Some of you have been asking to keep apprised of the new content, features and functionality as we release it, so we’ll now post a monthly update here in the blog.

We’ll still notify you of major releases via email and through the messaging module in your account.

Plans for Download

In late December 2012, we deployed a major release which gives you the ability to select and download hundreds of step-by-step marketing plans, for use outside of the app, as well as inside the app.

Plans are grouped into 4 categories:

• Marketing Strategy
• Demand Generation
• Marketing Assets
• Marketing Improvement

You can access the plans from your homepage:

When you download a plan, the plan is also imported into your Project List. This allows you to work on your plan in our project management grid to:

• Access the additional guided content and planning tools that explain the details of each task
• Customize your plan and build detailed reports
• Assign tasks
• Set due dates
• Share with your team

Updated Deliverable Descriptions

We also updated all of the descriptions for each deliverable, which display in your reports. The new descriptions appear in new projects that you create; your existing projects will contain the previous descriptions. To modify a description, select Edit > Description from your Project Details screen.

Complete Plan Preview

We changed the plan preview from a quick snapshot to a full preview. Before you download a plan, you can now scroll through the entire plan to ensure it’s the plan you want to download.

This is especially helpful for free Preview account users, as we limit free account users to 5 downloads. Full subscribers are able to download every plan.

Marketing Plans > Campaign Strategy & Media > Outline Campaign Creative Concept – Tool 6.1.b

This exercise guides you through your thought process as you begin to outline the creative concept for a campaign. While we already provide a plethora of examples, we added content to help you consider the science of persuasion, and how sometimes, you might need to focus your campaign on a completely different angle to obtain your desired results:

It’s also common for many of us to focus our campaigns on why we’re better/faster/cheaper than the competition. But many times, customers don’t care about that — they care about using our product/service to fill a completely different need for them. Have you ever thought about asking your customers what “job” they’re hiring your product/service to complete?

Here’s an insightful 5-minute video from Clayton Christensen, professor at Harvard Business School, talking about a case study addressing why people bought milkshakes at a popular fast-food restaurant, and the “job” the milkshakes performed (which was different from what the restaurant thought.)

As you’re considering your campaign ideas, consider the science of persuasion – known tactics that influence people’s behavior. This video by Influence at Work discusses the 6 principles that guide human behavior:

1. Reciprocity
2. Scarcity
3. Authority
4. Consistency
5. Liking
6. Consensus

The science shows that using these principles in your campaigns should yield improved results.

Websites > Website Needs > Identify High-Level Website Needs – Tool 12.1.a

This exercise guides you through the thought process for creating your website requirements:

• The type of website needed
• Specific criteria requirements, such as content management, forms, navigation and integration with marketing campaigns
• Design requirements

Website design is always evolving, so we added this wonderful reference to fresh homepage designs:

For additional examples, check out HubSpot’s 54 Examples of Brilliant Homepage Design. You’ll need to share your contact information to download, but it’s worth it – the guide was published in 2013 and contains very creative examples along with commentary about why they’re effective.

Check back next month to view the updates for February!