Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve always wanted to be in marketing and advertising. And if you asked me what either of them were at the time, I probably would’ve said something as simple as “selling!” but, coming from a family of travelling salesmen, it was all my little heart knew. I can still remember being about six years old (circa 1999, a peaceful time where people hadn’t yet been introduced to Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out?”) and making my first pitch. The paternal side of my family ran a now-defunct travel agency called Holiday Market, and my idea for a tagline and print advertisement was, “Mark it a holiday, with Holiday Market” (pretty good for a six-year-old, am I right?). Fast forward almost twenty years later and, thankfully, I would no longer struggle to tell you what marketing or advertising are.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
But in no way would my answer be as simple as what 6-year-old-me would’ve told you. Is it really any different, though? Marketing and advertising are still essentially “selling,” but the methods in which we “sell” have dramatically changed. No longer do we simply put out a message and hope the customers come rolling in; nowadays, we use techniques in order to bring in clients who are already looking for us through search engines and social media. Traditional Marketing has evolved and given birth to Inbound Marketing, and it’s quickly becoming the way of the future. So, in order to keep you up-to-date with everything going on in the newly developed world of Inbound, we’ve compiled our ten most successful posts on the subject from 2016. Out with the old and in with the new, they say.
 

1. The Experts: Biggest Challenge for Digital Marketers

The world of Digital Marketing is continually moving forward with new technologies and best practices to make marketing efforts more efficient and ultimately more successful. On the flip side, the rapid rate of change in the digital marketing space may also cause some challenges.
 

2. Inbound Marketing Toronto Resources, Events & Workshops

Toronto is a vibrant city when it comes to startups, growing and established businesses in many industries. There is also a large community of professionals in a range of jobs and functions. Meeting others and learning from others in your field or in complementary fields is a great way to expand your network and grow your knowledge.
 

3. Inbound Marketing Stats Every Marketer Should Know

Here are 10 inbound marketing stats with graphs you can use in presentations or documents to convey the importance of inbound to your team, or to build a business case for using inbound marketing.
 

4. The Anatomy of a Google AdWords Text Ad

The headline is limited to 25 characters and is the most important aspect of the ad. It is the first thing that the viewer will seem and at times, could be the only aspect of the ad that they read. The headline could be the one factor that determines whether or not someone clicks through to view your landing page.
 

5. 5 B2B Content Marketing Ideas for 2016

Content marketing is not only a benefit for inbound marketing, but also a great way to support an outbound sales effort.
 

6. Top Canadian Sales & Marketing Blogs to Follow

We have created a list of the best Canadian sales & marketing blogs that you should keep bookmarked. These blogs are great resources for keeping up-to-date on the latest business trends and improving your business strategy.
 

7. 5 Marketing Tools You Should Be Using

To be successful at marketing it’s important to have the right tools in place to support your efforts. These tools can keep you organized and help you from wasting valuable time. Every day we use a number of tools to improve our customers’ online presence as well as our own.
 

8. Overview of HubSpot’s LeadIn WordPress Plugin

HubSpot LeadIn is a relatively new free lead capture and visitor tracking app. Available as both an app and WordPress plugin, it gives startups and smaller companies on tight budgets access to basic visitor tracking capabilities that you normally only find in $200/month+ services such as HubSpot’s or Salesforce’s marketing automation software.
 

9. How to Get Sales and Marketing Experience

The challenge for new grads or people that want to make a career switch is that there are few jobs for people with very little experience. Most jobs require at least 2-3 years of past sales and marketing experience.
 

10. 6 Must-Know Hootsuite Features for Social Media Managers

Hootsuite is our go-to social media management tool for a number of reasons; including being able to easily find and schedule relevant content. Since we’ve been using Hootsuite at VA Partners for a number of years, it’s easy to get stuck in a routine, and not necessarily use the platform to its full potential.

If you don’t want to wait until the end of 2017 to find another list of useful posts, check out our blog on a regular basis.