Mandy Bray

Indianapolis

Writer and Content Strategist at Freelance

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Articles

AI with Agency: How Autonomous Agents Solve Business Problems & Improve Customer Experience

2 weeks ago | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

When you hear the word agent, what do you think of? A real estate agent, an insurance agent, or even an FBI agent? Far beyond an assistant following rote instructions, an agent has the power and ability to make things happen on your behalf. Wouldn’t it be great if we had technology that could carry out independent tasks and take work off your plate? Autonomous agents are rapidly becoming a reality, capable of completing tasks for humans ranging from mundane to complex.
Is B2B Telemarketing Making a Resurgence? Here’s What the Experts Say

1 month ago | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

Like many professionals, I face a deluge of sales messages every day. It’s easy to tune out emails, display ads, and LinkedIn messages. But a phone call? Love it or hate it, it captures my attention. I set out to discover if B2B telemarketing is dead in 2025, or if it’s due for a comeback. I talked to sales experts and dug into data to find out whether cold calling still has a place in the modern sales strategy.
Entrepreneurial Marketing: Find New Customers on a Shoestring Budget [+Expert Tips]

1 month ago | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

Every time I talk to other small business owners or hop on LinkedIn, I hear the same refrain. It’s getting harder to find new customers. I’m not sure what marketing mix will work this year. It’s a tough time to be a startup or small business — 81% of small business owners say they’re worried about how the economy will affect their business. As a small business owner, I can attest that it’s hard to invest your hard-earned revenue and time into marketing.
I Took a Deep Dive Into PERT to Create More Accurate Time Estimates [+ Templates, Examples, and Formula]

2 months ago | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

As the owner of a content business, I need to make accurate project estimates. If a project takes longer than estimated, I’ll end up with frustrated clients and a backlog of other projects. I could also miss out on potential repeat business and referrals. To make a realistic estimate, it’s not only my own time management and capacity that I need to consider. Hiccups like sickness, lengthy internal reviews, and mismatched expectations can derail a project.
Creating a Stellar Retail Customer Experience - My Complete Guide

Dec 19, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

In marketing, where I’ve spent my career, my mission is to nudge customers to buy. But sometimes marketers focus so much on the funnel that they forget about making a great experience. When retail customer experience (CX) is poor, customers may walk away. But when you create a memorable experience, you’ll earn a brand advocate and repeat business. 81% of customers say a positive customer service experience increases the chance they’ll make another purchase, so CX impacts your bottom line.
The Ins-and-Outs of Content Optimization, Straight From a Marketer

Dec 16, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

Over the past three years, I’ve written over 200 marketing content pieces from blog posts to guides to landing pages. Over that time, I’ve witnessed more and more brands investing not just in new content, but in content optimization. It makes sense why content marketing teams are optimizing their content. Brands that produce hundreds of pieces of content each year suddenly find themselves with a library of thousands of outdated blog posts that erode brand trust and drag down their SEO.
How to (Almost) Predict the Future With AI Financial Forecasting

Dec 10, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

Imagine if you could pinpoint when you’ll have the cash flow to hire another employee, or how a supply chain disruption would affect your business. As a small business owner, I’m not a financial expert and I can’t predict the future. What I can’t learn or do myself, I automate. That’s how I started using AI for financial forecasting. While AI in finance is useful for entrepreneurs, it’s helping companies of all sizes make more accurate predictions and better, data-based decisions.
6 Reputation Recovery Strategies to Build Customer Trust

Nov 5, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

Sir Richard Branson famously said, “All you have in business is your reputation.” A reputation at its core is trust. How much do your customers trust you? Trust in brands is going down across the board. Only 30% of consumers highly trust the companies they do business with. Trust is rare and valuable — if you can keep it. When you’re facing a crisis, your reputation is most vulnerable.
Surviving a Business Reputation Crisis: Tips from My Time in Public Relations

Nov 5, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

In 2022, Lyft’s earning release went out with a high-profile typo in it. Volatile after-hours trading ensued, sending investors and media into a frenzy. Instead of staying silent or sending out a curt correction, Lyft CEO David Risher took to the phones to call the media himself and set the record straight. Not only did this endear him to the public and swing the media coverage back in Lyft’s favor, but it gave him a platform to talk about Lyft’s positive financial performance that quarter.
Designing an Event Marketing Budget? Here’s What Experts Recommend

Oct 18, 2024 | blog.hubspot.com | Mandy Bray

The year I turned 30, I started a new job. The role was a management position and carried strategic responsibility for marketing, communications and PR — all things I was excited about. Also tucked in the job description? Event planning for a festival and various smaller events. I didn’t know it yet, but I was about to take a crash course in event marketing. Event marketing is planning and executing an event with the goal of promoting a brand and its products and services.