Laura M. Browning

Chicago

Freelance Writer and Editor at Freelance

Senior Editor at Doha Debates

Writer, editor, flu fighter. Swears a lot. she/her IG: @ellembee

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Articles

How one co-founder runs a zero-employee marketing agency with AI tools

3 weeks ago | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

Running a marketing agency used to mean juggling a small army of freelancers, risking missed deadlines, and spending more time managing people than creating content and building strategies. That’s how Barbara Jovanovic of Startup Cookie used to operate. She’s now built a streamlined operation that generates six figures annually with a tech stack that costs less than one grand a year.
Does Quora work for marketing?

1 month ago | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

SEO is dead, long live SEO!That’s how it feels, at least, as both AI-powered search and user-generated content take hold in our digital lives. Today’s master in marketing knows a thing or two about user-generated content and how brands can make it work for them. (And read to the end to find out whether she thinks SEO is actually dying.)Meet the MasterShelagh DolanLesson 1: Find conversations that are already happening. Whatever your marketing channels are, don’t reinvent the wheel.
Main Character Energy: What Black Panther Can Teach You About Inclusive Marketing

2 months ago | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

“Inclusive marketing is all about brands acknowledging the many ways that people are different,” says this marketing master. Her voice drops to a conspiratorial tone. “And this is the very important part: Choosing which identities you’re going to serve.”Also important (to this Marvel fan, anyway): What does inclusive marketing have to do with the … MCU?
Be an Addition, Not a Substitution: Lessons from Tom Holland's NA Beer Brand

2 months ago | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

When actor Tom Holland made the late-night rounds last October to talk about his new company, BERO Brewing, he said that he'd “find myself in these boardrooms” surrounded by experts spouting unfamiliar terms.
Marketing Like a Castaway

Mar 5, 2025 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

Here’s a hint as to the identity of today’s master in marketing: When I asked what his pie-in-the-sky marketing dream was, he sighed like Ahab hunting the white whale. “I would love to get cast members from The Bear” — Hulu’s Chicago-set show ” — “to record announcements or do videos for us, highlighting what a Chicago icon we are.”“We’ve had quite a few cameos in it, and it’s made us look really good.”Any guesses?
How Much Does a Super Bowl Ad Cost [& Does It Get ROI]? A Data-Backed Deep Dive

Jan 27, 2025 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

Whether you’re a diehard Super Bowl fan or, like me, prefer watching superb owls, you gotta admit: Super Bowl commercials are pretty great. They’re also pretty expensive. And still, Fox, which holds the rights to Super Bowl LIX, easily sold all the ad spots for the big game on February 9, 2025. Let’s take a look at what goes into the most expensive TV ads in the world, how much they’ve cost throughout the history of the big game, and what brands are really getting out of them.
How to Write a Content Brief [Template + Examples]

Jan 23, 2025 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

I've worked in a lot of different industries — as a freelancer, as a manager of freelancers, as a marketer, as a writer — and you know what never changes? The need for content creators to be crystal clear on their assignments. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to write content briefs. Don't be deceived, though: Even though a content brief is simple, it's still important to get it right. Table of ContentsWhat is a content brief? What is a content brief?
A Step-by-Step Guide to How I Do Content Research

Jan 21, 2025 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

I love to do content research — what's more satisfying than falling down a few Google rabbit holes? (Don't answer that.) Of course, great marketing content is built on more than just Google search results. I've put together a six-step guide to how I do my own content research for HubSpot blog posts using a real-life example. Table of ContentsWhat is content research? What is content research?
A Data-Backed Guide to Newsletter Content Strategy: 17 Formats & Topics Driving ROI for Hundreds of Newsletter Creators

Dec 4, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

Newsletters are having a moment. My inbox is near saturation point, and I still keep discovering more newsletters I want to subscribe to. Based on a survey of 500+ newsletter operators and a handful of interviews with experts, I am sure of at least one thing: Newsletters aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. If you want to start a newsletter, whether on behalf of a large business or your personal brand, I’ve built you a guide filled with data, expert advice, formats, and topic ideas.
B2B Newsletter Marketing: How It Differs From Email Promotions & What Brands Can Learn from Independent Producers

Nov 25, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Laura M. Browning

If you’re like me, you only open a small fraction of the (dozens? hundreds?) email newsletters you've subscribed to. So I set out to find what those really good newsletters, the ones you open on the regular, have in common. Email newsletters have been floating around in the zeitgeist for some time now, especially as more writers have left online publishers to make it on their own.