Why Q4 Is the Perfect Time to Audit Your Funnel Before the New Year Rush

admin — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 15:08:30 +0000

By Karla Sanders, Engagement Manager at Heinz Marketing

Q4 gives you something no other quarter does: a full year of real data to work with, which makes it the ideal time for a Q4 funnel audit. With deals progressing and buyer patterns clearly visible, this is the moment to step back and understand how your funnel really performed so you enter the new year aligned and ready.

Here is how to run an efficient and meaningful Q4 funnel audit that sets your revenue team up for a stronger start next year.

Want to see how other GTM leaders are balancing audits, AI, and customer-led strategy? Check out our Customer-Led Growth insights.

1. Start With the Hand Offs Everyone Assumes Are Working

Marketing to SDR to Sales
Sales to CS

This is where the most friction hides. Q4 is the best time to examine what is truly happening in these transitions. Look at the following:

Lead routing speed. How long does it take for a qualified inquiry to reach the right person
Accepted versus rejected MQLs and why they are rejected
Follow up times and whether teams are meeting SLAs
Where leads become stagnant, which usually happens mid funnel rather than at the top

A healthy funnel is not about more leads. It is about reducing friction. The end of the year tends to reveal the weak points.

2. Reevaluate Your ICP With Real Data From Your Q4 Funnel Audit

Most teams believe they know their ICP well until they look at the actual customers who converted and the ones who stalled. Use Q4 data to analyze:

Which roles engage most consistently
Which industries convert fastest
Deal timelines by account type
Average contract value by company size
Who typically champions deals and moves them forward

A Q4 funnel audit makes these patterns easy to spot and gives teams the clarity needed for next year’s targeting. Buyer behavior has shifted significantly. Your funnel and ICP should reflect that.

3. Review MQL to SQL to Opportunity Conversion Rates

This is where silent revenue leaks happen. Key questions to guide your review:

Do your scoring and qualification criteria match how your best customers buy
Do high intent signals consistently lead to conversations
Where does velocity slow down
Which channels drive the most reliable SQLs, rather than the highest number of MQLs

A Q4 funnel audit helps you prioritize what actually moves pipeline instead of what only fills the top of the funnel.

4. Evaluate Content Based on Real Usage

It is easy to create more content than anyone uses. Use Q4 to look at:

What content sales teams actually use
Which assets influence pipeline progression based on multi touch insights
Webinar and event topics that consistently produce movement
Gaps in content that slowed deals this year

A thoughtful Q4 funnel audit ensures you start the new year with a sharper, more efficient revenue engine.

5. Bring RevOps, Sales, and Marketing Into One Conversation

A funnel audit works only when the teams that own each stage evaluate it together. Otherwise you risk reviewing symptoms rather than understanding the causes. In Q4, hold a joint session that examines:

Funnel health
Conversion bottlenecks
Lead flow
Attribution patterns
Needs within the tech stack
SLA alignment
Opportunities for automation

This aligns everyone before annual planning begins.

6. Turn Audit Findings Into a 90 Day Action Plan

An audit is only valuable when it leads to action. Your plan should include three levels of work:

Immediate fixes within the first thirty days
Routing adjustments, scoring clean up, missing alerts, slow follow up, outdated messaging.
Mid term improvements for the next thirty to sixty days
ICP updates, scoring refinements, new nurture paths, content refresh.
Longer term upgrades within sixty to ninety days
Tech stack alignment, data cleanup, new reporting, ABM tiering adjustments.

This approach ensures the audit drives meaningful results.

Final Thought

Waiting until January to assess your funnel means missing the one moment when your full-year performance is clearest. Q4 gives you the visibility to tighten operations, sharpen targeting, and strengthen conversion effectiveness before the next cycle begins. If you need support evaluating funnel health or building a predictable pipeline plan for 2026, the Heinz Marketing team is here to help.

Reach out anytime at acceleration@heinzmarketing.com and our team will help you confidently move into 2026 with a stronger, more predictable pipeline.

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11 Ways to Set Your Marketing Automation Platform up for Success in the New Year

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 14:55:17 +0000

By Lisa Heay, Vice President of Business Operations at Heinz Marketing

Another year is fast approaching – can you believe it? This is a great time for a fresh start—an opportunity to set your intentions and some goals for the next 365 days. Before Marketing Operations head out for the holidays, it’s a great time to clean up and organize your systems, learn from the previous year, and prepare for what’s to come.

Here are 11 things you can do now to set yourself up for success in your marketing automation platform in the upcoming year.

1. Update the copyright dates that appear in your email and landing page footers

If you haven’t set up tokens, updating the copyright year is a daunting task. Every email template, scheduled or triggered email, active landing page, and landing page template needs to be updated. I’ve done this task manually, and it’s a pain to say the least.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, if you’re not using global tokens, you need to be. Take the time to understand the hierarchy of tokens and how they’re inherited down the folder tree. If you plan your folder structure and tokens appropriately, updating the copyright year should be about a 30-second task.

It’s not hard to get started with global tokens. We have a “!Universal” folder within Marketing Activities that everything else lives in. The sole purpose of that folder is to set up global tokens that apply down to every marketing campaign or asset we have set up.

2. Archive last year’s programs

File away last year’s email programs, webinars, and events to clear the clutter for 2026. It’s best to mirror your folder structure in the archives, so that you can easily reference old programs later, if needed.

Keep in mind that archiving programs does not automatically turn them off. Make sure you deactivate any triggers or turn off any scheduled batch runs before moving your programs to the archives.

3. Set up your folder structure for new programs

If you’ve organized your instance by folders and archived last year’s programs, create your new 2026 folders now so that it’s clear where new programs should be filed. For me, when I’m busy trying to crank out programs, my organizational skills go out the window, but if I’ve set up my structure successfully ahead of time, things tend to stay neat and tidy. Not to mention I get less questions from others about where things should go or where they can find something.

4. Merge your duplicates

Prepare your database for success in the new year. Do you have duplicate leads taking up space? If you stay on top of it, this doesn’t have to be a big task. We review our system’s duplicates on a monthly basis. Whatever your cadence, this should be part of your regular maintenance.

If you manage a large database (and budget to spend), a duplicate management tool may be the way to go.

5. Cleanse and append your database

We all know that people move on to new roles all the time, and data can quickly go out of date. Now’s the time to review your database to determine who is engaging with you, how many leads you have within your ICP, and where the gaps are. You should come out of this exercise with lists of leads you can delete (if they are not engaging and not a target, they don’t need to take up valuable space in your database!), and lists that need an update or an append to fill in missing data.

6. Review your nurture content

Nurture programs are often set and then forgotten about. If you haven’t reviewed what you’re sending at a regular cadence, take this opportunity in the new year to read through each email to ensure the content and your messaging is still relevant, timely, and in line with your organization’s objectives for the year.

Also review your entrance and exit programs. Are the right leads entering the right tracks? Are your nurture streams successfully meeting their original objectives? Is there an opportunity to build tracks to help support new company objectives?

7. Audit lead scoring

Are the scoring attributes you’ve used still relevant to marketing and sales? Do they match your ICP? Are the triggers working as you’d planned? Do the point values associated with each one still make sense? Take this opportunity to review your scoring programs and the MQLs it produces. Are they meeting the right expectations? Is there an opportunity for improvement?

8. Check in with your sales team

What’s working? What isn’t? Are they getting the quality of leads they expect? Are lead alerts, tasks, interesting moments, and lead assignments working as they need them to? Is the SLA being followed between both teams as far as who should be doing what at each stage of the lead flow? Are there shared dashboards where teams can track and manage to expected KPIs?

Staying in tune with your sales team will help ensure confidence and alignment between teams—and research shows that sales-marketing alignment is the new growth engine for B2B.

9. Review new data privacy regulations

The world of data privacy continues to evolve rapidly. Make sure you’re up to speed on the laws that impact your organization. You’re probably familiar with GDPR, CASL and CCPA, but many US states are rolling out their own versions, as well. As of this writing, 19 US states have signed their own privacy bills, and 5 more are in progress.

As we move into 2026, preparing your MAP for a cookieless, privacy-first world is essential. With third-party cookies nearly gone and data regulations tightening, your automation platform must rely on strong first-party data collection, clear consent processes, and transparent preference management. Review how your MAP captures, stores, and shares user data, ensuring it integrates cleanly with your CRM, CDP, and consent tools. Building this foundation now not only protects compliance—it also strengthens your ability to deliver personalized, trustworthy experiences in a privacy-centric landscape.

10. Reporting

You may be wrapping up reporting from the previous year, but make sure to align the system to the new year’s KPIs. Understand what reports will be important to see, who will need to see them, and ensure your system is set up accordingly. This year’s goals are likely different from those from last year, so prepare now.

11. Review your user list

Take a look at your list of users. Are there people who have moved on from your team? Contractors you no longer work with? Are there team members whose roles have changed? Are there people with assigned licenses that have not logged in in a long time? Now’s the time to clean up your user list—you can always re-add someone later, if needed.

Take the time now to set yourself and your marketing operations team up for success with a regular cadence of review across your systems. Happy New Year!

Want to chat? Email us for a free brainstorm session!

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Forget B2B or B2C: It’s time for B2H

admin — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 02:52:21 +0000

This pains me greatly to say, but: That typo in your last campaign may have made your audience more engaged.

That’s because in a world where you don’t always know what’s real and what’s AI — and trust in general is in rapid decline — a little tyop indicates that a real human wrote it (see what I did there?).

“We’ve been taught to think about B2B or B2C,” says today’s marketing master, “but I’m actually interested in B2H — there’s a human on the other side.”

Meet the Master

Bryetta Calloway

Claim to fame: Calloway isn’t anti-AI by any means — her company has just produced the MVP of IDA, an AI tool that helps people tell their stories within systems that may have been built without them in mind. “AI is a really great tool to scale your strategy,” she says. “Not replace it.”

Lesson 1: Emotion + Logic = Engagement.

“I always say to start with emotional resonance,” Calloway tells me. “Literally, if you’re building a four-sentence story, start with emotion.”

To find that point of connection, ask yourself: “What did you feel? What did you see? What did you hear?” And don’t underestimate humor — “if you can get your audience to laugh, you have already bypassed the part of the brain that‘s like, ‘I don’t trust this.’”

Now you want to support that emotion with something logical, she says. “That’s a data point, a proof point. It’s something that solidifies the emotion so that the brain can hold onto it.”

“We like emotional resonance, but I need something tangible so that my trust can be solidified,” Calloway explains. And it’s not until you’ve provided an emotional connection and the data or proof points that you’ve earned the right to a product explanation.

The emotion + logic equation works across any channel, Calloway says — “if you combine emotion and logic in any sort of format, you will have exponentially increased engagement with your content.”

So, back to that four sentence story: 1. Emotional resonance. 2. Data or proof point. 3. Product explanation. 4. CTA. Boom.

Lesson 2: Follow the 85/15 rule.

Okay, so there’s a little bit of a caveat to the first lesson.

Emotion + logic should always be your storytelling guardrails, but the ratio may vary from platform to platform. And that’s where Calloway’s 85/15 rule comes into play.

“85% of what you do should be templatized, refined — checking the boxes of your strategic marketing plan,” she says. “And if you’re a marketing leader, you should give your team 15% of that work to play with.” (Cue: Everybody forwarding this to their bosses.)

The point of this is “to be a little faster — a little messier in the output, a little stripped back,” says Calloway. “A little less, ‘Did this person sign off?’” A little more fun, more experimental.

That flexibility to play gives you a way to test and to explore, and then — this part is important — to adapt what you learn to your next campaign.

“The learnings can‘t come when we’re just mass producing the same templatized thing that we’ve done for the last two years. Let somebody experiment in a safe place.”

The best part of all of this? It “restores the joy of marketing to marketers,” Calloway says. The reason most of us get into marketing is that “we want to tell amazing stories about amazing products to humans.”

Lesson 3: Beware the ambiguity effect.

“If something is ambiguous, my brain is going to fill in the gaps based on what I know, right?” says Calloway.

And if you don’t know a lot, suddenly your brain becomes a fiction writer.

If you describe “an AI-powered solution,” let’s say, your audience will fill in the gaps based on whether they think AI is a net good, a force of evil, or somewhere in between.

And that’s why storytelling is so important. Because the more stories that you share, “the more context and nuance you‘re giving folks, which means that they’re able to fill in the gaps with more accurate information,” not something they saw online or read in that one book 10 years ago.

“If you’re working with a product that feels unfamiliar,” Calloway says, “try building out a narrative that helps to fill in the gaps of who you are, the value that you bring, and how that relates to the humans that are in the shared space with you.”

And “that’s really the beauty of storytelling,” she says. “If I’m telling stories about who I am as a person, all of a sudden I want to participate in that with you.”

Your Monday move: Go tell some great stories. You only need four sentences.

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

I think nostalgia is something that‘s been overdone. I would love to know: What’s a better way for brands to engage with communities or consumers that they want to connect with? —Shareese Bembury-Coakley, VP of business development and partnerships, CultureCon

This Week’s Answer

Calloway: I agree, nostalgia has become the easy button for connection. But real community is built forward, not backward. The better path for brands is participatory storytelling: inviting people to co-create the narrative rather than simply consume it. Communities don’t want to be reminded of who they were; they want to be seen in who they’re becoming.

That requires marketers to move from campaigns to contexts, spaces where shared curiosity, lived experience, and emerging identity meet. Whether through localized storytelling, behind-the-build transparency, or platforming authentic user voices, brands can shift from “remember when” to “imagine with us.”

Connection today isn’t about familiarity; it’s about alignment. The question isn’t “How do we tap into what people loved?” but “How do we stand alongside what they’re creating next?” That’s where trust, loyalty, and modern belonging live.

Next Week’s Lingering Question

Calloway asks: As marketers, we often talk about authenticity and alignment but those words can become buzzwords fast. How do you ensure your team stays connected to real people and not just the performance of connection?

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If the AI Bubble Pops: Without a Major Change, Generative AI Won’t Survive a Crash — But AI Agents Will

admin — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 18:50:07 +0000

By Win Dean-Salyards, Senior Marketing Consultant at Heinz Marketing

There’s a hard truth we’re not talking about. The AI investment explosion is increasingly financially dubious and relies on unsustainable growth patterns. If the AI bubble collapses in 2026, many of today’s large generative AI models won’t survive the fallout. However, it’s likely AI agents will.

We’re at the peak of an arms race built on unprecedented infrastructure spending, massive debt-like compute commitments, eye-watering model-training costs, and a “growth will save us” mentality. But if macro conditions turn or the market realizes that every company doesn’t need a $100 million model to automate an email, funding is going to dry up fast.

When that happens, generative AI models, as they exist today, become the most vulnerable part of the AI stack.

The Unsustainable Economics of Today’s Generative AI

The world has gotten drunk on the idea that bigger models are always better. But “bigger” comes with a cost curve that’s not just steep, it’s super-exponential.

1. Training and data center costs are exploding and unsustainable

A recent analysis shows that the cost of training frontier-class models has grown approximately 2.4× per year since 2016. At this rate, the most extensive training runs will cost over $1 billion each by 2027. On the data center side, the infrastructure required to support frontier generative AI is fundamentally unsustainable over the long term. These facilities require staggering amounts of land, water, power, and highly specialized cooling systems, and every new tier of model training demands more of each. Worse, the returns on all this investment are diminishing: each new generation of model delivers smaller incremental gains in performance despite exponentially higher compute costs. And the hardware powering these data centers has a brutally short lifespan. High-end chips are effectively obsolete every 18–24 months, meaning the capex treadmill never stops. You’re constantly replacing billions of dollars of equipment to maintain competitive performance. When you combine finite physical resources, diminishing model ROI, and rapid hardware depreciation, the current pace of data center expansion simply cannot continue.

That’s not sustainable in a world where capital tightens, valuations normalize, and boards start demanding ROI today, not theoretical profit in 2030 or 2040. In fact, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Meta is financing a $27 billion AI data-center project through a joint venture structure designed to keep the asset and the debt off the company’s balance sheet.

Translation: Even the largest, richest tech companies are contorting their financials to afford the GenAI race.

This is financial engineering that only makes sense if the growth projections hold. If the bubble bursts, those structures won’t save them; the debt comes due either way.

Despite all the hype, most enterprises still can’t demonstrate clear productivity gains, real cost reductions, or meaningful revenue lifts from GPT-level models deployed at scale. The gap between the cost of infrastructure and the value delivered hasn’t meaningfully closed for most use cases.

When money gets tight, CFOs kill big speculative projects first. And nothing in tech today is more speculative, or more expensive, than the generative AI arms race.

The Bubble Scenario: What Actually Happens in 2026

If funding compresses, if energy costs spike, if GPU supply falters, or if financial markets rotate away from unprofitable growth?

Here’s the sequence:

Big Tech slows or cancels multi-billion-dollar model training runs.

Only a few companies in the world can afford these bets even in good times.

Model refresh cycles lengthen.

You don’t need a new trillion-parameter model every 12 months if budgets collapse.

Smaller AI companies fold or pivot.

If you’re a startup whose sole differentiation is “we trained a big model too,” you’re gone.

Enterprise generative AI adoption stalls.

If the ROI wasn’t clear before the crash, it sure won’t be after.

The genAI landscape consolidates into a handful of mega-models controlled by a few hyperscalers, still with dubious financials.

The generative AI boom is deeply tied to cheap capital, abundant compute, and patient investors. Those conditions are temporary. If they vanish, large generative AI models lose their economic foundation overnight.

Meanwhile… AI Agents Will Keep Right on Growing

AI agents, autonomous systems that combine smaller models with workflow logic, APIs, tools, and domain knowledge, don’t need billion-dollar training runs. And that makes them resilient in a downturn. Let’s break down why.

1. Agents don’t require frontier-scale compute

Agents can run on smaller, cheaper LLMs, fine-tuned open-source models, or a combination of scripting, tools, and retrieval systems. They don’t need cutting-edge model weights to automate onboarding workflows, rev-ops processes, content generation, support triage, scheduling, data cleanup, reporting, or research tasks.

A well-designed agent beats a massive generative model for most enterprise use cases simply because: Better orchestration > Bigger models.

2. Agents generate more measurable ROI

Generative AI often delivers vibes and potential compliance risks. Agents deliver business outcomes. Boards don’t care about parameter counts. They care about hours saved, tasks automated, reduced errors, improved throughput, better service, and fewer people needed to do the same work. In a downturn, productivity tools don’t get cut… they get doubled down on.

3. Agents are modular and cost-adaptive

If your budget shrinks, you can swap in a smaller model, cut down inference costs, restrict specific workflows, run models locally, or prune functionality. Try doing that with a frontier-scale generative model whose fixed costs include thousands of GPUs and billions in data-center infrastructure. Agents can scale with your business.

4. Agents unlock value without requiring new AI breakthroughs

The generative AI hype assumes constant exponential improvement. Agents don’t. Agents generate value from simply connecting:

Models
APIs
Tools
Databases
Rules
Workflows
Business processes

In fact, some of the best agentic systems today would still function effectively even if model innovation plateaued for the next five years.

That makes agents anti-fragile in a downturn.

5. Adoption will widen, not shrink

Because agents require less compute, less overhead, less expert talent, and less risk. They can be deployed in most places, such as:

Mid-market companies
Departments inside enterprises
Distributed operations
Vertical industries
Regional markets
Emerging geographies
Cost-sensitive environments

Agents have broader applications without the extreme costs, making them more resilient.

The Future: A Smaller Generative Ecosystem, a Bigger Agent Ecosystem

If the AI bubble bursts in 2026, it’s doubtful we’ll see the end of AI. We’ll see a significant correction leading to:

Fewer mega-models
Longer training cycles
Tighter capex discipline
Higher GPU costs passed to customers
Delayed infrastructure projects
More consolidation
Less speculative R&D

And simultaneously:

An explosion in agent-driven workflows
A surge in small-model adoption
A shift toward value-centric automation

The industry rebalances away from “wow” demos and toward “what actually works.”

The Hard Truth

Generative AI is impressive, but it is economically fragile. AI agents are less flashy but more financially durable.

If the bubble pops, the tools that survive will be the ones that cost less, deliver immediate value, integrate into business workflows, reduce workload, and don’t require billion-dollar training runs to remain competitive. And when the dust settles, the winners in AI won’t be the companies with the biggest model… but the companies with the smartest agents.

If you want to chat about how to operationalize AI agents or anything in this post, please reach out: acceleration@heinzmarketing.com

The post If the AI Bubble Pops: Without a Major Change, Generative AI Won’t Survive a Crash — But AI Agents Will appeared first on Heinz Marketing.

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Loop marketing examples from companies we love

admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:43:13 +0000

Loop marketing represents a fundamental shift from traditional linear funnels to a continuous growth engine, where every customer interaction creates expansion opportunities. Companies practicing loop marketing — whether through growth marketing strategies, behavioral marketing triggers, or integrated offline marketing touchpoints — transform one-time buyers into active participants who fuel sustainable business growth.

Loop Marketing is HubSpot’s four-stage framework for compounding growth through connected customer experiences that generate momentum at each stage. Unlike closed-loop marketing, which tracks attribution, proper Loop Marketing creates self-reinforcing cycles where satisfied customers naturally drive online word-of-mouth marketing, product adoption spreads organically, and each completed loop strengthens the next.

For companies ready to implement these strategies, HubSpot’s Loop Marketing Playbook provides the tactical framework to identify, build, and optimize growth loops that transform customer success into sustainable business expansion. Moreover, this article will break down real-world Loop examples and demonstrate how to replicate their success using HubSpot’s Smart CRM.

Table of Contents:

What is Loop Marketing?

Loop Marketing is HubSpot’s four-stage, AI-enabled framework that creates compounding growth through continuous customer engagement cycles rather than one-way funnel progression. Unlike traditional marketing funnels, where customers exit after purchase, loop marketing transforms every interaction into fuel for the next cycle, building momentum that accelerates with each completion.

The Loop Marketing framework directly connects to established growth loop principles pioneered by companies like Dropbox and Slack, while also incorporating systematic AI integration and measurable compounding effects at each stage.

The Loop Marketing framework operates through four interconnected stages that form a complete system:

Express
Tailor
Amplify
Evolve

The ‘Express’ stage of Loop Marketing defines brand identity and ideal customer profile (ICP) while establishing the foundational messaging that resonates with target audiences. Then, its ‘Tailor’ stage of Loop Marketing personalizes content and experiences using AI-powered insights from previous loop completions, creating increasingly relevant touchpoints for each segment.

Next, the ‘Amplify’ stage of Loop distributes content across channels, creators, and AI engines, leveraging both owned and earned media to maximize reach and engagement. Lastly, the ‘Evolve’ stage analyzes performance data and customer feedback to optimize future loops, ensuring each cycle performs better than the last.

The shift to loop marketing addresses three critical limitations of funnel-based approaches:

Funnels treat customer acquisition and retention as separate processes
They fail to capture value from customer advocacy and referrals
They lack mechanisms for systematic improvement over time

Loop Marketing addresses these challenges by treating every customer as both a beneficiary and a contributor to growth, creating network effects where success with one customer directly improves outcomes for subsequent customers.

Pro Tip: HubSpot’s pre-existing, CRM-specific tools are well-suited for Loop Marketing tactics:

Loop Marketing Examples From Companies We Love

1. HubSpot

Source

As the company that coined “Loop Marketing,” HubSpot’s approach to its own methodology is as follows: its free CRM creates a usage-based expansion loop, where initial adoption naturally reveals the need for advanced features. Additionally, by combining human authenticity with AI efficiency, HubSpot enhances customer lifetime value, organic growth velocity, and platform adoption depth.

Here’s a closer look at HubSpot’s Loop Marketing approach:

First, HubSpot’s Breeze AI analyzes usage patterns across millions of free CRM users.
Then, AI-powered personalization with Breeze engines dynamically adjusts in-app messaging, email sequences, and feature recommendations.
Lastly, HubSpot’s Smart CRM continuously refines the loop by correlating feature adoption patterns with long-term retention, enabling HubSpot to predict and prevent churn while identifying expansion opportunities.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate HubSpot’s approach to Loop Marketing with its tools:

2. Instagram

Source

Instagram transforms every posted photo into discovery fuel through hashtags, location tags, and its Explore page algorithm, creating a self-reinforcing content ecosystem where creation drives discovery.

Additionally, by combining human creativity with Meta AI’s sophisticated recommendation engine, Instagram ensures that genuine moments reach the right audiences while AI-powered features like automatic alt-text, content suggestions, and Smart Reply maintain accessibility and engagement at scale.

Instagram’s approach to Loop Marketing works like this:

First, users post authentic content with hashtags and location tags, while Meta’s AI automatically suggests relevant tags and optimal posting times based on follower activity patterns.
Next, Instagram’s algorithm surfaces posts in Explore and hashtag feeds based on engagement signals, using AI to understand visual similarity, user interests, and relationship strength to match content with viewers most likely to engage.
Then, new users discover content creators through algorithmic distribution that balances popular content with diverse voices, ensuring human authenticity isn’t lost to viral optimization.
Consequently, discovery leads to follows, engagement, and inspired content creation, with AI-powered creation tools like Reels templates and music synchronization lowering barriers while maintaining creative originality.
Overall, each new post strengthens Instagram’s content graph and recommendation engine, creating a feedback loop where human expression trains AI to better understand and amplify authentic connections.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Instagram’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

3. Slack

Source

Slack’s version of Loop Marketing seems to operate on team-level network effects. Each new team member adds value to communication for all existing members, resulting in faster adoption rates compared to top-down software deployment.

By combining human-centered collaboration with Slack’s AI intelligent automation — including automated summaries, smart search, and workflow builder — Slack ensures authentic team interactions scale efficiently while AI handles repetitive tasks that would otherwise create friction.

More specifically, Slack’s approach to Loop Marketing works like this:

First, a user creates a workspace for a team project, with Slack’s AI automatically suggesting relevant channels, apps, and workflow templates based on industry and team size.
Then, product functionality requires inviting team members to collaborate, while AI-powered onboarding personalizes each new member’s experience based on their role and the workspace’s existing communication patterns.
Next, invited members experience value through improved communication, with Slack’s AI providing instant answers from message history, auto-generating channel summaries, and suggesting relevant conversations they might have missed.
Afterward, members create new workspaces for different teams/projects, using AI-powered workspace templates that preserve successful communication structures while adapting to new team dynamics.
Lastly, each workspace becomes a new growth node, spawning additional invitations, with AI identifying optimal moments to suggest team expansion based on conversation volume, project complexity, and collaboration patterns.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Slack’s version of the Loop Marketing methodology:

Pro Tip: HubSpot’s account-based marketing tools, combined with its Breeze AI, automatically trigger multi-touch campaigns that encourage team-wide adoption before customers even request additional seats.

4. Dropbox

Source

Dropbox’s execution of Loop Marketing resembles an engineered bidirectional referral loop, where both the referrer and referee receive free storage, aligning user incentives with company growth while addressing the cold start problem through the immediate provision of tangible value.

By combining genuine user need with AI-powered intelligence — including smart sync, intelligent file suggestions, and automated organization — Dropbox ensures that storage becomes more valuable as users add more content, making referrals feel like helpful recommendations rather than marketing tactics.

More specifically, Dropbox’s approach to Loop Marketing works like this:

First, a user exhausts the free storage limit during active usage, with Dropbox AI tracking usage velocity and file types to predict when users will hit limits, enabling proactive rather than reactive referral prompts
Next, a referral prompt offers additional storage for successful invitations, with AI personalizing the message based on user behavior. (For example, heavy photo users see “Share memories with friends.” In contrast, business users see “Collaborate with your team.”)
Afterwards, invited users receive bonus storage upon sign-up, with AI-powered onboarding that automatically organizes transferred files, suggests sharing permissions, and demonstrates immediate value through smart workspace setup.
Subsequently, new users quickly reach storage limits due to active usage, as Dropbox’s AI features (such as automatic photo backup and desktop sync) naturally increase storage consumption while providing genuine utility.
Lastly, storage pressure triggers referral behavior, continuing the cycle, with AI optimizing referral incentives based on user segments.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Dropbox’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

5. Spotify

Source

Spotify’s annual “Wrapped” campaign transforms private listening data into public social currency, creating a yearly viral moment where users voluntarily advertise their platform usage while generating FOMO for non-users.

By combining deeply personal music tastes with AI-powered pattern recognition — including audio analysis, collaborative filtering, and natural language processing — Spotify creates data stories that feel intimately human while being generated entirely at scale, making each user feel uniquely understood among 500+ million users.

Spotify’s approach to Loop Marketing looks like this:

First, Spotify collects granular listening data throughout the year, with AI analyzing not just play counts but emotional patterns, discovery moments, and listening contexts to build rich behavioral profiles that capture authentic music relationships.
Next, the annual “Wrapped” experience packages data into shareable, personalized stories, using AI to identify surprising insights (“You played more 80s synth-pop than 99% of users”) while maintaining emotional resonance through human-crafted narrative frameworks.
Then, users enthusiastically share “Wrapped” results across social platforms for identity expression, with Spotify‘s AI generating unique visual styles and copy variations that match each user’s aesthetic preferences and social media behavior.s
As a result of organically built hype, non-users experience FOMO and social proof, which drives new sign-ups, with AI-powered onboarding that immediately demonstrates personalization capabilities through taste-matching algorithms.
Finally, new users engage deeply to ensure interesting Wrapped results next year, with an AI Spotify DJ and AI-curated playlists providing continuous feedback that their listening matters and will be celebrated.
Finally, new users engage deeply to ensure interesting Wrapped results next year.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Spotify’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

6. Amazon

Amazon’s implementation of Loop Marketing involves a review system that creates multiple interlocking loops where purchase data improves recommendations, reviews guide future purchases, and verified purchase badges create trust signals that accelerate conversion.

Here’s a closer look at how Amazon’s Loop Marketing strategy works:

First, a customer purchases a product based on reviews and recommendations, with Amazon’s AI analyzing review authenticity, surfacing the most helpful content, and generating AI-powered review summaries that capture thousands of opinions in digestible insights.
Then, post-purchase emails request reviews at optimal timing, with machine learning determining the perfect moment based on product type, delivery confirmation, and individual customer patterns.
Next, reviews improve product discoverability and conversion rates, with AI identifying verified purchases, filtering fake reviews, and dynamically adjusting review prominence based on recency, helpfulness votes, and reviewer credibility.
Consequently, purchase and review data refine recommendation algorithms, with AI connecting review sentiment to return rates, identifying quality issues before they escalate, and predicting which products will satisfy specific customer needs.
Lastly, better recommendations lead to higher purchase frequency and greater satisfaction, as AI personalizes which reviews appear first based on similarity matching.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Amazon’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

7. Notion

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Notion’s iteration of the Loop Marketing framework transforms user workspaces into growth engines through template sharing, where productivity solutions become discovery mechanisms that showcase platform capabilities while solving immediate user needs.

By combining human creativity in workspace design with Notion AI — including content generation, summarization, and automated formatting — Notion ensures that complex workflows remain accessible to both beginners and experts. At the same time, power users can build increasingly sophisticated systems that feel personally crafted.

Here’s how Notion’s approach to Loop Marketing works:

Power users create custom workspaces for specific workflows, with Notion AI helping optimize database structures, suggest relevant properties, and auto-generate documentation that makes templates immediately understandable to others.
Notion enables one-click template sharing with public links, while its AI analyzes template complexity to generate contextual onboarding guides, sample data, and interactive tutorials that reduce the learning curve.
Template recipients experience immediate value without setup friction, with Notion AI automatically adapting templates to their specific needs — changing currencies, time zones, and terminology while preserving core functionality.
Success with templates drives workspace customization and creation, with AI suggesting enhancements based on usage patterns, identifying missing features from similar workspaces, and recommending complementary templates.
New creators contribute templates, expanding its use case library, with AI categorizing submissions, identifying unique innovations, and surfacing templates to users most likely to benefit from specific solutions.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate components of Notion’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

8. Duolingo

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Duolingo’s approach to Loop Marketing involves a streak system that transforms language learning into a social commitment device where daily practice generates shareable achievements that create accountability pressure and competitive dynamics.

By combining human motivation psychology with AI-powered personalization — including adaptive lesson difficulty, optimal reminder timing, and GPT-4-powered conversations — Duolingo ensures that learning feels personally tailored while maintaining the social dynamics that drive users to practice daily.

Take a closer look at Duolingo’s approach to the Loop Marketing methodology:

First, a user completes daily lessons to maintain their streak, with Duolingo’s AI adjusting lesson difficulty in real-time based on performance, ensuring a challenge without frustration. Meanwhile, Duo the owl provides emotionally intelligent nudges.
Then, Duolingo displays streak milestones and leaderboard positions, using AI to determine which motivational mechanics work best for each user — some respond to competition, others to personal progress, others to social encouragement.
Next, achievement unlocks trigger shareable moments, with AI generating personalized celebration messages and creating unique visual badges that reflect individual learning journeys and cultural contexts.
Increased social visibility generates friend connections and league competitions, with AI matching users with similar skill levels and learning pace to maintain engaging but achievable competition.
Lastly, network effects motivate sustained daily practice, with AI analyzing social graphs to identify when users need encouragement, automatically triggering friend notifications at moments of potential streak breaks.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate elements of Duolingo’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

9. LinkedIn

LinkedIn’s execution of Loop Marketing appears to be driven by engagement through profile completion gamification; each added detail enhances search visibility, match quality, and network recommendations, creating compound value from incremental actions.

By combining professional identity with AI-powered optimization — including skills assessments, content recommendations, and recruitment algorithms — LinkedIn ensures that profile building feels like genuine career development. At the same time, the platform’s AI maximizes the professional opportunities each data point creates.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of LinkedIn’s approach to Loop Marketing:

First, the user creates a basic profile to join the network, and LinkedIn’s AI immediately analyzes the initial inputs to suggest relevant industries, skills, and connections, while maintaining professional authenticity through verified work history.
Next, the platform displays completion percentage with specific improvement prompts, using AI to prioritize which missing elements would most impact the user’s goals — job seekers see different prompts than thought leaders or recruiters.
Then, each profile addition triggers algorithmic visibility boosts, with AI determining which updates warrant network notifications, optimizing for engagement without creating notification fatigue among connections.
As a result, increased visibility generates profile views and connection requests. AI-powered features, such as “People You May Know” and “Jobs You May Be Interested In,” create relevant matches based on profile depth and career trajectory analysis.
Lastly, network growth motivates further investment in profiles, with AI surfacing insights about who’s viewing profiles, what keywords drive discovery, and which skills are trending in the user’s industry.

Here’s how marketing teams can recreate aspects of LinkedIn’s approach to Loop Marketing with HubSpot:

10. Uber

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Uber’s implementation of Loop Marketing looks like in-app surge pricing, creating self-balancing loops where price signals redistribute supply and demand in real-time, using economic incentives to solve marketplace imbalances without manual intervention.

By combining human decision-making autonomy with AI-powered market predictions, including demand forecasting, route optimization, and dynamic pricing algorithms, Uber ensures that drivers maintain their independence. At the same time, AI orchestrates system-wide efficiency, making every ride feel personally chosen rather than algorithmically assigned.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of Uber’s execution of Loop Marketing:

First, high demand in a specific area triggers surge pricing, with Uber’s AI internally analyzing multiple data streams — events, weather, historical patterns, and real-time requests — to predict demand surges before they fully materialize, enabling proactive driver positioning.
Next, elevated prices incentivize drivers to relocate to surge zones, with AI providing personalized earning forecasts and optimal route suggestions while preserving driver choice about whether and how to respond to opportunities.
Then, price increases moderate rider demand through substitution or delay, with AI offering alternative options (such as UberShare, different pickup locations, and wait times) that balance individual needs with system capacity.
Subsequently, an increase in supply and a decrease in demand restore market balance, with machine learning continuously refining price elasticity models to find the minimum surge needed to achieve equilibrium
Lastly, price normalizes, maintaining system equilibrium, with AI ensuring smooth transitions that avoid jarring price changes while maintaining transparency about pricing factors.

Here’s how marketing teams can replicate Uber’s Loop Marketing strategy with HubSpot:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) About Loop Marketing

What is loop marketing and how is it different from a funnel?

Loop marketing is HubSpot’s four-stage framework (Express, Tailor, Amplify, Evolve) that creates continuous growth cycles, where each customer interaction strengthens the next. In contrast, traditional funnels guide customers through linear stages, culminating in a purchase.

Funnels operate on a one-way path, where customers enter at the awareness stage and exit after conversion, necessitating ongoing new lead generation to sustain growth. Loop marketing transforms customers into active participants who:

Generate referrals
Create content
Provide data insights
Fuel organic growth that compounds over time

Each completed loop reduces customer acquisition costs while increasing lifetime value.

What are some real-world examples of loop marketing?

As previously mentioned, Spotify’s “Wrapped” campaign exemplifies Loop Marketing by transforming user listening data into shareable social content that drives organic brand mentions and social posts annually, creating new user acquisition while deepening existing engagement.

Additionally, Notion built a template-sharing loop where users create workspace templates that serve as discovery mechanisms for new users, who then create their own templates, thereby expanding the product’s use cases and reach exponentially.

How do I build a loop marketing system for my business?

Start by mapping your existing customer journey to identify where natural loop opportunities exist — moments where customer success creates shareable outcomes, data insights, or network effects. Then, define clear triggers and rewards at each stage:

The Express stage establishes what unique value creates worth sharing
The Tailor stage identifies personalization data that improves with usage
The Amplify stage determines distribution mechanisms that customers naturally use
The Evolve stage measures which behaviors predict expansion and retention

Build the minimum viable loop first by focusing on one high-impact cycle — typically product usage data that improves recommendations or customer success stories that drive referrals — then layer additional loops as the foundation strengthens.

What types of growth loops should I consider?

Content loops transform user-generated content or behavioral data into valuable resources that attract new users while engaging existing ones. That said, review platforms, community forums, and collaborative tools excel in this area.

Viral loops incentivize sharing through reciprocal value, where both referrer and referred benefit, achieving viral coefficients above 1.0 when properly designed. However, data loops utilize aggregated customer insights to enhance:

Product recommendations
Search results
Matching algorithms

All of this creates competitive moats that strengthen with scale.

Social loops leverage network effects where product value increases with user count — messaging platforms, marketplaces, and collaboration tools naturally create these compounding dynamics.

How do I measure if my loop is working?

First, track loop velocity by measuring time from initial engagement through complete cycle completion — successful loops show decreasing cycle times as optimization improves.

Then, monitor the loop multiplier effect: how many new participants each completed loop generates through referrals, content creation, or network expansion — healthy loops achieve multipliers above 1.5.

Afterwards, measure compounding metrics, including:

Customer acquisition cost trends (should decrease over time)
Lifetime value to CAC ratio (should exceed 3:1 and grow)
The percentage of growth from loops versus paid channels (target 40%+ from loops within 18 months)

When is loop marketing not a good fit?

Loop marketing requires a sufficient transaction frequency or engagement depth to generate meaningful data and behavioral patterns; single-purchase, low-engagement products struggle to create sustainable loops.

Industries with strict regulatory constraints surrounding data sharing, customer communications, or referral incentives may find loop mechanisms to be legally restricted or economically unviable.

Conversely, early-stage companies without product-market fit should focus on a fundamental value proposition before building loops, as loops amplify existing dynamics but cannot create demand where none exists.

Lastly, B2B enterprises with lengthy and complex sales cycles may find it more complicated to establish loop dynamics than relationship-based account expansion strategies.

How can I start a loop if I don’t have a big audience?

Begin with micro-loops focused on your most engaged users, rather than trying to activate your entire base. Identify the top 10% who already exhibit loop-like behaviors, such as:

Sharing
Referring
Creating content

Next, leverage partner loops by integrating with platforms that already have network effects, allowing you to tap into existing loop dynamics while building your own audience.

Then, create artificial initial velocity through manual processes that simulate loop outcomes by personally facilitating introductions or creating initial content yourself. These efforts will generate the success stories and data insights needed to automate future loops.

Overall, focus on quality over quantity by optimizing for loop completion rate rather than volume, as 100 users completing loops generates more sustainable growth than 1,000 users starting but abandoning them.

Loop Marketing is the future of marketing strategy.

The shift to loop marketing represents more than tactical optimization; it’s a strategic imperative for driving personalization at scale. And, most importantly, the numbers exemplify this.

According to HubSpot’s 2025 Loop Marketing Report, 93% of U.S. marketers who use some level of personalization or segmentation in their marketing say it has a moderate to high positive impact on marketing-driven leads or purchases.

The companies profiled in this article demonstrate a fundamental truth: sustainable growth no longer comes from pushing customers through linear funnels but from creating self-reinforcing systems where every interaction compounds future success.

Loop marketing transforms traditional marketing challenges into systematic advantages BY :

Decreasing customer acquisition costs over time
Turning retention into a growth driver rather than a separate metric
Transforming product usage data becomes marketing intelligence
Using team adoption to create network effects

Ready to transform your marketing from a funnel into a growth engine? Visit HubSpot’s Loop Marketing Playbook to access the complete framework for identifying, building, and optimizing loops that turn customer success into sustainable business expansion.

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Modern workflow automation explained & 6 best workflow software

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 22:21:37 +0000

In today’s fast-moving go-to-market environment, workflow automation is about removing friction, reducing human error, and scaling personalized customer journeys across your revenue functions, from marketing and sales to service and operations.

In my experience leading demand gen and marketing ops teams, I’ve seen the biggest performance lifts come from automating the invisible work: lead handoffs, data enrichment, routing, follow-ups, and reporting. When automation is thoughtfully designed and built with AI-augmented workflows embedded in your systems, your teams make better decisions with fewer resources and in less time.

So let’s explore how workflow automation works, where it applies, and which tools are best-in-class.

Table of Contents

In today’s AI-powered marketing environment, that definition expands. It’s not just about removing repetitive tasks from marketers’ daily workloads. It’s about augmenting your workflows with AI to make them more predictive and personalized.

What does that mean in practice?

Instead of relying solely on rules-based logic, modern automation uses AI to understand context (e.g., buyer behavior, persona, funnel stage) and adjust the next best action dynamically.

Think of examples such as:

Generating contextualized personalized nurture emails based on CRM activity.
Dynamically prioritizing leads or accounts based on signals and scoring models.
Triggering personalized follow-ups with context-aware content.
Coordinating tasks across apps like Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoom, and Asana.
Keeping your CRM clean and up to date with automated deduplication, enrichment, and sync.

In this sense, AI-augmented workflow automation is bringing workflow automation from a backend ops function to a frontline growth lever, enabling marketing teams to do more with less.

How does workflow automation work?

Traditionally, workflow automation is done through a series of if/then statements that trigger specific actions based on behavior.

Let’s walk through a classic example: A website visitor submits a form.

That action automatically enrolls them in a drip campaign and updates their lifecycle stage as “lead.”
The emails are triggered in this drip campaign, gradually nurturing the lead and prompting them to book a meeting.
The lead clicks through and schedules a time.
A confirmation email is sent automatically.
The CRM creates a task for the assigned sales rep.
The rep reaches out personally, ending the automated sequence.

Here’s what a classic workflow can look like from start to finish in HubSpot automation.

This type of linear, rules-based flow is still foundational, but it’s no longer the ceiling.

In today’s modern B2B marketing, AI-augmented workflows that can adapt in real time are increasingly taking center stage in workflow automation.

In practice, that means:

Detect and prioritize intent signals even without form fills (e.g., repeat visits to pricing pages, email opens combined with ad engagement).
Dynamically personalize the next step based on persona, lifecycle stage, and previous engagement.
Pace the journey by adjusting timing dynamically.

Almost every department can benefit from this shift. Marketing can use automation to nurture leads and hand off clean data to sales; sales accelerates follow-up and prioritizes better; customer success stays ahead of renewal; even finance and HR use it to streamline internal approvals and onboarding.

In the next section, we’ll explore real-world examples of how teams use workflow automation.

Workflow automation can be used in virtually any team and in any business scenario. While it’s mostly related to marketing and sales, it can also be used in customer service, operations, human resources, and finance.

Marketing Workflow Automation

Some of the most repetitive tasks in marketing, such as sending emails and posting social media updates, can be automated with workflow automation. With marketing automation software, you can schedule your entire social media calendar and set up workflows that nurture certain types of prospects with email offers.

Automated workflows in marketing include:

Subscribing a user to a drip campaign when they download a resource from your website.
Welcoming a user to your company after they purchase a product.
Reminding a user to check out after they’ve added various items to their cart.
Scheduling social media posts across multiple platforms.
Distributing marketing tasks across team members.

Additional Reading

Sales Workflow Automation

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Sales workflow automation streamlines tedious lead and prospect management tasks, so that reps can focus on selling, not entering data. Aside from taking leads automatically through the pipeline based on their actions, an automated sales workflow can enroll prospects in drip campaigns and update deal stages as the deal moves forward.

Automated tasks in sales include:

Placing each lead at a different stage of the pipeline when they take a certain action.
Moving a lead out of the pipeline if they’ve stopped responding to emails.
Sending an introduction email from a sales rep to a lead after they download an ebook.
Updating the deal stage once the lead has scheduled an appointment or meeting.
Creating tasks for sales reps once a lead has scheduled a meeting.

Additional Reading

Customer Service Workflow Automation

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Workflow automation is incredibly useful in customer service. Aside from launching surveys, workflow automation can take care of tickets, cases, and common questions by sending a series of emails or creating tasks.

Automated tasks in customer service include:

Creating a new ticket in the system when someone reaches out through social media or email.
Onboarding customers with a series of helpful emails.
Sending NPS® surveys and enrolling them in different email campaigns depending on their rating.
Assigning tickets a priority label depending on the tone of the message or email.
Resolving and archiving tickets once a resolution has been reached.

Additional Reading

Operations Workflow Automation

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Operations is the lifeblood of any organization, and it, too, can be automated to reduce instances of manual data entry.

Automated tasks in operations include:

Deleting duplicates once they have been detected or merging two properties if they’re the same.
Managing team permissions for new team members.
Establishing priorities for different business processes.
Automatically compiling reports at the end of every quarter.
Creating tasks in third-party tools such as Asana, Slack, or Zoom.

Additional Reading

Human Resources Workflow Automation

Instead of having to manually enter all your new hires’ personal information — like addresses, social security numbers, and other employee information into payroll, expense, and insurance systems — HR automation software can do it for you in minutes.

Automated tasks in human resources include:

Removing candidates from the database if they’ve been inactive for a period of time.
Sending emails to candidates who haven’t made it to the final round.
Filtering candidates with certain keywords in their job history.
Sending W-2s to current employees.
Collecting employees’ feedback after they’ve been at the company for a period of time.

Finance Workflow Automation

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By allowing you to build forms, design workflows, and track processes, finance process automation software can streamline all of your travel requests, reimbursements, and budget approvals.

Automated tasks in finance include:

Taking an expense approval process from start to finish.
Managing vendor and contract approvals.
Assigning priorities to ACH and wire requests.
Managing travel expense requests depending on location and activity.
Approving budgets based on a predetermined set of parameters.

Now that you know everything about using automated workflows, let’s take a look at the top tools you can use.

For more practical examples, I shared some tactical ways marketers can use to build smarter workflows. From setting up smart lists to building lead recycling logic, small wins today often become big lifts tomorrow.

Best Workflow Automation Software

1. HubSpot: Best All-in-One Workflow Automation Software

Get started with HubSpot now.

HubSpot’s marketing, sales, service, and operations software operates on a single platform, making it one of the best choices for all-in-one workflow automation. Everything is linked together, allowing you to align all of your teams’ processes and to reduce friction from task to task.

You can easily hand leads from marketing to sales, connect a service ticket with an existing contact record, and clean up customer data — all in one user-friendly platform. And you can connect HubSpot CRM with over 50 different workflow integrations available within the HubSpot App Marketplace.

Best for: I highly recommend HubSpot for growing businesses that have yet to try workflow automation and for enterprise businesses with established processes. You can begin with a Starter subscription, then upgrade as you require more functionalities. Especially recommended for marketing, sales, service, and operations departments.

Pricing for Marketing Hub: Free; $9 per month/seat (Starter); $800/month (Professional); $3,600/month (Enterprise).

Pricing for Sales Hub: Free; $9 per month/seat (Starter); $90 per month/seat (Professional); $150/month/seat (Enterprise).

Pricing for Service Hub: Free; $9 per month/seat (Starter); $90 per month/seat (Professional); $150 per month/seat (Enterprise).

Pricing for Data Hub (previously Operations Hub): Free; $9 per month/seat (Starter); $720/month (Professional); $2,000/month (Enterprise).

2. Zapier

Zapier remains one of the most accessible no-code automation platforms for connecting disparate systems. According to Zapier’s own stats, users have created over 25 million “Zaps,” and it boasts tens of thousands of app integrations.

Source

More recently, Zapier has positioned itself as a Gen AI orchestration engine via features like “AI Actions” or “Zapier Agents,” enabling workflows to auto‑summarize, classify, and trigger follow‑ups using LLMs.

Best for: Perfect for scrappy or experimental teams who want to quickly spin up AI-enhanced workflows without heavy engineering, especially when you have multiple tools already and need to “connect the dots.”

Why I recommend it: In my experience working with growth‑stage SaaS companies, Zapier has been invaluable for experimentation before migrating critical workflows into the MAP/CRM. For example, I once built a workflow where inbound leads were enriched, scored, and routed within 30 minutes of submission using Zapier linked with LLM for persona classification.

Pricing: Free Forever. Paid plans start at $19.99/month (Professional); $69/month (Team); custom pricing for Enterprise.

3. Make

Make offers a visual automation canvas that supports multi‑step workflows, complex branching logic, and recently added AI agent capabilities, making it a robust choice when “if/then” logic isn’t enough.

Source

Why I recommend it: I used Make to automate a lead‑nurture campaign across personas. The logic required multiple branches and timed waits that Make handled smoothly.

Pricing: Free (1,000 credits for the month). Paid plans start at $9 per month. Core costs $16 per month for Pro and $29 per month for teams, with custom pricing available for Enterprise.

4. Clay

Clay is a Gen AI‑native workflow builder designed for account‑based enrichment, outbound personalization, and signal‑driven orchestration. It can connect to your CRM, enrichment providers (e.g., Apollo), and intent databases. Clay also applies AI to dynamically trigger outreach.

One distinctive advantage of Clay is that it ties signal detection, enrichment, and personalization into one flow, which improves the ROI in GTM teams tremendously.

Best for: GTM teams focus on outbound and need a strong layer of buying signals, like “job opening in target account,” “funding event,” or “tech stack change.” Clay is great for teams who want to use those signals to automate personalized outreach across multiple personas.

Pricing: Free; $134/month (Starter); $314/month (Explorer); $720/month (Pro); custom pricing for Enterprise.

5. Tray

Tray is an enterprise‑grade workflow and automation platform built for highly technical users. Unlike no‑code tools, Tray offers deep integration, complex loops, nested logic, and full visibility into data models.

Source

Best for: Organizations with complex needs: many systems, regulatory requirements, multiple workflows, and a full dev team. Ideal when you need detailed control over data flows, custom ETL, or integrations that go beyond typical SaaS connectors.

Why I recommend it: I implemented workflows in Tray.ai for an enterprise GTM stack. Despite the initial steeper learning curve, it handles scenarios such as multi‑region and multi-business units data routing, heavy volume processing, and orchestration smoothly.

Pricing: They offer three tiers — Pro, Team, and Enterprise. Call sales for details.

6. OpenAI Agent Builder

OpenAI Agent Builder is a visual drag‑and‑drop interface from OpenAI that lets you build custom AI agents combining logic nodes, data connectors, and workflow steps. While it’s still evolving, it represents a next‑gen frontier of “automation + intelligence” that is worth marketers keeping an eye on.

Best for: Organizations with established automation footprints and internal resources that can invest in AI workflow design.

Pricing: Contact sales.

Workflow automation will help you grow better.

There’s no one workflow automation tool that fits everything. You should choose based on your stage, stack, and GTM complexity. Whichever you choose, always remember to pair it with solid data management practice and clearly defined business rules.

As AI becomes more embedded in marketing, the most effective marketing teams will be those who treat automation as an always-on co-pilot.

Whether you’re using powerful tools like HubSpot to build no-code workflows or leveraging customized AI agents to manage highly advanced flows at scale, here are some strategy tips:

Start small.
Crawl → walk → run: Tackle one key conversion bottleneck at each stage (like TOFU form fills, MOFU nurture drop-off, or BOFU rep follow-up delays), then layer on intelligence, and iterate.
Over time, your automated systems will become a competitive advantage that can compound.

Want to explore how AI-powered workflows can power your GTM orchestration? Check out HubSpot’s free workflow automation library to get inspired.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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4 marketing takeaways from Taylor Swift

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 18:19:26 +0000

Perhaps you’ve heard that Taylor Swift recently released a new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

Not only did the full-length smash sales records, but it also spawned endless musical analysis (Who exactly is “Father Figure” about?) and viral moments (Is the mystery of the orange door actually solved?).

Of course, Swift’s marketing savvy is as impressive as her musical talent. The album rollout also illustrated Swift’s knack for promotion — and underscored why she’s a once-in-a-generation pop star.

Although not everyone can land a No. 1 album or launch a sold-out stadium tour, all is not lost: You can still keep it 100 in your own business with these marketing lessons gleaned from Taylor Swift.

Illustration by Olivia Heller

Reward your most loyal customers.

Swift is known for her loyalty to her devoted fans, the Swifties. Years ago, she randomly showed up at a wedding shower she was invited to, and bought Christmas gifts for other followers. Before releasing her reputation and Lover albums, she held Secret Sessions, where she premiered the record (and ate homemade goodies) with hand-picked groups of uber-fans.

These experiences made her followers feel unique and special — and cemented their fandom for life.

Make an effort to know your audience. Knowing who your customers are will make your marketing better.

Send a brief survey to your email list in exchange for a discount.
Hold an online conversation and take questions from followers.
Earlier this year, we surveyed Masters in Marketing readers, and you told us that you wanted to see even more tactical content!

Hold a customer appreciation event.

If you have a brick-and-mortar store, earmark a certain day to celebrate your customers with a festive event.
Smaller (or virtual) businesses might run a sale or special to reward customers.
Take a page from The Hustle’s playbook: Our sister newsletter gives you a unique link to share with friends and colleagues. You start to earn prizes — like notebooks, mugs, or a backpack — when at least three of those people subscribe.

Start a membership club.

Who doesn’t like to be part of a special club, especially if it offers discounts, members-only events, or exclusive news?
Consider free or low-cost membership to make this accessible to more people.

Keep things fresh — but consistent.

With each Swift album era, fans can expect certain things: exclusive vinyl variants, a different color scheme (The Life of a Showgirl is dazzling orange and cool mint green) and special merch options (including a unique cardigan and snow globe). This method appeals to collectors, sure — but also shows the ways Swift’s career builds on itself over time.

Have a regular marketing cadence.

Customers appreciate a business that’s predictable and reliable.

Send a newsletter on the same day of the week or share a video every two weeks.

Build a content marketing strategy.

It’s easy to lose track of what content you have (or want) to share. A structured content marketing strategy, which could include things such as a content calendar, can help you see what’s missing and what’s successful.

Cultivate a brand that shows off your personality.

As a true millennial, Swift was quite active on MySpace and loved to share her life via video blogs or diary entries. Once her career took off, she didn’t use social media as much, but when she did, her personality shone through. After all, only Taylor would accidentally take her parents to a Las Vegas club.

Don’t feel pressure to market everywhere.

It’s tempting to hop on every viral trend or new social media platform; after all, FOMO is real. Focus your marketing on the channels with the most potential (or the most followers) for better results.

The HubSpot Marketing YouTube channel has been running the same playbook for three years, and it’s a workhorse for us, getting nearly 425k views every month. HubSpot marketer Nelson Chacón Guzman says the secret is how focused it stays: one channel (YouTube), one format (how-to explainers), and one strategy (search-informed).

Mix your sales messaging with personal insights.

Customers respond to marketing that sounds human. Share things about your life alongside news about your business; for example, perhaps you ate an amazing dessert, read a great book, or saw a beautiful sunset.

Focus on your strengths. Not everyone loves being on video or is an award-winning photographer. But maybe you’re an ace copywriter or can make an Instagram caption sing.

Lean into the areas where you feel most comfortable; your marketing will thank you later.

Be welcoming.

Swift’s fandom is rife with lore. (Exhibit A: The “No, it’s Becky” meme.)

But even if you’re not an OG fan who saw her open for Rascal Flatts in 2006, you’re not excluded from the fandom. If anything, long-time loyalists want to bring everyone into the fold, whether it’s Taylor Tots (the term for adorable toddler Swifties) or recent converts.

Swift is clearly the same way: For example, the viral TikTok dance for “The Fate of Ophelia” isn’t overly complicated — and you can even do it sitting down!

Occasionally reintroduce yourself.

With the way algorithms work today, it’s easy to miss out on an important event or cool business.

Don’t shy away from saying hello to your followers every so often. After all, before every Eras Tour show, even Swift did this, exclaiming, “Hi, my name is Taylor — and I was born in 1989!”

Be authoritative, but not exclusive.

Use inside jokes or niche colloquialisms sparingly, as these phrases might alienate potential customers. Instead, talk about your business using language that everyone can relate to.

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Nail Corporate Holiday Gifting (Without Being Cringey)

admin — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:18:17 +0000

By Brenna Lofquist, Client Services Operations Manager at Heinz Marketing

Corporate holiday gifting isn’t new, but the way companies approach it has changed. Today, gifting isn’t about checking the “send swag” box. It’s about strengthening relationships, showing genuine appreciation, and standing out in a season where every inbox is overflowing with promotions and generic holiday cheer.

When done well, a gift can deepen trust, spark a memorable interaction, or simply make someone’s day. When done poorly…it can feel transactional, tone-deaf, or even a little embarrassing.

Here’s how to choose the right gift for every audience while avoiding the holiday cringe.

Start with the Audience (Not the Gift)

Before browsing catalogs or scrolling on Sendoso’s website, decide who you’re gifting and what message you want that gift to send. Different audiences require different strategies.

Clients & Customers: Quality, Utility, and Alignment

These gifts should reinforce your ongoing relationship. Stick with options that are useful, high-quality, or that align with your brand’s values. Consider:

A thoughtfully curated snack box or coffee and tea set
A premium notebook or desk item
A donation made in their honor with a clear tie to your shared mission

Avoid anything overly flashy or branded. This isn’t the moment for a logo-covered fleece vest. Gifts to clients and customers should be something they will actually use, instead of it landing in a desk drawer never to see the light of day.

The goal here is to show your appreciation with no strings attached.

Prospects: Low-Pressure and Universally Appealing

Prospects should never feel like you’re trying to buy their attention or push them into the pipeline, especially during the holidays. This isn’t a gift you’re sending as part of a campaign to get their business.

Go for:

Everyday consumables (local sweets, high-end chocolate, coffee blends)
Small experiential items (virtual classes or workshops, event tickets)
Charitable gifts that show thoughtfulness without assumptions
“Choose Your Gift” cards or digital platforms

Keep it light, useful, and well under compliance limits. Another important factor to keep in mind. Most companies have a monetary limit when it comes to gifts they can accept. Do your research before sending gifts.

Partners & Vendors: Respect the Relationship

Partners are your collaborators, not a sales audience. Gifts should feel like a genuine thank you, not a tactic.

Ideas:

Something you know they personally enjoy from past conversations (sports teams, hobbies/activities, favorite food or restaurant)
Local goods from your region
A gift that reflects shared wins

If in doubt, keep it simple and heartfelt. Take the time to look for something personal. It might take more time to find and not as scalable but it will be appreciated.

Employees: Personalization Goes a Long Way

Employee gifting is a chance to show you see and value your team. Think beyond branded hoodies.

Great choices:

Wellness items
Home office upgrades
A stipend or flexible gift card
“Choose your own gift” platforms

Avoid anything that feels self-promotional or too impersonal. If you decided on different gifts for each employee versus the same gift for everyone, ensure the value is the same. You never want an employee to think you value someone else more than another.

International Recipients: Do Your Homework

Gifiting norms vary widely across cultures. Some items that are common in the U.S. may be inappropriate or carry unwanted symbolism elsewhere.

Check:

Gift value expectations
Colors, numbers, or symbols that may have cultural meaning
Dietary or religious restrictions

Thoughtful cultural awareness goes a long way. Make sure you do your homework! If there’s any doubt, just ask. Or you can go another route with a thoughtful, handwritten letter.

Corporate Gifting Best Practices

Let Your Values Guide the Gift

Sustainability, local makers, socially responsible brands. When your gift tells a story, it often lands better than something generic or with a high price tag.

Know Your Recipients Industry Compliance Rules

Especially if they are in healthcare, government, or financial services. A great gift that violates policy is… not a great gift.

Personalize (But Don’t Get Creepy)

Use data you naturally collect (role, region, general preferences) without crossing into “we’ve been watching you” territory. Look back at your notes from conversations you’ve had.

A handwritten note or custom message can do more than an expensive item.

Choose Quality Over Novelty

A simple, well-made item beats a flashy trinket that breaks in two days.

Be Mindful or Personal Preferences and Inclusivity

Not everyone drinks alcohol, eats certain foods, celebrates the same holidays, or has the same lifestyle preferences. When in doubt, choose gifts that are inclusive and non-assumptive.

If you do select something like wine, spirits, or specialty foods, make sure you understand the recipient’s preferences and restrictions. A gift should never put someone in an uncomfortable position or be unusable for them.

Plan for Logistics

Holiday shipping is chaos. Order early and provide digital or hybrid gifting options for remote folks. You might think someone works in an office but it’s better to be safe, than have the gift sit at the office and go unopened.

Avoid the Cringe: Holiday Email Copy That Misses the Mark

Even the best gift can be undermined by the email that accompanies it. Here are the biggest pitfalls to avoid.

Cringe #1: The Sales Pitch in Disguise

“We wanted to send you this gift because now is the perfect time to chat about Q1 priorities!”

Hard no. Your gift should not feel contingent on moving the deal forward.

Cringe #2: Overly Forced Holiday Joy

Excessive puns, too many emojis, or lines like:

“Sleighing deals with you this year has been magical!!!”

It’s giving “corporate trying too hard.”

Cringe #3: Fake Sincerity

“We appreciate your partnership more than words can say!”

But… you’re saying no words at all. Be specific.

Cringe #4: Guilt Trips

“Since we haven’t heard from you, we hope this gift encourages a response.”

This feels manipulative and ruins the gesture.

Cringe #5: Non-Inclusive Holiday Language

Assuming everyone celebrates Christmas or using certain terms can alienate people. Keep it inclusive and seasonal instead of religious.

**What Good Gifting Copy Should Sound Like**

Warm. Grateful. Personal. And zero pressure.

“We’re grateful for the chance to work together this year. As a small thank you, we’ve sent along something we hope you’ll enjoy. Wishing you a restorative and peaceful holiday season.”

Short, clear, thoughtful.

Gifting Platforms

If you’re in need of a gifting platform that can streamline the process and offer a variety of options, check out:

Sendoso
Reachdesk
&Open
Thnks
Goody
Snappy

The Bottom Line: Thoughtful > Expensive

Great corporate gifting isn’t about budget, it’s about intention. Identify your audience, pick gifts that reflect your brand and values, avoid cringe-filled email copy, and send something that genuinely make the recipient feel seen and appreciated.

Done right, your holiday gifting won’t just check a box. It will deepen relationships and leave a lasting impression that carries into the new year.

Image by cookie_studio on Freepik

The post Nail Corporate Holiday Gifting (Without Being Cringey) appeared first on Heinz Marketing.

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