How to Avoid Falling for Phishing Emails: 6 Tips From Our Cybersecurity Pro

Email is the number one channel scammers use to trick consumers, and it gets phishier during the holidays. If you’re shopping online, here’s how to stay safe – and the first thing to do if you click a phishing link. 

As the holidays draw near, the hustle and excitement aren’t the only things ramping up. Phishing scams peak between September and November, when inboxes overflow with shopping and travel confirmations, charity requests, and marketing emails. 

The consequences can be severe:

  • In 2023, Americans lost $10 billion to fraud, a 14% jump from the previous year, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). 
  • One in four people reported losing money to scams, with a median loss of $500 per person. 
  • Shopping fraud and impostor schemes were the most common frauds, and many were carried out through phishing emails. 
  • Email remains the primary contact channel for cyberattacks. 
  • 40% of consumers check email looking for brand discounts, which makes them more susceptible to phishing during the holidays. 

But don’t panic. According to Vlad Cristescu, Head of Cybersecurity at ZeroBounce, there are steps you can take to protect yourself – even if you already clicked on a malicious link. With October being Cybersecurity Awareness Month, it’s a good time to brush up on these precautions and stay alert. 

The holiday season is scammer season

“The holidays are prime time for scammers to strike,” Cristescu explains. “People are shopping like crazy, donating to causes, and spending more time online than usual. Scammers know we’re feeling generous and maybe a little rushed, so they take advantage of that.”

The psychology behind it is simple: we’re distracted. “We’re all looking for last-minute deals, eager to get things done quickly, and that’s when we let our guard down. When you’re juggling a bunch of things, it’s easy to miss those little signs that something’s off.” And that’s exactly what scammers count on.

Top 3 phishing scams to watch out for

There are many types of scams that could land in your inbox, but according to Cristescu, three types stand out during the holidays:

1. Account log-in scams: “You’ll see emails that claim something’s wrong with your account and urge you to log in to fix it. These can be convincing, but they’re just fake pages set up to steal your username and password.”

2. Fake shipping notifications: “With everyone ordering gifts, scammers send emails that look like they’re from Amazon, FedEx, or other big companies. They know you’re waiting for packages, so they trick you into clicking to ‘track your order’ or ‘fix a delivery issue’ — but they’re really just after your passwords.”

3. Bogus eCommerce or “too good to be true” deals: “These phishing emails often impersonate major retailers or brands. They can lead you to fake websites where you’re prompted to put in sensitive information like credit card details or login credentials.”

Last year, more than 1.2 million scams targeted Amazon alone, according to a Bolster AI study. To safeguard your business domain from spoofing attacks, it’s essential to implement email authentication protocols like DMARC, SPF, and DKIM. These measures help prevent hackers from breaching your domain and sending malicious emails on your behalf.

How to spot a phishing email 

Phishing emails can be sophisticated, “especially with AI making them look pretty legit,” Cristescu says. But the cybersecurity expert emphasizes that there are still a few tell-tale signs.

“A big one is when the email starts with something generic like ‘Dear Customer’ instead of using your name. Another red flag is if the message is trying to induce panic by telling you that your account will be locked or that you need to act fast.”

Here are a few more red flags to watch out for, according to Vlad Cristescu:

  1. Weird sender email addresses: Even if the email looks like it’s from a company you know, check the email address closely. Extra letters or random numbers are usually a giveaway.
  2. Strange attachments: If there’s a random file attached, especially something like a .zip or .exe, be careful. Most companies don’t send attachments unless you’re expecting them.
  3. Suspicious links: Before you click any link, hover over it and see where it’s really taking you. If the URL looks sketchy or doesn’t match the website it claims to be from, don’t click.
  4. Bad grammar or awkward wording: Phishing emails often have little spelling mistakes or just sound a bit off. If it feels weird, it may be a phishing decoy.
  5. Asking for personal info: No legitimate company will ask for sensitive info over email. If they do, that’s a big red flag.
  6. Too-good-to-be-true deals: If the email offers something that sounds way too good, it’s probably a scam trying to get you to click.

Already clicked on an email scam? Here’s the first thing you should do

If you’ve already clicked on a malicious link, “don’t freak out,” Cristescu says. “It happens to a lot of people.” But here’s what you should do immediately:

  • Disconnect from the internet: “Disconnecting from Wi-Fi or turning off your data can help stop any malware from spreading further.”
  • Run a malware scan: “After you’re offline, run a full malware or virus scan on your device to check if anything harmful got installed. It’s better to catch it before it can do more damage.”
  • Change your passwords: “If possible, use a different device that you know is safe to change the passwords on any accounts that might be affected. This helps avoid further compromise if the original device is infected. And if you’ve reused the same password on other accounts, change those too.”
  • Contact your bank or credit card company: “If you gave out any payment info, let your bank or credit card provider know right away. They can monitor any suspicious activity or freeze your account if necessary.”
  • Report the scam: “You should report the phishing email to your email provider, and you can also file a report with authorities like the FTC and FBI.”
  • Keep an eye on your accounts: “For a little while, be extra watchful of your bank, email, and social media accounts. Scammers don’t always act immediately, so staying alert can help you catch any issues before they get worse.”

The three months leading up to December account for 20% of all phishing scams for the entire year, according to Bolster AI research. As you rush to check off your holiday to-do list, remember to pause and double-check the emails you receive. “Before you click on a link, take just a few extra seconds to ensure no scam is slipping through,” Vlad Cristescu advises.

About Vlad Cristescu

Vlad Cristescu is the Head of Cybersecurity at ZeroBounce. He has more than 14 years of experience in his field and is passionate about demystifying technology and security for companies and individuals. Previously, Cristescu  provided cybersecurity consultancy services at one of the UKs’ largest cybersecurity distributors.

About ZeroBounce

ZeroBounce is an email validation, deliverability, and email-finding company that helps businesses improve their email marketing performance. A multiple Inc. 5000 honoree, ZeroBounce is the go-to choice for more than 350,000 customers worldwide. 

Ensuring military-grade security, ZeroBounce serves companies of all sizes, from solo business owners to Amazon, Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, and Sephora. 

In 2022, ZeroBounce founded Email Day (April 23), now an international holiday honoring email inventor Ray Tomlinson.

For more information, visit https://www.zerobounce.net/

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17 Things You Can Use A Landing Page For

From gathering feedback via surveys to maximizing conversion rates, here are 17 answers to the question, “Can you elaborate on the most effective uses of a landing page?”

  • Offering Customer Feedback Surveys
  • Implementing Promotional Campaigns
  • Testing a New Service With the Target Market
  • Delivering Ad Continuity
  • Promoting a Business Before It Launches
  • Holding Space for Additional Information
  • Combining the Strength of Multiple Brands
  • Making a Good First Impression
  • Suggesting a Free Trial
  • Improving SEO
  • Linking Social Media for Clean Conversions
  • Building Brand Credibility
  • Adding Context to Your Offer
  • Collecting Email Addresses
  • Tracking Holiday-Specific Content
  • Booking Consulting Services 
  • Maximize Conversion Rates 

Offering Customer Feedback Surveys

At my medical hair restoration practice, we use landing pages to solicit customer feedback. After I treat or consult with a patient, we email them a link to a landing page containing a survey inquiring about what went well and what could have gone better. We always want to know how we can improve our patient experience, and the best way to find out is to simply ask them. Survey landing pages are a great way to collect feedback.

Jae Pak, MD, Jae Pak MD Medical

Implementing Promotional Campaigns

Landing pages are the best place to implement CTAs for promotions, discounts, or email sign-ups. A website’s “front” page is the best spot to advertise new products, upcoming sales, or campaigns driven by user engagement. 

Landing pages also tend to have the best-performing pop-up campaigns, when they’re formatted strategically. The first touchpoint users have with your website is often also the best real estate for promoting content or releasing news meant to reel users in. Landing pages carry hefty importance for both user experience and SEO compliance, so design yours strategically to be straightforward, attractive, and easy to understand.

Zach Goldstein, CEO & Founder, Public Rec

Testing a New Service With the Target Market

Sometimes we have a hunch that we should add or change a service that we offer, and we want to check that our hunch is correct before making changes throughout our website and offering the new service on a larger scale. 

In that case, we create a new landing page outlining the basics of the new service and offer it to a targeted group of people we can reach via email. For instance, we might offer link-building services alongside our content marketing for SaaS companies. 

If a new landing page for that service generates a lot of interest, then we may determine that it’s worth offering formally alongside our other SEO and content services.

Lisa Banks, Chief Content Strategist, SaaSpirin

Delivering Ad Continuity

In order for your ad to be considered “ad congruent,” it must have the same visual style as the page it directs users to. Build a landing page that mirrors the design of your ad rather than modifying an existing page to fit it. 

Your advertisement’s layout, graphics, hues, and text can all remain unchanged. If you want consumers to feel like they’ve landed in the right spot after clicking on your advertising, make sure the two seem comparable. 

It also facilitates an easy transition from advertisement to website content. The smoothness of this transition indicates the user’s experience as a paying customer, so it should be prioritized.

Kenny Kline, President & Financial Lead, BarBend

Promoting a Business Before It Launches

Before your startup is fully operational, you can still promote it through a temporary landing page online. You can post pictures of some products you will offer and provide people with the option of pre-ordering them. This way, you can still generate some revenue while getting people excited with anticipation as the official launch date of your startup approaches.

Marilyn Zubak, Marketing Lead, Snif

Holding Space for Additional Information

Want to advertise on Facebook but there isn’t enough space for all the information you need to include? To provide further information, create a landing page. Customers can be directed to a landing page with further details by using Facebook ads. 

You’ll need all your powers of imagination, allure, and even wit for this part. Avoid being too pushy, but make sure your material is doing its job of turning readers into buyers. You only need to send them to the conversion page.

Max Whiteside, SEO & Content Lead, Breaking Muscle

Combining the Strength of Multiple Brands

When a potential customer lands on a co-branded partner landing page, they are more likely to trust the product or service being offered because it is associated with a reputable and established brand. 

This can help to increase conversions and sales by leveraging the trust and assurance that comes from third-party partnerships. Co-branded partner landing pages can also help to create a unique and differentiated sales funnel experience. 

By combining the strengths of multiple brands, you can offer a more comprehensive and unique value proposition and messaging that is tailored to the specific audience and needs of the partnership.

Brian Hawkins, Marketing Manager, GhostBed

Making a Good First Impression

It’s long been an adage in the business world that the suit makes the man, and while that saying has gone out of style, it represents something that remains true: the first impression given off by someone’s first interaction with you is what matters most in setting your relationship. 

Landing pages are the suits of the internet; they provide that first impression and can make or break the client relationship. That’s why using a landing page to showcase your style, look, and feel is an absolute necessity—the nitty-gritty can be linked to‌, but I find using the landing page to drive a certain wow factor is the most important use for one.

Kate Kandefer, CEO, SEOwind

Suggesting a Free Trial

Make a landing page that encourages people to sign up for your service spending no money. The landing page will contain information unique to the free trial’s featured product or service. Customers who find this website are highly likely to sign up for the free trial offer. There will be no other choices for users besides “start your free trial.” 

This content might also be on your website, but as a landing page, it won’t compete with your navigation bar for the attention of your visitors. Its straightforward layout makes it simple to gauge your conversions.

Kyle Bassett, Chief Operating Officer, Altitude Control

Improving SEO

You can use the landing pages to help your search engine rankings. Don’t waste this chance to boost the organic search engine rankings of your landing page. It’s simple to improve your page’s social media rankings. You’ll need the help of an SEO expert if you want this to be successful. Page optimization, in contrast to pay-per-click and social media advertising, is totally cost-free.

Andrew Dale, Technical Director, CloudTech24

Linking Social Media for Clean Conversions

Building a landing page to link to your social media advertisements can maximize conversions in the same way that you would for Google Ads. If you connect your social media advertisements to landing pages, I believe you’ll see a spike in conversions. 

They redirect users to a purchasing page where they are not interrupted by any ads. Provide visitors with a clean, simple website where they can easily convert or buy your service with minimal hassle.

Timothy Allen, Sr. Corporate Investigator, Corporate Investigation Consulting

Building Brand Credibility

By adding elements of trust to your landing page, such as customer reviews and ratings, you can establish credibility with your visitors and increase the likelihood that they will convert to customers. 

Credibility is especially important if you are trying to sell a service or product that requires customers to provide personal information in order to purchase. It’s also important for visitors to understand why they should trust you with their information. 

As an AWS service provider, we use our landing page to showcase customer testimonials and reviews, as well as an overview of our services. This way, we can create a sense of trust with our visitors and increase the chances that they will convert to our offer.

Karl Robinson, CEO, Logicata

Adding Context to Your Offer

When you provide context, you’re explaining to your visitors what they can expect if they continue with their purchase or sign up for your offer. This is an effective way to increase conversions and reduce bounce rates on your website. 

Additionally, by providing context, you can also better target specific audiences with customized offers they would otherwise be less likely to convert on. As a coupon platform, our landing page gives customers an overview of our services and explains the value they get from using our platform. This page also helps us target specific audiences with customized offers they would be more likely to convert on.

Gary Gray, CFO, CouponChief

Collecting Email Addresses

Landing pages can be a powerful tool for helping you accomplish your business goals. One popular purpose of landing pages is to collect email addresses. By offering free resources or discounts in exchange, businesses can incentivize visitors to provide contact information while significantly growing their online audience. On top of this, landing pages make it incredibly easy to stay organized with collected data and track performance in one simple dashboard.

Carlos Trillo, Founder & CEO, Evinex

Tracking Holiday-Specific Content

We use landing pages to help promote certain sales or promotions that we are having. For instance, if we are running a holiday promotion, we might implement a holiday promotion landing page to run ads on social, Google, and YouTube. 

This way, when someone clicks on the ad, they land on this landing page that tells them all about the promotion and they can shop from there. This helps with our analytics in tracking the performance, clicks, and conversions through this landing page and helps us invest our money in the best places where they are the most effective.

Scott Krager, Founder, Key Fob Replacement

Booking Consulting Services

Landing pages are an effective tool to capture leads and promote our services. Our landing page offers prospective customers the opportunity to book a consultation call so that we can better understand both their needs and project requirements. 

This allows us to provide the best possible service and develop a tailor-made solution for the individual customer. We understand how important it is for customers to have peace of mind knowing that their project is in safe hands, and using our landing page allows us to deliver this assurance.

Michael Sena, CEO, SENACEA

Maximizing Conversion Rates 

The most common use of landing pages is for lead generation. The primary purpose of a lead-generation landing page is to convert your website visitors into leads by providing them with a clear and interesting call-to-action (CTA) that encourages them to provide you with their contact information in exchange for something of value, such as a free guide, checklist, whitepaper, or webinar. 

It’s important to remember that the amount of information you are asking your visitor to give you must be aligned with the offer you are providing. Get these factors right, and you’ll see a jump in your lead-conversion rates and be able to nurture these leads with targeted content designed to convert them into customers.

Samantha Walls, Marketing Consultant, InTouch Marketing

14 Best Practices for Using Website Pop-ups

Best Practices for Using Website Pop-ups

What are the best practices when implementing website pop-ups?


To help you find effective ways to implement pop-ups for your website, we asked content marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their best insights. From personalizing pop-ups to the customer lifecycle to using an enticing sign-up phrase, there are several ways to best create and feature your pop-ups to get positive response from visitors to your website.


Here are 14 best practices these leaders follow to implement website pop-ups:

  • Personalize Pop-Ups to the Customer Lifecycle
  • Make Sure Your Pop-Up is in the Best Interest of Your Customer
  • Match Pop-Up Timing With User Behavior
  • Go for a Short-Timed Pop-Up
  • Be Creative With Your Pop-Up Message
  • A/B-Test Ahead of Time
  • Collaborate With Websites in Your Niche
  • Make Your Pop-Up Simple and User-Friendly
  • Let Your Email Pop-Up Appear Toward the Exit
  • Use Visuals for Your Pop-Ups
  • Keep Pop-Ups as Unobtrusive as Possible
  • Make Your Pop-Up Easy to Close
  • Avoid Leaving a Bad Experience With Your Pop-Up
  • Use an Enticing Sign-Up Phrase With Your Pop-Up

Personalize Pop-Ups to the Customer Lifecycle

A huge mistake I see across all industries is serving irrelevant popups to visitors who have already done the thing you’re asking them to do. For example, serving newsletter subscription popups to visitors who are already subscribed, serving content download popups to visitors who have already downloaded that content, serving free trial popups for visitors who are already customers. Not only is it very annoying to visitors, but it’s also a huge wasted opportunity to keep visitors moving along and engaged in the next step of the customer journey.

Personalize pop-ups to move them along to the next step. For example, get anonymous traffic to subscribe to the newsletter, get newsletter subscribers to join a webinar, and anyone else left to start a free trial.

Corey Haines, SwipeWell

Make Sure Your Pop-Up is in the Best Interest of Your Customer

Make sure that your pop-up is in the best interest of your customer and not yours.
In order for it to be enticing, it needs to address the #1 pain point of your ideal customer profile and offer a free solution to that problem. By reverse engineering your ICPs pain point, you will ensure that your pop up has a high conversion rate, isn’t annoying by leaving a bad user experience, and is highly relevant to your customer (the reason why they came to your website in the first place).

Shoaib Mughal, Marketix

Match Pop-up Timing With User Behavior

It’s crucial to test what timing and intents fit best when trying to convert users through pop-ups. For example, shooting out a pop-up to sign up for your newsletter as soon as a user opens a new page is probably going to get shot down. Depending on why users are visiting a site, companies can leverage event tracking, split testing methods, and buyer personas to create pop-ups that match users’ intentions, timing, and goals. Pop-up content that populates at the wrong time, or with content that isn’t relevant to users won’t help increase conversions.

Jason Panzer, Hexclad

Go for a Short-Timed Pop-Up

Your pop-up should be less disruptive and shouldn’t last more than four seconds. Visitors are on your page because of a goal they want to achieve; it may be reading your content, signing up for your service, etc. And it can become annoying if something is blocking them from achieving that goal. As much as you can, keep your pop-up simple and straight to the point and ensure that it takes a few seconds. Interested visitors will interact with your pop-up if they want to, and the duration of time won’t force them to interact with the pop-up.

Simon Bacher, Simya Solutions

Be Creative With Your Pop-Up Message

Many websites implement pop-ups when a user is on their site. Some appear right away, while others wait 30 seconds, or for the user to reach a certain section on the website for the pop-up to appear. While not instantly bombarding a potential customer is a good practice, what the pop-up says is even more important. The bottom line is that businesses want email addresses so that they can market their products and follow up with customers who didn’t purchase. Customers know this and so they are hesitant to add their email for fear of being spammed by emails all the time. I know, because I’m one of those people who are hesitant to give out my personal email to companies. 

Last year, we changed the wording on our pop-up and have seen a 3.5 to 4 % increase in submissions. Instead of “signing up” we have the user “receiving VIP Benefits”. People want that instant gratification feeling. They get it with our pop-up and receive a promo code. It’s the same functionality just worded differently.

Seth Newman, SportingSmiles

A/B-Test Ahead of Time

Be sure to utilize ab testing when implementing website pop-ups. Create two different pop-ups and then figure out which one will drive more clicks. Test out different background images, copy, layout, and the amount of time it is displayed for. Ideally, you don’t want a pop-up that never closes on its own, but it’s important to figure out if three seconds or thirty seconds yields better results. Ab testing will help you figure out which pop-up is most effective in improving your conversion rate.

Michael Bell, Manukora

Collaborate With Websites in Your Niche

Try to collaborate with websites that have a similar niche to you, it will help you significantly in finding a large potential customer base easily. People visiting the website will carry similar interests to that of the website, which will automatically indulge them in clicking the pop-ups. You are likely to gain more engagement through such kind of collaboration or paid promotion rather than showing your popups through a website that has a completely different niche than you. It is important to focus on the integration of interest to gain more and more leads at a faster rate without facing the loss of resources, which you might have to face if you go with a website with a completely different niche. It is because the people visiting the page are likely not interested in your popup. After all, currently, re is something else on their mind.

Jeremy James, Blue Water Climate Control

Make Your Pop-Up Simple and User-Friendly

Pop-ups are annoying, however, pop-ups on the website can encourage users one step closer – like the email sign-ups through coupons. This works because most people, when they see a coupon, are attracted to it and they want to try the product and experiment with how it works. This works for many companies who use a simple and user-friendly method. The pop-up gains the users through a simple email address space and at one click it drives to the conversion. Therefore, you acquire the visitor’s email address and make an influence with the exciting products of your brand.

Brigid Davey, Nimble

Let Your Email Pop-Up Appear Toward the Exit

The best type of popup for your website is the exit intent popup. It is not a good option to have a popup asking for your email address while you are still searching the site. It is annoying and can lead to increased bounce rates. A much better option is to have the email popup appear when the intent is already begun to exit the website. This way you can give them an offer and try to get permission to email them before they leave the site.

Doug Darroch, Renaissance Digital Marketing

Use Visuals for Your Pop-Ups

All information on the internet benefits greatly from the inclusion of images and other visual components. Lots of studies have found that they improve the overall appeal of websites, especially when they feature actual people. As an added bonus, visuals can help direct the focus of the user exactly where you want it to go. This includes window pop-ups. Yours will have a greater impact if you incorporate visuals. It adds a level of excitement, novelty, and interest to your marketing efforts, increasing their effectiveness. However, it is not necessary to always use full-size pictures. Some designs just need a more interesting background pattern or some brighter accent colors to really stand out.

Billy Parker, Gift Delivery

Keep Pop-Ups as Unobtrusive as Possible

I have A/B tested many different pop-ups. The best practice when implementing website pop-ups is to make it as unobtrusive as possible. To attain this, you need to set the trigger correctly, and I have found setting the popup trigger after they have been on a page for over 30 seconds is the best. If your trigger is too sensitive, the popup will just annoy the user, and they will bounce immediately.

Jordan Woolf, We Buy Houses in Bama

Make Your Pop-Up Easy to Close

When creating a pop-up, you want to make sure it provides value to the user and doesn’t disrupt their browsing experience. A best practice is to make sure you have an “X” button in your pop-up to allow users to close it if they want to. Creating an easy way out of your pop-up will make sure users aren’t annoyed by it, and they’ll be more likely to stay on your website.

Peter Beeda, fhalend

Avoid Leaving a Bad Experience With Your Pop-Up

Popups disrupt the user’s journey and can leave a bad experience. However, if the popup is genuinely valuable and offers the user something for free (that they’d otherwise pay for) you can expect incredible conversion rates. This is exactly what I did with Ticker Nerd, my investing newsletter that has since been acquired. All pages had a popup that promised to show visitors the investing process. And we did exactly this. We broke down exactly how we surfaced interesting stocks. Our emails were often reopened up to 10 times in some cases.

Luciano Viterale, Luciano Viterale Consulting

Use an Enticing Sign-Up Phrase With Your Pop-Up

A great popup should have the following: 

– specific timing (does it show after 2 seconds, 5 seconds, 10 seconds, or on exit)
– a great image or offer
– a first name and email field
– something other than “subscribe to my newsletter” 

There is nothing more unappealing than “subscribe to my newsletter.” Pop-Ups should entice others to sign up. For example, “Grab my free Mailchimp Cheat Sheet!” sounds a lot more exciting than “subscribe to my newsletter.”

Emily Ryan, Westfield Creative

7 Mailchimp Certification Benefits For Marketers

7 Mailchimp Certification Benefits For Marketers

What are the benefits of getting a Mailchimp certification?  


To help marketers see the benefits of earning a Mailchimp certification, we asked marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their best insights. From keeping you current on trends to showing employers you are dedicated, there are several benefits of getting Mailchimp certified that may encourage you to add this program to your learning and development initiatives.


Here are seven Mailchimp certification benefits for marketers:

  • Keeps You Current on Trends
  • Learn How to Create & Automate Email Campaigns 
  • Showcase An In-demand Skill
  • Insider Access to Special Events
  • Enhances Your Credibility
  • Charge More for Your Expert Services 
  • Shows Employers You Are Dedicated 

Keeps You Current on Trends 

The benefit isn’t as much the certification itself, although that does give you access to some marketing tools, a badge, and an approved freelancer status. The benefit is what you learn in obtaining your certification. It’s like taking free marketing courses.

The amount you learn to gain certification to be a freelancer through Mailchimp gives you an edge with your clients. It keeps you current on trends and updates that are important to you and your clients.

Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure

Learn How to Create & Automate Email Campaigns 

One benefit of getting a Mailchimp certification is that you would learn how to create and send newsletters, email campaigns, and other automated emails. Additionally, you would be able to track their success using analytics, and make necessary adjustments to improve the effectiveness of your communications. You would also be able to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.

Natalia Brzezinska, PhotoAiD

Showcase An In-demand Skill

Email marketing is one of the most in-demand skills for marketers. A Mailchimp certification sends a message to employers that you are a valuable asset to a team. The more you know about how to personalize, segment, and analyze data in email marketing, the more you have to offer. A Mailchimp certification is a great thing to add to your resume to help you stand out and prepares you for a job in email marketing.

Sumeer Kaur, Lashkaraa

Insider Access to Special Events

A Mailchimp certification grants you access to exclusive events, webinars, and product news. These special opportunities, offered only to those with this special certification, are a great way to consistently feed your mind valuable insight into the marketing industry.

You can further take advantage of these benefits by networking with other like-minded professionals with similar career goals. Once you’re Mailchimp certified, a whole new world of valuable information and exclusive opportunities are afforded to you.

Datha Santomieri, Steadily

Enhances Your Credibility

Being able to flaunt a Mailchimp certification and thus call yourself a Mailchimp Partner instantly lends credibility to your credentials. This badge of honor separates you from others in freelance marketplaces such as Fiverr and Upwork in terms of knowledge and skillset. Mailchimp is widely recognized as one of the leading marketing automation platforms and email marketing services in the world, so a stamp of approval from them is an invaluable feather in your cap—it also looks great on a resume!

Jordan Duran, 6 ICE

Charge More for Your Expert Services 

Mailchimp’s certification program is a great way to show you know your stuff when it comes to email marketing. It takes just 2 hours to complete, and you can watch the video lessons on your own time. Once you pass the exam, you get a badge that shows up on your profile and is able to showcase to prospective and current clients.

When people are searching for an email expert, they’re looking for someone who’s knowledgeable and trustworthy—and Mailchimp certified tells them you are. You’re likely also able to charge clients a bit more for your services because of your certification too. Plus, if you’re looking for a job, it makes your résumé stand out.

Nick Cotter, newfound

Shows Employers You Are Dedicated 

The benefits of getting a Mailchimp certification are many, and one of the most important is that it will help you land a better job. Since many businesses and marketing agencies rely on Mailchimp for their email marketing, the demand for people with the skills to work with this software will only grow. If you are serious about landing a job in the marketing field, getting a Mailchimp certification will show employers that you are dedicated to furthering your education.

Eugene Chimpoy, Church Helper

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

12 Creative Ways To Market Your Business

12 Creative Ways To Market Your Business

What is one creative way you plan to market your business in 2021? What do you have planned?

We asked marketing professionals and business owners about what they have in store for the year ahead. 

Here are twelve creative ways to market your business.

  • Instagram Reels
  • Prioritize Video Content
  • Plain Text Emails
  • Optimized Blog Content 
  • Join Online Communities
  • TikTok
  • Exterior Branding
  • Get Personal
  • Hit It Old School
  • Highlight Success Stories
  • Establish Yourself as Experts
  • Live Shopping on Apps

Instagram Reels

Everything is virtual these days and one of the most creative things you can do is capitalize on this. I am a big fan of Instagram’s “Reels” feature which is similar to TikTok. I’ve seen a lot of business owners using Reels to teach their followers something short and fun. You could do a simple “3 Tips for…” and set it to music. It makes for fun content and it gets a lot more exposure than a traditional Instagram post. Make sure to include hashtags in your caption!

Emily Ryan, Westfield Creative

Prioritize Video Content

Video creation is one of the most creative ways to market your business in 2021. Studies show that video content performs better on social media and also increases the average time on page for web users, and it is a powerful tactic that not many people use due to the labor-intensive nature of video production. We are excited to do more in this space come 2021!

Noah Downs, American Pipeline Solutions 

Plain Text Emails

Sending personalized, plain text email messages to existing and prospective customers is a simple, but underutilized marketing tactic. We receive so many emails every day, but if you can insert your business into an inbox in an unobtrusive way, then you are able to deepen customer relationships and be there when customers need you. 

Carey Wilbur, Charter Capital

Optimized Blog Content 

Going into 2021, we plan to create high-quality, optimized content to be featured on our blog.  Our goal is to be the most trusted experts in our industry.  This helps us organically rank on search engines and be the featured page when people are looking for durable device cases. We have gotten really creative with keywords and topics to appeal to potential customers and just rolled out a 3-month content strategy to aid in our marketing efforts. Content will be king in 2021. 

Peter Babichenko, Sahara Case 

Join Online Communities

One creative way you can market your business in 2021 is to join different online communities! I personally attend online webinars and meetups for female entrepreneurs and creatives to build my network and promote my company to potential clients. In addition to the reach these communities provide for my company, they also give me the opportunity to meet other prominent professionals in my vertical who help me get even better at my craft.

Nikitha Lokareddy, Markitors 

TikTok

A tactic we have been utilizing in 2020 and will use well into 2021 is TikTok. With over 800 million monthly active users, Tik Tok is officially the hottest new social media platform. While TikTok is thought to just be for teens, we have found that a lot of our target market is active on TikTok and looking for content geared toward them. We created an account and have been making our own videos and publishing them for the world to see. With no monetary investment, we just use our free time and creativity to spread the word about our brand. 

Stephanie Schull, Kegelbell 

Exterior Branding

We equip all of our vehicles with visually appealing exterior graphics to help capture what it’s like to “Cruise America.” We often hear positive comments from customers and prospective customers about these graphics. With more than 4,500 vehicles on the road, the more our vehicles are in use, the more marketing benefit our company receives. 

Randall Smalley, Cruise America

Get Personal

Not in a creepy way, but in a true authentic way. We are all exhausted from being online 24/7. Can you send a handwritten card just because? Can you organize a pickup/drop off spot for a joint activity or craft project? Can you organize a safe winter wonderland activity? I believe the secret sauce behind effective marketing in 2021 is going beyond the digital screen.

Audrey Hutnick, Smallwave Marketing

Hit It Old School

We’re hitting it old-school with some of our approaches this coming year to activate our wholesale network. Our plan is to resurrect the idea of “scratcher postcards,” but with actually great rewards under those silver flecks. Digital ads are becoming more expensive and are vying for subprime attention, while print advertising is seeing a resurgence in both affordability and the stronger eyes it gets.

Hana Ruzsa Alanis, Graphic Designer & Marketing Specialist

Highlight Success Stories

In 2021 we are aiming for the strategy of storytelling. We’re focusing on telling our clients’ stories. We believe storytelling, be it brand-led or customer-led, connects with audiences. We’re combining the two to show how our brand helps our customers through their success stories. It will take us some time to find the right stories, shape them for our audiences, and tell them in a way that showcases our clients’ hard work and success. Any good story has a setting, a character, character flaws, conflict, resolution, and lesson. Brand storytelling is not an exception. We plan on incorporating all those elements into our stories.

Natalya Bucuy, LiveHelpNow

Establish Yourself As Experts

When we look at 2021, it’s important to understand that we still have uncertain times ahead. Therefore, we need to not only have a Plan B, but we need to work our way a little further down the alphabet. We plan to stay innovative and ready to make a pivot whenever traditional marketing efforts aren’t paying off. So, we have targeted strategies for outreach, guest posting, and providing beneficial quotes for articles on high-traffic sites. By establishing ourselves as experts in our niche, we plan to exude trustworthiness and professionalism.

Sally Rong, Rellery

Live Shopping on Apps

In order to successfully market your business next year, the answer lies in adopting a combination of new social tools vs. tapping into just one. We’re anticipating that the next phase of retail will heavily focus on ‘Live Shopping.’ For example, our partners at Facebook and TikTok are rolling out new features that will make it extremely quick and easy for consumers to make purchases directly from interactive content—without ever leaving their respective app or site. In 2021, brands will be able to sell seamlessly through Instagram’s ‘Checkout’ feature and take advantage of TikTok’s first-ever commerce partnership with Shopify. This provides a great opportunity to work with influencers across platforms and explore new channel capabilities.

Greg Gillman, MuteSix

Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published. 

8 B2B Instagram Marketing Tips & Best Practices

B2B Instagram Marketing Tips

Instagram has always been a place for brands to shine–interacting with customers and creating a feed akin to an art show. But what about B2B businesses looking to enter the game?

How should a B2B business use Instagram? 

We asked eight B2B leaders, “What Instagram tip would you have to offer other B2B businesses?”

Here’s what they had to say:

It’s All About Insights

For us, Instagram is a place to share insights and wisdom. Our work is about people and we want to put people first through the content we share. As a result, much of our content is motivational and inspirational. Connect your business, whatever you offer, to something personal and that will offer something valuable to your audience. 

Jenn Christie, Y Scouts

Share Your Brand Personality

We use Instagram as a way to share our brand’s personality beyond our site while still promoting our business. Instagram allows us to connect to our audience in a way that’s more personable. We share our sales and products, of course, but we also engage with our followers by asking questions and including them in the content. Create a brand personality and use that to guide your content.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Network

We have a podcast (CEOpodcasts.com) so we use it very much as a way to connect with podcast guests and generate content. The reality is that most businesses are looking for visibility so we try to provide that opportunity with our platform. By doing that, it opens up the opportunity to develop, nurture, and cultivate relationships. Simply by sending a direct message to a potential podcast guest can open up a tremendous amount of opportunities.

Gresham Harkless, Blue 16 Media

Promote Brand Identity and Culture

We use Instagram for culture posts. Our audience doesn’t consume content or convert on Instagram so we’ve switched from trying to promote on there to showcasing a more human side of us and highlighting our great brand!

Janelle Amos, Revenue Marketing Manager

Be Consistent

We use Instagram to promote our mission, programs, and fundraisers. The best practice we strive for is consistency. What I have learned about social media engagement is it is all about consistency. It is also important that you create polished and eye-catching content for social media since it is driven by picture content.

Lloyd Hopkins, Million Dollar Teacher Project

Start Your Narrative

You are not the hero of the story. This comes from Storybrand by Donald Miller and it is more applicable than ever. To be effective on Instagram, start your narrative where the user is and not what you want them to see. Provide value by helping them navigate the problem they are currently having.

Lukas Ruebbelke, BrieBug

It’s OK if it Isn’t Right For You

First, determine what business objective(s) you want to achieve from Instagram (and social media as a whole). Instagram isn’t for everyone, and if your efforts on the platform aren’t organic or authentic, it could actually damage your brand reputation with your followers. If you do create a presence on Instagram, commit to conceptualizing the type of visual content that will tell your brand’s story in a compelling way.

Rennie Leon, Director of Marketing and Communications

Feature Behind the Scenes

Instagram is our favorite tool for letting our brilliant team shine. Since we’re a digital marketing company for small businesses, it’s important for us to have a medium where our clients can learn more about the awesome people they’re working with. Through our efforts, we aim to show that we connect small businesses with customers and have a great time doing it. Since Instagram is a casual social media platform, I recommend using this channel to feature the people working behind the scenes. Show people what your business is all about, but don’t forget to highlight those who make things happen! 

Grecia Olachea, Markitors

11 Best WordPress Design Tips For A Clean & Modern Website

Whether you like it or not, people will judge your company based on your website. In light of this, it’s important to have a clean, user-friendly webpage to attract clients. If you’re operating on WordPress, there are multiple options available to impart a modern feel to your website. 

In this piece, 11 small business leaders share the steps they took to breathe new life into their company sites.

Conduct Research

We recently just did an overhaul of our website. We started by researching large companies we look up to and see what type of content and style they’re currently using. Once we had a better understanding of current trends, our own user experience, and the ideal layout, we found a template and plug-ins that would drive conversions.

Megan Chiamos, Cannabis ERP Software 

Have Easily Identifiable Calls to Action and Negative Space for Easy Navigation

We are currently working to move our website to WordPress from a different platform because of its versatility. During the transition, we are working with a designer to ensure the best possible SEO performance with the new design. Two of the key components of our new site will be easily identifiable calls to action and negative space to help ensure easy navigation.

Pete Newstrom, Arrow Lift

Use Meaningful Images

Selecting images is a very important part of website design. For our adoption agency, the images we have chosen to select on our website are very reflective and respectful of the unplanned pregnancy our birth mothers face. Previously, our website was populated with photos of babies. Now, the hero images on our site are filled with images of the life situations birth mothers face: the initial positive pregnancy test; the discomfort of a pregnancy; wondering what the future holds; research; joy. By including these images, it is our hope that we can visually communicate to birth mothers that we understand what they are going through…and that we are here to help. 

Kenna Hamm, Texas Adoption Center

Simplify the Messaging

We have simplified and cleaned up the messaging. Ensure load times are fast and provided call to actions right at the top of the site. We also are telling people what happens to their information right up front using video so we can eliminate any fear. Finally, we are including video and virtual tours as much as possible.

Thomas Ahern, Embark Behavioral Health

Prioritize User Experience

Carefully think about the user experience and flow of information. Write enough but not too much — nobody likes to read the web. Make sure the design is clean, simple, and appealing.

DD Kullman, University of Phoenix

Keep it Fast and Efficient

I am in the process of a redesign. I was using a template that had a lot of custom css that just slowed the site down. Speed is one of the biggest ranking factors so I have switched to a lighter template with fewer plugins and a whole lot less custom CSS. Most of the fancy stuff I didn’t use anyhow. Simple, clean, easy to navigate, and fast is better than cool bells and whistles.

Eric Rutin, Rutin Marketing

Keep it Simple

Simplicity.  Easy, clean, and to the point without extra bells and whistles.  Use this style for a quick reference and then to start a real conversation about meeting your customer’s personal needs.  Every business and website has different needs.

Joe Harlan, JoeHarlan.net

Keep it Clean and Basic

My team and I are always updating our WordPress website. We keep it clean and basic. We want our customers to be able to easily flow through our website. 

Vanessa Molica, Eyelash Supplies Company

Use a Fresh Design and Real-Time Data

We have an expert and award-winning team that uses fresh design and real-time data to create brand awareness and help our services stand-out. We look at our site every day and it shows.

Cameron Robb, GPEC

Short, Choppy Copy Wins

One underrated aspect of a modern website is the copy. Short, choppy copy wins in today’s world. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible, as clearly as possible. For example, “We help ____ with ____ by ____”

Michael Norris, Youtech

Don’t Overcrowd the Pages

To adopt a clean, modern look, I do several things. One, I use a font that’s readable. I make sure that it’s big enough and that the color has high contrast against the background. Two, adding adequate space in between text and elements. If the page looks too squished, it looks outdated and messy. Three, use high-quality images to add visual interest.

Danielle Ganon, SEO Marketing Company