How to Build a Market Development Strategy [Free Planning Templates]

Your business is getting by just fine – but still, the questions remain: Could you be selling more? Is there an opportunity to increase market share? Is there any way you could further your product diversification efforts?

Companies hoping to increase revenue can do so in a variety of ways — such as increasing their advertising budget, expanding their sales teams, and investing heavily in product development.

However, one of the often overlooked ways to strengthen your gross sales is a purposeful, well-researched, and expertly executed market development strategy.

In this article, we'll explain what market development is and how you can employ it to increase sales and grow your business. Then, we’ll take a look at some examples of market development strategies that work for top businesses today.

Each category rests upon two axes — one for market and one for risk. A company can expand its efforts into new or existing markets and each poses more or less risk to the business.

Market Penetration

When businesses want to expand within their existing markets with low risk, they might attempt a market penetration strategy. In this scenario, TAM increases because by offering a new product or service, a business can effectively increase the maximum amount of revenue it can possibly attain from its existing customer base. A product launch is an effective way to execute this strategy.

• Product Launches — A company may release new iterations of a product they already sell successfully within the market. The purpose of launching a new product is to generate excitement and buzz around the brand to increase sales.

Product Development

A more high-risk way to expand within an existing market is through product development, but make no mistake — this market development strategy can be rewarding. Developing new products is a delicate process. Businesses should be keenly aware of their market as market interest is a driving factor for product development. If the audience isn’t receptive due to a lack of education around the product, a poor marketing campaign to promote the product, or even poor timing of launching the product, this strategy can be difficult to execute. However, companies that have failed at developing new products usually have in-depth learnings to apply to their next market development strategy. Product development comes in many forms, here are a few:

• Rebranding — If a business has been around for a long time or has been in hot water recently, it’s possible that the market has become disconnected from the brand. This can happen due to a lack of advertising around the brand itself, outdated positioning of a product when compared to the competition, or distrust within the market. Companies can rebrand themselves to reconnect with their existing market while positioning themselves as a viable option among the competition. Adjusting the packaging of a product, offering a new size, flavor, or color, or even changing the name of the product or brand can help a company rebrand a product to have a better position within its existing market.
• Repricing — Another way to gain traction within an existing market is for a business to make its products more accessible or desirable to that market through its pricing. Repricing doesn’t necessarily mean lowering prices, although that is one way to execute a product development strategy. It could mean shifting the brand within the market to showcase value or luxury, thus justifying a rise in prices to capture those consumers.

Market Development

It’s possible to take a less risky approach when expanding into new markets. To develop a market, a business may offload some of the risks. In this example, TAM increases because a business is adding more people to its target market — thus being able to service new customers without investing in a new product line. Here are few ways a business can develop a new market:

• Geographic Expansion — Research can reveal markets that are suitable for a business to thrive within based on where the business currently operates. Geographical expansion can work for both brick-and-mortar as well as online businesses.
• Franchising — Giving individual business owners the right to use the brand and trademarks associated with a company is another way to expand into a new market without high risk. In franchising agreements, the franchisee usually pays an upfront fee to the franchisor to obtain the rights to operate the business.

Diversification

Occasionally, a business may step out of its normal operations and market to create a product for a completely different industry and market. For this reason, diversification can present a major risk to the business, but it can be very rewarding if it’s carried out effectively.

• Similar Product Diversification — A company may realize that the raw materials or byproducts of the goods they sell can be repurposed into a completely new product that can be marketed to a different audience than the one currently purchasing its products.
• Unique Product Diversification — Rather than using existing products, a company may take a completely unique approach to penetrate a new market by offering a product or service that is different from anything offered in its industry.

The decision of when and how to develop your existing market should be a methodical process.

Just because your business has struck lightning once does not mean your new expansion plan is a guaranteed success.

Because of that reality, follow these steps and use these resources to determine if you should develop your market, how it should be developed, and whether or not the initiative is successful.

Step 1: Research your development opportunities.

It's always tempting to go after the hottest trends – whether that means adding more areas of focus to your consulting business or adding more items to your restaurant menu.

However, before you spend time, money, or resources on developing your market based on trends, take these steps to determine if the expansion is worthwhile.

Review Your Buyer Personas

Featured Tool: HubSpot Buyer Persona Templates

Download These Templates

When expanding your market, you face the potential need for net new or revised buyer personas, which are semi-fictional representations of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.

Consider the motivations, demographics, and backgrounds of your new target market to help you decide whether or not the development initiative makes sense.

Research Your Market

Featured Tool: HubSpot Market Research Kit

Download This Kit

Understanding your hypothetical positioning in a market is key before attempting to enter it. To that end, conduct market research exercises like Porter's Five Forces Analysis or a SWOT Analysis to determine your strengths, weaknesses, buyer power, the threat of substitutes, or other attributes compared to competitors in this new market.

Additionally, you'll want to calculate market penetration before moving forward with any plans to expand.

Survey Your Customers

Featured Tool: Customer Satisfaction Survey Templates

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If you're hoping to expand your current product line to generate more revenue from existing customers, make sure your intended expansion will be warmly received. Asking yourself why this development makes sense coming from your organization is a good first step.

However, talking to and surveying your customers to see if your proposed expansion is beneficial to their lives (and, more importantly, whether or not they would purchase it from you) is a necessary proof point before expanding your offerings as a business.

Step 2: Set your growth goals.

A successful market development will come with added sales, profit, employees, customers, products, users, locations, or some combination of these criteria.

Because there's so much on the line, develop goals for which facets of your business you intend to grow, in addition to what your growth goal for each criterion is.

For example, by adding one more location, you may set the following growth goals:

• Increase customers by 90%.
• Increase revenue by 100%
• Double annual profits after recouping the initial investment.
• Increase employee headcount by 20 people.

During this stage, you should also consider the requirements needed to help you hit your growth goals, such as initial funding, tools, and software to help you get the initiative successfully up and running.

Lastly, the most important metric to measure before attempting to expand or develop your market is ROI. In this step of the process, compare the upfront costs of developing your market as intended with the projected revenue numbers of a successful expansion.

If the ROI is not encouraging enough to move forward with, you may need to go back to the drawing board and determine a new growth strategy and set of goals.

Featured Tool: Growth Strategy and Planning Template

Download the Template

Using the template above, outline your growth goals and strategy to lay the foundation for your market development initiative. This template will help you plan out the steps necessary to achieve your goals and help you determine whether or not they are realistic for this project.

Step 3: Create your marketing plan.

An increased market means an increased need for effective marketing.

To generate demand – or to capture existing demand in your market – make sure your marketing plan is up-to-date and reflective of the initiatives it will take to grow your market share to its desired level.

Consider all of the following initiatives and how they'll play a role in generating more revenue in your newly developed market:

• Email Marketing: Will you communicate with existing prospects via email to alert them of your initiative? Do you have a list of saved contacts who expressed interest in what you sell, were unable to make the purchase, and might now be able to purchase from you?
• Social Media: Do you have organic and paid initiatives to generate buzz and spread the word to grow awareness on social media?

• Content & SEO: Do you have website and blog content planned to capture the interest of website visitors hoping to learn more about what you're selling?

• Local Marketing: If you're developing your market on a regional level, are you working with local publications, PR agencies, or advertising platforms to appeal to nearby potential customers?

Featured Tool: HubSpot's Marketing Plan Template

Download This Template

Document your marketing plan supporting your market development with the template above, and make adjustments to it as needed to ensure you're reaching your market in an accurate, appealing, and consistent fashion.

Step 4: Go to market.

The time has come – your research and planning are complete, and you're ready to formally enact your development strategy, whether it's opening the doors of your new location or making your new product available for purchase on your website.

But before you start collecting revenue, there are a few final steps to take – specifically, aligning your team on the best way to conduct this go-to-market launch.

Go to market successfully by managing three imperative internal tasks – all of which can be done with this Product Go-to-Market Kit:

Campaign Planning

The campaign plan should be a one-stop shop for anyone who has a stake in the success of this project. It should provide a general purpose for the market development project, in addition to the tactical and strategic elements team members need to adhere to in order to see the project go off without a hitch.

Sales Planning

The sales plan should provide more specific insights for the sales team – especially regarding overall projections, team or individual goals, and strategies for how the organization intends to meet these goals

Team Email Updates

For the company at large – particularly for individuals who need to be informed but may not have set tasks to complete – team email updates are a staple of communication during market development. This messaging should contain a status check for the launch timeline and outstanding tasks, and any notifications the company should be aware of during their day-to-day work.

Featured Tool: HubSpot Go-to-Market Kit

Download This Kit

To centralize your internal planning and communication efforts during your market development process, use the HubSpot Go-to-Market Planning Kit.

Step 5: Analyze your results.

Once you've taken the necessary actions to develop your market, the work has only begun. After launch day, you'll need to be sure customers are satisfied, products and services are high-quality, employees are retained, and – most importantly – goals are met.

Start collecting sales data as soon as possible so that you can begin analyzing whether or not you'll meet your projections. If not, you may have to determine a plan to either adjust your goals to become more realistic or adjust your strategy to ensure your goals are met.

Once data is available, make sure you're presenting your findings accurately and clearly so that stakeholders can fully understand what the results are, how you achieved them, and what the next steps of your market development strategy are.

Featured Tool: Marketing Reporting Templates

Download These Templates

Available in PowerPoint, Excel, and Google Drive, these templates will help the project driver communicate the results of your market development strategy to your team.

Market Development Strategy Examples

1. Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s - Geographic Expansion

Image Source

Although these two companies started as separate restaurants — Carl’s Jr. on the west coast and Hardee’s on the east coast — they merged in the late 1990s to become one company under two names. From a high-level perspective, this might seem like a branding and marketing nightmare, but within their respective geographic markets, the different names have been successful. Carl’s Jr. took the opportunity to acquire Hardee’s, thus expanding the burger chain across the country, becoming one of the largest burger chains in the United States.

2. Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen - Market Penetration

Image Source

Sometimes, a market development opportunity can appear when you least expect it. That was the case with Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. The company’s brand was so well-integrated into its marketing operations that a simple tweet in response to Chick-Fil-A prompted a tumultuous beef over which brand had the best chicken sandwich. Once the Tweet gained traction, Popeyes quickly capitalized on the opportunity to sell more of a product they had recently launched.

Although there were some logistics issues that caused supply and demand imbalances, the brand was able to maintain a stronghold on the market with lines wrapping around parking lots and into the streets once the sandwiches were back in stock.

As recently as Q2 2021, Popeyes is still running TV ad campaigns for the chicken sandwich — more than two years after the incredibly successful product launch.

3. The Lash Lounge - Franchise

Since 2010, The Lash Lounge has been scaling its presence across the United States through franchising. As of 2020, the company has grown to 108 locations, most of which opened around 2019. Franchising helped this company expand into new markets with relatively low risk.

The Lash Lounge team trains the new franchisees on their techniques and immerses them in the culture to create one cohesive team that doesn’t feel disjointed.

4. Unilever - Diversification

Today, we know Unilever as the parent company of some of the most notable brands like Dove, Breyers, and Hellmann’s. However, the company initially went into business selling soap. After realizing that the ingredients for making soap shared similarities with those needed for making margarine, they diversified and expanded into a new market with a new product. Over time, Unilever created and acquired new brands in the soap, cosmetics, butter, and ice cream industries, essentially diversifying its product line and market.

Developing Your Market

Before you follow the latest trend in marketing, take a moment to analyze your strategy thus far to forge a path that will yield success. By planning a market development strategy, you’ll have the opportunity to assess your company’s risk tolerance and understand where your business stands within the market so you can turn your market development idea into a reality.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in November 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

How to Build a Market Development Strategy [Free Planning Templates] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The 7 Best Free Resume Builders We've Ever Discovered

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Max sent me his resume in a text message and asked me to “spruce it up a bit” for him. Undoubtedly, I needed to do more than copy-and-paste the text into a Word document. To truly stand out, I knew the resume needed to demonstrate a level of professionalism and effort — something content alone can't always convey.

Fortunately, with the help of Zety, I was able to input Max's resume information, choose a template, and have Zety design the piece for me within 20 minutes:

Looks a little better than a text message, doesn't it?

Resume builders are incredibly helpful when creating a resume and can help you showcase your unique personality. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best free resume builders we’ve discovered. Keep reading, and then get to work designing your own — trust me, with these tools, it's almost as easy as sending a text.

Featured Resource: HubSpot Resume Templates

Download these free templates and plug in your experience and information for a custom, well-crafted resume.

1. Resume Genius - for easy and fast resume creation.

Resume Genius is undoubtedly one of the easiest and fastest resume tools you have at your disposal. With a clean and easy-to-use interface, the tool walks you (speedily) through categories including education, work experience, and references. It offers different templates varying from 'Taj Mahal' to 'Classic.' Resume Genius provides you with easy fill-in-the-blank sections so that you can have an impressive, comprehensive resume in no time.

pros	Cons
Easy to use interface	Free download is a .txt file, you must pay for a 14-day trial to download as a PDF or different format
URL for sharing and performance tracking	There is no option to upload an existing resume, so you must start from scratch each time, making it difficult to make updates.
Can search for positions and choose from 50,000+ job description bullet points that relate to what you're applying for.

2. My Perfect Resume - for guided resume creation help.

My Perfect Resume allows you to either start from scratch and input information into a blank template or upload a pre-existing resume if you already have one. Additionally, the tool provides you with expert recommendations as you move throughout the process, including suggested phrases you can include for specific roles.

My Perfect Resume also enables you to include optional sections like certifications, accomplishments, and affiliations, which is vital, particularly if you're just starting out, or switching industries. This tool is particularly useful if you're applying for a creative role and want to add color or a unique design to your resume.

To use My Perfect Resume for free, click "Download" on the left toolbar once you reach the final step of the builder — instead of selecting "Save and next." Then, choose "Plain Text (.txt)" to download your resume for free.

Best for: 

My Perfect Resume is excellent for those looking for guided help when creating their resumes. The tool recommends templates based on your experience level and provides expert recommendations for skills to include based on your job titles. Compared to other tools on the list, there are fewer customization options, and there are only nine templates to choose from. 

3. Standard Resume - for active LinkedIn users.

Standard Resume allows you to import your information straight from LinkedIn, making it an ideal time-saver if your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date. 

Plus, the white background and minimalist features enable you to focus on what really matters — your content. You can switch back and forth between "Write" and "Design" to see how your resume looks as you go along and download it as a PDF when you're finished. Best of all, the tool also makes your resume mobile-responsive so that you can view it on your smartphone.

Pros	Cons
Free	Minimalist templates, not many customization options or design-focused tools
Easy import from existing LinkedIn profile
Minimalist, helping you focus on your experience and achievements.

4. Canva - for design creativity and expression.

If you're applying for a creative role or want a resume that truly lets you stand out, you might consider using one of Canva's hundreds of free, designer-made templates. Canva's selections are incredibly varied and unique, so you'll undoubtedly find one you like, and inputting resume sections can be as easy as copy-and-paste. Additionally, the templates are separated into categories, such as 'Graphic Design,’ 'Corporate,’ and 'Creative,’ making it easier to choose based on your preferred industry.

Best for:

Canva is best for those looking for design creativity and expression in their resumes. Although not specifically designed for resume building, the tool overs a wide variety of templates, layouts, and designs to choose from when creating your resume, and there are multiple download formats to ensure that your resumes can be viewed and picked up by ATS.

5. Indeed - for in-platform job seekers.

Creating an Indeed resume is an incredibly quick process, and best of all, the site allows you to automatically share your resume with employers on Indeed as soon as you're finished. If you've already completed a resume, it's still a good idea to upload it to the site for exposure to potential employers. While it admittedly doesn't offer as many options for creativity as some of the others in this list, Indeed is an impressive option if you want to create a more traditional resume and start sharing it immediately.

Pros	cons
Free	Only eight templates
Includes expert tips and advice	Limited design and customization options
Templates compatible with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)	Unable to import or upload an existing resume or LinkedIn profile
You can automatically share your completed resume on the site for employers and recruiters to see

6. Zety - for expert resume creation tips.

Zety is an excellent online resume builder because of the state-of-the-art templates. You can quickly start from scratch and input your information. My favorite element of this tool is that the site will walk you through the process. All you need to do is fill out the information, and then voila — you have a resume. While this tool is free, you will need to make an online account.

To use Zety for free, click "Download" on the left toolbar once you reach the final step of the builder — instead of selecting "Save and next." Then, choose "Plain Text (.txt)" to download your resume for free.

Best for: 

Zety is best for those looking for expert help in creating their resumes. The tool provides tips and prompts to help you create the content for your resume, and there are a variety of customization options to ensure your resume is unique to your needs. While you can download a .txt file for free, it costs $2.70 for a different file format, and some templates used graphics and color that interfere with ATS.

7. Resume.com - for minimalist resume creation.

With Resume.com, you can build a beautiful resume in minutes. This tool is an excellent option if you're looking for recommendations on what to include in your resume. Additionally, the site has popular templates for various job categories to help you stand out from the competition.

To use this for free, when you're at the last stage, you'll see a pop-up that says to create an account — instead, just click "Skip for now." Then, in the top right-hand corner, you can click the download button.

pros	cons
Completely free	Limited options for design and customization
LinkedIn importing	No pre-written content
Share, print, and download in multiple formats	Minimal guidance for resume creation

Building a resume can feel like you're staring at a blank canvas. But with an online resume builder, you can get recommendations and build a beautiful document that will stand out without needing a graphic design degree.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2019 and was updated in May 2021 for comprehensiveness.

The 7 Best Free Resume Builders We've Ever Discovered was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How to Work From Home: 24 Tips From People Who Do It Successfully

Working from home is awesome, right up until the cat throws up on your computer. And your neighbor, who you can only assume is building a time machine, starts firing up all sorts of power tools and noisy machinery across the street.

COVID-19 has caused remote work to become a necessity instead of a luxury for many professionals. But which environment allows us to be more productive: the home office or the office office?

In the office office, your colleagues often pose the greatest threat to keeping you from getting some real, heads-down work done. They drop by your desk, engage you in conversation, and invite you to lunch — or so I hear. The social benefits are nice to have, but they can become a challenge if you're easily distracted.

However, at the home office, while family members can be a distraction, I find that it's easy for you to become your own worst enemy. Because without coworkers around, you’re free to drop those pesky inhibitions. At the home office, no one's watching. You don't necessarily feel that same peer pressure or communal obligation to get stuff done. (Also, you don't have to wear pants.)

Below, I've compiled many great work-at-home tips and tricks from some of my awesome coworkers.

1. Communicate expectations with anyone who will be home with you.

Of course, you might be working from home but still have "company." Make sure any roommates, family members, and dogs (well, maybe not dogs) respect your space during work hours. Just because you're working from home doesn't mean you're home.

If you share space with another work-from-home adult, you may have to lay ground rules about meeting times, shared desks and chairs, and quiet times.

CEO Sam Mallikarjunan tells how he manages to get work done even when people are around.

"If anyone else is going to be at home when you're working, they just have to be clear that when you're in your 'office' (in my case, my signal to the family is having headphones on), you're working — even if it looks like and feels like you're hanging out at home."

He continues, "It's easy to get distracted by the many things that have to be done around the house during the day."

2. Take clear breaks.

It can be so easy to get distracted as a telecommuter that you avoid breaks altogether. Don't let the guilt of working in the building you sleep in prevent you from taking five minutes to relax.

However rather than just opening YouTube and watching some comfort clips, use your breaks to get away from your desk. Go for a walk, enjoy fresh air, or spend time with others who might also be in the house.

Take Ginny Mineo's advice. "Breaks, like making and eating lunch, can recharge you to do better work. Don't assume you need to be working 100% of the time while you're home to be more productive."

3. Interact with other humans.

When your office starts working from home, you'll likely miss the casual social interactions with colleagues you're used to throughout the day. When working from home, you don't have the small talk and other activities that make each day at the office unique.

So what can you do? Communicate.

Fight boredom and loneliness by frequent communication with other employees. Reach out to them through video chat via apps like Zoom and Slack or however else your company communicates.

Remember: You're working from home, not the moon. Interacting with other people during the day is allowed, even if they're not your colleagues. It’s a good idea to see another face during the day when most of your workday is solitary. So, use your breaks to interact with others.

"Go outside and find a human to interact with — ordering your coffee, running an errand, whatever. It keeps you sane."

- Corey Wainwright

4. Prepare meals the night before.

When you're in your own home, it can be tempting to spend time preparing a nice breakfast and lunch for yourself, chopping and cooking included. Don't use precious minutes making your food the day of work — cook it the night before.

Preparing food ahead of time ensures you can use your meal times to eat and that you aren't performing non-work tasks that spend energy better used at your desk.

Digital marketing strategist, Lindsay Kolowich, adds, "Cooking at home is time you wouldn't have spent meal prepping if you'd been in the office that day, and I find the minutes can add up in the end. To mitigate that, I try to cook and prep my meals the night before, just like I would for a day at the office."

5. Pick a definitive finishing time.

You might be under the impression that working from home establishes more work-life balance, but be careful with that assumption.

Working from home can also feel like being at a casino — you can get so caught up in your activity, in a relaxing environment, that you lose complete track of time.

"If you work from home full-time (or regularly), it’s really easy to let your work life bleed into your personal life," says Tyler Littwin.

He continues, "Maintaining a boundary is important for both halves of the equation."

In lieu of coworkers, whose packing up and leaving the office reminds you to do the same, set an alarm at the end of the day to indicate your normal workday is coming to an end. You don't have to stop at exactly that time, but knowing the workday is technically over can help you start the process of saving your work and calling it quits for the evening.

6. Eat and sleep.

What is the biggest perk to working from home? One of the biggest benefits for some people (me), is complete access to the kitchen.

As soon as I take a break, I automatically drift towards the kitchen for some snacks.

An unhealthy diet can affect productivity and drain energy. When I switched to a healthier diet, it made me function better and get the most from my routine.

So eat well when working from home.

It's also vital that you keep to a proper sleep schedule. Save binge-watching your favorite shows for the weekend. With the right food to keep energy levels high and sound sleep to refresh your body and mind, you can make a success of working from home.

7. Talk to your employer.

If you like your current job and don't want to change it, the obvious step is to find a way to pivot the position.

One of the tips for doing this is folding the possibility of going remote into your next promotion cycle. Talk to your boss often about your intention to pivot.

And, if you're not sure your employer will agree to working completely remotely, talk about the option of working remotely one or two days a week. When you use the work from home tips we've provided above, and your boss sees how productive you are, they could allow you more days to work from home.

8. Join a remote-friendly company.

If your work can be done remotely, but your current boss or organization doesn't allow you to work from home, you might need to get a new job.

When looking for a work-from-home job, you can use the same methods you used in finding your regular office job. This includes channels like job sites, local job ads, and social media platforms.

Job sites that list work from home ads include:

• Flexjobs
• Telecommute Job List
• FreelanceJobOpening.com
• Weworkremotely

Some remote-friendly firms include:

• HubSpot
• Randstad
• Twilio
• NTT Group
• Aquent

Check out these firms to see whether you meet the requirements to start working remotely for them.

9. Start a career as a freelancer.

If your current job isn't remote work-friendly, you can go remote by starting your own business as a freelancer or a consultant.

Depending on the nature of your current job, you may start your own freelance business while still being employed.

The benefit of starting your freelance business while still employed is that it reduces the financial strain experienced by any new business.

10. Start a home business.

Starting a home business is one way to enjoy remote work.

Unlike other fields, certifications and education are not usually prerequisites. Instead, researching, having a smart business plan, and choosing the right business is more essential to the success of your business.

You can find more work-from-home tips in the books listed in this best remote work books article.

1. Get started early.

When working in an office, your morning commute can help you wake up and feel ready to work by the time you get to your desk. At home, however, the transition from your pillow to your computer can be much more jarring.

Believe it or not, one way to work from home productively is to dive into your to-do list as soon as you wake up. Simply getting a project started first thing in the morning can be the key to making progress on it gradually throughout the day. Otherwise, you'll prolong breakfast and let the morning sluggishness wear away your motivation.

Lindsay Kolowich says, "When I work from home, I wake up, put on a pot of coffee, and start working immediately — much earlier than normal working hours. I only start making breakfast once I've hit a wall or need a break. I'm a morning person and find I can get a ton done in the early morning hours, so this works really well for me."

2. Pretend like you are going into the office.

The mental association you make between work and an office can make you more productive, and there's no reason that feeling should be lost when working remotely.

I know that you love working in your pajamas (I do, too), but the mere act of changing clothes to something more serious will give you a signal to get work done throughout the day.

When you dress up, you give your brain a reason for dressing up, and it can keep you pumped throughout your work hours.

So when working from home, do all the things you'd do to prepare for an office role: Set your alarm, make (or get) coffee, and wear nice clothes.

Internet browsers like Google Chrome even allow you to set up multiple accounts with different toolbars on the top — for example, a toolbar for home and a separate toolbar for work.

Take to heart the words of HubSpot graphic designer, Anna Faber-Hammond, who says, "Get fully ready for the day and pretend you're actually going to work. Otherwise, you might find yourself back in bed."

3. Structure your day like you would in the office.

When working from home, you're your own personal manager and can choose your working hours.

However, without things like an in-person meeting schedule to break up your day, you can easily lose focus or burn out.

To stay on schedule, segment what you'll do and when for the day. If you have an online calendar, create personal events and reminders that tell you when to shift gears and start on new tasks. Google Calendar makes this easy.

Structuring your day as you would in the office also saves you from work creep. With this structure in place, working from home will not cause your work to invade your personal life.

"Are mornings for writing while you're in the office? Use the same schedule at home. This structure will help keep you focused and productive." - Ginny Mineo

4. Choose a dedicated workspace.

Just because you're not working at an office doesn't mean you can't, well, have an office. Rather than cooping yourself up in your room or on the couch in the living room — spaces associated with leisure time — dedicate a specific room or surface in your home to working remotely.

No matter the space or location, have an area of the home to work and stay committed to throughout the day. And, after choosing your dedicated workspace, make the most of it by making it quiet.

CEO, Sam Mallikarjunan says, "Have a place you go specifically to work. It could be a certain table, chair, local coffee shop — some place that's consistently your 'workspace.' It helps you get into the right frame of mind."

5. Don't stay at home.

Is your home office just not getting it done for you? Take your work-from-home life a step further and get out of the house. Coffee shops, libraries, public lounges, and similar Wi-Fi-enabled spaces can help you simulate the energy of an office so you can stay productive even when you don't sit in an official workplace.

Content marketer, Corey Wainwright, comments, "I get out of my home to work and go to an establishment with actual tables, chairs, and people. It helps simulate the work environment and removes the distractions I typically have at home, like the urge to finally clean my room, do laundry, or watch TV. "

6. Make it harder to use social media.

Social media is designed to make it easy for us to open and browse quickly. As remote workers, though, this convenience can be the detriment of our productivity.

To counteract your social networks' ease of use during work hours, remove them from your browser shortcuts and log out of every account on your phone or computer.

You might even consider working primarily in a private (or, if you're using Chrome, an "Incognito") browser window. This ensures you stay signed out of all your accounts, and each web search doesn't autocomplete the word you're typing. It's a guarantee that you won't be tempted into taking too many social breaks during the day.

Also, many have found it helpful to shut off social media notifications during the hours they work from home.

Alec Biedrzycki, product marketer at AirTable, says, "I remove all social networks from my toolbar bookmarks... you can get sucked in without knowing it, so eliminating the gateway to those networks keeps me on track."

7. Commit to doing more.

Projects always take longer than you initially think they will. For that reason, you'll frequently get done less than you set out to do.

So, just as you're encouraged to overestimate how much work hours you'll spend doing one thing, you should also overestimate how many things you'll do during the day.

Even if you come up short of your goal, you'll still come out of that day with a solid list of tasks filed under 'complete.'

"On days I'm working from home, I tend to slightly overcommit on what I'll deliver that day. So even if I get the urge to go do something else, I know I've already committed a certain amount of work to my team."- Corey Wainwright

8. Work when you're at your most productive.

Nobody sprints through their work from morning to evening — your motivation will naturally ebb and flow throughout the day. However, when you're working from home, it's all the more important to know when those ebbs and flows will take place and plan your schedule around it.

To capitalize on your most productive periods, save your more challenging tasks for when you know you'll be in the right headspace for them. Use slower points of the day to knock out the easier logistical tasks on your plate.

Verily Magazine calls these tasks "small acts of success," and they can help build your momentum for the heavier projects that are waiting for you later on.

Product designer, Brittany Leaning, says about her routine, "For me, the most productive times of the day are usually early in the morning or late at night. I recognize this and try to plan my day accordingly. Also, music that pumps me up doesn't hurt."

The responsibility is on you to know when you are most productive and build your work schedule around the periods of maximum productivity.

9. Save calls for the afternoon.

Sometimes, I'm so tired in the morning, that I don't even want to hear my voice — let alone talk to others with it.

You shouldn't have to give yourself too much time to become productive in the morning, but you can give yourself some extra time before working directly with others.

If you're struggling to develop a reasonable work schedule for yourself as a telecommuter, start with the solitary tasks in the morning.

Save your phone calls, meetings, Google hangouts meetings, video call, and other collaborative work for when you've officially "woken up."

Senior Marketing Director, James Gilbert, advises that you "Take advantage of morning hours to crank through meaty projects without distractions, and save any calls or virtual meetings for the afternoon."

10. Focus on one distraction.

There's an expression out there that says, "if you want something done, ask a busy person."

The bizarre but true rule of productivity is that the busier you are, the more you'll do.

It's like Newton's law of inertia: If you're in motion, you'll stay in motion. If you're at rest, you'll stay at rest. And busy people are in fast-enough motion that they have the momentum to complete anything that comes across their desk.

Unfortunately, it's hard to find things to help you reach that level of busyness when you're at home — your motivation can just swing so easily. HubSpot's principal marketing manager, Pam Vaughan, suggests focusing on something that maintains your rhythm (in her case, it's her daughter).

She says, "When I work from home, my 20-month-old daughter is home with me, too. It seems counterintuitive, but because I have to manage taking care of her and keeping her happy and entertained while still getting my work done, the pressure helps to keep me focused. When she's napping or entertaining herself, I go into super-productive work mode.

The 'distraction' of my daughter (I mean that in the most loving way possible) means I can't possibly succumb to some of the other common distractions of home."

11. Plan out what you'll be working on ahead of time.

Spending time figuring out what you'll do today can take away from actually doing those things. And, you'll have planned your task list so recently that you can be tempted to change your schedule on the fly.

It's important to let your agenda change if you need it to, but it's equally important to commit to a schedule that outlines every assignment before you begin.

Try solidifying your schedule the day before, making it feel more official when you wake up the next day to get started on it.

"Plan out your week in advance to optimize for the environments you'll be in."- Niti Shah

12. Use technology to stay connected.

Working from home might make you feel cut off from the larger operation happening in your company.

Instant messaging and videoconferencing tools like Slack and Zoom can make it easy to check in with other remote employees and remind you how your work contributes to the big picture.

It’s also vital to invest in the right technology. For instance, a bad-performance router can take the steam right off your enthusiasm to work, so it's better to invest in a high-performance router.

CMO and former HubSpot employee, Meghan Keaney Anderson, remarks, "At HubSpot, we use Slack to keep conversations going remotely, Trello to keep us organized around priorities, and Google Hangouts plus Webex to make remote meetings more productive. Getting the right stack of support tools to fit your work style makes a big difference."

13. Match your music to the task at hand.

During the week, music is the soundtrack to your career (cheesy, but admit it, it's true). And at work, the best playlists are diverse playlists — you can listen to music that matches the energy of the project you're working on to boost your productivity.

Video game soundtracks are excellent at doing this. In the video game, the lyric-free music is designed to help you focus; it only makes sense that it would help you focus on your work.

Want some other genres to spice up your routine and make you feel focused? Take them from startup marketer, Ginny Mineo, who offers her work music preferences below.

"When I'm powering through my inbox, I need some intense and catchy rap/R&B (like Nicki Minaj or Miley Cyrus) blasting through my headphones, but when I'm writing, Tom Petty is the trick. Finding what music motivates and focuses me for different tasks (and then sticking to those playlists for those tasks) has completely changed my WFH productivity."

14. Use laundry as a work timer.

You might have heard that listening to just two or three songs in the shower can help you save water. And it's true; hearing a few of your favorite songs start and end, one after another, can remind you how long you've been in the bathroom and shorten your wash time.

Why bring this up? Because the same general principle can help you stay on task when working from home. But instead of three songs off your music playlist, run your laundry instead.

Doing your laundry is a built-in timer for your home. So, use the time to start and finish something from your to-do list before changing the load.

Committing to one assignment during the wash cycle and another during the dry process can train you to work smarter on tasks that you might technically have all day to tinker with. And when you know there's a timer, it makes it hard for distractions to derail your work.

People ops manager, Emma Brudner, notes, "I also usually do laundry when I work from home, and I set mini-deadlines for myself corresponding to when I have to go downstairs to switch loads. If I'm working on an article, I tell myself I'll get to a certain point before the wash cycle ends. Then I set another goal for the dryer."

Staying Productive While Working From Home

While you might miss the office, working full time from home can be good for you.

For one, you don't have to worry about commuting every day and you can better care for your loved ones by being around more often.

The work from home tips that we have provided can help you make the most of your new routine. Try out a few and you might find that you’re just as productive working from home as you are in the office.

How to Work From Home: 24 Tips From People Who Do It Successfully was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

How to Grow Your YouTube Channel [New Data]

Did you know that YouTube currently has 2 billion active users a month and is projected to grow to almost 3 billion active users by 2025?

It's one of the fastest-growing and most popular social networks today. Plus, it helps people grow their businesses.

In fact, the number of channels earning six figures per year on YouTube grew more than 40% y/y, the number of channels earning five figures per year on YouTube grew more than 50% y/y, and the number of channels with more than one million subscribers grew by more than 65% y/y.

Now, all that being said, you might be wondering, "How do I grow my YouTube channel so I can drive more traffic to my website and revenue to my business?"

To help marketers and business owners answer this question, we asked 300 consumers why they most commonly subscribe to YouTube channels.

After looking into the data, we'll dive into our findings to help you better design effective strategies toward connecting with your audience on YouTube.

Let's get started.

Why Do Consumers Subscribe to YouTube Channels

30% of respondents said they most commonly subscribe to YouTube channels because the channel publishes how-tos or educational content about their career or industry.

21% of respondents subscribe to channels because the channel publishes how-tos or educational content about their hobbies.

And 17% of respondents said they subscribe to YouTube channels because they post funny or entertaining videos.

To review the rest of the answers, see the graphic below:

Data Source

So, now that we know why people are subscribing to YouTube channels, let's dive into how you can use this information to grow your channel.

1. Create educational content about your audience's career.

As the survey said, the main reason that consumers subscribe to YouTube channels is that they post educational content about their careers.

Think about it. The reason people go online is to find an answer to a question they want (or to be entertained, but we'll get to that later).

So, a great way to grow your channel is to publish the topics that your audience wants to see. For example, at HubSpot, we publish educational videos on YouTube about marketing, sales, service, and general business content.

All these videos help our audience learn and develop in their careers. Of course, we'd like people to use our software to do that, but you'll get value out of the video whether you're a HubSpot customer or not.

2. Publish educational content about your audience's hobbies.

Now, let's say that your business isn't exactly geared toward your audience's career. What do you post then?

Well, according to the survey, you can post content about your audience's hobbies. Let's say that you're a landscaping company. On your website, you could post content about gardening and really target people who garden as a hobby. Then, there's a clear conversion path to using your services.

However, while you'd like people to convert and become customers, your videos should give value away for free and educate your audience. The more they see you as an expert in the industry and the go-to people, the more likely they will be to convert later on.

3. Create interesting, dynamic, interactive videos.

The third most popular reason that people subscribed to YouTube channels was because the videos were entertaining or funny.

If you're a creator who wants to post fun, interesting, entertaining videos, you can grow your YouTube channel by thinking about an audience who enjoys watching certain entertainment.

For example, let's say you have a creator channel and you mostly post lifestyle videos. To make those interesting and entertaining, you need to know what your audience likes and dislikes. That brings me to the next strategy.

4. Know your audience.

The best way to grow your YouTube channel is to know what your audience likes and wants to see. Do they want to see educational content about their career? Or perhaps they're just looking to unwind and watch people clean houses because it's satisfying and entertaining.

Regardless, think about the reasons from our survey that will resonate with your audience the most, and then lean into those ideas.

5. Reformat well-performing content.

A great way to focus on growing your YouTube channel is to reformat content that has already performed well for you. That might mean turning your most popular blog post into a video.

You'll need to rework the information and film a video about that topic, but you're already starting out ahead. You know that your audience likes that content and wants to see it.

Think about your best-performing content from any content marketing channel and reformat it to video.

6. Optimize your content.

Now, of course, we can't get through a content marketing discussion without talking about SEO. But, how do you optimize your YouTube videos?

To do this, you'll want to include your target keywords in your titles and descriptions. Then, make sure you mention those keywords in your video.

The YouTube algorithm will use those context clues to understand what your video is about. And then if you get engagement, it will rank higher in the search results.

You might be wondering, "How do I grow my YouTube channel fast? And how long will it take to grow my YouTube channel?"

According to data, it takes an average of 22 months for a channel to reach 1,000 subscribers. Yet, if you don't optimize your videos and have less than 1,000 subscribers, then you'll get less than 10% of the total views on YouTube. That's why it's so important to grow your channel and subscriber list.

7. Find untapped keywords.

Another strategy you might use to grow your YouTube channel quickly is to find untapped keywords. You can look at related searches of a topic on YouTube or Google, and then look at those related searches in a keyword tool.

Which keywords get a lot of searches, but have low competition? Those are the keywords you'll want to target.

8. Optimize for watch time.

Just like with any search engine, YouTube wants people on YouTube. So one of the main factors the site considers for ranking is watch time.

Whenever you post videos, it's important to analyze how long people are watching your videos. According to research from Backlinko, longer videos tend to outrank short videos. And it makes sense. The longer your videos, the longer your watch time can be.

But, how can you make sure people get past the first few seconds of your video? A great way to do this is to cut extraneous content from your intro. In the first few seconds, a viewer should know what they'll learn and what they'll get out of watching your video.

If you've properly targeted your audience with the right content, that means they'll end up watching your long videos because you've captured their attention.

Growing your audience on YouTube is a great way to attract audiences to your company. And having more than 1,000 subscribers is imperative for ranking higher in search results. So, that means you need to post content that your audience wants to see and is optimized so it shows up in the search results.

How to Grow Your YouTube Channel [New Data] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Fewer Women Than Men Asked For Raises During COVID-19, Especially in Marketing [New Research]

Asking for a raise or promotion can be scary, especially when your company is going through shifts related to world events.

In early 2021, Fishbowl conducted a survey that shed some light on the gender wage gap, which continued if not grew in 2020.

The survey of nearly 17,000 professionals revealed that 63% of respondents have avoided asking for a raise following "changes related to the pandemic."

When splitting the whopping number of respondents by gender, 42.4% of them were women, while just 31.79% were men.

Image Source

When diving into the industries that saw the least raise or promotion requests, marketing was at the top of the list. About 54.5% of marketing professionals did not ask for a raise or promotion in the last year due to the pandemic.

While some might be shocked by this data, many aren't. After all, marketing departments have been known to get the least budget, smaller headcounts, and less overall investments.

Meanwhile, women have been seen to negotiate less and apply for lower-level roles than men with the same experience. In a recent LinkedIn post, Femme Pallette CEO Lucy Nuemanova shed more light on why women generally don't negotiate as often as men.

"Many women avoid having these conversations because they don’t want to be perceived as ungrateful, or greedy, or needy by management, and therefore many times women tend to wait to be rewarded," Nuemanova explained.

If you're a woman in the marketing world -- or any industry for that matter, this data and insight from other female professionals might have you wondering, "When is it appropriate to ask for a raise or promotion?"

Below, I've listed a few times people commonly ask for or consider asking for a raise or promotion.

When You Should Ask for a Raise or Promotion

1. When the scope of your role grows or shifts.

In the early days of holding a role, your work might closely mirror the tasks listed on the job posting you applied to. But, as you gain credibility and visibility at your company, you might also gain more responsibilities that greatly expand on your original day-to-day role.

“Many people are wearing more hats now and having to learn new skills. All of these are valid grounds for asking for a raise and should form the basis of your argument when you make your pitch," career advisor Gaurav Sharma said in a recent interview.

For example, while being asked to report on your marketing projects might be a natural progression of your role and not worthy of asking for a raise, taking on direct reports when your original role didn't involve management, or being asked to run a new, time-consuming marketing initiative for your company could signify a significant shift in your duties and work-life that merits a change in title or compensation.

2. When you spend a lot more time at work than anticipated.

As you gain more responsibilities or expectations, you might find yourself working longer hours or getting asked to do more time-consuming things -- like regular business trips. If this was not part of your initial role or was not explained to you when you accepted a role that involved these requirements, it might be worth considering a raise or promotion request.

3. When you complete a pricey course or degree that will benefit your company.

Usually, a course or certification costs time and money. But, sometimes, employers cover the cost knowing that your growing skills will benefit them in the long term. If your company doesn't compensate for education in any way, but you get an additional degree that boosts your ability to work, you should consider asking for a raise.

However, if you expect to receive a raise after finishing a degree or taking a course Abby Kohu, an author and HR professional, says you should do so ahead of receiving the degree or certificate

“Ideally, you should ask about the raise before you get the degree to set the expectations,” said Kohut said in an interview with Bryant & Stratton College. “The best time to hold the conversation is during the normal performance review cycle. Begin the conversation by discussing your work performance and accomplishments on the job. Then, explain how the degree has given you the additional information that will help you produce even more.”

4. When you consistently hit all of your goals.

At some point in your role, you might find that everything comes naturally to you. You rarely run into challenges or feedback and aren't exactly sure how to level up further with the work you're already doing well. Because of this, you might start feeling bored or too complacent in your role.

When you're regularly crushing your goals or receiving great performance reviews, it's a good sign you're ready to take on new challenges or more responsibilities with a raise or promotion attached.

5. If you haven't received a wage increase in a while.

While you might not want to ask for a raise within the first few months, or even the first year, of your role, it's important to track the time you've been working with no increase in wages. Even if you haven't dramatically changed the scope of your role, you still could justify requesting a raise if you have a solid history of good performance but haven't received a wage boost yet.

Even if you think your company will know to automatically give you a raise or promotion eventually, it's worth inquiring about if you haven't had a wage increase recently or ever.

In a recent LinkedIn post, career coach and entrepreneur Jasmine Escalara wrote, "If you aren't telling your boss, supervisor, or anyone what you want, what makes you think they will give it to you?"

"If you are looking for a step-up, promotion, or pay raise, then you have to SPEAK-UP, or else it will never happen," Escalera advised.

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6. When the cost of living increases.

While many companies will give annual raises or offer salaries that build in the estimated cost of living increases, keep how much it costs to live in your area in mind if your employer does not use this strategy. If you're working full-time, you always want to make sure your company is paying you enough to afford decent rent prices, food, utilities, and other necessities.

Is There a Best Time to Ask for a Raise?

If you identify with one or more of the items on the list above, it might be time to start thinking about a promotion or raise. But, while you should discuss the raise you deserve with your manager eventually, there are certain times that could increase your chances of actually getting a pay increase.

Many companies manage their budgets, headcount, and raise-related budgets at specific times of the year. So, some career sites, like Indeed, suggest:

• Just before a new year when companies are planning their budget and headcount.
• During the summer when some companies do bi-annual planning.
• After your company releases good quarterly or monthly earnings, traffic, or goal accomplishments.
• Just after a positive performance review or another major accomplishment.

Inversely, there also are poor times to ask for a raise, such as after a bad earnings report, iffy performance review, or another time where your manager or boss might not be in the best mood. As you plan to have this conversation with management, take note of times where they'll be more empathetic and responsive to your request rather than frustrated or annoyed by it.

If you're very unclear of when to ask for a raise or promotion at your company specifically, career consultant Todd Henry suggests paying attention to your office's financial or promotion "rhythms" and making your request during times of the year when you hear about the most promotions.

If you're excelling in your role and feel you need a raise or promotion in the next year to stay at your company, you shouldn't let the pandemic permanently hold you back from having a transparent, but friendly discussion with your boss about the career or salary growth you'd like to achieve soon.

Having the Wage Discussion

it's important to remember that managers expect to have a salary conversation with employees eventually. In fact, many companies separately budget annual funds just for raises and promotions. So, asking to meet with your boss about your salary or future shouldn't come as a major shock to them, especially if you're doing well in your role.

Additionally, if you have a good manager, they'll likely respond to career growth conversations in a respectful, thoughtful, and transparent way by explaining why you can or can't get a wage increase and what you'll need to do to get there.

"No matter how well-timed your ask is and how deserving you are, there are any number of reasons your manager might reject your request for a raise — and some of them might have nothing to do with you or your performance," writes Henry.

"The best response to being turned down is: “What will it take for me to earn a pay raise?” Henry explains. "Know what the expectations are, so that the next time you ask, you are backed by data that aligns with your manager’s threshold for a raise."

Ultimately, when you start the wage conversation with your manager, they'll learn you're looking for upward motion, understand your professional growth needs, and will know what they need to do to retain you as a talented employee. Similarly, if your company can't give you a promotion or raise right when you ask, you'll know why, what you need to do to get to the next level, and if your company will be the right place for attaining long-term career goals.

Want to get more tips for success in your marketing role? Download the resource below.

Fewer Women Than Men Asked For Raises During COVID-19, Especially in Marketing [New Research] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

5 Steps to Run a Project Post-Mortem Meeting [+ Key Questions to Ask]

No project is an unmitigated success or failure.

Even when it seems like a project couldn't have possibly gone better (or worse), there are always lessons to be learned.

Thus, the project post-mortem.

A post-mortem meeting isn't an investigation. It's an inquiry to uncover all the lessons for the future – not a chance to assign blame or put people on the spot.

It's the opportunity to ask: What exactly did we accomplish? And even more importantly: what could we do better next time?

To help your team get the most out of your project post-mortem meetings, we've shared some basic guidelines. Check them out below and make your next post-mortem your most productive one yet.

A productive post-mortem meeting is a chance to fully unpack a project's trajectory and dig deeper into why things unfolded the way they did.

The core benefit is improved efficiency. If done right, you'll identify bottlenecks in your processes and improve your workflows.

Beyond that, a post-mortem meeting will improve:

• Morale – Celebrating your wins in a post-mortem meeting can help bring your team together and create a sense of camaraderie.
• Communication – As you're unpacking what went right and what went wrong, you'll hopefully identify communication gaps that may be hindering the project.
• Transparency – A post-mortem meeting invites everyone to share their perspective on the project overall. This creates a transparent environment in which you can get to the core of the issues.

Post-Mortem Meeting Documentation

To prepare for your post-mortem meeting, there are three key pieces of documentation you'll need:

• A pre-meeting questionnaire – A questionnaire gives your team time to assess the project as a whole. On your end, you'll be able to review the questionnaire to identify patterns and talking points for the meeting. More on that here.
• A meeting agenda – Having an agenda is vital to ensure your meeting runs smoothly. Without one, you may not have time to address your most important issues. For details on how to organize your agenda, jump to this section.
• A meeting worksheet – A worksheet will be helpful during the meeting to organize your team's feedback into the right categories. For instance, your worksheet should include a section for successes, failures, obstacles, and solutions.
• A recap document – Once the meeting is over, draft a document that covers the main points discussed and actionable steps for the future. More on that here.

How to Run a Productive Project Post-Mortem Meeting

1. Make post-mortems a standard part of your team's process.

Post-mortem meetings should be an essential part of your team's process – for the big projects and the smaller ones. Most teams run them for larger projects with definitive start and end dates, but they can be equally useful for smaller-scale or even ongoing projects.

Even though "post-mortem" quite literally means after death, your team doesn't have to wait for the end of a huge, long-term project to get value from a retrospective evaluation.

As you're fleshing out a project's schedule during the kickoff phase, insert mini post-mortems at key milestones. These pulse-checks will give your team the chance to better understand how a project is progressing – and hopefully identify potential issues before they cause permanent damage.

Once the project has officially wrapped, don't wait too long to schedule the final post-mortem, or people will have mentally moved on. In fact, you should schedule the post-mortem when you build out the full project plan, so everyone knows it's an expected part of the project wrap-up.

2. Send out a post-mortem questionnaire before the actual meeting.

The meeting itself shouldn't be scheduled for more than an hour. Not everyone will have a chance to speak up, and some smaller (but still important) issues may not get a lot of discussion time. And frankly, not everyone is comfortable speaking up in this kind of forum.

Using a pre-meeting questionnaire means everyone on your team has an equal opportunity to share their thoughts, and no stray detail flies under the radar.

The questionnaire also provides an opportunity for people to get themselves organized before the meeting. People can dig into why certain things happened (or didn't happen), so they can bring causes and potential solutions to the meeting – not just missteps or hastily formulated theories.

For example, if a project required the creatives on your team to work around the clock to get their deliverables done on time, why did this happen? Was the project timeline set up badly? Were inexperienced people assigned to the wrong tasks?

The responses from the questionnaire should inform the post-mortem meeting's agenda, focusing the discussion on issues that had the biggest impact. Yet the questionnaire also means the "smaller" stuff doesn't get overlooked in the full post-mortem process.

3. Select a moderator to keep the meeting on track.

The goal of a project post-mortem is to constructively evaluate what the project's team accomplished, and what could have been done better.

For this discussion to be productive, someone needs to keep the conversation civil, focused, and moving forward. This is where the meeting moderator comes in.

Establish a moderator before the in-person meeting who can stick to the agenda and lead the discussion in case it gets out of hand. The moderator doesn't have to be the project manager or a member of your leadership team, they just need to be comfortable taking charge.

4. Set a clear agenda.

With so many details to cover in such a short time, it's easy for post-mortem meetings to veer off track. Help keep the discussion in check by building a clear meeting agenda in advance:

Start with a recap of the project's core objectives, briefly going over the goals and metrics established at the kickoff. This portion shouldn't be longer than five minutes and should act as a quick refresher on what your team set out to do.

Briefly review the results. Once you've gone over the primary goals and objectives, take a few minutes to review the project's final results. This should be a straightforward evaluation of whether or not the project met your team's metrics for success. Did you hit the targets you set out to meet?

Delve into the why or why not. Now is the time to dig into why the project ended up the way it did, and how team members are feeling about it. This discussion should take up the bulk of the meeting. We've explained how to structure your examination in this section [jump to last section].

5. Make sure to close the loop.

The post-mortem meeting is just one step of the post-mortem process.

The end result of the questionnaire and meeting should be a post-mortem document outlining conclusions of the inquiry and actionable takeaways for the future.

And this inquiry isn't just about what went well or badly, but what's going to change for the future, and how? What led to great success here that we can bottle and use on other projects?

Circulate the post-mortem roundup document to participants to get their sign-off. Then circulate the department-wide takeaways for future projects to everyone.

So what exactly should a post-mortem examine? There are a few different cross-sections to frame your inquiry. Basic categories of inquiry are planning, execution, results, and communication.

Within each category, you should ask quantitative, qualitative, and subjective questions:

Quantitative Questions to Assess the Project Execution.

These are your standard yes or no questions.

• Were deadlines met or missed?
• Did we provide all deliverables outlined in the project scope?
• Were pre-defined success metrics achieved?
• Were outline workflows and processes followed?
• Was there a budget overrun?

As you look into the project from this perspective, a key underlying question is always: Was the plan good? Did we follow the plan? Was the plan bad? Why?

All the quantitative questions you ask should eventually lead back to this overarching theme.

Qualitative Questions to Go Beyond the Data.

These open-ended questions should evaluate the project beyond the hard data and planning.

• Did we deliver work at the high standards we and our client expect?
• Does the client agree?
• Did people feel like they had the resources, information, and support they needed to get their own tasks done?
• Was campaign criteria or task expectations poorly defined or communicated?

In both the quantitative and qualitative inquiries, get specific about what worked well and what didn't.

For instance, did you have a delivery date for the client to share their personas, but no review time built-in? Perhaps the client sent them in on time (as per the project plan), but they were inadequate for the project's needs.

Or, did a lack of oversight by an account manager result in a new PPC campaign manager overspending against the client's ad budget?

Getting into the details will help identify the root of the issues.

Subjective Questions to Understand Employee Perspective

Subjective questions help assess how your team members are feeling and can help leadership identify troubling signs of burnout and fatigue early on.

These questions also let leadership know what processes worked best with their team, helping them plan future projects.

• What did people enjoy most and least about this project?
• How was working with the client?
• What changes would they make to this type of project in the future?
• How could the work run more smoothly with this client or among certain departments in the future?
• Do you want to work on a similar type of project again? If not, why not?

A post-mortem meeting will help your team continuously improve on your process. Keep in mind, a post-mortem that doesn't impact future action is a waste of time. With this in mind, make sure to follow through on your insights to generate greater results on subsequent projects.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in May 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

5 Steps to Run a Project Post-Mortem Meeting [+ Key Questions to Ask] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns