About this Episode The tech world is changing under our feet, and the pace of innovation only seems to be increasing. Every well-known tool has added AI capabilities, and thousands of startups are out to capitalize on this era of disruption. What’s more, everything is becoming more and more capable. That tool that offered ho-hum results six months ago is now an industry leader, and things that seemed the stuff of science fiction a few years ago are now right around the corner.  In this episode, Briana Walgenbach stops by to discuss AI trends, tools, and tips so you and your team can stay ..read more

About this Episode If you’re like most of the professional world, the first you really heard about AI was the launch of ChatGPT. Not so for Mike Kaput. He’s been studying AI for more than a decade. For him, ChatGPT was less of a revelation and more of a culmination.  He and Paul Roetzer have been monitoring AI and its potential impact on marketing for years. Together, they wrote the widely-cited Marketing Artificial Intelligence: AI, Marketing, and the Future of Business. They also run the Marketing AI Institute, where Mike is the Chief Content Officer. Each year, they host MAICON, the Ma ..read more

  About this Episode Video content allows your buyers to get to know you and your brand before they ever walk into your store or fill out a form on your website.  We teach our clients to develop a "culture of video" so that video content goes hand-in-hand with anything they produce: Salespeople send 1-1 videos to prospects Website landing pages have videos explaining next steps Social posts include videos that show people and processes and so on. This way, video becomes part of your brand DNA. And there's good reason for this. According to research from HubSpot more than 90 percent ..read more

About this Episode All too often, businesses think they know just what they need when it comes to video: A nice "About Us" video to live on their homepage that will resonate with customers and bring in leads. Not so fast, says Marcus Sheridan, author and marketing expert. While an "About Us" video can be tempting, there are other ways you can better spend your video dollars. If you really want to move the needle, use what Marcus calls The Selling 7. Seven videos that are the most likely to get results and bring in revenue. These videos increase conversions, shorten the sales cycle, and get tho ..read more

About this Episode Imagine if we applied the same principles we use in our marketing to our process for recruiting new employees. As we teach our clients at IMPACT, marketing is about education. Your potential customers have questions. If you can answer them openly and honestly, you’ll build trust and shorten the sales cycle. Now, think of your applicants the same way. Just as your customers are trying to gather information so they can make the right purchase, your candidates are gathering information so they can land the right job. In a famous study done in 2018, Jobvite found that a third of ..read more

About this Episode When it comes to marketing content management systems (CMS), there are two names that you likely hear — HubSpot Marketing and WordPress. Combined, these two platforms account for a big market share of business websites on the internet today, but although HubSpot and WordPress might seem similar at first glance, there are some big differences you need to know about.  Choosing the right one for your business website ultimately comes down to your marketing objectives and your budget. In this episode, website expert Vin Gaeta compares the two platforms — and explains which ..read more

About this Episode At IMPACT, we talk with business leaders every day who are frustrated.  Month after month, they’ve been paying marketing agencies for results that never seem to materialize. They’re tired of unfulfilled promises. They’re tired of spending money that never turns into revenue.  This is a conversation we have pretty regularly: Potential client: We haven’t had great experiences with marketing agencies in the past. IMPACT: We hear that a lot. Are you working with one now? Potential client: Yeah, we have an SEO agency we pay each month. IMPACT: And what do they do for yo ..read more

About this Episode AI technology comes with amazing capabilities — and some troubling downsides. But, says Bob Ruffolo, CEO and founder of IMPACT, many of these risks have been around long before AI. For years, every digital technology has come with risks, and we’ve navigated them carefully and responsibly. But think about it, the concerns about AI are concerns we’ve had for decades:  “It’s too easy to accidentally plagiarize.” “We might expose client data to the wrong people.” “Overly-manipulated media will make people question our brand.” “We need to be on the lookout for biases.” You ..read more

About this Episode Every other month, we’re joined by Jess Palmeri, resident HubSpot expert, to talk new tools and features that all HubSpot users should know about.  This time, Jess has three major updates to dish on: Analyze playbook use First up, HubSpot is adding the ability to report on and analyze playbook use (for Sales and Service Hub users at the Professional or Enterprise tiers).  This is a big update for sales teams — especially sales leaders. They can now see how effective their playbooks are by getting insights they’ve never had before.  To get started, simply head ..read more

Sales drives business, but what drives sales? For too long, we've perpetuated the fallacy that sales is a lone-wolf profession. In every other part of business, we've come to understand that teamwork improves outcomes. We have a leadership team, a marketing team, an R&D team. Each works together to achieve shared goals. And then we have sales teams, which are teams in name only. Most sales teams are groups of autonomous reps who don't really collaborate and don't often share goals. Instead, each rep has a quota and a book of business. But this is a broken system. Sales teams deal with hig ..read more