Top SEO best practices for 2020, HubSpot vs. Marketo, and the rise of live social video ...this is THE LATEST!

🔥 Hot off the presses

• Get found online: Here are the top SEO best practices digital marketers need to care about in 2020
• Updated for 2020: In the ultimate marketing automation showdown, which is better — HubSpot or Marketo?
• Coming to you live: Why live social video is an absolute necessity for your 2020 marketing strategy

😱 Over time, a HubSpot portal can become a scary, messy, disorganized place. Join IMPACT Director of HubSpot Training Carina Duffy and HubSpot Consultant Joe Bachir on January 14 at 2 p.m. Eastern for a live webinar on how to clean up your HubSpot portal for the new year, as well as their top strategies for improving how you use the platform. Learn more and register.

"Am I seeing things? Do you really have The Avengers theme song in your 2020 Spotify playlist?"

This is an email I received in response to the last issue of THE LATEST.

No Doug, you're not hallucinating. I do, indeed, have The Avengers theme song in my 2020 playlist. 

It features prominently in that playlist (and scores of others) as it is the key ingredient in one of my favorite life hacks as an adult.

You see, whenever I get overwhelmed by something — for instance, when someone explains schema markup to me for the 15th time and I still don't get it — I can feel my brain begin to collapse in upon itself like a dying star. (Because inside this mid-30s body of mine lies the heart of a 15-year-old drama queen with no off switch.)

Instead of succumbing to these feelings, I immediately fire up The Avengers theme song at full volume... and presto!

I feel like a mother-flippin' superhero ready to tell Thanos to stuff it. 👊

It sounds ridiculous, I know.

But I dare you to try out this little life hack of mine next time your brain starts wrinkling over something at work and not feel like you could take on any challenge someone puts in front of you. 

And now, here's THE LATEST... 

👉 "What are the most important SEO best practices we need to know going into 2020?" (1-minute read + audio podcast)

If you're looking for an accessible, easy-to-understand conversation about SEO in 2020 that doesn't create more questions than it answers, this episode Content Lab — featuring one of my favorite humans on the planet, Franco Valentino of Narrative SEO — is for you. There are a lot of things digital marketers and content marketers need to pay attention to, SEO-wise every single day. But this episode is focused on answering one question — what are the most important SEO principles and best practices you absolutely must pay attention to and implement in your digital marketing in 2020?

💬 You asked, we answered

• I thought SEO as we knew it was dead?
• OK, but seriously, what's schema markup and why is it so important?

👉 "A lot has changed in recent years, so which is better in 2020 for marketing automation — HubSpot or Marketo?" (8-minute read)

HubSpot and Marketo are the #1 and #2 marketing automation software companies in the world, respectively. Although we aren't shy about our love for HubSpot, we can still give credit where it's due. Marketo is a well-established platform that marketers would be wise to consider when deciding which marketing automation software to use to implement their inbound marketing strategies. So, how do you decide which one is right for you? In this comprehensive, head-to-head comparison from IMPACT Director of HubSpot Training Carina Duffy, you'll be able to determine once and for all if you should go with HubSpot or Marketo.

💬 You asked, we answered

• Is HubSpot's Marketing Hub the right choice for our company?
• What are the limitations of HubSpot Marketing Pro?

💰 Want to see big results with HubSpot? IMPACT's got your back (learn more)

As HubSpot’s current Partner Agency of the Year and largest global partner, we’re on a mission to help businesses around the world to get the most out of HubSpot. Whether you're just getting started with HubSpot for the first time, or you're a HubSpot veteran looking to get more out of your investment, our agile, personalized HubSpot training and consulting services can help.

• I want to learn more about IMPACT's HubSpot training and consulting services
• I want to talk to someone about our most pressing HubSpot challenges

👉 "Why is live social video an absolute necessity for marketers in 2020?" (2-minute read)

As we start 2020 and embrace all of the beautiful, magical tech disruptions in front of us, it's important to understand the full gravity of the tools already at our disposal. While live streaming may have been for early adopters and savvy growth hackers in 2015, it's earned its spot in almost every marketer's regimen in 2020. In this article from IMPACT Digital Beat Reporter Dylan Lepak, learn the true value of live social video and why live streaming will matter so much for digital marketers this year. 

💬 You asked, we answered

• As a brand, how do you grow a social media following in 2020?
• What do we need to know about Facebook's recent lawsuit to crack down on ad fraud?

🎧 Latest shows and podcasts

• Making it work with ROI reporting, personalization tokens in Playbooks, and more user permissions (Hubcast) NEW 🔥
• Top SEO best practices for content marketers in 2020 (Content Lab) NEW 🔥
• Down with New Year's resolutions and rethinking goal setting (Creator's Block) 
• B2B influencer marketing (Inbound Success) 
• Storytelling and brain science in sales and marketing videos (Film School for Marketers) 

👋 Work for IMPACT

Currently, we're accepting applications for:

• Director of web design
• Digital marketing consultant and strategist

📅  Upcoming events

• January 14: New Year, New Portal — How to Get Your HubSpot Portal in Shape for 2020 (online webinar)
• April 5-7: Digital Sales & Marketing World 2020 (Hartford, Connecticut) — Super Early-Bird Pricing ends on January 31, so don't wait! 

⏰ Throwback Thursday

Once every few months, I feel the need to get up on my high horse and encourage business and marketing leaders everywhere to please, for the love of all that is holy, hire a content manager. 

So, here I am, astride my aforementioned high horse, with some of my greatest hits to help you do just that:

• Here's why you need a content manager on your digital marketing team
• Here's an ungated content manager job description you can start using right now to hire this magical content unicorn
• Here are the top qualities all world-class content managers possess
• Here's how you evaluate the interviewing skills of a content manager candidate
• Here are content manager interview questions and a recommended situational activity to use during the hiring process

☝️ One last thing

We are SO, so close to our next big announcement, and I can't wait until y'all find out why I am so positively giddy about this mystery speaker! Reply to this email with your guesses. Also, super early-bird pricing for DSMW expires at the end of this month.

See you later, alligator! 🐊