The good, bad, and ugly of HubSpot; social video trends for 2020; and how to run a They Ask, You Answer book club ...this is THE LATEST! 

💯 Jump Right into the good stuff!

• Marketing automation: The good, the bad, and the ugly of HubSpot — is it right for you?
• Social video must-read: Essential, perspective-changing social video trends you need to know for 2020 (infographic)
• Ignite lasting change: How to run a transformational They Ask, You Answer book club at your company

👎 The #1 reason digital marketing strategies fail is a lack of buy-in from sales and leadership. But you can break the cycle with an IMPACT inbound culture workshop.

OK, here's the deal, folks.

Most of you are about to — or smack dab in the middle of — building your sales and marketing plans for next year. (I certainly am. Is it possible to drown in spreadsheets? Asking for a friend...)

Before you finalize anything, I have one piece of advice for you. If you haven't done it already, you need to read They Ask, You Answer. 

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, "Liz, I know you worked on the book, so you're biased."

You're not wrong about that. 

Still, I want you to consider two things.

First, I guarantee you that, after reading it, you will fundamentally change how you attack your digital sales and marketing strategies for 2020, for the better. Second, it's a quick read. (I have the attention span of a goldfish and the emotional range of a teaspoon, and even I couldn't put it down.) What do you have to lose?

If you're still not convinced, watch this video from Yale Appliance, a company that went from $30 million to $117 million in sales after reading it and embracing its philosophies. 

THEN BUY THE BOOK. 

I'm sorry for yelling; just know I'm doing so because I care.

Actually... let's make this a little more fun, shall we? 

🚨🚨CONTEST ALERT 🚨🚨

Send me a really funny joke (about anything!) as a reply to this email before 5 p.m. Eastern on Monday, November 18. The one that gets me to laugh the hardest will win a copy of They Ask, You Answer paid for by yours truly.

I will announce the winner in next Tuesday's edition of THE LATEST.

Now, let's get down to business.

🤔 Why go HubSpot? (A candid look at the good, the bad, and the ugly)

For businesses that have adopted the inbound methodology or are ready to, HubSpot provides an affordable selection of tools that support your marketing, sales, and service teams as they implement this new strategy. But is it the right fit for you? HubSpot is extremely powerful, but it's not always the right choice. In this candid, thorough article from IMPACT HubSpot Consultant Lexie Ward, you'll get the inside scoop on the good, the bad, and the ugly of one of the most popular digital sales and marketing solutions on the planet.

🔎 Related articles and resources

• How to create a digital marketing strategy that actually gets results in 2020
• The ultimate guide to HubSpot marketing automation for businesses (ungated)

🎬 Everything you need to know about social video marketing going into 2020 (a must-read infographic)

It's been another great year for video marketing, which should come as a surprise to no one. But where should you be focusing your video publication efforts in 2020? The best way to get the answer to that question is to take a deep look at where digital marketers saw the best results in 2019 — as well as what strategies flopped spectacularly. IMPACT Head of Partnerships Nick Bennett has your back with this fantastic infographic from Animoto, which covers all of the essential social video data and trends you need to know before you next year's strategy.

🔎 Related articles and resources

• The ultimate guide to video for sales (for sales teams who have aggressive goals)
• Here are the seven digital sales and marketing videos you need to create

📚 How to run a They Ask, You Answer book club at your company that ignites lasting change

A few weeks back, IMPACT Content Marketing Consultant Jolie Higazi received an email from one of our clients with the following question — they were planning on running a mini book club within their company with They Ask, You Answer, but did we have any recommendations on how to break up the book into "manageable chunks"? So, Jolie decided to take a page out of They Ask, You Answer, by writing this in-depth article that answers the question of how to run a They Ask, You Answer book club, along with suggested discussion questions, book club facilitation tips, and much more. 

🔎 Related articles and resources

• "Wait, what the heck is They Ask, You Answer?"
• Get your copy of They Ask, You Answer
• How we implement They Ask, You Answer as web developers (interview)

✍️ Eliminate the learning curve of creating digital marketing content and start seeing immediate results with IMPACT content consulting

You understand the impact of creating content that answers the most burning questions of your potential buyers to drive real sales results. But you could use some guidance to make sure you’re doing it right and staying on top of best practices. We can help.

• I want to learn more about IMPACT content consulting
• I want to talk to someone about our company's content marketing challenges

🎧  Latest shows and podcasts

• How to run a content brainstorm (Content Lab) 
  
• Winning with Service Hub, over-automation, and updates to HubSpot Campaigns (Hubcast) NEW✨
• 365 videos in 365 days (Film School for Marketers)
• How to generate traffic to a new website ft. Martin Ochwat" (Inbound Success) NEW✨
• To become more efficient, ask better questions (Creator's Block)

📆 Upcoming events

• Do you want to learn how to transform your company website into a lean, mean lead-generating machine?If so, you'll want to sign up for our live webinar on November 19 with IMPACT Director of Website Strategy Stacy Willis, who will teach you how to do just that in 45 minutes. What are you waiting for? Register for this 100% free webinar right now.
  
• Hey Chicago, whaddya say? The Chicago HubSpot User Group's most popular event of the year is back! Get ready for eight short, motivational, industry-related talks from fellow HUG members at the HUG chiX event on November 20. Save your seat now now as space is limited and 125 people have already signed up!
  
  
• Lookin' at you, Connecticut. Video expert Zachary Basner will be teaching us how to harness the power of video to generate revenue in this one-day workshop at IMPACT HQ in New Haven. Join us on Thursday, November 21 from 9:00 AM to noon (lunch is included!) to learn how to create effective one-to-one and one-to-many video that can be used throughout the sales process. Learn more and get your ticket today.

🚿 Weekend Nonsense

I may or may not have spent 15 extra minutes in the shower this morning wondering if there was a way for me to do my work from there... 

🖼️ One last thing

To this day, this was one of the most surprising A/B tests we ran with THE LATEST. (Never stop testing, folks. You never know what you'll learn.)

Have a great weekend, everybody!