Category: Marketing Automation

In 2022, the marketing world continued to evolve.
Not only did we get the ability to shop directly on our favorite social media apps, but we also began to hear lots of the futuristic buzz around AR/VR, the metaverse, and Web3 development.
As we move into another unique year, marketers might wonder if and how other companies in their industry are keeping up with everything going on.
To help marketers like you keep a pulse on how other brands are doing, HubSpot analyzed data from 150,000+ companies. In this post, we’ll note the three key marketing themes we discovered and how they could impact you today.
Want a full view of how the bigger business performed and what you can do to keep your company up? Read our full-year Business Data Recap on the Hustle Blog now.

About this Data: These insights are based on data aggregated from 130,000+ HubSpot customers globally between July 2021 and September 2022. Because the data is aggregated from HubSpot customers’ businesses, please keep in mind that the performance of individual businesses, including HubSpot’s, might differ based on their own markets, customer base, industry, geography, stage and/or other factors.
3 Marketing Data Themes We Saw in 2022
2022 Web Traffic Struggled to Outpace 2021
In 2021, much of the world was still reopening following the worst of the pandemic. And, although people were starting to get out of the house and disconnect from their screens more often, others were still highly connected, working mostly remote, and doing everything from shopping to entertaining themselves from home.
In 2022, as the global events we went through seem farther and farther in the past, more people than ever are trying to get out of the house, get off their computers, and continue to trade Zoom calls and texts with real, in-person connections.
In 2021, we also saw people become more honest with themselves about work. Instead of spending 10 hours a day in the office or working from home, they opted to take more time off, set work-life balance boundaries, or even take part in quiet quitting.
Lastly, we saw in our quarterly analyses, and note in the section below, that marketers sent fewer emails which also received lower email open rates overall throughout the year. For some sites, email can be the biggest traffic source following search engine and direct traffic. And, when any channel sees these impacts, it could greatly impact year-over-year performance.
With the factors above in mind, it’s not too shocking that web traffic across all industries took a hit in 2022 compared to 2021, with a 6.7% YoY dip.

 

The only industry that didn’t see a dip was, unsurprisingly, Leisure and Hospitality. This industry, which saw major business impact during COVID travel and country-wide shutdowns, is now showing signs of picking back up with a 6.35% YoY traffic increase.
The industries that saw the biggest dips were Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, as well as  Professional and Business Services, which both saw more than a 7% traffic tip in 2022.
Marketing Emails Struggled to Capture Subscribers
As we hinted above, email open rates took a tip in 2022. Across industries, email open rate dropped by a whopping 12.89% while email opens dropped by just under 4%.

Metric
YoY (2022 vs. 2021)
Sample size

Email sends
11.01%
167,457

Email opens
-3.32%
167,457

Email open rate
-12.89%
167,457

While there could be many possibilities for this, a few impacts that seem likely are:

Businesses sent too many emails. In 2022, companies sent 11% more marketing emails than usual, which could have easily fatigued subscribers, caused disengagement, or even hurt email subscription size. On top of this, sales reps also might have been sending emails more frequently as sales email open rates dipped by 11.6%, hinting that those who were subscribers AND prospects could’ve definitely gotten bloated inboxes.
Email oversaturation from all sorts of brands (which also likely amped up email sends) could have caused higher competition in subscriber inboxes than in previous years. On top of marketing emails to compete with,
Growing subscriber lists. While this shows people are investing in your brand and content, it can open rates harder to maintain. Because open rates decreased by a much larger percentage than that of opens, this could mean marketers added more contacts to their subscription lists, but only received opens from the same or slightly fewer people.
Inboxes are continuing to improve organization, junk, and spam filters. While this is better for the consumer, these pivots could be moving emails out of sight, although this is less likely if spam rates for your email campaign are low.
Competition from other mobile platforms: With the growth of social media and other mobile content-driven apps, emails could be feeling less relevant to some consumers, despite still being a solid marketing tactic.

If you leverage email marketing, keep track of your subscribers and your competition, as well as how email consumption and content is changing to ensure that you’re prioritizing sends with the highest potential impact. This will ensure that your content has a fighting chance of catching your subscriber’s eye in a busy list of unread messages.
Ultimately, your subscribers, prospects, and potential customers could reward you for understanding their needs with both engagements and even purchases.
Still, Marketing Efforts Yielded Lead & Conversion Impact
Although marketers aren’t closing deals like sales reps, they still drew in business impact despite lower traffic and email open engagements.
Leads and conversions, the biggest ties marketing departments often have to a business’s bottom line actually went up year-over-year.
While web conversions saw a nearly 11% increase, inbound leads went up by 6.66%

 

Although web conversions would be likely to go up due to the lower ratio of web visits (noted above), the number of inbound leads rising shows that companies are still growing their prospect lists.
Unsurprisingly, Leisure and Hospitality saw the largest growth in leads at a whopping 18.3% YoY, as well as the second-highest increase in website conversions at just over 12%.
Although they saw lowering traffic in 2022, other notable lead-growth industries were:

Education & Health Services: 10.6% lead growth and an 11% rise in conversion rate.
Professional & Business Service: 7.7% lead growth and a 13.7% rise in conversion rate.

 

These industries all make sense as top performers because the businesses within them often sell expensive or high-commital offerings (whether they be B2B or B2C). A random consumer won’t just pay for something like this after reading a single landing page, so the marketing teams within these areas are likely skilled in building robust lead-nurturing strategies.
One industry that seemed to struggle in 2022 was the Construction industry, which saw decreases in all metrics we looked at across the board, including inbound leads (-3.8%), web conversions (-0.65%), and web traffic (-6.84%). While we aren’t completely sure why this is, here are two of our best guesses (which would likely be temporary):

Due to the rising costs of inflation, materials, and construction team talent, construction projects that consumers and businesses might have invested in within the last decade have gotten more expensive or unaffordable..
During 2020, building and/or owners took advantage of their time at home or the lack of people in public/office buildings and used that time to invest in construction, remodels or maintenance. But beginning in 2021 and continuing on in 2022, construction has seen a less motion. Ultimately, as the cost of living rises and people return back to work, these projects might not be gaining as much interest or engagement online.

What’s Next for Marketers in 2023
While we can’t predict the future, we expect lead generation and conversion plays to be more important than ever to marketers as they aim to benefit their business’s bottom in still-unprecedented times. But, because people of the internet are still as hyperconnected as ever, anything could happen with traffic or email marketing.
Ultimately, what you do with your brand’s marketing plan is up to you. And, those decisions should be made with data from your company, your targets, and your own competitive analyses.
If you’re a marketing leader, entrepreneur, or just really interested in how overall businesses compared in 2022, check out this detailed business recap o all of the 2022 metrics we dug into. Or, get more tips on planning the most innovative marketing plan from our State of Marketing Report below.

 

 

Our new Email Design Studio pushes the boundaries of engagement and Customer Intimacy in Email Marketing. Using our unique, mobile-first, state-of-the-art email designer, you will get more conversions and collect precious Zero-Party Data, which will enable you to get even closer to your customers.

 

Email is still king in eCommerce  marketing 

 

Email Marketing continues to be one of the most effective marketing channels, generating a very high ROI. This is clearly visible in the results of various research studies. For example: 

61% of consumers prefer to be contacted by brands through email. (Statista).99% of email users check their email every day, some as many as 20 times a day (OptinMonster).Personalized emails have a 29% higher unique open rate (OR) and a 41% higher unique click rate (CR) than non-personalized ones (Active Trail).

Moreover, when it comes to using email, customers are slowly but surely switching to their mobile devices. They don’t wait to be around a desktop or laptop computer to read a message that is easily readable on a mobile platform, such as SMS:

More emails are read on mobile than on desktop email clients (Litmus).Smartphone click rates are significantly higher than before. More clicks are now happening on smartphones (47.5%) than desktops (41.7%). (MessageGears). 42.3% of people will delete an email if it’s not optimized for mobile. (SaleCycle).

 

And AI is making its way to the throne

 

We can also observe the growing role of AI across supply chains:

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies are expected to create up to $3.7 trillion in value by 2025. AI alone can generate between $1.2 and $2 trillion in value for manufacturing and supply chain management (McKinsey).AI has the potential to increase productivity by up to 40% and could double annual economic growth rates by 2035 (Accenture). In 2023, customer satisfaction is expected to grow by 25% in organizations that use AI (Gartner).

 

. . . so we decided you should reap the benefits!

 

The immense popularity of email in eCommerce marketing means that it’s often hard to cut through the noise made by other marketers and genuinely engage the recipient. That’s why we decided to push the boundaries where true customer engagement and intimacy is built.  Enhance them even further with extensive AI support: meet Email Design Studio.

 

Beyond beautiful emails: New Zero- and First-Party Data–oriented email designer

 

You already know how to make beautiful emails, but is that still enough to engage your customers? Email Design Studio’s unique and original content enrichment through native integration with Customer Data Platform flips the script. Email Design Studio gives you the only tool with capabilities that go beyond supporting the creation of beautiful emails and allow you to enhance your emails with the dynamic 1:1 personalization of products based on Zero- and First-Party Data … further supported with the advanced AI Studio to generate amazing content.

 

Make it mobile-first

 

The new Email Design Studio enables the frictionless creation of responsive designs. You can easily go from empty space to eCommerce revenue by:

Adding a section.Dragging and dropping widgets into a section.Using sections with multiple columns to create a mobile-first responsive design.

 

 

Engage your customers and increase conversions

 

Increase CLV and ROI from the Email Marketing channel. Leverage engagement and conversion tools—a set of widgets that help customers engage more deeply with your content right at that touchpoint. As a result, you can smoothly drive them to make rapid purchase decisions.

 

 

Build true intimacy with your audience

 

Leverage Customer Intimacy tools. Build long-lasting relationships with your customers using a set of widgets that turn email into a powerful Zero-Party Data–gathering tool. Allow customers to voluntarily share their preferences.

 

 

Use the power of AI in Email Marketing

 

Go the extra mile! Make the most of your email marketing. Let advanced algorithms take care of the content. Simply set a theme, specify what you need, and choose the best suggestion. Generate effective subject lines, concise bullet points, engaging product descriptions, catchy slogans, and even entire paragraphs of content.

 

State-of-the-art Email Designer

 

Focus on content, not configuration. Build value for your customers, and we’ll make sure you’re prepared for the configuration of any device, inbox, or email client. Easily create and send your recipients emails that look great every time. 

 

Make it mobile-first

 

Improve customer experience and become future-proof. Focus on the most important channel for emails: mobile devices. Leverage natively built, ready-to-use, intuitive solutions that provide a great experience for users who open messages on smartphones.

 

Listen to your customers (gather Zero-Party Data)

 

Create a sense of intimacy with customers. Allow them to voluntarily share their preferences by using a set of widgets to collect Zero-Party Data. Listen to what your customers have to say, and deepen the sense of intimacy with your organization.

 

Go beyond beautiful emails (engage)

 

Increase revenue and CLV by leveraging engagement and conversion tools. Enrich your emails with a set of widgets that engage customers more deeply with your content and smoothly and rapidly drive them to make purchase decisions.

 

Easily customize your emails

 

Strengthen customer loyalty. Bundle every email you send with brand design, and benefit from the advanced customization of individual message elements. Create your own brand book for emails to reinforce your message to your audience and increase customer loyalty.

 

Get great content in no time

 

Be lean yet remarkable. Leverage the AI in Email Marketing to generate effective subject lines, concise bullet points, engaging product descriptions, catchy slogans, and even entire paragraphs of content.

 

Save time and scale your efforts

 

Get more impact with the same resources. Use AI-generated content to improve your work in many ways, such as by making it more efficient, scalable, and cost effective or by breaking your writer’s block. 

 

Wrapping up

 

Beautifully composed emails are not enough to engage customers anymore. For successful e-commerce websites, you need to use various engagement and conversion tools and integrate them directly into the message. Making your messages more interactive also enables you to gather invaluable Zero-Party Data. 

And with AI support for content generation, you can do this all so much faster!

 

Reputation management happens on online review sites, social media, and in the news.
Managing the chatter online can feel like a daunting task, mostly because so much of it is out of your control.

After all, 77% of consumers read reviews when they’re browsing local businesses. 79% of consumers expect brands to respond within 24 hours after reaching out on social media. There are so many channels where people can talk about your brand, it can be tough to listen and respond to it all.
Luckily, there are plenty of tools and strategies you can use to protect your brand and reputation. In this post, we’ll give a clear overview of what you need to know to manage your business reputation including:

What is reputation management?
What is brand reputation management?
Reputation Management for Businesses
How to Build a Reputation Management Plan
Reputation Management Software

Reputation management techniques can include suppressing or reacting to messages online. These strategies might also include SEO, social media, or PR outreach and campaigns.

When your reputation is positive, you inspire customer loyalty, a significant driver of revenue and growth. A negative reputation can be damaging to sales and customer retention, but it also helps you learn about what customers like, which can be helpful for updating business processes to better meet consumer needs.
Brand reputation management is a continuous process. It allows you to stay on top of your brand’s public perception and address possible damaging situations as soon as they occur.
Reputation management and brand reputation management are sometimes used interchangeably. While there are similarities in definitions and practice, there are some crucial differences.
Brand reputation management focuses on a single brand, while reputation management impacts the business as a whole.
If a brand develops a reputation that isn’t connecting with its target customers, businesses have the chance to rebrand. For example, Airbnb rebranded in 2014 to help shift perceptions of the brand from tech-centric to people-centric.

That said, some businesses are so brand-centric that a rebrand can’t transform the reputation of the business. For example, Weight Watchers rebranded to WW in 2018 to shift the focus of the brand from dieting to health and wellness. In this example, rebranding made a less positive impact.
The reputation of your brand is only one part of how people perceive your business.
A strong brand reputation can entice a customer to trust a business. But reputation management measures and responds to the reputation of the business as a whole.
So, a business can have a strong brand reputation. At the same time, it may also need to do reputation management for production practices, sustainability, or other concerns that can impact reputation.
Brand safety is often connected to brand reputation management. We’ll explain it below.
Brand Reputation Management vs. Brand Safety
According to the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), brand safety makes sure that advertisements, their content, and any content shared by brands are appropriate. It also guides brands to steer away from inappropriate topics. Although somewhat similar concepts, brand safety falls into brand reputation management.
An example that can risk brand safety is correct ad placement. The IAB recommends purchasing ad space from trusted publishers. This way, your ads aren’t next to content that consumers may find offensive or cause them to distrust your brand.

Image Source
You also want your advertisements to relate to what you’re advertising. If customers click on an ad for a new blanket and they’re sent to unrelated content, you’re practicing malicious advertising. This risks the safety of your consumers.
Brand safety goes both ways. It protects your business from outside sources that aim to harm. It also protects your customers from malicious business practices that may offend them or cause them to lose money.
Brand safety is a process within brand reputation management. You’re ensuring that your advertising practices are legitimate. This makes sure that your consumers feel they can trust your business and what you have to offer.

Reputation Management for Businesses
To understand how a business might develop a reputation management strategy, I spoke with Ellie Flanagan, a HubSpot alum who specializes in corporate communications.
“The first step in shoring up your brand’s presence online is making sure that all your owned channels reflect your current imagery, messaging, and values. Check for outdated logos, company descriptions, or mission statements. It’s also helpful to do regular audits of other places where your logo or brand might be in use — such as on partner or customer websites.”
To conduct regular audits, follow the reputation management guidelines below.
Flanagan also says, “Make sure you have clear language on your website that outlines your company’s trademarks and sets guidelines for how others can use your brand assets. That will be a helpful reference if you need to reach out to someone who’s using your brand incorrectly or without permission.”
I also spoke with Alice Sol, a Senior Public Relations Marketing Manager at HubSpot.
She told me — “Protecting your brand has never been more important, and that goes hand-in-hand with customer trust. We live in a world where information travels rapidly, and we can get a response in seconds at the touch of a button. Technology has enabled us, as consumers, to get in touch with brands quickly — at the same time, it’s given brands the ability to form deeper connections and resolve issues faster.”
Sol also advises businesses to do their best to meet customer needs and offer a seamless experience, start-to-finish. She says, “The stakes [on delivering a good experience] are getting higher. If a customer has a bad experience, technology allows information about that experience to travel quickly. At the same time, if a customer has a very positive experience, that creates a strong brand reputation and forms trust.”

“Your customers are your biggest asset and it’s critical to take those needs very seriously by responding in a timely manner and communicating effectively.”
To sum it up, when protecting your online reputation, you’ll want to focus on the following tactics:

Make sure all your owned channels show your current imagery, messaging, and values.
Check that all online information about your business is up-to-date and consistent.
Use precise language on your website to outline your company’s trademarks and set guidelines.
Cultivate a positive user experience, start to finish.
Listen to customer feedback and respond to negative feedback with helpful, actionable solutions when possible.

How do companies manage their reputation?
Each business is unique, so each business will make different decisions to manage its reputation.
For example, small businesses can make a huge impact just by being trustworthy and offering value to customers. But as a business grows, communication can get more complicated.
The strategies and tactics above can help support your brand. You can also influence business reputation with:

Local SEO
Community management
Employer branding
Customer experience strategy

Looking at reputational risk, corporate image, and review management can also help support your reputation management efforts.
What does a brand reputation manager do?
A brand reputation manager supports a brand’s reputation on the internet by managing online resources.
Some brand reputation managers get involved in the branding process. Others use online channels and platforms to track and influence public perception of the brand.

Brand management might involve analyzing reviews and online mentions. It could also mean measuring brand sentiment to create and maintain a positive brand image.
Whether you’re part of a small team or a large enterprise, reputation management is essential. Let’s go over a sample reputation management plan that you can adapt to fit your business needs.
Important note: Reputation management is a continuous process. For a powerful and positive business and brand reputation, follow these steps consistently as long as your business is up and running.
1. Research, monitor, and audit your reputation.
The first step to reputation management is research. During this phase, you’ll use the internet to discover conversations about your business and what people are saying about you.
Aim to seek out different types of conversations. All feedback is helpful for understanding perceptions and improving your reputation.
You can conduct this audit by searching:

Your customer reviews
Review sites
Social media
Searching for your business’s name on Google and other search engines

You can also search for business-relevant keywords or even the feeds of your competitors. Consumers are talking; you just have to meet them where they already are.
There are many different platforms and websites you can use to conduct your research. That said, using a high-quality reputation management tool will make the process easier.
If you’re ready to get started, check out recommendations for a reputation management tool here.
2. Create reactive and proactive management strategies.
Once you understand your brand and business reputation, you’ll know where you need to focus to improve it.
For example, suppose your audit shows that conversation around your brand is unfavorable. In that case, you’ll want to improve the experiences that people have with your business and conversations about your brand.
This research can also help you notice trends and industry changes that could impact your reputation in the future.

Image Source
Using this information, your next step is to create a consistent management strategy. This strategy should clearly outline what your business wants to achieve with each piece of shared information. It includes goals, preferred tools, and timing. Regardless of what your current standing is, your plans should address the following:
Who will consistently monitor online conversations?
Choose specific people at your business to track your reputation. These employees will be in charge of continuous research and tracking conversations about your business online.
If your business doesn’t already have a brand reputation manager, employees on customer-facing teams are good candidates. They’re likely the most equipped to speak with customers and create public messaging.
How do you decide which comments, reviews, or mentions need responses?
Some people’s only intent is to troll rather than speak about legitimate experiences. These comments and conversations are fake, created to purposely diminish your reputation. But most comments come from real interactions and experiences. They’re genuine feedback about your brand, both positive and negative.
You should never respond to reviews that seem fake. Here’s a guide on spotting and removing fake reviews from Google.
But you should respond to comments from real consumers, which is why it’s essential to understand which reviews call for a response.
It’s not always possible to respond to every review. If this is the case you might want to create a strategy to prioritize your responses, like responding to customer questions first. Or create specific requirements that dictate when a response is necessary.
If your audit and monitoring reveal a strong reputation, it’s still wise to prepare for change.
Recent data says that 69% of surveyed businesses experienced at least one crisis in the last five years. At the same time, only 45% have a documented crisis communication plan.
The way that a business responds during a crisis can have a major impact on its reputation. This makes a proactive reputation management plan that accounts for crises important.

Planning for emergencies can help your team craft the right response during situations that escalate quickly or are difficult to control. These situations may leave responsible parties frantic and less likely to follow standard guidelines.
More resources:

Situational crisis communication
Crisis communication plan examples

3. Develop a tone guide for responding to comments.
It’s essential to respond to comments about your business and brand with a consistent tone of voice. For example, say you respond to criticism harshly but offer positive comments with returned positivity. This approach could do more harm than good because it seems defensive and inauthentic.
Develop a standard tone guide that you will use when responding, and aim to stick to it. This includes language for your crisis management plan.
Introduce your brand’s tone of voice and tonal values, explaining what they stand for and how they support your brand and company mission. These guides to brand voice and humanizing your brand can help you figure out the right messaging for any situation.
Then, give detailed, practical support to the people creating content for different channels.
Featured offer: How to Create a Brand Style Guide, With Free Templates

4. Communicate the plan to your organization.
Now that you have a clear plan and organized communication for following it, you’re ready to share your reputation strategy with the team.
Reputation management isn’t just the responsibility of your brand reputation manager. Any person connected to your business can have an impact on its reputation. So, your team should share accountability for this plan.
To create this sense of accountability, you’ll want to inspire your team with the possibilities of the plan. Then, hold meetings and explain the details. With each session, communicate how each employee can align their work with its impact on reputation management.
For example, it’s easy for an employee to share a quick internal email externally. While this sharing could be harmless, it could also take a message out of context and put the business in a challenging position.
5. Take action based on comments, feedback, and reviews.
Understanding how consumers view your brand is the most valuable tool for improvement and innovation. It’s also an essential action item for managing your reputation.
Their criticisms and pain points will direct you to areas of your business that need increased attention. At the same time, their positive comments let you know what you’re doing right and what you should continue doing.
As you’re hoping to manage your reputation, take action based on comments, feedback, and reviews. This helps you manage your reputation as you’re making changes that customers want to see.
While your communication plan will include tips and templates for tone and messaging, don’t forget to listen. Solutions are important, but customers will be more open to your ideas if they feel like you heard their concerns.
6. Constantly practice steps one, two, and three.
Managing your online reputation is a continuous effort. Although it feels good to solve a big problem, fixing one situation doesn’t mean that everything is smooth sailing from now until forever.
Always research and track conversations about your business. This will give you a sense of where your reputation stands. Then, follow the steps of your plan and act on the feedback you receive.
As you track your business reputation over time, remember to adjust. Pay attention to small shifts, not just major events. You may also want to conduct regular surveys with employees who spend the most time speaking with customers. This can give you ideas to improve your outreach.
It’s also a good idea to offer continuous training and feedback sessions. This can help your team align with changes in your business that can impact your reputation, even if it doesn’t overlap with their day-to-day work.
7. Track your results.
To learn whether your reputation management strategies are working, you’ll need to measure your results.
There are many different KPIs you can track to assess reputation including:

Financial and sales performance
Brand or customer loyalty
Net promoter score
Customer lifetime value
Repeat purchase rate
Employee satisfaction
Stakeholder surveys
Social media reach
Sentiment analysis
Share of voice

The metrics you use to track your reputation will depend on your business goals as well as the issues you may find in your research.
These resources can help you figure out which metrics are best to track brand health, brand equity, and brand perception.
Let’s go over some high-quality tools you can use to support your reputation management process.

Reputation Management Software
Reputation management software can help businesses in a variety of ways. Some monitor review platform entries by flagging negative reviews and gathering new ones. Others highlight customer testimonials and track brand mentions on social media.
These tools make it easier to collect and analyze reputation data to manage a business or brand reputation. Some also conduct sentiment analysis for quick resolution of potential issues.
It can be helpful to use reputation management software, particularly if you work for a small-to-medium-sized business with limited PR resources. Below we’ll review some top choices.
1. Yext Reviews

Since inconsistent information can impact SEO, it’s critical that your business’s data is consistent on each site. Fortunately, Yext lets you fix inconsistencies all in one place.
This software also lets you manage your reputation through social media. It makes it simple to respond to authentic customer reviews that can impact your brand’s true online reputation.
Yext is ideal for small-to-medium-sized businesses. It’s also a tool for enterprise companies — some of its impressive customers include Lego and Samsung.
Price: Plans start at $199/year.
Pro tip: Sync customer data with the HubSpot integration for seamless review collection.
2. ReviewTrackers

This platform collects online reviews from third-party review sites, including Google, TripAdvisor, and Facebook. A critical feature to call out is that you can receive notifications whenever a customer leaves a review. This helps your team stay up-to-speed on feedback.
This cloud-based reputation and review management software also allows you to track trending issues and topics. This gives you a big-picture view of customer issues. Features also include competitor tracking and performance analytics.
The tool, used by customers like U.S. Bank, is available for enterprise companies and small-to-medium-sized businesses.
Price: For pricing, use their pricing tool or request a demo.
Pro tip: Use the customizable Ask Tool to collect more online reviews.
3. Reputation

Reputation is the only platform that manages consumer feedback from acquisition to loyalty. This platform is your business’ eyes and ears in the spaces where customers talk, post, review, and recommend.
Reputation analyzes vast amounts of public and private feedback data to uncover predictive insights for companies to act on and improve the customer experience.
From reviews and surveys to social and business listings, the Reputation platform helps companies anticipate business needs and customer concerns.
Price: For customized pricing, request a demo.
Pro tip: Use RepScore to compare your brand reputation against competitors.
HubSpot customers: Use this integration to pull business reputation data into your HubSpot reports and dashboards.
4. Podium

Managing your reputation on different sites like Facebook, Google, and Yelp can get overwhelming. Podium helps you see all customer interactions and online reviews in a single dashboard.
Your employees can use Podium to request reviews and respond to reviews in real time. They can even exchange text messages with potential customers.
Podium’s support team is available through phone, online chat, or email, and they make sure you have the help you need to install their tool. The software works best for small-to-medium local businesses with the time and resources to manually send texts to customers or leads.
Price: Plans start at $249/month.
Pro tip: Save time with automations that send follow-up texts to request reviews after each deal closes.
5. BirdEye

BirdEye, a SaaS tool used by 90,000+ businesses, collects feedback from 200+ review sources so that you have a complete picture of your brand’s online reputation.
You can monitor, promote, and respond to reviews within one dashboard. BirdEye also offers features to:

Manage your social accounts
Gain insight into your competitors’ customers
Create surveys and tickets

These tools can help you further improve your brand experience and reputation. Birdeye also integrates with over 3,000 apps, including HubSpot.
Price: For customized pricing, request a demo.
Pro tip: Use Birdeye’s dashboard to track reviews, draft responses, and escalate tickets for effective reputation management.
6. NiceJob

NiceJob is a cloud-based tool for reputation monitoring. It also offers easy-to-use tools for review management and social sharing.
A popular solution for small to mid-sized businesses, NiceJob includes features for automated review emails, SMS messages, and review reminders. Their features also offer tools to increase website engagement.
Price: Plans start at $75/month.
HubSpot customers: Use the NiceJob integration to add review requests and reminders to your workflows.
7. Reviews.io

This tool simplifies the process of collecting reviews in a range of formats. Whether you’re looking for genuine text, video, or photo reviews, you can make the most with this licensed Google Review Partner.
Reviews.io also collects reviews in real time and pulls them together in a streamlined reviews timeline. This can help your team speed up responses to the reviews that could most impact your reputation. It also simplifies the assignment process for small, busy teams.
This tool also offers an auto-generated reply feature to craft personalized review responses.
Price: Plans start at $89/month.
HubSpot customers: Use the Reviews.io integration to generate support tickets for urgent reviews.
Pro tip: Ecommerce businesses — use the widget library to add value for your customers on your home page and product pages.
Can reputation really be managed?
It’s easy for customers to focus on the negative if the positive is hard to find. Reputation management is a useful strategy to bring what makes your business and brand great to the forefront.
It’s a way to build back your brand after a crisis and to show customers that you are a responsible, credible, and authentic company.
Planning and strong leadership can help any business sail through rough reputational waters. Review these tips and ideas, then form a reputation plan that works for you and your brand.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The beginning of a new year can be filled with excitement and positive change, but a busy lifestyle can still weigh on you, even if you love your job or company. When this happens, you can run into one of the dreaded mental conditions: burnout.

The World Health Organization classifies burnout as a legitimate health condition, saying it’s a “phenomenon” characterized by “feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy.”
This condition significantly impacts millennials. As of February 2021, 42% of millennials report feeling burnt out at work. Regardless of age, burnout is a condition that can negatively impact employees and organizations in all industries.
To help you combat bouts of stress, low motivation, or exhaustion, here are 10 ways to fight burnout at work, according to expert sources, data, and advice from fellow HubSpotters.
How to Fight Burnout at Work
1. Get some exercise.
2. Eat nutritious meals and foods.
3. Plan and prepare.
4. Use the Pomodoro Technique to ensure that you take breaks.
5. Protect your eyes.
6. Try yoga and meditation.
7. Take time off when you need it.
8. Get organized.
9. Lean on your support system.
10. Get a goodnight’s sleep.
Manage Burnout to Maintain a Happier Work Life

How to Fight Burnout at Work

1. Get some exercise.
Depression and anxiety often go hand-in-hand with burnout, and exercise is a great way to ease those factors. According to Mayo Clinic, regular exercise releases feel-good endorphins and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense of well-being.
Exercise can also shift your mind’s focus away from cycles of negative thoughts and stressors. Additionally, Mayo Clinic says exercise can boost confidence. All of these are things that help ward off burnout.
Pro Tip: It’s possible to over-exercise, which can lead to exhaustion and cause injuries — so don’t overdo it! According to the CDC, 30 minutes of exercise daily, five days a week, is enough for an adult to stay healthy.

2. Eat nutritious meals and foods.
Registered dietician and nutritionist Patricia Bannan says there are four core areas of burnout people should focus on mood, immunity, focus, and sleep. Bannan also says foods containing nutrients can help maintain those areas.
For example, according to Bannan, avocados are a great mood booster because they contain folate for neurotransmitters, magnesium to reduce anxiety, and healthy fats for hormones and brain health.
Bannan also says grapes provide excellent immunity support since they have vitamin K for immune and inflammatory responses.
To boost focus, Bannan suggests olives and olive oil because they contain healthy fats for brain function and memory and vitamin E to protect brain cells. To help with sleep, Bannan says tart cherries provide melatonin and potassium for sleep quality.
Pro Tip: Always consult with your doctor and be aware of any food allergies you may have before introducing new foods into your diet.

3. Plan and prepare.
Once you admit that burnout is a solid possibility in your work life, you can start to take steps towards avoiding it or maintaining a work-life balance.
These steps could involve planning vacations regularly, scheduling non-work hours, or trying stress-relief activities such as meditation.
According to Maggie Butler, our product team manager, the best way to pull yourself out of burnout is to recognize those feelings when they emerge. Then, take preventative measures.
“I think it’s impossible to avoid burning out at work, especially if you are passionate and give a lot of energy and time to your career,” says Butler. “So why not plan for it? Planning to take time off work and do whatever recharges you is key to keeping burnout at bay.”
Pro Tip: If possible, you can also plan designated “quiet” or “focus” days where you won’t be available for meetings. In doing so, you can use those days to get more work done before you get burned out or use those days for less intense tasks.

4. Use the Pomodoro Technique to ensure that you take breaks.
The Pomodoro Technique is a productivity strategy where you work in 25-minute intervals with a 5-minute break between intervals. After four intervals, you can take a more extended 15-30 minute break.
The idea behind the technique is that taking regular small breaks and one more extensive break each day will keep you more productive.
However, Head of Creative Project Management Matt Eontasays the Pomodoro Technique can also be a helpful way to avoid immediate work stress or feelings of burnout.
“I found myself being much less productive working from home than I was at the office, so I decided to adopt the Pomodoro Technique,” Eonta explains. “It’s been a huge help to my productivity, and it’s helped me avoid burning out because it’s designed to be prolonged periods of deep focus work, followed by short breaks to recharge and reset your mind.”
Pro Tip: You can also adjust the intervals and break times to fit your needs and workload better.

5. Protect your eyes.
While Eonta says he goes outside and plays with his dog on breaks, he also aims to prevent eye strain that can add to feelings of exhaustion.
“My eye doctor told me that every 20 minutes, I should try to focus on an object 20 feet away and focus on it for 20 seconds. It helps keep my eyes from burning out from constant fluorescent light and blue-light computer screens.” Eonta explains.
Pro Tip: Check the lighting in your workspace and reduce glare. This can mean turning off some or all of your overhead lights and using an adjustable desk lamp. You can turn down the brightness on your computer or place an anti-glare cover over the screen.

6. Try yoga and meditation.
Yoga allows you to release endorphins by working out while also priming your mind for examination. Combining yoga and meditation can help you relax after a long day.
In fact, 60% of people who practice meditation find that it improves their energy, while for 50%, meditation aids in their memory and focus, according to a study by The Good Body.
The benefits of yoga and meditation can also help prevent or manage burnout.
“I didn’t realize I was burnt out until I started taking up yoga,” says Krystal Wu, a former social media community manager.
“Yoga and meditation have helped me physically and mentally just to do something that betters myself,” Wu shares. “It became clear that it was the perfect balance to help me recover from burnout in my day-to-day life and have more peace of mind.”
Pro Tip: Practicing yoga or meditation in the morning before you start your tasks can start your day off with mental clarity. You can also do yoga or meditate after work to destress.

7. Take time off when you need it.
Taking time off can be especially difficult if you worry that you’ll fall behind. However, time off is crucial to relaxation, resetting your mind, and gaining a solid work-life balance.
“I was one of those people who would rarely take any time off because ‘there are so many things to be done,’” says Irina Nica, our product marketing manager.
“Even when I did, I still let some work slip into my day, even if that meant only checking my emails. I’d be lying if I said this way of constantly connecting didn’t pay off at all, but overall, I was quite tired most of the time.”
Nica explains, “I was probably close to burning out on several occasions. Fortunately, I’ve changed my views on vacation over time, and it’s been great for my productivity.”
“I learned to disconnect in the evenings and during weekends,” Nica adds. “Now, aside from the regular summer and winter holidays, I take a long weekend trip now and then. That helps me relax and refreshes my perspective.”
Pro Tip: Regularly scheduled vacations and days off can give you something to look forward to, which can, in turn, boost your morale at work.

8. Get organized.
Keeping track of assignments, deadlines, meetings, and other responsibilities associated with your job can be daunting and stressful — and that stress can lead to burnout.
Make time to get organized and establish a routine. Make a to-do list with your most pressing tasks at the top and lower priority tasks at the bottom. You can also invest in planners, alarms, and calendars to keep you on track.
Pro Tip: Applications like Notion provide excellent digital tools to help you manage tasks and track the progress of your projects.

9. Lean on your support system.
When dealing with burnout, you may feel tempted to distance yourself from others and face your problems alone.
However, spending time with friends and family can help you feel revitalized. Even venting to a close friend about a bad day at work can help you tackle the next day with a fresh perspective.
Pro Tip: Check to see if your benefits include anything about free or discounted therapy. Speaking to a therapist can help you understand your stress better, identify roadblocks, and cope with stress.

10. Get a goodnight’s sleep.
According to the CDC, adults between 18-60 need about seven or more sleep. However, the Sleep Foundation says more than a third of adults in the U.S. (35.2%) report sleeping on average less than seven hours per night.
Sleep helps with emotional regulation, which makes stress easier to manage or let go of. Getting a proper sleep schedule that leaves you well-rested and ready to tackle the day is a great way to avoid burnout.
Pro Tip: Create a nighttime routine that helps you wind down and prepare your body and mind for sleep. Taking a warm shower, drinking hot non-caffeinated tea, and staying off your phone before bed are just some ways to prepare for sleep.

Manage Burnout to Maintain a Happier Work Life
Depending on your industry, burnout may be unavoidable, but it doesn’t have to be a hopeless situation that negatively affects your work and personal life.
By taking the above steps, you can combat burnout or at least find a healthy way to manage it.

Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpot’s media team. 
The fashion industry and major sports leagues are two different industries that have countless collaboration opportunities.
In 2022, major sports and fashion saw a number of intersection points beyond team merch, including:

Serena Williams walking a Vogue runway shortly after announcing her retirement from tennis.
Ronnie Fieg, the founder of Kith, becoming the first creative director for the New York Knicks.
Nike opening World of Flight, its first Jordan concept store, in the fashion capital of Milan.

These headline-grabbing events indicate that fashion and sports have a meaningful overlap for consumers. To capitalize on this, sports organizations are prioritizing partnerships with artists and fashion pros to reinvigorate the world of sportswear.
Earlier this month, contemporary artists Al-Baseer Holly and Cristina Martinez created a capsule design collection merging their signature designs with NBA team logos.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Isles Lab, the official team store of the New York Islanders hockey team, is reimagining what a team store could be. The store is designed to offer a modern shopping experience and sells a unique combination of team merch, streetwear-inspired styles, and luxury fashion items.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by New York Islanders (@ny_islanders)

The fashion industry’s influence on the store is apparent, as it was created in partnership with Paul Price who was previously the Chief Merchandising Officer for Burberry.
Ultimately, both sports and fashion companies have strong communities of loyal fans who can serve as brand evangelists. As the worlds of sports and fashion continue to intersect, the opportunities for marketers to tap into these communities could be fruitful.
Marketing Snippets
The latest marketing news and strategy insights.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced she was leaving the company. Here’s what her departure could mean for creators.
TikTok added 7,000 new insights to its native Insights Tool.
Social media demographics: the stats marketers need to know to better understand their audiences.
Loyalty programs: Gartner released new data on how brands can leverage loyalty programs to engage with customers.
How brands can collaborate with Black creators: tips from Sprout Social on keeping partnerships with Black creators going beyond Black History Month.

So often as a mission-based business owner, it can feel like I have the most important message in the world—but nobody wants to listen to it.When I first started building Diversability with the vision of creating a community of people with disabilities (and the allies who support us) elevating disability pride, I kept encountering roadblocks when trying to get the word out. When we were first getting started as a student club in 2009, I remember initially struggling to get my peers to join. In 2015, when I relaunched Diversability after graduating, I struggled to gain visibility for this side hustle while working my full-time corporate development job. There were a plethora of events happening in New York City, but I wasn’t sure how to become a speaker. I’d reach out to journalists via Help a Reporter Out and hear crickets. I couldn’t figure out how to get people to care about disability.And then I remembered a lesson from my own disability experience. One of my arms is paralyzed and I’ve always found that, if someone hasn’t designed something for me, I have to figure out a way to do it myself. I decided to take the same approach to marketing Diversability: If people wouldn’t hand me a microphone, I’d become my own hype person instead.Now, in 2023, we have 80,000 followers across our social networks and 5,800 in our closed communities. Here are some of the surprisingly easy and affordable DIY strategies that my team and I used to get there, and the lessons learned that can help any business owner generate their own buzz.We created our own eventsAfter struggling for a while to find events for me and our disabled community members to speak at, I decided to start hosting them myself—and was surprised to find how easy it was.I leveraged some early connections I made with disability organizations and other advocates, offering them a stage to share their story. I was fortunate to make some connections with venues that offered to host us for little to no charge (a coworking space that let us use the facility on nights they didn’t have other bookings, a tech company that opened their office to community events). In 2020, we moved to our events being held almost exclusively virtually, which lowered the bar even more for how easy it was to do.We used Eventbrite to sell tickets for our events on a sliding scale basis (and still do!), which helped us cover event costs while making sure that they are accessible to those who want to attend. I would create the event graphics myself using Canva, and use them to promote the events on Diversability’s social channels, amplify them on my personal accounts and within other disability communities (like Facebook groups I was part of), and share the marketing materials with our speakers to help expand our reach. In the early days, I was doing much of this by myself (we now have a team of eight), and each event would take me about 10-15 hours and cost $50-$100 to make happen. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diversability® (@diversability) In the first year, we had “sold out” events with more than 70 people and also had much smaller events with only eight to ten attendees. But every time we hosted one, someone would reach out either asking to speak at an upcoming event, wanting to get involved in another way, or just making sure they’d be notified when the next one was happening so they could come again. We knew we were onto something.We now call ourselves “year-round disability conference,” hosting monthly virtual Diversability Unplugged events with topics ranging from financial equity, sexuality, work, and Gen Z through a disability lens. In 2022, our events welcomed more than 1,100 attendees, not only giving an incredible platform to diversity thought leaders who may not have found one elsewhere, but helping grow our own brand equity and reach.We created our own listI was always frustrated that, even with the rise of “list culture”—Forbes 30 Under 30, Create and Cultivate 100, Inc 5000, etc—I rarely saw people with disabilities featured. So, I created our own list to elevate those doing big things in the disability world.The D-30 Disability Impact List honors 30 disabled leaders annually who are making an impact in their community. Again, this was surprisingly simple to launch. We created a Google Form to collect nominations. We reached out to people with strong networks to be part of our selection committee in the hopes that they would help us get the word out. We created a folder of marketing assets (like graphics and social media post copy) to make it easy for others to promote the nominations form, and did the same when announcing the honorees to help people celebrate them. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Diversability® (@diversability) In the past three years that we’ve published the list, we’ve received almost 1,000 nominations, and we’ve been able to share the work of 91 truly impressive disability advocates. On top of getting to honor their work, we always see a bump in website traffic during nominations and after the list is published, and find that many new members discover our community thanks to this list.We created our own pressFrom the start, I was intent on public relations being a part of our marketing strategy. Not only did I want the Diversability message to be featured on as many platforms as possible, I wanted to share press opportunities with our community members in order to elevate their voices. Unfortunately, I wasn’t in a place to spend thousands of dollars a month for formal PR support and couldn’t justify the cost for this “top of the funnel” marketing. So we started creating our own original content across multiple platforms to serve as a sort of press outlet. I started by writing posts on Diversability’s blog and connecting community members to write guest post features of each other. In 2022, we brought on a dedicated writer on a part-time basis to create three articles a month featuring our community members, both for our own blog and to pitch to other publications. Our blog pieces have been syndicated on MSN and Medium and we have been published in Thrive Global, Women Enabled International, Ability Magazine, and World Institute for Disability.We also started treating social media as a sort of press, focusing on creating educational content about the disability experience and opportunities to highlight our members, like my “Anti-Ableism Series,” which has over 5 million views. Our original content about the disability experience reached over 140,000 people last year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tiffany Yu (@imtiffanyyu) Finally, we launched a podcast. We tried to make this as low-lift as possible, using Zoom to interview members of our community recording both audio and video so we could use the content for our YouTube and social channels, and leveraging Zoom’s captioning feature to include a rough transcript of the conversations. Ironically, creating our own “press” helped us tap into more traditional press outlets over time. We’ve recently gotten inquiries from journalists at The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Mirror, Yahoo Life and more looking for quotes from the disabled community—no cold pitching required on our end. I’m not saying that every business owner should use these exact strategies. Even though they are extremely affordable, the tradeoff is that they take time. Plus, not all approaches work the same way for every business—you have to make it your own and find what works for you.But I do think it’s helpful to call out the common thread between the DIY marketing approaches that have helped my business succeed: bringing other people in. My marketing is not just about promoting Diversability. It’s about promoting other leaders and influencers in the disability space, relying on the power of community and the network effect to raise their voices and raise our brand equity in the process. Even if your core business isn’t as community-oriented as mine, it’s worth considering how you could apply this. Could you host an event or an Instagram Live where you chat with a thought leader your users would care about? For example, we at Diversability have recently partnered with a body positivity conference, a therapy platform, and a youth social impact group, cross-pollinating our audiences. Could you find a meaningful way to highlight your customers or users on your blog and make that a place where people want to be featured? There are so many more pathways now for getting the word out about your business and your mission. Instead of waiting for other people to tell that story, why not take matters into your own hands and show them why they should start paying attention.

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2022 was another great year for email marketing. Last year, 40 billion people used email daily. What’s more, over 80% of companies utilize email marketing to gain and keep customers.  With email marketing software being the second most used tool, it’s needless to say that email marketing has not only proven to be effective but…
The post Email Marketing Software Comparison: A 2022 Recap appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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Currently student studying marketing. Marketing automation has recently caught my eye. Was wondering if anybody would be willing to tell me about their experiences in the field, and what is the best “roadmap” potentially for me that will increase my earning potential. Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated!!! submitted by /u/Good_Firefighter9714 [link] [comments]