Category: Marketing Automation

Now more than ever, businesses are focusing on creating delightful mobile website experiences.
Google has been heavily favoring mobile-friendly websites since 2015 when it updated its ranking algorithm, then started indexing mobile sites in March 2018, and has conducted mobile-first indexing since 2019. This is crucial, as there have been more search queries on mobile devices than on desktop for several years now.
Going forward, Google will only continue to raise the bar for what it considers to be mobile-friendly (including page load time) in its algorithm updates. So, if you haven’t been focusing on improving your mobile experience, you should start now or see your search ranking fall off.
To help inspire any mobile website design changes you’ll be making, here’s a list of 21 companies who really nailed their mobile web experience.
1. Shutterfly

Why it works: Shutterfly’s mobile website is easily navigable, highly visual, and intuitive for new visitors and experienced customers.
Shutterfly is an online service that allows users to create photo books, personalized cards, stationery, and other similar products. Because more and more people are taking photos and then accessing them using their smartphones, Shutterfly recognized the need to create a great mobile experience for their customers.
Shutterfly accomplishes two key goals on their mobile website. First, it’s easy for users to find out information about their offerings. Second, this information is complemented by beautiful imagery.
When you arrive on the mobile site, you’ll see Shutterfly’s latest promotion front and center as well as a finger-sized top navigation menu, neither of which overpower the user experience.

Scroll down and you’ll see large buttons that make it easy for users to quickly select which type of product they’re interested in. Once users click through to one of those options, they’re greeted with large photos showcasing what Shutterfly is capable of for easy browsing.

2. Google Maps

Why it works: The mobile website for Google Maps brings the same functionality, visuals, and performance as its mobile app counterpart.
Everyone has their favorite map or directions application. Mine is Google Maps, which I use whether I’m walking, driving, biking, or taking public transportation. What’s special about its mobile website is that it’s virtually indistinguishable from their downloadable mobile app.

These screenshots below are taken of their mobile website, but if you’re familiar at all with the app, you’ll notice they look exactly the same. Not only is the appearance identical, but the mobile website has the speed and functionality of the app.

3. Typeform

Why it works: Type form simplifies their mobile website to improve load times and deliver a simpler user experience.
Typeform is a Barcelona-based tech company with one simple mission: to “make forms awesome.” Their desktop website is beautifully designed, greeting visitors with succinct copy, relevant animations, and other complex design components.
But for mobile users, Typeform recognized that this complex design could significantly affect page load time, among other difficulties. That’s why they actually removed many of them, decluttering the site and simplifying the overall mobile experience. The mobile site is a simpler version of the desktop website, and it’s still beautifully designed.

Take note of the large buttons on their menu page — perfect for tapping with your finger on a mobile screen.

4. Etsy

Why it works: This mobile site pushes its most important features — site search, item categories, and trending products — on the homepage while avoiding clutter.
Etsy is an ecommerce website where people can buy and sell vintage or handmade items. Most buyers who visit Etsy’s website are there to do one of two things: Either they’re searching for a specific item, or they’re browsing items in categories that interest them.
The mobile website caters to both types of visitors from the very beginning. When you first go to their mobile website, you’re greeted with an option to search for specific items, shops, or categories.

Immediately below are thumbnail images of trending items that showcase some of the most popular things you can buy on Etsy. Mobile users can view these trending items in a collage format, and the images are large enough to easily tap with a finger.

5. Adrian Zumbrunnen

Why it works: Adrian Zumbrunnen takes a unique approach to the personal website, creating an experience that is entirely tailored for mobile users.
This is the personal website of Adrian Zumbrunnen, a UX designer, writer, and speaker. When you visit his website, you’ll notice right away there’s something very unique about it: It’s a conversational website.
It almost looks like a text message conversation you’d normally have on your phone, including the ellipsis to show he’s “typing.” Users are given two response options at the end of every exchange, so it’s akin to a “choose-your-own-adventure” experience.
While the mobile and desktop experiences are similar, the desktop website feels like it was made primarily for mobile — which could be the direction sites will go in the future.

And if you’d prefer not to engage in the conversation-like exchange, you can simply scroll down for details.

6. Elf on the Shelf

Why it works: The Elf on the Shelf mobile site makes its wide selection of products visible from the get-go and uses emotional, highly visual product displays to win visitors over.
Elf on the Shelf is, relatively speaking, a fairly new Christmas tradition based on a children’s book. If you’re unfamiliar, the basic premise is this: The book tells the story of Santa’s scout elves, who are sent by Santa to watch over children in their homes all over the world and report back to Santa.
Parents can purchase an elf figurine, which they’ll subtly place somewhere in their house where their kids can see it. Every night leading up to Christmas, parents move the elf to a different location around their house to “prove” that the scout elves are real and always looking over them.
When you arrive on Elf on the Shelf’s website, you’ll see there are actually numerous products you can purchase. But instead of forcing users to scroll through each product individually, the web designers package each product into a large, enticing tile describing the goal of each buyer’s journey, with the featured item displayed on the front.
You’re not buying your own elf or pup, you’re adopting it. It’s a truly empowering experience on such a small screen.

7. BuzzFeed

Why it works: BuzzFeed caters to its mobile users with a website that directs them to their topics of interest.
BuzzFeed is known for its viral content and popular quizzes. It also happens to be one of my favorite sources of entertainment during my commute to and from work.
And where do you think I’m checking BuzzFeed during my commute? You guessed it: my phone. BuzzFeed knows that a lot of their visitors are visiting their site on mobile, so they’ve taken great care to create a smooth experience for their on-the-go readers.
When you arrive at BuzzFeed’s mobile website, the first thing you’ll see is some of their most popular pieces of content displayed in a simple, collage-like format using large images that are easy to tap.

For users interested in specific categories, there’s a menu at the top of the screen that lists out all the post categories. Each category has its own directory page with clickable filters along the top.

8. Evernote

Why it works: With a clear conversion path and clean design carried over from desktop, Evernote’s mobile site makes clear what it does and how you can join.
Evernote is an application that allows you to store notes, images, and web articles and then access them across all your devices. Because users tend to download the app or access the website on multiple devices including desktop computers, smartphones, and tablets, it’s essential that Evernote gets the mobile experience right.
If you look at Evernote’s homepage on your desktop computer, you’ll notice how clean the design is. The value statements are short and to the point, and the graphics add to the brand’s positioning but don’t clutter the page.

When you look at Evernote’s mobile website, you can see they’ve kept their color palette and general brand style entirely intact. The company’s mobile website is clean, simple, and doesn’t detract at all from the value of the app. Evernote’s conversion path is obvious from the centered call-to-action: “Sign up for free.”

9. Pixelgrade

Why it works: Pixelgrade’s WordPress themes are mobile-friendly, minimal, and sleek. Specifically, the Pile theme is perfect for WordPress portfolio websites.
Pixelgrade’s Pile theme allows you to properly showcase your services and previous work and doesn’t sacrifice mobile design. The theme is optimized for mobile devices while delivering on your content’s intended message and aesthetic at the same time.

10. Huffington Post

Why it works: The well-known publication condenses its content to better fit mobile screen dimensions and serve readers on the move.
The Huffington Post is a news outlet that reports everything from politics and current events to entertainment and technology. What makes their mobile website unique is that they actually alter their headlines slightly for mobile users so their content is more easily scannable.
If you compare the desktop versus mobile websites, you’ll notice that the mobile website has fewer words on the homepage. The headlines are shorter and much more digestible — perfect for someone skimming or reading on a small screen.

There’s also a clickable menu in the top left-hand corner of the screen listing out all the post categories.

11. Express

Why it works: Express cleverly utilizes images to create a more realistic product viewing experience — users simply swipe to view products from different angles before committing to a purchase.
Express is a clothing store that caters to young men and women. Because their audience often comes to their website to browse clothing, it’s important for their website to include big, clear images of their clothing — especially on mobile devices, when users will need to tap items on the screen with their fingers to click through for purchase information.
Express takes its mobile experience a step further than most online retail sites. If you slide your finger from left to right across an image showing a piece of clothing, the image will change so you can see the clothing in a different view. In other words, users don’t have to load another page to see multiple pictures of the same article of clothing.
Look at the image on the top right in the following two images to see how it changes when you swipe to one side:

12. Nationwide Insurance

Why it works: This mobile site serves two different types of clientele and divides its mobile website accordingly. Whether you’re an individual or a customer, it’s clear where you should go.
Nationwide Insurance provides insurance and financial services. You might think a financial company would have a complicated website, but on mobile, Nationwide Insurance nails the simple user experience.
When you arrive on Nationwide’s mobile site, you’ll see two tabs at the top allowing you to identify as one of two types of users right away to customize your experience: Personal or Business. Or, alternatively, you can “Find an Agent” or “Find a financial advisor” to learn more information about their services.
Although limiting the experience to these two options excludes Nationwide’s more in-depth features, it makes for a much easier experience for visitors using small screens. This is a great technique to lead potential customers in the right direction if they’re not yet account-holders and are visiting the website for the first time.

13. Squaredot

Why it works: This mobile site nails the color palette, font choices, and interactive elements on the homepage. It’s simple, engaging, and playful.
Squaredot is an agency based in Dublin, Ireland that helps marketers build out their inbound marketing strategies. Their mobile website is colorful, simple, and makes for easy navigating.
What sticks out to me most is the visually pleasing color combinations as well as the large clickable menu that expands to reveal each of the organization’s services.

Farther down the page, there are entirely swipeable regions. The one pictured below presents client success stories and adds another dimension to the mobile site.

14. Zappos

Why it works: The Zappos mobile website is very easily searchable, which is critical given its huge inventory. The latest offerings are also clear on first page load.
Zappos is an online vendor for shoes and clothing known for its stellar customer service. Their top priority on mobile is to help users search easily for the items they’re looking for on their website, so they’ve put a large search bar at both the top and bottom of their mobile website to make it super easy for them.
This is what the top of their mobile site looks like:

15. ABC

Why it works: This mobile site’s dark theme is a contrast to many other popular mobile sites, bringing a theater-like feel to the experience. The highly navigable pages help viewers find their content of choice or simply browse.
ABC is a television broadcasting company known for popular shows like The Bachelorette, The Rookie, and General Hospital. Users visiting ABC’s desktop website are greeted with these options and more. View the network’s television schedule, check out the most recent Emmy winners, watch some of your favorite television shows, or even look at entertainment news relating to those shows.
But because nearly every household today is a multi-screen household, ABC knows its experience on a mobile device should be both simple and ready for viewing.
When you visit the ABC website on a mobile device, you’ll see a dark background for a theatre-like experience with tiles for each program you might want to stream. Users can scan through these options and click into any show they want based on genre, alphabetical order, what’s popular, and similar categories you’d also find on your TV’s streaming platform.

16. Lean Labs

Why it works: Lean Labs utilizes fly-in animations and distinct content sections to tell a story as users scroll down.
Lean Labs is a marketing agency that creates engaging, responsive, and high-conversion web solutions. (They were also featured on the hit TV series Shark Tank.) The folks there do a great job of providing a smooth experience for mobile users, especially with regard to their design techniques.
Notice how Lean Labs’ mobile website uses scale, contrast, and typeface to distinguish certain elements of their page. It even incorporates fly-in animations for its images to enhance the scrolling experience.

17. SAP

Why it works: Despite its plethora of offerings, SAP reigns it in on its mobile website and simplifies its CTAs and menus.
SAP is an enterprise software company that manages business operations and customer relations. The business enhances its mobile experience by condensing information and combining some of their calls-to-action into sliders, whereas their desktop website has these CTAs laid out horizontally.

This helps keep things simple so mobile users aren’t overwhelmed with a lot of information at once, and it also ensures none of the CTAs are too small to read.
18. KISSmetrics

Why it works: KISSmetrics uses color to separate content sections from each other and to create prominent CTAs that stick out, even on smaller mobile screens.
KISSmetrics provides analytics software for businesses. On their homepage, there’s a lot of information explaining what the software does along with a testimonial.
But their mobile site is displayed a little differently: On a mobile device, the information on their site is shown in a list with alternative dark and light modules. This makes it easy for users to skim the page without getting lost in text.

They’ve also made the text and fields on their forms large and easy to read:

19. idig Marketing

Why it works: idig prioritizes accessibility on its website, presenting a sticky accessibility menu where users can adjust various display options.
idig Marketing is a development and communications provider. Their mobile website is laid out similarly to their desktop website, but I especially liked the readily available accessibility options menu on the right side of the screen.

Tapping this blue icon reveals a menu where users can adjust settings like enhanced visuals.

20. IndiaMART

Why it works: This company’s mobile website is both conveniently browsable and searchable, depending on what visitors are looking to do on the site. It displays trending items prominently as well.
IndiaMART is the largest online B2B marketplace in India, and its simple category-based mobile store makes it one of the best mobile websites we’ve ever seen in the ecommerce industry.
The company’s mobile homepage puts the search bar right at the top so you can always retreat to a custom search if browsing no longer suffices to find the item you’re looking for.
But, IndiaMART makes it easy to peruse its digital aisles by sorting each item by item type, and then sub-types within each item type — a smart design move to encourage users to explore your site further. Under “Apparel & Garments,” for example, you have easily clickable tiles to check out more specific categories of clothing, such as menswear, women’s dresses, and even suits, sarees, and similar garb native to India.

Underneath IndiaMART’s browsing tiles, the company has its own trending section specifically for merchandise people are paying most attention to — similar to a trending list of news on a social media platform. Each trending category has a mobile-friendly call-to-action button allowing users to get price quotes for the product they’re interested in.

21. Pipsnacks

Why it works: Finally, the mobile website for Pipsnacks doesn’t sacrifice its visuals for smaller screens. Even on your smartphone, you’re immersed in the snack food company’s lighthearted branding.
To close out our list, Pipsnacks brings the vibrant colors and textures of their desktop site to the mobile screen. Products are listed as large, clickable images that bring you to their respective product pages, and the mobile site is enhanced with minimal but effective animations that add to the experiences without hurting load time.

Mobile Websites to Inspire Yours
These days, having an effective mobile website isn’t just a nice perk — it’s a necessity, at least if you want to rank in search results and get found. If you neglect your mobile site, that might just put off half your audience.
Fortunately, today’s website builders and platforms let anyone make a site that’s both desktop-ready and mobile-friendly. But, it’s the little details you add on top that will make yours truly exceptional.
Want more information on how to optimize your business with a creative mobile web design? Download the free kit on mobile marketing below.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Google’s pretty good at surfacing relevant content based on your search query. But sometimes you need something so specific that a general keyword phrase doesn’t really do it for you, especially if you’re a marketer on the hunt for a particular piece of content.
That’s where a site search comes in handy.
A site search is performed on a search engine and allows you to search one domain – not the entire internet – for a term.

We’ll talk more about why site searches are helpful and how to perform them in the sections below.
How to Google Search Within a Website using Site Search

1. Go to Google.com.

2. In the search box, enter site:www.website.com with your search term.

Make sure you consider the domain and subdomain when performing a site search. For instance, if I search the term “SEO” on www.hubspot.com and www.blog.hubspot.com/marketing, I’ll get two different sets of results.
The first will show results that include all the subdomains while the latter will only show results pertaining to the blog subdomain.

The same goes for the path: www.hubspot.com/about will provide different results than www.hubspot.com/pricing.
With this in mind, it’s important to know where you’re looking for your search term.
3. Refine your search.
For instance, in Step 2, I searched our blog for a broad topic: SEO. Various subtopics came up, ranging from SEO blogging strategies to tips from SEO experts.
From there, I can filter my results by topic or even date.
In the example below, I added “2021” to my search time to refine my results and get more recent data.

Site Search Best Practices
When it comes to a site search, a good rule of thumb is to start wide and narrow down little by little.
This will make it easier to find what you’re looking for and avoid narrowing down too early. For instance, say you want to search a competitor’s site for SEO-related content.
Start by looking up SEO to see the range of subtopics they cover. From there, you can dive into each subtopic and examine which ones they cover more and which ones they don’t cover much.
This method will help you find ideas for your own content and get competitive on the SERP.
Now, say you’re on the opposite end – you have a website and want to make site searches easier for your visitors.
In ecommerce in particular, site searches are very important, as they help consumers find the products they’re interested in.
In this case, here are a few tips:

Categorize your content on the backend to make search results more accurate.
Use autocomplete and autocorrect to assist visitors when typing into the search box.
If the query yields no results, offer related queries the user may be interested in or direct them to elsewhere.
Optimize the terms on your site to reflect the language of your target consumers. For instance, say you sell baby items and your core audience resides in the UK, your website would likely use the term “cot” instead of “crib.”

How Site:Search Can Make Your Life Easier as a Marketer
There are many use cases for this tool, but here are the most common ones.

Search for data – I like to use data to support and strengthen my content. With a site search, I can quickly find a stat I had read in an article weeks or months earlier. I can perform a search on our own blog or other sites I visit, like eMarketer, for instance.

Search for new topic ideas – Let’s say you want to pitch an article idea and verify that your angle hasn’t been covered before on your site. You can do a site search and read all the articles relating to the topic. If you’re a freelance writer, you can also take this approach before you pitch a story to a publisher to make sure it’s original and aligns with their content strategy.

Surface related content to link to – If you want to link to a piece of content within your own content, a site search is a great way to resurface it or even find some new pieces of content you didn’t know existed.

Conduct competitive analysis – Reviewing your competitors’ content is plays a big role in developing your content strategy. A site search will allow you to see how your competitors are covering specific topics, from the angle to the length and use of media.

If your ecommerce business isn’t offering your customers multiple ways to make payments online, you’re leaving money on the table.

While there’s no way to escape some transaction fees and currency fees, there are ways to reduce payment processing costs and receive payments online for free.
In this post, we’ll talk about the software options available today for accepting free online payments as well as details about how to actually go about accepting those payments.
But first, let’s review some additional reasons you’d want to use a payment processing software.
Why should you use payment processing software?
Here’s a look at some of the advantages payment processing software will bring to your business.
1. Convenience Convenience is one of the main factors that influence conversion rate. The more steps a customer has to take to make a payment, the more likely they are to abandon their purchase and go elsewhere.
2. Speed Payment processors can transfer most payments between shoppers and sellers instantly. On the other hand, transfers to and from bank accounts can sometimes take 24 hours or more.
3. Trust Many payment processors are brands that are globally recognized. If a customer already uses payment software, they’re more likely to trust your payment system.
4. Security
Payment processing companies add an extra layer of protection to online transactions. You can set limits, flags for activity on your account, and sometimes even a time frame to recall payments.
5. Record-Keeping
With payment processors, you’ll have access to your account online and can manage your contacts, recurring payments, and other account activity via desktop or mobile.
Top Online Payment Processing Providers
Once you’ve developed a strategy for accepting payments online, you’ll need to decide which payment processing provider to use. Here are seven of the most popular options:
1. PayPal

Price: 3.49% plus $0.49 per transaction (as of August, 2021).
PayPal is one of the most trusted and widely recognized payment processing companies. It’s free to join and they provide all the tools you’ll need to integrate PayPal payments into your website and set up a secure payment gateway for visitors. Additionally, comprehensive coverage makes the platform a good choice for international companies.
2. Stripe

Price: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
Stripe offers a wide range of options for online businesses such as customizable checkouts as well as subscription management and recurring payment features. Stripe supports all major credit cards, mobile paying apps, wallets, and more.
3. Square

Price: 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
Square entered the payment processing space by introducing a dongle that sellers could insert into a mobile phone to accept credit card transactions.
They’ve since expanded their software to cover all the major payment processing options and have included some useful tools for online businesses as well as high-street stores.
You can even create a basic website for free and integrate all of their point-of-sale (POS) solutions at the same time. They also have paid options for a custom website.
4. Google Pay

Price: Google Pay doesn’t charge any fees — merchants only pay transaction fees as usual with credit/ debit sales.
Google Pay has a payment tool for businesses, websites, and apps. Google Pay’s APIs work to create a delightful checkout and payment experience for your customers.
If you use Google Pay on your website, you’ll gain secure and easy access to hundreds of millions of cards saved to Google Accounts worldwide so customers can pay for your products safely and at the touch of a button.
5. Apple Pay

Price: Apple Pay doesn’t charge any fees — merchants only pay transaction fees as usual with credit/ debit sales.
Apple Pay can be used on websites, in stores, by app, and via Business Chat or iMessage. It allows Apple users to quickly and safely input contact, payment, and shipping information during checkout.
Rather than having your ecommerce customers look around for their credit cards, Apple Pay allows them to checkout at the click of a button within apps and websites. On a website, an Apple users will simply click “Apple Pay” as their payment option, confirm the payment with one tap (via their iPhone, Apple Watch, etc.), and they’re good to go.
6. Venmo For Business

Price: 1.9% plus $0.10 of the payment.
Venmo For Business is a mobile payment software and app owned by PayPal. You can choose to allow users to pay via your mobile app or your website.
You can set up a business profile on Venmo so users can quickly find your profile on the app. And if you add Venmo to your website, it’ll appear as a payment option right next to where it’ll give customers the option to pay with PayPal.
Once a customer selects the Venmo option at checkout, they’ll be directed to their Venmo app to complete the transaction. The Venmo payment option can be added to any of the pages of your ecommerce site that would also show the option to pay with PayPal, including your product pages, shopping cart page, and checkout page.
7. Helcim

Price: 2.38% plus $0.25.
Helcim is an online payment solution for ecommerce businesses — you can choose to start an online store from scratch or add a payment solution to your current website.
The easy-to-use and secure online payment system integrates on your website, shopping cart, billing system, and/or app, thanks to Helcim’s API. In addition to in-app and via website, Helcim works over the phone, in person, and by invoice, and it integrates with your accounting tools to save you time when it comes to bookkeeping.
Next, let’s cover the steps involved in receiving payments online for free.

1. Create a secure online payment gateway.

There are a couple of ways you can approach creating a secure online payment gateway. You can hire an outside developer or use your website development team to create a bespoke gateway. Or, you can use third-party software.
Setting up a secure gateway is essential. You’re also putting automated processes in place, which will save time on manual processing, especially as you scale your business and handle more transactions.
The more payment methods you make available within your payment portal, the wider the audience, and the easier it’ll be for your customers to send you money.
2. Facilitate credit and debit card payments.
Although it may change as mobile payments become more prevalent, using debit/ credit cards is still the most popular way people pay for products and services online.
You can easily facilitate accepting card payments through established payment providers such as PayPal or Stripe. These will accept the most-used credit cards worldwide — Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
3. Set up recurring billing.
If you offer subscription plans or ongoing monthly services, the most efficient and reliable way to invoice and receive payments is via recurring billing.
Most of the major payment processing software also includes recurring billing features. For example, Growth Marketing Pro built an SEO tool that charges subscribers on a monthly basis and they used Stripe to set this up.
Sites like Paysimple also offer a suite of tools to set up custom, automated recurring billing if you already have a payment processing system in place.
Using automation is essential. It removes most human error and the stress of keeping track of invoicing and payments.
Your customers can commit to recurring payments with just a few clicks, and you won’t have to worry about manually managing your customer base.
4. Accept mobile payments.
These days, people are often more likely to have their phones on hand than debit cards — plus, mobile payment apps are more convenient than ever.
For instance, Apple Pay has quickly become one of the most popular mobile payment systems in the United States. With an estimated 43.9 million users, you’d miss out if you didn’t accept Apple Pay.
Google Pay, Venmo, and PayPal also have mobile apps with a decent market share.
5. Accept cryptocurrency payments.
If you’re okay with handling cryptocurrencies, it’s a way you can extend your reach to a broader online audience.
Sites like Bitpay provide all the tools you need to accept crypto payments online, send invoices, request payments, and receive money on the go-through apps.
Because they’re a decentralized exchange, cryptocurrencies offer some unique benefits for businesses. You can accept payments from anywhere in the world without incurring currency exchange fees or bank handling fees. There’s also a reduced risk of fraud.
6. Use email invoicing.
Email invoicing is a proactive way to request payments. You can share a payment form through email or add a link redirecting the recipient to a payment portal.
However, there are a couple of issues with this method: Email isn’t the most reliable form of communication, and customers can have trust issues making payments via email.
Expect a failure rate, but it’s a vital part of payment processing for a lot of businesses.
7. Accept electronic checks (eChecks).
To accept eChecks for payment, you need a form where the user can input their information, which you can see using payment processing software.
It’s basically a way to pay by check online. It’s a quicker and more reliable way than sending a paper check through the post, so offering this to your customers will make the process run smoother.
Start Accepting Payments Online For Free
No matter which payment processing software you choose, the most important part is making it easy for the customer to pay. And the more ways they can pay, the more likely your customers will follow through on a purchase.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

If you’re building your own business or work in social media, chances are you’ve heard of Canva. It’s the do-it-yourself design platform that has taken the world by storm, with more than 50 million people using it every month to create graphics and other visuals.
Today, we’re excited to share that you can now use Canva and Buffer together to create and publish social media posts, without having to leave Buffer. You get the best of Canva’s design features and the best of Buffer’s social publishing features in one place. Hooray!
Before I dive into how the integration works, I’d love to share a little bit more about why we love Canva and why it made sense for us to add this integration.
Making it faster to share great content
Buffer customers are already using Canva to design images and graphics for their social channels, taking advantage of the 14,000+ social post templates that Canva offers. Why not make it quicker to bring those designs into Buffer? With this integration, you’ll no longer have to download images from Canva and then upload them to Buffer. You can now add them directly to a post in Buffer with just a few clicks.
Keeping it user friendly and accessible
Canva’s mission is to empower anyone to design, no matter how much actual design experience you have. When we speak to our customers, we often hear that they love using both Buffer and Canva because both tools are easy-to-use, intuitive, and affordable. We’re excited to bring these tools together to create a streamlined process for everyone, no matter your skill level.
Growth and innovation
Canva is growing fast and adding lots of incredible new features to its design platform. We’re thrilled to bring those features to Buffer through this new integration.
Creating content is one of the hardest and most time-consuming parts of any marketer’s life, especially if you’re wearing many hats while trying to grow your business. Canva is a life-saver for spinning up visual content without the help of a designer. We couldn’t be more excited to add Canva to Buffer.
A closer look at Buffer’s new Canva integration
Canva is available on all plans, including our Free plan, and it’s super easy to get started. If you don’t have a Canva account, you’ll need to create one at Canva.com first. If you have a Canva account, you’ll just need to make sure you’re logged in while you’re using Buffer.
Creating a new Canva design in BufferThe new Canva integration is built into the publishing experience in Buffer. When you open the Buffer composer to create a new post and use the Add Image button, you’ll now see a new dropdown menu with the option to add an image from Canva. Selecting this option opens up the Canva editor, where you can create your image and add it directly to Buffer.
Buffer will automatically detect the appropriate image dimensions for you, based on the channel you have selected in the composer.
These are default sizes:

Facebook: 940 x 788
Instagram Post: 1080 x 1080
Instagram Story: 1080 x 1920
Twitter: 1600 x 900
LinkedIn: 1200 x 627
Pinterest: 1000 x 1500

If you’re composing a post for multiple social platforms at once, for example, Instagram and Twitter, the image dimensions default to a 1080 x 1080 square. This is the most compatible size across all social platforms.
Importing an existing Canva design into BufferIf you have pre-existing designs in your Canva library, you can add those to Buffer too. The first time you use the integration, you’ll need to click on Folders in the menu on the left-hand side, and then All your designs. This will add it to the menu for future use.
For more details on getting set up, feel free to read our help center guide.
Tips and resources for designing with Canva
One of the best things about Canva is that it’s easy to pick up and use right away. You don’t need any formal design training; it’s made for non-designers. That said, if you’re looking for some help getting started, Canva offers excellent tutorials in their design school.
They also offer courses specifically about creating social media content. Social media mastery is a popular one, with more than 140,000 students already.
Other resources

11 Simple Design Tips to Enhance Your Social Media Images – Buffer

9 Social Media Graphic Design Tips (from ACTUAL graphic designers) – DesignPickle

7 Social Media Design Mistakes That All Marketers Need to Avoid – Social Media Today

We’d love your feedback!
Canva is available on all Buffer plans today and we’d love to know what you think. Share your thoughts with us on social and don’t forget to tag @buffer!

It’s rare that a smaller brand can go up against a big company like Amazon and win. But that’s what Square did when Amazon launched an almost identical card reader for a fraction of Square’s price.
Without undercutting the price of its biggest competitor, Square still went on to completely disrupt the digital payments and finance industry and earn 4.68 billion in revenue in Q2 2021.
Why? Its co-founder, Jim McKelvey attributes Square’s success to its “innovation stack.”
In HubSpot’s first episode of The Shake Up, Alexis Gay and Brianne Kimmel sat down with McKelvey to learn about how Square navigated its competition with Amazon and dive more into his book, The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time.

How to Beat Competition Like Square Beat Amazon
Below, you’ll find just a few highlights from McKelvey as well as the podcast where you can listen to the full conversation.

What’s an innovation stack?
[20:13] Alexis Gay: Before we dive in a little bit, can you tell us what is the innovation stack?
[20:20] McKelvey: The innovation stack is this thing that I discovered while I was trying to answer a question that was plaguing me, which is how Square survived an attack by Amazon. … The Square was attacked by Amazon when we were a startup.
At the time, every company that had been attacked by Amazon, whether they were a startup or not died. There was a 100% mortality rate or it had been absorbed into Amazon, which I would also consider. … death or worse.
… We were looking at this very dire situation and we did some kind of crazy stuff and it worked and, and then after it worked, I thought, “Why  did it?” And I couldn’t answer that question.
… I’m a sort of nerdy engineer and I went on this research quest looking for other companies that had lived through similar situations. So I studied historical businesses. … Technology was not the major force, but there was this thing that kept showing up in my research and it was a thing that I labeled an innovation stack. And it’s just this very simple idea that invention is not one or two things. It’s usually this messy conglomeration of 10, 20, 30, 40 things.
Amazon takes on Square
[23:02] McKelvey: [In a board meeting], Jack [Dorsey] was dressed in all black and he announced that Amazon had copied our product and was going to undercut our price, which is what they always do. And he told the board what was happening — and we have very intelligent people on the board and we have a lot of experienced folks — and we were stopped.
… We started iterating through the questions of, “What could we do?” One of the most basic ones was Amazon was undercutting our price. We could lower our price and match Amazon. And then here’s the thing. Those are priced to be as low as it could be and still serve our customers.
… We didn’t actually even do anything. That was different, which was the amazing thing. We wanted to do something because if you’re being attacked, the hardest thing you can do is to not react or maybe not overreact.
[24:56] McKelvey: It was terrifying. And this made it even more interesting when we won for me to answer the question, “Why?” What the heck happened because I was so happy we won, but then I was like, “Why did we win?”
Square Beats Amazon
[27:02] Gay: So Jim, let’s talk a little bit about Halloween in 2015. You got some pretty big news on that day. Can you tell us a little bit, well, first actually, let me ask you this: Were you dressing in costume?
[27:16] McKelvey: I was dressed as the Joker. My wife was dressed as Catwoman and my son was dressed as Batman. The best treat I got that night was Amazon announcing that they were going to discontinue their competitor to Square. And not only that, they were going to mail one of the little white square readers. The thing that I designed.
Why Building an Innovation Stack is Uncomfortable
[34:43] McKelvey: The big insight of the book is that the process of innovation is fundamentally different and it feels different and here’s how it feels. What I tell my readers, or potential readers is, “Look, the reason you read the innovation stack is that at some point in your life, you are going to run up against the edge of human knowledge.”
… When you’re in the process of building an innovation stack, it is so darn uncomfortable. So I want people to have recognition. So first of all, recognize the boundaries. That’s hugely helpful. Secondly, understand when it’s appropriate to copy and when you need to.
[36:28] McKelvey: If you step across that line between the known and the unknown, it’s going to get unpleasant. It will not kill you. It might be really wonderful on the other side eventually, but … your focus is to figure out something that nobody else has figured out.
… How many pieces do you have to come up with before you’ve got an innovation stack that actually works? And by the way, there’s no guarantee that you’re ever going to reach that limit, but you do. And if you do. The world changes. Like it’s just amazingly powerful if you build [an innovation stack].
To hear the full interview, listen to the podcast embedded above, or click here for a full list of episodes.

Looking for design inspiration for your therapy website? Check out these great examples and learn how to create the perfect website for your private practice.

The magic of email marketing and what it can do for your marketing strategy doesn’t happen all on its own. While we all know that it’s important to create drip campaigns that cater to your audiences’ needs and provide them with resources that will help them navigate toward a decision, content is only one piece…
The post How To Manage Your Email Campaigns for Ultimate Success appeared first on Benchmark Email.

Hey there! I’m working on my own project and I’d like to use IBM analytics but unfortunately I don’t have the budget at the time. Do you know any free or budget friendly tools that offer similar client behavior analysis? Thanks in advance
submitted by /u/OverheardALarkToday [link] [comments]

LinkedIn is a highly valuable tool to network with like-minded professionals. But here’s something we don’t talk about as much as we should: LinkedIn is also a useful inbound marketing platform.

It might seem a little bit intimidating. You have enough on your plate … do you really need to figure out another way to create targeted content? Actually, yes. You have more power at your disposal with LinkedIn than you might realize.
That’s because LinkedIn has a powerful ads platform. If you’re already using pay-per-click (PPC) techniques to power your presence on Facebook, Twitter, or Google, consider yourself lucky — you can add LinkedIn to that list, too. This is especially easy to do if you’re using the HubSpot ads tool.

But if you’re new to LinkedIn Ads, fear not — we’ve put together a step-by-step guide to setting up your first LinkedIn ad campaign.

Before we dive in, let’s review the way in which LinkedIn Ads work:

In the above definition, we mentioned LinkedIn targeting options. Here’s some more information on how LinkedIn targeting actually works and what those targeting options are.

LinkedIn Targeting Options
Reviewing these options now will help you in step three below, where we review targeting on LinkedIn.
How does LinkedIn targeting work?

Source
Ad targeting in LinkedIn helps you run a successful advertising campaign — that’s because when you target the right people, it leads to greater engagement and more conversions.
With LinkedIn, the process of selecting the audience you’re going to target works the same way, no matter which type of ad you select.
When establishing who it is you’re going to target, LinkedIn provides over 20 different audience attributes and targeting categories that you can select from — examples include company name, company size, member groups, member interests, member schools, job title, job seniority, and skills.

Advertising on LinkedIn is a two-step process: 1) setting up your LinkedIn campaign, and 2) creating your LinkedIn ad(s).
In this section, we walk through how to set up a campaign and build your ad(s) — plus some best practices and tips for each.
1. Create your LinkedIn ad campaign.
Your LinkedIn advertising campaigns will live on a platform separate from the LinkedIn you see every day — the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions platform. Visit this page to get started with your campaign, and select Create Ad.
From there, you’ll be prompted to create a LinkedIn Campaign Manager account (if you haven’t yet). Make sure you enter your associated LinkedIn Company Page if you have one.
Next, you’ll be taken to your member dashboard. If you haven’t entered your billing information, you’ll need to do so to unlock your account. (Don’t worry, you won’t be charged until your campaign is live — from there, you’ll be charged periodically for ad clicks and other engagements.)
On your dashboard — or “Campaign Manager,” as it’s formally called — you’ll see a call-to-action (CTA) to Create Campaign.
Click that button, and you’ll be redirected to a page where you can start setting up your campaign.

Note: As of 2019, LinkedIn introduced a “new objective-based campaign creation experience”. We’ll be covering that new process in this article — to learn more, check out this page.

First, indicate a Campaign Group and name your campaign. Campaign Groups help you organize your campaign. You can leave the Default Campaign Group as-is or create a new Group.
As for the campaign name, these are only visible internally, so we recommend you choose a highly informative name — especially if you have a few different folks working on the campaign.
For example, if I was running a test to determine the best type of demographic targeting, I might use the title, “Unicorn Food Ad Test — North America, 18 to 24, Female.”
That name describes exactly who I’m targeting, without having to view its details. Compare this to something like “Unicorn Food Test 1,” which doesn’t indicate anything about who the ad is targeting.
Once you choose your Campaign Group and name, you can start setting up your LinkedIn campaign.
2. Set your LinkedIn ad campaign objective.
Next, choose your campaign objective.
Your objective is what you want people to do when they see your ads. According to LinkedIn, choosing an objective helps them, “customize your campaign creation, deliver the best ROI for your stated goal, and show you relevant reporting.”
There are three overarching campaign themes: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversions. Under those themes, some available campaign objectives are:

Website visits will drive traffic to your website and landing pages. According to LinkedIn, this type of campaign will also boost brand awareness (at least while that objective option remains unavailable).
Engagement will increase engagement on your content and boost followers on your LinkedIn Company Page.
Video views will increase the exposure of your videos to people who are likely to engage with them.
Lead generation will show a LinkedIn lead generation form with pre-filled LinkedIn profile data to those LinkedIn users most likely to engage with the form.

3. Designate your LinkedIn ad audience.
Next, choose the parameters of your target audience. Targeting who sees your ad can help it fulfill its campaign objective — the more specific and relevant it is to your audience, the better it’ll perform.
LinkedIn allows you to target according to a few different categories — refer to our points on targeting options that we reviewed above.
You don’t have to use all of LinkedIn’s targeting options — but, the more specific the targeting criteria, the more relevant it’s likely to be to the audience you select. And, therefore, the more likely you are to have a better ROI.

4. Decide on your LinkedIn ad format.
Next, choose your ad format. In the next section, we unpack the different types of LinkedIn Ads you can create as part of your campaign.
When you toggle between the ad types, you’ll see that the Forecasted Results box on the right-hand side will change. This feature analyzes your campaign parameters (bid, budget, targeting, start/end dates, etc.) and takes into account similar campaigns and advertisers. It also stimulates the ad auction to generate the numbers displayed.
Keep an eye on this box as you choose your LinkedIn ad type. If you’re first starting out, deciding on which ad type you want to choose may come down to budget. Outline your priorities, and then you can decide which type works best for you.
Additionally, some ad types require you to link your LinkedIn Company Page and some tap into LinkedIn translation services.
5. Choose your LinkedIn ad placement.
Next, decide whether you want your ad to be displayed on the LinkedIn Audience Network, which gives your campaign more reach and exposure among LinkedIn’s third-party platforms and sites. Note: This option isn’t available for every ad type.
You can also choose to exclude or block certain categories, applications, and sites in the Network if you so choose.

6. Set your ad budget and schedule.
Next, set up the budget, scheduling, and bidding options that work best for you.
Budget
Set a daily budget for what works best for your company’s marketing spending. Before investing a lot into one campaign, test and measure the success of each campaign and ad variation. You don’t want to put thousands of dollars, for example, into an ad that doesn’t resonate with your target audience.
Let’s say you’re the VP of Marketing at a high-end floral company. You assume that most of your target market is made up of soon-to-be brides, so you direct your LinkedIn Ads to bridal groups. But after spending thousands of dollars, you only generate 10% of the leads you were hoping for.
Your subsequent research shows this was the wrong move, and you later learn that people near your store who are on LinkedIn are actually looking for flowers for corporate events. It would have been nice to know that before spending a large amount of your budget on LinkedIn Ads, right?
That said, because of its extensive targeting opportunities, LinkedIn Ads can successfully target niche markets. But the cautionary experimentation is crucial to do early on — if you observe a campaign performing well, then you can put a larger budget toward it.
Schedule
Choose a date for your campaign to start. You can indicate for your campaign to be shown continuously or ‘til an end date.
Bid Type
In this section, the three options you have are:

Automated bid, which allows LinkedIn to determine what amount will maximize your campaign objective and whatever option you choose (clicks, impressions, or conversions).
Maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid, where you’ll be charged each time someone clicks on your ad. LinkedIn will suggest a bid range depending on your budget and the competition for your ads — the more advertisers bidding on a similar campaign, the higher your bid will need to be. This bid is the maximum you will be charged. If the current rate is lower than your max bid, you will only be charged the current rate.
Maximum pay-per-1,000 Impressions (CPM) bid, where you’ll be charged a certain amount each time your ad is viewed by every 1,000 people on LinkedIn. This option is unavailable if you’re using the LinkedIn Audience Network option.

Deciding on the best maximum bid can be tricky. When deciding between CPC and CPM, think about your end goal. Are you trying to get as many people as possible to see your ad to help with something like a branding campaign? If so, CPM might be your best option.
On the other hand, if you want more people to click on your ads to drive traffic to your website or generate new leads, CPC might be better for you.
As for your optimal maximum bid, some trial and error might be necessary. LinkedIn will give you a suggested bid, which is a good place to start.
Then, think about when your audience is most likely online. You’ll want to bid higher during that particular time to be sure that your ads are the ones being seen. And make sure LinkedIn is actually the best place to reach them, too — play around with your bids and see when you get the most return for your dollars spent.
7. Don’t forget conversion tracking.
Lastly, you have the option to set up conversion tracking for your LinkedIn campaign, which will track and measure the actions people take after clicking on your ads.
Conversion tracking is an optional part of setting up your LinkedIn advertising campaign but is highly valuable for your business.
If you choose to set up conversion tracking, click + Add conversions.
A new window will pop up, where you’ll name your conversion, choose your conversion settings, and decide how you’ll track the conversions.
Note: The information on the right-hand side of the window is super helpful — it’ll answer any questions you have and walk you through the process. And for more help implementing and managing your LinkedIn Conversions, visit this help page.

Bravo! You’ll officially set up your LinkedIn advertising campaign … but you’re not done yet. When you’re ready to move on, click “Save.” Beware: Your objective and ad format cannot be changed once you save, so be sure about your choices before moving forward.
8. Build your LinkedIn ad.
This section corresponds to what type of LinkedIn ad you chose for your campaign.
Once you establish the basic parameters for your ad in step one, you’ll be prompted to start building it and choose how LinkedIn will display and rotate your ad variations — if you create more than one.
To get started, click Create new ad.

A screen will pop up with the title “Create a new [Your chosen ad type] for this campaign,” on which you’ll create the copy for your ad, pair it with an image, and preview the different layout options.
Of course, there are a few guidelines around the copy that we suggest:

Ad image, which is the artwork or graphic that your audience will see for your ad. It must be 100×100 pixels and uploaded as a .jpg or .png file that is 2MB or smaller.
Ad headline, which is the main message your audience will see. It cannot be more than 25 characters.
Ad description, which is the body of your ad. It can be up to 75 characters long and should be relevant both to the person viewing the ad and the offer or page to which you’re sending them.
Destination URL, which is where your audience will go when they click your ad. Double check that the URL is accurate.

Once you input this information, you’ll see it reflected in the Preview box to the right.

Once you click Create, you’ll be directed back to the previous Campaign Manager screen. From there, you can create more ads and, eventually, review and submit your order.
Note: LinkedIn does review every submitted campaign order, so don’t expect to see your ads published right away.
To see the best results for your ads, consider creating a different ad for each of your buyer personas and tweak the copy accordingly.
For example, when promoting a book to college professors, leading the title with the words “College Professor’s Guide to …” may generate a higher CTR than generic, un-targeted headlines and copy.
Here are a few of our best copywriting tips for LinkedIn Ads.
CTA
Including an actionable CTA within your ad copy will also help you improve your ad’s click-through rate (CTR). Consider asking people to “Download your e-book now,” or “Click now for free samples” instead of writing copy that’s devoid of actionable next steps.
Value
Incorporate your value proposition into your ad copy — this can make people more likely to click on your ad. By boasting something like “20% off your first purchase” or “Clearance sale ends today — Shop now,” you’re sending a clear signal of what someone will specifically gain when he or she clicks your ad.
Testing
Don’t be afraid to test your ad copy. You can create multiple variations of your ad in each campaign, which allow you to test different images and copy within ads to find what works best for your audience.

As we said above, deciding on what type of LinkedIn ad is best for your campaign can come down to many factors: budget, audience, campaign objective — just to name a few.
When building your LinkedIn Ads, you have four main types from which to choose. Within those formats, you can choose different formats based on your ad content and purpose.
1. Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content shows up in your audience’s news feed among organic LinkedIn content.

Source
These ads are similar to promoted posts that blend into social media feeds. Sponsored Content is available in three formats:

Single image ads, which feature one image.
Carousel ads, which feature two or more images.
Video ads, which feature one video.

This type of LinkedIn ad typically has the highest average cost-per-click (CPC).
(Learn more about the advertising specifications for Sponsored Content according to LinkedIn.)
2. Message Ads

Message ads are delivered to your target audience’s LinkedIn inbox.

Source
With this type of LinkedIn ad, you can send your content directly to your audience from a personal account and better measure engagement based on recipient response and action.
(Learn more about the advertising specifications for Message Ads according to LinkedIn.)
3. Dynamic Ads

Dynamic Ads are personalized ads that change content based on which audience member is viewing them. This type of LinkedIn ad uses member personal data to tailor its creative content.

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(Each LinkedIn member sees his or her own personal data; data isn’t shared with other members.)
Dynamic Ads are available in three formats which are only available on the LinkedIn desktop platform:

Follower ads, which promote your LinkedIn Company Page.
Spotlight ads, which promote a special offering.
Job ads, which promote open jobs.

(Learn more about advertising specifications for Dynamic Ads according to LinkedIn.)
4. Text Ads
Text Ads show up on the right column or top of the page on LinkedIn.

Source
They’re the simplest type of LinkedIn ad but are still effective for boosting awareness and reaching your audience. Pay per click or per impression for Text Ads.
(Learn more about advertising specifications for Text Ads according to LinkedIn.)
Social ad campaigns can always be improved. Remember, your audience and content are always changing — as well as the platform itself. Here are some best practices to optimize your LinkedIn ad campaign.

Before we dive in, here’s a quick tip: Set a reminder for yourself to analyze and optimize your campaigns each month.
1. Know your audience and the customer journey.
As your business grows, your audience also evolves and so does the customer journey. It’s crucial that you know and update your buyer personas and the customer journey map regularly — this will allow you to effectively target your personas at the right point in time (a.k.a. when they’re most likely to convert). You may do this on a quarterly basis.
To help with the process, check out your buyer persona guide, free buyer personas templates, free Make My Persona tool, customer journey map guide, and free customer journey map template.
You should also consider your customer journey when deciding on which type of ads (more on this best practice in step four, below) you’ll create and share — not every type of ad is ideal for every part of the customer journey.
For instance, you may use a sponsored ad for audience members who have already engaged with your brand/content before rather than that being their first touchpoint with you. 
2. Segment your customers.
On a similar token, segmenting your customers is a great way to prepare for effective and tailored ad targeting, whether on LinkedIn or any other platform. 
You can segment your customers so that you know exactly how you’re going to target specific audiences on LinkedIn in order to increase engagement and chances of conversion.
For instance, you might know that specific audience segments are going to need a certain type of LinkedIn Ad at a certain point in the buyer’s journey – having your customers ready in segments makes this part of the ad targeting process easy and efficient. 
3. Refer to your social ads on other platforms as well as your competitors’ LinkedIn Ads.
Getting some inspiration and gleaning information from your other social ads as well as the LinkedIn Ads of your competitors is a great way to help you navigate the process of creating and sharing your ads on LinkedIn.
Although LinkedIn is a unique platform and your audience may not be the same across social platforms, it’s still good to take some inspiration from and, at the very least, identify which ads perform best on other social platforms like Google and Facebook.
Not only can this be a good starting point when planning your LinkedIn Ads, but it can also help you save time — maybe you want to repurpose content that’s on a Google Ad already for LinkedIn. 
Additionally, you may not have the analytics to prove which of your competitors’ LinkedIn Ads are performing best, but you can at least identify which types of ads are getting a lot of engagement by looking at metrics like comments and reactions.
This is a helpful reference point when planning and creating your LinkedIn Ads since you’re likely going to have a similar audience on the platform as your competitors do. 

4. Carefully select the content you share based on the type of ad you’re creating.
As mentioned earlier, you’ll want to determine what content you’re sharing with audience members based on the type of ad you’re creating. Refer to your customer segments here to help you effectively tailor content to those audience members and where they are in the customer journey when working through this step. 
As a recap, here are the types of LinkedIn Ads you can create along with examples of the content you may include: 

Sponsored content: Single image ads, video ads, carousel ads, and event ads; ideal for highly-engaged audiences in the LinkedIn Newsfeed. 

Sponsored messaging: Conversation Ads, Message Ads; ideal for engaging audience members in LinkedIn Messaging. 

Lead generation forms: Lead generation forms; ideal for creating pre-filled forms for LinkedIn ads.

Text and dynamic ads: Text ads, spotlight ads, follower ads; ideal for running ads in the LinkedIn right rail.

5. Use eye-catching and attention-grabbing visuals and language.
This content you’re sharing should just be selected by ensuring it works with the type of ad you’re creating though — it also needs to bring your audience members in and make them want to engage with it (e.g. read/ watch more, click on it, open your gated offer, etc.).
Think about ad elements like: 

Colors
Font
Language and text
CTA placement and style 
Images
Videos
GIFs
For more inspiration, take a look at
these great LinkedIn Ad examples. 
6. A/B test your LinkedIn Ads (and tweak one variable at a time).
Don’t be afraid to test different visuals, language, and text to determine what your unique audience on LinkedIn finds eye-catching and attention-grabbing. You can test different versions of the same ad to see what factor is contributing to or hindering its success.
For instance, change the copy in your headline, change your featured image, tweak the target audience attributes, or update your bids — just don’t do these all at the same time or you won’t know which one is the fix. A/B testing makes this process easy and ensures you’re just changing one factor at a time.
7. Create gated offers using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.
Gated offers are those that require some sort of information in return for that offer — for instance, an audience member gets a free template or an ebook in return for sharing their email address. To do this with your LinkedIn Ads, you’ll have to use their Lead Gen Forms. 
LinkedIn allows you to create Lead Gen Forms for both Sponsored Content and Message Ads. They come pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data so members are able to share their information with you in seconds.
Additionally, the forms allow you to track important metrics such as campaign cost per lead, lead form fill rate, and how many leads you get certain audience segments.
8. Keep your budget in mind when creating LinkedIn Ads. 
Like anything in business, you’re going to want to keep your budget in mind. LinkedIn uses objective-based pricing when it comes to advertising — meaning, you only pay to achieve the specific marketing goals you have. In other words, you’re charged based on your campaign objective. 
You’ll select the activity you want to pay for and then the campaign objective you picked will determine which ad formats, bidding strategies, and optimization goals you can focus on. 
9. Determine each campaign’s click-through rate (CTR).
Is one campaign outperforming the other(s)? If so, you may want to pause the less successful campaign(s).
LinkedIn will automatically display less successful campaigns with lower frequency, so it makes sense to minimize any resources spent on them. Instead, putting more resources into successful ad variations and campaigns is more likely to accomplish your marketing goals.
10. Measure and analyze your LinkedIn Ad campaign’s success.
LinkedIn makes it easy to track your progress in the Campaign Manager dashboard (under “Campaign Performance”), where you’ll see various charts that measure performance like clicks, expenditures, and CTR.
You can also keep track of conversions in the graphs toward the bottom of the dashboard.

When you finish setting up your first campaign, you’ll see a lot of “0”s at first. Don’t worry, that’s only because your campaign is new (and don’t forget that LinkedIn usually has to approve your ads before they go live).
LinkedIn Ads is available within all HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise accounts! Track visitor and contact engagement, run reports on closed-loop marketing, sync leads from LinkedIn lead generation forms, and MORE — all within your HubSpot account.
Ready to try a LinkedIn Ad strategy?
With the right amount of patience and strategy, LinkedIn ad campaigns can be a huge factor in your company’s marketing success. LinkedIn has a very powerful advertising platform; don’t leave this off your social campaign marketing list. A well-researched, optimized campaign has the potential to bring in thousands of new leads — and sales.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in January 2013 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Work events are really hit or miss. Let’s be honest: How many times have you found yourself anxiously fidgeting with a paper napkin in the corner of a stuffy networking happy hour?
Here’s the thing: It’s not the event itself that prevents you from coming back the following year. It’s the experience you remember having. In this blog post, we’ll look at some of the best experiences brands have ever offered their customers.
I have a big problem with generic trade shows and industry conferences. That’s why I was not only relieved, but surprised and delighted, when I attended a holiday party that featured a live, interactive version of an arcade game.
An entire room had been curated to look like a video game setting, and people were dressed up as characters from it. There was a giant, real-life scoreboard, boppy electronic music, and best of all, there was no tedious small talk.
It wasn’t just another tired work event … it was an experience. And in our line of work, that sort of thing has a name: experiential marketing.
While a surprising number of people haven’t heard of the concept, it’s kind of a big deal — there’s an entire three-day summit dedicated to it, and 65% of brands that use it say that it positively correlates with sales.
But what is it, exactly? And how has it been used effectively? We found 14 of the coolest experiential marketing campaigns that really break down how it works, and how you can apply those lessons to grow your business.

Experiential marketing (also known as xm marketing, engagement marketing, event marketing, on the ground marketing, live marketing, or participation marketing), might sound a bit like event marketing, which makes sense — experiential campaigns do tend to be event-centric. But there are also times when they have nothing to do with a specific event, as you’ll see from the examples we picked.
When an engagement marketing campaign is event-centric, it’s dedicated less to the type of event — like a concert, festival, conference, etc. — and more to interactions between the brand and the customer. (If you already have an event in the works, check out this guide to adding experiential elements to it.)
What do experiential marketers do?
An experiential marketer is in charge of creating and executing on the strategy for a client’s live, interactive marketing campaigns or in-person events.
An experiential marketer’s role is similar to a brand ambassador, event planner, or brand manager, and typically involves the following duties: 

Brainstorm innovative experiential marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness, interact with the public, and create positive brand perception 
Perform market research to understand what types of experiential marketing campaigns would perform best with a specific audience 
Create events or live, interactive campaigns to help businesses effectively connect with its target audiences
Lead events and take charge of logistics as it relates to event management 
Track, analyze, and report on all experiential marketing campaign performance
Work with cross-functional teams including brand, creative, digital, social, and public relations
Travel to events as necessary to ensure vendor compliance and execution, sales support, and overall event success

Why Experiential Marketing Matters Today
According to Forbes, experiential marketing can bolster a lasting connection between customers and a brand. It can also allows you to collect vital data about participating consumers which can then help you improve your strategy. 
These campaigns can take an integrated approach. The primary purpose is to experience a brand in a tangible, offline way, but you’ll still want an online dialogue around it.
When you consider that 49% of folks create mobile video at branded events — 39% of which is shared on Twitter — it makes sense to incorporate a digital element. A branded hashtag, for example, can get people talking about the experience.
1. Refinery29: 29Rooms
For about three years now, lifestyle brand Refinery29 has hosted the 29Rooms event: What it calls “an interactive funhouse of style, culture, & technology.” As the name suggests, it consists of 29 individually branded and curated rooms — and attendees can experience something different in each one. The rooms are designed and created with brand partners, who range from personalities like artists and musicians, to consumer-facing companies like Dunkin’ Donuts, Dyson, and Cadillac.
Each year, 29Rooms has a different theme, with this year’s being “Turn It Into Art.” Attendees, it seems, are encouraged to enter each room and use the surroundings to create something — one room, for instance, invites participants to put on punching gloves and hit punching bags that each produce a different sound when contacted to create a symphony of sorts. A truly hands-on experience, indeed.

Takeaways for Marketers

Go nuts, but keep it on-brand. An experience should be memorable, but relevant to the people attending.
Partner with creators like artists and musicians to create experiences, especially if they are recognizable within the region where you’re trying to build or augment an audience.

2. Red Bull: Stratos
If you were online October 14, 2012, you probably came across a live stream of the “Stratos” jump.
Red Bull has been at the forefront of extreme sports coverage for almost as long as the brand has existed. But in 2012, the company brought its content marketing to new heights — a world-record height, actually.
Affectionately named Stratos, Red Bull’s superterrestrial marketing campaign featured Felix Baumgartner, a skydiver from Austria who partnered with Red Bull to set the world record for highest skydive.
That record: 128,000 feet, about 24 miles above Earth’s surface. Gulp.
To pull off this amazing stunt, Red Bull housed Felix in a small communication capsule and sent him up to the stratosphere using a large helium-filled balloon. And what’s truly remarkable is that his ascent and preparation to jump, alone, allowed him to break another record before landing safely back on Earth (spoiler alert): Red Bull streamed the entire event online, and saw the highest viewing traffic of any live stream ever broadcast on YouTube — at just over 8 million viewers.
Want to see that experience again? Check out Red Bull’s recap video below. I won’t lie, I indulged in a rewatching as I wrote this article.

Takeaways for Marketers

Don’t underestimate the power of suspense when hosting an event your audience can own a piece of themselves. Being able to witness something new, and maybe a little scary, is such a personal experience. And the better the result, the longer your audience will remember and reminisce over it.
Oh, and if you can put your brand in the record books while you’re at it, that’s pretty cool too.

3. Lean Cuisine: #WeighThis
It’s disconcerting how many commercials today tell women to change something about themselves. Sitting on the couch and watching TV for just two minutes, I had already lost count of the number of times that message came up.
That’s why it’s so refreshing to see brands like Lean Cuisine, whose marketing used to center solely on weight loss, stray from diet-centric messaging. And its #WeighThis campaign is a great example of just that.
As part of the campaign, Lean Cuisine curated a gallery of “scales” in New York’s Grand Central Station, and invited women to “weigh in.” But here’s the catch: The scales were actually small boards where women could write down how they really wanted to be weighed. And rather than focusing on their weight in pounds — or anything pertaining to body image — the women opted to be measured by things like being back in college at 55, caring for 200 homeless children each day, or being the sole provider to four sons.
What’s particularly cool about this experience is that none of the participants actually interact with a Lean Cuisine product. No one was interrupted, asked to sample something, or stopped to answer questions. In fact, no one was really asked to do anything — the display itself was enough to make people stop, observe, and then voluntarily interact.
Lean Cuisine figured out what message it wanted to send: “Sure, we make stuff that fits into a healthy lifestyle. But don’t forget about your accomplishments. That matters more than the number on the scale.” But instead of blatantly advertising that, it created an interactive experience around the message.
Still, the experience was clearly branded, to make sure people associated it with Lean Cuisine. The company’s Twitter handle and a branded hashtag were featured on the display in large text, which made it easy for people to share the experience on social media. And that definitely paid off — the entire #WeighThis campaign led to a 33% increase in positive brand perception, and earned a 6.5 million reach just during week one.

Takeaways for Marketers

Don’t interrupt — especially if you’re trying to grab someone’s attention in New York City, like Lean Cuisine was. If you create an experience that provides value to the people who pass by it, they’re more likely to participate.
Figure out the message you really want to your brand to send — that may or may not be directly tied to an actual product, and it might be something that your brand hasn’t said before. Then, build an experience around it.

4. M&M: Flavor Rooms
If you’ve ever had a peanut M&M versus regular M&M debate, you know people can get passionate about candy. So, when M&M needed to choose its next flavor, the company chose to do so with an immersive pop-up in New York City. 
The experience included “flavor rooms”, which were each complete with decor and fragrances unique to a certain flavor. The pop-up also included snack and drink lounges with M&M-themed cocktails — which, I’m willing to bet, we’re great opportunities for M&M to appear on different attendees’ social pages. 

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Takeaways for Marketers

With every marketing campaign you launch, find the “fun” factor. It’s easy to get caught up in how much your brand helps solve your customer’s problem. But what about them, as people, would also bring them enjoyment?
Consider how you might leverage your audience for key business decisions. If they’re the ones who will be buying and using your product, they’re also the ones best-equipped to tell you what’s working, and what isn’t. An experiential campaign is one good opportunity to connect directly with your consumers and create enjoyable experiences in which they can provide perspective. 

5. Benefit Cosmetics: ‘A Lashtastic Virtual-Media Campaign’ 
In today’s digital-first world, a good experience doesn’t have to be in-person. But traditionally, consumers still want to test out new makeup products before purchasing — which created a challenge for Benefit Cosmetics during the worldwide pandemic, in which most retail locations were closed. 
To draw attention to its new Magnet Extreme Lengthening Mascara, Benefit, working with Because Creative Experiences, chose to create an immersive experience in which users could collect tokens and exchange those tokens for discounts, mascaras, or virtual beauty consultations on Benefit’s website. Best of all, they used Augmented Reality to create a fun, unique experience for their users. 
Here’s how it worked: Once users signed into Benefit’s Virtual Reality platform, they were asked to drop their location. Next, thanks to Augmented Reality, the prospects could use their phones to find tokens in their physical space. 
The campaign proved incredibly effective — including a conversion rate of over 50%, a CTR of 39.4%, and an average gamification dwell time of 2 minutes and 22 seconds. 

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Takeaways for Marketers: 

Even adults love games. Consider how you might gamify your own experience and provide unique challenges or contests to drive engagement. In this case, the experience is fun whether or not a user purchases the product — which is key towards creating a good user experience. 
If an in-person experience isn’t feasible, get creative with technology, VR, or AR to create the next best thing. Nowadays, digital experiences can feel just as real as in-person. But to truly grab your audiences attention, you might need to think beyond traditional social campaigns.

6. Misereor: Charity Donation Billboard
When was the last time you used cash to pay for something?
Tough to remember, right? We’re kind of a species of “mindless swipers” — globally, an estimated 357 billion non-cash transactions are made each year. And knowing how often we whip out our cards, German relief NGO Misereor decided to put our bad habit to good use with its charitable giving billboard.
It was what they called SocialSwipe. Set up in airports, these digital posters would display images of some problems that Misereor works to resolve — hunger was depicted with a loaf of bread, for example.
But the screen was equipped with a card reader, and when someone went to swipe a card — for a small fee of 2€ — the image moved to make it look like the card was cutting a slice of bread.
Even cooler? On the user’s bank statement, there would be a thank-you note from Misereor, with a link to turn their one-time 2€ donation into a monthly one.
Needless to say, this experience required a lot of coordination — with banks, airports, and a mobile payment platform. Because of that, the experience couldn’t just be a one-time occurrence. The people who interacted with it were later reminded of it during a pretty common occurrence: receiving a bank statement.

Takeaways for Marketers

Visually represent the impact of participating in the experience. People interacting with this display were shown exactly where their money was going — like slicing bread for a hungry family. (Infographics work nicely here, too — check out our templates.)
Partner with another brand to create an even better experience. In this instance, Misereor worked with Stripe.com for the payment technology, and with financial institutions to get a branded message on users’ bank statements. (And stay tuned — we’ll talk more about the value of co-branding here later.)
Don’t be afraid to nurture your leads. Even if you don’t use something like a branded hashtag to integrate the experience with an online element, find a way to remind someone that they participated.

7. Lululemon: Proud & Present
To celebrate Pride Month, Lululemon worked with MKG to create an immersive, thoughtful experience that combined an engaging social media campaign with real-life community-centered events. 
First, the athletic brand asked its own employees and ambassadors to reflect on topics relevant to the LGBTQ+ community. The brand shared their responses via images and video on Lululemon’s Instagram page throughout the month. 
Next, the brand created an art installation at Hudson River Park that reflected those same responses. This space, which stayed in the Park for two weeks, encouraged passersbys to read and reflect. That’s not all, though — Lululemon also created a community-focused yoga practice in the same park, which aimed to raise money for The Trevor Project. 
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Takeaways for Marketers

Consider how you might create a cohesive experience to unit your online and offline presence. In this case, Lululemon leveraged its social accounts to reach its 3.7 million followers, but then created a few special, in-person experiences to drive the point home for its New York-based community. 
An experiential marketing campaign shouldn’t just focus on selling a product or service — it oftentimes can, and should, focus on a larger issue. In this case, Lululemon’s dedication to Pride Month increased brand awareness and loyalty.

8. Häagen-Dazs: Strawberries & Cream with Wimbledon
To draw attention to its new, limited-edition ice cream flavor Strawberries & Cream, Häagen-Dazs worked with Wonderland to create a GIF photo booth at the tennis championship Wimbledon. 
The booth included a swing (playfully alluding to tennis), which encouraged famous tennis players, models, and influencers to take pictures to post on social media — a good opportunity to collect user-generated content and expand their reach quickly. 
Naming itself “the official ice cream of Wimbledon”, Häagen-Dazs created a commercial for the limited edition flavor, as well: 

Takeaways for Marketers 

 Consider how you might create fun opportunities to encourage user-generated content. This doesn’t have to break the bank, either — there are plenty of budget-friendly options to create small booths at business conferences that still embrace that Instagram-worthy look. 

9. Facebook: Facebook IQ Live
Facebook — who also owns Instagram — has always understood how much data it has on how people use these platforms. For that reason, it created the Facebook IQ Live experience.
For this experience, that data was used to curate live scenes that depicted the data. Among them was the IQ Mart: A “retail” setting that represented the online shopper’s conversion path when using social media for buying decisions. There was also a quintessential Instagram cafe, chock full of millennial-esque photo opportunities and people snapping them — latte art and all.
The campaign wasn’t just memorable. It also proved to be really helpful — 93% of attendees (and there were over 1500 of them) said that the experience provided them with valuable insights on how to use Facebook for business.
But what makes those insights so valuable? Momentum Worldwide, the agency behind Facebook IQ Live, puts it perfectly: “When we understand what matters to people … we can be what matters to them.” In other words, we can shape our messaging around the things that are important to our target audiences.
And by creating this experience, Facebook was able to accomplish that for its own brand. In creating this experience, it also created a positive brand perception for a few audiences — including, for example, the people who might have been unsure of how to use the platform for business.

Takeaways for Marketers

Build an experience for people who aren’t sure about how they would use your product or service. Find ways for them to interact with your brand in a way that creatively spells out how it can benefit them.
Bring your data to life. We love numbers, but creating a live installment that illustrates them can help people understand exactly what they mean. And since 65% of people think that live events help them understand a product, this setting is a great place to do it.

10. Zappos: “Google Cupcake Ambush”
To help promote its new photo app, Google took to the streets of Austin, Texas, with a cupcake truck in tow. But people didn’t pay for the cupcakes with dollars — instead, the only accepted currency was a photo taken with said app.
And really, what’s better than a free-ish cupcake? We’ll tell you what: A free-ish watch or pair of shoes.
That was the answer from Zappos, anyway. That’s why the brand playfully “ambushed” Google’s food truck experience with one of its own: A box-on-feet — strategically placed right next to Google’s setup, of course — that, when fed a cupcake, would dispense a container with one of the aforementioned goodies.
In order to reap the rewards of the Zappos box, people had to have a cupcake. So while only one brand came away from the experience with an epic sugar high, both got plenty of exposure. And since 74% of consumers say a branded experience makes them more likely to buy the products being promoted, Google and Zappos both stood to gain new customers from this crowd.
But what we really like about this example is how much it shows the value of experiential co-branding. Because Google and Zappos pursue two different lines of business, they weren’t sabotaging each other, but rather they were promoting each other (which is what happens when you pick the right co-marketer).

Takeaways for Marketers

Use experiential marketing as a co-branding opportunity.

Pick a partner with an audience that would be interested in your brand, but might otherwise be difficult to reach.
Make sure your partner would benefit from your audience, too — you want the experience to be a win-win-win: for you, your co-brand, and the consumer.

When you do pick a marketing partner, build an experience that requires an “exchange” of each brand’s product or service. That way, the audience is more likely to interact with both of you.

11. Docker: Docker Dash
Docker is a software platform that allows developers to make and run apps on different operating systems — a technology known as “containerization.” By some standards, it’s not the sexiest product you can buy. By an enterprise’s standards, it’s not even the easiest product to understand. Enter: Docker Dash.
In partnership with Jack Morton, Docker used its developer conference, DockerCon 2017, to nurture its core enterprise market with a unique product demo called Docker Dash. What made it so unique? It wasn’t a demo — it was a game. And conference guests weren’t guests — they were players.
Docker Dash was a live video game-style simulation of Docker’s application platform, and it recruited 5,000 of its enterprise attendees to create an app together by solving a series of fun challenges inside the game. Each challenge presented in Docker Dash allowed the “players” to engage a feature of Docker’s product and ultimately complete their app. It was a fun, collaborative way to show enterprise software developers why Docker is invested in the containerization market and the value these people can get from Docker’s product.
Docker Dash got the attention of more than 3.6 million people — those who watched and posted about the event from social media, in addition to those who attended DockerCon in person.

Takeaways for Marketers

Conference hosts thrive on attendees who network with one another. By creating opportunities for your attendees to collaborate and play together, you allow them to share their ideas — making for more educated customers as a result.
“Gamify” your brand. Give people the ability to play and compete for something, and you’ll instill in them a sense of accomplishment that makes them more passionate about your industry.

12. Vans: House of Vans
Recently, Vans hosted House of Vans pop-up locations at skateparks within major cities like NYC and Chicago. This gave skateboarders a place to meet up, connect, listen to live music, and shred. 
Vans also used these skatepark-based popups to promote the launch of their new shoe line which honored David Bowie. 
With Vans being a leading shoe line of skateboarders, pop-ups in and near skateparks seem like a natural fit for an experiential marketing experience. 

Takeaways for Marketers

Identify your audience’s hobbies and embrace them. In the example above, Vans knew that they had a big skateboarding audience, so they crafted an event to reward them while intriguing other skateboarders.
Similarly, if you know you have audiences based in certain locations, go to where they are for your experiential campaign. This will provide less friction and make your audiences feel like you are literally meeting them where they are.

13. Rick & Morty: Rickmobile
To promote the return of the animated Adult Swim series Rick & Morty, Cartoon Network sent a car around the country shaped like Rick, a main character and mischievous time-traveling grandfather on the show. By marketing primarily on social media, the company was able to get the campaign to go viral. 
People began following where the Rickmobile was via a live destination page on the adult swim site.
When the Rickmobile hit major cities, people flocked to it to take a picture with Rick’s face and enter the mobile where they could purchase products related to the TV show.

Takeaways for Marketers

It’s okay to embrace social media to create anticipation and excitement around your pop-up or experience, just as Adult Swim and Cartoon Network did. 
Embracing weirdness, like that of a giant cartoon head driving around the country, can be a helpful way to make your event shareable or intriguing — even to people who might not follow the content or company that you’re promoting.
If you can work in product sales, consider it. In this example, the network not only promoted the television show, but it also sold products related to it. So, essentially, people directly paid for aspects of a large scale ad.

14. Coca-Cola: FIFA World Cup VR Experience
In Zurich, during the FIFA World Cup, Coca-Cola placed a VR experience in front of a train station. With the experience, you could stand in front of a screen and see a popular soccer player next to you. You could then practice a soccer move with the athlete or compete in your own mini soccer tournament.

Takeaways for Marketers
While VR isn’t accessible to many marketers, this experience did have a few scaleable strategies associated with it.

To give your attendees an experience of value, consider hosting an expert who can answer questions or give tips related to your marketing campaign.
Embrace major events. If you know a city or area will be highly populated due to a game or another event, consider placing a pop-up there that somehow relates to that audience or the event itself.

Clearly, taking some very calculated risks worked out pretty well for these companies. So when it comes to creating an experience with your brand, don’t be afraid to think outside of the box — and don’t be afraid to work together on it with someone else.
Invest some time into thinking about the ways people could interact with you, even if it seems a little nutty. If it’s aligned with what you do and executed thoughtfully, people will be talking — in the best way possible.