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If you’re just getting started with local SEO, this Google My Business guide is the perfect spot to kick things off.

Even though GMB looks simple and pretty intuitive, there are a lot of things to pay attention to. You’ll really benefit from it only if your listing is set up right.

Remember — when people search for a product or service near them, they’re usually very close to making a purchase. One in two people who conduct a local search (think “watch repair near me”) visit a store that day.

So it’s important the information about your business that shows up when people search Google is as accurate, complete, and optimized as possible.

In this article, I’ll show you how to create your Google My Business account, verify your business, make your listing as strong as possible, and more — with some expert guidance along the way.

Table of Contents

• What is Google My Business?
• Is Google My Business free?
• Google My Business Benefits
• How to Create a Google My Business Listing
• How to Verify Your Business on Google
• How to Optimize Your GMB Listing
• Google My Business App — Does It Exist?

But wait … do I need Google My Business or Google Business Profile? 🧐

They’re the same thing. It used to be called Google My Business, and a lot of people still call it that, even though it’s now Google Business Profile. To keep things simple, in this piece, we’ll stick with the old name most folks are familiar with.

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Google My Business Benefits

Let’s explore the key six benefits of Google Business Profile and how it can help you get noticed online and bring in more local customers by putting all the important info right where people can see it.

1. Increased Visibility and Better Rankings

According to Safari Digital, 46% of all Google searches are driven by local intent. Plus, 97% of people search online to find nearby stores, and in 2023, 28% of those local searches ended in a purchase.

So, what does Google My Business do for you?

It boosts your business’s presence in Google Search and Maps, especially in local searches. When someone searches for “near me” services, GMB ensures your business shows up in the top results — if relevant.

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Google looks at various factors, including relevance, distance, and the prominence of the business in the local area. A complete and optimized GMB listing gives Google the data it needs to rank you higher.

• Example: A local pizza place sets up its GMB profile with updated info, like opening hours, pictures of its dishes, and customer reviews. Now, when someone in the neighborhood searches for “pizza delivery,” this restaurant appears in the local 3-pack — the top 3 results on Google Maps — which gets it more foot traffic and delivery orders.

2. Enhanced Customer Engagement

You can directly interact with your customers through Q&A sections and reviews.

Pissed Consumer reports that 75.5% of consumers trust online reviews, so responding to both positive and negative feedback is important for building trust and keeping people engaged.

• Example: A hair salon actively responds to reviews — thanking those who leave positive comments and resolving issues for those who leave negative feedback. This shows they care about customer satisfaction and, at the same time, encourage others to leave reviews.

Expert tip: “We use a tool called BrightLocal to manage all our client reviews in one place. It‘s super helpful for staying organized. Respond to every single review, whether it’s positive or negative. When you respond, try to naturally weave in keywords related to your business and location,” advises Marshal Davis, president of Ascendly Marketing

3. Valuable Insights and Analytics

One of the best things about GMB is its valuable insights into customer behavior.

You can see how customers find your listing (search terms, location), what actions they take (such as calling your business or visiting your website), how many people check out your business via Maps, and how many users interact with you overall.

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• Example: A local café notices through GMB insights that many customers find them using the term “breakfast near me.” Seeing this trend, they decide to promote their breakfast menu more heavily in posts and in-store promotions, leading to an increase in morning visitors.

4. Free Marketing and Advertising

GMB offers free exposure by letting you showcase photos, product or service descriptions, and key updates. This helps potential customers get a solid sense of your business before they even click on your website or step into your store.

The better your profile is optimized, the higher the chances you’ll appear in search results without spending money on PPC ads.

• Example: A florist uses GMB to showcase bouquets and seasonal offers. When people search for “flower delivery,” they can see fresh photos of the latest arrangements, which leads to more calls for orders, especially during holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Without any ad budget, they start appearing in local searches.

5. Mobile Access

All GMB listings are optimized for mobile, so when users search for businesses on their phones, they can quickly get all the info they need — directions, hours, reviews, etc.

This is crucial since 80% of Gen Z, 62% of millennials, 66% of Gen X, 35% of Boomers, and 52% of the general population primarily use mobile search.

• Example: A bakery ensures their GMB listing is complete with an address, contact number, and hours of operation. When someone’s out shopping and searches for “bakery near me,” the listing pops up with a one-click option to call or get directions, driving foot traffic to the store.

6. Simplified Appointment Booking

Service-based businesses can use GMB’s appointment booking feature to let customers schedule appointments directly from the listing. Actually, Publer states that 95% of companies receive appointment requests via Google My Business.

This reduces friction and improves the customer experience by making the process easy and seamless. And that’s exactly what users prefer.

• Example: A beauty spa adds an appointment link to their GMB listing. Clients searching for “facials” or “massage therapy near me” can now book their services directly from the search result, increasing bookings without requiring customers to visit the website first.

How to Create a Google My Business Listing

• Step 1: Log into the Google Account you want to be associated with your business (or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one).
• Step 2: Go to www.google.com/intl/en_us/business/ and select “Manage now.”
• Step 3: Enter your business name.

• Step 4: Choose your business type — online retail, local store, or service business.

• Step 5: Time to choose the category. Select the most accurate category possible — you’re essentially telling Google which type of customers should see your business listing.

Expert tip: “Fill out your profile fully, and don’t limit your brand to one category. GBP lets you add up to 10 different sub-categories to your business beyond your primary option, which can help Google better understand everything you do. Your business isn’t one-dimensional, so add different categories for the full spectrum of your products and services. The more categories you add, the more keywords you’re likely to rank for,” Elisa Daniela Montanari, head of SEO at Wrike.

• Step 6: Enter your business address.

• Step 7: Add your business phone number (optional).

• Step 8: Choose a verification option. If you’re not ready to verify your business yet, click “Try a different method” → “Verify Later.”

How to Verify Your Business on Google

There are several ways to verify your GMB listing:

• By postcard
• By phone
• By email
• Instant verification
• Bulk verification

Postcard Verification

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your business address is correct. Optional: Add a contact name — that’s who the postcard will be addressed to.

• Step 3: Click “Mail.” The postcard should reach you in five days — make sure you don’t edit your business name, address, or category (or request a new code) before it comes, because this could delay the process.
• Step 4: Once you’ve gotten the postcard, log into Google My Business. If you have more than one business location, select the location you want to verify. If you only have one, select “Verify now.”
• Step 5: In the Code field, enter the five-digit verification code on your postcard. Click “Submit.”

If your postcard never shows up or you lose it, you can request a new code by signing into Google My Business and clicking the “Request another code” blue banner at the top of the screen.

Phone Verification

Google lets some businesses verify their location by phone. If you‘re eligible, you’ll see the “Verify by phone” option when you start the verification process.

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your phone number is correct, then choose “Verify by phone.”

• Step 3: Enter the verification code from the text you receive.

Email Verification

Google lets some businesses verify their location by phone. If you‘re eligible, you’ll see the “Verify by email” option when you start the verification process.

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your email address is correct, then choose “Verify by email.”
• Step 3: Go to your inbox, open the email from Google My Business, and click the verification button in the email.

Instant Verification

If you‘ve already verified your business with Google Search Console (a free tool that lets you manage your website’s search performance and health), you might be able to instantly verify your email.

• Step 1: Sign into Google My Business with the same account you used to verify your business with Google Search Console. (Some business categories aren‘t eligible for instant verification, so if you don’t get a notification asking you to verify the listing, you’ll have to use a different verification method.)

Bulk Verification

If you operate more than 10 locations for the same business — and you’re not a service business or an agency managing locations for multiple businesses — you might be eligible for bulk verification.

• Step 1: If you aren’t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose a location. Click “Get verified” next to its name.
• Step 2: Click “Chain.”
• Step 3: Fill out the verification form with your business name (as well as the parent company, if applicable), country or countries where you operate, all contact names (i.e., everyone who will be using the Google My Business account), contact phone number, business manager email (someone at the business who can verify you’re a representative of that business), and the email address of your Google Account Manager.
• Step 4: Submit the verification form. It can take up to a week for Google to review and process your claim.

How to Optimize Your GMB Listing

Once you‘ve verified your business, it’s time to finish fleshing out your profile.

Go to the Google My Business dashboard, click the listing you’d like to work on, select “Info,” and then choose a section to fill out or update.

Add as much information and media as you can, including a business profile photo, the area you serve, your hours, attributes (e.g., “wheelchair accessible,” “free wifi”), the day and year you opened, and a public phone number and website URL.

Anyone can “suggest an edit” to your listing by clicking on the three dots in the right corner, so it‘s important to A) get everything right the first time (so you don’t encourage random people to make their own changes) and B) periodically log into your GMB dashboard and make sure all the details look right.

At any point in time, you can edit your business profile by logging into your GMB dashboard, clicking on “Info,” clicking the pencil next to the field you’d like to edit, making your change, and then choosing “Apply.”

Expert tip: “Create a listing for each location and skip the copy-and-paste. Each description should be unique so Google can tell these are two different businesses operating under the same umbrella. If each profile is a carbon copy, it could look suspicious to Google, and your ranking may suffer. That said, you shouldn’t need to manage everything manually, so use a tool to manage multiple profiles from a centralized location,” says Brooke Webber, head of marketing at Ninja Patches

Regarding optimizing your listing, I also spoke with Sergey Galanin, the SEO director at Phonexa, who pointed out that one common mistake is not keeping the details on your website in sync with your GMB.

If there’s inconsistency between your site and GMB, it can confuse potential customers. They might come across conflicting information and get skeptical about your business and what you offer.

This can lead to lost customers, a negative online reputation, and even bad reviews. Worst case, Google could even penalize your business for having mismatched information.

Google My Business Photos

According to Google, businesses with photos see 35% more clicks to their website and 42% higher requests for driving directions in Google Maps.

Ditch the generic stock photos and showcase what makes your business unique.

Think photos of your team in action, happy customers enjoying your products, or behind-the-scenes peeks at your process, says Marshal Davis.

Photos should be at least 720 pixels wide by 720 pixels high and JPG or PNG files.

Not sure how many pictures to add — or what they should be of?

Cover photo

Your Google My Business cover photo is one of the most important, as it shows up front and center on your listing.

Profile photo

Your profile photo is what appears when you upload new photos, videos, or review responses.

Along with your profile and cover photos, you can and should upload other pictures to make your listing more informative and engaging.

Type	Description	Google-recommended minimum	Suggestions
Exterior	The outside of your business from different directions.	Three photos	Use pictures from different times of day (morning, afternoon, evening) so customers always recognize your business.
Interior	The inside of your business, with a focus on decor and ambiance.	Three photos	Give customers an accurate idea of what it will look like to stand or sit inside your business.
Product	A representation of the types of products or services you offer.	One photo per product type or service	Show the products you’re known for and make sure the photos are lit well.
Employees at work	“Action” shots of your employees delivering the types of services you offer.	Three	Try to capture your employees with satisfied customers.
Food and drink	Pictures that represent your most popular menu items.	Three	Consider hiring a food photographer — these are tricky to get right! If that’s not in the budget, use bright, even lighting (i.e. no shadows or dimness).
Common areas	Photos of where your customers will spend time (think a lobby or lounge).	One photo per common area	Represent the variety of amenities you offer.
Rooms	Pictures of your different room and suite options (if applicable).	Three	Don’t try to mislead guests — show your wallet-friendly and high-end options.
Team	A shot of your management team and staff.	Three	Use pictures that show your unique culture and team personality.

Google My Business Videos

You can also add videos. Videos must be:

• 30 seconds or shorter
• 100 MB or smaller
• 720p resolution or higher

Videos can add some variety to your profile and make you stand out among other businesses in your category; however, don‘t worry if you don’t have any. Unlike photos, they’re not a “must-have.”

Google My Business Reviews

One of the best ways to encourage future customers to leave positive reviews? Respond to current ones. Not only does leaving an appreciative response show the original reviewer you’re thankful for their support, but it also makes that positive review stand out on your listing and influences people to leave their own reviews.

Here’s a sample reply to a satisfied customer:

Thank you for your business, [name]! We‘re so glad you enjoyed [product, e.g., “the blueberry pie”] — it’s one of our favorites, as well. Hope to see you back at [business name] soon.

You should also respond to negative reviews to show you take them seriously and placate the unhappy buyer. But make sure you’re extremely courteous — attacking them back will only make you look unprofessional and their review more credible.

Thank you for the feedback, [name], and I‘m incredibly sorry [product/experience] did not meet your expectations. [If you’ve made a change, mention it here — e.g., “We’re now double-checking orders to make sure everyone gets exactly what they asked for.”] If you‘d like to come back in, we’d be happy to give you [product] on the house. In any case, thanks for your business, and I hope we can do better next time.

Google My Business App — Does It Exist?

The Google My Business app is gone. To keep your Business Profile fresh and connect with customers, use the Google Maps app and Google Search instead.

Simply open the Google Maps app on your phone and go to the “Business” tab to manage your profile easily. Use the same Google Account linked to your Business Profile.

The Google Maps app offers most features of the old Google My Business app. You can:

• Add or claim your business to show up on Google.
• Edit your business info, like address, hours, or photos.
• Respond to customer messages or calls.
• Set up notifications for your mobile device.
• Manage your reviews.
• Check your performance metrics.
• Advertise your business.

Download the Google Maps app on both iOS and Android.

Do I need a Google My Business account?

As my final piece of advice: If you run a local business and don’t have Google My Business, it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

I dare to say it’s your best chance to get noticed by customers nearby and show them exactly what you offer. Plus, it lets you connect with them through reviews and posts, which helps build trust in your community.

And thanks to all the insights you get from GMB analytics, it’s easier than ever to fine-tune your marketing and find what works.

Bottom line? Google My Business is a free, powerful tool that drives local traffic right to your door. Don’t sleep on it. 🙂

P.S. Speaking of getting noticed, if you’re ready to launch your own business, check out our free Business Startup Kit. It includes nine easy templates to help you come up with a catchy name, create a solid business plan, and pitch your idea to investors. Figuring out startup costs or planning your marketing strategy? This guide has everything you need to get started.

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

As a startup founder or marketing leader, you’ve likely heard the mantra “distribution is everything.” But what does that really mean, and how do you put it into practice?

Building a great product is hard, but it’s only half the battle. The real challenge is getting that product in front of the right customers — repeatedly, and at scale.

For most startups, this is where things fall apart. In my experience, many founders either get stuck trying to sell to fewer customers at a higher price or chase thousands of lower-priced customers. As a result, they end up stretching their resources too thin and fail to create sustainable growth.

The solution is to build a scalable distribution engine. But how do you set up a system that consistently delivers results, while still balancing your current channels and marketing strategy?

In a recent Marketing Against the Grain episode, Kieran and I unpack why startups need to prioritize distribution from day one — and how to design a distribution system that works.

Check Your Numbers: Why a Startup Distribution Strategy is Critical

Let’s get real about the math. Most Series A or B startups are selling to mid-market companies with annual contract values of $5,000-$12,000. To achieve the growth investors expect, you have two options:

1. Go upmarket and increase your ACV to $250,000+. This is incredibly difficult and, in my experience, most fail.
2. Acquire thousands of customers at your current price point. This requires a powerful distribution engine.

The reality is, most startups never invest enough time in building that engine — and without it, they’re at a standstill.

The key is to design a distribution system that’s both predictable and high-leverage. Why? Because predictability gives you forecasting power, while leverage allows you to acquire customers efficiently.

Here’s how to approach it.

How to Build a Startup Distribution Engine

Having worked with countless startups (and helped build HubSpot’s own distribution engine from the ground up), Kieran and I have learned a thing or two about mastering distribution. Here are our top four tips.

1. Identify your product-channel fit.

Startups often talk about product-market fit — but just as critical is product-channel fit. In other words: which distribution channels best align with your product, attract customers, and allow for repeatable growth at scale?

At HubSpot, for example, we built our distribution strategy alongside our product development. Since our product was built around inbound marketing, we focused on channels like content marketing and SEO, which attracted our target audience while simultaneously (and conveniently) showcasing the actual value of our own product.

By aligning our distribution strategy with what HubSpot was designed to do — inbound marketing — we ensured that both our product and channels organically grew together in a way that was scalable and repeatable.

2. Balance predictability and creativity.

One of the toughest challenges of building a startup distribution engine is balancing predictability with creativity. You need reliable, predictable channels to fuel steady growth, but you also need to take creative risks to find the high-leverage opportunities that will propel your business forward.

A great example here is Abercrombie & Fitch. Once a brand in decline, they reimagined their distribution strategy by using influencers and social video to reach a new, younger audience.

While they still relied on predictable channels like social media, they added a creative twist by rebranding their image and using influencers to drive authenticity. This balance helped them thrive — outpacing even fast-growing companies like Nvidia for a period.

At HubSpot, we followed a similar path. In the early days, paid advertising drove about 50% of our demand, providing predictability. But as we scaled, we invested more in creative, high-leverage channels like search, flipping the ratio to where search eventually generated 60% of our demand — an absolute game changer for our scaling strategy.

Pro tip: Look at affiliate programs or creator collaborations to add creative twists to predictable channels. These types of partnerships can offer unique distribution angles that set you apart from competitors.

3. Find unique leverage points.

As Kieran points out during the podcast, the most successful distribution strategies find a unique angle within existing channels. Especially when a channel is already crowded, it’s no longer enough to just participate — you have to stand out.

A great example of this is Genius.com, which became the top lyric site by adding user-generated content like annotations to song lyrics. This feature increased each page’s value and helped them rank higher in search engines — not because they had the best product, but because they found a new way to use user interaction to boost visibility and engagement.

Pro tip: Segment your distribution channels into “known” (predictable) and “unknown” (risky, high-impact) categories. This helps you balance stable growth while testing new, high-upside channels.

4. Find asymmetric opportunities.

Distribution success often comes from identifying asymmetric opportunities — channels or strategies that offer disproportionately high returns with relatively low input. These opportunities typically arise from an ability to see what others miss.

As Kieran explains, “To get real leverage in distribution, you need someone who can creatively explore unproven areas while still applying process and rigor.” This means your team can’t just be focused on optimizing what’s already working — they need to be competitive, inventive, and unafraid to experiment.

A powerful example of this was a company I worked with in Brazil, which was targeting heads of logistics in a niche B2B market. Instead of going after traditional channels, we found an asymmetric opportunity by licensing popular business content (like James Clear’s Atomic Habits) and adapting it into Portuguese. This created a unique, localized offering that resonated with their audience in a way no one else was doing.

Don’t Neglect Distribution

Distribution isn’t a side concern for startups — it’s everything. To scale your business, you need a startup distribution engine that’s both predictable and capable of delivering high-leverage growth.

By focusing on the right channels, balancing predictability with creativity, and always looking for asymmetric opportunities, you’ll be in a much stronger position to grow your business.

To learn more about marketing startup distribution engine strategies, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:

This blog series is in partnership with Marketing Against the Grain, the video podcast. It digs deeper into ideas shared by marketing leaders Kipp Bodnar (HubSpot’s CMO) and Kieran Flanagan (SVP, Marketing at HubSpot) as they unpack growth strategies and learn from standout founders and peers.

I have been freelancing for nearly 6 years now (gosh, time flies). Initially I didn’t formalize my agreements with clients — no signed documents or contracts.

But as I gained more experience, I realized that if I wanted to grow my business I had to set ground rules and put them in writing. Once I introduced contracts, which included a statement of work, working with clients became much easier.

There is something about contracts that encourages (most) people to follow the rules. The more work you take on, the more important it is to organize it properly.

Trust me, scaling your business without a contract is hard, if not impossible, to do. So in today’s post I am going to discuss what a statement of work is and how to create one.

Table of Contents

• What is a statement of work?
• Purpose of a Statement of Work
• Types of SOWs
• Components of an SOW

Download this free project proposal template from HubSpot.

SOW vs. Contract

A contract is a legal agreement between two companies, or an employer and employee, that describes the completion of specific work for an agreed rate.

While both SOWs and contracts are crucial in business and project management, they serve different functions.

Let’s take a more detailed look at how these two documents differ.

Purpose

An SOW acts as a detailed project plan that explains what must be done. It mainly focuses on tasks and deliverables.

A contract, on the other hand, creates a legal framework for the relationship between parties. It sets terms and conditions, which guide the relationship along with rights and responsibilities. It explains in detail what will happen if one of the parties fails to deliver on the agreed terms.

Content and Structure

An SOW covers project details, including tools, methodologies, timelines, acceptance criteria, etc. Unlike a contract, it’s written in easy to understand language, without any jargon.

Contracts include broader terms and conditions like liability, termination clauses, payment, and dispute resolution procedures. They use formal legal language to guarantee enforceability.

Legal Binding Nature

On its own a SOW is not legally binding. It mainly acts as project guidelines. A contract is a standalone legal agreement, which if breached can draw legal consequences.

Level of Detail

An SOW is project specific and therefore very detailed. It describes what needs to be done and when, and can include technical specifications. A contract is more generic, offering a high level overview of the relationship. You can use one contract for multiple projects.

Flexibility and Changes

SOWs can be modified if needed; if the scope of work changes or more work is required, you can simply add it to the SOW.

Just bear in mind that you might need approval from relevant stakeholders. It’s not as easy to modify a contract. It usually requires formal amendments and adherence to legal protocols. Also, changes can only be made through mutual agreement.

Use Cases

A SOW is often used in project management contexts, such as marketing campaigns or IT projects that call for specific deliverables and timelines. They’re particularly useful when multiple stakeholders are involved.

A contract can be used virtually in any context, including vendor contracts, employment, and service agreements. It’s especially beneficial to have one in place for long-term collaborations.

Statement of Work vs. Scope of Work

A scope of work is usually part of a statement of work. Occasionally, it can act as a standalone document. It includes information on project size, team goals, and steps required to finalize the project. While these two terms are often used interchangeably, they refer to different project management concepts. Here are the main differences.

Purpose

The main aim of an SOW is to give a detailed overview of the project and make sure that everyone involved understands their responsibilities and expectations.

The scope of work, as the name suggests, defines what a project includes — what’s covered and what’s not. Defining specific tasks and deliverables prevents scope creep.

Content and Structure

An SOW covers project objectives, roles and responsibilities, timeline, payment terms, etc. It focuses on both the “what” and “how” (i.e., the methodology).

The scope of work contains detailed information on the tasks and deliverables, such as a description of the work to be performed, project objectives and goals, key milestones, constraints, and exclusions.

Legal Binding Nature

Both of them can be legally binding if they’re included in the contract. As standalone documents, they have no legal power.

Level of Detail

Since an SOW covers many project details beyond the scope, it’s more comprehensive.

The scope of work focuses specifically on the work to be done, and includes high-level timelines and deliverables without going into depth on management and execution.

Flexibility and Changes

Modifying an entire SOW can be more challenging, as it covers multiple aspects of the project, and a single change can impact various components. It might also require formal approval.

The scope of work, on the other hand, is easier to change as it only applies to the work involved. While it might still require stakeholder approval, a change won’t necessarily impact other parts of the project.

Use Cases

The scope of work is part of an SOW, and both are used in complex projects that need detailed information to guarantee successful delivery. For simpler projects, the scope of work can be used as a separate document to define a task.

Both of these documents are often included within a contract to provide a full overview of the agreement.

Purpose of a Statement of Work

The main aim of the statement of work is to make sure that all parties clearly understand their roles and responsibilities. Whenever I start working with a new client, I sign a contract that includes a statement of work.

I outline when they have to deliver project briefs, how many revisions they’re entitled to, what will happen if they fail to provide feedback on time, and so on.

Including such details not only helps me deliver projects on time, but also helps avoid misunderstandings. It also allows for some flexibility in how we work together.

Types of SOWs

Design

Design SOWs revolve around the design and development of services or products, but you’ve probably figured it out on your own. They list specific design-related tasks, like research, prototyping, and testing.

The contractor’s role is to deliver a design, which is in line with client requirements. The SOW outlines milestones for design evaluations and approvals.

The website design template below gives you an idea of what this type of SOW could look like.

Level of Effort

If you’re unsure how long it will take you to finalize the project, or what resources you’ll need, it’s best to go with the level of effort SOW.

Also referred to as time and material, this approach involves paying for the hours worked along with any materials used to do the job.

This type of statement of work is usually used in consulting services or agile projects, which are prone to changing requirements.

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Performance-Based

Performance-based SOWs prioritize project outcomes over the process. They provide an overview of the goals and objectives that contractors are obliged to achieve. Payments depend on the achievement of the predefined metrics.

This type of SOW is best used when you have a specific objective in mind, for example, increasing online sales by 30%.

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Components of an SOW

Let’s take a look at what should be included in a statement of work. Since I am a freelance content marketer, I’ll use examples from my own projects related to SEO blog writing.

Introduction

This section explains the work that will be done and gives general information about the project, including who will be involved.

In my case, the introduction could be:

“This Statement of Work outlines the SEO blog writing services to be provided by Anna Rubkiewicz for HubSpot. The project involves creating optimized blog content to improve organic search rankings, drive traffic, and engage target audiences. Both parties agree to the terms outlined in this document.”

Purpose Statement

The purpose statement addresses the reasons for starting the project. It discusses the main objectives, covers deliverables, and defines what success looks like for different stakeholders.

Here is an example:

“The purpose of this project is to enhance HubSpot‘s online presence through SEO-focused blog content. The key objectives include increasing website traffic, improving search engine rankings, and providing valuable information to the target audience. The project aims to deliver 12 high-quality blog posts over the course of 4 months that align with the client’s content strategy.”

Scope of Work

This section lists all the tasks which should be completed on the project. It provides a detailed overview of the processes, including time frames (they can be estimated), and a project scope which includes all the vital information.

“Anna Rubkiewicz will provide the following services:

• Research and identify relevant topics based on SEO keywords provided by the client.
• Write 12 blog posts (approximately 1,500 words each) optimized for search engines.
• Include internal and external links where appropriate.
• Provide meta titles and descriptions for each blog post.
• Include graphics with alt text.”

I complete projects on a monthly basis so if I agree to deliver three articles per month, I state in the SOW that I will deliver all articles by the end of the month.

Where the Work Will Be Done

This part explains where the work will be done, remotely or at a specific location.

It also details all the equipment and software that will be used. I work remotely and communicate with my clients via email or Slack, and deliver all articles in Google Docs.

Tasks

This section breaks down all the steps you included in the scope of work into more detailed tasks. Here is an example:

• Keyword Research. Collaborate with the client to identify target keywords and topics.
• Research and Outline Phase. Research the topic and create an outline.
• Writing Phase. Draft and submit the blog post for client review.
• Revisions. Implement feedback and finalize the blog posts.

Milestones

This is where you include the project timeline, such as the start and finish dates, billable hours, and any other scheduling specifics.

Since I usually work with clients long term, instead of including a finish date, I ask them for one month’s notice if they wish to end our cooperation.

Deliverables

This section lists project deliverables with their due dates and detailed descriptions. It helps set expectations for all the stakeholders. My deliverables would include:

• 3 SEO-optimized blog posts per month (approximately 1,500 words each).
• Meta titles and descriptions for each blog post.
• A report summarizing keyword research and topic selections.

Schedule

In the schedule section, you can include a detailed timeline for each deliverable.

Personally, I don’t include exact dates. Instead, I tell my clients how much time they have to complete a given step.

For example, I give them three days to provide feedback on the outline and three days to review the draft. From my perspective, setting a time limit is the only way to guarantee timely project completion.

Project Success

This part of the SOW defines the success metrics. It could be the delivery of high-quality blog posts that are well-written and SEO optimized and generate organic traffic after publication.

Project Requirements

List everything you need to successfully deliver the project, including tools and equipment.

Whenever the project involves keyword research, I ask the client to grant me access to Google Analytics and export the keywords they’re currently ranking for.

I also put a strong emphasis on regular communication and timely feedback.

Payment Terms

This is probably one of the most important sections for any freelancer or business owner. It outlines how you’ll get paid — upfront or after delivering the project — and details how much time the client has to settle the invoice.

I issue all my invoices at the end of the month and give my clients two weeks to pay via bank transfer.

Here is a ready work-order template from HubSpot that you can download to document the work you’ve performed and ask for payment.

Closure

The closure part explains how deliverables will be accepted and signed off. My clients simply have to email me to confirm that the final draft has been accepted and no further revisions are necessary.

If I submit the final draft and don’t hear back within five days, I assume the article requires no additional revisions and close the task. Naturally, this is something that my clients are aware of and have agreed to.

Start every project with a statement of work.

At first, you might think that creating a SOW is a lot of effort.

But when you consider all the benefits — such as avoiding misunderstandings, setting clear expectations, dividing tasks efficiently, and ensuring timely payments, it quickly proves to be worth it.

Believe me, you cannot grow your business or deliver work on time without creating some ground rules. And if you put those rules in writing, they’ll have even more impact.

I recently purchased an adorable cable-knit sweater on TikTok Shop merely because I saw an influencer post about it.

The pull influencers of all followings have on social media users today is strong.

After all, 63% of consumers will likely buy products promoted by an influencer they trust.

In my role at Nickelodeon, I work in international influencer marketing, so I know how crucial an influencer strategy is to brands of all sizes.

However, we don’t always have the budget to hire the biggest influencers in the game. Enter micro-influencers.

In this guide, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about micro-influencers, including brands that are using them successfully and how you can connect with these individuals to promote your brand.

Table of Contents

• What is a micro-influencer?
• What is influencer marketing?
• The Value of Micro-Influencers
• How to Find Micro-Influencers
• How to Work With Micro-Influencers
• 4 Brands Using Micro-Influencers Successfully

Micro-influencers are social media users, unlike typical celebrities, experts, or public figures. They’re individuals who work or specialize in a particular vertical and frequently share social media content about their interests.

Unlike traditional “influencers,” micro-influencers have a more modest number of followers, but they boast of hyper-engaged audiences.

What is influencer marketing?

Influencer marketing occurs when organizations partner with content creators — users with thousands or even millions of followers — to promote their products or services to the content creator’s audience.

When brands partner with influencers, they can leverage the established trust amongst the influencer’s audience. Consumers are more likely to buy from someone they know, so influencers are extremely effective when it comes to strategies like word-of-mouth marketing or increasing social proof.

Brands often pay influencers to either post content featuring their products or sponsor their events, capturing the influencers’ large reach. However, organic content can also be achieved with some influencers if you establish a barter deal that doesn’t involve monetary payment.

Types of Influencers

Influencers are generally categorized into four groups based on their number of followers.

Nano-influencers

1,000 to 10,000 followers

Often, they’re regular people who have recently developed a higher following.

They are still on the smaller end and may not have the reach a brand is looking for, but their followers are dedicated and engaged in the influencer’s niche, authentic content.

Micro-influencers

10,000 to 100,000 followers

They are stronger than nano-influencers in terms of following while still maintaining a highly engaged audience.

Their content may still be niche, but they may be more likely to branch out to try new concepts and work on targeted marketing campaigns.

Macro-influencers

100,000 to 1,000,000 followers

These influencers are likely well-known by social media users and brands and may already receive several brand partnership requests.

While they have greater reach than nano- and micro-influencers, their content may have less engagement and personalization.

Mega-influencers

More than 1,000,000 followers

They are likely celebrities or massive personalities with huge fees to work with.

While an endorsement from one of these influencers would be huge for a brand, it may not be as worthwhile if they’re promoting many other brands or if their content is overall less genuine.

I think micro-influencers can be the perfect middle ground for brands beginning their influencer marketing strategy. Since they have smaller followings, their fees may be lower and availability greater. However, they still have a larger reach than nano-influencers, making micro-influencer marketing a powerful option.

The Value of Micro-Influencers

A micro-influencer marketing strategy may seem counterintuitive. Why would I seek out someone with a smaller following to promote my brand? Take a look at the following list of reasons micro-influencers might get better results.

Micro-influencers have better engagement rates.

In my experience, the number of followers doesn’t always equate to how well content resonates with those followers.

A great way to track how engaging an influencer’s content is by the number of likes, comments, shares, and saves it receives. This shows that users are going out of their way to interact with the influencer and the post.

Micro-influencers can produce up to 60% more engagement than other types of influencers.

For instance, the average engagement rate on TikTok for micro-influencers ranges from 8.37% to 17.96%, compared to just 4.96% for mega-influencers.

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Micro-influencers have more targeted audiences.

Typically, micro-influencers have more targeted audiences since their content is more niche. People follow them not because they are a popular name but because they’re tuned into the influencer’s content or style.

If I’m a fashion brand building my influencer strategy, I can either partner with one mega-influencer or several micro-influencers. A mega-influencer with 1 million followers has an average engagement rate of 1.21%. That’s approximately 12,100 engagements per post.

However, since mega-influencers have such broad audiences, those 12,100 engagements are likely not all from followers interested in fashion.

Now, if I partner with seven fashion micro-influencers with 50,000 followers each and an average engagement rate of 3.86%, that’s a total of 13,510 engagements.

This method results in more engagements and targets followers interested in fashion who are more likely to become buyers.

Micro-influencers are more affordable.

The highest-paid mega-influencer in the world is Cristiano Ronaldo, who makes a whopping $3.2 million per sponsored post. I’d say most brands can’t afford such a staggering cost for a single post with an influencer.

Micro-influencers are typically much more affordable. Their fees can range from $100 to $1,000 per post, which can help brands afford a breadth of content spanning an entire campaign, rather than a single post.

To do a little more math, you’d have to work with 6,400 micro-influencers at a rate of $500 per post to reach the cost of one sponsored post with Ronaldo. While Ronaldo is obviously an outlier, it’s a good lesson on how brands can better allocate their funds.

At Nickelodeon, we sometimes even work with micro-influencers free of charge as part of a barter deal. For instance, we will produce a custom press mailer promoting a new series and send it to the influencer, who will post about the mailer in exchange for keeping the awesome new products.

Micro-influencers are more authentic.

Micro-influencers are real people, so their Instagram content is real, too.

Instagram users with a few thousand followers likely post their own content, reply to comments, and behave more authentically than a brand or a celebrity with a social media manager might.

If a micro-influencer creates a promotional post on Instagram, their followers might be more inclined to click to learn more about the brand they’re posting about.

Instagram’s algorithm also prioritizes posts in users’ feeds from profiles they follow and interact with, as well as authentic, quality content. That means content from micro-influencers can be shown higher than that of mega-influencers since their content is considered more honest.

TikTok’s algorithm prioritizes content that is diverse and interesting and doesn’t necessarily prioritize content from creators with higher followings. Therefore, micro-influencers still have the chance to be seen more frequently in a user’s FYP (For You page).

Now that I’ve successfully convinced you of the value of micro-influencer marketing, read on for a guide to discovering micro-influencers to work with.

How to Find Micro-Influencers

1. Use influencer discovery tools.

This is my preferred method of discovering influencers. Many influencer discovery tools, such as Traackr and Tagger by Sprout Social, were built with capabilities for this exact purpose.

On the homepage of most influencer marketing tool websites, you will see a button to Request Demo. This allows you to schedule a live demo with a specialist to test if the tool has all the capabilities you need.

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The right influencer marketing tool should have discovery capabilities. This is a dashboard that allows you to search for influencers within the tool’s database.

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For instance, I can use a tool’s Discovery dashboard to discover fashion micro-influencers. I would filter for influencers with 10K to 100K followers.

Then, I would add other filters, such as “Fashion” for the category or topic and “English” for the language. I can also filter for the influencer’s age, audience, average engagement rate, and preferred social media platforms.

When receiving demos, make sure the influencer discovery process is as seamless as possible. The tool should also offer all the information and metrics you need to know about the influencers, such as brand affinity, keywords, average fees, and contact information.

2. Use the search feature on social media platforms.

Another great option for brands starting out who may be wary of investing in an influencer management tool is finding influencers where they are: social media.

I use this method often as it’s quick and organic. Rather than entering lots of information and filters, I can simply scroll through various accounts and see who resonates.

On Instagram, I can search for a topic I’m interested in. For example, I searched “fashion style.” Then, I toggled over to Accounts, so I solely received results of profiles related to this topic, rather than actual posts or locations.

The first several results are usually big, pricey personalities and publications, so I scrolled down for a bit until I started viewing influencers with followers in the micro-influencer range.

The above screenshot shows an account with 66.2K followers.

Next, I clicked on accounts that interested me, such as @just_trish_style, and viewed their profiles. This gives me a good idea of the types of content they post, as well as any brand partnerships they have recently conducted. This information will help me decide if the influencers are a good fit.

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If I’d like to reach out to an influencer I discovered on social media, I can first check their bio. Many influencers share an email for their management directly in their bio, as seen in the example above. If there isn’t an email listed, I can send a direct message and express my interest in working with them.

A similar tactic involves searching for hashtags rather than keywords. Use the same search bar and type in a relevant hashtag. For instance, I searched #nycfashion in the Tags tab and got dozens of results for related hashtags.

I want to avoid any hashtags with millions or hundreds of thousands of posts as this will make it more difficult to sift through the crowd of both influencers and regular users using those hashtags.

So, I scrolled down until I found #nycfashioninfluencer which had 1,000+ posts. I clicked on the hashtag, which automatically searched for it in the For you tab.

I clicked on a post that interested me, which navigated me to that influencer’s profile.

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The account has 49.1K followers, so it falls in the micro-influencer range. I like the rest of @bria__bryant’s profile, so I can then reach out to the email listed in her bio.

3. See who similar brands are partnering with.

Another option that also involves using social media is checking out the competition. While you likely don’t want to hire the same influencers competitors use, it’s helpful to get a sense of the types of influencers that have worked for similar brands.

Most brands will either incorporate the influencer directly into a post on their profile or create a collab post with an influencer. Otherwise, they may have re-shared an influencer’s post onto their Story or in-feed. Regardless, you should be able to view some of their influencer content on their account.

Get started by searching for related brand accounts on Instagram. For instance, if I work for a women’s fashion brand, I can search for Lisa Says Gah, a woman-run, ethical, independent boutique. Scrolling through their profile, I discovered a post in which the brand tagged various micro-influencers modeling its clothing.

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I like the vibe of @vivianyrl, so I navigated to her profile. Here, I clicked the Follow button. Instagram then auto-populates a row of Suggested for you accounts. These are profiles similar to or followed by the account I just followed.

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I decided to check out @aishafarida’s profile. Here, I can see that she’s also a micro-influencer with 25.7K followers.

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I like the types of posts Aïsha posts, which are fashion-forward and aesthetically-curated. For one last check, I clicked on some of the posts in her photo gallery to see if she typically tags brands.

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I can see that in most of Aïsha’s posts, she tags clothing and jewelry brands, which is a good sign. It shows that, if I were to work with Aïsha, it would be in her regular social media style to tag and showcase my fashion brand.

I can now reach out to Aïsha via the contact email listed in her Instagram bio and see if a partnership is possible.

4. Use a search engine.

If conducting this investigative work on social media feels daunting, fear not! You can do very similar research on a search engine.

Search for the kind of influencer you’re looking for. For example, I searched “fashion style micro-influencers” on Google and received several results surrounding my search query.

Upon clicking this link, I scrolled through the list of 10 options. Since this article is from February 2023, some of the influencers have grown in size and are no longer micro-influencers. However, I discovered several great options for fashion-niche micro-influencers, such as @heyimlindz.

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I liked the sound of her style, so I navigated to her Instagram account. I prefer scrolling on social media on my phone rather than on my laptop, so I manually searched her account there. However, many articles like this have direct links to social media profiles, which saves time.

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Lindsey’s profile fits the personality of my fashion brand and has 31K followers, falling in the micro-influencer range. I then checked out some of her posts as I did for Aisha’s Instagram.

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I can see that Lindsey tags fashion brands and promotes their products directly.

She also mentions unique shop discount codes for her followers. This is someone I’d be interested in working with to get the word out about my brand, so I can reach out to the email in her bio or DM her.

I can follow this same process on a search engine to find other similar micro-influencers. If the search results don’t turn out satisfactorily or the results are too broad, test out different keywords. I suggest using keywords that best represent your brand.

For instance, if I wanted to be more specific, I could try “ethical fashion style micro-influencers” if that value is important to my brand.

Or if we are an NYC-based company looking to work with local influencers, I could search “nyc fashion micro-influencers.”

5. Hire an influencer marketing agency.

I get it — we don’t always have the time to do the boots-on-the-ground work. You may have an entire business to run and can’t continuously spend time doing meticulous research and outreach to dozens or hundreds of micro-influencers.

In this case, it’s smart to hire an agency to handle the legwork. Several influencer marketing agencies specialize in various aspects of an influencer campaign, including outreach, contracts, campaign tracking, and payments.

When researching agencies, keep in mind the following factors:

• Payment. How do their fees compare to competitors? Do they take on an annual retainer or payment per campaign?
• Influencer Database. How many influencers do they have access to? Do they only handle domestic influencers, or can they access influencers globally? Can they discover influencers with as few as 10K followers, or is there a higher follower minimum to filter into their system?
• Clients. Have they worked with clients in your industry before? Do they have metrics to share on past campaign performance?

Once you find the right agency, they should be able to handle the entire influencer discovery and outreach process for you, so long as you brief them on the campaign summary and goals.

Now that you know how to find the right micro-influencers, I will walk you through how to work with those micro-influencers to ensure meaningful, effective campaigns.

How to Work With Micro-Influencers

1. Create an influencer brief for the campaign.

Like with any campaign, the best way to start is with a brief. This is a document that explains the campaign summary and goals to the influencer.

I usually like to keep this document as brief and simple as possible — after all, we don’t want to bore or overwhelm influencers with detailed jargon.

If possible, keep the brief to a single page and include the following:

• Campaign name
• Campaign summary
• Goals
• Messaging requirements
• Target audience
• Deliverables
• Timeline

For example:

Campaign name: Black Friday Sale

Campaign summary: [Fashion brand] is having a massive Black Friday sale this year, and we need your help to get the word out! We will send you a collection of curated pieces that you can style on your social media in your own unique way. Show your audience that now is the time to treat themselves to ethical fashion perfect for a business lunch, family dinner, girls’ night out, and everything in between.

Goals:

• Drive people to our website to make a new purchase.
• Grow awareness of our brand and followers of our social media.
• Show your followers that we are the hot new brand for young, trendy women.

Messaging requirements:

• Use my code [NAME]10 for an additional 10% off your order!
• All clothes, shoes, and accessories will be/are 30% off!
• Follow [brand handle].

Target audience:

• Gen Z and young Millennials (ages 15-35).
• Females or anyone who appreciates feminine clothing.

Deliverables:

• 1 long-form Reel/TikTok.
• 2 short-form videos or static Stories.

Timeline:

• Concepts due: November 1.
• First drafts due: November 8.
• Final edited versions due: November 15.
• Story 1 post: Week of November 18.
• Reel/TikTok post: Week of November 25.
• Story 2 post: November 29 (day of).

This brief shows the influencer that I’m taking their work seriously while giving them the information and tools they need to be successful.

I try to share the brief at least one week before the first due date to provide the influencer with ample time to review and ask questions.

2. Encourage micro-influencers to use their own style and voice.

While the brief is important to guide the kinds of posts the micro-influencer will post, it’s also important to give them some creative liberty. After all, I selected them for a reason — and that reason is that I already enjoy their content.

I let the influencer know I want them to remain authentic to their brand and style while still following the brief. In my experience, this leads to a strong, trusting partnership, which results in high-quality posts that reflect both the brand and the influencer.

3. Review the proposed content before finalizing.

While I already included this in the brief, I can’t emphasize this enough: Always review the influencer’s content and provide feedback before finalization.

I originally worried this would remove the creative freedom and authenticity I just mentioned. However, a brand’s authenticity is equally as important as that of the micro-influencer. Even armed with a brief, the influencer won’t necessarily know how best to capture a brand’s voice in its content.

As the expert on your brand, you should always be the final eyes on the content to ensure it’s appropriate, gets the correct message across, and is in line with your company values.

4. Decide how the brand will get involved with the micro-influencer.

Once you’ve successfully secured a micro-influencer partnership, it’s important to plan how best to interact with the influencer’s social post to grow your brand’s social media presence. Ride the coattails of the influencer’s platform and use it to your advantage.

Brands can participate in the influencer’s post beyond just liking it. Take a look at @melissasonico’s sponsored post below.

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The brand @mate_the_label commented on the post to engage. This helps increase brand visibility with Melissa’s followers and can inspire them to follow the brand, too.

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Brands can also ask to post a collaboration post with the influencer. An Instagram collab post is co-created by multiple accounts and appears on all their feeds.

One user creates the post and invites others to collaborate. All collaborators’ usernames appear at the top of the post, as seen in the below collab post between @michelledugor and @vespucciconsignment.

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Brands can also post the influencer’s content directly onto their own profile and tag them to give credit, as seen below in @girlfriend’s post featuring @alissa.iris.

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Brands can also re-share an influencer’s post onto their Story, like @womensbest did with micro-influencer @exercisingwitheleanor’s Reel.

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There are plenty of ways to engage with an influencer’s post, so work with the influencer to decide which option works best for you both.

5. Ask for feedback.

At the end of the campaign, I naturally track the results using my company’s preferred analytics and influencer marketing tools. While those campaign results are imperative, so is the relationship with the micro-influencer.

That’s why I recommend asking them for feedback at the campaign’s completion.

What worked well, and what didn’t? Did the content and messaging feel authentic to their social media presence? Did they receive positive sentiment from the partnership? What would the influencer change if they were to work with your brand again?

These learnings will be essential if you want to partner with the same influencer again, but they’re also important for other future influencer partnerships. Keeping the influencer’s niche and brand at the forefront of the campaign will ensure favorable, successful, and painless collaborations.

Now that you’re armed with the tips and tricks to handle these micro-influencer partnerships, read on for examples of real brands already using these processes successfully.

4 Brands Using Micro-Influencers Successfully

1. Mejuri

Mejuri is a luxury, everyday jewelry brand that prioritizes creating high-quality, sustainable products.

A big part of the brand is showing that fine jewelry can still be accessible and relatable. Therefore, it makes sense that Mejuri partners with micro-influencers who can build off of that message of authenticity and relatability.

Mejuri works with micro-influencers to showcase its products worn in everyday settings by real humans.

I love two recent posts the brand did with @cheftarathomas which show the micro-influencer wearing her favorite pieces while in her natural element.

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This is a perfect example of how micro-influencers can improve a brand campaign. With 18.1K followers, Tara has some reach but also the trust and loyalty of her few but mighty followers. Her inclusion in this campaign brings emotion, relatability, and credibility to Mejuri’s brand and products.

Several of Mejuri’s posts feature micro-influencers. Some, like Tara, may seem like an unconventional choice, but this unconventionality is what works so well. Mejuri positions itself as more than just a fashion and beauty-adjacent brand — it’s a lifestyle brand for everyone.

2. LaCroix Sparkling Water

LaCroix Sparkling Water uses micro-influencers to promote its brand in a competitive marketplace. The brand’s social media presence is bright, colorful, and effervescent — just like its iconic sparkling water packaging.

LaCroix identifies micro-influencers on Instagram and asks them to share product awareness posts. It finds micro-influencers by searching branded hashtags, such as #LiveLaCroix, and when users tag the brand on Instagram, as seen in @rachelmuse’s post below.

The brand comments and asks to repost the posts or offer product vouchers in exchange.

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While LaCroix works with personalities as big as Katie Ledecky, it also targets profiles with lower follower counts to maintain a feeling of authentic “realness” that appeals to millennial and Gen Z Instagram users.

LaCroix also deeply understands its brand and finds micro-influencers who fit its vibrant, energetic, optimistic tone, like @kaylakane.

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By tapping into smaller, more targeted networks of micro-influencers, LaCroix cultivates an authentic, fun social media presence and ensures its product is in front of the eyes of similar users.

If you have a physical product that looks great on camera (like an eye-popping can of LaCroix), try engaging with micro-influencers by sending free products for Instagram promotions.

3. ASOS

Fashion and cosmetics retailer ASOS collaborates with micro-influencers on Instagram to showcase new products. ASOS’s social media presence is trendy, moody, and aspirational, and the brand effortlessly incorporates micro-influencers with similar vibes, as seen in this example with @hannahkennie.

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What I appreciate about ASOS’s strategy is that the micro-influencers chosen are indistinguishable from ASOS’s actual models.

This reveals precision in the influencer selection process and a commitment to protecting and representing the brand.

Beyond this, in February 2024, ASOS relaunched its ASOS Insiders program, which had been discontinued in 2020 during the pandemic. The program includes 36 employees across various departments who were selected as brand influencers.

These ambassadors curate fashion picks, provide style inspiration, and are featured faces on ASOS’s social channels.

The fashion-forward employees were given new social handles with which they provided insider perspectives on the brand.

While these employees, like @asseenonmini, are still growing their new accounts, they typically fall in the nano- or micro-influencer range on their personal socials.

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ASOS prioritizes amplifying existing content, as well as creating new content.

This ties into its strategy of building genuine connections with customers — ASOS capitalizes on the trust and engagement micro-influencers have built with their audiences and uses it to amplify brand messaging without a need for constant content creation.

4. Samsung

Samsung has tapped into the power of micro-influencers for several campaigns to promote different products, from smartphones to smart TVs, as well as a way of life. Most influencers are selected from specific niches related to the Samsung brand, including tech, photography, gaming, music, and general lifestyle.

I love how Samsung shows real people using its products in real ways. For instance, the brand showcased award-winning artist influencer @aerosynlex creating all new artworks live, alongside a showcase of Samsung Frame TVs, which transforms TVs into works of art.

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The partnership makes total sense and allowed Aerosyn-Lex to remain authentic to his brand and craft while benefiting from Samsung’s platform and the opportunity to participate in the world’s largest electronics show.

Similarly, travel and lifestyle micro-influencer @lauramourinhobelbut captured her summer travel memories on a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 phone. Again, the content was faithful to her typical style and effortlessly incorporated the brand’s new product.

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Think Micro

There is often pushback from leadership to pull in the biggest influencers in the game, but I hope this post highlights the value of micro-influencer marketing.

Success on social media doesn’t always mean accessing the most possible people with each post. It’s about targeting the right people in the right way.

The key is choosing micro-influencers whose niches align with your brand’s niche and trusting them to create content that authentically conveys the message.

There’s also the bonus that selecting an influencer with a smaller audience may mean they’re loyal to your brand in a way that higher-profile influencers aren’t guaranteed to be.

You can feel confident that the influencer will likely work with you on multiple campaigns and won’t immediately be snatched up by a competitor.

My biggest piece of advice is to be open to micro-influencers who discover you, along with those you seek out. Look out for social media users tagging your brand or using branded hashtags, as they might just become your next big ambassador.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

I have a confession: I’m a chronic review reader. I start every purchase with a Google search. I rely on content — both from reviewers and from companies themselves — to make my final decision.

So, here’s what I know firsthand: Shoppers are looking for different types of content at different stages of the buyer’s journey.

Here’s an example. I recently decided to automate my LinkedIn thought leadership. To find the right solution, I read listicles about social media management tools.

Once I was acquainted with the market, I looked up product overviews. Then, I watched demos to see how the tools work. When I finally chose Buffer, I had dozens of pieces of content to support my decision.

As a marketer, you need to craft a strategy that supports the different stages of your buyer’s journey. You’ll need material for every step of the content marketing funnel. Below, I’ll share strategies that work — both as a marketer and a consumer.

Let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

• What is the content marketing funnel?
• Levels of the Content Marketing Funnel
• Understanding the Buyer’s Journey in Marketing
• Why Creating Content for the Buyer’s Journey Is Important
• Creating Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey
• Content Ideas for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

What is the content marketing funnel?

The content marketing funnel maps the buyer’s journey from initial awareness, through consideration, to the final purchase decision.

Understanding this division — typically top, middle, and bottom — helps you create targeted content that addresses prospects’ needs and nurtures leads through each stage of the decision-making process.

Aligning content with each stage of the buyer’s journey helps you provide value, build trust, and guide customers toward choosing your product.

Levels of the Content Marketing Funnel

As I highlighted in the previous section, you can divide your content marketing funnel into three stages.

In this section, I’ll explain what each of these levels involve and the kind of content you can create, using my own business as an example.

Top of the Funnel (ToFu)

At the top of the funnel, I focus on attracting B2B SaaS decision-makers who are just realizing they have content challenges. My goal is to educate and inform, not to pitch my services directly.

I create content like:

• Blog posts addressing common B2B SaaS content struggles
• Infographics showcasing content marketing ROI statistics
• LinkedIn posts sharing quick content strategy tips
• Short videos explaining content trends in SaaS

With these, I hope to attract potential clients and showcase my expertise in the B2B SaaS space.

Middle of the Funnel (MoFu)

In the middle of the funnel, I target B2B SaaS prospects actively seeking content solutions. They’re comparing options, so I position my services as the ideal choice.

I develop content such as:

• In-depth guides on creating effective SaaS content strategies
• Case studies highlighting my success with other B2B SaaS clients
• Detailed posts exploring specific content challenges in SaaS
• Comparison charts showing how my approach differs from in-house teams

This content helps prospects evaluate my services and builds trust in my specialized knowledge.

Bottom of the Funnel (BoFu)

At the bottom of the funnel, I focus on B2B SaaS decision-makers ready to choose a content strategist. I aim to overcome any final objections and encourage them to reach out.

I offer content like:

• Free content audits or strategy consultations
• Testimonials from satisfied B2B SaaS clients
• Detailed breakdowns of my content strategy process
• ROI projections based on previous client results

The goal of this content is to convert prospects into clients by offering the last piece of information or reassurance they need to choose my services.

Understanding the Buyer’s Journey in Marketing

Throughout my years as a content strategist for B2B SaaS companies, I‘ve personally discovered the buyer’s journey is rarely a straight path.

With the exception of impulse software purchases (which are rare in B2B), most decision-makers begin in an “unaware stage.” They typically fit the demographics of an ideal client — what I call a buyer persona — but they‘re unaware of the SaaS solution or don’t yet realize they need it.

A triggering event often changes their situation or highlights a pain point that needs solving. This is what kicks off their buyer’s journey.

Let me share an example I’ve used with clients: Imagine a growing startup realizes its project management is becoming chaotic. These companies rarely decide to purchase a SaaS project management tool immediately.

Instead, they often turn to the internet to learn more and make decisions as they progress through the following stages. My job is to assist them in that decision-making process through strategic content.

Awareness Stage

In the awareness stage, B2B buyers are experiencing a problem or pain point, and their goal is to alleviate it. They’re typically looking for informational resources to more clearly understand, frame, and give a name to their problem.

A common search query a prospect might begin with is: “How to improve team productivity?” At this stage, they‘re not yet thinking about specific SaaS solutions; it’s much too early for that.

Instead, they‘re looking to contextualize their problem first. As a B2B SaaS content strategist, I’ve discovered that showing up in search engine results, even in these early stages, is crucial to establishing authority and gaining the trust of buyers starting the journey.

Consideration Stage

Moving to the consideration stage, I‘ve observed that B2B buyers have usually clearly defined and named their problem.

They’re now committed to researching and understanding all available approaches and methods to solving their defined problem or opportunity. In other words, I’ve seen how they start considering potential SaaS solutions.

From my work, I know that a typical search inquiry a prospect would make at this stage might be: “Project management software vs. traditional methods?” In the consideration stage, the prospect isn’t yet ready to buy, but they are deciding on the potential solution for them.

My strategy here is to consider indirect competitors and educate prospects on the pros and cons of various SaaS options.

Decision Stage

Once they’ve progressed to the decision stage, B2B buyers have typically decided on their solution strategy, method, or approach.

Their goal now is to compile a list of available SaaS vendors, make a short list, and ultimately make a final purchase decision.

Prospects at this stage make search inquiries like: “Asana vs. Trello vs. Jira.” At this point, they‘re ready to invest in a solution.

They’ll likely go with a SaaS provider they like, know, and trust so long as that provider can meet their specific business needs.

Why Creating Content for the Buyer’s Journey Is Important

As in all marketing disciplines, it’s essential to understand your audience: how they think, the answers they seek, and the path they tend to take to find a solution.

From that research, you can begin crafting a documented content strategy that maps your content to the various stages of the buyer’s journey.

When you don‘t completely understand your audience, it creates a disconnect between your business and your potential customers.

For content marketers like me, this usually means you’re putting out content your readers don’t really relate to, which can cause you to lose them.

To avoid this, you‘ll have to consider the stage they’re at in their journey, how to meet them there, and the best channels to put the content in front of them. The internet has made it easier for marketers (and salespeople) to engage customers at the various stages of their journey using content marketing.

That’s one of the main reasons why 14% of marketers consider content marketing the marketing channel with the highest return on investment (ROI).

HubSpot’s marketing platform offers powerful automation tools that can help streamline this process. I love how you can use the platform to create personalized content experiences, see how users engage at each stage of their buying process, and send tailored content when users need it.

Creating the right content at the right time can, however, be a challenge.

Building a content strategy starts with identifying the types of content you’ll need to reach your audience according to their progression through the buyer’s journey, and we’ll guide you through it in terms of both the marketing flywheel.

Creating Content for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Once you have an idea of your buyer persona and how prospects move closer to purchase, you can begin creating content for your buyer at different stages and tailor that content per channel.

Doing so can help you map your content to the relevant stages of the buyer’s journey to make a marketing funnel.

Your journey may look very different depending on your industry, business model, product, pricing, and audience.

Some B2C customers, for example, spend very little time in the middle of the buyer’s journey compared to B2B customers, who require far more nurturing, engagement, and relationship development before a purchase is made.

A $50 pair of sneakers, for instance, requires a lot less hand-holding when it comes to making purchase decisions than a $10,000 business software investment.

Content Ideas for Each Stage of the Buyer’s Journey

Because audiences can vary widely based on industry and intent, persona research is of the utmost importance.

By understanding their unique process for awareness and evaluation, you can create a truly effective content marketing funnel and strategy packed with custom content that best supports their journey toward making a purchase.

So, let’s take it from the top and start from the beginning of the buyer’s journey.

At the awareness stage, a buyer is looking for top-level educational content to help direct them to a solution, like blog posts, social content, and ebooks.

Their value as a lead is low because there’s no guarantee that they’ll buy from you. But those who find your content helpful and interesting may journey on to the middle of the funnel.

The ideal channels for the awareness stage may include:

• Blogging
• Search Engine Marketing
• Social Media Marketing

Let’s run through the different content formats best suited for these channels.

1. Blog Post

A blog post is an ideal piece of content targeting the awareness stage.

By targeting a pain, problem, or topic your target audience wants to discover and then posting it to your website, you’re creating a brand asset that’s crawlable by Google and discoverable by search engine users.

You can also promote your blog content across other channels.

When I’m having trouble ideating topics that align with my audience’s pain points, HubSpot’s Blog Ideas Generator can come in handy — just type in a few details about your audience or content, and the platform will generate catchy titles relevant to your input.

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Ahrefs does blog content right. They include original data and informational advice to create long-form articles that serve their audience.

Featured Resource: 6 Free Blog Post Templates

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2. Social Media Post

You can use social media to promote your other content, and you can also create content specifically for the channel.

According to Backlinko, 86.1% of all eligible audiences aged 18+ are active on social media. Since I target B2B SaaS companies, my social channel of choice is LinkedIn.

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In the above example, I’ve shared a carousel on my top tools on LinkedIn. These formats are popular on LinkedIn, as the content is created to be snackable with short-form take-aways.

3. Whitepaper

A whitepaper is an organization’s report or guide on a particular topic.

Whitepapers are especially useful as downloadable offers when readers want to go more in-depth on a specific subject they’re reading about.

I‘ve found it’s crucial to provide unique information your audience can‘t find elsewhere, which helps audiences understand the report’s value and compels them to download it.

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Every year, HubSpot publishes a survey on the state of marketing to provide helpful guidance based on thought leadership to marketers, sales professionals, and business owners.

Inside, readers find statistics from a broad survey and industry experts’ opinions on what the data means and where the industry is going.

4. Checklist

For complicated tasks with many moving parts, your audience may simply want a blueprint that spells out what they’re supposed to do to achieve their end goal.

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Buying a home is a perfect example of this, and Opendoor meets its audience’s needs by providing a handy checklist (in infographic form!) for the reader that spells out all the steps that need to be taken. The graphic is aesthetically pleasing and even allows room for a few tips along the way.

5. How-To Video

My experience has taught me that sometimes, the best way to solve a pain or problem is to learn a new skill.

While a purchase may be required along the way, your audience often needs to become more informed about the problem and potential solutions first. That‘s where I’ve seen instructional video content really shine.

HubSpot Marketing has a series of videos dedicated to teaching viewers about where SEO principles are broken down to the audience in easy-to-understand language and visuals. Knowing that SEO is a complex subject, the Marketing team aims to make it accessible to viewers.

6. Kit or Tool

I‘ve learned that informational content for a broad audience isn’t always sufficient for my buyer personas to make a decision.

In some cases, they require more utility or personalization. That‘s why I’ve found kits and tools to be excellent content pieces for guiding readers along their path to purchase.

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Nerdwallet creates content around several financial topics, budgeting being one of them. It can be challenging to create a budget, though, so they developed a calculator that allows users to provide their own numbers to receive customized recommendations.

7. Ebook or Tip Sheet

Similar to whitepapers, I’ve had success using ebooks and tip sheets as downloadable content. However, I typically make these shorter and more actionable.

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CoSchedule combines a few tactics by promoting their headline analyzer tool with a blog post about writing great headlines that drive traffic.

On that blog post, they include a great tip sheet of powerful words to include in headlines if you want to catch a reader’s attention.

Featured Resource: 36 Free Ebook Templates

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8. Educational Webinar

A webinar is a web seminar where information is typically provided through video.

A webinar can be prerecorded or streamed live, which opens up many possibilities for disseminating information to an audience that wants more visual and auditory content.

At HubSpot, we create webinars as a key part of our content marketing strategy and often run a valuable topic multiple times to get more mileage out of the content.

Moving on from the awareness stage content, let’s delve into the next stage of the buyer’s journey.

When someone moves into the consideration stage, it means you’ve captured their attention. They know they have a problem that has to be solved, and now they’re trying to discover the best solution. The need for a future purchase commitment creeps up as they’re evaluating their options.

This stage is typically a point of extended engagement where you’re nurturing a lead, building a relationship, and establishing trust between the audience and your brand.

The ideal channels for your consideration stage may include:

• Website or Blogging
• Search Engine Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Social Media

Let’s go through the best content formats for this part of the buyer’s journey.

1. Product Comparison Guides

In the consideration stage, the buyer persona still considers solutions to their pain or problem. For this reason, product comparisons are a great way to help them decide.

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For example, when I worked with a project management SaaS, we created comparison guides between different competitor tools to help our readers understand which tool might work best for their team.

2. Case Study

I’ve successfully used case studies in both the consideration and decision stages. In my view, a well-crafted case study convinces the reader that our solution works by showcasing real results for actual clients.

When I create case studies for my B2B SaaS clients, I make sure to appeal to both emotions and logic. I tell a compelling story about the client’s challenges while providing detailed, quantitative data on how our solution solved their problems.

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HubSpot Partner Agency Blueleadz tells a story about their client and their problems while providing a detailed account of how they solved them.

Featured Resource: 3 Free Case Study Templates

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3. Free Sample

A free sample is another example of content or an offer that overlaps between the buyer’s journey stages. Consider this: An individual wants to paint the inside of their home but doesn’t know what color.

As they consider which color (the solution) to use, they pick up paint chip cards from their hardware store. A provider creates these cards based on their individual solution. When the individual falls in love with a color, they already know who the provider is that makes it.

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SILKCARDS taps into this buying behavior by offering samples of their unique printing methods on the content that they create.

They know their business is tactile, and digital content alone is not enough to close a deal. Once their prospective customer holds the sample in their hands, other business cards are put to shame.

So, now that you’ve provided content to help customers list out or sample their options, it’s time to move them into the decision stage.

As prospects near the end of the buyer’s journey, they’re evaluating providers down to specific or specialized offerings.

Marketers, in turn, want to go above and beyond their expectations and provide an easy and frictionless customer experience that can win them over their competitors.

Handling objections, remove hesitation, position ahead of comp

In my experience, the most effective channels for decision-stage content include:

• Website.
• Email marketing.
• Live chat and chatbots for service.

Here are the content formats I’ve found most effective in helping prospects get closer to purchase.

1. Free Trial or Live Demo

Most of my clients in B2B SaaS offer free trials of their products. Free trials allow potential customers to experience the power of the tools firsthand. Once they see how new tools impact productivity and efficiency, they’re much more likely to become paying customers.

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Dropbox Sign does this well. Though they have a free option with limitations, they know that offering a free trial upfront is the key to getting clients into their larger tiers. Their pricing page sets the prospect’s expectations and points them to the free trial.

2. Consultation Offer

A consultation is another example of providing just a little bit of service in exchange for the opportunity to close the sale.

The best consultation reduces the anxiety of entering into a sales conversation by promising something concrete they can walk away with (a strategy or actionable advice) in exchange for their time.

In my B2B SaaS strategies, I often include consultation offers. I’ve found they work best when they promise concrete, actionable advice.

To increase conversions, I always make scheduling as frictionless as possible and use automated booking systems like Calendly.

3. Coupon

A coupon appeals to a fear of missing out (FOMO) mindset.

By reducing the price by a certain amount, a coupon is handing a price objection while convincing the prospect that they’re leaving money on the table if they don’t use the coupon. This inertia is enough to win the prospect’s business.

While traditional coupons aren‘t as common in B2B SaaS, I’ve had success with limited-time offers or special pricing for early adopters. This creates a sense of urgency and can be the final push a prospect needs to make a decision.

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Fragrant Jewels does this well by gamifying its coupons.

By spinning the wheel, the website visitors have the chance to get a coupon before checking out the products. They’ll likely evaluate the products that are a good deal with the coupon they won.

Beyond the decision stage, I always emphasize the importance of creating content to satisfy existing customers. In my experience, this often includes comprehensive knowledge bases, regular feature update announcements, and advanced tips and tricks to help users get the most out of the software.

Mapping Content Across All Stages of the Buying Cycle

In my years of experience as a content strategist, I’ve learned that every business has a unique buyer’s journey — one that demands a tailored approach for optimal results. I can’t simply replicate a strategy from one client to another.

And that starts by getting to know your audience and understanding their needs, pain points, and decision-making process. Once you have that understanding, you develop a strategy that maps custom content — whether it’s educational blog posts or product demos — to each phase of their journey.

When a content strategy truly matches a buyer’s journey, it improves customer relationships while boosting conversions and loyalty.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

We’re surrounded by ads all day, every day, but how often does one end up living rent-free in your head?

And more importantly, how can you make an ad so good that it takes up prime real estate in your target audience’s head?

While most of us have a pretty good idea of what advertising looks like, we often struggle to nail down exactly what it means — and how to do it well.

From the printing press to pop-up ads, advertising has certainly changed with the times. Despite this, the need for advertising hasn’t changed, and neither have the techniques and best practices that make for quality advertising.

That’s what I’ll cover in this guide.

Advertising is one of the oldest types of marketing and aims to influence the actions of its audience to buy, sell, or do something else.

Good advertising is designed to be highly influential, memorable, and, at times, risqué.

But how does advertising work?

How does advertising work?

Advertising has a simple principle — get people interested in a product being sold.

After arousing interest, the goal is to persuade people to purchase the product, even if they hadn’t previously considered buying it. Ads work by using psychology to influence the way people think and feel about a product or service.

Depending on the goals of your ad campaign, advertising can work for your company in a variety of ways:

• To raise awareness of your brand
• To drive potential customers to your business
• To promote sales for both new and existing products
• To introduce a new product or service to the market
• To differentiate your product from your competitors

Advertising can also be executed in various ways. Radio commercials, billboards, branded T-shirts, and social media endorsements all count as advertising, as we’ll discuss later in this guide.

What are advertisers?

Advertisers are the people at a company who are responsible for advertising a product or service. They promote messages about a brand’s products and services to build public preference for the brand.

“Advertiser” can also refer to the entity that’s paying for advertising on a billboard, in a magazine, or through a website or mobile application.

Advertisers are important because the whole business of advertising is dependent on them. It’s the advertiser that incurs the cost of advertisements, so if they decide it’s not worth running ads, then the advertisement industry will be in big trouble.

All advertisers are marketers, but not all marketers are advertisers. Let’s dig deeper into the differences between advertising and marketing.

Advertising is a subset of marketing, which is the umbrella term for communicating with your audience.

Marketing includes a number of different channels, such as:

• social media
• email marketing
• public relations
• SEO
• paid advertising.

Alternatively, advertising is just one component of marketing.

A company’s overarching marketing strategy will typically include an advertising plan. The advertising portion zooms in on the specific process of creating and publishing persuasive messages to get customers to take action.

Download our free advertising plan kit, which includes templates and a guide.

A Brief History of Advertising

Advertising is one of the oldest segments of business, save for currency and trade. Once products and services arose, so did the need to make them known.

A piece of papyrus from 3000 B.C.E. is widely considered the oldest confirmed piece of advertising — though calling it “advertising” obscures the horror and gravity of the circumstances. Technically, it was a print “ad” in ancient Egypt that offered a reward for the capture and return of an enslaved person named Shem.

Let’s fast-forward about 4,000 years. Here’s a brief look at the past five centuries of advertising:

1472: The first poster advertisement is placed on church doors in London.

1650: The first newspaper ad — a reward for 12 stolen horses — is published. (What’s with these reward-based advertisements?)

1704: The Boston News-Letter prompts its readers to place ads in its paper.

1870: The Powers style of ad copy is born. This style packed a punch — it was short, to the point, truthful, and convincing. Powers said the focus should be on why the consumer should buy your product or service — a message that still resonates for good reason today.

1880: Postcards become one of the hottest new ways to reach customers.

1902: Unilever begins the “longest client-agency relationship in advertising history” when it hires J. Walter Thompson Company to advertise its Lifebuoy Soap.

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1902: Mellins Food advertises on 25 airship flights, becoming the first brand to take this approach.

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1904: The Campbell’s Kids are created, piloting the change in advertisement focus from a single ad to an entire campaign.

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1922: Radio ads are born, and businesses purchase 10 mins for $100. Two years later brands would increase their investment by sponsoring an entire radio show, a concept that eventually became known as “sponsored content.”

1925: Advertisers appeal to emotions, focusing on what pleasure customers would receive from their product or service. This old Ford ad exemplifies this perfectly.

1975: VCRs are introduced, and consumers begin to record shows — and fast-forward through advertisements.

1990: Computers become more popular and accessible at home, with over 5 million homes connected to the internet.

1994: The first email spam campaign launches. Banner ads are also introduced.

1995: Search engines like Yahoo! and Alta Vista are born. Ask Jeeves and Google would follow in 1997 and 1998, respectively.

2000: Brands begin to recognize the importance of having an online presence. Procter and Gamble pilot the concept of the content hub with BeingGirl.com.

2005: Facebook expands from Harvard to 21 universities around the world; YouTube posts its first video.

2012: Online videos reach almost 170 million viewers.

2013: Sites like Pinterest and Instagram join the social network scene.

2020: Advertising soars on digital platforms, including social media, podcasts, pay-per-click (PPC), and more. Customer data plays a larger role in advertising targeting and retargeting. Lastly, a rapid increase in mobile devices boosts mobile ads and SMS marketing.

History teaches us that advertising is an ever-changing concept, just like shopping habits and how and where consumers spend their time.

Whereas almost 140 years ago, postcards were the newest form of advertising, brands today are building chatbots for Facebook Messenger and websites and integrating artificial intelligence into their marketing and sales platforms.

Things in the advertising world move fast. Now, let’s take a look at how advertising methods have changed and what marketers and advertisers are using today.

Traditional vs. Nontraditional Advertising

Traditional advertising evolved before the ubiquity of the internet: think billboards, handouts, and print ads.

Even though traditional advertising relies on people not being buried in their phones 24/7, it’s not going anywhere.

Billboard ads still punctuate thousands of miles of highway, direct mail in the U.S. is a nearly $40 billion market, and posters are still wheat-pasted on the sides of buildings announcing movie or album launches.

“Nontraditional” is a bit misleading, especially if you’re a digital native for whom this all seems perfectly commonplace: think paid search advertising, social media advertising, and native advertising (affectionately known in some circles as SponCon, or sponsored content).

The line between traditional and nontraditional advertising isn’t quite as cut-and-dried as Before Internet and After Internet, though.

Posters and handouts might include QR codes that you scan with your phone, native advertising might appear in a print newspaper or magazine, and you’ve probably watched TV ads while streaming your favorite show over the internet.

Traditional advertising includes:

• Print ads (magazines, billboards, flyers, etc.)
• Broadcast (TV and radio)
• Salespeople (face-to-face advertising may well be the OG traditional ad tactic)

Nontraditional advertising casts a wide net — it’s basically everything that doesn’t fall under the umbrella of traditional advertising.

In addition to digital marketing and all its subsets, here’s a few favorite campaigns that leverage nontraditional tactics:

• Anti-marketing. Conventional wisdom? Never heard of her. Volkswagen hadn’t, either, when it ran its “Think Small” campaign for the 1959 VW Beetle. Focusing on the car’s small size was, in the company’s own words, “a risky move because at that time most car companies were emphasizing power and luxury oversized and practicality.” Liquid Death is another brand that has successfully employed this technique.
• Experiential marketing. 2023 summer blockbuster Barbie ran a marketing campaign that moviegoers could experience from the comfort of their own computing device. The website BarbieSelfie.ai lets users step inside the Barbie set by uploading a selfie; using AI, the site places you next to Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken) at memorable moments in the film.
• Influencer marketing. We all know the drill: Person becomes internet-famous, brands reach out to person, person starts recommending that brand’s products. When done right, it’s a great way for brands to connect with an authentic, trusted voice and boost their visibility. In 2020, when TikToker Charli D’Amelio became one of the platform’s earliest megastars, Dunkin’ Donuts jumped on the opportunity, naming D’Amelio’s go-to drink after her as part of their partnership.

AI and Advertising

Like everything else it touches, artificial intelligence is changing the game for advertisers.

And although marketing and advertising have the highest rate of AI adoption at 37%, that means a majority of marketers and advertisers aren’t using AI.

In a HubSpot survey of more than a thousand marketing and advertising professionals, 57% of respondents said they felt pressure to learn AI — or risk becoming irrelevant.

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That’s Scott Brinker’s impression as well.

The HubSpot VP of platform ecosystems tells me that AI usage “is bifurcated” — some advertisers are “really actively trying to experiment and learn” how AI works, but the majority are still just talking about it.

Brinker says that wider adoption “won’t be one big hype curve — it’ll be dozens of mini hype curves.”

For instance, many marketers (and consumers) are already comfortable with customer-facing chatbots.

These agents are “autonomously and dynamically generating content,” Brinker says, and as we see lower and lower rates of exceptions and errors, the next logical step is for broader adoption of AI-generated personalized emails.

“AI agents for customer service are working,” he adds. “And when we trust them enough, they can do more than just customer service — they also do customer marketing.”

Brinker also offers a word of caution: “We throw a lot in the AI bucket.” And there’s a big difference between, for instance, generative AI that creates content and machine-learning AI that analyzes data, like Google Performance Max.

Katie King, the CEO of AI in Business and the author of AI Strategy for Sales and Marketing: Connecting Marketing, Sales and Customer Experience (a new edition is coming in 2025), tells me she’s been in the industry for 30+ years and says that “in all layers of advertising and public relations and marketing, everything used to be really manual,” recalling having to use fax machines and wait for responses (Ooof.).

King says that AI is now acting as a “copilot” or assistant for advertisers, automating repetitive tasks and freeing up time for more strategic, creative thinking. This reinforces what we found in a HubSpot survey of more than a thousand marketing and advertising professionals.

Of the people already using AI, most use it as a time-saver so they can focus on other things, like creativity and doing tasks they love.

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And speaking of strategy: King says using AI should make advertisers even more strategic, because it “takes away the finger-in-the-air guesswork. AI can help us understand, ‘Yes, this is who I should be targeting. This is what will resonate.’”

Before AI, advertisers’ best source of this information often came through focus groups. And although focus groups are still important to many marketers and advertisers, AI has transformed how they work.

Now, King says that “the selection for the focus group is often done by AI bots, which can help you understand and identify who should be in them.”

When I ask King what she wishes advertisers knew about AI, she stresses that this is happening now — not in five years, not in 10 years — and it’s imperative to understand the ethics of AI and advertising.

“You need to understand privacy and bias and transparency,” she says. “And the brands that use those in advertising are going to get the trust.”

Advertisers need to understand that “if we over-personalize, we can creep into invading somebody’s privacy. But if the consumer or the client gives consent to use their data, then the brand no longer needs to treat people as a big homogenous mass.”

Advertising can look like many different things. Here are the different advertising types and channels advertisers have been using over the years, with examples.

1. Print Advertising

Print advertising refers to posters, bulletins, flyers, and other physically printed promotions. It also refers to newspaper and magazine ads.

How we design and consume print advertising has changed over the years, but it‘s been a steadfast advertising medium — especially as digital advertising has evolved (which we’ll cover next).

Unlike digital media, print advertising can’t be tracked and analyzed as clearly. Fortunately, brands have found brilliant ways to incorporate print advertising into broader digital campaigns.

Absolut Vodka

One of the most recognizable and longest-running print ad campaigns was born in 1981, just a few years after Absolut Vodka entered the U.S. market after a century in Sweden. The very first ad, “Absolut Perfection,” played with the brand’s name and added an angelic halo of light above the bottle.

Those two simple elements — the word “Absolut” and an artful photo of the bottle — left plenty of space for decades of variations on the theme. Absolut collaborated with well-known artists, elevating the brand with the likes of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Annie Leibowitz.

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The sheer number of variations, all cleverly designed and executed, prompted people to begin collecting them. (If you are of a certain age, there’s a solid chance that either you or somebody you know lovingly plastered their college dorm room with Absolut ads.)

Takeaways:

• Simplicity can give you a lot of space and time to flex your creativity. The iconic Absolut campaign ran for 25 years, producing more than 1,500 print ads — that’s a little more than one new ad a week for a quarter of a century.
• Brand consistency, especially over the course of several decades, can expand your market reach.
• Creativity — including collaborations outside your usual wheelhouse — can elevate your brand.

2. Billboards and Public Transit Ads

Billboard advertising encompasses print advertising on a much larger scale. Due to their size, the design, placement, and cost of billboard and public transit ads are different from typical print advertising.

For example, billboards are typically designed with few to no words so that viewers have time to process the message while passing by in a car or train. Also, these ads are used for brand awareness, so they often only include a brand name or phone number (versus a website).

National Geographic’s Shark Bus

Public transit ads are probably my favorite form of traditional advertising, because there’s so much opportunity to have fun and make people laugh — which in turn makes your brand more memorable.

National Geographic’s Shark Week (now SharkFest) needs no introduction, and so a 2005 ad wrapped on city buses used minimal text and maximum teeth.

A realistic image of a shark was wrapped around an entire city bus, with the shark’s mouth — and its extremely long, extremely sharp teeth — centered on the side door. Everytime the bus doors opened and passengers went in and out, it looked to passersby like people were emerging from or disappearing into a shark’s gaping maw.

Takeaways:

• Evaluate unique opportunities within a medium. What worked as a bus wrap won’t work as a TV ad, so don’t expect a TV ad to be easily translatable to a billboard or public transit ad.
• Make people laugh. The unexpected delight of seeing public transportation users walk in and out of a shark’s mouth isn’t something you’re going to forget by the time you walk back inside your office.

3. TV Commercials

TV commercials are short advertisements developed and paid for by companies and organizations looking to capture the audience of a TV show or network program. TV ads have been around since the invention of the television and have changed drastically with the birth of streaming TV.

TV ads have a wide reach (millions) and provide viewers with a multi-sensory ad experience — something print ads and some digital ads can’t quite do. Alternatively, TV ads are expensive, avoidable by your audience, and hard to target as accurately as other channels.

John Lewis Christmas Ads

Department store John Lewis has become famous for its heartstring-tugging Christmas ads (or adverts, since it’s a British brand). The two-minute spots tell stories about the power of giving, like this 2022 ad ostensibly about a 40-something guy trying to teach himself to skateboard.

Grab some tissues:

Dr. Annemarie Hanlon, a senior lecturer in digital and social media marketing at Cranfield School of Management, wrote in an article, “​​The trend John Lewis started works because they have transformed the advert from something we want to ignore or fast-forward into something we want to watch.”

Hanlon also writes, “John Lewis has historically been seen as an expensive shop, but their festive adverts position the brand as offering little Christmas treats, encouraging people who wouldn’t normally shop there to treat someone they love at John Lewis this year.”

By backgrounding the consumerism that’s so often rampant in holiday ads and foregrounding a meaningful story, John Lewis has expanded its brand recognition.

Even people who might not normally shop there — like Americans — now look forward to the annual Christmas ad.

Plus, by exercising a kind of scarcity mindset and only releasing one such ad a year, John Lewis builds anticipation among its target audience.

Takeaways:

• Give the customer what they want, not what you want. John Lewis presumably wants to boost its holiday sales, but instead of running ads promoting luxury gifts or special sale prices, it gives its audience a story. And like “The Beginner” ad above, there’s often a twist or reveal at the end that keeps you tuned in.

4. Radio

Radio advertising refers to spoken advertising spots aired on radio channels between music and other programs. This method dates back to 1920 when commercial radio first aired.

Radio advertising is particularly powerful for local and regional advertising. Nowadays, podcast advertising is a similar but more effective method, especially for national audiences.

Dove’s “Autotune” Campaign

Radio is a difficult medium for advertisers to conquer in this day and age. If you listen to terrestrial radio at all, you’ve probably learned to drown out shouty ads between DJ patter and Top 40 bops.

And if you don’t listen to terrestrial radio, you’re probably listening to podcasts, where you can fast-forward through toothbrush ads you’ve heard a hundred times already.

Dove’s “Autotune” ad is a notable exception in this category, as it uses the audio-only medium to its advantage.

A woman sings, “Magazine model / with immaculate skin / so perfectly curved / and impossibly thin,” as her voice gets increasingly AutoTuned. At the end of the 45-second song, an announcer declares, “Real beauty isn’t a trick of technology.”

Dove has become known for its Real Beauty campaign, which began in 2004, and more recently released an installment denouncing AI-generated images.

The radio spot works as both a standalone ad and an extension of the Real Beauty campaign, with a clever twist on how technology is often used to cover up or unrealistically enhance beauty.

Takeaways:

• As with public transit ads, consider opportunities that are unique to radio.
• Consistent messaging. Even though Dove goes in a different direction with AutoTune than we’re accustomed to seeing in its print or video ads, the message stays the same: Dove stands against unrealistic beauty standards and the technology used to enforce them.

5. Event Advertising

Events (both in-person and virtual) are opportunities to connect with your audience while promoting your brand and products. You can host your own event in the form of a conference, webinar, roundtable, or luncheon.

Another form of event advertising is sponsoring an event or purchasing a booth at a conference or trade show. This is less expensive than hosting your own event, but you still get to engage audience members and promote your brand.

INBOUND

The 2024 INBOUND in Boston convened 12,000 of the best minds in marketing, sales, CX, and tech. It’s an opportunity for HubSpot to show off our products (and announce new ones, like Breeze), but it also gives other companies an opportunity to engage with marketers and promote their brands.

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6. Direct Mail

Direct mail advertising includes postcards, pamphlets, and catalogs mailed directly to the homes of your target audience.

A direct mail advertising strategy is more personal than others on this list, but it’s also very costly. (Consider the cost of postage alone.)

Another direct mail strategy is electronic mail, typically through email newsletters or promotions. This overlaps with our next section — digital advertising. That‘s what we’ll unpack next.

KitKat Chunky

It’s hard to stand out in a category that’s littered — literally — with minimalist luxury catalogs, brightly colored political ads, and dozens of foil-wrapped credit card offers.

So Nestlé blended in instead.

In 2012, the U.K.-based direct mail campaign sent mail that mimicked a Royal Mail “sorry we missed you” card. The reason? Too chunky.

Recipients could take the card to their local newsagent (convenience store) to exchange for a KitKat Chunky chocolate bar.

Takeaways:

• Stand out in a congested advertising channel by taking something familiar and giving it an unexpected twist.
• Reward engagement. In this case, recipients of the cleverly disguised ad could get a free candy bar and actually try out the product.

Digital Advertising: How to Advertise Online

As of today, there are over 5 billion internet users. This number is up 427% from 2005. Point being, internet usage is skyrocketing, and it’s not stopping.

If you’re not advertising online, you’re behind the curve. Not only does the internet offer you direct access to more than half the global population — including more than half of your target audience — but it also provides so many different advertising types and channels on which to advertise.

Marketers now have the flexibility to reach their target audiences on multiple fronts, in multiple ways, for multiple budgets. There are also a number of tools (many of which are free) that can help you execute your advertising strategy.

Here are the most common ways to advertise online:

Paid Search Advertising

Whether Google, Yahoo, or Bing, all search engines have their own paid advertising. This is referred to as pay-per-click, or PPC, and involves bidding on keywords and placing ads at the top or sides of search results.

When someone performs a query using one of those search engines, advertisers have the ability to display ads above organic search results. That’s what makes PPC so powerful — it gives your advertisements prime real estate in front of people already searching for relevant topics.

Here’s an example on Google:

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The top listings in the red box are advertisements. Organic search results — the ones that came up as a result of SEO — are below the map snippet.

Use our free AI Google Ads copy generator.

Social Media Advertising

Social media platforms know how valuable their content is, and that’s why they offer the option to sponsor or boost posts.

Social media ads put your message in front of your target audience and encourage them to engage, click-through, and buy.

More and more, social media sites are prioritizing ad space over organic content to bring in more revenue.

Whether you’re a budding or brand-new business, consider running some social media advertisements. These will not only advertise your products and services but also promote your social media pages and grow your following.

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X each have their own version of ads like these.

Here’s how they appear on their respective feeds:

Facebook

Download our free lookbook of 50 Facebook Ad Examples We Actually Clicked.

Instagram

Download our free guide to learn how to run Instagram ads, define goals, moderate engagement, and measure success.

LinkedIn

Download our free guide on How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads.

X

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Download our free guide on How to Use Twitter for Business.

Native Ads and Sponsored Content

Sponsored content has been around since 1922, when brands would sponsor entire radio shows. Today, sponsored content refers more to native ads and blog or article content subsidized by brands. Native ads are cohesive with surrounding content and easily blend into any design.

Have you ever read a Buzzfeed article that heavily referenced or recommended a certain product or service? It was likely sponsored by a certain brand.

Check out 10 Reasons To Put Away Your Phone On Your Next Trip, promoted by agoda, a hotel or destination booking site. Does it blatantly promote agoda’s services? No. Its primary purpose is to entertain and inform, although agoda is referenced a few times throughout the content.

At the top, the byline reflects agoda’s sponsorship. And as you scroll down the page, another ad sits within the content.

Sponsored content is a great way to promote your brand in content your audience is already familiar with.

Banner and Display Ads

Banner and display ads are an extension of search ads and follow a similar PPC model. But instead of a text-based ad, consumers see a more visual advertisement.

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Banner ads are typically horizontal boxes on top of a web page, whereas display ads are smaller and shown on the side (like in the screenshot above).

Whether you opt for traditional print ads in magazines or subway stations or choose online promotion on social media or search engines, there are a few rules that make for great advertising.

Below are some advertising best practices to apply to all your ads.

Advertising Best Practices

There are a lot of best practices, tips, and tricks when it comes to advertising. It’s an art that’s been perfected over the years, and with the rise of modern types of advertising channels and new media, best practices continue to manifest.

These advertising best practices are:

• Appeal to emotions
• Create positive associations
• Establish a bandwagon effect
• Focus on benefits over features
• Leverage storytelling

In this section, though, we’re going to cover these five famous advertising concepts that still work today — regardless of what type of advertising method or medium you’re using.

When used correctly, these advertising techniques will do wonders for your brand and products.

Appeal to emotions.

While you may not consider the ASPCA a business, their unforgettable Sarah McLachlan commercial is the perfect example of using emotional appeal to entice people to take action.

For most of us, the images in that commercial are hard to watch — we may even turn away. But since it tugs at our heartstrings, we’re more likely to donate to animals in need after seeing the horrors they’re going through.

Create positive associations.

When consumers associate your product with a feeling of happiness, state of achievement, or an accomplished goal, they’re more likely to take notice, remember your product or service, and make a purchase.

You may have been on the receiving end of this before without even realizing it. Have you ever seen your favorite celebrity or Instagram influencer posing with a product or brand and found that you wanted to be, do, or look the same?

Companies create this subconscious connection in advertising, hoping you associate your positive feelings with the product or service they’re promoting.

For example, Under Armour uses Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to create a subconscious connection with customers. It apparently works, since his Rock Delta shoes were the fastest-selling Under Armour shoes of 2017.

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Catchy songs like “Nationwide is on your side” is an example of helping people associate friendliness with the Nationwide brand.

Coca-Cola has a brand advertising campaign that associates its product with friends, family, and fun. When you consider what refreshments to serve at a party or bring on a picnic, Coca-Cola wants you to think of it.

As you create your advertisements, consider what feelings, desires, or goals you want your brand to be associated with. Weave these feelings or goals into your advertisements through stories or videos.

Look for influencers who align with your brand’s core values and demeanor and include them to promote positive association.

Establish a bandwagon effect.

People want to fit in. It’s human nature. Neither you nor I are immune to it.

And it’s this human need for belonging that makes the bandwagon effect so effective. People don’t want to be left out. They find value in their peers’ opinions and don’t want to be the only ones not using the latest and greatest product.

Brands like Maybelline understand this concept well and use it to their advertising advantage. One tube of their top-selling mascara is purchased every five seconds, a statistic that establishes social proof and further supports their claim of “America’s Favorite Mascara.”

Use customer testimonials, survey data, or shareable content to advertise your brand as one worth following or buying into.

Take another approach by promoting a discount for sharing your brand with a friend or family member — so your audience will do the selling for you. Either way, use your advertising to create an inclusive environment that people want to join.

Focus on benefits over features.

Features and benefits are two very different things.

Features are the details of the product or service you’re selling, such as the measurements of a couch or the ingredients of a protein bar.

Benefits, on the other hand, explain why a person should buy a couch or protein bar from you and how their life would benefit from such a purchase.

Advertising should focus on the benefit your product or service brings, not explain what you’re physically selling.

Consider how Southwest Airlines advertises. Instead of explaining, line by line, what a Business Select ticket offers, Southwest paints a picture of what life would be like if you made a purchase. In this advertisement, they focus on the benefits.

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Rather than wasting precious ad space on your product specifications or service details, talk about how a purchase might positively impact your customers.

If you do it right, your creative, benefit-packed advertisement will inspire them to research the features on their own.

Leverage storytelling.

Not unlike our desire to fit in is our penchant for a good story.

Storytelling helps paint a bigger picture of a brand or company, not simply promote a single product or service. Also, when stories resonate with someone, it’s far easier to motivate him or her to take action.

Storytelling is a technique you should try to infuse in all your advertising. In fact, if you haven’t started crafting your brand’s overall story, you should definitely do so.

Consumers are more likely to remember facts if they’re part of a story, and storytelling is a more persuasive way to connect with customers and sell your product.

Dove employs storytelling in its campaign partnership with Operation Homefront. The videos feature real stories of military men and their families being reunited. The advertisements don’t directly promote Dove products, but instead tell the Dove brand story (and pull on a few heartstrings, too).

Determining your brand story will help you learn how to best discuss your brand in all marketing efforts, not just advertising.

Next, let’s take a look at some of the most memorable ad campaigns, a few of which put these best practices in action.

5 Memorable Ad Campaigns

The best advertisements are the best teachers. Whether it’s the copywriting, design, medium, or target audience, well-executed campaigns can always teach you something new about advertising or positioning.

Here are five campaigns that left a noticeable mark on advertising history.

1. Nike: Just Do It

In the late 1980s, Nike launched its “Just Do It” campaign.

At the time, Reebok was outselling Nike, and Nike needed to act fast to compete against the sneaker conglomerate.

But it wasn’t just the three-word phrase that earned global attention. Their new ad campaign also focused on real people wearing and working out in their products, as opposed to simply featuring clothes and sneakers themselves.

This powerful combination of people plus product helped Nike go from $800 million in 1988 to $9.2 billion just 10 years later.

2. The Absolut Vodka Bottle

Yep, Absolut gets two spots in our guide — its advertising is just that enduring.

Absolut’s “Bottles in the Wild” ad series is the longest uninterrupted campaign in history.

An attempt to grow Absolut’s name internationally, especially throughout the United States, it featured the Absolut bottle in different cities and countries worldwide.

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It launched in 1985 and ran until 2000 — lasting an impressive 25 years.

Absolut’s campaign helped grow the company from a tiny slice of the vodka market share (2.5%) to over half the U.S. imported market share.

To this day, the Absolut brand is the fourth largest spirit company, thanks to its focus on the overall story, not just the product itself.

3. Miller Lite

The folks at Miller Lite used differentiation to reach its goal: getting “real men” to willingly drink light beers.

With its “Great Taste, Less Filling” campaign, it maintained a leading position in the light beer market for several decades after this first campaign aired.

4. Always #LikeAGirl

Always’ #LikeAGirl campaign kicked off in 2014 to “tackle the things society were doing that could harm a young girl’s confidence at puberty.”

The multimedia campaign sought to change “like a girl” from insult to admiration by asking men and women to show them what it meant to run like a girl, throw like a girl, and fight like a girl.

They asked the same questions of girls; invariably, men and women interpreted “like a girl” negatively, and the girls saw it as neutral or positive.

Even though Always’ period products aren’t mentioned in the ads, it aligns the brand with positive associations — and sends a powerful message to viewers.

5. Dos Equis

With its edgy, cool, and sophisticated aesthetic, it’s no surprise that “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign put Dos Equis on the map.

This campaign created a positive association between the Dos Equis beer and the feeling of sophistication and poise. Sales quickly jumped by 22% after the campaign launched.

Even more impressive was how Dos Equis found success in a time when craft beers grabbed a foothold in the market and imported beer took a 4% hit. This campaign was a major component of that success.

To learn how to grab the attention of your audience, learn from the professionals. These campaigns are a great example of how brands have used real stories, real people, and real talk to grow their businesses.

Advertising Helps You Grow Better

Equipped with a dense, dynamic history, advertising is an incredible tool to add to your marketing toolbox.

Between print ads, radio sponsorship, TV commercials, and social media promotion, the opportunities to advertise and promote your brand are endless.

To best connect and engage with your audience, speak your customer’s language, appeal to their emotions, and tap into their desire to be a part of a community, create a clear and authentic brand story to illustrate how your brand aligns with their values.

By applying these tried and true practices to your advertising, you’ll build a magnetic brand that attracts customers, establishes a following, and generates revenue.

Do this and your brand will grow into a household name that stands the test of time — just like advertising itself.

Coming up with effective lead generation ideas is tough — and I’m the world’s worst at putting off this aspect of my marketing strategy.

Sending cold emails and scraping together lists for lead generation can be difficult because — let‘s face it — often, people don’t want to take the time out of their schedules to talk.

What if you could reach your lead generation goals using methods that actually add value for your prospects? And what happens when traditional lead generation methods fall flat due to internal or external circumstances?

This lead generation utopia I’m describing is a possibility. To walk you through how to achieve this for your business, I’ve asked the experts and detailed several creative methods you can add to your lead generation strategy.

These ideas provide valuable information that helps prospects rather than simply pushing them to make a purchase.

Let’s unpack these 21 creative lead generation ideas to spark activity on your content offers, email lists, websites, and conversion rates.

And for more on lead generation, you can explore all of HubSpot’s free lead generation content and resources in one place.

Social Media Lead Generation

1. Partner with influencers.

One of the quickest ways to gain traction and drum up new leads is to partner with influencers within your niche.

Influencers have a special way of connecting with their audiences, and when they showcase your brand, you expand your reach to a larger audience.

Pro tip: Nicole Rossi, Marketing Coordinator at Custom Neon, told me partnering with influencers is an effective lead generation idea, but the key is to create landing pages relevant to your campaign.

Rossi said, “Partnering with influencers has also been an incredibly successful lead-generation tool for us. Influencers that share our brand values are partnered with us, and together we develop giveaway campaigns or offer special discount codes to their audience. With this approach, we can reach unexplored markets and produce leads through forms or landing sites made specifically for the campaign.”

Networking Lead Generation Ideas

2. Do a LinkedIn audit.

If LinkedIn is your jam, you could be sitting on an untapped market — your connections.

Melissa Lohrer, Founder at Waverly Ave Consulting, said, “Sometimes, your next best opportunity is already in front of you. Audit your existing LinkedIn connections — there are likely untapped opportunities sitting directly in your network. Growth isn’t always about bringing in new people but nurturing who’s already in your corner and leveraging those relationships to create momentum. This is your fastest path to conversion.”

3. Schedule coffee chats.

When it comes down to it, gaining a qualified lead starts with connecting on a human level. No-strings-attached networking is a great way to connect with members of your audience, build meaningful relationships, and begin a slow (but warm!) conversion.

Erin Pennings, a copywriter and marketing strategist, told me coffee chats are her favorite way to connect with your target audience.

Pennings said, “In my experience, the number one lead gen strategy is building relationships with other people. It‘s not networking in the traditional sense of the word, but simply about making connections. It’s not usually a fast-burn strategy because human connections take time, but it’s a great way to create an effective referral network.

“I love reaching out to people to schedule no-pitch coffee chats where the primary goal is getting to know people — and I always ask them who I can connect them with or who would be a good referral for them, and they generally reciprocate. Often I can make connections right away to support them, and then when I need to get contracts or work at the door, I know I can reach out to see if they know anyone I know.”

4. Use customer reviews in your pop-ups.

Want to build trust and brag about your clout? Consider showing off your customer reviews. Visitors lurking on your website want to know what real customers think of your product or service before they, too, take the plunge.

That’s why Johannes Karjula, CEO at Trustmary.com, uses a customer review pop-up to drive conversions.

Karjula said, “The best strategy to generate leads is to use an exit-intent popup that features customer reviews and an offer or discount code. These work especially well if someone is very close to converting: either buying or booking a meeting. If they’re about to leave, throwing social proof to their faces is great in proving that they actually need the product or service in question.”

Content Marketing Lead Generation

5. Create valuable content (blog posts, podcasts).

Your audience wants content, whether that’s a blog post, a podcast, or a video. That’s why I think content marketing remains one of the most effective and recognizable ideas for lead generation strategies.

Roland Jakob, managing partner of BlazeKin Media, says, “The most effective lead generation idea I‘ve encountered is the strategic use of personalized content marketing. In my experience, creating tailored content that speaks directly to your target audience’s pain points and interests is incredibly powerful. I‘ve found that when we develop in-depth blog posts, engaging videos, or insightful podcasts that genuinely address our audience’s needs, we not only attract potential leads but also establish ourselves as trusted authorities in our field — which is what you ultimately want.”

6. Share success secrets from thought leaders.

Want to provide unique value in your content? Reach out to a thought leader in your industry or even your company.

By interviewing an expert to uncover their secrets, you prove to potential customers that you’re dedicated to delivering the best advice and insight out there.

Below you‘ll see Groove’s take on this approach through an interview with the CEO of The Foundation, Andy Drish.

The folks at Groove frequently interview successful founders and ask very specific questions from which everyone can learn something. Then, Groove shares those interviews with audience members on its blog.

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Not only is the interview with Drish chock-full of quotes, lessons, and actionable takeaways for entrepreneurs, but it also features an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) with the interview subject in the comments section.

This touch helps further Groove’s reputation as a resource for expert information among its audience.

7. Compile real-life examples with actionable takeaways.

Finding effective examples to learn from can be equally as valuable and difficult. A list of best practices, current trends, or real-life examples in your industry is an excellent way to drive prospects to a guide or offer where they can opt-in.

The Content Marketing Institute knows this and makes a point to share current content marketing trends every year in a blog post.

This blog post acts as a resource to inspire site visitors to be successful with their marketing strategies, and, ultimately, search their website for guides and opt-in offers to up their content game.

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8. Show what’s working for your company.

I can’t be the only marketer who’s nosey, right?

It’s why I find sharing a transparent post that pulls back the curtain on something with which you’ve seen success (or failure) interesting. And I know your potential leads find it interesting, too.

Other companies going through a similar stage of growth — or approaching your size — can gain a lot of inspiration from transparency posts and ultimately avoid making the same mistakes.

In an effort to provide an insightful resource, consider sharing how you’ve built your platform or a lesson you’ve learned along the way. You can share your insights in a blog post or a downloadable guide.

Just don’t forget to include a final call-to-action to encourage readers to join your email list.

9. Create a handy checklist.

Who doesn‘t have a running to-do list that sometimes gets a little bit too long? If you’re planning an upcoming webinar, you can be sure there’s a lot that goes into it.

HubSpot created a handy webinar checklist that marketers can download and use to make sure they don’t miss any critical steps in their webinar production.

Pro tip: HubSpot uses the gated offer to prove its brand’s expertise on the subject and encourage checklist downloads.

10. Offer insightful, downloadable case studies.

One of the best ways to gain new leads and spark interest in your products or services is to show how your brand is an asset to your clients. Case studies help get your message across while doubling as a lead magnet.

Krissy Selda, a digital marketing specialist at Array Marketing Agency, is a huge fan of case studies. Selda told me, “From experience, publishing case studies has been the most powerful lead generation tactic because they demonstrate how your business consistently meets customer expectations.

“By showcasing the value of your products or services, case studies allow potential clients to envision themselves benefiting from your success. When customers see tangible results from businesses or individuals similar to themselves, they are more inclined to engage with your product or service. This makes them one of the most effective content marketing tools for driving leads.”

11. Create an interactive quiz or tool.

Consider offering a quiz to your website visitors as a creative way to learn more about them and obtain their contact information.

The goal is to “bargain” the result of the quiz in return for a new lead, which can be very effective when done right.

Cassandra Gucwa, founder of Menerva Digital, says tools and quizzes are “a great way to offer something that is valuable to your potential target audience and gather their email or information. Some examples of free tools would include a cost calculator, savings calculator, or a tool that checks how secure your email address is.”

Another similar method is offering an interactive tool, such as the HubSpot Website Grader. The Website Grader is a free online tool that visitors can use to grade their websites against key metrics and discover ways to improve them.

To use the tool, visitors must submit their email — which provides HubSpot with new leads interested in improving their web presence.

Video Marketing Lead Generation

12. Personalize video content.

91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. And for good reason: it’s a great way to connect with qualified leads and convert them to paying clients.

Whether you use short- or long-form video, the key to video marketing lead generation is to personalize your content.

For Mike Vannelli, Creative Director of Envy Creative, personalizing video starts with understanding the unique perspectives of your audience.

Vannelli told me, “One of my favorite lead generation tactics is leveraging personalized video content. We create tailored video messages based on specific pain points or challenges a prospect is facing. It‘s not just about sending a generic promo — it’s about showing that we understand their unique needs.

“These personalized videos are then embedded in emails or used as landing page content. Adding a clickable call-to-action at the end, like scheduling a demo or downloading a valuable resource, boosts engagement like nothing else. The human touch combined with targeted messaging has consistently driven better conversion rates for us.”

Email Marketing Lead Generation

13. Create a valuable course or guide.

A well-developed course or guide is like gaining access to a real class — for free. For busy marketers, this type of offer can prove to be incredibly valuable.

Pro tip: This approach tends to work well for in-depth topics. You can create an email course, host a course on your platform, or create a downloadable guide for visitors to read. HubSpot offers tons of free courses and downloadable guides like Introduction to Lead Generation.

These courses and guides help people with different content consumption styles get the same valuable information that’s on the blog, and it helps HubSpot generate new leads to engage with over email.

14. Provide gated offers with best practices.

When you explore a marketing tactic in a blog post or e-book, I find it helpful to know what others are doing to have success with the same method.

Compiling those best practices into a list is incredibly useful to a marketer looking to get started in a particular arena.

For example, HubSpot offers a comprehensive list of SEO best practices from a variety of experts, which aims to help its target audience achieve a greater return on investment from content marketing.

The ebook provides value for readers trying to crack a complicated marketing strategy — and in exchange for their contact information, they get insider tips from a variety of expert sources.

Event-Based Lead Generation

15. Offer webinars and live demonstrations.

If you’re looking for another lead generation idea, consider hosting seminars or live events. Webinars and live events are perfect opportunities to mingle with your audience while also providing them with useful information and new skills (and upselling your products and services!).

Cache Merrill, founder of Zibtek, told me, “Webinars are an excellent tool for presenting one’s expertise and building trust. We try to cover the ‘correct’ topics relevant to what we do. Finally, we expect to have a very good number of conversions at the end where audiences are eager to have a closer interaction request for a consultation or a demo.”

Referral and Partnership Lead Generation

16. Create a referral ecosystem.

Lead generation doesn’t have to be a solo endeavor. I’ve mentioned working with influencers as an example of how to make conversions a team sport.

However, influencers aren’t the only people you can recruit for your lead generation efforts. Instead, ask your network for referrals.

Lohrer calls this “creating a referral ecosystem.”

Lohrer explained it to me like this: “Choose your top three clients and tell them you’re looking for more like them. Ask for introductions to their peers or advice on where to find similar high-value clients. Better yet, ask them to introduce you to someone you want to meet to make it easy for them.

On top of that, partnering with complimentary service providers — those who work with the same client base in different ways — or those who influence your clients (think advisors or coaches) can help create a steady, mutual referral stream.”

17. Solicit brand partnerships.

Like influencer partnerships, connecting with other brands is a great way to tap into other markets and connect with a larger audience. You’ll want to ensure the brands you connect with are relevant to your niche. The more relevant the niche, the more likely their audience aligns with your own.

Roland Jakob, managing partner of BlazeKin Media, agrees that brand partnerships are an effective form of lead generation.

Jakob told me, “At BlazeKin Media, I’ve connected creators with major brands like Coca-Cola, Sephora, and others, driving high-quality leads by expanding reach and boosting credibility. The key is ensuring these collaborations provide real value to the brands, creators, and audience, leading to engaged prospects who are more likely to convert into loyal customers.”

Freemium and Trial-Based Lead Generation

18. Offer a free trial or a freemium product.

Is there anyone else out there who hates a free trial or product? I am pretty sure there isn’t. Everyone loves free. It’s the reason offering a free trial or a freemium product works so well as a lead generation tactic.

Yevhenii Tymoshenko, chief marketing officer at Skylum, understands that free trials lead to qualified leads, which is why a free trial paired with personalized marketing are their go-to lead generation ideas.

Tymoshenko told me, “Once a user is signed up for a free trial, we make use of personalized marketing to ultimately convert them.”

Free trials of a brand‘s services help get a prospect’s foot halfway through the door. If the free trial helps them and provides great value, they’re more likely to purchase the full product and become a customer.

Another similar strategy is to offer a freemium product, similar to how HubSpot offers the free forever HubSpot CRM. By offering a portion of your product or service line for free, you give users a taste of your brand and build trust and awareness among your user base.

Tymoshenko also incorporates freemium products into Skylum’s marketing operations.

He said, “We‘ve also been testing giving limited free access to certain new features of our products … This is a good way to generate qualified leads that would purchase your product in the end. And if, for some reason, that doesn’t happen, we can offer custom discounts to some users.”

SEO Lead Generation

19. Leverage the SEO power of customer reviews.

Review platforms generally have a strong presence in organic search, making them a great opportunity to expand your brand presence and get noticed by the right people.

When you encourage users to leave reviews on a third-party platform with strong SEO — like Yelp or Google — you increase the chances of being found by qualified prospects in search, without paying a dime.

Google recognizes the independent role of these sites in helping people find what they’re looking for and seems to favor review sites in search engine results.

Imagine your company on this list. There’s a high chance your product would be included in what McKinsey calls the “initial consideration set” leading to the “moment of purchase” during the consumer decision journey.

You also outmaneuver competitors in high-value keyword searches. This is crucial considering that many B2B searches start with a generic keyword phrase.

20. Optimize your website.

Here’s a hot tip for lead generation: Don’t overlook your website. Ensuring your website is optimized and ready for the search engines is a quick way to turn it into a lead generating machine.

Colton De Vos, marketing and communications specialist at Resolute Technology Solutions, told me that if your website generates lots of traffic, but only converts a few leads, then you should consider making changes to your site to encourage conversions.

De Vos said, “Invest the time to tweak your website content and design to persuade visitors to make the leap and contact your business. Make it easy for prospects to reach out. Include many easy options for them to engage, and facilitate their research of your company. Feature trust factors such as reviews, case studies, and the value your company has brought others.”

Pro tip: Consider connecting your marketing software to your website to make it easier for leads to get in contact with you.

Paid Lead Generation

21. Paid advertising.

My last lead generation idea to share is paid advertising. Think of paid ads as billboards in the online space. A great billboard catches attention and encourages the potential customer to take action of some kind.

Online paid advertising does the same thing. Plus, with the right landing page and forms, you can easily convert visitors to leads.

Sophie Musumeci, CEO and Founder of Real Entrepreneur Women, uses paid advertising as part of her lead generation efforts. But she told me there has to be a well-thought-out strategy for it to work well and convert leads.

Musumeci said, “I’m a fan of strategic paid advertising. It amplifies your reach, but it’s critical that the ads are targeted, clear, and focused on the results your audience is craving.”

You can launch paid ads on nearly every social media platform, including setting up ads on Facebook and Pinterest. You can also set up ads on Google and other search engines.

Pro tip: Wherever you decide to spend your marketing dollars, take the time to understand your audience and learn the places they hang out online. This can help you determine the best places for your ads.

Effective Lead Generation Ideas for You

I’ve found creating an effective lead generation strategy to be an art and a science. For me, the best strategy combines several lead generation ideas, like cultivating connections with my network and offering high-value content.

You might find, however, that paid advertising or partnering with brands and influencers works better for your niche.

Whichever lead generation strategy you experiment with next, make sure the content is useful to your audience so they’ll return to your website again and again.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in February 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

One of my favorite things to do is watch college football. And if you think I’m going to compare optimizing B2B conversion rates to football, you’re absolutely right.

Just like each player of the team needs to work together to score a touchdown, the parts of your B2B conversion strategy need to work in harmony to catch website visitors and turn them into paying customers.

If there’s a weak link in your strategy (like a player on the team not performing at their best), you’ll need to tweak it or pull it from the roster.

For this post, I sat down with Daniel Lynch, President and Owner of Empathy First Media, to discuss optimizing B2B conversion rates. Settle in as we go over the differences between B2B CRO and B2C CRO, and I’ll share some of his tips to help you plan a winning conversion strategy.

Table of Contents

• What is B2B conversion rate optimization?
• B2B CRO vs. B2C CRO
• B2B Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies

What is B2B conversion rate optimization?

Before I go too far into it, let’s take a moment to define B2B conversion rate optimization.

B2B conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a strategy to improve the number of desired actions on your website and landing pages. Ideally, your desired action, whether it’s a new sign-up in your forms, a new subscriber to your channel, or a click on a demo link, leads to a new conversion.

I like the way Lynch puts it. “In my opinion, where conversion rate optimization is going for B2B is not just the form fill,” he explained.

“Instead, it’s the first impression of what your brand offers. Like customizing it to that person and then having very detailed automated responses with sequences and chatbots. Then, using conversational artificial intelligence data enrichment to foster those conversations.”

Lynch said conversion rate optimization should really be dubbed “conversation rate optimization.” He said, “A conversation rate optimization is more than just a conversion. The conversion can be a vanity metric. But, conversations are what the goals should always be with marketing.”

CRO boils down to understanding the customer journey, identifying ways to improve it, and making it more appealing to potential customers to start a conversation. As your customers journey through your sales funnel, they come in contact with elements designed to grab their attention and spur them to action.

Those touch points include:

• Sales and landing pages
• Sign-up forms
• Pop-ups
• Call-to-actions (CTAs)
• Compelling content and copy
• Free trials and freemium tools

Making an effort to optimize each of these things can help convert a lead to a loyal customer. You’ll want to track and analyze each part of your conversion strategy to fully understand where you need to make changes to encourage more clicks or sign-ups.

Thankfully, there are tons of conversion rate optimization tools that can help you analyze your sales funnel and optimize your strategies. These tools can help you make appropriate, meaningful changes, as changing the wrong strategy or tweaking the wrong layer of your funnel could negatively impact your CRO.

You also don’t want to make a ton of changes at once. Instead, consider using a conversion rate optimization planner to help make small, meaningful, and measurable changes.

B2B CRO vs. B2C CRO

Let’s face it: Conversion rates vary across markets.

Even though over 60% of B2B and B2C leaders are leveraging AI tools for marketing, the marketing and conversion strategies that work well for each market are very different.

This means you can’t really use the same B2C tactics to optimize your B2B conversion rates. Logically, it’s still marketing, and it seems like the strategies you’d use for B2C sales should apply, but the B2B market is a whole different ball game.

Here’s why.

Target Audience

As marketers, you and I both know how important it is to understand our target audience. You’ve likely spent time creating an audience persona to gain a deeper understanding of what makes your audience tick.

But, when it comes to B2C marketing, the audience persona is likely just one individual. Instead of appealing to a broad group of people, B2C marketers can get oddly specific in their personalized marketing strategies.

This is often easier because you really only need to influence one person to convert a sale — the individual buyer.

In B2B sales, though, the target audience is a wide range of people, from the CEO to the director of marketing to the content marketing manager.

For instance, let’s pretend your company sells engagement software designed to make connecting with customers easier. To really drive home the benefits of your software, you need to think about how it improves the workflows of each department within an organization.

This means you need to segment your audience into subcategories.

Going back to the engagement software example, your sales team will use that software differently than your marketing and customer support departments.

So, to really nail down how to connect with these groups, you’ll need to think about how your software can best serve them and tailor your approach to speak to those solutions.

Segmenting your audience isn’t just a good idea for companies — it’s a great strategy to bring in more revenue. 70% of companies use segmentation to better market to their customers. And, of those who use this strategy, 80% of those businesses see an increase in their profits.

So, if you want a better ROI and optimized conversion rates, consider segmenting your target audience.

Decision-Makers and Research

As I mentioned, in B2C sales, a purchase is usually an individual decision. However, in B2B sales, the decision to make a purchase is a group activity.

With more stakeholders involved, there are more decision-makers. If those decision-makers are anything like me and have to research a product from all angles before purchasing, it means there will be double or triple the research notes before the group as a whole decides to purchase a product or service.

With more people helping to make a decision, individual research will likely uncover more purchase options for group consideration.

According to B2B SaaS Reviews, 27% of B2B buyers consider six or more options before making a purchase, compared to just 17% of B2C buyers.

This means that to convert visitors on your website who are somewhat interested in your product, you really need to position your product or service as the solution to their B2B needs — or you risk losing a lead to your competition.

Sales Cycle

Remember the days when you watched infomercials in the middle of the night and were persuaded to purchase new exercise equipment that would solve all your insomnia problems?

For me, it took just thirty minutes into one infomercial to decide to buy a new piece of gym equipment.

The point of that story? The B2C sales cycle is relatively short. It often goes like this: You see something that catches your eye, you think about how it’ll solve all your most pressing problems, and then you plunk your card down and go home with something new.

Seems like a relatively effective sales cycle, right? It is — for B2C.

That’s not how it works in the B2B world, though.

B2B sales often take more than 30 minutes to reach the end goal. In fact, the average B2B sales cycle is just over two months long.

During this time, your sales team will need to make every effort to convert leads, strike up a conversation, and close a sale. That might mean that you invite decision-makers to lunch, call them to follow up and re-pitch (and re-pitch!) your services, or schedule a live product demonstration.

These are all tactics you wouldn’t use to close the B2C sales cycle.

Messaging and Marketing

How you market your products or services also varies slightly depending on your market. Content marketing, influencer partnerships, and social media marketing are all effective conversion methods, but some work better than others for B2B sales.

For example, influencer partnerships are a fantastic idea for promoting your brand, but they work best for B2C brands, as they can be more persuasive to the individual.

Content marketing is a great option for getting the word out about your products or services, and 91% of B2B marketers include it in their overall strategy.

For B2B marketing, writing how-to tutorials, offering case studies, or sharing videos of product walk-throughs is a great way to produce highly engaging content that converts leads to sales.

Content marketing works for B2C brands, and 86% of B2C marketers include it in their strategy. But, the more effective content they share, like short-form, trendy videos, is different.

Customer Journey

Finally, the biggest reason B2B CRO varies compared to B2C is that the customer journey is different.

B2C brands know that they’re often selling a one-time purchase product. This doesn’t mean they won’t have repeat customers — they will. However, it does mean their focus is on getting customers to their site as quickly as possible to make a low-value purchase.

B2B purchases, though, are high-value purchases. This means your customers aren’t just purchasing a product; they’re purchasing an experience.

They need to know upfront the value they’re getting from your product or service before agreeing to a contract. It’s why your B2B customer journey should be filled with as much valuable content as possible.

Instead, you should focus on providing various resources, including explainer videos, case studies, and tutorials, to help influence their purchasing decision before encouraging them to contact your sales reps.

Oddly enough, involving your sales reps too soon can be detrimental. Garner found that 44% of millennials don’t want to interact with a sales rep before making a B2B purchase.

Lynch said this is because we (as consumers) are selfish with our time. That’s why text-based marketing, like chatbots, works so well in B2B marketing and sales.

Now that we know the differences between B2B and B2C conversions, let’s look at some of Lynch’s favorite B2B conversion rate optimization strategies.

B2B Conversion Rate Optimization Strategies

1. Monitor your website.

Heat Mapping and Recording Sessions

Your website is a gold mine of information, and you can uncover valuable information about your website visitors with the right AI tools.

And I’m not just talking about metrics relating to form fills or bounce rates. Lynch told me the key to optimizing B2B conversion rates is implementing AI tools for heat map tracking and session recording.

These conversion rate tools provide users with a visual representation of the most visited places on their websites. This gives you a better understanding of the kinds of things, like your calls-to-action or graphics, that catch your visitors’ eyes.

Lynch told me he likes using heat maps because they create a timeline where you determine the sequence of button clicks by users. He said, “It’s super important that you identify with their cursor. What did they highlight? What did they focus on their screen?”

Once you understand their interests, you can filter out your product or service features your leads don’t care about and only focus on the things they do. Not only does this cut down on wasted time, but by targeting their interests you’re on your way to opening a meaningful conversation (and conversion!) with your leads.

User Experience

This strategy might sound repetitive, but the user experience does affect your overall conversion rate. In our conversation, Lynch made it a point to tell me that a well-designed landing page doesn’t necessarily mean it’s chock full of interactive elements. Instead, less is more.

He said, “What a lot of people don‘t realize is that the best landing pages are the ones that don’t look the best. You want them low, quick, to serve the purpose, and have some visual aesthetic to them. But less is more.

“Minimalistic is what drives conversions. You just want to get them to sign up, so you can talk to them and move on. And the more you add to that page, the longer it takes to load. And the longer it takes to load, the lower your conversion rate will be.”

If you’re not sure which landing page converts the most users, consider A/B testing. A/B testing can help you easily identify which elements of your landing pages lend to the best user experience.

2. Optimize lead forms.

Although your lead forms are only a small part of your conversion rate optimization strategy, they still hold some weight. And a bad form will send your visitors running in the wrong direction.

According to Lynch, “There‘s plenty of data that every additional form field you add lowers your conversion rate because it’s one more field that people have to take time to complete.”

And he’s right. 27% of people will abandon a form because it’s too long. Thankfully, there are AI conversion rate tools available to help optimize your forms. He wholeheartedly recommends using them, too.

AI-optimized forms work by collecting user data as a visitor roams around on your website. Think data — like company name, industry, and position within the company. Then, when they land on a form, your AI tool can change the form to collect only the necessary data.

This can drastically reduce the number of form fields a user needs to complete, which in turn can help increase your conversion rates.

3. Use social proof.

Remember how I mentioned 44% of millennials don’t want to talk to a sales rep when making a B2B purchase? It’s important to keep this stat at the forefront of your mind when tweaking your conversion rate strategies.

One way to show off your brand without involving a salesperson is to use social proof. Lynch said, “Testimonials, reviews and trust badges help leverage your authority and position you as an expert in that industry.”

Considering 84% of B2B buyers use review sites, it’s worth it to take some time collecting customer reviews. You’ll also want to scour the internet for any mention of your product or service on review sites like G2, TechCrunch, and TechRadar.

It’s also not a bad idea to ask your loyal fans to record a short video for your website and social media platforms. If other B2B customers sing the praises of your product or services, it’s easier to convince another business to work with you.

No sales reps needed.

4. Incorporate conversational AI.

When I asked Lynch for his thoughts about millennials not wanting to speak to a salesperson, he wasn’t surprised. Instead, he told me that’s why incorporating conversational AI tools, like chatbots, into your website is so important.

He said, “A lot more people are going to be less hesitant to anonymously engage with chatbots.”

AI-powered chatbots can be trained on your visitors’ behavior and your company data, including your company’s knowledge-base library and your tutorials.

So, when a visitor lands on your website, your chatbot is equipped with the best, most up-to-date information to help guide visitors to fill out your forms or book a demo call.

Plus, chatbots provide immediate support. Lynch mentioned that potential customers, as a whole, are selfish with their time and don’t necessarily want to wait on a response from a sales rep.

He said, “They want to have real-time conversations. The beautiful thing about chatbots is you give them that instant dopamine, versus having to wait for someone to call them and schedule it. A scheduled call doesn’t respect your time as much as an instant one does.”

While AI chatbots can’t do everything to close the loop on your B2B sales cycle, they do lend a helping hand to help speed up the lead generation process before potential leads lose interest in your brand — talk about optimizing your conversion rates.

5. Dynamic content optimization.

There’s no doubt you’re creating content based on your ideal customer profile (ICP). But, because there are so many decision-makers in a B2B purchase, it can be challenging to nail down the right call-to-actions or the most effective copy.

Enter: dynamic content optimization. Using AI and its data to optimize your copy and content takes the guesswork out of your advertising. AI can detect who in the decision-making team is looking at your landing pages. Then, it can optimize your call-to-actions to better encourage sign-ups or clicks.

For example, if a CEO is on your webpage, your CTA might be “book a call.” Compared to a content manager who might need approval before scheduling a demo, the CTA might say, “Request more information.”

Lynch likes to think of this approach as “marketing with the scientific method.” He told me, “That‘s why the data is so important. If you cannot improve your copywriting optimization, unless you’re willing to assume you’re wrong. Look at the data to adjust your approach, adjust your copy, and go from there.”

6. Account-based marketing.

Going back to the football reference that I started out with, to optimize your conversion rates, you need to think of the B2B decision-makers as individuals on a team.

Each individual has their own role, whether that’s the CEO, a department manager, or a department director. Each of these roles functions differently within a company. How they interact with and use your product or service will be different, too.

It’s best to think of how each decision-maker will use your product or service and market it based on that.

But you shouldn’t just think about how they’ll individually use your product, you also need to map out who has the most buying power and pull within the team.

Lynch explained it to me like this. The CEO holds quite a bit of power in the buying decision, but they also don’t want to spend time wrestling with the decision — they’re busy. They have things to do, and they trust their team to make the best decision.

On the other hand, there will be someone in the decision team who thinks it’s better to go with your competitors. These are the people you should focus your marketing efforts on.

And, it’s where account-based marketing comes in.

Danial said, “Account-based marketing is identifying buying roles in the process that match your ICP and audience personas. You can associate the different buying roles and identify them as the gatekeeper, the champion, the blocker. The champion is the one who wants to choose you … [and] is advocating for you to the team.”

According to Danial, the blocker is someone who wants to go with someone else.

“And if they‘re a blocker and you’ve identified that, you can even put them into a list to be retargeted with certain emails, LinkedIn messages, Facebook ads, or LinkedIn ads to try to change their mind by giving them more trust with your brand,” Danial says.

This is also why it’s really important to create compelling content, like case studies and ebooks. You can send those materials to help persuade team members to start a conversation with your brand.

Optimizing B2B conversion rates starts with a conversation.

Your B2B conversion rate strategy doesn’t have to fall flat. Instead, consider using AI to help optimize your conversions and generate better leads.

After all, like Lynch told me, conversions boil down to conversations. And, using the data your AI tools collect, you’re better equipped to have more meaningful conversations with interested prospects, without needing to go over the preliminaries and risk wasting valuable time.

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

I never wanted a business that only looked good from the outside. Creating only to satisfy the eyes of onlookers, audiences, and critics would be, and will always be, a waste of my time.

Over a decade ago, I walked away from a dull, corporate job because it felt like a trap — a suffocating environment designed to put me on a creatively draining conveyor belt headed for “Welcome to 65 and retirement!”

Frankly, that wasn’t for me. I became an entrepreneur so that I could build a business that is a free-flowing, evolving extension of who I am, rather than morphing it to fit what I think the industry wants it to be.

For most of my career, I’ve been a “figure it out” sort of girl. I’ve DIY-ed my way to success, including creating my own logos and coding my old websites. So, when I realized the visual aspects of my business didn’t necessarily align with the heart of it, I paused, evaluated, and made a shift.

In the process, I learned the vital difference between visual and emotional branding. This evolution took time because, with my background in photography, I am a very visually-inspired person!

Eventually, I learned how to harness my obsession with pretty logos, fun fonts, and gorgeous aesthetics and integrate the deeper work of cultivating a brand that creates meaningful connections with my audience. When connection is your brand’s primary goal, it drives real (and better) results.

Your brand needs your heart and soul. Whether it’s a small side gig or your full-time work, your branding (visuals and messaging alike) can and should be the bridge between you and your audience.

Without emotionally driven branding, you’re having to bridge the gap yourself — and likely exhausting yourself in the process.

So, let’s walk through my experience in learning not only the difference between visual and emotional branding but also how I made the change in my business for the long haul.

The Difference Between Visual and Emotional Branding

I know “branding” encapsulates a lot of aspects of what you do — it’s basically the identity of your business. When you create a brand, you’re likely creating a series of logos, color stories, typography, and other visual design elements.

The visual aspects of your brand matter because they’re how your customers recognize you and differentiate you from everyone else. You can use these elements to appeal to your audience’s aesthetic, saying, “Hey, you and I probably like the same things!”

Based on design, like the appeal of a book cover, your audience will generally gravitate toward you. This is the first impression.

However, your brand’s impression doesn’t stop at the visuals. This is merely a quick glimpse, a drive-by. You want more than just a shallow connection because this can be replicated (or faked) by anyone.

We’ve all unwrapped (literally or figuratively) something only to find that what’s underneath is not what the advertisement sold to us. You can be shiny, but you want emotional depth.

That’s how you build long-term loyalty and connection in a crowded marketplace.

Most people think branding stops with the visuals, but I’d argue that’s only where it starts. A true brand is the personality behind your offers — going way beyond a font or palette.

Emotional branding allows your brand to show up with feeling, not just an appealing look. Creating an emotional brand can drive deeper bonds with your customers as you show your shared values, beliefs, and emotional experiences. Social media made this way more possible.

In fact, as brands and businesses began to show up on social media, the audience demanded a deeper connection from them. Since that day, brands have needed to become good storytellers.

Emotional branding may be about sharing yourself.

I remember the marked change that happened in my photography career when I transitioned from sharing solely client images to sharing myself.

I shared myself editing with my dogs lying over my feet, the reality of what being an entrepreneur looked like, I shared as I decorated my first home with thrift store finds, and the puppies we fostered.

I was showing who I was and ultimately what I loved and that resulted in my clients seeing an image of someone who felt like a friend. It wasn’t just about how I edited my photos; now they could see who edited the photos. They could envision me in my life, chasing dogs, or hanging pictures on the wall.

I went from a business to a brand, a personality. They wanted me there with them on their special days, not solely the results I would deliver to them. Because I understood that pretty much above all else, on a wedding day, you want good people bringing the good vibes.

And that’s exactly who I was and what I was delivering!

People want to be able to interact (or relate) with their favorite brands. Here are some easily recognizable companies that rely on emotional connections to their brand:

• Nike: Inspiring customers to achieve their personal best.
• Apple: Fostering a sense of innovation and belonging.
• Coca-Cola: Associating the brand with happiness and togetherness.

While these companies are massive, global superbrands, I think we can pull a lesson or two from how they show up: they tell us a story about who they are.

They’re not just flaunting what they do, but they want us to feel good about associating with them. They create a space for a customer to enter, belong, and connect to a message, rather than just use a product or hire a service.

The difference can feel subtle, but shifting can make a (literal) world of difference.

How I Shifted to Emotional Branding

The shift started in my gut at first. I realized I’ve never felt a pull to show up as perfect, polished, or shiny. I craved more realness so that manifested in what and how I created.

From there, I examined how my audience across multiple social media platforms responded to my brand. I watched what questions I got asked over and over again — were they curious about my life, my relationships, my work, my processes?

The messages, replies, blog comments, email inquiries, client testimonials, and even podcast reviews helped me piece together the stories I was telling and the way my audience was perceiving me.

I took time to make sure that aligned with how I wanted them to perceive me. Did it align with my vision for my business and brand?

My business is me, so I want to make sure people remember that I am a real, living human who has a perspective I love to share.

What I am selling isn’t some regurgitation of what anyone could search for on Google. It’s processes that are learned, lived, and pieced together by me. That’s a major selling point and differentiator.

You could easily learn business from a million different places and people, but you can only learn my methods from ME in ONE place: my digital courses. So, I needed to make sure that the me-element is consistently visible and unmistakable in how I present my brand online.

It’s not about the name (or even the premise) of the course as much as it’s about knowing you’re going to sit down and learn from me. People want that kind of connection.

When I read the testimonials, this is extremely evident. My students rave about the course by saying things like “Learning from Jenna changed my business!” What you don’t hear is “This course changed my business” or “I loved the ads I saw for this course!” Ha, of course not, but you see the difference.

My digital course landing pages still present a results-oriented purpose to my potential students, but the brand itself is driving a connection between myself and my customers.

The way we approach copywriting, page layout, color choices, and our main offer’s primary selling points stems from the desire to make sure our customers feel seen, understood, and guided. I want them to feel a sweet relief when they read my sales pages because I build my offers to be entire solutions.

They’re complete, they’re effective, and they’re created to actually help and simplify. I want my customer to feel like I’ve met their gaze and to know without a doubt that I really do understand their needs because I used to stand where they are now.

The Impact of My Evolved Brand on My Business

Shifting to an emotional brand has led to more buy-in on the front end as my audience is excited about my offers before I even drop them. I no longer have to put all my energy into hoping an ad or announcement alone catches their eye.

Algorithms, unfortunately, don’t work like that. Warm leads going into a paid offer is far better than “Oh, I didn’t know you were working on anything!” Or “You hardly show up in my feed anymore!”

More interaction with your customers means more access to knowing what they want and need from you. Feedback is a critical part of connection. It can help you measure success and optimize your business as you go, rather than veering way off course and having to make big, sweeping changes down the road.

I am seeing a better connection to what I am all about. The questions I get about my life are evidence of that, too. I get fewer questions about what I do and more questions about how people can get involved or learn more from me.

I feel seen and understood by much of my audience which means I get to spend better, more meaningful time engaging with them, rather than explaining who I am or repeating myself.

The profit shift looks like less time and money spent on screaming about offers online (i.e. less ad spend in the wrong places, less external apps and tools needed to get the word out there).

Instead, I have customers who have emotional buy-in to my offers, my experiences, and new creative endeavors I will do in the future. They feel that my brand is being led and shaped by their needs and see it evolve with them, which means they want to stick with it!

And ultimately, I feel aligned with my brand. That’s a vital piece of the puzzle. You need to feel confident about how your business shows up online. You know when you feel good when you walk out your front door and when you don’t quite feel like yourself, right?

We all know the difference between that feeling of “Yeah, I like me!” and “Oh, please don’t perceive me today.” I wanted to have that “I like me!” feeling flood my mind every time I post a blog, publish a podcast episode, or link up my audience to a new offer. I want to know I’m showing up as clearly me.

Being able to show up through an emotional brand allows me to do that!

How to Keep Your Emotional Brand Evolving

1. Be willing to listen and learn as you go.

Yes, the internet changes all the time, but here’s what’s even more true: you are changing all the time. And if that is true, the same goes for your audience. Their needs, attitudes, lives, and circumstances are constantly shifting.

Unless you’re a rare sort of clairvoyant, the only way you’re going to know what their shifts are is by asking them. Leverage that newly strengthened connection between you and your audience by getting in the habit of keeping the conversation open.

Feedback will help you not only get information on what they want to see from you but that check-in will make your audience feel seen and known.

2. Schedule time to check in with your brand.

Instead of feeling the pressure to keep your brand in constant edit mode (that’s exhausting and unnecessary), schedule moments to check in with your brand.

Whether it’s annually or quarterly, carve out time to analyze how you feel about your brand. Assess the visuals; are they still representing who you are well? Read through your website copy and feel out the tone; is the voice still right? Review your social media posts and look for what’s been delivering results. What’s the common thread? Drop a feedback request to your audience and ask how they’re doing and what they want from you.

These check-ins might put a little homework on your list, but more often than not, you’ll get to walk away knowing your brand is doing exactly what it needs to do.

3. Focus on how you make people feel.

The visuals of your brand will always play a role but don’t get lost in the fonts or how flashy your videos are. Instead, focus on how you make people feel.

While I still get excited about color theory, fresh graphic design elements, and ways to make my website pages load quickly and flow well, I know how secondary those pieces are to my bottom line. Remember that those elements can’t go far without your vision and personality injected into them.

When your tagline feels like your mantra, then your audience won’t just have brand recognition. They’ll read your tagline, your social media posts, and your latest offers and see themselves in them, too. An emotional brand means that your mantra can become theirs.

More than 300 marketing pros told us whether their worst fears or wildest dreams have come to fruition since the launch of Google’s AI Overviews (formerly SGE) in May 2024.

The much-hyped and much-criticized event, which Google immediately scaled back after AI Overviews (AIO) served users with incorrect and potentially harmful info, marked the wide launch of AI-generated search on the world’s biggest search engine.

Now that Google has patched up its early missteps and SEOs have had time to observe traffic changes, we conducted a survey to determine whether the white-knuckled AI anxiety is backed by any evidence.

We’ve got the numbers on AIO’s effects on traffic, what SEO changes to look for in the coming year, and pro tips from SEO experts on how to adapt and optimize your web and content strategies.

Table of Contents

• What is AI Overviews?
• What other changes are coming to Google Search?
• How does AI Overviews affect web traffic?

What is AI Overviews?

During its beta phase, Google’s AI-powered search was called SGE, or Search Generative Experience. It’s now more commonly known as AI Overviews, and it’s Google’s response to AI-powered search engines like Perplexity, Brave, and Microsoft’s Copilot.

It runs on Google’s AI model called Gemini, formerly Google Bard.

Regular ol’ Google Search still uses a three-stage process, though Google notes that not every page will make it through each stage. Google Search first crawls web pages, downloading text, images, and videos; it then indexes that information and stores it in a database; finally, it serves search results to the user.

AI Overviews (AIO) integrates generative AI capabilities with Google Search results. Using natural language processing (NLP), AIO can effectively repackage search results as answers to your questions, not just a page of links.

Not every query will trigger an AIO response — a Google spokesperson reiterated to me that AIO is designed to appear when it’s helpful beyond the usual SERPs. And since web content changes and evolves, AIO is also dynamic.

If you’re not seeing any AIO, make sure you’re logged in to your Google account, and check Google’s growing list of countries where it’s available.

As of October 28, 2024, Google added more than 100 countries and territories to AIO list, including the U.K, Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil. If you’re in Spain, France, Germany, or Ireland, you’ll still see only the traditional SERPs.

Here’s an example of how AIO differs from the usual SERPs. If I search “world without gravity,” AIO answers the questions it thinks I have, with source links for each point:

Image Source

Google unfortunately couldn’t have anticipated the amount of anxiety this search just caused me, but in terms of search intent, it’s done a pretty good job.

It found a number of popular science websites that have covered the question, which are listed on the right, and it used that information to organize questions and answers in natural language.

The more familiar SERPs still appear below the AIO:

Image Source

What other changes are coming to Google Search?

It’s likely that we’ll see more changes as Google fine-tunes AIO, especially with other AI-powered search engines gaining traction among users.

Braden Becker, a former HubSpotter who’s currently the global SEO lead at Faire, began with an important caveat about the effects of evolving AI in search, generally speaking: “I will say it depends on the industry. I think that‘s one thing I don’t hear enough of — this is not going to affect everyone equally.”

Some industries may be already feeling the effects, and some may not see any noticeable traffic changes for years.

Amanda Sellers, manager of EN blog strategy at HubSpot, says that “AI’s increasing ability to enforce E-E-A-T standards could push marketers to create content that’s richer, more nuanced and specific, and better accounts for search intent.”

Aleyda Solís, international SEO consultant and founder at Orainti, adds that Google is in a challenging position right now.

It has to make some choices about how it proceeds in the AI search landscape, and it has to match the quality, speed, and user satisfaction of these new players in the AI search game. The paradigm shift could, for the first time ever, pose a real threat to the search giant.

In other words, if users abandoned Google for other AI-powered search engines, it would obviously be bad for Google — “but it would be equally bad if [Google] tried to compete with ChatGPT or completely change their search interface all of a sudden. They cannot do that because they have skin in the game; they have a lot of adverts to show. So they’re trying to react [to AI searches] accordingly without harming their business model, which is extra challenging.”

Google seems to be stepping up to the challenge. In October 2024, Google announced a handful of updates that suggest a focus on alternate search channels, like video and voice.

In brief, if you use the Google app on mobile, you may see these updates:

• Generative AI now works with Google Lens, so you can point your camera, ask a question, and get an AIO response.
• Video understanding capabilities and voice questions: You can ask a question while taking a video or a photo to get an AIO response.
• Shop what you see: Snap a photo of a product you like, and Google’s AI models and the Google Shopping Graph will identify the item.
• Circle to Search: Available on Android devices, this lets you identify songs without switching apps.
• Search results pages organized with AI: Google promises that this will return “relevant results organized just for you.”

So how will AI Overviews change in 2025?

The better question might be, “How will AI Overviews change marketing in 2025?”

Most of the SEOs I’ve spoken with this year have noted a few patterns emerging from the last year of algorithm updates, and they generally see a need for content marketers to make these considerations:

Renew your focus on search intent and follow-up queries.

Continue writing content for your audience — not search engines — by considering user intent and follow-up queries.

Sellers says, “Google is so big as a distribution channel for primarily text-based content. And that means they are often the driver for best practices on our websites. But Google is emphasizing that we shouldn’t be writing content for Google — we should be writing content for our audience.”

Evaluate where your content is reaching your customers, and whether that best serves your interests as AI searches increase.

If you’re in an industry where people even think your product or service is replaceable with AI — even if they’re incorrect — “you need to pay attention, and you need to adapt,“ says Becker. “You’ll definitely need to shore up your product-market fit positioning on how you use top-of-funnel content,” he says, “to clarify how you‘re different and why you’re still valuable.”

On the other hand, if you’re in “an extremely congested market where it’s likely that folks will research their options a bit differently using AI, tofu content — top-of-funnel content — might not be your biggest lever anymore.”

In those cases, Becker says that “you might consider investing more in middle-of-funnel content, trying to reach folks when they’ve already done the bulk of the research.”

Beckers see this as a welcome change. “I think it ultimately reduces content bloat and forces businesses to take a closer look at who they’re really trying to market to.”

Evaluate the specificity and helpfulness of your content.

At the end of the day, creating as much content as possible for a very general audience isn’t going to help your brand unless you’re considering whether your content is actually helpful.

Aja Frost, senior director of global growth at HubSpot, says to take the “experience” in Google’s E-E-A-T quality rating guidelines seriously. “It does really require explaining why you or the author are uniquely positioned to give advice,” she says.

An author bio is a good starting point, but ideally, those explanations should be woven into the content itself. (And it’s why I interview experts for my own articles.)

How does AI Overviews affect web traffic?

Since the launch of AIO in May 2024, SEOs everywhere have been closely monitoring web traffic.

Good news: By and large, publishers are reporting minimal changes to traffic. Dotdash Meredith (DDM), which owns more than 40 digital properties (including People, Food & Wine, and Travel & Leisure), reported a “negligible” impact on traffic.

In its Q2 report to shareholders, DDM’s parent company, IAC, wrote (emphasis mine):

“Since Google began to roll out AI Overviews in mid-May, the impact on our traffic has been negligible. Referrals from Google search queries produce less than half of our traffic, and based on our analysis, AI-generated answers are being served on roughly 15% of searches across our categories, with the highest frequency in Health, Technology, and Finance. Click-through rate differentials between pages with and without AI Overviews are minor so far, but it is still early and products change quickly, so the past isn’t prologue.”

In a HubSpot survey of more than 300 marketers whose role includes SEO, website management, web strategy, and/or web analytics, 42% told us that they didn’t have reason to believe that AIO or other AI-powered search had impacted their traffic. In fact, 41% said they’ve gotten more traffic since AI search has been implemented.

One way to stay on top of your AIO/SEO game is to evaluate the types of content you’re publishing.

In our survey, here’s the type of content that our respondents think will perform the best as generative AI search becomes even more integrated (note that they could choose up to three, so totals add up to a number far higher than 100):

• How-to, step-by-step guides, and other educational content (45%)
• Review/comparison content (e.g., product reviews, comparing top hiking trails, etc.) (37%)
• Opinion pieces or thought leadership content (27%)
• Content reflecting on personal stories/experiences (24%)
• Trendy/newsy content (19%)
• Templates/cheat sheets (16%)
• Webpages or posts featuring video or images (16%)
• Case studies (13%)
• Content featuring original data unique to your website/blog (12%)
• Expert interviews/profiles (12%)
• Listicle-style content (12%)
• Webpages featuring interactive elements (9%)
• Ecommerce or product-listing pages (8%)
• Gated/paywalled resource landing pages with lead-generation forms (2%)
• Other (1%)

Of course, it’s always possible that we’ll see more traffic shifts as more time passes and more data accumulates (and when and if it does, you can bet that we’ll be on top of it!). And, as Becker told me, when and how your company feels the effects of AI search will depend a lot on what industry you’re in.

Until then: Stay focused on adding personal experience to your content; consider bolstering certain types of content, like how-tos and reviews; and keep a close eye on those traffic analytics.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.