Smart Marketing Blog

WordPress vs. HubSpot vs. Squarespace

My roots in website design and development began in WordPress ten years ago. Back then WordPress was the standard CMS solution. But through the years, other CMS options have changed the game. 

Best Practices in Using HubSpot for Sales and Marketing Alignment

In my previous role as the marketing manager for an engineering firm, I worked with TREW on a company rebranding, which included a new website that used HubSpot as both its marketing automation tool and its content management system (CMS). To get better acquainted with the tool, I attended one of HubSpot’s in-person training sessions. For the first three days of the classroom training, I learned how to use the tools in HubSpot’s Marketing Pro subscription. On the fourth day, I was joined by one of our vice presidents of sales for a Sales and Marketing Alignment training.

Introduction to Message Mapping for Effective Communication

A message map is a framework used to create compelling, relevant messages for various audience segments. It also serves as an organizational alignment tool to ensure message consistency. Whether you are launching your company, introducing the next big product, or preparing for other major marketing campaigns, messaging mapping is an important step in communicating effectively.

Introducing Content Marketing, Engineered Academy

We're excited to announced the launch of Content Marketing, Engineered Academy, a resource for B2B technical marketing training courses. The first course, Content Writing, Engineered, launches on August 3, 2020 and is available for pre-order today.

Build a Strong B2B Social Media Strategy in 6 Steps

Social media has an interesting place in the world of B2B marketing, with some companies ignoring social or relegating posting to the summer intern; some companies posting regularly but not actively fine-tuning their content strategy or approach; and still others devoting entire employees or teams to social strategy, content creation, audience engagement and reporting. There is no blanket answer to “how much time should my company devote to social media” or “how often should we post”, or even “what should we post and to which channels”. That’s where developing your individual strategy, based on your company’s goals and audiences, comes into play.

Your Audience Personas, Revisited

Personas help you attract the right people to your website by offering tailored content crafted with that perfect next customer in mind. They also help you weed out people you DON'T want as customers (you know the ones I’m talking about!), which is just as important. As your company grows and offers new solutions, your personas should also grow and develop. There may be times when you’re struggling to attract and convert qualified leads on your website, which is a sign that your personas need work. Whether in response to business changes, performance issues, or simply out of need for annual realignment, revisit your audience personas annually and hone their profiles.

Evaluate and Improve Your Email Marketing

Chances are you are actively nurturing your database through some form of email marketing. Do you know whether or not your enewsletters and emails are performing well, and what to do if they are not? In part three of our email blog series we’ll walk through the top 4 email marketing metrics and how to troubleshoot each area when you need to improve performance. If you missed parts one and two of the series, start here first:

Six Characteristics of a Great Spokesperson

During a presentation, your technical spokesperson becomes the voice of your company. While often the person is an expert on the product or technology, they are less often comfortable or experienced telling that story to an external audience. However, the strength of your spokesperson makes a significant difference in how your company, products and services are perceived.

8 Tips and Tricks to B2B Webinar Success

Webinars tend to be seen as difficult, time-consuming, and requiring specific expertise to pull off. The barriers to entry seem daunting, and it can be difficult to convince management and your company’s technical experts to participate. However, not only are webinars easier to organize and host than they appear, but they also can result in huge marketing and sales successes by generating new, engaged leads and opportunities.

Five Critical Steps to Developing a Marketing Plan

Marketers have a saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Without planning and a sound strategy, how can you know where you are going or what you need to do to get there? Here are five steps to develop your marketing plan.