All this and more in this week's edition of The Hypha Wire, from Hypha HubSpot Development.
Howdy there! (Whenever you’re reading this.)
For those who celebrate, I hope you had a great 4th and (hopefully) a wonderful long weekend.
The 4th—and the days that bookend it—are big for spending. Between the $9.4 billion spent on food and $2.7 billion on fireworks, plus retail sales—online couponer RetailMeNot surveyed 1k+ American adults and found that “74% plan to celebrate July 4. And the majority (51%) of shoppers are planning to shop Fourth of July sales, spending an average of $310.” There’s certainly money to be made.
(Unrelated: I was trying to dig into why exactly society runs sales on the 4th. Who was the first to say, ‘Hey let’s celebrate our independence by offering 20% off!’ Honestly, I couldn’t get to the bottom of it, so if you know, please write in.)
The historical unknown aside, the facts underline how critical of a weekend this is for commerce. If it’s appropriate for your product/brand, why not get in on the buzz?
We have two quarters left this year and plenty of holidays on the horizon to attempt your first big discount campaign. For those in the U.S., the shortlist includes Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and winter holidays, etc. Here are a few tips from our friends at HubSpot about how to plan a holiday campaign:
Decide on a campaign theme
Establish campaign goals
Identify your target audience
Create an offer
Produce a landing page
Design a promotion plan
Create lead nurturing paths
Take the campaign live
Measure and report
I’d love to know about some of your favorite campaigns—bonus points if they’re your own!
-Sage Levene, VP of Marketing, Hypha HubSpot Development
Open Mic 🎤
How about (Not) Figuratively Speaking
By Dillon Friday, Director of Client Services, Hypha HubSpot Development
Fun and little-known fact about me: I was a creative writing major in college.
I share that to emphasize how much pain the next sentence brings me: I’m done with figurative language. No more metaphors. No more similes. I’m not knocking any fastballs out of the park anytime soon. I’m not quarterbacking any meetings.
Of course, I am only referencing my use of figurative language in work settings. If someone is unfamiliar with, say, baseball, they won’t necessarily understand what it means to be ‘in the ballpark,’ ‘come out of leftfield,’ or speak in terms that are ‘inside baseball.’ Heck, they may not be a sports fan at all.
Innocent as one’s intentions might be, I believe that microaggressions tend to accumulate, and something as simple as a misunderstood metaphor can leave a negative impression.
It’s not an easy process to alter my lexicon, and the inclusive aspect of doing so is very real. But it’s less about using fewer metaphors, and more about communicating more clearly.
I want to be transparent and direct with colleagues and clients. It yields more productive relationships, particularly as AI-generated content, often vague or humanesque, floods our industry.
I would hope that I would leave my colleagues and clients with the impression that I choose my words carefully, and ‘choose your words’ carefully is always good advice.
It looks like our internal ‘publish everywhere’ strategy has an official name: search everywhere optimization. This is something we’ve been aware of for a while, anticipating all of the search engine changes brought on by AI and more. The strategy is simple: think outside the blog. One rule does reign supreme, however: quality content, always.
“Some will argue this isn’t an entirely new concept and they’re right. So, why call this the ‘new’ SEO?
“This optimization strategy is now a must instead of a bonus or an afterthought.
“Instead of appearing in the ‘Additional ideas and opportunities’ section of a roadmap or business review, it should now be a central part of an SEO’s strategic planning.”
While one of the simplest tools in your sales and marketing arsenal, landing pages can be extremely tricky to nail down. Many different types correspond with different stages of the buyer’s journey, and it’s difficult to know where to start. This great guide from HubSpot provides some solid examples across industries to jump start your landing page creation.
“According to WordStream, the average landing page conversion rate is 2.35% across industries, with the top 25th percentile of landing pages hitting 5.31% or higher.”
Hypha Highlights 🖊️
In marketing, as in many other industries, efficiency isn’t just a goal—it’s a competitive advantage. HubSpot’s Operations Hub empowers businesses to streamline processes and enhance automation through a range of powerful tools, including Custom Coded Workflow Actions. But what exactly are these actions, and how can they revolutionize your operations?
What Are Custom Coded Workflow Actions?
Custom Coded Workflow Actions in HubSpot Operations Hub enable users to extend the platform’s native functionality by creating bespoke automation steps using custom code snippets. This opens up a world of possibilities beyond the built-in actions because it allows businesses to tailor workflows precisely to their unique needs.
Google rolled out its new mission to personalize and summarize the information it gathers when we ask it a question or type anything into the old search bar. Dubbed Search Generative Experience (SGE), it is an advanced, AI-driven approach to search engines that leverages generative models and machine learning to deliver highly personalized and contextually relevant search results.
Users now find most of the information they need directly within the SGE results, significantly reducing the need to click through multiple links.
Obviously this is not ideal for SEO companies or anyone heavily invested in top-of-funnel content. Those of us still kicking around in this sector are here because we figured out how to optimize the search engines and turn results into leads for ourselves and our clients. Well, what happens when Google pulls the plug on the game we’ve been playing—and mastering—for all these years?
Recent Google leaks have added to the anxiety, giving us a glimpse into how their ranking algorithm may work. This information is invaluable for SEOs who can decipher it, but it also highlights the uncertain future we face. How will SGE challenge the conventions of SEO companies? Is SEO dead or (hopefully) something a tad less dramatic? Where do we even go from here? How can we stay relevant when our relevance is all so very…relative?
“For our latest State of Service report, we spoke to over 1,000 global customer experience leaders about how they’re navigating this new landscape and the three focus areas that are helping CX leaders create meaningful customer experiences at scale.”
This was a really interesting listen—if you’re like me and you love books, but have a hard time picking them up sometimes, this one’s for you.
“For this week’s episode of Working Overtime, hosts Ronald Young Jr and Isaac Butler are joined by writer Elisa Gabbert for a discussion of reading and rediscovering a love of books. Gabbert is the author of Any Person is the Only Self, a new collection of essays on art, culture, and reading habits. Gabbert delves into some of her reading practices such as always being surrounded by exciting-looking books, exploring the ‘Recently Returned’ section of her library, and not being afraid to revisit and critique classic novels.”
How can we help you?
Industry Spotlight: Cleantech & Renewable Energy
As clean energy technology seeks to scale up amid heightened awareness over the climate crisis and significant public sector financial investments, it’s evident that firms will need a more robust and streamlined tech stack.
Part and parcel of that is empowering your business with an all-in-one sales and marketing platform that gives everyone access to important data, workflows, quality leads, and much more.
Powered by HubSpot’s world-class CRM, cleantech companies can leverage customer and prospective client information to develop clear and accessible communication—making your products easier to understand and, most importantly, tangible in the eyes of consumers.
