Solving the Crisis of Disconnection: How to Unite Your Brand Around Growth This post is a part of The Crisis of Disconnection, a thought leadership series examining the latest research and insights to uncover how businesses can meet their growth goals, even amidst unprecedented changes to the way we work. Despite our hyperconnected world, reaching customers and target audiences has never been harder. And, as we continue to see a shifting economy, evolving platforms, and constantly changing audience preferences, unless we take action the Crisis of Disconnection will only grow in 2023. In this blog series, we’ve brought you up to speed on the Crisis of Disconnection, while outlining how the growth challenges ahead for your business won’t be your average walk in the park. Now, with the daunting stuff behind us, let's turn our attention toward the light at the end of the tunnel. If you’ve been following along, we’re glad you’re back. If you’re just joining us now, we’re glad you’re here. How We Got Disconnected – And Why Fixing It is Vital Before we go any further, let’s recap the disconnection challenges that have been giving business leaders pause: Point solutions are expensive, incomplete, and create more complexity than clarity. 74% of CRM buyers feel their teams have to switch between too many tools to get the job done People feel disconnected from each other — whether they’re at home or in the office. Only 49% of flex workers in the U.S. felt their team was...

3 Reasons So Many Business Strategies Fail (And How To Succeed), According to the Strategy Hacker Do you remember when you were introduced to long-division in grade school? You found yourself needing multiple steps to solve a single problem. It probably seemed like a very daunting and impossible task before your math teacher showed you a hack that broke down your seemingly endless series of steps into only a few. The same can be said about business. Initially, we all have to go through "long-division" level processes, procedures, and series of daily tasks. These might include entering a new marketplace, testing out new messaging and branding, pushing for new profit margins, or onboarding new clients. But we can convert the long-division within our business into short-division, making our efforts much simpler and more manageable. How, you may ask? Through the power of strategy. I've had plenty of experience helping companies scale — in fact, I've launched over 35 brands and generated over $175 million in revenue for clients worldwide, and I currently host the Webby-nominated top 100 marketing podcast iDigress, which provides actionable insights to help businesses grow. Here, I'm going to walk you through the three reasons many business strategies fail — and how you can succeed. Why do so many business strategies fail? When you have the right business strategy or series of strategies in place working for you, it will have you screaming "I have the power" like He-Man. But if everyone supposedly has a...

Business Strategy: What It Is & How to Build an Effective One In the business world, professionals are obsessed with tactics because they can help them meet their short-term goals. But if all you do is focus on the short-term, you won’t spend enough time or energy figuring out how you can succeed in the long-term. Fortunately, building a strategy can help you achieve both your short-term and long-term goals. Strategy focuses on principles, which help you think, instead of tactics, which help you execute, so it allows you to concentrate on why your business does certain activities, not just how you do them or what you do. Read on to learn exactly what a business strategy is and how you can build an effective one today. Your business strategy should be based on your overall vision for the company. For some brands it will be global market expansion. For others it may be more important to double down investing in existing markets they are already successful in. Regardless of your end goals, creating an effective business strategy will require thorough research beforehand. 1. Identify your business’ aspirations and values. In business, traditional goal setting lets you measure what you do, but it doesn’t lend itself to gauging how you do it or why. And if you only focus on the results, it can sometimes incentivize you to take a course of action that prioritizes your...

7 Reasons Scale-Ups Earn Investments, According to HubSpot's Founder Every successful company starts with a single idea. It's how those ideas are approached, molded, and questioned that dictate whether or not they go on to evolve into a startup. However, reaching startup-dom doesn't complete the lifecycle of these ideas. Instead, becoming a startup is the moment when ideas begin to grow into something actionable, driven by a collection of intentional goals. And as all of us who have lived the startup life know — when you're a startup, more often than not your goal is simple: to survive. I like to think of being a startup as treading water. Succeeding as a startup requires constant motion to ensure you can find product-market-fit, drive early customer growth, and build a baseline product all at the same time. The moment you stop moving is the moment you lose traction. And this is all before you've even begun to scale. Fortunately, there comes a point where you've treaded water long enough to reach your first lifeboat: Investments. That's where it gets exciting. As startups move from idea mode to scaleup mode, there are a number of signs I look for in order to determine if I'm going to invest. Of course, not every scaleup has to get every one of these signs right to be worthy of investment, but the more positive signals a scaleup has to offer, the higher the odds of long-term success for that organization. So, what is the secret sauce...

The Simple 2-Step Process for Calculating Your Market Size When most businesses forecast their revenue goals, they first calculate their total addressable market, which is the total market demand for their industry’s products or services. Put simply, it’s the maximum amount of revenue a business could generate if they captured their entire market. However, unless you're a monopoly, you most likely can’t capture the total addressable market for your products or services. Even if you only have one competitor, it would still be extremely difficult to convince an entire market to only buy your products or services. That’s why it’s crucial to calculate the maximum amount of revenue you can possibly generate by selling your products or services to the customers who would realistically benefit from buying your solutions. This amount of potential revenue is called your market size or serviceable addressable market, and you can use it to accurately measure your business’ potential for growth. Market Size Example Let's walk through an example to explore how you'd determine market size.  A Startup Wine Company Let's say you wanted to start your wine company. Here's how you would calculate market size: First, you'd want to determine how many liquor stores are in the United States — this helps you figure out the total market to which you could theoretically sell your product.  After your research you determine there are 50,000 liquor stores in the United States. Of that total list, you only want to sell to the New...

A Marketer's Short & Sweet Guide on Diversification To consider the potential payoff of product diversification, let's start with an example. Lululemon, an athletic apparel company, was founded in 1998 with one core product: yoga clothing for women. If you've been to a store recently, you've likely seen how far beyond women's yoga-clothing Lululemon has grown. For instance, my brother now buys all his button-down shirts and work pants from Lululemon. Additionally, last week I bought a bathing suit from the shop. On their Our Story page, Lululemon states: "Our first designs were made for women to wear during yoga. Through plenty of feedback from our guests, ambassadors and elite athletes, we now design for yoga, running, cycling, training and most other sweaty pursuits for women and men." This is an example of effective diversification in-action. Here, we'll explore what diversification marketing is, and how it pertains to your marketing strategy. Why diversify your product offerings? There are three reasons a business might choose to diversify its existing product line: You've reached the 'limit' on the amount of people you can convert in a market segment. You've identified a new product or service that complements the needs of your existing customers. You've decided a new level of growth can only be achieved through addressing new market segments. Let's dive into the difference between the three of these reasons, now. First, perhaps you've reached the limit of the amount of people you can reach...

15 Effective Ways to Cut Costs in Business When I first moved out of my parent's house, my spending was out of control. I bought take-out regularly, new clothes often, and fun products frequently. However, I quickly realized that I was spending too much money on unnecessary things. After racking up some credit card debt, I realized that I needed to cut costs somewhere. As a business owner, it can be just as easy to overspend as it was for me. When that happens, it's time to review your bottom line and see how you can reduce your spending. In this post, let's go over some of the top ways you can cut costs in your business. 1. Analyze and track the efficiency of your business. Before you can reduce costs in your business, you need to take a step back and analyze what you're currently spending money on. Take a look at your balance sheet and your budget. Look at your production costs, and do an in-depth analysis of your current processes. Asking yourself questions like, "Is what I'm doing efficient?" and "Am I spending needless money somewhere?" Once you have a full picture of what your spending looks like, you'll have a better idea of where you can cut costs. 2. Negotiate with your vendors. A great way to cut costs in business is to negotiate with your vendors. You should price shop and compare vendors in almost every area of your business. For example, if...

How to Find Your Business's White Space Opportunities When McDonald's first opened its doors, they had two items on the menu: burgers and fries. After surveying competitors, the founders saw that in order to stand out as a food company, they had to be different. Instead of offering a multitude of menu options, they decided to hyper-focus on the bestsellers, which catapulted their customer satisfaction. What McDonalds' founders did was find white space opportunities in their industry. While other fast food restaurants at the time were offering a diverse menu but lacking in customer service — the McDonald's team decided to focus on two items so customer service would be at the forefront. By surveying what was missing from the market, McDonald's was able to grow into a billion-dollar empire. The founders saw what customers were lacking and turned that industry gap into a success. But what exactly are white space opportunities, and how can they be an asset to your company? Let's find out below. Sometimes, consumers don't know what they need until, well, they need it, so it's up to companies to be proactive. White space opportunities help marketers uncover customer needs that haven't yet been met. It's a useful tactic when identifying how to provide the most value to customers. But, because white space opportunities aren't as obvious as, say, keyword opportunities, it can be hard to know where to start. Sounds pretty taboo, right? How can businesses uncover value customers are looking for when...

How These 7 Companies Thrived During the Recession In 2008, the Great Recession was all over the news. At 14, I didn't exactly know what that meant. However, I understood that my parents were struggling financially. While it was the first economic crisis I was old enough to remember, it isn't the only economic downturn we've seen, nationally or internationally. In 1997, there was the Asian financial crisis. After 9/11, the New York Stock Exchange closed for four days, the first time that had happened since World War I. The world has faced uncertain times before, and I'm sure it will again. But, how do companies thrive during financially rough times? In this post, we'll review seven companies that grew during the recession and see how they succeeded during economic uncertainty. 1. TeamLogic IT TeamLogic IT provides IT solutions and consulting services for small businesses. Interestingly, IT has been a growing industry during times of uncertainty, including the 2008 recession. Since consumers are becoming more and more dependent on newer technologies, this industry usually does well during economic recessions. Technology impacts almost every area of our life from our security to our entertainment. In fact, sales for technology increased during the 2008 recession. Because of this trend, TeamLogic IT weathered the storm of 2008 well. If you want to start a business, it's important to consider whether that industry has done well during times of economic unrest. Industries such as tech, discount stores, accounting, grocery, healthcare, and DIY/repairs do...

Top 10 HubSpot Academy Courses You Can Take in Under 1 Hour Let me ask you a question. If you could learn any skill in one hour, what would it be? When you're looking to learn something new, there are plenty of online courses that can help you improve your skills. HubSpot Academy (HubSpot's training division) is one of those online providers that offers entirely free education. If you're hoping to learn new skills related to professional development, career, or business, then HubSpot Academy is a great place to start. Side note: If you're looking to improve your virtual golf game, you may want to look elsewhere. In the HubSpot Academy courses and certifications tab, you'll find courses covering a range of marketing, sales, and service topics. However, if you don't know exactly what you're looking for, it can be overwhelming. We know your time is important, so we've broken down the top HubSpot Academy Courses (based on total learners who have started the course) that take less than one hour to complete. Happy learning! 1. Graphic Design Essentials: Easy Steps for Creating Your Own Compelling Visuals Have you always been curious about the fundamentals of graphic design? In this course, you'll learn how to start thinking like a graphic designer. In fact, over 20,000 learners have started this course. This course is helpful for anyone in marketing, whether you're creating or brainstorming content ideas for your campaigns. 2. Using HubSpot's Free Marketing Tools Did you...