Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better. It’s the age of AI, and our job as marketers is to keep up. My team at Foundation Marketing recently conducted an AI Marketing study surveying hundreds of marketers, and more than 84% of all leaders, managers, SEO experts, and specialists confirmed that they used AI in the workplace. If you can overlook the fear-inducing headlines, this technology is making social media marketers more efficient and effective than ever. Translation: AI is good news for social media marke ..read more

Welcome to HubSpot's Expert Edge Series, where we interview top execs at major brands to explore their perspectives on the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the industry. Over the past few months, you might've noticed a shift in HubSpot's social strategy. The more traditional B2B posts have given way for a social media presence that is funnier, more casual, and definitely more meme-ified. Which led me to wonder: What's the reason behind the shift? As HubSpot's Global Director of Social Media, Bryna Corcoran, told me: "About seven months ago, we started to speak to ..read more

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better. I’m an inclusive marketing consultant and the founder of Thompson Media Group. I also follow a gluten-free diet for health reasons. When I go to a restaurant’s website, I’m wondering, does their menu work for "People like me?" Your ideal customers are going to have these questions, as "people like me" often refers to an identity consumers hold. And, people with underrepresented and underserved identities often wonder about how their identity might impact the degree of su ..read more

If I were a creator, one of the first channels I’d explore is YouTube affiliate marketing. Think about it: Whether you’re sharing a tutorial or a product review, you can add affiliate links to every YouTube video description you create. Not only that, but you can also stack multiple links to products you recommend without having to put them all in one “link in bio.” Plus, you don’t have to worry about viewers leaving your page to go search for your product recommendations. Instead, all they need to do is scroll down while watching your video. While affiliate marketing is often seen on other c ..read more

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better. I’ve tested 100s of psychological tactics on my email subscribers. In this blog, I reveal the five tactics that actually work. You’ll learn about the email tactic that got one marketer a job at the White House. You’ll learn how I doubled my 5 star reviews with one email, and why one strange email from Barack Obama broke all records for donations. 5 Psychological Tactics to Write Better Emails Imagine writing an email that’s so effective it lands you a job at the White H ..read more

It’s estimated that a shocking 60% (or less) of work time is spent productively, according to Atlassian. Time is our scarcest resource, yet we spend so much of it doing things that are unproductive — usually without meaning to. Emails, meetings, endless notifications... We’re indeed being pulled in more directions than ever before, but it’s not just technology holding us back from making the most of our time. In many cases, we are the ones responsible for our own lack of productivity. As a freelance remote worker, I’ve had to tango with my self-sabotaging productivity quirks more than most. I ..read more

Let me tell you the most challenging part of my job. Often, I will delete TikTok and Instagram from my phone because I can't help but waste time endlessly scrolling through these apps, watching dozens of short-form videos in one sitting. Then, like clockwork, I redownload these apps because I must write about them for work. Thus, the cycle of endless scrolling continues. Sure, I could blame the nature of the job, but my endless scrolling stems from the fact that I love short-form videos. And I'm not the only one. 73% of consumers prefer to watch short-form videos to learn about a product or se ..read more

Advertising is an ever-changing beast — with those on ad and marketing teams working hard to stay ahead of trends. In 2023, we saw the emergence of AI in all forms of content, the rise of personalization, augmented realities (including the metaverse), and the explosion of short-form video. As a seasoned content marketer working in tech, I’ve noticed that advertising trends in 2024 seem to respond to the trends we saw in 2023. For example, if my ad team was firmly against using artificial intelligence last year, I’d need to catch up with everyone who initially embraced it. You might even be usi ..read more

Google Ads is the world’s largest PPC advertising platform. If used effectively, you can generate significant profit for companies. But wrapping your head around it can be hard. Google Ads requires a lot of testing and experimentation. Or, at least, it did until now. Google Ads has recently launched a conversational experience for advertisers, which lets users create their ads by using text prompts. However, Google Ads Intelligence, as it’s broadly known, offers way more than just being an interactive campaign builder. In this post, I explain what Google Ads Intelligence is, the key features ..read more

When I was growing up, QVC was the channel my mother would watch to discover new products and deals. From hair straighteners to trendy blouses to jewelry, QVC would display everything during its 24/7 live broadcast. Fast-forward to 2024, and I thought the live QVC era was long gone, thanks to the rise of online shopping. However, it looks like it is making a comeback via TikTok Live Shopping. I can't scroll for more than a minute without coming across a TikTok Live event showcasing products and services that viewers can purchase directly from the live broadcast. So what is TikTok Live Shopping ..read more