50 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year

Are you a marketer looking to sharpen your expertise and increase your earning potential?

Great! You’re in the right place.

It’s no secret that individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher are more likely to find employment and earn higher incomes than those who do not. But did you know that earning a certification can follow this same trend?

Now, I’m not saying that a certification and a master’s degree hold the same weight in the eyes of a hiring manager or a client who’s considering working with you on a marketing project. What I am saying is that having specialized education in your field won’t hurt and it’ll typically help you.

I know what you’re thinking, “I can learn on the job — experience is more valuable than a certificate.” And you’re not wrong — 15 years of experience compared to five years of experience and a certification isn’t exactly a one-to-one comparison. For entry-level generalist roles, promotions, and freelance work, though, certificates can be the fastest and most affordable way to get ahead.

Given the frequency at which new digital marketing technologies and software are developed, it can be overwhelming to continue learning through blog posts and ebooks alone. That's where self-paced online courses come in — but which do you choose?

Don't fret, I’ve done the hard work for you. Below are the best free online courses you can take to strengthen your digital marketing skills. I’ve taken many of them myself and can assure you they’ll be worth your while. Each of these offerings varies in time commitment, but many are self-paced so you can learn on your time. The topics these courses cover include:

• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• SEO Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Web Development and Site Design
• Online Advertising Courses
• Other Digital Marketing Courses

Want to learn more about brands and organizations that offer the courses on the list below? Scroll to the end of this post, or click here, to find affordable online marketing courses.

Free Online Marketing Courses

Free Content Marketing Courses

1. HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy

2. HubSpot Content Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy

3. Internet Marketing for Smart People - Copyblogger

4. Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content - Coursera

5. The Strategy of Content Marketing - Coursera

6. Copywriting Blunders - Udemy

7. Content Marketing for B2B Enterprises - Udemy

8. Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit Course - Semrush

9. Copywriting Quick Start: Top FREE Writing Tools & Hacks - Udemy

 

Free Social Media Marketing Courses

10. Free Social Media Certification - HubSpot Academy

11. Developing an End-to-End Instagram Marketing Strategy For Your Business - HubSpot Academy

12. Diploma in Social Media Marketing - Alison

13. Facebook Blueprint - Facebook

14. Social Media Analytics - Quintly

15. Social Media Quickstarter - Constant Contact

16. Semrush Social Media Toolkit Course - Semrush

17. Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate - Facebook

 

Free SEO Marketing Courses

18. SEO Training Course - HubSpot Academy

19. Google Digital Marketing Course - Google

20. SEO Training Course by Moz - Udemy

21. SEO - QuickSprout

22. SEO Specialization Course - Coursera

23. Semrush SEO Toolkit Course - Semrush

24. Online SEO Training - Yoast

 

Free Email Marketing Courses

25. HubSpot Email Marketing Certification - HubSpot Academy

26. Email Marketing Course - Sendinblue Academy

27. Email Marketing Made Easy for Beginners - Udemy

28. Email Marketing for Beginners - Skillshare

 

Free Web Development and Site Design Courses

29. Make a Website - CodeAcademy

30. Learn Javascript - CodeAcademy

31. Learn Ruby - CodeAcademy

32. Learn Python 3 - CodeAcademy

33. Learn HTML & CSS - CodeAcademy

34. Learn to Code Awesome Websites - General Assembly 

 

Free Online Advertising & PPC Courses

35. What Digital Advertising Is and How to Do It - HubSpot Academy

36. How to Build a Paid Media Strategy - HubSpot Academy

37. PPC University - Wordstream

38. Advertising Your Business Online - Alison

39. Advanced Competitive Research Practices with Semrush

40. Copywriting 101: Crafting Your First Ad Campaign - Skillshare

41. Semrush Advertising Toolkit Course - Semrush

 

Other Free Digital Marketing Courses

42. Graphic Design Basics - Canva

43. Graphic Design Specialization - Coursera

44. Photoshop 2020: One-on-One Fundamentals - LinkedIn Learning

45. InDesign 2020: Essential Training - LinkedIn Learning

46. Video Marketing Course- HubSpot Academy

47. Event Marketing Course and Certification - Eventbrite

48. Event Sponsorship Course and Certification - Eventbrite

49. Affiliate Marketing for Beginners - Udemy

50. YouTube Ads Certification - YouTube

Benefits of a Digital Marketing Certificate

The most well-known benefit of earning a marketing certificate is the potential for better pay and career advancement, but there are plenty more rewards to reap by honing your skills. Here are a few of the top advantages of earning a digital marketing certificate.

Specializing in a Marketing Niche

The “jack of all trades, master of none” mantra is the marketer’s enemy. Any experienced marketing professional will advise someone looking to enter or grow into the field to narrow their focus. There are simply too many types of marketing to do all of them well. Certifications come in handy because they’re narrow enough in scope to give you a high-level overview of how the skill fits into a larger marketing strategy but tactical enough to show you exactly how to execute the skill in your day-to-day work.

Communicating Advanced Marketing Concepts

Whether you’re interviewing for a marketing role or pitching a client, one thing’s for sure — you’ll need to sound like a skilled marketer. Sure, you can fake it ‘till you make it, but I don’t advise this route. Shibboleths will only get you so far before someone notices a gap in your experience. Certification courses are comprehensive education tools that will teach you essential marketing lingo and exactly what it all means. Best of all, you’ll be able to communicate advanced concepts confidently without over or under-explaining which can undermine your credibility.

Building Your Resume

When it comes down to it, your resume will almost always precede your presence. Before an interview or a client meeting, people will look to your resume and portfolio first to verify your skills. Adding the certifications you’ve received after completing marketing courses is a smart way to get picked up by resume scanners and it’ll catch the attention of human eyes, too. Even if you have several years of experience, a certificate can still help get your foot in the door so you can speak in detail about your experience during an interview.

Where to Find Free and Affordable Courses

The free courses we mentioned above are amazing resources for budget-conscious marketers. They’ll teach you the basics of the subject and give you some tactical knowledge you can apply right away. If you want to become more competitive in the job market or if you have a bit more time and resources to dedicate to furthering your education, check out the following courses. They’re not all free, but they’re affordable and will provide you with up-to-date course material.

HubSpot Academy

HubSpot Academy offers certification and training courses to teach people how inbound marketing and HubSpot software work. Classes are often taught by marketers at HubSpot and are made up of video lessons, quizzes, and tests. Most HubSpot Academy classes are available free of charge, and if you pass the certifications, such as the two below, you get a nifty certificate and badge to share on your social media profiles.

Copyblogger

Copyblogger is a content marketing company that creates content about content (so meta). Its blog provides a ton of great resources about digital marketing, and this class, "Internet Marketing for Smart People," is made up of ebooks and emailed lessons and other course materials. Copyblogger espouses four pillars of content marketing success, which it delves into over the course of this class.

Coursera

Coursera offers MOOCs (massive online open courses) created and taught online by universities such as Northwestern University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California system. These courses start at various times throughout the year, so browse the catalog to see when one lines up with your schedule.

Udemy

Udemy is another online learning platform that focuses specifically on courses related to skill building for working professionals. One thing to note about Udemy: The classes we've highlighted are free, but the site features a myriad of other paid options for as little as $10, in some cases. If you have a good experience with a free course, try a paid one to get even more value from the content on this site.

Wordstream

Wordstream is a search engine and social media marketing software company that helps marketers drive the greatest ROI from their paid search and social media campaigns. These free guides and ebooks distill learnings and best practices for users with varying levels of expertise running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. Here are some of its topics and offerings:

Social Lock

Social Lock is a social media consulting, management, and strategy agency that also provides educational content and courses. The Standout Social Content Course is a comprehensive guide for small business owners who want to grow sales through social media. Although this course isn’t free, it’s available at an affordable rate and can even be paid in installments if you’re on a tight budget. If you need free resources that can teach you how to generate revenue that can pay for a course like this, Social Lock offers a Hustle with Hashtags eBook and Social Media Post Ideas.

edX

edX is another MOOC provider that features courses offered by top-tier universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston University. Like Coursera, classes are taught online and start at specific times throughout the year. Here are just a few of the many courses you can find on edX:

The 4-day Creative Brief

Before a marketing campaign is launched, you’ll need to get your design team onboard, and one of the best ways to do this is by developing a creative brief. The four-day creative brief is an online, self-paced course designed to hone your writing skills and help you convey your unique ideas. Advertising and branding expert Yadira Santana-Dowling condenses this process into just seven lessons so that by the end of it, your creative team has all the information they need to bring the campaign to life.

Alison

Alison offers free online classes in various professional skills users can take at their own pace. This content repository includes courses that lead to certificates and diplomas — you choose which is best for your goals. For an even more rigorous curriculum, you can choose a learning path that combines several lessons and courses into one learning track that gives you a well-rounded learning experience.

Facebook Blueprint

At this point, you probably already know what Facebook is and what it does. What you might not know is that the company offers several training and certification programs. Facebook Blueprint offers self-paced and live e-learning courses for marketers seeking to grow their organizations using Facebook. Blueprint offers classes in different languages on how to use Facebook and Instagram.

quintly Academy

quintly is a social media analytics tool that offers courses through quintly Academy. The self-paced course provides an overview of social media analytics, benchmarking, and goaling using downloadable written materials and video lessons. These courses are available to take at no cost — simply sign in to enroll for free.

Google

Google is another company you've probably heard of before, and its digital marketing course offers a ton of valuable information if you plan to advertise on the search engine. You can even take a Google AdWords certification at the end of the process that helps you beef up your resume. Google has expanded its course offerings to include other types of digital marketing, too, so check out the site for up-to-date insights in the marketing world.

Codeacademy

Codeacademy offers free, interactive coding classes that take you from bare-bones to building a fully functioning website. The courses we've highlighted below just scratch the surface, though. Codeacademy offers a variety of course topics so you can truly focus on your niche. These classes include lectures and a workspace in the same browser window so you can see the effect of your work as you create it — how cool is that?

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General Assembly

General Assembly offers live online courses that can be accessed for free or for a fee. These courses specialize in technical skills and disciplines like the fundamentals of HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript. Each one is categorized as one of five types that range from full-time immersive learning to on-demand learning. Once you choose your time commitment, simply find a course that works with your schedule.

Canva

Canva helps people easily make beautiful images for web design, and Canva Design School offers design courses that are valuable for any kind of storyteller. The Creativity course explores the challenges of constant creation and innovation and how to do it well — with visuals, of course.

Become a Marketing Powerhouse with These Free Certifications

I’m sure all marketers (myself included) can agree that furthering our education in this field is a worthwhile way to advance our careers or businesses. And earning a certificate from a reputable online course is one of the most convenient ways to accomplish this. Whether you want to take a free online marketing class or you’d like to devote more time and resources to a paid one, you can’t go wrong with one from this list. Just remember to focus your studying on a specific sector of marketing and develop a niche skillset — you’ll be well on your way to success as a consummate marketer.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in May 2018, but was updated in July 2020 for comprehensiveness and freshness.

50 Free Online Marketing Classes to Take This Year was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The Beginner's Guide to Product Photography [Tutorial + Examples]

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a stunning product picture is worth a thousand website visits. Although I don't have data to back up that statement (yet), product photography can be extremely valuable to your ecommerce website strategy.

To reach your target audience members whoprefer buying online, you also need to give your audience clear, eye-catching photos of your products.

But product photography isn't as simple as pointing and shooting. Even the most basic products need the correct equipment, lighting, and space to produce beautiful images that sell shoppers right from the purchase page.

6 Product Photography Tips (and Examples) for Taking Pictures That Sell

Here are the tips, examples, and supplies you'll need to effectively photograph and market your products in a way that makes your visitors and prospects want to convert.

1. Don't be afraid to use your smartphone's camera.

This is the part where I'm supposed to convince you to invest in a high-end, 50-megapixel (MP) camera with a 100-millimeter screw-on lens. But I'm not going to do that.

If you already own a camera that fits this description, take advantage of it. But for many types of products, it's completely acceptable to shoot product photos on a smartphone.

Newer smartphones boast powerful camera lenses and settings that allow you to optimize your shots for the different types of light and environments you might shoot in.

If you need more convincing, just check out Apple's Shot On An iPhone campaignand the photos that have resulted from it over the years such as this one:

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2. Shoot from a tripod for photo consistency.

Before explaining tripods, I'm obligated to start with a cardinal rule: Don't prop your phone against something sturdy to aim your lens toward the subject.

It's just too easy for this makeshift setup to slide around during the shoot and cause inconsistencies in your photos' appearance. If you rest your camera on, say, a stack of books, just be sure this arrangement doesn't change over the course of the shoot.

There's no harm in holding your camera yourself when shooting just a few product photos for your ecommerce website. But as your business grows, and you take more photos of more products, it can be difficult to standardize the product's orientation in each photo when shooting handheld.

To ensure consistency across your products, you'll need a tripod. And luckily, buying one isn't always the big, industrial-sized investment it used to be.

Here are two types of tripods to consider.

Traditional vs. Flexible

This is a tradition tripod — there are traditional tripods available for both cameras and smartphones.

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A flexible tripod can be manipulated in a number of ways. You can bend its legs and place it on different surfaces to get the angle you need.

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Mobile Grip

There's often a screw on the top of your tripod which attaches to your camera to hold it in place. The underside of most professional-grade cameras has a screw hole just for this purpose, but smartphones can use the following adapter:

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The adapter grips the sides of your smartphone and can screw into either type of tripod, allowing you to operate the camera controls with the phone screen facing outward and toward you.

Once you determine which mount you'll need, set it up in front of your product, and consider putting three pieces of tape on the ground to mark where you'd like to keep each leg of your tripod over the course of the shoot.

3. Choose natural light or artificial light.

Never underestimate how certain types of light can improve (or hinder) your product photography. Remember, buyers get the best look at an item in person, where they can see everything they need to before purchasing. The right lighting arrangement helps you reveal those critical decision-making product features when all website visitors have to go on is a photo.

A single lighting setup might not work for every product — a lighting arrangement that works for some products might weaken the appearance of others.

There are two types of light you can choose as your main light source: natural and artificial light.

Natural Light

Natural light refers to sunlight — simple as that. It's also known as "soft light" because the sun casts a larger, softer range of light than, say, a lamp shining directly on the product. Ecommerce product shots thrive in natural light if:

• The product is shot outside or meant to be used outside.
• The product is used by, worn on, or shot with a person (people tend to look better in natural light).
• You're trying to emphasize the product's surroundings, rather than specific attributes of the product.

Here's an example of a shot using natural light:

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Artificial Light

Artificial light includes candles, fire, and more commonly, light bulbs. It's also referred to as "hard light" because it produces a smaller but more focused light surface. This type of light caters to products with physical details that need to be highlighted to impress an online shopper.

Here's an example of artificial light being use to shoot:

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As a general rule, stick to just one type of light per photo — natural or artificial. Adding natural light to an artificially lit photo can soften a product that's meant to look sharp, and adding artificial light to a naturally lit photo can sharpen a product that's meant to look soft. You don't want to get in your own way.

4. Fill or bounce your light to soften shadows.

Whether you use natural light or artificial light, you'll need to lessen the shadows that any potential hard light casts on the opposite end of a product.

There are three ways to do this:

Fill Light

Include another, less-intense light source to supplement your main light. This additional light is called your fill light and is used as a counterbalance to soften the natural shadow your main light produces behind an object.

To do this, place your fill light opposite your main light so your product sits between both light sources.

Flashbulb Bounce Card

A bounce card, or reflector card, is a small card that "reflects" or "bounces" the main light back onto the surface beneath your product to reduce shadows.

Some bounce cards attach to the flashbulb of a professional camera lens to diffuse the light from the camera's flash. This card splashes a softer light onto the subject from above your set — rather than straight at it — so you don't have long shadows trail behind the object you're shooting.

See two versions of this item below — both white (left) and foil (right) screens can diffuse the flash.

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Standalone Bounce Card

If you're shooting from a smartphone, a flashbulb bounce card isn't an option, since you don't have a physical flash you can attach it to. Instead, make your own standalone bounce card positioned opposite your main light source.

For beginners to product photography, this bounce card can effectively replace your fill light, which counters the hard light from the camera flash or lamp that's facing toward the front of your product.

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5. Use a sweep or portrait mode to emphasize the product.

There isn't one right way to position your product, lights, and bounce cards – they can change dramatically depending on your background. But don't choose a background based on what's easiest to create. Backgrounds should resemble how you want your buyers to perceive your product when viewing it online.

Consider first whether you'd like a white background or a more dynamic, real-world background. There's an easy way to achieve each one.

White Background: Sweep

For white backgrounds, it's not as simple as setting up a table against white drywall. Even smartphone cameras can pick up little blemishes on a white wall that you wouldn't notice with the naked eye. To capture a perfect white background with no corners or blemishes, use a sweep.

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A sweep is a large bendable sheet of paper, whose bottom acts as the surface beneath your product and then curves up into a white wall behind the product.

On camera, the sweep's curve is invisible, emphasizing key product details and allowing the item to own all of a website visitor's attention.

Here's a side-by-side comparison showing why a sweep matters:

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Real-World Background: Portrait Mode

Dynamic, real-world backgrounds are very appealing when shooting products that have a specific use or are being modeled by a person — as you saw in the picture of the briefcase earlier in this guide.

But, it's easy for a real-world background to steal the focus of the photo, making it unclear which item in the photo you're actually selling.

Give your product depth and emphasis with portrait mode, a picture setting on most professional cameras, and also available on many new smartphones. This setting blurs the background so the context of the product is clear but not competing against the product itself.

Below is a super awesome photo of a HubSpot pen taken in portrait mode on a Google Pixel 2 (I took this picture myself). You can tell the pen sits on a desk with a computer behind it, but the pen is still the focal point for viewers:

"It's such an incredible photo, Braden. I totally want my own HubSpot pen now." Get one here!

6. Shoot a variety of images.

My last ecommerce photography tip to you is to not stop at one photo per product. Just as your customers look, hold, use, and even try on merchandise in a store, your website should shoot a variety of images to simulate this very experience.

If you're shooting clothing, for instance, capture the garment of clothing alone — that is, spread out on a white surface — as well as on a mannequin whose color contrasts the color of the product.

Then, for additional photos, have the clothing modeled on a person, allowing you to take pictures of the product from the person's different poses and angles.

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Product Photography Set-Up

Next, let's summarize what we just received — here's a list of quick product photography set-up tips that you can refer to and share on your team:

1. Decide on a camera — whether or not that means using your smartphone.
2. Get a tripod that works for your camera of choice.
3. Choose natural or artificial lighting — think about which option is best for your product and environment.
4. Determine whether you'll fill or bounce light.
5. Select sweep or portrait mode.
6. Take several different images to offer your viewers variety.

Get Started With Your Product Photography

Don't feel obligated to invest in every tip and piece of equipment at once. Apply these product photography tips gradually to see what makes your store look the most presentable, and change your approach as your photography chops get better.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

 

The Beginner's Guide to Product Photography [Tutorial + Examples] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Hopin: Making a Global Impact with Virtual Events

After being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Johnny Boufarhat was no longer able to leave the house—let alone go to in-person events—and was looking for a better way to connect with others. In 2019, Boufarhat founded Hopin to bring meaningful connections to virtual and hybrid experiences.

Hopin—one of the fastest-growing companies—is a virtual experiences platform redefining how people around the world connect through immersive video experiences. Hopin’s founding product was a virtual event platform that mirrors the interactive nature of in-person events, conferences, and meetups.

By early 2020, Hopin had over 20,000 event organizers on the waiting list. Today, Hopin employs a fully remote workforce of over 550 people in 42 countries, has over 95,000 event organizers using its platform, and has secured $565 million in Series A-C funding. The company has also impressively reached $80M ARR.

Its exponential growth is fueled by its remote-first workforce and customer-centered acquisition strategy. Hopin has extended its vision to create more engaging video experiences into three new verticals through multiple strategic acquisitions with a product portfolio that spans events, live streaming, content hosting, and team-based collaboration.

An Industry Propelled by the Pandemic

In 2019, the virtual events market was valued at $77.98 billion. But in-person events were still the norm. From scientific conferences to sales summits, job fairs, and networking events to concerts, virtual events weren’t yet commonplace.

But by March of 2020, as lockdowns and travel regulations began, organizations were at risk of event cancellations. Event organizers had two choices: they could either cancel events entirely or adapt and pivot online. In response, the virtual events industry skyrocketed overnight.

As a company focused on recreating the in-person experience online, Hopin was well-positioned for the task at hand. Hopin is an event management software company allowing individuals and organizations to build and host virtual and hybrid conferences, trade shows, career fairs, and more. The company is committed to driving authentic human connections and replicating the in-person experience online with video and integrated tech tools like virtual whiteboards and live polls.

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Hopin uses subscriptions for event organizers to access the event software. Meeting multiple price points and customer needs, Hopin offers different subscription tiers, with the starter option beginning at $99/month. Business and enterprise options give customized packages and subscriptions for larger organizations.

Subscriptions create a sustainable revenue model for Hopin, bringing some income predictability to the company. Hopin brings in additional income through ticketed events on Hopin Explore—a platform similar to Eventbrite helping users discover events—with a 7% commission fee on ticket purchases.

Forward-thinking and perceptive, founder Johnny Boufarhat continues to uncover customer needs and prepare Hopin for the new generation of events. What started as a response to his diagnosis evolved into a hybrid platform that completely revolutionized the virtual event space.

Even as vaccines roll out and travel restrictions adjust, the virtual events market is expected to keep growing at a rate of 23.2% and reach $404 billion in the next six years. Hopin is here to stay.

Launching 6 Months Early with a Fully Remote Workforce

In early 2020, Hopin had 12 employees. The original plan was to launch in the fall of 2020, allowing Johnny time to focus on raising funds and developing the company’s suite of services. However, spurred on by in-person event cancellations in March, Johnny and his then small team decided at midnight on a Friday to launch for a conference at risk of cancellation the following Monday.

Hopin could have waited to launch until everything was “ready,” but if ever there was a moment to launch a platform that mirrored in-person interactions and connections, now was the time. Johnny and team stepped in when thousands of event organizers so desperately needed the help.

At this point, no completely remote company had grown so quickly and exponentially. There was no roadmap to follow. No go-to-market strategy. The company had launched in such a short amount of time with a fully remote, growing workforce. It was full speed ahead and growing at an astonishing pace.

Johnny Boufarhat, CEO and Founder of Hopin said:

"Speed has become one of Hopin's superpowers both in scaling our multi-product platform and incredible, fully-remote workforce. At Hopin we prioritize impact measured by the success of our customers. Our mission is to provide the best possible platform for organizers to create meaningful experiences so the world feels smaller and more connected."

 

Early on, the majority of Hopin employees came through referrals from other employees. Johnny attributes Hopin’s success to his hiring strategy and leadership philosophy: providing flexibility and autonomy for a fully remote workforce.

Johnny is more concerned about hiring the right people over hiring people from a certain timezone. Having remote talent allows you to bring in the BEST of the best—and find the right culture fit—instead of needing headquarters in a certain country or city to get the right talent. Remote gives you a massive talent pool to build an effective team.

So how does Hopin continue to attract a global pool of top product and engineering employees? With its company culture. Between its very own Vibe Team, active Slack channels, and twice-a-month game nights called ConnectFest, Hopin fosters connectedness for its employees, too.

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For Hopin, business norms aren’t necessary. Working across time zones means employees have flexible schedules. The where, how, and when of working doesn’t matter to Johnny; there’s no digital shoulder-tapping or micromanaging. Hopin’s leadership is mostly concerned about serving the customer, not wondering whether employees sit in their desk chairs between designated hours.

Instead of fearing a loss of control over the business, Johnny places trust in his team. Giving them autonomy and empowering them to take responsibility/ownership. Hopin’s success demonstrates the power of trusting in your remote workforce. With a commitment to remote-first forever and employee autonomy, Hopin draws top talent from across the globe.

Invest in Ecosystem Partners

Using integrated technology, Hopin aims to foster lasting connections among its users. Over the course of one year, Hopin has rapidly built an infrastructure to prepare for the future including an aggressive acquisition strategy to become a multi-product platform leading the way in hybrid events.

As part of its multi-product strategy, Hopin acquired mobile app development company Topi in 2020 as well as video streaming company StreamYard, adding StreamYard’s 3.6 million video content creators to its base.

In early 2021, Hopin acquired video hosting provider Streamable as well as video technology company Jamm. Furthering its mission to become the leading hybrid event platform, Hopin acquired event management company Boomset this June.

Johnny’s merger and acquisition strategy is helping Hopin create a digital ecosystem; a collection of interconnected technology to serve its customers. Rather than operating in silos—or having customers lean on multiple platforms that don’t necessarily communicate well with each other—Hopin makes every component of event planning, execution, and attending, easier.

Having an ecosystem is critical for software growth, as the integrated technologies function together to create a seamless experience for customers.

Hopin’s M&A strategy is twofold: increasing its capacity and improving its brand awareness. Through acquisitions, Hopin’s grows its capacity to serve customers with new tools while introducing a new audience to Hopin’s platform.

Like Hopin, companies need to weigh the financial and opportunity costs of acquisitions. What’s the cost of developing technology on your own? What’s the cost of waiting to bring your customers what they need right now? How much of an audience will the new company bring in?

Johnny knows the value of deciding and acting quickly—the faster he provides a better solution for his customers, the bigger the moat he creates around Hopin.

Hopin’s acquisition approach is to serve the virtual and hybrid event market from every angle and entry point, leveraging technology to help users connect with each other, experience global events together, and build lasting relationships across the world.

Growth During a Time of Economic Uncertainty

Johnny recognized the need for virtual and hybrid events well before the pandemic. As a trailblazing business owner, he didn’t let the murky waters of last year stop him from growing Hopin’s impact.

The company quickly positioned itself as THE virtual and hybrid events platform. Johnny leads Hopin to continuously improve its product suite and provide a memorable experience to expand Hopin’s brand awareness. With the backing of his investments in talent and acquisitions, Johnny carved a new moat in the events marketplace.

Hopin continues to establish its moat by refining and expanding its products. What sets Hopin apart is its emphasis on mirroring the dynamic, interactive nature of in-person events and bringing those experiences online as well as investing in technology to lead in the future of hybrid events.

With 1:1 networking, digital reception lobbies, expos, and even coordinating virtual swag bags, Hopin considers every piece of the event production process to provide memorable and interactive experiences for organizers and attendees alike.

Last spring, when The Atlantic searched for a platform for its festival, the company knew it needed something that wouldn’t cripple under the weight of thousands of attendees. Hopin’s platform can handle 100,000+, making the product an easy choice for event organizers with a significant number of attendees.

Its tech capabilities have made all the difference: leading to quick customer acquisition and expansion. The Wall Street Journal hosted its first virtual event on Hopin last year. So did the United Nations. Hopin has taken SEO rankings by storm with extensive backlinks from reputable sites, every event driving visitors and leads to Hopin’s website:

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When big-name organizations flocked to one platform, the market paid attention. Small and large organizations across sectors now depend on Hopin to host virtual and hybrid events, including Poshmark, TechCrunch, WeTransfer, and many others. In March 2021 alone, the company saw active event organizers grow from 85K to 90K.

One thing is certain: new moats aren’t impenetrable. Once business owners create a new position in the market, the work isn’t done. Companies need to anticipate the changing tides, rather than waiting for inevitable shifts. Where are there gaps in your product or service offerings? How can your company go above and beyond for its customers?

Even now, Hopin is preparing for the world to go back to normal by expanding its products and services to execute hybrid events—blending in-person and virtual elements to serve a wider audience.

Johnny shows us the importance of understanding every facet of your market; he aims to meet needs and exceed expectations for event organizers AND event attendees alike. Hopin notices what’s missing in the market and brings every piece of the event puzzle together as the one-stop shop for a full-service video event platform.

Leading the Next Generation of Events

At first, catapulted by the pandemic, virtual events were used out of necessity. But now, event organizers see the opportunity in hybrid events: serving a wider audience and making a bigger impact. Founder Johnny Boufarhat aims to make events more accessible and create an environment for connections as natural as an in-person. He’s bringing in the next generation of events through three key strategies:

1. Committing to remote-first.

Hopin isn’t concerned about when, where, or how team members complete their work. The company fully leans into remote-first, allowing flexibility and autonomy for every employee. Above all else, Boufarhat trusts his team to take ownership and do what it takes to get the job done.

2. Investing in strategic M&A.

When it comes to mergers and acquisitions for Hopin, there’s no ego involved. More than anything, Hopin is focused on solving customers’ problems and frustrations—finding innovative solutions to help customers create meaningful experiences and make the world feel smaller.

3. Carving and expanding a new moat.

Hopin didn’t stop at creating a new position in the market. The company is committed to continuously discovering new ways to fill gaps in service and expanding its product offerings to meet customer needs in one place.

Through strategic acquisitions and investments, Johnny Boufarhat demonstrates his careful consideration of customer frustrations, combined with his ability to anticipate future possibilities and act quickly. Rather than waiting for customers’ needs to show themselves, Boufarhat goes beyond what’s in front of him and anticipates the bend in the road ahead: hybrid events that promote scalability and greater access.

Hopin: Making a Global Impact with Virtual Events was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Everything You Need to Know About Behavioral Segmentation [+ Examples]

No matter how many products or services you sell and offer, or how small or large your business is, no two customers are exactly the same.

Because of this, it's important to ensure you're always identifying the trends and patterns that exist among your customers and target audience. In doing so, you'll have the data and information necessary to effectively target, reach, convert, and retain those people.

To help you with this, turn to the process of behavioral segmentation.

Behavioral Segmentation

In this blog post, we’ll review the definition of behavioral segmentation (which is a process that's part of behavioral marketing), a tool that can help you group your customers based on their behaviors and actions, as well as examples of behavioral segmentation.

Behavioral Segmentation

To support your behavioral segmentation efforts, we recommend implementing a tool like HubSpot's Behavioral Targeting software.

With a tool like HubSpot, which comes in a free or paid version with one of the premium Marketing Hub plans, you can collect data about how your target audience interacts with your website, content, and other marketing materials.

You can also take advantage of the active list feature which is used for advanced customer segmentation, targeting, and audience building.

By incorporating HubSpot into your behavioral segmentation workflow, you'll send targeted messages and relevant material to your audience members at the right time. This process is also automated with audience triggers.

With HubSpot's Behavioral Targeting tool, you can also:

• Create hyper-segmented lists based on persona and their engagement.
• Leverage CRM data (via your connected, all-in-one CRM platform) to customize your content.
• Share well-timed and engaging nurture campaigns.
• Consistently identify and record specific behavioral events throughout the buyer's journey that lead to conversions among your prospects.

Pro Tip: Use HubSpot's Behavioral Targeting tool to personalize outreach at scale and make every interaction you have with prospects and contacts feel special.

Behavioral Segmentation Variables

The behavioral segmentation variables that you need to consider while working on the categorization of your audiences include:

• Sought-after product/service benefits of your audience members.
• Audience member's product/ service usage rate.
• Audience member's loyalty status.
• Stage of the buyer's journey an audience member is in.
• Size of your market segment.
• Level of accessibility your market segment has to your product or service.
• How niche your market segment is.

Next, let's take a look at some behavioral segmentation examples.

Behavioral Segmentation Examples

There are a number of behavioral segmentation examples — a.k.a. ways to segment your customers based on behavior. Here are some common examples.

1. Purchase Behavior/ Transaction History

Look at a customer's purchase behavior and transaction history. This provides insight into how and why they decide to convert as well as which stages of the buyer's journey go smoothly whereas where a prospect may come to a bit of a roadblock along the way. It also gives you an idea of which behaviors are likely to accurately predict a conversion.

2. Occasion

Was it a specific occasion or point in time that influenced your customer's decision to convert? For instance, is there a specific point in time during the year that they'll interact with your brand (e.g. if you're an online greeting card service, you may get repeat customers around the winter holiday season every year). Is a purchase decision based on the time of day or even life stage?

3. Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty provides a solid look at customer behavior — loyalty relates directly to a customer's habits, actions, needs, usage, and the timing of their actions.

To use customer loyalty when segmenting customers based on behavior, think about: 1) which parts of the buyer's journey are so delightful that they result in loyalty, 2) how you currently keep loyal customers feeling delighted, 3) which prospects are most likely to become loyal, and 4) which attributes do your loyal customers share.

4. Benefits Sought

Identify what your customers are looking to get out of your product or service — of all of your features, which do they need most to resolve the challenge(s) that they're experiencing? What specific benefits do they get out of your product and which of those benefits are most important to them?

Determine which of those benefits are influencing their decision to use your product/service most.

5. Customer Journey Stage

Understanding which stage of the customer journey leads to the most conversions or which stage prospects get hung up on most frequently is beneficial information when predicting behavior and segmenting customers based on those behaviors.

However, it's important to note that using customer journey stages in behavioral segmentation can be difficult because there are so many stages — and within those stages are multiple touchpoints that contribute to behavior or decision to remain in a stage, or move forward to a new stage, of the buyer's journey.

That's why it's recommended to use a platform like your CRM or an AI/ machine learning tool — they record and track all interactions throughout the buyer's journey to ensure you're getting a complete view of your customers' buyer's journey behavioral data.

6. Engagement

Engagement refers to the type and frequency of engagement you see from certain customers. You might segment your customers based on high engagement versus average engagement versus occasional engagement.

Highly engaged individuals are those who have incorporated your brand into their lives regularly.

Average users may engage with your brand or product/ service fairly regularly but may not take advantage of its full potential and capabilities.

Occasional users may just engage with your brand or product/service randomly based on their specific need but don't rely on it.

7. Usage

Usage refers to how and/or how much a customer uses your product or service. This may entail segmenting your customers based on how they actually use the product/service, how frequently they use it, how long they use it for in a single session, or which features they use most.

You might choose to segment your customers further into more specific usage categories — for instance, heavy users versus average users versus light users.

Grow Better With Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral segmentation is a great way to effectively and efficiently target your leads and customers to increase conversions. It helps you time your communications and follow up, and tailor your content in a way that feels personal. Be sure to keep behavioral segmentation variables in mind and incorporate a tool like HubSpot for further support throughout the process.

Everything You Need to Know About Behavioral Segmentation [+ Examples] was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

Push vs. Pull Marketing: Top Differences & How to Use Them

I recently bought a new laptop. Before deciding which one was right for me, I read through a number of online reviews to ensure I was making an informed decision. Once I narrowed my search down to a couple of models, I visited the store to examine specs in person before committing.

To phrase the above scenario slightly differently, I was “pulled” into consider certain brands due to their laptop marketing. Then, I was "pushed” into selecting the right one for me by going to the store to read the marketing materials and see the laptops in person.

This is just one example of how push and pull marketing are at work both separately and together.

In this blog post. we'll cover push marketing, pull marketing, push and pull marketing strategies, and examples of each.

What is push marketing?

Push marketing is a strategy focused on "pushing” products to a specific audience.

Also known as direct marketing, push marketing is a form of general advertising. When I grocery shop, I look for the signs that notate sales and gravitate towards them — picking up limes I never knew I needed. This is an example of push marketing.

Push Marketing Strategy

To understand a push marketing strategy, let’s consider Suzie.

Suzie’s marketing company is ready for its big debut. But the local businesses she's trying to work with have no idea her company exists. This is a job for push marketing.

So, Suzie reaches out to businesses in her area via email marketing, puts ads in local shops, and creates a social media business page to expand her reach.

Because Suzie’s goal is to introduce her company to local businesses as she launches her new service, push marketing is an effective way to get the word out about what she does and what she offers.

For a business that’s been around for a while but still wants to execute a push strategy, another option is running a limited-time offer for your product. Use a channel your target market is closely tied to, such as a social media platform, or use landing pages to your advantage by including a CTA at the end.

What is pull marketing?

Now, let's talk about pull marketing.

For instance, if someone is looking for a new babysitter, they might visit Care.com. They can select a babysitter based on a list of preferences that are specifically shown to fit their needs.

In the age of consumers educating themselves on products and services, pull marketing has become vital to markets with heavy saturation, like new apps or clothing companies. Pull marketing shows how you are unique as a brand.

Pull Marketing Strategy

To put this in the context of another business, let’s take a look at Luis.

When businesses are looking for a point-of-sale (POS) system, Luis wants his POS to be the one they choose.

Pull marketing channels are exactly what Luis needs to achieve this. To pull his target market, Luis starts a blog on his website, runs specialized and high-traffic social media campaigns, and focuses on differentiating his brand from his competitors.

To amp up his pull marketing strategy, Luis focuses on SEO for his online marketing to make his system discoverable to his target market. Google reviews, and word-of-mouth reviews on sites like Yelp are his best friends throughout his campaign.

Since Luis has already developed a following from his app’s debut, he can focus on credibility and reliability rather than marketing to make the next sale. After a while, this will pull customers to his business. Pull marketing strategies generally take longer than push marketing to drive results, but this strategy ensures long-term customers and growth.

Now you may be wondering about the best ways to ensure you're selecting the right type of marketing for your business — to help with just that, lets more thoroughly compare the two strategies.

Is push or pull marketing more effective?

To decide which method best fits your business, think about how you want to approach consumers.

If you are trying to get the word out about your business, push will most likely be the way to go. If you’re a marketer building brand buzz in your market — perhaps about a specific product or service — pull would probably be best.

There are a few cons to push marketing — mainly splitting costs and keeping long-term customers. If your company is working with a supplier to implement a push marketing strategy, you’d have to split profits with the supplier at the end of the day, which means less revenue for you. Since push marketing focuses on short-term sales, building brand loyalty is difficult with an outbound strategy.

Meanwhile, a downside to pull marketing is that you might not cater to the right target audience. In order to connect to your consumers, you need to know who they are and what they’re looking for. For instance, an athlete shopping for running shoes might not be interested in advertisements for heels.

An effective way to make sure you're covering all bases with your marketing strategy is by implementing a push and pull marketing strategy — you can marry the best parts of both strategies in a way that's complementary to your business, audience, and goals.

Push and Pull Marketing Strategy

Push and pull marketing strategies can work together. Customers need a push for demand to be created and a pull to satisfy that demand. For those who haven’t heard of your company, a push is needed. For those a little further along in their buyer’s journey, you can pull them in.

The way you incorporate both strategies at your company will depend on your unique push and pull goals — to help you determine what your push and pull strategy will look like, lets review some examples of push marketing followed by examples of pull marketing. Then, you'll have a stronger understanding of what your strategy will end up looking like.

Push Strategy Examples

1. Display Ads

Display ads appear in areas that are specifically dedicated to paid ads and may be formatted in a variety of ways, such as a banner ad. There are also display ads on social media platforms, such as Instagram, that you can create and share.

2. Billboards

Billboards are an effective way of building brand awareness and broadcasting your business, product, service, or campaign to as many people as possible. They're strategically placed in high-traffic areas to get as many eyes on them (and hopefully, members of your target audience).

3. Direct Marketing

Direct marketing and direct advertising are also forms of push marketing — this can happen in a showroom, at a trade show, or in a brick-and-mortar store. It might also entail someone at a grocery store, like Trader Joes, offering free samples to shoppers.

Pull Strategy Examples

1. Social Media Marketing

Disregarding social media paid ads, as mentioned in the push strategy section above, there are a number of ways you can use social media marketing as a form of pull marketing. This includes how-to videos, influencer content (e.g. an influencer sharing a demo on how they use your product), beautiful images and videos of your product, and co-marketing campaigns on social media.

2. SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy that allows you to get your content, web pages, and more in front of the people who are searching for relevant keywords, phrases, and terms.

When you optimize your web pages and other content for those search terms your target audience is actively looking for, your marketing materials and web pages will appear in front of them organically. This is a great way to naturally get in front of your target audience and buyer perosnas without feeling pushy while also increasing brand awareness.

3. Blogs

Blogging is an effective way of educating your target audience and providing them with the knowledge they need to make informed buying decisions, understand how to use and apply your product or service, or gain insight into changes in an industry, product updates, etc.

When you search engine optimize your blog content, it appears in front of your target audience organically on search engines like Google, automatically increasing the number of people who see and interact with your content as well as improving brand awareness and more.

Start Using Push and Pull Marketing

Start using push and pull marketing strategies to combine the power of outbound and inbound strategies and get the most out of your marketing efforts.

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

Push vs. Pull Marketing: Top Differences & How to Use Them was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns

The 12 Best Free (and Private) Email Accounts and Service Providers of 2021

You need an email account — whether it’s for networking, job recruitment, downloading resources, transferring files, setting reminders, meeting with colleagues, or something else.

Even with the rise of office chat platforms, you still depend on email for a surprising number of things. But unfortunately, not every email service is completely free. And even the free ones might not be the easiest to use or have all the features you need.

It can be a challenge to find an email service provider at no cost that balances the right features with usability. To help make your search easier, we put together a list of the different types of email accounts you can set up, followed by the eleven best email service providers you can host your account on right now for free.

It can be challenging to find an email service provider at no cost that balances the right features with usability. To help make your search easier, we put together a list of the different types of email accounts you can set up, followed by the twelve best email service providers you can host your account on right now for free.

Types of Email Accounts

There are two main types of email service providers to choose from:

• Email clients, and
• Webmail

When you use your provider to access your email from a different device or location online, you can use one of three major email protocols to do so: POP3, IMAP, and Exchange.

Let's briefly go over these different types of providers and protocols.

Email clients you've likely heard of include Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Apple Mail.

If you want to access this type of email from the web rather than the client's computer application, the email client uses one of the email protocols described below.

For example, although you might have Outlook installed on your computer, you can also log in to your email account via outlook.com using a specific email protocol.

Webmail providers you've likely heard of include Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and AOL (all of which have made our list of best free email accounts below).

If you want to access your webmail from a mail app on your mobile device rather than your desktop web browser, your webmail provider can use one of the email protocols described below.

Before we get into the best free email accounts, let's talk about those email protocols.

Email Protocols

Email protocols are the systems that actually retrieve your email for you. They can fetch email client accounts on the internet and webmail accounts on a mobile app. Here are the three main types of email protocol your account can use.

POP3

POP stands for "post office protocol" and is best suited for people with just one email account and email client. POP3 is the latest version of this email protocol and allows you to access email while offline. It, therefore, requires less internet bandwidth.

IMAP

IMAP stands for "internet mail access protocol." And it’s one of the older email protocols available today. IMAP4 is considered the latest version, and unlike the POP protocol, you do not download your email to your offline email client. Instead, all your email stays online while you're accessing and managing it.

IMAP is particularly useful for people who have more than one email account and access them from multiple devices or locations.

Exchange

Exchange is a Microsoft email protocol and is pretty similar to the IMAP protocol explained above. This protocol allows you to not only access your email over the internet from multiple devices, but also tasks, calendars, and contact information tethered to that email address.

For this reason, it's beneficial to organizations whose employees share many types of information and collaborate remotely.

Now, take a look at seven of the best free email service providers (and 5 of the best email accounts for privacy) you can get your hands on today — both webmail and email clients included. For each email service provider, we highlighted a unique feature to help you find the best fit.

1. Gmail

Unique Feature: Native File Collaboration

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone who already uses and loves the rest of Google's products.

It might seem like an obvious top pick, but Gmail is just too versatile not to get our first slot. According to Litmus Labs, Gmail has the second-highest email provider market share (behind Apple iPhone's native email app).

Ironically, one of the reasons Gmail has become so popular is because of all the communication options in your inbox that don't involve email.

Gmail is a regular email inbox tool you can access once you have a Google account. Since it’s built into Google Suite, you can also access a group of free apps that allow you to chat, video conference, and share files with the people in your contact list.

Google Hangouts, available from your inbox's left sidebar (or the right — you can customize how your inbox is displayed), lets you text and video chat with other Gmail users for the things that might not warrant an email message.

Like most other email accounts today, Gmail also has an intuitive calendar where you can set meetings and reminders.

Pro Tip: You can also use a free product like HubSpot Meetings to easily schedule meetings without back-and-forth emails.

Unlike other email accounts, you can use your Gmail address to log into and manage your YouTube account, as well as collaborate on shared documents and spreadsheets right from a cloud-based Google Drive.

Offering a generous 15 GB of free email storage, Gmail does everything it can to make your inbox less chaotic, including advanced filters that automatically push emails into separate folders as they arrive. And none of these functions costs a dime.

Pros:

• Allows you to un-send emails
• 15GB free email storage
• Accessible from any internet-connected device
• 99.9% protection from suspicious/spam emails
• Texts suggestions that help you write emails faster

2. AOL

Source

Unique Feature: Unlimited Storage

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone who uses email for most of their communication.

America Online (I feel nostalgic just typing those words) has quietly kept up with today's standards for a good user experience and is now once again one of the best free email accounts available to you.

Purchased by Verizon in 2015, AOL delivers your email from its classic news-driven homepage and comes with the contemporary spam filters and virus protection you'd expect from your email provider. You can also send text and instant messages from specific windows in your email inbox.

AOL does have something over Gmail, though: unlimited storage. Additionally, you can import email contacts from a CSV, TXT, or LDIF file, so you're not creating your "buddy list" (get it?) from scratch.

Pros:

• Unlimited storage
• Highly customizable
• Offers a spellchecker to reduce errors

3. Outlook

Source

Unique Feature: Multiple App Integrations

Sign up here.

Type of email: Email client

Who should use it: Anyone who uses many different platforms to connect with others.

If you ever cringed at the sight of a "Hotmail.com" email address, you can thank Outlook for this outdated domain name.

But there's good news: Microsoft has reinvented its longstanding email service, and your free Outlook.com email address has many advanced features waiting for you.

While it touts a calendar and message filter similar to Gmail, Outlook also integrates with several other popular communication apps.

For example, you can connect Skype, Facebook, PowerPoint, PayPal, and even task-management software such as Trello — making it very easy to reach and work with non-Outlook users without leaving your inbox.

Outlook offers 15 GB of free storage for each user, along with a super-clean interface.

Pros:

• Like with Excel or Word, you can use Add-ins with Outlook
• Easy access to other Microsoft apps like Skype
• Provides aliases that add anonymity to your email
• Excellent email organization
• Great search feature

4. Yahoo! Mail

Source

Unique Feature: Media and attachment history

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Creatives and anyone who sends and receives attachments frequently via email.

Yahoo! Mail, another well-known platform, sits just behind AOL in storage space with a whopping 1 TB (that's a terabyte) for free, along with a few key social media integrations.

You can have custom background themes and search for key information from your inbox with Yahoo! Mail.

Yahoo! Mail makes it easy to find every photo, video, and document you've ever attached or received via email in their tabs on your inbox's sidebar. This makes the platform especially appealing to those who share documents regularly or simply want an album made of every photo they've ever had shared.

Pros:

• Connects seamlessly with Yahoo Calendar
• Outstanding email organization
• Customizable themes
• Instant notifications for new emails
• Decent security to keep your account safe and secure

5. iCloud Mail

Source

Unique Feature: Label senders as VIPs

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: people who use Mac and want everything on one system.

If you’re a Mac user, you may want to consider using iCloud Mail as your email provider. Their free email account comes with 5GB of storage that you can use to sync your photos, files, or email.

However, it’s important to note that storage is shared between all of your apps and devices — so if you take a lot of photos on your iPhone, you may eat into your email storage allowance for the month. Upgraded plans start at $0.99/month and go up to $9.99/month.

One of the most significant advantages of using iCloud over other email providers on this list is the ease of integration. Apple builds its desktop and iPhone mail apps with all email clients in mind, but it pays special attention to making the experience delightful for iCloud users.

Pros:

• Search functionality
• Ability to label senders as VIP to automatically filter important messages and save time
• One-click “Unsubscribe” feature
• 5GB free email storage

6. Mozilla Thunderbird

Source

Unique Feature: Customization features and the ability to open multiple emails in tabs

Sign up here.

Type of email: Email clients

Who should use it: Anyone looking for a simple but customizable email inbox.

Thunderbird, a free email application from Mozilla, known for Firefox, offers a quick email inbox setup and a simple, easy-to-use user interface.

The app offers customizable features, such as theme settings and app extensions to improve your email experience. The email app also allows you to open multiple emails in tabs, similar to how you would open various web pages in Firefox browsers.

Pros:

• It has a large extension library
• Integrates with Google Calendar to make task and meeting scheduling easier
• Smart email organization to reduce cluster

7. Yandex Mail

Source

Unique Feature: 10 GB of free cloud storage

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: anyone seeking a free email with additional storage capabilities.

Yandex is a Russian web company that offers a global email tool. You can sign up for a free account with the tool, link it to your Facebook, Twitter, or Gmail accounts, and personalize your email inbox.

Like many of the other providers on this list, Yandex's email inbox can be set to filter or prioritize emails so you see messages from real people. It can also recognize keywords in messages and subject lines and organize emails into categorized inboxes. Additionally, users who sign up for Yandex mail get 10 GB of free cloud storage.

Pros:

• Auto-reminder for un-replied mails
• In-built translator
• Read receipts on sent emails
• 10 GB free cloud storage

8. Zoho

Source

Unique Feature: 25 Business Addresses

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: startups and small businesses.

This is the first of the free email accounts for privacy to make our list, but it holds a ton of potential for businesses.

The first thing you'll notice about Zoho is its user-friendliness. From integrating with Google Drive, Box, and other cloud-based file managers, to its built-in task manager, this email service offers a simple way to accomplish all of your daily tasks.

The real difference-maker, though, is the ability to customize the domain name for up to 25 connected email addresses. Want to replace "@zoho.com" with the name of your business's website? You can do so under Zoho Lite, which gives you 5 GB for free — all under username@yourdomainname.com.

Pros:

• Doesn’t scan your inbox for advertisement purposes
• Emails are in an encrypted format
• Notifies you if your messages don’t deliver
• Integrates easily with the Zoho CRM

9. ProtonMail

Source

Unique Feature: Encrypted email

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone who sends and receives sensitive information.

ProtonMail offers just 500 MB of free space, but for the worthy trade of encrypted email, allowing you to send messages that nobody else can see and disappear after a month.

What's the catch? Is the service hard to use? ProtonMail is easy to use on any device without any software needed to encrypt your emails, as with most webmail platforms. Its inbox interface is as easy to understand at a glance as the other email services on this list.

And the tool offers quick color-coded labels to help you further organize which emails deserve the most care and protection.

Pros:

• No personal information is required to open an account
• Compatible with other email providers
• Optimized inbox to boost productivity
• End-to-end data encryption

10. GMX Mail

Source

Unique Feature: Alias email addresses

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone who needs multiple emails with one central inbox.

While you may not have heard of GMX Mail, it’s been around for quite a while (since 1997) — and it has a bunch of features that make it worth considering.

First off, GMX offers 65GB of storage. That’s a lot of storage for a free email service. In fact, they claim that it allows you to keep nearly half a million messages in your Inbox!

Another feature worth noting is the ability to send large attachments. While many services have low caps for your email attachments, GMX Mail allows you to send files up to 50MB. That’s great if you share a ton of photos, presentations, or other large files from your account.

But the feature of GMX Mail that really sets it apart is the ability to set up to 10 alias email addresses all from within one account. This can be useful in many situations — both personally and professionally.

On a personal note, you could use one alias for all of your online purchases and logins — to keep marketing emails separate from your private messages. From a business perspective, multiple email addresses can help manage role-based emails such as support@yourdomain.com or sales@yourdomain.com.

Pros:

• Spam filter to protect your inbox from suspicious messages
• Easy-to-use inbox management templates
• Mail collector for keeping all your emails (even from other service providers) in a single place

11. Trustifi

Source

Unique Feature: Data loss prevention

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone who doesn’t want to choose between having a secure and functional inbox.

Trustifi combines the best of a productive and secure email provider in one place.

With available whitelisting and blacklisting options, you can easily choose who you allow to send you messages. Trustifi is also compliant with HIPAA/HITECH, PII, GDPR, FSA, FINRA, LGPD, CCPA, and more, so you don’t have to worry about losing your account overnight.

You can even use the Trustifi add-on to add an extra security layer to your Gmail or Outlook inbox.

Pros:

• Ransomware and fraud detection
• Ability to set expiry dates on sent emails
• Seamless integrations with other email systems or service providers
• End-to-end email encryption

12. Mailfence

Source

Unique Feature: Legal protection

Sign up here.

Type of email: Webmail

Who should use it: Anyone looking for a secure email account that integrates with other tools.

Mailfence is a secure browser-based email service provider based in Belgium. Given the laws in Belgium, all your data is locked away from any third-party access.

Their free plan gives you 500 MB of email space. But to truly enjoy the best of Mailfence, you’ll have to hop on a paid plan that starts at €2.50/month.

You’d be able to create up to 10 aliases on the paid plan and have 5GB of email space, among many other features.

With Mailfence, it easy to organize your day and business because you’d be able to easily integrate your email account with your contacts, calendar, and documents.

Pros:

• Quick integration with a suite of tools
• True OpenPGP end-to-end encryption

Making the Most of Your Email

And with that, you have some of the best options for free email accounts this year. But who knows? Your next email address could be entirely different while giving you just what you need to succeed.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in March 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

The 12 Best Free (and Private) Email Accounts and Service Providers of 2021 was originally posted by Local Sign Company Irvine, Ca. https://goo.gl/4NmUQV https://goo.gl/bQ1zHR http://www.pearltrees.com/anaheimsigns