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Effective marketing is difficult to get right. Between creative demands, budget limits, and channel decisions, marketers have a lot to juggle when developing their marketing strategy. The biggest determinant of effective marketing, however, is your audience . If you’re not properly targeting your buyer persona, your promotions and advertisements will likely fall on deaf ears. You might as well not be marketing at all. Where target audiences vary the most, though, is between individual consumers and businesses . Some companies serve individual shoppers, while others cater to companies and organizations. Marketing to businesses is very different than marketing to individual consumers. That’s why an entirely different marketing method — B2B marketing — exists, and that’s why we built this guide. By the end of this article, you’ll have a better understanding of B2B marketing, the most effective B2B marketing strategies, and how you can tap into and convert your business audience. Hub...

Alright, everyone: I'm about to let you in on a few of my best-kept interviewing secrets. In this post, I'll uncover real questions I use when interviewing candidates for inbound marketing positions and the answers I'm looking for . These questions are meant to assess candidates not only for their marketing talent, but also for who they are as people. Keep in mind that the best candidates aren't just qualified to do the job you're trying to hire them for. You want to look for people who are also passionate about marketing, fit with your culture , and show potential for growth at your company. Here's a quick look into my interview approach, followed by 14 excellent interview questions I recommend adapting for your industry and hiring needs. My Interview Approach During interviews, I put a lot of stake into each candidate as an individual. My goal is always to find someone amazing who also has great long-term potential, no matter where they are in their care...

An art. Not a process, method, or technique. Storytelling is described as an art … the “art” of storytelling. And — like art — it requires creativity, vision, skill, and practice. Storytelling isn’t something you can grasp in one sitting, after one course. It’s a trial-and-error process of mastery. Sounds like a lot of work, right? It is, and rightfully so because storytelling has become a crucial component of the most successful marketing campaigns. It sets apart vibrant brands from simple businesses and loyal consumers from one-time, stop-in shoppers. It’s also the heart of inbound marketing . Storytelling is an incredibly valuable tool for you to add to your proverbial marketing tool belt. That’s why we’ve compiled this guide, to help you discover and master storytelling and weave gorgeous, compelling tales for your audience. Pick up your pen, and let’s dive in. While this definition is pretty specific, stories actually resemble a variety of things. This graphic from Re...

Let's say you've come to the difficult realization that quite frankly your brand -- if you can even call it that -- is all over the place. Or perhaps worse, you have a defined brand, but you're noticing that it just doesn't seem to mesh with who you really are and what you really do. Don't panic. Before you get all hung up on what shade of green to use for your logo or what tone you're going to use when engaging with people on Twitter, you need to step back and take a look at the big picture. What is Brand Strategy? Brand strategy is a plan that encompasses specific, long-term goals that can be achieved with the evolution of a successful brand -- the combined components of your company's character that make it identifiable. (We'll get into that more in a bit.) A well-defined and executed brand strategy affects all aspects of a business and is directly connected to consumer needs, emotions, and competitive environments. First, let's clear up...

Types of Charts to Use for Your Data Column Chart Bar Graph Line Graph Dual Axis Chart Area Chart Stacked Bar Graph Mekko Chart Pie Chart Scatter Plot Chart Bubble Chart Waterfall Chart Funnel Chart Bullet Chart Heat Map You and I sift through a lot of data for our jobs. Data about website performance, sales performance, product adoption, customer service, marketing campaign results ... the list goes on. When you manage multiple content assets , such as social media or a blog, with multiple sources of data, it can get overwhelming.What should you be tracking? What actually matters? How do you visualize and analyze the data so you can extract insights and actionable information? M ore importantly, how can you make reporting more efficient when you're busy working on multiple projects at once? One of the struggles that slows down my own reporting and analysis is understanding what types of graphs to use -- and why. That's because choosing the wrong visual ...