One of the best ways to tell if a show or movie is worthwhile is if people never get tired of re-watching it. Whether it's the hit television show Friends or the classic movie Forrest Gump, most people never turn down an opportunity to watch Ross pivot his couch or witness Forrest develop into a ping pong celebrity — even if they've already watched it 27 times. Content marketing is in its infancy compared to television and film, but some of the best writers and publications in our industry have already crafted articles that we revere as the Friends or Forrest Gump of the space. To pinpoint some of these articles and share them with you, I asked nine marketers at HubSpot what their favorite marketing article is and why. Check out the ones they read on repeat. To pinpoint some of these articles and share them with you, I asked a few marketers at HubSpot what their favorite marketing article is and why. Check out the ones they read on repeat, plus a few articles that HubSpot’s marketing, content, and blog teams refer to time and again. Recommended By: Caroline Forsey, Editor at HubSpot, Marketing Blog Why She Loves It: “It’s tricky to choose a single marketing article as my favorite, but the one that has had a lasting impression on me is HBR’s ‘What Creativity in Marketing Looks Like Today’. Mark Bonchek and Cara France do a great job distilling the wisdom of senior marketing executives from dozens of top brands, varying from Old Navy to OpenTable. One of my favorite lines is this one — ‘People are the new channel. The way to amplify impact is by inspiring creativity in others’. Ultimately, I’m a fan of anything HBR, and this piece in particular is a good one to check out if you want to learn more about what top brands are doing to stand out in the industry today.” Recommended By: the HubSpot SEO Team Why They Love It: “Part original data and part SEO guide, this is one of Brian Dean’s best articles. The algorithm has changed since its publication, but this article helps new marketers understand how SEO works and why. It’s a how-to guide on SEO, only without the how-to in the title, with data that supports each component of an SEO strategy. We love this article because it reminds us that while the Google algorithm changes every day, one factor never changes: search engine optimization must be human-first above all else.” Recommended By: Braden Becker, Senior SEO Strategist at HubSpot Why He Loves It: “This article took a brilliant position on search engine optimization (SEO) and how search engines have stood the test of time as new channels break into a marketer's arsenal. Lots of articles assert the importance of SEO, but few of them consider the implications sites like Google have on how the public finds, consumes, and expects to see information online. The piece boldly defends the positive role ranking algorithms play in an industry that is often saturated with manipulation and clickbait. It's something both consumers and marketers can learn from, and I gained a ton of respect for New York Magazine after reading this.” Recommended By: the HubSpot Blog Team Why They Love It:
1. What Creativity Looks Like in Marketing Today | Harvard Business Review
2. We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results. Here’s What We Learned About SEO | Backlinko
3. SEO Is Back. Thank God. | New York Magazine - Intelligencer
4. How Google Analytics Ruined Marketing | TechCrunch
“In our field, we tend to uphold data above emotional appeal, relatability, and empathy (well, maybe those are all the same thing). As a result, marketing has become less and less human. This article is one of our favorites because it takes us back to the roots of marketing and tells us why it’s critical to take a holistic look at a brand’s performance across different channels. Most important, creativity reigns over numbers and hard data. People will remember a creative, targeted campaign that appeared once more than they’ll remember — and like — a spam-like campaign that appears everywhere.”
5. How to Create 10x Content | Moz
Recommended By: Amanda Sellers, Marketing Manager at HubSpot, Historical Optimization
Why She Loves It:
“This is a content marketing classic — probably the first post you’ll ever read as a content marketing professional. If you’re familiar with Moz at all, you’ve likely watched one of its whiteboard Fridays. Rand Fishkin’s guide for creating what he calls ‘10X content’ came about after the rise of the ‘Content is king’ industry adage. Even years after its initial publication, this guide will tell you how you can write strong, authoritative content that will draw in more readers and improve in rankings as a result.”
6. ‘We want these platforms to be healthy’: Why top marketers won’t quit Facebook | Digiday
Recommended By:Amanda Zantal-Wiener, Senior Content Strategist at HubSpot
Why She Loves It:
"This is an oldie but a goodie — still relevant years after it was written, especially as we continue to be wary toward Facebook. As someone who lives a 'double life' as a marketer and a tech writer, I found this article both intriguing and valuable. It explores Facebook's rocky year from an interesting lens: one that's of interest to those who live in the trenches of the tech industry and those who cover it alike. I studied and reported on the consumer sentiment toward and use of Facebook, despite these events. But it's important to ask an audience of marketers and growth companies the same questions. This article does a great job of that."
7. Marketing in the Age of Resistance | Harvard Business Review
Recommended By: the entire HubSpot Marketing Team
Why We Love It:
“‘Being about it instead of just talking about it’ is a huge priority not just for the marketing team, but for HubSpot as a whole. We love this article because it tells us that our blog, advertising, and website campaigns don’t exist in a vacuum that’s separate from societal injustices. In our team, we often begin with representation — but that’s only the precursor to more institutional and large-scale change within our organization. Marketing teams everywhere will benefit from saving and rereading this article.”
8. How to Become a Customer Acquisition Expert | Brian Balfour
Recommended By: Christina Perricone, Content Marketing Manager at HubSpot, Pillar and Acquisition
Why She Loves It:
“Marketing has expanded into a field with countless designations — simply calling yourself a marketer is no longer a sufficient response to the question, ‘What do you do?’ Balfour explains how to build yourself into an indispensable, T-shaped marketer by layering your skills as you progress. This evergreen piece teaches us that marketers are experimenters, risk takers, and problem solvers, proving that nearly anyone has the propensity to be successful in this field if they have the patience to build and stick to a plan. It's a gem for any marketer who is struggling to determine their path.”
9. 7 Ancient Archetypes Your Brand Storytelling Should Use | Content Marketing Institute
Recommended By:the HubSpot Blog Team
Why They Love It:
“Writing a blog post is like writing a short story. The introduction is the exposition, the bulk of the post is the rising action, and the conclusion is the denouement. Seems pretty straightforward, right? But without establishing emotional stakes and placing your reader as the hero, you risk your messaging falling flat. We love this post because it’s like a condensed version of Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand. Easy to refer to as we write posts.”
10. An Incomplete Guide to Inclusive Language for Startups and Tech | Buffer
Recommended By:Karla Cook, Team Senior Manager at HubSpot, All Blogs
Why She Loves It:
“This article is a must-read for anyone who creates content. It’s a reminder that the seemingly inconsequential choices we make about language on a daily basis actually hold a lot of power. Creating content with inclusive language in mind can seem tricky or even silly to some (especially when the word choices seem minor), but this article poses the question: why not just try?”
11. Why Be Everywhere is Bad Advice | Racheal Cook
Recommended By:the HubSpot Sales Blog Team
Why They Love It:
“Being everywhere and being in front of everyone is very, very bad marketing and sales advice. We have no idea how this became such an accepted stance in the industry. This blog post is a great guide for both marketers and budding entrepreneurs on how to hone messaging so that it appeals to the one buyer who’ll actually buy, use, and appreciate your product. It’s especially useful to content writers, too. Our pieces don’t have to be everywhere. Simply in the right place at the right time. ”
12. Why Marketing Analytics Hasn’t Lived Up to Its Promise | Harvard Business Review
Recommended By: Josh Chang, Manager at HubSpot, Acquisition Analytics
Why He Loves It:
“I love this article because while everyone knows marketing analytics is important, it’s challenging to do marketing analytics right so that it has a significant impact on the overall business. Many companies suffer from having too much data and not knowing what to do with it. But if you have the right data, systems, processes, and people in place, you can better ensure that marketing analytics isn’t wasted and has a tangible and positive impact.”
13. How Redesigning HubSpot's Website Doubled Conversion Rates | HubSpot
Recommended By: the HubSpot Website Blog Team
Why They Love It:
“‘Not another HubSpot plug,’ you might say, but this post is one of our best ones — we constantly refer to it to remind ourselves how small changes can create a lasting impact. You can see, process-by-process, how the new website came about. Written in a case study format, this article is a great primer for marketing teams everywhere on how and why they should consider a website redesign and what to take into consideration. While the post was published a few years ago, its relevance stays high.”
14. 4 Lessons We’ve Learned, Sometimes the Hard Way, About Inclusive Marketing | Think With Google
Recommended By: Sammi Kim, Marketing Manager at HubSpot, HubSpot Research
Why She Loves It:
“Written by the SVP of Global Marketing at Google, this article speaks to the importance of inclusive marketing. I was impressed by how the first lesson was that the diversity among marketers at Google directly impacted their marketing campaigns. And based on the article’s third lesson on the importance of excluding stereotypes from marketing campaigns, I strongly believe that having diverse marketing teams will help run more nuanced, empathetic campaigns.”
15. 20 Types of Evergreen Content that Produce Lasting Results for Your Business | Copyblogger
Recommended By:the HubSpot Blog Team
Why They Love It:
“Most, if not all, blog posts should try to be evergreen. We took ideas from this article and continue to take ideas as we create an editorial calendar each quarter. Though published a few years ago, this article is still highly relevant and useful. Numbered lists, how-to lists, and original research will always do well. This article has never failed us and it should be in every content marketer’s arsenal.”
16. Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company | Medium - Startups
Recommended By: Nate Medina, Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot
Why He Loves It:
“I love this article because it tells the intimate story of a founder who had ambitious dreams, but ultimately, his plans didn't pan out the way he expected. In the pursuit of trying to create a billion dollar company, however, he learned that success isn't just about money. It’s about creating something you’re truly interested in rather than something that you chase revenue with.”
17. How We Used the Pillar-Cluster Model to Transform Our Blog | HubSpot Marketing Blog
Recommended By: Basha Coleman, Marketing Manager at HubSpot, Historical Optimization
Why She Loves It:
“This article is a stellar introduction to a new and improved way of doing content marketing — not just on blogs, but on websites as well. Before the pillar-cluster model, we truly built blogs like a tree, with a multitude of branches that didn’t interconnect. Relevance, authority, and organic traffic all suffered. But the pillar-cluster model changed everything, and we swear by it to this day. Our team constantly refers to the establishment of the pillar-cluster model as the turning point for the HubSpot blogs.”
18. What I Learned From Developing Branding for Airbnb, Dropbox and Thumbtack | FirstRound
Recommended By: the HubSpot Content Team
Why They Love It:
“We love this article because it gives us a close look at how some of the world’s best-loved brands become so well-loved. This post is part original think piece and part how-to guide. While none of us work in brand management directly, we come back to this article again and again for its helpful insight on how we can play a part in making HubSpot a better brand. All marketers would benefit from alluding to this article again and again during their campaigns and positioning efforts.”
19. Will Marketers Return to Offices in 2021? What Companies Need to Know | HubSpot Marketing Blog
Recommended By: Ivelisse Rodriguez, Associate Marketing Manager at HubSpot, Historical Optimization
Why She Loves It:
“This article takes everything that happened in 2020 and turns it into actionable feedback that marketing leaders can use to manage their new hybrid workforce. The trends and data indicate that remote work is here to stay — and while some companies may resist it, they may sacrifice their marketers in doing so. In an industry that’s always changing, adaptability is key and will continue to be key in 2021 and beyond. I love that this post drives that point home for marketing teams and leaders.”
20. The Strange Thing That Happens In Your Brain When You Hear a Good Story — And How to Use It to Your Advantage | HubSpot Marketing Blog
Recommended By: the HubSpot Content Team
Why They Love It:
“Joe Lazauskas and Shane Snow, marketing executives at Contently, wrote a book called The Storytelling Edge. They promoted it by releasing one of the book’s chapters on our marketing blog. This is one of our favorite marketing articles because it uses neuroscience to prove that storytelling is much more than a trendy buzzword. In their excerpt, Joe and Shane weave in compelling psychological and neurological evidence into a narrative about how storytelling is the best way to capture people’s attention, bake information into their brains, and forge close, personal bonds. And in an industry where 5% of branded content attracts 95% of attention, their article makes you realize that content marketers can’t just write listicles and ultimate guides anymore. We must tell gripping stories.”
Editor's note: This post was originally published in February 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Topics: Marketing Strategy
FAQs
What is the #1 rule of marketing? ›
First Rule Of Marketing: Focus On Your Audience.
What are the 4 most important things in marketing? ›For all its complexity, at its core, marketing revolves around four things: product, price, promotion, and place. Tactics and channels change, but these are the concepts everything else revolves around, and they're principles that never change.
What are the best marketing research topics? ›- The Link Between Brand Recognition and Repeat Business.
- Contributing Factors to Better Brand Performance.
- Reputation management and marketing What Are the Best Techniques to Use? ...
- The Most Effective Social Media Techniques to Increase Customer Engagement.
The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto principle , is a marketing strategy that says 80% of your results are a product of 20% of your actions. Economist Vilfredo Pareto thought of the idea when he realized approximately 80% of his nation's land belonged to 20% of its population.
What is the 80 20 rule marketing? ›What is the 80/20 rule? The 80/20 rule indicates that 80% of social media posts should be useful to your audience — meaning, it educates, entertains, or offers a solution to their problems — and only 20% should explicitly promote your business.
What are the 4 C's of successful marketing? ›The 4 C's of Marketing are Customer, Cost, Convenience, and Communication. These 4 C's determine whether a company is likely to succeed or fail in the long run.
What are the 5 keys of marketing? ›The 5 P's of marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People – are a framework that helps guide marketing strategies and keep marketers focused on the right things.
What are the most essential 7 ends in marketing? ›These seven are: product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning and people.
What is 1 the ultimate marketing strategy? ›The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers.
Which is the king of marketing? ›In modern marketing, the prime motive of a seller is to know about the needs of the consumer and fulfil those. Thus, the customer is considered as the 'king'.
What is the most powerful form of marketing? ›
“Advocacy Marketing” or commonly known as “word-of-mouth” is indisputably the most powerful form of marketing.
What are the 5 C's of marketing research? ›5C Analysis is a marketing framework to analyze the environment in which a company operates. It can provide insight into the key drivers of success, as well as the risk exposure to various environmental factors. The 5Cs are Company, Collaborators, Customers, Competitors, and Context.
What are the 4 P's of market research? ›The four Ps are a “marketing mix” comprised of four key elements—product, price, place, and promotion—used when marketing a product or service.
What are the five 5 common market research questions? ›- Demographic questions e.g. How old are you? ...
- How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
- Did you consider any of our competitors? ...
- What do you wish our product could do?
- How would you rate your most recent experience with us?
- How long have you been a customer?
Many people use social media as a broadcasting tool. They've forgotten the fundamental of sales. You should be listening 80% of the time, asking questions, 10% of the time and promoting your products and services only 10 % of the time.
What is the 4 1 1 social media rule? ›This rule says that for every six posts you create on your social media channels, four posts should entertain or educate, one post should be a “soft sell” and one post should be a “hard sell.” Let's take a closer look at how you might use the 4-1-1 rule.
What is the 50 30 20 rule marketing? ›The 50/30/20 rule splits your take-home pay into: 50% for essential spending, 30% for flexible spending, & 20% for financial goals. Before you begin, step back and analyze your essential spending, financial goals, and flexible spending.
What is the 40 40 20 marketing rule? ›The dictum is that 40 percent of your direct marketing success is dependent on your audience, another 40 percent is dependent on your offer, and the last 20 percent is reserved for everything else, including how the material is presented.
What is the 60 40 rule in marketing? ›The same IPA study shows that the optimal balance of brand and demand is a 60/40 split - 60% branding, 40% direct response, in both digital and traditional marketing. That's how you get optimal impact – pricing power, awareness, sales. Obey the 60-40 rule. Balancing brand and demand will get you the best results.
What are the 4 A's strategy in marketing? ›That's why one of the most effective marketing strategies is using the 4 A model: Acceptability, Affordability, Accessibility, and Awareness.
What are the 7 concepts of marketing? ›
The 7Ps of marketing are – product, pricing, place, promotion, physical evidence, people, and processes. The 7 Ps make up the necessary marketing mix that a business must have to advertise a product or service.
What are the 4Ps and 2 C's of marketing? ›The 4 Ps are Product, Price, Promotion and Place - the four marketing mix variables under your control. The 3 Cs are: Company, Customers and Competitors - the three semi-fixed environmental factors in your market.
What is the 7 7 rule of marketing? ›The Marketing Rule of 7 states that a prospect needs to “hear” the advertiser's message at least 7 times before they'll take action to buy that product or service. It's a marketing maxim developed by the movie industry in the 1930s.
What are the 6 core standards of marketing? ›Marketing's seven functions are distribution, market research, pricing, finance, product management, promotional channels, and consumer matching.
What are the 8 areas of marketing? ›- Customer Journey. The Customer Journey is the path your visitors take into and throughout your website to take action and become a client. ...
- Website & Health & SEO. ...
- Content Marketing. ...
- Local Search. ...
- Online Advertising. ...
- Lead Nurture. ...
- Authority Building. ...
- Digital Systems.
Philip Kotler, the Father of Modern Marketing, Will Never Retire.
What is the 7 P's business? ›Product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence should be considered holistically to ensure you're sending a coherent and consistent message about your business and brand.
What are the first three rules of marketing strategy? ›The Three Rules of Marketing: 1) Focus 2) Focus 3) Focus.
What was Coca Cola's marketing strategy? ›Coca-Cola initially employed an undifferentiated targeting strategy. In recent times, it has started localizing its products for better acceptability. It incorporates two basic marketing channels: Personal and Non-personal.
What are extreme marketing strategies? ›Extreme marketing involves a brand pushing the limits of human endeavour, often by performing risky or dangerous stunts, in an attempt to create content their audience will engage with.
Who is the genius of marketing? ›
Now that you know who Philip Kotler is and know his principle concepts, I'm sharing 27 of his most educative and enlightening quotes with you so you keep them in mind when thinking about your own social media and digital marketing strategies.
Who is the best marketer of the year? ›Cristina Diezhandino, Chief Marketing Officer of Diageo, has been named WFA Global Marketer of the Year 2022. She was awarded this honour following a combined vote from an expert jury and the industry at large including WFA members, with each accounting for a half of the final score.
What is the secret to great marketing? ›The secret to effective marketing is putting your customers first. Today's marketing has many facets, one of the most important being digital content marketing and the use of thought leadership content to gain your audience's trust.
What are the big three when marketing? ›The marketing “Big Three”, strategy, design, and advertising, play pivotal roles in your business.
Which marketing is the most aggressive? ›Prospector marketing is the most aggressive marketing technique. It commonly uses active programs to reach new markets and find new opportunities. Reactive marketing is the opposite of the prospector marketing technique. It has no plan or any type of real marketing strategy.
What is today's marketing focused more on? ›Today's marketing departments are primarily focused on listening and engagement. They work to “own” the client.
How do you analyze a company? ›- Begin with a macro (big picture) environmental scan. Drill down to a micro (specific industry/company) scan. ...
- Find competitors. ...
- Use: ...
- Look at: ...
- SWOT Analysis (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats). ...
- The steps above are a recursive process that you will repeat many times.
The tasks of marketing are the individual, small-level jobs that the marketing department or individual marketers do. This includes the: buying and selling, informing the public about the product, facilitating the exchange of value with intermediaries who facilitate operations.
What are the 4 P's of Coca Cola? ›Marketing Strategy of Coca Cola analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).
What are the 4 P's to 4 E's of marketing? ›The four “P's” of marketing – Product, Price, Place, Promotion are old news. They've been replaced with the four “E's” – Experience, Exchange, Everyplace, Evangelism. The Four Ps were developed in a different environment. Marketers were sovereign.
What are the 7 basic questions in market research? ›
- Who is our ideal customer? ...
- What do they struggle with? ...
- What does your ideal customer really WANT? ...
- What sets you apart from your competition? ...
- Who is currently buying from us? ...
- Why are other people not buying from us? ...
- Who can buy from us in the future?
- First: What to produce. This question aims at establishing the products that need to be produced in the economy. ...
- Second: How to produce. It defines the way or method one should adopt to manufacture the good. ...
- Third: Whom to produce. This explains the target market for the goods or services.
The biggest golden rule is to carefully identify what your clients need and want, and then to show them that you can provide them with the service that will meet those needs. You need to have a direct connection with your target market to get the best return on investment from your marketing spend.
What are the 4 rules of marketing? ›The 4 basic marketing principles are product, price, place and promotion.
What is the 1 9 90 rule marketing? ›Initially coined in 2006 by Charles Arthur as a model wherein he implies, ' if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will 'interact' with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it.
What is the 70 30 rule in marketing? ›The 70/30 principle states that the salesperson should be talking for 30% of the conversation and listening for 70% of it. This 70/30 breakdown doesn't mean that you should spend 3 minutes of a 10-minute conversation giving your pitch and then listen to the prospect talk for 7 minutes.
What are the 7 P's in marketing? ›Since then, the theory has been expanded into the 7 P's of marketing. Which are: Product, Price, Promotion, Place, People, Packaging, and Process.
What is the 75 25 rule marketing? ›When I teach about content marketing, one concept I share is the 25/75 rule. This rule relates to how much time you spend creating content (25%) compared to how much time you spend promoting it (75%).
What is the 7 11 4 rule in marketing? ›Research by Google suggests that a buyer needs 7 hours of interaction, across 11 touch points, in 4 separate locations before they make a purchase.
What are the 4 W's in marketing? ›4W – Who, what, when and where. In our previous chapter about planning in Law Firm Marketing 101, we introduced the 4 “W”s and explained briefly what these stood for in the planning stage. Now we will focus on each of these aspects in their marketing role.
What is the 1 5 10 marketing rule? ›
1-, 5-, And 10-Year Period Reporting
Performance results (other than private fund performance) cannot be included in an advertisement unless they are presented over 1-, 5-, and 10-year time periods with equal prominence and with an ending date no less recent than the most recent calendar year-end.
Whether you're crafting an eBook, a whitepaper, a guide, a blog, or other written collateral, the “3-30-3” rule specifies you have just 3 seconds to grab a reader's attention, 30 seconds to engage them, and roughly 3 minutes for them to spend reading the content.
What are the 5 points marketing strategy? ›The 5 P's of marketing – Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People – are a framework that helps guide marketing strategies and keep marketers focused on the right things.