume but includes a few graphic design elements that help it stand out.

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This example is best for someone who wants to showcase both technical and creative skills in a professional format.
We could see this infographic resume being used by someone in marketing or sales.
4. The traditional infographic resume.
This infographic resume more closely resembles a traditional resume but includes a few graphic design elements that help it stand out.

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This example is best for someone who wants to make their resume stand out but doesn’t want to stray too far away from the traditional format.
5. The professional infographic resume.
This resume also leans towards a traditional format but incorporates more graphic design elements than the previous example.

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With several icons and even a bar graph at the bottom, this resume is more design-friendly than a standard resume but is still professional. It leaves plenty of room for text to expand on work experience and achievements.
This infographic resume could be used for a variety of roles, from something technical like a software engineer to a more visual position like a social media strategist.
Ready to take your resume to the next level? Grab some starter templates below.

Have you ever opened an email on your phone and the image was low-quality, the text was too small, and the call-to-action button was broken? Those are all flaws of static email design. Responsive emails are the answer.

Given that more than half of U.S. residents look at email marketing messages on their phones, you need to optimize your emails for multiple screens, including mobile and tablet.
Responsive emails use fluid images and tables to remain flexible across different screen sizes. Ultimately, they deliver content designed for each user’s optimal experience.
Though responsive emails can be designed using CSS media queries, you don’t need any coding experience to make one. Creating a responsive email isn’t just a job for coders.
Here, we’ve lined up some best practices and ready-to-use templates, as well as a quick tutorial about the fundamentals of responsive emails.

What is a responsive email?
Responsive Email Design
Responsive Email Design Examples
Responsive Email Templates
Responsive Email Best Practices
Getting Started with Responsive Emails

Responsive emails are also more accessible, as they allow subscribers to read on their preferred device.
To illustrate, here is how a promotional email I received looked on desktop.

This email has awesome imagery, shoppable icons, and is nicely formatted. When I open the email on mobile, this is what I’m greeted with.

I still have the same information and the same photos and shoppable icons. The only noticeable difference is the email format. It’s different to better fit the mobile experience.
Now, imagine if that same desktop layout was applied to mobile. I’d have to zoom in on my phone to see any of the pictures or text. Instead of doing that, I’d unsubscribe.
With responsive email, user experience can be enhanced, as well as campaign ROI.
Think about it: Subscribers satisfied with an optimized mobile email design will find themselves opening more marketing messages because they know it’ll be accessible and look good.

So, with all this talk about responsive emails, you must be itching to create your own. Next, we’ll look at some responsive email examples and templates.

Responsive Email Designs
There are many ways that you can design responsive emails.
If you have coding knowledge, you can code different email templates for different screen sizes. You can also use a pre-made template that works will all screen sizes.
No matter your approach, you’ll need your email marketing software. Here, you can design an email, and then preview that email on several devices. Most email software will show you how the design will look on multiple devices.
The video below will walk you through how to design an email with a template. In the video, the user is on Klaviyo, but the concepts hold true no matter what software you use.

Coding a Responsive Email
If you’re looking to make elements of your email responsive, you’ll need to work with media queries.
Media queries are a CSS technique. It allows you to set style rules that only appear if certain conditions are true. For example, you can specify what font sizes and image sizes to use when a screen is 600px wide or smaller.
When working with email, you can use media queries to specify what your design should look like on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. To do so, you’ll need to specify the following:

Use the selector “@media” and specify “screen.” This indicates that the code will affect devices with a screen.
Set your “max-width” in pixels. This specifies the screen size where the code will take effect.
Specify any CSS style guides you want that specific screen to follow.

Let’s take a look at the code below.
@media screen and (max-width: 600px) {
body {
font-size: 30px;
}
}
When applied to the CSS of an email, body text will appear at a size of 30px for screens that are 600px wide or smaller.
While this approach can help you make certain elements of your email response, we recommend using a template if possible.
Unless you have comprehensive web design experience, coding several media screens can be time-consuming and frustrating.
If you aren’t technical or want an easier method, try using an email marketing tool with built-in responsive templates. HubSpot’s free email software, for instance, provides drag-and-drop templates that are responsive by default.

Responsive Email Design Examples
It’s time to explore examples. Start with this video, which goes over some of the best email marketing campaigns.

Then, you can read about some of our favorite responsive email designs.
1. TOMS Newsletter
In TOMS’ newsletter, the main difference between the desktop version and the mobile version is the stacking and size of the display ads.
With responsive design, the mobile version doesn’t have cluttered navigation, and the image fits the screen nicely. The CTAs have also been moved for better visibility.

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2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
As seen in the TOMS newsletter, responsive email design helps stack the content in a way that’s visually appealing and easy to digest. This example from the MET is no different.
On mobile, the positioning of the menu changes. Links to different gift shop items fall at the bottom of the page. This keeps the images of available souvenirs front and center.

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3. Mulberry
Again, with a responsive email design, the name of the game is stacking. It’s all about making the content easy to read and visually appealing, no matter how small the device is that someone is viewing the content on.
The alternating photos and text make sense for desktop, while the consistent stacking of photos over related text for mobile, along with the dividing lines, ensures the viewer won’t be confused.

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Responsive Email Templates
A responsive template will automatically adapt to any screen size, so whether the email is opened on a smartphone, tablet, or computer, it will look great and have complete functionality.
For those with less of a coding background or those looking to spend less time with design, my advice is to use a template. They’re a surefire way to make sure your email will look professional and be responsive.
Responsive email templates save you time in designing an email that could’ve been picked out from a selection. For example, HubSpot’s email marketing tool includes over 60 templates just for responsive emails.
Let’s take a look at some template options now.
1. HubSpot
HubSpot offers a couple of free responsive email templates. If you’re a HubSpot customer or a free user, you can download and try them out yourself.
For instance, here’s one of the responsive email templates — notice the sidebar, where you can preview the template on multiple devices.

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Clicking through device types and making sure your email is formatted accordingly is one of the final steps in the design process and is the only step in the responsive email process when you’re using software like HubSpot.
By clicking on the smartphone device for preview, for instance, you can see if your content — including font size and image resolution — is formatted in a way that’s pleasing for mobile.

2. CampaignMonitor
The templates offered by CampaignMonitor are similar to many others, in which responsive email results are shown in the preview tool. For example, here is a CampaignMonitor template:

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You can see the different devices side-by-side so you can compare design elements easily. Tiny edits can be made to create the best experience for all subscribers.
CampaignMonitor templates are often free, so it’s a good choice if you have a minimal budget.
3. Stripo
Stripo offers over 300 free HTML email templates. You can choose templates by industry, season, type, and feature. For instance, here’s a template from their business industry section.

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A good sign of a solid responsive email template is the option to see the preview in both desktop and smartphone variations, as shown in Stripo’s preview mode.
Notice how a single column layout was adopted in the mobile preview to fit the specifications of phones.
Stripo is a website you can visit quickly to find a template that fits your goals. You might consider Stripo if you’re looking to try out responsive emails or want some design inspiration.
4. Constant Contact
Constant Contact offers over 200 professional email templates that are accessible after signing up. From looking at the example below, you can see that the platform offers responsive email templates.

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Constant Contact’s templates have drag-and-drop editing, the option to add surveys, ecommerce functions, and a photo library tool. These features can all help to create the email subscribers want to see.
It’s helpful to use a service like Constant Contact because the specific tools allow you to maintain consistency, like in the example above. You can tell that the responsive nature of the email doesn’t compromise any of the design elements.
Now that we’ve taken a look at some template options, let’s look at another way to make responsive emails work, along with best practices.

Responsive Email Best Practices
The exact design of your responsive email will vary based on the goals of your campaign. However, these tips can help you ensure the best experience for your readers.

Make sure your responsive email is scalable and flexible. Preview the email on different devices to ensure your message is responsive.
If you’re coding your own email, remember CSS media queries change fields that are fixed to fields that are fluid.
Use larger fonts that will be easy to read on smaller screens.
Single-column layouts are easier to scale. If simple layouts are good for your web pages, definitely consider them for responsive emails.

Be sure to test your emails before you hit “schedule.” Only finalize the designs once you see how they look across multiple screen resolutions. So many people access emails by mobile just for the ease of it.
A simple way to check the effectiveness of your email is to send it to yourself or your team as a test — does it stack up against the other responsive marketing emails in your inbox? If so, you’re ready to send.

Getting Started with Responsive Emails
Responsive emails create a better, more accessible experience for your customers. If you’re just making the transition, start by exploring pre-made responsive email templates. These will save you time while giving you design flexibility.
Then, get a second opinion. Ask a colleague to open an email on their desktop and phone. You can get their honest feedback on both experiences.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to experiment. You can A/B test different responsive designs until you find a layout that resonates most.
Soon, you’ll be sending out responsive emails and increasing your open rates.

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Selecting an email marketing tool is a process. There’s a lot to consider, and it can get so overwhelming that some people just opt for the tool that is widely known. That’s one way to go about it. However, we don’t recommend that route. You run the risk of paying for bloated software you aren’t…
The post The Best Mailchimp Alternatives for Email Marketing appeared first on Benchmark Email.

This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.
Once considered a social platform solely for networking, LinkedIn has proven itself invaluable for a wide range of other uses: marketing, recruiting, sales prospecting, hiring, and research, among others. There’s a lot you can do with LinkedIn, so getting up-to-speed on and nailing the basic functions is a worthwhile exercise in itself.
But little did you know the social media platform also contains a variety of secret capabilities that can make you that much more efficient and effective. I’ll give an example. Want to send a message to someone you’re not connected with, but you’re out of InMails? Here’s how:

Prospecting just got a whole lot easier — and that’s just the beginning.
In this SlideShare, we’ve collected 22 of the most useful — and hidden — hacks in LinkedIn, including:

How to hide your connections from competitors
How to get a tailored lead list delivered directly to your inbox weekly or daily
How to find prospects you already have something in common with
How to customize your connection request on a mobile device

Take a look to upgrade your LinkedIn status from pro to hacker. (And check out this post for the ultimate cheat sheet to mastering LinkedIn.)

22 Hidden LinkedIn Hacks Revealed from
Emma Snider

Have any other LinkedIn hacks up your sleeve? Share them with us in the comments!

What is 🔓 Creators Unlocked? 🔓 Creators Unlocked is a content series that delves into the world of creators to uncover the stories behind their social media posts.Through in-depth interviews with various creators, the series seeks to provide a deeper understanding of the creative process and the challenges of being a content creator.From Twitter to TikTok, the articles aim to offer insights and learnings for aspiring and established creators while also offering a glimpse into the lives of those behind the screens.Welcome to the first installment of our new series, 🔓 Creators Unlocked, where we speak with creators to understand what it’s like behind the screens of the tweets and TikToks to learn from their experiences. We are kicking off with Jayde Powell, content marketer/creator extraordinaire.📬This interview was already published in our newsletter, so to get your hands on these before anyone else, subscribe here!Jayde has established herself as a creator, writer, and founder, especially through her series #CreatorTeaTalk hosted through LinkedIn Audio Events every other week to a rapt 100+ audience. On top of her content series, she regularly publishes culture-forward marketing content to her combined audience of 35,000+ followers.🔌To follow or see more of Jayde’s work, check out her Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.In this interview, we discuss all things content creation – from favorite platforms to her advice for creators on showing up authentically online.🖊️This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.Q: Welcome, Jayde! I’ve been following you for a long time, so it’s great to finally connect. To jump right in, what inspired you to start creating content on social media?Content creation was a byproduct of my work and then it became the parts of my work that I love the most. I wouldn’t say I was particularly inspired, I’ve just always consumed and created content. It’s just how we kind of define it today that has changed.I started my career in social media in 2013, around the time when social media marketers were just becoming a thing. That was a different time – when we had to prove the ROI of social media to the businesses and brands that we were working with. And content creation was always part of the work – copywriting, photography, throwing images and text together to make it look good.Over time, as Instagram became very popular, I was part of the early users creating lifestyle content for the platform. Then I shifted focus to Twitter, where I was doing more marketing and pop culture-focused content. And I’ve found my voice on each platform and my content has evolved accordingly.Q: What are your favorite tools for content creation?I love Canva – I do everything with it. Why get specialized training to use Adobe Photoshop when there’s an easy tool right there?I also love Splice, which I can just use on my phone, Descript for transcribing audio and adding captions, and ezgif, which is great for quickly creating and sharing GIFs. I use Notion for project management and Grammarly for writing content.tools i use to keep my shit together as a content creator:1️⃣ @canva 2️⃣ @splice_app 3️⃣ @DescriptApp 4️⃣ @NotionHQ 5️⃣ @Grammarly 6️⃣ @GoogleWorkspace 7️⃣ @Apple notes— jayde i. powell (@jaydeipowell) November 15, 2022

Q: What are your goals for 2023, and how will you measure success?I split my goal-setting in two: goals that align with my career and personal vision for myself, then goals related to my businesses.My first goal is to create further delineation among all the different brands I have because they all serve different audiences. Another goal is to explore my city, Atlanta, and build community there. Finally, I’m very big on saying no to things so that I don’t become stressed. So prioritizing joy is my main focus no matter what I’m doing.Q: Do you have favorites among the different social media platforms?My favorite platform depends on my headspace. Sometimes I’m very Twitter-focused; other times, I’m very Instagram-focused. It just depends on where I am mentally and creatively. But I find that certain aspects of each platform play a different role.For example, LinkedIn is a space where I feel like I am actively challenging people to rethink how they use the platform. I am very informal on LinkedIn because that’s how I am in real life. I always want people to know what they get if they work with me. Then there’s Instagram which allows me to be a little more creative. And I love Twitter because I can tweet quick thoughts that don’t really require creativity. They each have their time and place.Q: Speaking of LinkedIn, why did you go with LinkedIn Audio Events for Creator Tea Talk over similar platforms like Clubhouse or Twitter Spaces?That’s the funny thing – when I had the idea for Creator Tea Talk, it was supposed to be on Twitter Spaces because that is where I have a community. I didn’t even know that LinkedIn had an Audio feature, but the sponsor of my first two episodes pushed me to try it. I already had an idea and outline of what those first episodes would cover, but it didn’t work out how we wanted so we decided to pivot.We also considered Clubhouse and even TikTok Live, but in the end, we went with LinkedIn Audio Events because it made the most sense given the context of my show. The show, which is about bringing creators, influencers and brands, and marketers together to have conversations centered on the industry. And these people already use LinkedIn because they create content professionally.What I’ve found since I launched the show is that people are making connections while the show is airing and after the show. So I think if it’s a space where people can get more visibility into the work that they do, then those become like networking opportunities and potential paid opportunities down the line.Q: You have a very distinct voice that feels true to you. What advice would you give creators who may be worried about showing up authentically online?You have to do what feels natural and most comfortable to you while simultaneously not being afraid to push yourself outside of your comfort zone. If your instinct is to censor yourself, that’s something you might want to rethink that.I’m a big believer in showing up as your full self in all spaces, but depending on what those spaces look like, you may not be able to do that in the beginning. It’s a matter of testing the waters, doing what makes you feel comfortable, and expanding that with time.Q: One thing that many creators struggle with is consistency. Given that you publish pretty consistently on top of running Creator Tea Talk bi-weekly, what does your creative process look like?I’m a marketer, so my brain is trained to think strategically, which is fortunate because I can combine that with creativity. For example, while I was planning out Creator Tea Talk episodes are based on cultural conversations combined with evergreen topics creators are already talking about.Essentially, I’m always looking out for interesting, timely conversations and pairing that with relevant topics that will engage my audience. I always want creators, influencers, and brands to actually get the insight that they need from the conversations.Q: How do you find or are you working on finding a balance between the need to be on social media all the time as a marketer and creator and being present in your personal life?Setting boundaries for myself has been great for balance. Ironically, my new boundaries were a big reason for my career change because I actually stopped being a full-time social media marketer in 2021. I stopped doing marketing full-time because while I love it, stepping back means my time on social media is no longer as aggressive.I now take naps during the day, which helps me refresh and disconnect. I’m also more intentional about keeping my phone away while I sleep so I’m not checking it constantly (it used to sleep under my pillow with me).One of the things I’ve done recently is turn off Story replies on my Instagram because my friends and my community will respond to my stories all day long. And because I want to engage, I’ll reply to every single one but that’s not sustainable.Q: As someone very in tune with social media and creators, what are some trends and developments you’ve noticed that you think social media creators should be paying attention to?Less of a trend and more of a prediction, I think we’ll see many more creators establishing their own personal brands, which might take away the focus on influencers.Consumers aren’t necessarily trying to be influenced anymore – I think they want to see what creators are working on. Some people might become influencers, but simply creating on social media will help creators gain an audience and opportunities. We might also see more creators building businesses out of or related to what they create on social media.We’ll also see more people establishing properties across different channels. For example, how I started on Instagram and Twitter but have navigated over to LinkedIn, where I now have a show. In turn, more creators will evolve to create assets off digital platforms like books or TV series.Q: You’re not like a traditional content creator, but you hit many of the markers – lots of followers, lots of engagement, and a very engaged community. So what challenges have you faced in your own unique experience as a creator so far?Being a non-traditional content creator is actually one of the more challenging things for me. I get invited to influencer and creator events which is great, but when it’s time to network, I can’t figure out the box I fit into. Different people perceive my online presence in different ways.Another challenge is that I’m constantly educating brands that want to work with me that when they reach out to collaborate, they’re not just getting content from me. They’re getting years of knowledge, experience, and access to my strategy muscle.Q: What advice would you give to creators looking to monetize their social media presence and build community with other creators, brands, and their audience?One, figure out where your strengths lie because that will help you to determine what you can and cannot monetize. Two, know your unique selling proposition – what makes you stand out from other creators. Three, identify something that doesn’t feel like work to you so you feel good doing it consistently. And four, think beyond the traditional ideas of monetization.You may have a brand pay you to post about them or whitelist your content. But if you want to approach content creation like a business owner, determine what negotiations you can build from a brand partnership. Maybe that looks like being paid to go to an event and then make content about it. Or sharing your latest project or product with my email list. It’s just figuring out what makes sense for you and the partnership that you’re in.TakeawaysHere are the top three takeaways from Jayde’s journey as a creator:Show up authentically online without fear: Jayde is a big believer that you should do what feels natural to you hand in hand with stepping out of your comfort zone. Don’t censor yourself to fit in somewhere – if you have to, maybe that space isn’t meant for you. And if you don’t feel comfortable jumping in headfirst with your full personality on display, take your time to test the waters. You can always expand your authenticity with time.Think beyond traditional ideas for what can be monetized: Content monetization is no longer the purview of brands – creators can take the power for themselves. If you get your first brand deal and their budget isn’t quite what you’re looking for, devise ways to upsell in other areas. Better yet, seize the means of creation for yourself and create a monetization strategy independent of other people’s (or brands’) money. Whether that’s a newsletter people pay to subscribe to, orTimes are changing – focus on building an audience out of what you care about and your audience will find you: It’s like Jayde said – influencers are making way for passionate creators. People want more out of their online consumption than just mindless scrolling and that’s where the new generation of online creators comes in: the Educators. Creator-educator is a term coined by Jay Clouse to describe the people who use content to share their knowledge, and it’s the future of content creation. Consider what unique expertise you have, be it making a specific type of cookie or an encyclopedic knowledge of bands from the ‘80s. Whatever it is, there’s likely an audience out there, ready to listen.Whatever you land upon as your unique content offering, share it through Buffer, the all-in-one toolkit for content creation.Start creating today!