Are you thinking about getting into podcasting? Wondering if podcasts still have an engaged audience base? In this article, you’ll discover insights from new research that show how listeners consume podcast content, and what might keep people from tuning in. #1: Podcast Listener Base Maintains Steady Growth A January 2017 phone survey of 2,000 people [...]
At this point, you might be asking yourself: Do I really need a privacy policy for my website?
If you’re starting any kind of company today, the answer is likely yes, you really do.
Starting a new business can be overwhelming -- there are a lot of moving parts to manage all at once, and it's easy for your privacy policy to get overlooked (or completely forgotten) in the shuffle. But with so many new data privacy regulations and lawsuits cropping up, skipping out on a privacy policy is just asking for trouble.
To give you an idea of what you're up against, here are a few examples of regulations that require a privacy policy:
Regulations around privacy policies don't just end at your website: any tool that collects information from your site -- such as website analytics, online forms, or chat widgets -- will require a policy too. Google Analytics, the most popular web analytics tool out there, even has a privacy policy requirement in its terms of use.
And if you’re planning on running any online ad campaigns, both Google and Facebook require privacy policies in place if you’re collecting any user information. This is especially important for Facebook Lead Ads, which require a privacy policy URL link within each ad you create.
The FTC isn’t afraid of enforcing punishments for companies that violate consumers' privacy, regardless of size or prominence. They’ve taken action against many companies -- even ones as big as Google and Facebook -- for failing to properly disclose how they used their customer’s data.
Okay okay, enough scary stuff. You're hopefully convinced by now that you should probably get one of these privacy policy things.
But what exactly is a privacy policy?
Basically, a privacy policy usually lets your customers know what type of data you’re collecting, and what you’re doing with that data. It also generally provides information about how you’re collecting data, whether it’s through a form, or cookies on your website.
They also usually outline your policy for storing customer data. How long you’re planning to store data is a big deal -- are you storing someone’s info in perpetuity, or do you promise to delete it after 90 days? Privacy policies typically inform users how long their data will stay in your possession.
Depending on where your company is located, you might also have to include where the data is being stored. Even if you’re not storing it yourself, you’d need to disclose the physical data center (e.g. an AWS US-East server in northern Virginia).
Privacy policies may also include information on who has access to the customer’s data. This can mean giving customers the right to request data if they want, and a process to do so. And it usually involves providing contact info if they have a question about the privacy policy. You may also want to provide an opt-out notice for users that don’t agree with the policy.
Finally, privacy policies often include the security policy you use to protect the data you’re collecting. This usually means an outline of the security measures taken to safeguard customer data by you, or the vendors you use. Here’s HubSpot’s security policy for reference.
Ultimately, privacy policies provide a safeguard for both you and your visitors. If you’re collecting data from visitors or users, it’s recommended to tell them what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how it’s being safeguarded. The privacy policy serves as a declaration to visitors and customers what you’re doing with their data.
When writing a policy, it should be clear and explicit so any user can understand it.
So how do I get a privacy policy?
Ultimately it’s up to you to determine what kind of privacy policy your business needs, and you should consult with a legal professional.
However, here are some helpful links like this sample Privacy Policy from the Better Business Bureau to get you started. Likewise, there are privacy policy generators that often offer basic privacy policies for free (here’s an example of one focused on the aforementioned Facebook Lead Ads use case: link). Additonally, the FTC’s website has a bunch of information to help guide US businesses in particular.
Again, we emphasize that you should consult with an attorney on what type of policy is best for your needs.
And Now, Some Legalese ...
This blog post has provided information about the law designed to help our readers better understand the legal issues surrounding internet marketing. But legal information is not the same as legal advice -- the application of law to an individual’s specific circumstances.
Although we have conducted research to better ensure that our information is accurate and useful, we insist that you consult a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is accurate.
To clarify further, you may not rely upon this information as legal advice, nor as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular legal understanding, and you should instead regard this article as intended for entertainment purposes only.
Who else loved baking brownies when they were a kid? My favorite part was drizzling the chocolate syrup on top as a finishing touch.
As it turns out, one of my beloved childhood memories was a product of co-branding: Betty Crocker partnered with Hershey's to include chocolate syrup in its signature brownie recipe.
There's something brilliant about that co-branded product: It's a fun way to marry two classic brands into one delicious experience for fans of baking and chocolate alike. In fact, these brands still create new co-branded products to this day.
Co-branding is a strategic marketing and advertising partnership between two brands wherein the success of one brand brings success to its partner brand, too. Co-branding can be an effective way to build business, boost awareness, and break into new markets, and for a partnership to truly work, it has to be a win-win for all players in the game. Both audiences need to find value -- like chocolate-loving fans of Betty Crocker and Hershey's.
There are a ton of great examples of co-branding partnerships out there -- too many to list in one post. Below, we've curated a list of 10 examples of great co-branding partnerships to inspire you.
10 Examples of Great Co-Branding Partnerships
1) GoPro & Red Bull: "Stratos"
GoPro doesn't just sell portable cameras, and Red Bull doesn't just sell energy drinks. Instead, both have established themselves as lifestyle brands -- in particular, a lifestyle that's action-packed, adventurous, fearless, and usually pretty extreme. These shared values make them a perfect pairing for co-branding campaigns, especially those surrounding action sports.
To make the partnership work, GoPro equips athletes and adventurers from around the world with the tools and funding to capture things like races, stunts, and action sport events on video -- from the athlete's perspective. At the same time, Red Bull uses its experience and reputation to run and sponsor these events.
"GoPro camera technology is allowing us to complement the programming by delivering new athlete perspectives that have never been seen before," said Sean Eggert, Red Bull's director of sports marketing. The collaboration allows exclusive GoPro content to enhance both companies' growth.
While GoPro and Red Bull have collaborated on many events and projects together, perhaps the biggest collaboration stunt they've done was "Stratos," in which Felix Baumgartner jumped from a space pod more than 24 miles above Earth's surface with a GoPro strapped to his person. Not only did Baumgartner set three world records that day, but he also embodied the value of reimagining human potential that define both GoPro and Red Bull.
2) Pottery Barn & Sherwin-Williams: Color Your Room
One of the biggest benefits of co-branding campaigns is the opportunity to expose your product or service to a brand new audience. That's exactly what home furnishing store Pottery Barn and paint company Sherwin-Williams did when they partnered together back in 2013.
Together, the two brands created an exclusive product line of paints, and then added a new section of Pottery Barn's website that helped customers easily select paint colors to complement their furniture choices.
Customers could coordinate paint colors with picture-perfect Pottery Barn furniture for a mutually beneficial partnership -- and style assistance for both brands' customers to boot. "Paint Landing," Pottery Barn's landing page for the partnership, contains helpful blog posts and how-to ideas for do-it-yourself painting and decorating.
3) Casper & West Elm: Test a Casper Mattress
You may have already heard of Casper -- it's an online mattress and bedding brand that sells mattresses in a box.
Casper mattress unboxing videos like this one have become a hit on YouTube, but despite the brand's 100-day return policy, some shoppers might still be hesitant to buy a mattress without getting the chance to roll around in it first.
Enter West Elm, a high-end furniture company. Casper and West Elm partnered so shoppers could try out the comfy mattress before purchasing -- and so West Elm could advertise its chic bedroom furniture.
This is another example of a mutually beneficial co-branding partnership. It helps both brands appeal to a broader group of shoppers -- after all, Casper doesn't sell furniture, and West Elm doesn't sell mattresses. It also provides shoppers with options -- to try a mattress before buying, or to feel what it would be like sleeping in a bed frame.
4) Bonne Belle & Dr. Pepper: Flavored Lip Balm
Dr. Pepper-flavored lip balm. I mean, it's genius.
Bonne Belle first debuted Lip Smacker, the world’s first flavored lip balm, in 1973, starting with flavors like strawberry, lemon, and green apple. Just two years later in 1975, they'd forged their first flavor partnership with the timeless Dr. Pepper brand. The result? A lip balm flavor that's been famous for decades among teenage girls.
If you're thinking the connection between lip balm and Dr. Pepper is a little thin, consider the copy on one of their vintage ads: "It’s the super shiny lip gloss with lip-smacking flavor… just like the world’s most original soft drink." And later, "From Bonne Belle of course: the cosmetics company that understands your taste."
Car manufacturer BMW and designer Louis Vuitton may not be the most obvious of pairings. But if you think about it, they have a few important things in common. If you focus on Louis Vuitton's signature luggage lines, they're both in the business of travel. They both value luxury. And finally, they're both well-known, traditional brands that are known for high-quality craftsmanship.
These shared values are exactly why this co-branding campaign makes so much sense. In their partnership, BMW created a sports car model called the BMW i8, while Louis Vuitton designed an exclusive, four-piece set of suitcases and bags that fit perfectly into the car's rear parcel shelf.
Although the four-piece luggage set goes for a whopping $20,000, the price is right for the target customer, as the BMW i8 starts at $135,700. A price like that kind of makes that luggage set seem like a drop in the bucket.
Not only does the luggage fit perfectly size-wise, but its design and appearance fit perfectly with BMW's image: sleek, masculine, and high-quality. Turns out both the luggage and some parts of the car's interior use carbon fiber, strong-yet-light composite material.
"This collaboration with BMW i epitomises our shared values of creativity, technological innovation and style," said Patrick-Louis Vuitton, head of special orders at Louis Vuitton. "Our craftsmen have enjoyed the challenge of this very special project, using their ingenuity and attention to detail to create a truly made to measure set of luxury luggage. This is a pure expression of the art of travel."
6) Uber & Spotify: Soundtrack for Your Ride
Music-streaming app Spotify partnered with ride-hailing app Uber to create "a soundtrack for your ride." This is a great example of a co-branding partnership between two very different products with very similar goals -- to earn more users.
Here's how it works: When riders are waiting for an Uber ride, they're prompted to connect with Spotify and become the DJ of their trip. Users can choose from their own playlists to determine what they'll listen to.
This smart co-branding partnership helps fans of Uber and Spotify alike enjoy better experiences thanks to the app. And they might be more interested in picking Uber and Spotify over competitors knowing they can enjoy their next ride listening to their favorite tunes.
7) BuzzFeed & Best Friends Animal Society
Some co-branding campaigns are more complicated than others. This example from BuzzFeed and Best Friends Animal Society is one of the simplest ones out there -- and it goes to show a great co-branding effort doesn't have to take months of planning or millions of dollars.
For this campaign, the folks at Best Friends Animal Society wanted to leverage BuzzFeed's readership of over 200 million people. To do this, they partnered with the folks at BuzzFeed to set up and publish an article called, "We Interviewed Emma Watson While She Played With Kittens And It Was Absolutely Adorable," which you can read here. The article is exactly what it sounds like: Harry Potter and Beauty and the Beast star Emma Watson answered fans' questions while she played with cute kittens.
The article ends with a CTA advertising that the kittens featured in the video are, in fact, adoptable -- a win-win for both partners.
8) Alexander Wang & H&M
Anyone who's designer-conscious knows Alexander Wang and H&M aren't exactly the same caliber when it comes to quality. Shoes by Alexander Wang tend to go for around $350 a pair, whereas shoes sold by H&M tend to go for more like $35 a pair. See what I mean?
But that discrepancy in pricing is exactly why the two brands decided to partner with one another. To support their brand positioning as trendy and fashionable, H&M has traditionally paired with high-end fashion brands to offer exclusive branded items for a limited time.
In exchange, those high-end brands -- like Alexander Wang -- can expose their brand name to "a new generation of potential consumers, who will increasingly aspire to owning more pieces from his high end collection," writes Michelle Greenwald for Forbes.
9) CoverGirl & Lucasfilm: Light Side and Dark Side Makeup
Whenever a new installment of the beloved "Star Wars" series is released in theaters, it causes global pandemonium, and the release of "Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens" in 2015 was no exception. The series' parent company, Lucasfilm, partnered with CoverGirl to capture a broader audience to get fans new and old excited about the movie's release.
You might be wondering, "What do "Star Wars" and makeup have in common?" And the cleverness of this partnership is evident in the answer.
In the past, the space-age action movies were almost exclusively advertised and targeted toward men and boys. But in this day and age, that's nonsense -- because people of all genders can be interested in space exploration and makeup contouring alike.
The line was designed by famed makeup artist Pat McGrath, and it features two styles: the Light Side and the Dark Side, which loyal "Star Wars" fans will recognize as the sides of good and evil in the movies.
A post shared by COVERGIRL (@covergirl) on Aug 13, 2015 at 6:59am PDT
This co-branding partnership was a win for both brand. Lucasfilm captured more attention and got CoverGirl shoppers (many of whom are young women) excited about the film's release. And CoverGirl hopped on the "Star Wars" advertising bandwagon that took over the internet, stores, and TV leading up to the film's release.
10) Nike & Apple: Nike+
Athletic brand Nike and technology giant Apple have been working together since the early 2000s, when the first line of iPods was released.
The co-branding partnership started as a way to bring music from Apple to Nike customers' workouts using the power of technology: Nike+iPod created fitness trackers and sneakers and clothing that tracked activity while connecting people to their tunes.
The partnership has since evolved to become Nike+ -- which uses activity tracking technology built into athletic clothing and gear to sync with Apple iPhone apps to track and record workout data. Tracking transmitters can be built into shoes, armbands, and even basketballs to measure time, distance, heart rate, and calories burned.
It's a genius co-branding move that helps both parties provide a better experience to customers -- and with the popularity of fitness tracking technology, Nike+ is ahead of the curve by making it easy for athletes to track while they play.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in March 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Ask any social media manager what they stress out about on any given day, and the answers you receive may vary.
Some worry about having enough content to publish while others might worry about posting on the company page from their personal account. But almost all social media pros will agree upon one: news feed algorithms.
Social media algorithms are designed to serve audiences up the most relevant, interesting content possible -- after all, social networks are about being social, and Instagram and Facebook want you spending more and more time within the apps interacting with friends -- and content -- you love.
But recent algorithm changes on major social networks have also made it tougher for brands and publishers to get content noticed and surfaced in busy news feeds -- where billions of people are sharing content every day around the world.
We've started experimenting with different ways to leverage content on social media. Posting more frequently isn't the answer -- it's posting great content that people want to share and interact with. Read on to learn more about the experiments we're running and the early results we've seen.
How We're Increasing Engagement on Social Media
1) Using Influencers and Gamification to Leverage Engagement
FacebookandInstagrameach adjusted its respective news feed algorithm a few times last year. Instead of showing news need updates in chronological order, both algorithms now favor content from friends and family over publishers, and content that users interact with -- by liking, commenting, viewing, and sharing posts.
Social media algorithm changes can be tricky for publishers and marketers -- especially when we read stress-inducing statistics about Facebook's algorithm reducing organic reach for publishersby roughly 40%over the last few years.
The answer to getting noticed in busy news feeds is to get people clicking, viewing, and interacting with your posts. But how can you get noticed in the first place -- especially when there areso manyusersand pages also competing for attention?
We started experimenting with mobilizing and incentivizing our Instagram audience to engage more frequently with our posts. We're rewarding people we think will love our content and engage with it by helping them see it first -- and in some cases, win prizes.
Influencer Pods
The Goal:
We want to cultivate more engagement with our Instagram posts by creating our own influencer pod.Influencer podsare made up of -- you guessed it -- influencers in a particular vertical. They join specific, invite-only groups to engage with one another's posts in an authentic and mutually beneficial way. Pods help content get viewed higher up in the Instagram feed, which makes it easier for even more people engage with the content -- in their feeds, or in the Explore tab.
The Experiment:
We created our own influencer pod with several other well-known companies creating great content in similar worlds to us, such as social media, technology, and design companies. Whenever someone posts new content, they let the group know, and if the other companies find the post interesting, they will like the post and write a genuine comment on the post. Check it out in action:
The Results:
Our pod has started to generate 10-20 additional comments per Instagram post from relevant influencers within HubSpot's vertical. These engagements help us (and fellow pod members) rank in Instagram's feed, and they inspire a littlesocial proof, too. If Instagrammers see influencers and companies they know and love engaging with HubSpot on Instagram, they might want to check us out, too.
Instagram Comment Contests
The Goal:
We want to help our audience engage with content we think they'd love by running an Instagram comment contest. We want to generate authentic comments on our Instagram posts from fans -- and reward them for it, too.
The Experiment:
We created the #First60 contest on Instagram. Here's how it works:
1) We encourage followers to "Turn on Post Notifications" from HubSpot to make sure they didn't miss the contest announcement.
2) We post an Instagram Story when we're getting ready to publish a new Instagram post as part of the contest that urges followers to be among the first people to comment "#First60" for the chance to win a prize.
3) Our followers comment on our posts, and we select prize winners and send them swag.
We’re rewarding people who love our content and engage with it by helping them see it first, and in turn, we're able to generate a lot of engagement on our posts.
The Results:
Like the influencer pods, this Instagram contest generates 10-20 additional comments per Instagram post. The engagement helps us rank in the feed, turning on notifications helps us get our content in front of more of our fans, and everybody likes swag -- the contest fosters good will with our audience, too.
Tl;dr: Social Media Engagement
Just like how we thought about different video devices like on-page SEO for social media, think about generating buzz and engagement on social media the way you think about optimizing search engine results with off-page SEO elements.
Inbound links from websites with high domain authority signal to search engines that your content is authoritative and worth clicking on.
Similarly, comments, likes, views, and shares are signals to social media algorithms that the content is authentic and that people like it. These engagements signal that the content should be bumped up higher in news feeds, which will help it then get discovered by more people to engage with it down the line.
P.S. We recently launched our first Facebook comment contest -- with a much bigger prize offering. Check our the HubSpotSummer Startup contesthere:
3) Rethinking How Social Media and PR Work Together
We've only just started this last experiment, so we don't have detailed methods and results to share yet. But we wanted to give you a rundown of how we're changing the way we use social media -- to earn PR placements, instead of simply promoting them.
Simply put, everyone lives and breathes on social media. In fact, when you factor in messaging apps, social media is where people spendmore than half of their timeon their mobile devices -- with Facebook at the helm.
And where PR used to be all about traditional media placements -- in news outlets -- it's transforming to be about social, too.
We've found that, when pitching press outlets, you ned to help drive traffic through social to make it worth the effort of PR professionals. In addition to traditional outlets, publications are now generating traffic from native content within social platforms. So if you want to engage with members of the press and PR professionals today, you need to analyze their social media pages to learn what kind of content they’re sharing -- before pitching.
The stories you pitch need to be relevant to their audiences -- and not just yours. Whatever you learn about the outlets you want to target, incorporate that knowledge into content that you create.
The Goal:
We wanted to see if a social media-based PR campaign would get us more press placements and mentions on Facebook.
The Experiment:
With theSummer Startup contest, we pitched the story to journalists with accompanying data -- about what people's career dreams are, and what they love (and don't love) about their jobs -- to create a newsworthy, research-based story that earned coverage for our contest.
We waited until our video had achieved a meaningful number of views to use social proof to strengthen our pitch -- which, in turn, drove more video views when publications started writing about it.
(Additionally, we spent significant budget boosting the post on Facebook, which contributed to the significance of its reach and view numbers on Facebook. We recommend sharing content on Facebook, waiting to see what picks up organically with your audience, and boosting high-performing posts.)
The Results:
We've earned more social media press mentions for the Summer Startup contest than any other campaign we've done in the past -- and we're not done yet.
Tl;dr: Social Media PR
Social media managers across industries are revamping their social media strategies to engage with their audience. If you want a press outlet to share your native social media content, tailor your pitch to its presence on Facebook or Twitter -- whichever it shares on more frequently. We recommend incorporating social media into PR pitches to craft a story that translates -- in print, and in apps.
Looking for new ways to grow your Facebook audience? Have you considered targeting prospects by interests that are related to your product? In this article, you’ll discover how to grow a specialized audience on Facebook in six steps. #1: Analyze Broad Target Market Characteristics The first step is to identify a target market that will [...]
How lucky are you and why? How many times heavier than a mouse is an elephant? How many square feet of pizza are consumed in the United States each year?
Hiring managers have heard about using these "creative" questions to identify the best candidates. Fortunately for intelligent and qualified candidates everywhere, studies have found that the brainteaser interview questions made famous by Silicon Valley and Wall Street are just as silly as they sound. (In fact, Google started to phase out brainteasers from its interviews several years ago.)
But when you're interviewing people to join your team, you have to get creative. After all, there's only so much questions like "What's your biggest weakness?" and "Are you a team player?" reveal about who your candidates truly are.
To help give you some ideas for the next time you're screening candidates, here are some of the best job interview questions to ask with the answers you should expect.
16 of the Best Interview Questions & Answers to Use in Your Next Job Interview
1) "Tell me about a time you set difficult goals. What did you do to achieve them? Walk me through the process and purpose."
If you're looking for a candidate who is goal-oriented and results-driven -- as most hiring managers are -- then this question will help you gauge whether they'll be able to handle the audacious goals you have in store for them. A great answer shows they understand what difficult goals are, and they put a lot of effort into attaining their goals while maintaining a high standard of work quality.
2) "Pitch [name of your company] to me as if I were buying your product/service."
This is a unique and more challenging approach to the generic "What does our company do?" question. It forces candidates to drum up the research they've done to prepare for the interview, and also to craft a compelling message on the fly.
This will come more naturally to some candidates than others -- for example, someone interviewing for a sales or marketing position might find it easier than someone interviewing for a more internal-facing role -- and that's okay. You aren't necessarily assessing their delivery. But it'll be interesting to see how each candidate thinks through and gives their answer.
3) "Tell me about the relationships you've had with the people you've worked with. How would you describe the best ones? The worst?"
Each team is different, so this question helps you tease out whether the candidate would be happy, productive, and well liked on your team. Their answer will tell you how they interact with others -- and which kinds of interactions they want to happen.
Many candidates are hesitant to bad-mouth their coworkers and bosses, so it will also be interesting for you to hear how they navigate a question about their worst working relationships.
4) "What single project or task would you consider your most significant career accomplishment to date?
Lou Adler, author of The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired and Hire With Your Head, spent ten years searching for the single, best interview question that will reveal whether to hire or not hire a candidate -- and this was the one. Candidates' answers will tell you about their prior success and sense of ownership. A great answer will show they are confident in their work and professional choices while being humble and giving credit to others.
5) "What have you done professionally that you succeeded at, but isn't an experience you'd want to repeat?"
A candidate's answer to this question will give you an idea of how they viewed work they weren't very happy with, which is bound to happen to everyone in every job at one point or another. HubSpot's VP of Global Customer Support Michael Redbord says candidates' answers generally fall into a few categories:
Something menial (e.g. envelope-stuffing). Pay attention to whether they understand the value of this getting done for the business, or whether they just think they're too good for a job like that.
Something really hard. Why was it hard? Was it because it was poorly planned, poorly executed, or something else? Where do they put the blame on it being such an unpleasant experience?
Something team-related. Follow up with questions about the team, what their role on the team was, and so on.
Even the category of what they consider an experience they wouldn't want to repeat is interesting, says Redbord. When you talk about extreme experiences that get people emotional, it can be very revealing.
6) "Is it better to be perfect and late, or good and on time?"
For most companies, the correct answer is "good and on time." It's important to let something be finished when it's good enough. Let's face it, every blog post, email, book, video, etc. can always be tweaked and improved. At some point, you've just got to ship it. Most managers don't want someone who can't hit deadlines because they're paralyzed by perfection.
If your candidate responds with "It depends," then hear them out -- the interview question itself is phrased in such a way that candidates can sense there is a right and wrong answer, and they'll be looking for signs from you that they're heading in the right direction. Try to remain neutral as they feel out their response. If their conclusion errs on the side of "good and on time," then their priorities are probably in the right place.
7) "In five minutes, could you explain something to me that is complicated but you know well?"
This is a much better test of intelligence than a college GPA, and it's also a great gauge of a candidate's passion and charisma.
The "something" in this question doesn't have to be work-related -- it can be a hobby, a sports team, something technical ... anything, really. Their response will tell you how well your candidate comprehends complex subjects and how well they can articulate a complex subject to someone who doesn't know much about it. Candidates who are passionate and knowledgeable about something -- and can convey that well -- are more likely to be charismatic, enthusiastic, and influential at work.
8) "What's your definition of hard work?"
Some organizations move at very different paces, and this question is an effective way to tell whether your candidate will be able to keep pace with the rest of the team. It also helps you identify someone who is a "hard worker in disguise," meaning someone who might currently be at a slow-moving organization or in a role that is not well-suited to them, but wants to work somewhere where they can really get their hands dirty.
9) "If I were to poll everyone you've worked with, what percent would not be a fan of yours? Then, if I were to interview these people, what words would they most frequently use to describe you?"
At work, you can't please everyone all the time. The answer to this question will help you find out if your candidate has enough drive and conviction to have alienated a small percentage of their colleagues, but not so many that they are a polarizing figure.
The word-cloud follow-up is more important than the percentage they give in the initial question. In their answers, you should be encouraged by words like "passionate" and concerned by words like "stubborn."
10) "Tell me about a time you screwed up."
An oldie but goodie. This is a tried-and-true test for self-awareness. (Honestly, well-prepared candidates should see it coming and have an answer ready.) Someone who takes ownership of their mess-up and learns something from it is usually humble and mindful. Candidates who blame others or give a "fake" screw-up (something like "I worked too hard and burned out.") are red flags.
11) "Who is the smartest person you know personally? Why?"
These questions test what the candidate values and aspires to by forcing them to think of a real person they know, and then articulate what makes that person smart. Ideal answers vary, but could include specific examples of the person they've chosen's ability to think ahead several steps and execute. They could also touch on the person's decision-making skills, ability to connect, desire for learning, or application of the things they learned.
12) "What is something you'd be happy doing every single day for the rest of your career?"
While it's important to hire for skill, it's also important to hire someone who's likely to be happy in the job you're hiring for. A question like this will help uncover what makes each candidate happy at work -- which is a great way to gauge whether they'd enjoy their role and stay at the company for a long time.
13) "If you had $40,000 to build your own business, what would you do?"
This question is a favorite of HubSpot Marketing Team Development Manager Emily MacIntyre's. First, the type of business they choose to talk about can reveal a lot about their interests, values, and how creative they are.
Second, it'll give you insight into how business-savvy they are. By giving them a specific amount to work with (in this case, $40,000), they have the opportunity to parse out how they'd spend that money.
The best answers will get specific: They'll offer an overview of the business, and get into the logistics of where that money would go, whom they'd hire first, and so on.
14) "What’s the biggest decision you’ve had to make in the past year? Why was it so big?"
Here's a great way to figure out how a candidate approaches decision-making. Were they quick to make that big decision, or did it take them a long time? Did they spend most of their time reflecting on it by themselves or fleshing it out with others? How did they make a plan? Their answer could be work-related or personal -- and if they ask you to specify, tell them either.
15) "What's surprised you about the interview process so far?"
This is a question no candidate can really prepare for, and it'll give you some indication of how candidates are feeling about the whole thing. Plus, you can see how they think on their feet. You're looking for specifics here -- something about the office space; the personality of the team; an assignment they were given to complete.
16) "Do you have any questions for me?"
This is another classic interview question, and like the one above, you're seeing how candidates think on their feet. The answer to this question also reveals what's important to the candidate.
Are they wondering about company culture, or compensation? Are they curious about growth potential, or learning opportunities? There are no right or wrong answers, but personality and communication style are important factors when considering hiring someone to join your team, and you can get a sense of these factors with their answer.
If you happen to be on the other side of the interview table, youcanmake your resume even more appealing to potential employers by becoming a certified inbound marketing professional with HubSpot's free marketing certification. Get started here.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in July 2014 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
Are you taking advantage of the actionable data Facebook offers marketers? Have you explored the Facebook Analytics dashboard? Facebook Analytics is a robust tool that lets marketers explore users’ interactions with advanced goal paths and sales funnels. In this article, you’ll discover how to get started with Facebook Analytics. What Data Is Available in Facebook [...]
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