Media training 101 for small businesses

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Great news: you just scored a big press interview to promote your business. The story will expose your brand to the perfect new audience and drive meaningful traffic to your website. So…don't blow it. Yes, just as quickly as the excitement for the opportunity arrived, the realization that you now have to do an interview sets in. I get it—press interviews can absolutely be intimidating. The resulting coverage represents a significant opportunity to acquire new customers, drive sales, or raise awareness, and you want to be sure to represent your brand well and really compel the audience to check out your company. On top of that, you have to contend with adrenaline and nerves in the moment. You may be thinking, "So many other business owners are so polished and articulate in their interviews. How am I going to pull that off?" Deep breath. A successful interview is usually the result of good media training: preparation and practice in advance of an interview. I've tr
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I'm a marketer that relies on GSuite. Where should I start with Zapier?

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I'm a marketer that relies on GSuite. Where should I start with Zapier?
— Lisa B

We're answering this question as part of Ask Zapier, a series where we answer questions submitted by Zapier blog readers and social followers. If you'd like to ask us a question about automation, Zapier, productivity, apps, remote work, or anything else that's not quite right to send to our support team, scroll to the bottom of this article and enter it in the form.

The good news: There are many ways to set up automated marketing workflows for Google apps—now known as Google Workplace—using Zapier.

How to get started with Zapier

No matter what your role or industry, if you're just getting started with Zapier, these are the things we recommend:

Identify the tasks you'd like to automate

Good candidates for automation meet one or more of these criteria:

  • Are repetitive
  • Happen on a schedule
  • Involve moving information from one app into another

For more on how Zapier works, check out our Zapier demo page. You can also learn more in our articles about when to automate a task and what tasks to automate.

Confirm that your apps are available on the Zapier platform

The easiest way to research this is to visit our App Directory, where you can search for a specific app or browse by category. On the Integrations tab you'll be able to learn more about popular Zaps for that app, and see the different ways the app works on Zapier.

Set aside some time to learn and play

Automation is an enormous time-saver, but it can take a little bit of fiddling to get it working just right. We've got more tips on getting started at the end of this article.

Automating Google apps on Zapier

First, more than 20 Google apps are on the Zapier platform. We work with mainstays like Gmail, Google Sheets, YouTube, Google Contacts, and Google Analytics. If automating your Google apps is your primary need, we put together a guide collecting some of the most popular workflows Zapier users create with Google apps.

Here are a few examples:

Marketing automation with Zapier and Google apps

Marketers use Zapier to help them automate things like tracking leads, sending emails, social media posting, and building email lists. To accomplish these tasks with the help of Google apps, we recommend these Zaps as good starting points:

Automatically send email notifications

Send an email to yourself or your team when something happens in a marketing app.

Track information in a Google Sheet

Send survey responses, social followers, and marketing campaign information to a spreadsheet for easy tracking.

Learn more about ways to automate Google Sheets.

Put your calendar to work

Use Zapier to automatically add events to your calendar, or connect events to project or task management apps to help you streamline your processes.

Bring context to your calendar by connecting other apps.

Keep up with and respond to reviews on Google My Business

Customer reviews are important. Zapier can help you automatically track reviews in a spreadsheet, and automatically respond to new reviews.

Automate your Google Ads campaigns

Running an ad campaign comes with extra tasks. Use automation to stay on top of things, by automating posts to social media or setting time for you to review how things are going.

Note: If you're outside your trial period, you'll need a paid Zapier account to automate Google Ads.

Getting started with automation

If all this seems like a lot to get started with, we're here to help.

For people who prefer to read up before getting started, our help center is full of resources. If you'd rather see things in action, the Zapier 101 video series is a great starting place. The first three lessons cover what you need to start automating some of your most common tasks.

And for something highly focused, our quick-start guide to Zapier helps you set up a simple Zap, using an example that collects form responses in a spreadsheet.

More interactive assistance is also available. In the Zapier community, you can post your own questions or participate in discussions and read up on previous topics. We've also got an excellent support team that works over email to troubleshoot specific problems. Or you canhire a certified Zapier expert to help you set everything up exactly how you want it.

Ask Zapier

If you have a question you'd like us to answer, submit it here. We're taking general questions about automation, Zapier, remote work, productivity, or apps, but are not able to answer specific questions about your account or troubleshoot a Zap.

Fill out the form below to submit your question. Note: For help with your account, please contact our support team.

Don't see the form? Click here to be taken to it on a new page.



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