How to use your CRM system to increase the popularity of your hotel

Running a hotel can be hard work – on top of house-keeping and serving customers their breakfast, you’re also responsible for marketing your business, welcoming guests and staying on top of your finances. Luckily, it’s possible to rely on a customer relationship management (CRM) system like Eviivo to take some of the pressure out of [more…]

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2017/02/how-to-use-your-crm-system-to-increase-the-popularity-of-your-hotel/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=how-to-use-your-crm-system-to-increase-the-popularity-of-your-hotel

How LinkedIn Uses LinkedIn for Marketing [Infographic]

If you've applied for a job within the last several years, you've probably used LinkedIn somewhere along the way. Whether you're updating your resume, applying for a role, or communicating with a recruiter, LinkedIn has become a huge part of the modern job search.

And while LinkedIn might not be your first thought when it comes to content sharing, there are 467 million users on the network -- and that number grows every year. For marketers, this means a huge opportunity to reach an engaged community through sponsored content, messages, and campaigns.

To help folks get a grip on how to effectively use the platform, the folks at LinkedIn published a guide that explores how they use their own marketing tools on the network. They've also distilled the results from various sponsored content tests they've run into the infographic below. Among their findings about successful advertisements on LinkedIn:

• Posts containing a statistic achieved a 37% higher clickthrough rate
• Shorter updates saw higher engagement rates
• The words "research" and "guide" performed better than "ebook"

Check out the infographic to learn more insider tips about LinkedIn marketing straight from the source. And when you're ready to launch your next ad, download our guide for more tips for success on LinkedIn.

from HubSpot Marketing Blog https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/linkedin-for-marketing

10 of the Best Ads from February: Offbeat Serenades, Great Hair, and a Potato

We're recapping some of the best ads from February, and we promise they aren't all Super Bowl ads you've already seen.

February brought us an impressive selection of 30-second spots, extended videos, and interactive campaigns. We even included a particularly clever banner ad.

Whatever projects you're preparing to tackle next month, take a look through these hilarious, emotionally stirring, and unique advertising efforts and get inspired to meet your next big creative challenge.

10 of the Best Ads from February

1) Snuggle

When your mascot is a little creepy, you might as well fully embrace it and see where it takes you. That's the key lesson from Snuggle's Valentine's Day campaign, which allows you to customize videos of the brand's teddy bear mascot serenading photos of your loved ones (or just co-workers you really want to freak out). 

Since the animated plush toy's first appearance in 1983, "Snuggle the Bear" has toed the line between cloyingly cute and nightmarish -- and the fabric softener brand is enthusiastically willing to keep this unique form of delightful creepiness rolling along. The Valentine's Day effort, produced by Detroit-based agency Campbell Ewald, is wonderfully tongue-in-cheek, interactive, and compulsively shareable. 

2) TV 2 Danmark

"Maybe there’s more that brings us together than we think," this ad from Danish television network TV 2 muses. Released in late January, the three-minute video opens on a room full of Danes dividing themselves into boxes based largely on superficial traits -- their professions, hometowns, economic backgrounds etc.

As they stand uncomfortably in their boxes, a man comes out and begins asking questions that dig a little deeper into who they are as people: Who was the class clown? Who are stepparents? Who's seen a UFO? 

As the Danes form new groups based on their answers to the questions, the tension breaks -- we begin to see smiles, laughs, and friendly pats on the back. It's an honest, refreshing depiction of breaking artificial boundaries and discovering common ground in unexpected places.

3) Letgo

Letting go of our once-cherished possessions isn't always easy. In this ad for online marketplace Letgo, a mother is deeply committed to keeping her daughter's childhood rocking-horse -- even with a tornado threatening to swallow her up. 

Developed by CP+B Miami, the spot is a follow-up to Letgo's launch campaign, which won a Bronze Lion at Cannes in 2015. 

4) Ikea

Did you know over 60% of banner ad clicks are actually accidents? As this case study from Ikea Sweden's latest digital ad campaign explains, most people clicking on your ads aren't interested in what you have to say at all -- they're just victims of "fat thumb syndrome."

To make a friendlier, more human banner ad, Ikea started experimenting with what they call "Perceptive Banners" -- banner ads that when clicked, check to make sure your click was intentional. 

5) It's A 10

Hair care brand It's A 10 debuted their first-ever Superbowl ad this year -- and they weren't messing around. They enlisted the expertise of Oscar-winning director Bryan Buckley and agency Havas Edge to develop this diversely cast, unconventional take on a beauty product ad. 

6) The Climate Coalition

This ad from the Climate Coalition -- a group of over 100 climate-related UK charities -- combines stunning cinematic imagery with a heartfelt script from British poet Anthony Anaxagorou.

Starring Game of Thrones' Charles Dance alongside actors Miranda Richardson, Jason Isaacs, and David Gyasi, "A Love Song" is both a foreboding call to action on climate change, and an uplifting tribute to natural beauty. The short film was created by RSA Films.

7) Spotify

Wieden + Kennedy New York created this clever campaign for Spotify, imagining literal interpretations of some very oddly named user playlists on the music streaming service. In the ad below, musical group DNCE appears hilariously baffled upon learning that one of their upbeat pop songs was included in a real user playlist called "play this at my funeral."

8) T-Mobile

Comedian Kristen Schaal stars opposite a very confused Verizon support representative in this offbeat spot for T-mobile. Aired during the Super Bowl, the Publicis Seattle-produced ad shines with Schaal in all her usual quirky glory. 

9) Take Note

This ad for Toronto-based paper store Take Note might only clock in at three and a half minutes, but it manages to pack in a lifetime of emotions. The video follows a couple throughout the entirety of their relationship, shown only in the handwritten notes they leave each other. 

Created by BBDO Toronto, the surprisingly touching spot is a reminder of how powerful a simple handwritten note to a loved one can be. 

10) Cards Against Humanity

Did you just get tricked into watching 30 seconds of a stationary, silent potato during the Super Bowl? Yes, you did. 

This Cards Against Humanity spot is undeniably bad (It's quite literally just 30 seconds of a potato), but the stunt was a clever, well-executed move consistent with the viral card game's unusual brand. The ad itself contained no branding or references to Cards Against Humanity, but the company published a tongue-in-cheek Medium post called "Why Our Super Bowl Ad Failed" that hilariously recounts their misguided thought process behind the ad. 

from HubSpot Marketing Blog https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/best-ads-from-february

Giant iTab are launching a NEW 27″ Desktop Smartphone

  BIGGER THAN YOUR PHONE Following on from the success of their award-winning 42″ Smartphone solution, Giant iTab are launching a NEW 27″ Desktop Smartphone complete with:- • Fully enclosed Smartphone housing & stand • Built in Hi-Res Camera • Rotation arm for both Landscape and Portrait orientation Perfect for exhibitions, retail, banking, corporate, hotels & [more…]

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2017/02/giant-itab-are-launching-a-new-27-desktop-smartphone/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=giant-itab-are-launching-a-new-27-desktop-smartphone

Mush unveils new Outdoor campaign in London .. VCCP Media

Following the successful launch and fundraising of mum’s app Mush (www.letsmush.com), the company unveiled it’s new outdoor advertising this month to support its Facebook and Google activity. VCCP Media were appointed to run the media planning and buying and conceived the cut-through campaign. The London-wide activity consists of highly visible 6 sheets in key areas [more…]

from TheMarketingblog http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/2017/02/mush-unveils-new-outdoor-campaign-in-london-vccp-media/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mush-unveils-new-outdoor-campaign-in-london-vccp-media

How to Learn Excel Online: 12 of the Best Resources for Excel Training

Like many marketers, I have a bit of experience with Microsoft Excel. I've used it to organize events, plan meals, and sort data -- but I don't have nearly the advanced knowledge I wish I did. And thanks to those limited skills, I'm constantly subjecting myself to the tedium of updating my spreadsheets manually.

I'm well aware that I'm missing out on a whole world of reporting automation that could save me hours of time. But when asked where they picked up their knowledge, even my most Excel-savvy colleagues told me things like, "I mostly learned from colleagues and friends," or, "When I have a specific question, I ask someone or search on Google."Fair enough. But as a beginner, I probably have a few too many Excel questions to rely on colleagues -- or Google -- to answer every one.

I can't be the only one out there who wants to master the world's most popular data analysis and visualization solution -- or at least learn how to create charts and graphs that'll impress my manager. So in the spirit of becoming a more productive, data-driven marketer, I scoured the internet for the best online resources for learning Excel. Most of these are free, and the ones that aren't might be worth the investment . Take a look, bookmark your favorites, and get that much closer to working more efficiently in Excel.

How to Learn Excel Online: 12 of the Best Resources for Excel Training

1) Microsoft's Excel Training Center

Price: Free

When it comes to learning a new application, why not start at the source? After all, no one knows Excel better than the people at Microsoft.

In fact, they've done a great job putting together the Office Training Center: A resource hub for all Microsoft Office applications and services. The training center for Excel has a whole bunch of free tutorials, videos, and guides on Windows, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and Windows Phone that cover the latest version of Excel, as well as older ones.

Once you click into a platform, you'll find resources divided by Excel ability: For beginners (like basic math and creating a chart), intermediate users (like sorting and filtering data, conditional formatting, and VLOOKUPs), and advanced users (like pivot tables, advanced IF functions, and how to password-protect worksheets and workbooks).

Source: Microsoft

2) The Spreadsheet Page

Price: Free

Here's a very well-organized site that's chock full of helpful Excel tips, collected by an expert named John Walkenbach. Over the past thirty years, he's written more than 60 Excel books for users of all levels, and around 300 articles and reviews for magazines like InfoWorld, PC World, and PC/Computing. At one point, he wrote the monthly spreadsheet column for PC World. In other words, the man knows his stuff -- and he knows how to present it.

The most helpful part of his website is probably the Excel Tips tab, which has a long list of useful pointers on formatting, formulas, charts and graphics, and printing. The tips themselves include everything from working with fractions, to unlinking a pivot table from its source data, to spreadsheet protection FAQs.

The Downloads tab is another particularly helpful section of Walkenbach's site, where he's added free, ungated download links to files he created, like free Excel workbooks and add-ins. For example, there's one Excel workbook available for download that gives examples of custom number formats, which you can play with and tweak on your own time, and get familiar with them without having to start from scratch.

3) About.com's Spreadsheets Page

Price: Free

Many of you are likely familiar with the content website About.com, but did you know it has its own spreadsheets subdomain -- much of which is devoted to Excel? There are likely thousands of instruction sets on that site, most of which are illustrated, how-to posts. Plus, fresh content is added regularly.

Each piece of content is categorized according to everything from formulas and formatting, to videos, tools, and templates. If you want to stay up-to-date on the latest spreadsheet news and tips, you can sign up for a free newsletter. There's just one caveat, which is that the site contains a good amount of ads -- but if you can stand them, the content is worth it.

4) Chandoo.org

Price: Free

Purna "Chandoo" Duggirala, Chandoo.org's founder, says he has one goal: "to make you awesome at Excel and charting." He started the blog in 2007 and, today, it contains over 450 articles and tutorials on using Excel and making better charts. He's built the blog as a community, citing values like humility, passion, fun, and simplicity. He also works to make it a valuable resource for the folks for whom English is not their first language.

Most of his tips stem from forums, where people ask questions about Excel -- about formulas, formatting, shortcuts, pivot tables, and so on -- and anyone can answer them. Chandoo then uses some of the more helpful forum questions to create articles and tutorials.

Source: Chandoo.org

But it's not all so formal. For example, Chandoo once created a digital Easter egg hunt for a blog post, which included a downloadable Excel workbook containing seven hidden pandas. Readers were challenged to locate the pandas using clues, Excel techniques, and even "I-Spy" skills.

Source: Chandoo.org

While the articles, forums, and other parts of the site are free, you can pay to join one of Chandoo's structured training programs, like Excel School ($97 - $247), or VBA Classes ($97 - $347). Plus, there's aways the option to buy one of his books -- The VLOOKUP Book or Excel Formula Helper Ebook.

5) HubSpot Excel Reources

Price: Free

Seeing as Excel is one of the most in-demand skills for data-driven marketers -- and because we want marketers like you to succeed -- we've created some of our own educational content about Excel here at HubSpot. From free ebooks, to templates, to video tutorials, we aim to cover a wide range of Excel-relevant topics.

Here are a few of our best:

• "How to Use Excel: The Essential Training Guide for Data-Driven Marketing" (free ebook)
• "9 Excel Templates to Make Marketing Easier" (free templates)
• "How to Create a Pivot Table in Excel: A Step-by-Step Tutorial" (video & blog post)

6) MrExcel.com

Price: Free

Here's a resource that puts we mere mortals in touch with Excel experts. MrExcel.com's claim to fame is its interactive message board, which is constantly monitored by its community of Excel gurus.

The board is organized according to subject, like general announcements, questions, and MrExcel.com products. When a user posts a question, a member of the MrExcel.com expert community will reply with an answer. The questions range from simplifying an Excel task, to solving urgent inquiries.

Not a native English speaker? You can ask questions in your native language.

Aside from posting questions on the message board, you can also browse Mr. Excel's "Hot Topics" -- found on the left-hand side of its homepage -- which includes things like finding the cumulative sum of even or odd rows, or removing the leading zero within a text field. The site also has a library of helpful Excel books and ebooks, and if you need help with problems that are more complex, you can even hire an Excel consultant directly from the website, for a fee.

7) Annielytics Video Tutorials

Price: Free

Annie Cushing, a web analytics data expert, created the Annielytics blog and YouTube channel to share her knowledge with the world. Don't let the punny name fool you -- both are chock full of really good, specific, and in-depth web analytics tips.

While the content here isn't all Excel-related -- much of it is about Google Analytics, for example -- it does contain some great Excel video tutorials. Even better, they were created with marketing and web analytics in mind, so they're directly applicable to things like marketing data reports. The Excel-specific videos can be found here, or by searching her YouTube channel for "Excel".

The Excel topics vary widely, from how to create interactive pivot tables, to how to add a scrolling table to your dashboard using the INDEX function. The videos also vary in length depending on topic complexity, ranging from two-and-a-half-minutes, to those over half an hour long. To give you an idea of what the videos are like, here's one of our favorites, which covers a comprehensive overview of Excel charts:

8) Lynda.com's Excel Training Tutorials

Price: Membership starts at $19.99/month | 10-day free trial available

If you're willing to invest a little cash in your Excel training, Lynda.com is a worthwhile place to spend it. Members have access to thousands of courses on business, technology, creative skills, and software that'll help you work toward your personal and professional goals.

Included are over 100 courses on Excel, and over 4,000 video tutorials covering every version of the program, at any level of expertise. They cover a broad range of topics, from something as general as "Statistics with Excel Part One," to more niche topics, like "Data Visualization Storytelling Essentials."

9) Coursera

Price: Individual courses start at $79/each

While Lynda.com asks for a monthly all-access membership fee, Coursera charges on a course-to-course basis. Partnering with top universities and organizations worldwide, the site offers online classes on a number of topics, ranging from music production to coaching skills.

There are only a few courses pertaining to Excel, but if you're looking for one that's on a formally academic level, they could be a good fit for you. In fact, many of the Excel-related courses come from Duke University, such as "Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialization."

That said, these courses don't come cheap -- after all, they're the same ones that are taught at top universities around the world. And like many real-world classes, each includes video lectures, interactive quizzes, peer-graded assessments, and the opportunity to connect with fellow students and instructors. Once you finish a course, you'll receive formal recognition, along with an optional course certificate.

10) EdX Excel Courses

Price: Free

Here's a more budget-friendly option for those in search of a more formal course, rather than a one-off tutorial. EdX is a nonprofit that provides free education for people around the globe -- with an interesting model.

When users enroll in a course that's marked as "Verified," they have the option to pay a fee in exchange for an instructor-signed certificate with the institution's logo, to verify the achievement and increase job prospects. Those fees are used to fund the courses, giving you the option to take them for free if you don't mind foregoing the certificate.

Otherwise, there are some courses offered at a "Professional Education" level, for which the fee isn't optional. One example is the Business and Data Analysis Skills course, offered for $60.

To help you choose the right one, each edX course includes reviews (with a rating up to five stars), and information on length and amount of effort, usually measured in hours per week. There are also details on the level of knowledge required, along with video transcripts.

11) Khan Academy

Price: Free

When visitors arrive at the Khan Academy website, they're greeted with two simple but powerful lines of text: "You only have to know one thing: You can learn anything." And from algebra to astronomy, this resource offers a plethora of free courses on, well, almost anything -- for free.

That includes a few video tutorials on Excel. Most of them are part of larger, multi-installment courses on broader topics, like statistics. A general search for "Microsoft Excel" yields what might look like limited results, but they actually explain some fundamental parts of using Excel, like distributions and fitting lines to data.

12) Udemy

Price: $15

If you had six hours to spare, how would you use them? "Sleep," "clean the house," and "bake something" are some of the things that come to the top of my mind, but try this on for size -- what if you could become an Excel expert in that amount of time?

That's what Udemy promises in its "Microsoft Excel - From Beginner to Expert in 6 Hours" course -- for only $15. Udemy is one of the most bountiful online learning resources out there, and its Excel courses certainly don't end with that single option. In fact, when I return to the homepage, it displays several additional lessons on the topic, in case I want to explore my options.

Those options are many. In fact, just typing "Excel" into the search bar yields dozens of results, each one displaying a star rating, price, length, and level.

Excel in Your Field

Ready to get started? With these tools, you'll be using Excel with little-to-no-sweat, in no time. Plus, practice makes perfect -- that's why there are so many tiered levels of courses available. Start where you can, and as you begin using more functions and commands, you can continue to expand your knowledge.

What are your favorite online resources for learning Excel? Let us know in the comments.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in March 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

from HubSpot Marketing Blog https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/learn-excel-resources

Marketing Trivia: How Much Random Marketing Knowledge Do You Have?

Think fast: Do you know what the Twitter logo is named after, or what animal species was featured in the first ever Instagram post?

Too easy? Okay, smarty pants, how about this one: In 2010, Google released an update to its algorithm called ____ that makes sure its search results are up to date with current events?

Here at HubSpot, we love marketing and we love trivia. This probably stems from the fact that we also love learning new things and challenging ourselves. Either way, we've decided to put together some fun questions designed to test your marketing trivia knowledge.

Check 'em out below.

 

 

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Share your favorite marketing-themed trivia with us in the comments -- we can't wait to get stumped.

from HubSpot Marketing Blog https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-trivia