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How to Use Interactive Content to Boost Your Website Engagement and Conversions

Elizabeth Juran — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 18:08:28 GMT

As marketers, we can agree that compelling, conversion-focused content is a cornerstone for your digital presence. We know that today's buyers prefer to self-educate almost entirely through the buyer's journey. And we know that people are turning to reputable websites for the information they need.

So, when it comes to creating this content, how can you stand out while also serving the needs of your audience? Interactive content is the answer.

Interactive content is content that encourages a web user's participation along with sharing information, thereby changing the content experience from passive consumption to active engagement.

Examples include calculators, assessments, interactive videos, animated infographics, clickable flowcharts, quizzes, and more.

But does it work? Eighty-eight percent of marketers agree that interactive content helps brands differentiate themselves, and research shows that interactive content is twice as likely to engage a web visitor than static content.

Here's how to get started with interactive content for your audience.

Understand Your Audience to Choose the Best Content

Which type of interactive content will work best for your audience depends on your audience's needs.

And, most likely, your audience's needs will change as they move through the buyer's journey.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule—for example, you may have extensive data that tells you your audience almost always navigates your website from a mobile device. In that case, you'd never want to choose an interactive content format that only works well on a desktop browser. Don't ever let the format of your content work against known audience preferences.

Here are a couple of examples of how to use information about your audience to select interactive content.

Suppose your audience is in the Awareness stage of the buyer's journey and is just learning about possible solutions to their problem. In that case, you may consider an interactive infographic that offers plenty of resources to establish yourself as the thought leader in their area of interest.

Image Source: https://rockcontent.com/gallery/twilio-infographic/

Suppose you're targeting an audience who is aware of their problem and determining the appropriate solution. In that case, an ROI calculator might be best because it will show them how much money or time your product could save them in their exact scenario.

Image Source: https://rockcontent.com/gallery/icontact-email-marketing/

Design the Interactive Content Effectively

Creating interactive content requires careful thought. Just like thoughtlessly overhauling your website or publishing images haphazardly to your company's Instagram would generate subpar results, the same is true with interactive content.

To create the most effective interactive content design, there are a few principles to keep in mind:

Set clear objectives: Determine the purpose and goals of your interactive content. Are you aiming to educate, entertain, or engage your audience? At what stage of the buyer's journey are they, and will your content help them reach their goals? A clear objective enables you to design content that aligns with your overall marketing strategy.
Plan the user journey: Define the desired path users should take while interacting with your content. Consider the sequence of interactions, the flow of information, and the desired outcomes at each stage. Ensure the user experience is intuitive, logical, and engaging.
Follow basic design principles: Design your interactive content with a user-centric approach. Ensure the content is visually appealing, in alignment with your existing branding, easy to navigate, and responsive across different devices. Pay attention to the readability of text, use clear instructions, and provide helpful feedback to guide users through the interactive experience.
Incorporate interactivity strategically: Determine how interactivity enhances the user experience and supports your goals. Interactive elements should serve a purpose, such as gathering user data, providing personalized recommendations, or facilitating decision-making. Avoid unnecessary or excessive interactivity that may distract or confuse users.

Measure and Adjust

One of the advantages of interactive content is the ability to gather extensive feedback data from users.

Passive content only provides limited performance data, like the number of downloads or scrolling to the end of a page. It cannot confirm if the content was actually read. Can you really rely on that information to improve?

In contrast, interactive content—depending on the platform you use to build it—allows for data collection during content consumption, such as views, clicks, interactions, and exit points.

According to a survey conducted by Rock Content, organizations that utilize interactive content can effectively measure their efficiency at a rate of 60%, compared to only 25% for those using static content. For instance, if you create an interactive assessment to help clients identify something of value to them, each individual conversion point (e.g., each question they answer) is its own metric. With all of these rich data points, you can better evaluate content performance and gain insights into user preferences.

By verifying that users have engaged with the entire piece of content and collecting valuable data about your audience's behaviors, challenges, and needs, you can adjust and optimize your content accordingly.

Explore the Possibilities of Interactive Content

In a digital world where attention spans are fleeting, embracing the power of interactive content can revolutionize your website's engagement and boost conversions. To unlock the full potential of this game-changing tool, take the first step towards success by contacting us here or clicking the image below. Explore the possibilities, captivate your audience, and elevate your online presence to new heights.

6 Personalization Tools You Can Use Now to Drive Member Retention and Satisfaction

allison.kral@readynorth.com (Allison Kral) — Tue, 27 Jun 2023 13:34:17 GMT

Your members are constantly evolving, and with competition for attention at an all-time premium, your marketing efforts need to stand out.

In today’s individualized world, a one-size-fits-all approach no longer suffices when it comes to marketing, and that’s where personalization comes into play.

Below, we delve into the reasons why personalization is crucial for associations and explore several tools you can use now to drive member engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Why Personalize Your Association’s Marketing Efforts?

Personalizing your association’s marketing efforts can reap significant benefits. First, by tailoring messages and content to prospects' needs, associations can build meaningful connections and increase the chances of converting prospects into members.

Personalization also enables associations to deliver targeted messages that answer your members’ questions and address their most pressing pain points. Ensuring your communications resonate with the right audience at the right time will help result in higher conversion rates and enhance member loyalty.

As a whole, embracing personalization in your organization’s marketing efforts is tantamount to building prospect connections, boosting member retention, standing out from your competition, and driving revenue. What else does this mean? Long gone are the days of spamming your members with irrelevant emails. If your association isn’t incorporating personalization tools like the ones below, it may be left in the dust.

Personalization Tools to Add to Your Marketing Strategy Now

While it may seem like an overhaul of your existing marketing strategy, adding personalization doesn’t have to be a significant burden. Use the tools below to get started.

1. Personalize with Reporting

Using reporting for personalization efforts in marketing can help you leverage data to make strategic, informed decisions. Tools like HubSpot, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics 4 can provide you with impactful data related to member and prospect behavior, pain points, and interests. Types of HubSpot reports that you can create to help drive your decisions include:

Contact reports: These reports provide insights into your contact database, including contact growth, engagement rates, and lifecycle stages. You can analyze data such as website visits, form submissions, email interactions, and conversion rates to understand your audience's behavior and preferences.

Asset reports: Gain a better understanding of which of your content assets (ebooks, whitepapers, guides, tools, etc.) are top performers. HubSpot enables you to break down contact conversions by asset type, source, and more. From there, you can optimize your content creation process, as well as your site’s user experience (UX).

Email performance reports: These reports help you analyze the effectiveness of your email campaigns. You can track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Understanding which emails resonate with specific segments or individuals can help you can personalize future email campaigns accordingly.

Website analytics reports: HubSpot's website analytics reports provide information on website traffic, page performance, and conversion rates. You can identify popular pages and top-performing landing pages and track visitor behavior. This data helps you understand which content and website elements resonate with your audience, enabling you to personalize their website experience.

Combined with GA4’s audience reports, event tracking reports, conversion reports, and user acquisition reports—as well as Google Search Console—these tools can empower you to make informed marketing decisions for your target audiences.

2. List Segmentation for Personalization

In HubSpot, list segmentation can be used to organize your contacts based on a wide variety of criteria, such as age, most recent content download, lifecycle stage, and more. These lists can then be used in targeted emails and workflows.

For example, if you created an active list of members who have filled out a form for a whitepaper covering the benefits of utilizing AI (artificial intelligence) for member engagement, you could then send them marketing emails related to that specific subject.

3. Personalization Tokens

Ever wonder how an email addresses you by your first name? The answer lies in personalization tokens. Personalization tokens, which represent property values for CRM objects such as contacts or companies, can be used on your HubSpot website pages, landing pages, and emails.

A simple yet effective way to use a personalization token is by adding a first name or company name to an email, as shown in the example below.

🔥 Pro tip: Always use a default value in the event you don’t have a contact’s information for the personalization token you’ve created. This will ensure the token doesn’t appear blank or confuse your reader.

4. Smart Content

HubSpot’s unique smart content features allow you to create personalized marketing messages with only a few clicks. With this tool, you can display different content to users based on each contact’s properties, interactions on your site, or engagement in channels.

To create smart content, select a module in an email, blog post, website page, or template. Click "Add” under “Smart rules” and create your rule.

Once you’ve created your rule, you’ll edit a page’s content based on your different categories.

Smart content is a simple way to customize your messages based on a contact’s lifecycle stage. For example, if a visitor is a new lead, you can display introductory content and calls to action to encourage them to learn more and engage further. On the other hand, if a visitor is an existing customer, you can display personalized upsell offers or content relevant to their specific needs.

🔥 Pro tip: Most smart content rules are created around a known contact’s lifecycle stage or list membership, though there are some exceptions to this, as smart content rules can also be based on ad source, country, device, referral source, and preferred language.

5. Smart Forms

Smart forms go hand in hand with smart content. Like the above, rules are created in order to display different forms for a user based on their country, device, referral source, preferred language, list membership, and lifecycle stage.

To create a smart form, simply navigate to the landing or website page where your form lives to edit it. Select the form module, and click “Add” under “Smart rules.” From there, you can choose your criteria and save your new rule.

Once you’ve created the new rule, select the category for which you’d like to edit the content, scroll down to your form, and sub it out for the correct one.

6. Smart CTAs

Like smart content, smart CTAs can display different copy and direct users to different website pages based on their country, device, referral source, preferred language, contact list membership, or lifecycle stage.

You can directly edit your existing CTAs to make them smart by selecting Actions > Edit > “Create smart version.” Once you’ve done so, you’ll be prompted to create specific rules for that CTA.

Once those rules are established, they’ll be automatically implemented on the pages where that CTA lives.

🔥 Pro tip: Marketing Hub Enterprise users can also A/B test smart button CTAs to see which ones are most effective.

Personalize Your Association’s Marketing with HubSpot

If your goal is to enhance your association’s marketing strategy with HubSpot, then you’ve come to the right place. Check out our on-demand webinar, The Power of Personalization: Tips and Tricks for Driving Member Participation and Retention, below to learn more about how you can scale your personalization efforts with ease.

What Are the Various HubSpot Hubs and Which Do I Need?

shannen.laur@pr2020.com (Shannen Laur) — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 20:04:01 GMT

Unless you’ve been living in some far-off land for the last 15+ years, I’m willing to bet you've at least heard of HubSpot.

HubSpot started as a marketing automation platform in 2006, and users have experienced a treasure trove of growth since. The platform is now a comprehensive suite of tools and services to help businesses with their marketing, sales, customer service, and operations. It’s ultimately designed to enable businesses to attract, engage, and delight customers throughout their buyer's journey.

At the core of HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides businesses with a powerful and user-friendly system to manage their customer relationships. It offers a range of features to help businesses organize, track, and nurture their leads and customers.

While HubSpot has grown to be an all-in-one platform, it’s not uncommon for us to be asked, “Which HubSpot features do I need?” And that’s a great question. But first, it’s important to understand how HubSpot brands each of its suite of tools, called “hubs.”

A (Super) Basic Overview of HubSpot Hubs

HubSpot offers a suite of integrated hubs, each focusing on a specific area of business operations. The integration between these hubs allows for seamless alignment between marketing, sales, and customer service activities, enabling businesses to provide a unified and personalized experience to their customers.

Here is a quick list of the current HubSpot Hubs—be sure to click each link to read about each in full detail throughout this post.

Marketing Hub: Marketing Hub provides tools for inbound marketing and helps businesses attract, engage, and nurture leads. It includes features for content creation, social media management, email marketing, lead generation, marketing analytics, and more.

Sales Hub: Sales Hub focuses on empowering sales teams to close deals more efficiently. It provides tools for contact and deal management, email tracking, document management, meeting scheduling, sales automation, and reporting.

Service Hub: Service Hub is geared towards delivering excellent customer service and support. It includes features such as ticketing, knowledge base management, live chat, customer feedback collection, customer satisfaction tracking, and automation tools.

CMS Hub: CMS Hub is a content management system that allows businesses to create, manage, and optimize their website content. It provides features for drag-and-drop editing, customizable themes, SEO tools, content staging, and integration with other HubSpot hubs.

Operations Hub: Operations Hub helps streamline business operations and data management. It includes features for data synchronization, data quality automation, workflow automation, advanced reporting, and integrations with other systems.

HubSpot Marketing Hub

HubSpot Marketing Hub is a comprehensive marketing platform designed to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers through various marketing channels. HubSpot Marketing Hub provides a wide range of tools and features to assist marketers in creating and executing effective marketing campaigns.

Marketing Hub was HubSpot’s original software iteration and offers a ton of features:

Lead generation and capture: HubSpot Marketing Hub provides tools for creating and embedding forms on your website to capture leads. You can also build landing pages, pop-up forms, and live chat widgets to engage visitors and convert them into leads.
Marketing automation: HubSpot Marketing Hub allows you to automate repetitive marketing tasks, such as sending emails, managing social media campaigns, and nurturing leads. It provides workflows, lead scoring, and behavioral tracking to streamline your marketing efforts.
Email marketing: With the email marketing capabilities of HubSpot Marketing Hub, you can create and send personalized emails to your contacts. It offers templates, A/B testing, segmentation, and analytics to optimize your email campaigns. It also allows you to nurture the contacts in your database across their unique lifecycle stages so that when they’re ready to take a sales-focused action, they’re already warm and aware of your business.
Content management: The platform enables you to create and manage your website content, blog posts, and landing pages within the HubSpot Content Management System (CMS). It includes SEO tools, a drag-and-drop editor, and collaboration features to simplify content creation. More on CMS Hub below. 👇
Social media management: HubSpot Marketing Hub integrates with major social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter. It allows you to schedule and publish posts, monitor social conversations, and analyze social media performance. Marketing Hub’s social features help you engage with your audience and manage your social media presence.
Analytics and reporting: The platform provides detailed analytics and reporting features to track the performance of your marketing campaigns. You can measure website traffic, lead generation, email engagement, social media reach, and more to gain insights to make data-driven decisions.

How do I know if my organization needs HubSpot Marketing Hub?

HubSpot Marketing Hub is designed to cater to a wide range of businesses and marketers who are looking to enhance their marketing efforts and achieve their goals. It can be beneficial for:

Companies with limited resources. With its comprehensive set of tools, small or limited teams can streamline their marketing activities, automate processes, generate leads, and improve customer engagement without the need for extensive technical expertise.
Marketing teams looking to improve collaboration and efficiency. The platform provides collaboration features, allowing team members to work together efficiently on campaigns, while organizing their marketing efforts, measuring results, and optimizing strategies based on data insights.
Organizations with a focus on inbound marketing. HubSpot Marketing Hub aligns with inbound marketing principles and provides tools to execute inbound strategies effectively, including content creation, SEO optimization, lead nurturing, and analytics.
Growth-focused organizations. Businesses that are looking to scale and grow can benefit from HubSpot Marketing Hub's automation capabilities, lead generation tools, and analytics. The platform helps identify marketing opportunities, optimize conversion rates, and drive revenue growth.

Ultimately, any business or marketer that wants to improve their marketing efforts, generate more leads, nurture customer relationships, and gain insights into their marketing performance can find value in using HubSpot Marketing Hub.

HubSpot Sales Hub

HubSpot Sales Hub is a sales software platform that helps sales teams streamline their processes, close deals more effectively, and build lasting customer relationships. HubSpot Sales Hub provides a range of tools and features to assist sales professionals at every stage of the sales cycle, including:

Contact management: HubSpot Sales Hub serves as a central repository for managing contacts and customer information. It allows sales teams to store, organize, and track interactions with prospects and customers. Contacts can be segmented, and detailed profiles provide valuable insights for personalized selling.
Deal management: Sales Hub provides tools for tracking and managing deals in the pipeline. Users can create deal stages, set tasks, assign owners, and track progress towards closing deals. It offers visibility into deal value, probability, and expected close dates, helping sales teams prioritize and focus their efforts.
Email tracking and templates: The platform offers 1:1 email tracking capabilities, enabling salespeople to see when and how often prospects open their emails and click on links. It also provides a library of email templates that can be customized and used to save time while maintaining consistency in communication.
Document management: HubSpot Sales Hub allows sales teams to create, send, and track sales documents, such as proposals, contracts, and presentations. It provides insights into document engagement, including when prospects view or interact with the documents, helping sales reps prioritize follow-ups.
Sales automation: The platform offers automation features to streamline repetitive sales tasks. Users can automate email sequences, follow-up reminders, and other actions to improve efficiency and consistency in their sales processes.
Reporting and analytics: Sales managers and teams get access to analytics and reporting features to track individual and team performance. Users can gain insights into key metrics, such as deal activity, conversion rates, and revenue generated. Data-driven insights help optimize sales strategies and identify areas for improvement.

How do I know if my organization needs HubSpot Sales Hub?

Sales Hub is particularly beneficial for sales teams that prioritize building relationships, personalizing their sales approach, and leveraging data insights to drive sales success. Your organization might benefit from HubSpot Sales Hub if you are:

Interested in streamlining sales tasks. Sales teams can leverage Sales Hub to improve their productivity, collaborate on deals, and align their efforts with marketing and customer service activities.
A sales manager or leader looking for valuable insights into sales team performance. The platform enables sales managers and leaders to monitor team performance, track progress towards sales goals, and make data-driven decisions. It provides visibility into deal pipelines, sales activities, and individual performance, allowing managers to identify coaching opportunities and drive revenue growth.
An organization with limited resources and budget. HubSpot Sales Hub is a cost-effective, all-in-one platform that empowers users to organize their contacts, automate sales tasks, and track deals without the need for extensive technical expertise or a large budget.
Part of a sales enablement team. HubSpot Sales Hub can be a valuable tool for sales enablement teams to create and manage sales collateral, such as templates, documents, and training materials. They can ensure that the sales team has access to up-to-date resources to support their sales efforts.

HubSpot Service Hub

HubSpot Service Hub is a customer service software platform, created to help businesses deliver exceptional customer service, manage customer relationships, and provide support across various channels.

HubSpot Service Hub provides the following range of tools and features to streamline customer service operations and enhance the overall customer experience:

Ticketing system: Service Hub offers a centralized ticketing system that allows service teams to track, manage, and resolve customer inquiries and support tickets efficiently. It provides a unified inbox for capturing customer interactions from various channels like email, live chat, and social media, ensuring a seamless support experience.
Knowledge base: HubSpot Service Hub enables businesses to create a knowledge base or a self-service portal where customers can find answers to common questions, troubleshooting guides, and helpful resources. This empowers customers to find solutions on their own, reducing the need for contacting support and improving customer satisfaction. 👉An amazing example of a Knowledge base is HubSpot’s very own help center….which I honestly should make my homepage at this point.
Live chat and chatbots: The platform includes live chat functionality, allowing businesses to engage with customers in real-time on their website. Additionally, chatbots can be used to automate basic inquiries and provide instant responses, enhancing customer support availability and efficiency.
Customer feedback surveys: HubSpot Service Hub provides tools for collecting customer feedback and running surveys to gauge customer satisfaction and identify areas for improvement. This helps businesses gather insights, measure support performance, and take proactive steps to enhance the customer experience.
Reporting and analytics: Just like Marketing and Sales Hub, Service Hub offers robust reporting and analytics capabilities to measure customer service performance. Businesses can track key metrics like ticket volume, response times, customer satisfaction scores, and agent productivity. These insights help identify trends, optimize support processes, and improve team performance.

By integrating Service Hub with Marketing Hub and Sales Hub, businesses can create a unified customer experience across the entire customer journey—from initial engagement through sales and ongoing support.

How do I know if my organization needs HubSpot Service Hub?

HubSpot Service Hub is designed to meet the needs of businesses and organizations that aim to deliver exceptional customer service and support. It can be beneficial for:

Dedicated customer support teams. It provides tools to efficiently manage and resolve customer inquiries, track support tickets, and maintain a centralized system for communication and collaboration across service and support teams.
Companies that are service-oriented businesses. Companies that prioritize providing high-quality customer service as a core aspect of their business can benefit from Service Hub.
Organizations that interact with customers across multiple channels. If your business interacts with customers through various channels like email, live chat, social media, and phone, Service Hub can help you consolidate and manage these interactions in one place. It enables businesses to provide a consistent and unified support experience across multiple channels.
Businesses looking to enable a self-service buyer. If you have a need for a knowledge base or self-service portal where customers can find answers to common questions and support resources, Service Hub offers features to create and manage such knowledge bases. This empowers customers to find solutions on their own, reducing the load on support teams and improving customer satisfaction.

HubSpot CMS Hub

HubSpot CMS Hub is a content management system (CMS) designed to help businesses create, manage, and optimize their website content. CMS Hub provides a user-friendly interface and a range of tools that allow businesses to build and customize their websites without the need for extensive technical knowledge or coding skills. It offers drag-and-drop functionality, flexible themes, and a variety of pre-built templates, making it easier for marketers and content creators to create and publish web pages.

Some key features of HubSpot CMS Hub include:

Content creation and editing: Users can create and edit website content using a visual editor, similar to popular website builders. It supports rich media, such as images and videos, and provides options for formatting, styling, and organizing content
Customization and personalization: CMS Hub allows businesses to customize their websites to align with their branding and design preferences. It offers a range of themes and templates that can be easily modified. It also supports dynamic content, allowing for personalized experiences based on visitor data.
SEO optimization: The CMS Hub includes built-in tools for search engine optimization (SEO). It provides recommendations for optimizing content, such as meta tags, headings, and URL structures, to improve search engine visibility and rankings.
Website performance and security: CMS Hub takes care of website hosting, security, and maintenance. It includes features like SSL certificates, content delivery network (CDN) integration, automatic backups, and regular software updates to ensure the website's performance and security.

How do I know if my organization needs HubSpot CMS Hub?

HubSpot CMS Hub aims to provide a comprehensive solution for businesses to create and manage their website content effectively. It’s often used by:

Teams looking to align website performance with marketing strategy. Organizations can leverage CMS Hub to align their website content with their marketing strategies, create landing pages for campaigns, and generate leads.
Organizations that do not have technical resources in-house. Content creators and marketing teams benefit from HubSpot CMS Hub's user-friendly interface and content editing capabilities. They can easily create and update website pages, blog posts, and other forms of content without needing to rely on technical resources. CMS Hub also supports collaboration, enabling content teams to work together on content creation and approvals.
Dedicated design and development teams. While HubSpot CMS Hub offers pre-built themes and templates, design and development teams can customize and extend the functionality of websites using the CMS's flexible framework. They can create custom modules, integrate third-party tools, and implement unique design elements to match the brand identity and meet specific business requirements.
Sales teams who want to better personalize their outreach. While you may not think of the sales team benefiting from CMS Hub immediately, sales can leverage the website as a tool to create personalized landing pages or microsites for prospects, capture lead information, and track prospect interactions on the website.
IT teams concerned with advanced customization, security, and integrations. Although HubSpot CMS Hub is designed to be user-friendly for non-technical users, IT and technical teams play a role in website setup, configuration, and advanced customization. They can manage tasks such as domain management, DNS configuration, integrations with other systems, and managing advanced website functionality directly in the portal.

It's important to note that HubSpot CMS Hub can be beneficial for businesses of all sizes, from small businesses to enterprise-level organizations. The specific teams involved may vary depending on the size and structure of the business, but generally, any team responsible for website content, marketing, sales, or technical aspects can find value in using HubSpot CMS Hub.

HubSpot Operations Hub

The newest of all Hubs is HubSpot Operations Hub, which helps businesses streamline their operations, automate processes, and improve data management. It aims to empower businesses to optimize their operational processes, improve data quality, and automate tasks to enhance overall efficiency, bridging the gap between different systems and enabling seamless data flow.

Some of the key components of Operations Hub include:

Data sync: Operations Hub provides data synchronization capabilities, allowing businesses to connect and sync data between HubSpot and other systems or databases. This helps ensure that customer data remains consistent and up to date across different platforms.
Data quality automation: Operations Hub offers tools to help maintain data integrity and quality. It includes features like data cleansing, duplicate management, and data enrichment to ensure accurate and reliable customer information.
Programmable automation: Operations Hub enables businesses to automate manual tasks and processes by building custom workflows using a visual editor. This helps save time and improves efficiency by automating repetitive or time-consuming tasks.
Custom bots: With Operations Hub, organizations can create custom chatbots to engage with website visitors and provide automated support or information. Custom bots can be designed to answer frequently asked questions, capture lead information, and provide a personalized user experience.
Advanced reporting: Operations Hub includes advanced reporting and analytics capabilities to provide insights into business operations. It offers customizable dashboards and reports that help track key metrics, analyze performance, and make data-driven decisions.
Integrations: Operations Hub supports integrations with other systems and tools, allowing businesses to connect and synchronize data with platforms such as CRM systems, marketing automation tools, and customer service software.

How do I know if my organization needs HubSpot CMS Hub?

While the name “operations” may scare you away if you’re in marketing, sales, or service, HubSpot Operations Hub is actually beneficial for a variety of teams:

Sales and marketing teams looking to better align efforts. Operations Hub helps align sales and marketing efforts by providing data synchronization capabilities between different systems, such as CRM and marketing automation tools. It allows for seamless data transfer and ensures that both teams have access to accurate and up-to-date customer information.
Services team seeking cleaner customer data. Operations Hub's data quality automation features can be valuable for customer service teams. It helps maintain accurate and reliable customer data, enabling better customer support and personalized experiences.
Operations and IT teams needing to reduce manual tasks. Operations Hub provides tools for automating manual processes and tasks, which can significantly benefit operations and IT teams. It allows them to automate data syncing, streamline workflows, and reduce the need for manual data entry and maintenance.
Any team that needs to cleanse data. HubSpot Operations Hub includes features for data cleansing, duplicate management, and data enrichment. These capabilities can help ensure data integrity and improve overall data quality.
Businesses with multiple systems and integrations. If an organization relies on multiple systems and platforms for its operations, such as CRM, marketing automation, and customer service tools, Operations Hub can help synchronize and manage data between these systems. It provides a centralized hub for data management and integration, reducing data silos and improving overall efficiency.
Any team seeking better, more insightful reports. Operations Hub's advanced reporting and analytics capabilities provide valuable insights into business operations. Executives and decision-makers can leverage these insights to track key metrics, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Ultimately the goal of HubSpot Operations Hub is to help businesses deliver a better customer experience and achieve their operational goals.

Get HubSpot support from the first agency partner

Ready North bet on HubSpot nearly two decades ago when we became their first agency partner. We’ve had a front seat into all of the platform advancements and feature launches ever since.

Our team is trained and certified across Hubs, and we can help you onboard, optimize, or manage your portal ongoing. Reach out if you’re looking for support.

How To Use HubSpot To Nurture Your Prospects Into Members

Macy Kittelberger — Wed, 31 May 2023 14:57:26 GMT

Picture this: You've spent months cultivating a relationship with a potential member, only to have them slip away at the last minute. Don't worry; we've all been there. But with HubSpot, you can turn those missed opportunities into successful conversions and happy members.

HubSpot is a powerful tool that can help you automate your marketing, personalize your outreach, and measure your success—all in one place.

Below, we’ll walk you through how to use HubSpot to nurture your prospects into members without getting lost in the weeds.

Understand Your Prospects

One of the most crucial steps in nurturing your prospects into members is understanding their needs, challenges, and pain points. When you know what your prospects are looking for and what obstacles they face, you’ll have an easier time tailoring your messaging and outreach. This is where HubSpot's CRM can be a game changer.

Research by the Content Marketing Institute shows 73% of top-performing organizations prioritize audience research when developing their content marketing strategies. And HubSpot's CRM makes audience research a breeze. With its built-in contact and lead management features, you can collect and organize valuable information about your prospects, such as their job title, company size, industry, and pain points. This information can then be used to segment your audience and create targeted messaging that resonates with each group.

In addition, HubSpot's CRM enables you to track your prospects' interactions with your website and other content. You can view:

Pages they've visited.
Forms they've filled out.
Emails they've opened and engaged with.
Social posts they’ve liked or commented on.

This information can help you understand where each prospect is in the buyer's journey and what content they're most interested in. Even more, it can help you build stronger relationships with your prospects and increase the chances that they'll eventually become happy members of your association.

Create Targeted Content

Once you understand your prospects' needs and pain points, the next step is creating targeted content that speaks directly to them. According to research by HubSpot, personalized content is 42% more likely to convert than non-personalized content. This means that taking the time to create content that resonates with your prospects is crucial if you want to nurture them into members.

Whether you're creating blog posts, social media shares, or email newsletters, HubSpot's content creation tools, such as personalization tokens and smart content, allow you to easily tailor your messaging and outreach to each segment of your audience.

Another key feature of HubSpot's CRM is the ability to create and save personas—detailed profiles of your ideal customers that include information such as their job title, challenges, goals, and buying habits.

In addition, HubSpot tracks the performance of your content so you can make adjustments as needed. You have visibility into:

The pieces of content that are getting the most engagement.
Which topics resonate with your audience (and which aren’t).
The top traffic-driving channels.

Developing a clear understanding of the type of content you want to produce can help you continuously refine your strategy and craft even more targeted messaging that deeply resonates with your prospects.

Utilize Automation

Imagine a world where your association's prospects receive timely, personalized emails, offers, and content tailored to their specific needs and behaviors. With HubSpot, this dream becomes a reality.

HubSpot's powerful workflow feature allows you to automate your nurturing efforts and propel your prospects toward becoming dedicated members.

According to HubSpot, businesses leveraging marketing automation to nurture prospects witness a staggering 451% increase in qualified leads. How does it work? By delivering the right message to the right prospect at the perfect moment, automation boosts engagement and drives prospects to take action.

Getting started with workflows in HubSpot is a breeze. Begin by identifying the key actions you want your prospects to take. Some can include:

Filling out a form.

Downloading a piece of content (such as an ebook or infographic).
Attending an event.
Any other meaningful interaction.

Once you've defined these actions, you can create a workflow that automatically sends targeted emails or offers based on prospect behavior.

For instance, let's say a prospect fills out a form to download a whitepaper showcasing the benefits of association membership. You can set up a workflow that follows up with them after a few days, offering additional membership insights and an irresistible discount to sweeten the deal. And if they don't open your initial email, fear not! You can create a second email within the workflow to those who didn’t engage with your first one.

Segment Audiences

With HubSpot's powerful features, you can create targeted campaigns that speak directly to your prospects' unique needs and interests.

Research by Epsilon reveals that personalized emails have a staggering 29% higher open rate and an impressive 41% higher click-through rate compared to generic ones. Making your prospects feel like the message was crafted exclusively for them can help you capture their attention and boost engagement.

Start by segmenting your audience based on criteria like job title, industry, location, or behavior using HubSpot's easy-to-use segmentation features. This allows you to create tailored campaigns that address specific pain points and highlight relevant benefits for each group.

Leveraging the power of personalization and segmentation can help you increase the chances of prospects engaging with your association and becoming loyal members. HubSpot empowers you to create these campaigns with ease, freeing up your time to focus on building meaningful relationships and driving your association’s growth.

Want to Learn More About Marketing Your Association with HubSpot?

You’re in luck. We’re hosting a free, three-part webinar series just for associations who are interested in comprehensive marketing campaigns, sophisticated potential member handoffs, and full-circle CRM tracking.

Click below to access each one.

Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Scale Your Association’s Marketing and Sales Efforts with Less

Transforming Your Digital Capabilities: How Legacy Systems are Limiting Your Association’s Growth

The Power of Personalization: Tips and Tricks for Driving Member Participation and Retention

5 Ways Associations Can Save Time on Marketing and Sales Efforts

ashley.dulaney@readynorth.com (Ashley Dulaney) — Tue, 16 May 2023 23:46:05 GMT

In today's fast-paced business landscape, associations and organizations face the constant challenge of maximizing their marketing and sales efforts while operating within limited resources.

Time is a precious commodity, and finding ways to save time without sacrificing results is essential.

Whether your association represents professionals in a specific industry or aims to foster a sense of community among like-minded individuals, streamlining your marketing and sales processes can lead to significant time savings and increased productivity.

In this post, we'll explore five effective strategies associations can implement to optimize their marketing and sales efforts. By adopting these tactics, your association can allocate more time to focus on critical tasks, enhance member engagement, attract new prospects, and, ultimately, achieve your goals more efficiently.

Let's dive in and discover how you can revolutionize your association's marketing and sales approach, saving valuable time along the way.

1. Make Your Efforts Count

In an environment where time and resources are scarce, ensuring that every moment spent and resource utilized has the highest potential for positively impacting your organization's bottom line is paramount.

Instead of spreading yourself thin, focus your efforts on activities and audiences with a proven track record of driving revenue.

How do you determine those? With personas and performance data.

Create Your Association Personas

Personas are semi-fictional representations of your ideal target audiences. They combine actual data, such as job title and historical engagement with your organization, with speculation, such as pain points and goals.

Personas are crucial to inform your marketing and sales team about the following:

What motivates them, personally and professionally?
What issues, problems, or challenges are they having?
What are their most common FAQs?

How do they consume information?
Who influences their decisions?

A foundational step for your marketing and sales teams to achieve more with less is creating personas for your association's primary target audiences. A quick and easy way to get started is using HubSpot's free Make My Persona tool.

We recommend building out a few (2-4) personas that represent your core audiences. If you’re strapped for time, prioritize creating the personas that have the greatest impact on revenue.

Use Reports to Identify Gaps and Opportunities

Leveraging your past performance data is one of the simplest ways to make intelligent marketing and sales decisions.

Using a tool like HubSpot Reports, you can examine performance on individual assets, website pages, email campaigns, social channels, and—once created and set up in HubSpot—your personas. Example performance insights that HubSpot can provide marketing and sales teams include:

Persona-segmented reports
Sources and content that drive MQLs (marketing qualified leads) and SQLs (sales qualified leads)
Content that drives leads and converts customers
Actions your website visitors are taking

By directing your attention towards those key target audiences, assets, and channels, you can make significant strides in fueling the activities that already generate leads rather than expending energy on avenues that yield minimal returns.

2. Meet Your Target Audiences Where They Are

Attention has never been at a higher premium. With endless sources of noise coming from your competitors, social media, the news, and more, your association's communications need to be laser-focused.

How? With one essential tactic: Delivering the right message at the right time and in the right place.

Using your newly developed personas, you can map your ideal constituents' lifecycle journey (their path to a desired action) from lead to brand evangelist for each persona. See the diagram below for the range of lifecycle stages a user can identify with along their journey.

Former AIIM CMO Tony Paille believes that "Defining your lifecycle stages and mapping your leads against them is one of the most powerful things associations can do in marketing."

You can execute this strategy efficiently using HubSpot's automation features. Specifically, you can:

Adjust default lifecycle stage settings
Set and sync lifecycle stages between objects
Automatically set lifecycle stage through form settings
Bulk edit lifecycle stage using a workflow (example image below)

Once you better understand where your contacts fall along your lifecycle journey, you can identify opportunities for personalization as well as gaps and bottlenecks.

For example, with your lifecycle stages defined and your database sorted, you may notice you have many MQLs but only a few SQLs. You might ask yourself: "Why are MQLs not converting to SQLs?" A few potential reasons:

You need content to nurture them into the next lifecycle stage. Try activating an automated workflow to nurture MQLs.
You need more frequent conversion opportunities. Add more CTAs (call to action buttons) and forms to your site to encourage MQLs to make contact with you.
Your marketing-to-sales handoff could be more fruitful. Align your sales and marketing teams to ensure expectations and responsibilities are met. Also, consider automation to improve efficiency in reaching out to prospects.

Another perk of sorting your database by lifecycle stage is the direction it provides your marketing and sales teams. For example, you can use HubSpot reports to identify which sources drive the most leads or revenue. From there, if you have limited resources, consider focusing your activities on the channels already driving leads instead of on the ones that don't.

3. Create Content Across the Entire User’s Journey

Before you freak out about how you will accomplish this with finite time and team resources (we've got a tip for that, too!), you need to understand why this step is so important.

As mentioned above, different audiences have different needs, and different users have different preferences. To ensure your association's content resonates with every potential lead, you must create content across an entire user's journey. In fact, 25 percent of associations say that creating targeted communication has boosted member engagement.

The three widely accepted stages of a user's journey are:

Awareness of a problem or pain point.
Consideration of their unique possible solutions/options
Decision to move forward with a desired action (sign up for membership, donate money to a cause, select a partner organization, etc.)

With insights into your different personas' unique needs, desires, and preferences, you can brainstorm ideas for targeted, valuable content at every stage.

For example, a potential new member in the awareness stage will be attracted to different content than a potential event sponsor in the decision stage. Blog posts and shares on LinkedIn featuring content about the benefits of joining a professional organization to expand a professional network may resonate with the former individual. Conversely, a consultative call or presentation deck showcasing ROI statistics of sponsoring a specific event may appeal more to the latter user.

As you'll see in the image below, Paille recommends a three-prong approach to creating content for each stage of the user journey. It includes:

A CTA

A landing page with a gated lead gen hook behind it

A thank you page (to nurture them to the next stage)

The strategy behind this approach is to give your persona a clear opportunity to convert at each stage and move through the user's journey. The more interconnected these conversions are, the easier it will be for your prospect to navigate.

The better you understand your different audiences, the more specific your messaging, touchpoints, and content can be. This targeted approach will help your association make the most of every interaction with potential members, partners, and sponsors and build valuable trust—even with limited resources.

4. Get the Most Mileage from Your Created Content

This might be the most helpful tip in the whole article as it relates to doing more with less because it makes activating on the other strategies more feasible for a small or one-person marketing team

Use the iceberg method to get the most mileage from your association's created content.

Instead of spending the majority of your time creating numerous time-consuming assets, the iceberg method enables you to work smarter—not harder. Here's how.

First, identify one meaningful lead gen asset to create that addresses your persona's needs, such as an ebook. Gate it behind a landing page with a form and use HubSpot's marketing tools (email, social media, ads) to promote it.
Next, create a teaser of that content in a different format. This might be an article recapping insights from one of the ebook's chapters and/or an infographic of takeaways. Consider how your audience prefers to digest information and use those insights to guide your content. Ensure this asset includes a CTA to download the full ebook.
From there, consider hosting a live/pre-recorded event that covers content from the ebook, such as a webinar. Preparation would be minimal as all the content and talking points have already been created.

Lastly, repurpose that event by hosting the recording on YouTube and sharing short clips on social media—all pointing back to the ebook landing page.

Be sure to tag all your newly created content to a campaign in HubSpot. This tool makes it super easy to check the performance of each campaign element (forms, emails, assets, etc.) and measure the effectiveness of your collective marketing efforts.

5. Take Advantage of HubSpot's Automation and Time-Saving Tools

With a little upfront effort, you can automate repetitive tasks, streamline your association's processes, personalize at scale, and make data-driven decisions using automation.

Here are our favorite time-saving tools in HubSpot.

Workflows

Workflows make tasks more manageable and help you deliver content to your leads and members at the right time. They can be as simple as updating lifecycle stages based on user engagements or more complex to fit your association's specific needs. Example workflows we recommend setting up include:

Lifecycle nurturing stream
On-demand event nurturing
Lead assignment for your sales team

Event promotion emails
Internal notifications for marketing and sales alignment

Sequences

Similar to workflows, sequences use automation to send a series of targeted, timed emails to contacts. When set up strategically, they can help nurture users without your sales reps needing to lift a finger. Sequences to consider implementing include:

Upcoming membership renewals

New donor thank you emails
Annual giving day donation encouragement

Templates and Snippets

Stop typing the same email over and over again. Save repetitive email content as a template with areas for personalization to be quickly added to an email. Your organization might have templates for the following:

New member introduction emails

Membership renewal emails
Event sponsor/speaker welcome emails

Snippets are shorter pieces of text that your team can use in emails, notes, and conversations. Your organization could save time by creating snippets for the following:

About your association
Upcoming events

Membership types and sponsorship opportunities
Answers to frequently asked questions

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Associations must recognize the importance of optimizing their marketing and sales efforts to save time and resources. Overcoming the challenges of limited time and staff, competition for attention, and evolving user preferences is possible by implementing the five strategies outlined in this post.

For more time-saving tips and best practices, watch our recent webinar with AIIM's former CMO and Sidecar, Work Smarter, Not Harder: How to Scale Your Association's Marketing and Sales Efforts with Less, on-demand here.

4 Crucial Elements to a Purposeful Marketing Strategy for Your Association

bbreeden@brightfind.com (Becky Breeden) — Tue, 09 May 2023 14:21:31 GMT

Associations and other member-based organizations demonstrate no shortage of marketing tactics. We frequently work with clients whose organizations utilize any number of the following methods to engage current members and constituents and attract new ones:

Newsletters

Marketing emails
Magazines
Online ads
Event sponsorships
Speaking engagements

Webinars
Volunteer opportunities
And many more...

However, there’s a critical distinction between disparate marketing tactics and a purposeful, organized, strategic marketing strategy.

A purposeful marketing strategy unites the various segments in your organization for ultimate member engagement. It creates a lean, effective outreach mechanism to attract new members from every target audience.

And best of all, it’s attainable. Start by incorporating these elements.

1. A CRM That’s Customizable for Your Needs

It all starts with a central database. While there are many association-specific CRMs available, we often recommend HubSpot, thanks to its powerful features and capacity to keep all of your organization’s marketers in one place. Here are just a few reasons it works spectacularly well for member-based organizations:

Centralized Contact Database: The HubSpot CRM provides a centralized platform to store and manage constituent data like contact details, membership status, engagement history, and more.
Tools for Every Team: HubSpot's various hubs work together harmoniously to provide a unified platform for marketing, sales, service, and CRM. With seamless integration and shared data, organizations can align their teams, streamline processes, and deliver a consistent and personalized experience throughout the user’s journey.
Segmentation and Targeting: Associations often need to segment their contacts based on various criteria, such as membership level, interests, demographics, or engagement history. The HubSpot CRM offers robust segmentation capabilities that enable you to create targeted lists for personalized communication, marketing campaigns, or event invitations. You can tailor your messaging to specific member groups, ensuring more relevant and effective communication.

Communication and Engagement: Effectual communication is crucial for member-based organizations. HubSpot offers multiple channels for communication, including email, social media, and live chat. You can also automate personalized email campaigns, send newsletters, and engage with members through social media platforms.
Membership Renewals and Payments: HubSpot can help streamline the membership renewal process. It allows you to set up automated reminders for membership renewals, send payment notifications, and track payment statuses. Integration with payment gateways enables secure online payments, making it easier for members to renew their memberships and for associations to manage the financial aspects of their organization.
Event Management: Many associations organize events, conferences, or webinars. HubSpot offers event management capabilities that allow you to create event registration forms, track attendee information, send event-related communications, and manage event logistics. Integration with other tools like ticketing platforms or webinar software further enhances the event management process.
Integration and Customization: HubSpot integrates with various third-party tools and applications, allowing associations to extend its functionality for the Uber-specific tools you can’t get elsewhere.

Your marketing strategy hinges on a CRM that can streamline operations, enhance member engagement, and improve communication, ultimately contributing to the growth and success of the organization.

Want to talk about HubSpot with an expert? Reach out.

2. A Content Approach That Goes Beyond the Paywall

Your most valuable content may live behind a paywall—after all, that’s one of the primary benefits of membership.

But a smart marketing strategy puts massive effort behind an inbound approach to content marketing—that is, a customer-centric approach to content that focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting potential customers by providing valuable content and experiences tailored to their needs and interests.

Inbound content marketing is effective for associations because it enables them to establish thought leadership and showcase their expertise. By creating valuable and relevant content, associations can attract and engage their target audience, building credibility and trust. From there, you can nurture relationships with current and potential constituents based on what they’re looking for, increasing member satisfaction and retention.

3. A Smarter Way to Target Messaging

With HubSpot, you can use lifecycle stages to segment your audience and refine the messaging that everyone receives. Instead of the outdated method of sending everything to everybody, save your time—and your members’ inboxes—by only sending the most targeted messages to the most appropriate recipients.

HubSpot's lifecycle stages empower associations to create more effective marketing messages by enabling targeted and personalized communication based on the contact's stage in the membership journey. With lifecycle stages, associations can tailor their messaging to the specific needs and interests of contacts at each stage.

For example, brand-new leads and subscribers can receive top-of-the-funnel content to educate them about the association, while marketing qualified leads (MQLs) can be nurtured with bottom-of-the-funnel messages highlighting the benefits of becoming a member. By aligning the messaging with the lifecycle stages, associations can effectively move contacts through the membership funnel and increase conversions.

>>> Related Resource: We deep dive into the different stages of the user’s journey and the types of content that resonate at each in our webinar, How Content Strategy Can Enhance UX During and After a Website Redesign. You can access the recording here (the user’s journey section starts 14:00 minutes in).

4. Reporting, Reporting, Reporting

Your marketing strategy is only as good as its results. But how can you know what’s working if you’re not measuring? Better yet, why not track performance across every segment of your organization?

HubSpot provides reporting and analytics features to track and measure member engagement, content efforts, marketing campaigns, and website performance. You can generate reports on member activity, email open rates, event attendance, or membership growth. These insights help associations evaluate their strategies, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions that improve the whole organization, not just one part of it.

Want to Learn More About Marketing Your Association with HubSpot?

You’re in luck. We’re hosting a three-part webinar series just for associations who are interested in comprehensive marketing campaigns, sophisticated potential member handoffs, and full-circle CRM tracking. Click below for access!

Work Smarter, Not Harder:
How to Scale Your Association’s Marketing and Sales Efforts with Less

Transforming Your Digital Capabilities:
How Legacy Systems Are Limiting Your Association’s Growth

The Power of Personalization:
Tips and Tricks for Driving Member Participation and Retention

3 Ways to Choose Strong Content Topics That Resonate With Your Members

Elizabeth Juran — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 22:17:44 GMT

Content production, such as blogging, is an effective way for associations to communicate with members, build authority, increase visibility, and drive traffic to their website.

Associations, no matter their niche, need to engage their members regularly to keep them informed and interested in the association's activities and news related to their respective industries.

Additionally, as the experts in their field, creating blog content can help associations like yours establish authority and thought leadership. By sharing insightful and informative content, associations can demonstrate their expertise and position themselves as trusted sources of information.

Content production can also help associations increase online visibility. By creating content that is optimized for search engines, associations can attract new members, sponsors, and partners to their websites. And, to double down on this tactic, sharing content on social media and other online channels also drives engaged web traffic to the website.

That’s all well and good, but where do you begin? How do you come up with content topics that will resonate with your audience? Here are three easy ways to get started.

1. Use Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that allows you to optimize your website’s performance, but it can also help generate new content ideas.

The tool provides insights on search engine results page (SERP) performance, queries people use that lead to your site, and top-performing pages. With this information, you can better understand audience behavior and preferences—leading to better-performing content.

For example, if you learn that a few specific queries outperform the rest, it’s clear that your audience is very interested in that topic. That’s a sign to write more content on the topic (such as a pillar page) to satisfy your audience’s interest.

2. Check Out “Answer the Public”

Answer the Public is a free online tool that can help you generate topic ideas by showing you what people are searching for on search engines like Google.

When you enter a keyword or topic into the tool, it generates a visual map of related questions and phrases that people have searched for. These questions and phrases can then be used to create blog post titles or content ideas that address specific topics and questions related to your niche.

For example, if you wanted to create content for your audience related to the CAE certification, you could enter the keyword "certified association executive" into Answer the Public, and it would generate a list of related questions and phrases that people are asking search engines. You can then use these ideas to create blog posts and other content that addresses these specific topics and questions.

3. Figure Out What Members Are Asking Your Team

Your own team of experts interacts with your members all day long. So, what are members asking them?

Connect with people in multiple departments and have them list the most common questions they receive from members and prospective members in a week. If these individuals are asking a real person from your organization, odds are they Googled it first and came up empty.

A list of common questions is actually a list of blog topics. Simply use the question as a title, and answer the question comprehensively within the body of the blog post.

By answering these questions online, your members and prospective members will be more satisfied with your organization’s service.

Nail Your Content Strategy

With limited time and resources, generating effective blog content for your members and prospects can be a challenge. Let our experts take the guesswork out of the process with research-backed editorial calendars and ongoing content production designed with your target audience in mind. Learn more about our content services here.

How To Use Lifecycle Stages To Improve Your Membership Numbers

madison.filipiak@readynorth.com (Madison Filipiak) — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 21:52:30 GMT

HubSpot’s lifecycle stages help you to categorize your contacts and companies based on where they are in your marketing and sales processes. For associations, lifecycle stages can paint a clear picture of where your contacts are in their journey to becoming a member.

With the right strategy, lifecycle stages can also be used to generate more members.

Continue reading for ways to leverage lifecycle stages to improve your marketing and recruitment efforts.

Define Your Lifecycle Stages

Before you can use lifecycle stages in HubSpot, it’s critical to first understand the different default stages and define them as they relate to your specific association.

“Deciding on the definition of each stage together can do wonders for getting leads from marketing to sales faster, and aligning on what a 'quality' lead looks like for the business! A little strategy at the front end can go a really long way!” — Shane Wiley, HubSpot GTM Enablement Facilitator

Here’s a quick breakdown of each default lifecycle stage and how you might choose to define them within your organization.

>> If you’ve already defined the lifecycle stages in your portal, skip to here.

Lead

A Lead is a contact or company who has converted on your website or through some other interaction with your organization beyond a subscription sign-up.

Oftentimes, organizations will set Lead as the default stage for any new contact or company entering their portal. Any qualifying actions taken after that point will move the Lead on to another lifecycle stage.

Subscriber

A Subscriber is someone who has opted in to hear more from you by signing up for your blog or newsletter. This is often done through a form on your site.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A Marketing Qualified Lead, or MQL, is a lead that the marketing team has deemed more likely to become a member compared to others. Associations may mark contacts as MQLs after they’ve downloaded a piece of content, like an ebook or whitepaper, frequently engaged on their forum, or registered for an event, such as a webinar.

Sales Qualified Lead (SQL)

A Sales Qualified Lead, or SQL, is a lead who is ready to become a member of your association. Normally, contacts are marked as SQLs once they’ve filled out a contact form or reached out to someone on your team for membership information.

Opportunity

An Opportunity is a contact or company that is associated with a potential or confirmed deal in your HubSpot portal.

Customer

A Customer is a contact or company with at least one closed-won deal in your HubSpot portal. Tip: You may want to rename this lifecycle stage to “Member” if appropriate for your association.

Evangelist

An Evangelist is a member who has advocated for your organization. Evangelists are typically loyal members of your association who are likely to refer other members, with or without an incentive.

Other

The Other lifecycle stage is used to categorize a contact or company that does not fit into any of the above categories. Oftentimes, contacts marked as Other would be partner associations or vendors that will never become a member of your association.

Nurture Contacts With the Right Messaging

Once your contacts are categorized in the appropriate lifecycle stage, you can enroll them into different nurturing workflows that include emails geared toward those contacts’ unique interests and goals.

For example, brand-new Leads or Subscribers likely don’t know a lot about your association. Consider enrolling them in a workflow that sends top-of-the-funnel content, like blogs and checklists. The goal of this workflow would be for these contacts to become MQLs by downloading a larger piece of content or registering for an event.

Contacts who are already labeled as an MQL (aka event registrants and attendees or ebook downloaders) should be enrolled in a separate workflow to receive more bottom-of-the-funnel messages, like member success stories and top benefits of becoming a member of your association. The goal of this workflow would be for these contacts to reach out to someone on your team and/or become a member.

Prioritize Direct Mail Efforts

Direct mail can be a costly, but effective way to recruit members to your association. If you have contacts’ addresses in your portal, consider sending direct mail only to contacts who are most likely to become members. With lifecycle stages set up, you should be able to easily create a list of the marketing qualified and sales qualified leads before sending. This smarter approach to direct mail saves you money and should yield a higher return on your investment.

Create a Referral Program

One of the most effective ways to boost membership is through referrals from existing members. Use the Evangelist lifecycle stage to mark any members who are actively involved in your association and would be more likely to refer others. Then, reach out to these individuals, encouraging them to participate in your referral program. You could also offer an incentive for those who successfully recruit new members.

Optimize Your Website To Drive New Memberships

Website visitors discover your site at all different stages of their membership journey, and your site’s content should reflect this.

With HubSpot smart content and smart calls-to-action (CTAs), you can personalize the messaging that appears to users based on their lifecycle stage. Here’s how it works:

Create a new smart block of text or CTA button.
Set the rules to show different messages based on the contact’s lifecycle stage.
Draft unique messages that make sense for each lifecycle stage.
Draft a default message that will show to any unknown visitors. Monitor any change in site conversion rates (newsletter subscriptions, membership signups, etc.)

When drafting messages for each lifecycle stage, consider what actions they’ve already taken to be in that stage and which action you want them to take next. For example, a Subscriber has already signed up for your newsletter, so the next logical message may be for them to download your ebook or sign up for your next webinar.

Send Membership Renewal Reminders to the Right Contacts

If you aren’t already tracking existing members in your HubSpot portal, the Customer lifecycle stage can be enormously helpful. Use a workflow or form settings to automatically mark members as the Customer lifecycle stage (or the Member stage, if you rename it). Then, use automation to remind members of their upcoming membership renewals via email.

Plan New Content and Events

HubSpot’s analytics tools and custom reports give you a behind-the-scenes look at what’s working and what’s not. When planning new marketing initiatives, take a look at which channels are driving the most qualified leads for your association. In the example below, we can see that the majority of MQLs, SQLs, and Opportunities come from Organic Search and Paid Search. With this information, it would be smart to allocate future resources to activities like blogging or paid ad campaigns.

Source: Cleveland HubSpot User Group (HUG) presentation

You can also use reports to identify gaps in your existing efforts. In the example below, there are a significant number of MQLs, but few SQLs. In other words, contacts have downloaded larger pieces of content or attended events, but aren’t reaching out to your team to become a member. Why is that? Perhaps you need better or more nurturing messages to your MQLs, or your larger marketing assets aren’t attracting quality potential members.

Source: Cleveland HubSpot User Group (HUG) presentation

Need Help With Your HubSpot Portal?

As HubSpot’s first partner agency, Ready North has worked with associations to onboard, optimize, and strategically manage their HubSpot portals for comprehensive marketing campaigns, sophisticated potential member handoffs, and full-circle CRM tracking. Looking for something similar? Reach out to get started!

6 Tools to Test, Measure, and Optimize Your Association Content Strategy

shannen.laur@pr2020.com (Shannen Laur) — Sat, 29 Apr 2023 21:17:54 GMT

Does your association have a documented content strategy?

If you answered yes, great. You’re on the road to establishing your association as a thought leader, improving your SEO, and engaging current and prospective members.

And while a documented content strategy is an amazing first step in achieving your traffic, reach, and lead generation goals, it’s certainly not your endpoint. That’s because a content strategy is a living document that should often be tested, iterated, and updated. Without a constant check-in on performance, you risk pouring resources into content that no one will ever read.

P.S. If you answered no to the above question, I invite you to read this resource about why you should create a content strategy, like… immediately.

How Do I Know if My Association’s Content Strategy is Effective?

Measuring the effectiveness of a content strategy requires defining goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your organization’s objectives. The following content strategy KPIs are a great place to start:

Traffic: This is usually the most basic place to start—is the content you’re publishing generating traffic back to your website? Track the number of unique visitors, page views, and time spent on your site.
Organic search traffic: Take overall traffic a step further by uncovering how many visitors are landing on your content via organic search. This is traffic that is coming from a search engine results page (SERP) and is a good indication of how optimized your content is.
Entrances: If you’re publishing content in the form of blog posts, pillar pages, or resources, it’s important to understand how many visitors are entering your site through that content. This is also a good indicator of optimization and can also help you drill down into supplemental metrics like next page path or exit rate.
Conversions: Most association content strategies have the ultimate goal of converting visitors into members. Track the number of form submissions, purchases, and sign-ups generated by your content.
Social reach: Measure the reach and engagement of your content on social media platforms. This can include likes, shares, comments, and clicks.

But how do you find these metrics? And once you locate them, what insights can you glean from them? Let’s dive in.

1. Google Analytics

Most marketers have at least heard of Google Analytics before. Google Analytics is a free-to-use treasure trove filled with valuable insights into how visitors are interacting with your website and content.

Here are some ways that Google Analytics can help with content planning:

Audience insights: Google Analytics can provide demographic and geographic data about your website visitors, including age, gender, location, and interests. This information can help you better understand your target audience and create content that resonates with them.

Content performance: Google Analytics can track the performance of your individual web pages and blog posts, including pageviews, bounce rate, time on page, and more. By analyzing this data, you can identify which pieces of content are resonating with your audience and adjust your content strategy accordingly.

Traffic sources: Google Analytics can show you where your website traffic is coming from, such as social media, search engines, or referral sites. This information can help you identify which channels are driving the most traffic to your website and adjust your content promotion strategy accordingly.

Conversion tracking: Google Analytics can track the conversion rates of your website, including form submissions, sign-ups, and purchases. This information can help you identify which pieces of content are driving the most conversions. It’s also a great way to test offers and CTAs that nurture your readers to take an additional action.

By using Google Analytics to track your website's performance, you can gain valuable insights into your current and prospective members’ behavior and use that information to plan and optimize your content strategy.

>>> Related read: Your Top Google Analytics 4 Questions, Answered

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console(GSC) is a free tool that helps website owners and marketers track and analyze their website's search engine performance. It can also be a gold mine to understand how your content is performing and to help you uncover the type of queries your content needs to answer.

Here are some ways that you can use GSC to inform your content strategy:

Identify top-performing pages: GSC can show you which pages on your website are receiving the most clicks and impressions in search results. This information can help you identify which pages are performing well and may benefit from additional optimization or promotion. It’s also helpful to fuel future content production—for example, if you see a page that is ranking high but you don’t have a ton of additional content about the subject, you might want to prioritize producing more to better connect with your audiences.

Track keyword rankings: GSC can show you which keywords your website is ranking for and how those rankings have changed over time. This information can help you identify which keywords are driving the most traffic to your website and adjust your content strategy to target those keywords more effectively.

Understand search queries: By analyzing your website's search query data in GSC, you can identify opportunities to improve your content and optimize your website for specific keywords and phrases. For example, if you notice that your website is ranking well for a particular keyword but has a low click-through rate (CTR), you may want to adjust the title tag and meta description of that page to make it more appealing to users.

Analyze backlinks: GSC can show you which websites are linking to your website and which pages on your website are being linked from those external websites helping you identify topics of interest across related organizations and people.

3. Google Trends

Google Trends is another free and valuable tool that can help you stay up to date with industry trends, understand your members better, and generate new content ideas. It can help identify popular topics and trends in your industry, understand how search volume for specific keywords is changing over time, and adjust your content strategy to meet the needs and interests of your constituents.

For instance:

Find popular topics: Use Google Trends to discover popular topics related to your industry, vertical markets, personas, and more. Enter a broad topic into Google Trends and explore related topics that are currently trending or have experienced a recent spike in search volume. Use that information to generate new content ideas that are relevant to your audience.
Identify seasonal trends: Google Trends can also help you identify seasonal trends and patterns in search volume for specific keywords. For example, if you are in the fashion industry, you can use Google Trends to understand when searches for "spring fashion" or "summer fashion" start to increase each year.
Compare search terms: Use Google Trends to compare the search volume of different keywords and phrases related to your industry. This can help you understand which terms are most popular among your members so that you’re optimizing content for exactly the terms they’re using.

4. BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a content marketing tool that allows you to analyze the performance of content across social media platforms and identify top-performing content in your industry. The platform offers a free 30-day trial and paid plans from there.

BuzzSumo can help both test and optimize your content strategy in several ways:

Identify popular content: BuzzSumo allows you to see the most shared and engaging content related to your topic or industry. By analyzing the top-performing content, you can identify popular topics and content formats that resonate with your audience.
Monitor competitor performance: With BuzzSumo, you can analyze the content performance of your competitors, including the topics they cover, the social media platforms they use, and the content formats they employ. This information can help you understand what topics resonate most in your industry during any given period of time.
Discover new content ideas: BuzzSumo can help you generate new content ideas based on what is currently popular in your industry or topic. By using the platform to search for keywords or topics, you can see what content is resonating with your audience and develop new content ideas based on these insights.

5. AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is a search listening tool that helps you generate content ideas by providing insights into the questions people are asking about a particular topic. AnswerThePublic has a freemium version with a limit on how many searches you can perform per day, along with a seven-day trial and paid options.

The tool uses search data from Google and other search engines to create visualizations of the questions, prepositions, and comparisons related to a particular keyword or phrase.

You can enter a keyword or topic, and the tool will generate a list of questions and other queries related to that keyword. The results are presented in a visual format that shows the most commonly asked questions and topics related to the keyword and variations of the keyword that people are searching for.

Image credit: AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is a great tool for prioritizing content that addresses the questions and concerns of your target audience. These insights can help you create content that is more likely to be found by your target audience and answers their most pressing questions.

6. Semrush

Semrush is an all-in-one digital marketing tool designed to help businesses improve their online visibility and optimize their digital marketing efforts. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools that allow you to analyze and track your website's search engine rankings, conduct keyword research, analyze your competitors, track social media performance, and more.

Semrush can help inform your content strategy to make sure what you’re producing is optimized for search engines, resonates with your target members, and drives engagement and conversions. Some key features include:

Keyword research: Semrush allows you to conduct in-depth keyword research to find the best keywords for your website or blog. You can see how many searches a particular keyword receives, how difficult it is to rank for that keyword and get related keyword ideas.

Competitive analysis: You can use Semrush to analyze your competitors' websites and see what keywords they are ranking for, where their traffic is coming from, and how they are performing on social media. This information can help you identify gaps in your own content strategy and find new opportunities for growth.

Topic research: The Topic Research tool allows you to enter a topic or keyword and generate a list of related topics and subtopics to include in your content. This can help you identify opportunities to cover all aspects of a particular topic.

Content analytics: Track the performance of your content over time, including traffic, engagement, and conversions. This information can help you identify which content types resonate with your members and adjust your content strategy accordingly.

Semrush offers varying paid plans for small teams, large enterprise associations, and everything in between.

Ready to Take the Next Step in Optimizing Your Association Content Marketing Strategy?

Need some help measuring the effectiveness of and optimizing your association’s content strategy? We’re here to help. Reach out to explore how Ready North is your expert content strategy partner.

How to Use Google Search Console to Fuel Powerful Content Ideas

allison.kral@readynorth.com (Allison Kral) — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 14:06:54 GMT

When it comes to your website, finding new content ideas can be a constant challenge.

You may find yourself asking: Which content will resonate best with our audience? What questions are our readers asking? How can I answer them?

Fortunately, Google Search Console is a powerful (free!) tool that can help you generate new ideas for your website. Below, we'll detail the steps you can take to use Google Search Console to fuel effective content ideas.

1. Access Google Search Console

First, you need to access Google Search Console by logging in to your Google account and selecting the website you want to analyze. You can sign in or create your account here.

🔥Pro tip: If your website is new to Google Search Console, it could take up to a few days for your pages to first appear. To see which pages Google has been able to index, you can view the Index Coverage Report under Indexing > Pages.

2. Examine Your Website’s Performance

Once you're in the Google Search Console dashboard, navigate to the "Performance" tab on the left and select “Search results.” This tab will give you a detailed overview of how your website is performing in Google search results. You can see how many clicks, impressions, and the average position your website is receiving for each keyword. Within this section, there are two tabs that will be especially helpful in generating strong content ideas: queries and pages.

Queries

The queries tab will show you the keywords or phrases that people are using to find your website on Google over a chosen period of time. Analyzing this data can give you insight into what your audience is looking for and which content on your site speaks to that topic.

This screenshot depicts the Google Search Console “queries” tab for the Ready North website.

🔥Pro tip: If the queries with the most impressions and clicks aren’t what your organization is trying to rank for, this could be a good indicator that you need to create more optimized content around the topics you do want to rank for. One way to do this is by searching Google in an incognito browser tab for the keywords and phrases you’re considering creating content for. Take note of the top-ranking results: What format are they in (list, video, paragraphs, etc.)? How are their pages structured? These results are in the top results for a reason—it’s what users are finding value in. Use those as starting points for creating and/or optimizing your content to emulate and provide unique value for your audience.

Pages

This feature shows you the pages on your website that are receiving the most clicks and impressions. Analyzing this data can help you identify which of your content topics are most popular with your audience.

This screenshot depicts the Google Search Console “pages” tab for the Ready North website.

🔥Pro tip: When viewing these data points, look for keywords or phrases that have a high number of impressions but a low click-through rate. This could indicate that there's a gap in the market for that topic, and you could create content to fill that gap. It could also indicate that the technical SEO elements for those pages, such as the title tags and meta descriptions, are ripe for optimizing to entice users to click through to your pages.

3. Utilize The "Discover" Report

The "Discover" report in Google Search Console is a relatively new feature that shows you the content from your website that's being recommended to users on Google Discover, a personalized content feed that appears in the Google app and on some mobile device home screens.

If your website is being recommended to users, it's a good indication that your content is resonating with your audience, and you should create more content on similar topics.

To access this report, follow these steps:

Log in to your Google Search Console account.
Click on the website property for which you want to view the Discover report.
Click on "Performance" in the left-hand menu.
Click on "Discover" at the top of the page, next to "All" and "Search."

🔥Pro tip: There are several reasons why your property may not have the discover report feature. Some include:

Your website is not eligible for the Discover feature. The Discover feature is available to websites that meet specific criteria set by Google, such as having high-quality content, a mobile-friendly design, and a fast page load speed.

Your website doesn't have enough traffic. Google needs a certain amount of traffic to your website to show data in the Discover report.

Your website is too new. It can take some time for Google to start showing your website's content in the Discover feed. If your website is new, it may not have enough content or traffic to be eligible for the Discover feature.

The Discover feature is not available in your region. The Discover feature is not available in all regions.

4. Leverage the “Insights” Feature

Google Search Insights is an experience created by Google Search Console that provides website owners and content creators with a deeper understanding of their audience's behavior and preferences. It combines data from various Google platforms, such as Google Search Console and Google Analytics, to offer insights into how people find and interact with your content.

You can use the Insights tool to answer the following questions:

What are your best-performing pieces of content?
How are your new pieces of content performing?
How do people discover your content across the web?
What do people search for on Google before they visit your content?
Which article refers users to your website and content?

To leverage this tool, follow the steps:

Ensure that your Google Search Console property is verified.
Confirm that your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts are linked.
Login to your Google Search Console property.
Select the “Search Console Insights” link at the top of the Overview page.

🔥 Pro tip: Bookmark this link to access the Insights feature directly.

5. Keep an Eye Out for the “Content Ideas” Feature

Google recently released an experimental feature on Google Search Console called “Content Ideas.” While only available until March 28, it was added as a new feature to only select properties. For those properties, this feature includes a content ideas section, which dictates ideas based on searches that lack results, and a “followed topics” section, which includes topics the user already ranks for.

Google has yet to disclose if this feature will be launched across all properties, but we recommend keeping an eye out for it, given it already does much of the content ideas research for you.

🔥Pro tip: Don’t have time to regularly check for this feature? Set up a Google Alert so you can stay in the know when it comes to Google Search Console news and updates.

Create a Strong, Data-Driven Content Strategy

Google Search Console is a powerful tool that can help you generate new content ideas for your website or blog—as long as you know how to use it correctly. Download our free Content Hub Strategy Workbook template to help you plan and execute a thoughtful strategy to grow your audience, influence, and revenue.