Trending Articles

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Identify Your Best Prospects: How to Create a Lead Scoring System

Aspiration Marketing

A successful sales strategy hinges on identifying and prioritizing sales-qualified leads (SQLs). That's a fundamental truth. However, without a clear method, you risk wasting time on leads that aren't going to close. To solve this, a lead scoring system assigns value to different lead characteristics and behaviors. This ensures you prioritize the leads most likely to convert, making your lead generation efforts more effective.

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7 tips for getting started with AI agents and automations

Martech

If you’ve ever opened an automation platform like Make.com or Zapier and didn’t know where to begin, you’re not alone. When I first explored AI-powered automation, I started off optimistic, then got lost in the maze of API integrations. That feeling of immense possibility clouded by complexity is where many marketing teams sit today.

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The Best Time to Post on Threads in 2025 — Data from 700K+ Posts

Buffer Marketing

If you’ve been around here a while, you’ll know that crunching the numbers to figure out the best time to post on all major social media platforms is basically our love language. And now we have enough data to add Threads to our roster, too! Because even though Threads uses an algorithm to decide what you (and your target audience) sees in the feed, when you post still has an impact.

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How much does AI cost? Here are the industry averages

Hubspot Marketing

I first tested AI tools in 2019 to automate repetitive parts of my workflow. It seemed like the perfect solution: Let the code execute the manual stuff I was too bored to do. However, I quickly discovered hidden costs to everything I did. My automation script needed a server to live on. The server needed maintenance and monitoring. And if the backend APIs changed, my script would no longer work.

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Aligning Sales & Marketing to Drive Demand & Build Pipeline

Speaker: Speakers:

Marketing and sales might be two halves of the same coin, but how often do they feel like they’re tossed in completely different directions? It’s time to bridge the gap, align your teams, and start building a pipeline instead of frustration. Join us for this insightful webinar to transform your siloed teams into a powerhouse partnership. What you’ll learn: A clear understanding of why sales and marketing alignment is crucial for business growth.

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The Top Challenges Facing Senior Marketers in 2025

The CMO Survey

The post The Top Challenges Facing Senior Marketers in 2025 appeared first on The CMO Survey.

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Attracting Customers: How the AIDA Model Fuels Inbound Marketing

Aspiration Marketing

Are your marketing efforts falling flat? Perhaps you're seeing website visitors, but they're not sticking around. Or maybe you're generating leads, but they're not converting into customers. This disconnect often stems from a misalignment between your marketing strategy and the customer's natural journey. That's where the AIDA modelAttention, Interest, Desire, Actioncomes into play.

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What Is a Good Open Rate for Email? Benchmarks & How to Improve Yours

AWeber

Imagine spending hours crafting the perfect email campaign, only to find out later that hardly anyone even opened it. If youve ever clicked send and then obsessively refreshed your analytics dashboard, waiting for open rates to come in, youre not alone. Tracking email open rates is essential to know if your messages are reaching your audienceor getting lost in crowded inboxes.

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How to maintain authenticity in your social media strategy — even with AI

Hubspot Marketing

One of the biggest reasons Im a late(r) convert to AI is that AI-generated content usually has some tells. And while Im a little closer to it than most, when I spot social media content thats a direct copy-paste from GPT, it feels canned and inauthentic, and I lose trust in the person or brand. While I firmly believe that authenticity is important everywhere you market your business , its especially important when it comes to making connections and growing relationships on social media.

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Social media teams are finally growing—stop hiring like it’s 2015

Sprout Social

Were back with the latest edition of our series, @Me Next Time, where we invite Team Sprout and some of our favorite social experts to share how they really feel about the latest trends and industry discourse. This time, were tackling a familiar frustration: social media job descriptions that try to do too much. Brands still expect one person to manage content calendars, act as on-camera talent, report on performance, run influencer programs, lead social SEO and stay on top of every trendevery d

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What is Business Development, and Why is it Important?

Aspiration Marketing

What is Business Development? Imagine a company doubling its revenue in a single year, not through lucky breaks but strategic alliances. That's the power of business development. But it's more than just sales; it's the engine of sustainable growth, driving revenue, expanding reach, and fueling innovation. Understanding its true definition and strategic importance is crucial for unlocking its transformative potential.

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A Data Revolution: Why Your AMS/CRM Needs a Native Data Warehouse

Unlock the Power of Historical Data A Data Revolution: Why Your AMS/CRM Needs a Native Data Warehouse Today’s association leaders need more than real-time snapshots—they need the full story. MemberSuite: A Data Revolution reveals how a native data warehouse transforms your AMS into a strategic decision-making engine. In this free eBook, you’ll discover: The difference between a database and a data warehouse—and why it matters How to gain historical visibility into membership, engagement, events,

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AI promises a shortcut, but creative teams are taking the scenic route

Martech

Creative professionals are intrigued by AI, but most are still figuring out where it fits. While the hype suggests a fast-moving revolution, the reality is more measured. Many teams are experimenting with new tools and exploring ways to boost efficiency, but at a measured pace. Why creative AI adoption feels familiar I still remember the first ATM I ever saw.

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Small Business Marketing Moves That Actually Work: What To Prioritize In 2025

Marketing Insider Group

Small business marketing in 2025 isnt about doing everything you possibly can its about doing the right things strategically. If youre running a small business, you dont have a bottomless budget and a massive team, so spending time and money on the wrong marketing strategies can hurt you. However, you dont need to spend a fortune like the big corporations.

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The content demand engine that every business needs but no one uses, from Morning Brew’s CEO

Hubspot Marketing

I cofounded Morning Brew in 2015. Since then, the content landscape has transformed into an even more competitive arena. The cost of paid acquisition has skyrocketed. Content differentiation has become harder than ever, especially when AI can write generic posts in seconds. The result is a sea of sameness 101-level blog posts, cringy trade show booths, outreach emails offering free AirPods if you listen to a pitch, and aggressive marketing drip campaigns.

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FinTok: How influencers are changing financial services marketing

Sprout Social

Gen Z and younger millennials are eschewing traditional financial advisors in favor of advice from social media. According to the Q2 2025 Sprout Pulse Survey, 71% of Gen Z and 68% of Millennials say social media has had a positive impact on their financial decisions. TikTok has a thriving niche community, known as FinTok, which features approachable micro- and macro-influencers who are offering younger generations free financial education in the form of bite-sized videos.

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From Curiosity to Competitive Edge: How Mid-Market CEOs Are Using AI to Scale Smarter

Speaker: Lee Andrews, Founder at LJA New Media & Tony Karrer, Founder and CTO at Aggregage

This session will walk you through how one CEO used generative AI, workflow automation, and sales personalization to transform an entire security company—then built the Zero to Strategy framework that other mid-market leaders are now using to unlock 3.5x ROI. As a business executive, you’ll learn how to assess AI opportunities in your business, drive adoption across teams, and overcome internal resource constraints—without hiring a single data scientist.

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The Secret to Scale Cross-browser Testing

Aspiration Marketing

Testing your website on different browsers is key to providing a smooth experience for every user. As people visit sites from many devices and browsers, it's important for your site to work correctly no matter how visitors access it. This is where multi-browser testing tools become essential, letting you check your site across countless devices and browser combinations.

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What would a truly customer-centric B2B buyers journey look like?

Martech

In MarTechs MarTechBot explains it all feature, we pose a question about marketing to our very own MarTechBot , which is trained on the MarTech website archives and has access to the broader internet. Q: What would a truly customer-centric buyers journey in B2B look like? Creating a customer-centric buyer’s journey in B2B that minimizes friction and allows for freely available information is an excellent approach to enhancing the overall customer experience.

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How CRM Helps with Community Management

Marketing Insider Group

Building a community takes more than a catchy welcome email and a few emoji-filled social posts. You need connection. Context. And yes, some serious organization behind the scenes. Thats where CRM and community management start to overlap. While most people think of CRMs (Customer Relationship Management systems) as tools for sales, theyve quietly become a powerhouse for growing and managing thriving brand communities.

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The inclusive marketing strategies Zumba, Lysol, Wistia, and more are using to grow, straight from marketing leaders

Hubspot Marketing

Growth is the mandate for brands each year. One way to grow? Create offerings that appeal to a wider group of people. Thats where inclusive marketing comes in. Inclusive marketing is all about acknowledging the many ways people are different. Brands that do inclusive marketing well authentically infuse the identities theyve chosen to serve throughout all parts of their marketing mix to ensure those consumers feel like they belong and that the brand is for people like them.

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Prospect, Personalize, Profit: The New Way Sales & Marketing Teams Are Aligning with AI

Speaker: Kevin Burke, Founder & Managing Director at Digital One and AI & Automation Consultant

AI and automation are currently transforming the way sales and marketing teams operate. Generative AI crafts personalized outreach at scale, while conversational AI bots are engaging prospects in real time. Robotic process automation streamlines manual workflows by triggering tasks the moment a prospect takes a key action, and advanced AI analytics surface hidden patterns in the pipeline, improve forecasting, and help teams make data-driven decisions with confidence.

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What Are Lead Magnets? Types, Strategies, and the Best Examples

AWeber

Imagine this: You land on a website for the first time, and before you even consider buying, something grabs your attentiona helpful ebook, a free checklist, or a discount code. All you need to do is enter your email to get it. This isnt just a friendly offer; its one of the most effective marketing tools online: the lead magnet. Building a thriving email list or finding qualified prospects feels toughbut its much easier when you know how to create the right incentives.

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Post Performance Report: The best brand milestone campaigns on social

Sprout Social

Were back with another installment of the Post Performance Report (PPR)a series where we compile and analyze social media posts and campaigns inspiring us, and break down what makes them so genius. We dont just examine the flawless creative execution of every post or campaign, but the business impact, too. This time, were putting the spotlight on brands celebrating major milestones.

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B2B buyers need a reason to believe, not a list of features

Martech

Most product marketers mistake explanation for persuasion. They open with features, as if the product’s function speaks for itself. But buyers don’t assign value to features in isolation. They mentally tie features to outcomes they care about and do it in a way that protects them from regret. In that sense, people don’t buy the “why” alone.

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Confessions of an AI Addict

Animalz blog

I never intended to be an addict. Nobody does, I suppose. But the temptations, theyre too powerful. Theyve made me lazy, dishonest, selfish, needy, over-confident every sin under the sun. Ive tried to resist. Many times. And sometimes I escape, for a little while. But it always pulls me back in, usually sooner rather than later. My addiction is to algorithms, to AI.

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Unlocking the Power of Martech for the Non-Technical Marketing Leader

Speaker: Speakers:

Are you struggling to highlight your impact and showcase the results of your team’s marketing efforts? Do you find it challenging to build more effective campaigns that drive meaningful results? The key may lie in unlocking the power of marketing technology (martech)—but as a non-technical marketing leader, navigating this landscape can feel daunting.

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How to Use Instagram Close Friends (and Pair With Broadcast Channels and Unlockable Reels)

Buffer Marketing

Having thousands of followers is great. But sometimes, the real value of social media comes from smaller , more meaningful interactions. That’s where Instagram Close Friends can be a game changer. This Instagram feature, first introduced in 2018 , lets you handpick a close friends list — a private group who can view exclusive content through your Instagram Stories.

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Email Drip Campaigns: Strategies, Templates, and Best Tools for Success

AWeber

Ever spend hours crafting the perfect email, only to see it ignored or forgotten? You're not alone. For most marketers and small business owners, building real relationships through email isnt about a single messageits about sending the right message at the right time, over time. That's where email drip campaigns come in. Email drip campaigns automate personalized messages based on user actions or set schedules, helping you turn sign-ups into loyal customers without the manual effort.

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A masterclass in nonprofit social media marketing: Expert ideas from GivingTuesday

Sprout Social

Social media was born from a desire to connectacross neighborhoods, borders and causes. While much of todays content skews commercial, nonprofits have a unique opportunity to return social media to its roots: building community, inspiring action and amplifying human stories. That doesnt mean leaving performance behind. In fact, nonprofit social media marketing can both drive meaningful engagement and deliver on goals like reach, donations and volunteer sign-ups.

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IAB releases draft of updated digital ad terms for public comment

Martech

Today, the IAB released a long-anticipated update to its General Terms for Digital Advertising Agreements, opening a 60-day public comment period through July 21, 2025. The draft is the first significant overhaul of the standard terms in nearly 25 years and aims to simplify and modernize the execution of digital advertising deals across the industry.

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Neuroscience of B2B Buyer Behavior: Strategies for Influencing Buyer Choices

Speaker: Speakers:

Ever wonder what really makes B2B buyers tick? Spoiler alert: it’s not just logic. Join us for our next session of the B2B Growth Show, "Neuroscience of B2B Buyer Behavior: Strategies for Influencing Buyer Choices" with Grant C. Gooding, where science meets strategy. You'll get the insider scoop on how emotions secretly drive decisions and how you can tap into them to win buyers over.

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New Podcast Season: Breaking Down the Walls of Enterprise Content Marketing (Season Intro)

Animalz blog

This season on the Animalz Podcast, we’re pulling back the corporate curtain to show you how the largest, most complex B2B SaaS teams actually get content out the door. Our mission: demystify these hidden machines and reveal what it really takes to run content at scale. Hear from content leaders of some of the biggest names in SaaS sharing the systems they’ve built, the battles they’ve fought, and the lessons they’ve learned along the way.

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AI Is Diluting Your Brand

Practical eCommerce - Marketing

Generative AI learns from the web and also contributes content to it. Is AI-generated brand copy becoming homogenized? The post AI Is Diluting Your Brand appeared first on Practical Ecommerce.

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Personalized Email Marketing: How to Send Messages Your Subscribers Crave

AWeber

Have you ever opened an email and immediately felt like it was meant just for you? Odds are, you paid more attentionand maybe even took action. That's the power of a personalized email. Today, your subscribers expect more than generic content; they're looking for relevant messages that address their unique needs and interests. Personalized email marketing uses subscriber data to tailor messages specifically for each recipient.

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One to watch: What is Bluesky?

Sprout Social

Bluesky mightve started as a side project, but its quickly making a name for itself in the social media landscape. In less than six months, it has grown from 10 million to over 30 million users, attracting everyone from artists and tech enthusiasts to public figures like Barack Obama. You might be wondering if Bluesky is worth testing out. Since its still evolving, theres no definitive answer.

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State of AI in Sales & Marketing 2025

AI adoption is reshaping sales and marketing. But is it delivering real results? We surveyed 1,000+ GTM professionals to find out. The data is clear: AI users report 47% higher productivity and an average of 12 hours saved per week. But leaders say mainstream AI tools still fall short on accuracy and business impact. Download the full report today to see how AI is being used — and where go-to-market professionals think there are gaps and opportunities.