Categories B2B

How to Use Blog Post Templates in Google Docs [My Favorite Free Templates]

We ran the numbers, and blog posts are still among the content formats that marketers use the most today (and those that deliver the highest ROI). However, sometimes, it can be difficult to put pen to paper — or words to screen.

That’s where blog post templates can come in handy.

→ Download Now: 30 Free Blog Post Templates

From blogger to fellow blogger, I’ll share some simple tips to get you started in Google Docs along with some of the best templates for easy writing.

Table of Contents

How to Make a Blog on Google Docs

If you’re looking to start a blog from scratch, we have a guide for that. But the easiest way to write a blog post in Google Docs is to start with a template.

Here’s what I do:

  • Log into Google Drive.
  • Download a free blog post template. (Jump to some of my favorites.)
  • Open the template(s), click File in the top left corner of your document, and select Make a copy. If you prefer, you could also copy and paste the template into a new blank document.
  • Use the template as a guide to start writing your article.

It’s up to you to choose the right template based on the type of content you’re writing. For example, if you’re writing a how-to blog post, you’ll need a template that allows you to break down the steps for completing a task.

On the other hand, a newsjacking blog post template will give you the flexibility to summarize a trending story with space to explain what the news means for your audience.

Regardless, your blog post will always have three main components:

  • Introduction: The introduction sets the stage for what you’re covering and the problem you‘re about to solve. You’re not providing specific solutions in this section, just why it’s worth resolving. Here, you want to be relatable and get your readers to nod in agreement.
  • Body: The body explains the solutions to the problem you set up in the introduction. You’re helping the reader meet the goals you outlined up top and reiterating why that’s important.
  • Conclusion: The conclusion wraps up your post with a brief statement reflecting the problem your post solved. It should also include a prompt to engage in further action.

Now, onto the good stuff: free blog post templates.

Free Google Docs Blog Post Templates

If you’re looking for a full suite of blog post templates to choose from, I’d start here. You’ll find tons of customizable options — from the standard “what is” and “how-to” templates to more specialized versions for case studies, behind-the-scenes features, and more.

In the meantime, I went ahead and pulled out four of my go-to blog post templates that work well in Google Docs:

  • Evergreen Blog Post
  • Newsjacking Blog Post
  • Thought Leadership Blog Post
  • Data-Driven Blog Post

1. Evergreen Blog Post Template

An evergreen blog post template is best for content that withstands the test of time. These articles explain foundational concepts that readers will continue to search for over time, such as “What is an editorial calendar?” or “What does TL;DR mean?”

hubspot’s free evergreen blog post template google docs

Download the full evergreen blog post template here.

Simple Evergreen Blog Post Outline

Introduction

Highlight the reason why what you’re talking about is important, which audience this applies to, and what you’ll be covering.

What is [Term/Topic]?

Provide a clear explanation of the topic, explore the concept further, and add examples to help define it.

Why [Term/Topic] Matters

Tell your readers why they should care about the term or the concept you’re writing about. Try to include at least one statistic, quote, or outside reference here.

How to [Achieve/Do/Understand Topic]

  • Step
  • Step
  • Step

Provide actionable steps related to the topic. For optimal organization, give each step its own section header.

Common Mistakes to Avoid (Optional)

If there are any pitfalls the reader may encounter while completing the steps above, include them here with tips to avoid them.

Additional Tips or Best Practices (Optional)

If you have additional advice that will add value to the piece — like expert quotes, industry best practices, or helpful resources — list them here.

Closing

Wrap things up and remind your readers of the intended key takeaway from your writing.

Call-to-Action

Point your audience to other relevant resources or encourage them to take action based on what they’ve just read.

How to Make the Most of This Template

  • Make sure the topic is timeless. Ask yourself: Will this topic remain valuable and relevant to my readers over time? You’ll still want to make regular updates to your evergreen blog posts, but the core is likely to stay the same.
  • Provide actionable advice. Clearly outline any steps or best practices your reader should follow, and support your writing with real-world examples and analogies where possible.
  • Incorporate visual elements. Reinforce your content with images and videos to help convey meaning and better illustrate your key points.

Evergreen Blog Post Examples

2. Newsjacking Blog Post Template

A newsjacking blog post template is best for capitalizing on the popularity of a news story to amplify your brand — like “What Marketers Need to Know About the TikTok Ban” or “A Rundown on Open AI’s Latest Updates to ChatGPT.”

hubspot’s free newsjacking blog post template google docs

Download the full newsjacking blog post template here.

Simple Newsjacking Blog Post Outline

Introduction

Highlight the reason why what you’re talking about is important, which audience this applies to, and what you’ll be covering.

What Happened

Flesh out the story in more detail, and be sure to include sources. Keep the first part of this section factual, and then share your opinion if you feel inclined to do so.

What’s Happening Now/Next [Optional]

If the story is still breaking, this section will likely be fluid. Be sure to keep this updated as new information becomes available.

What This Means For You

Always connect the bigger picture to your audience. Highlight why this news matters to them and how this information informs their work or daily lives.

What You Can/Should/Could Do Now (Optional)

If you can link to relevant and reliable sources to inform the suggested next steps or action items, do that here. Don’t give advice unless you can back it up with credible evidence or expertise.

Closing

Wrap things up and remind your readers of the intended key takeaway from your writing.

Call-to-Action

Point your audience to other relevant resources or encourage them to take action based on what they’ve just read.

How to Make the Most of This Template

  • Use a clear, factual approach to explain the situation. All of the facts and stats you pull in should support the points made in your article. The more source material you can reference, the better.
  • Share your opinion, but make it justifiable. Take the time to flesh out your ideas and back up your points based on the facts of the story.
  • Offer a unique angle. If readers can access a similar story elsewhere, you’re not creating value for them. Focus on what your audience needs to know based on the information being circulated.

Newsjacking Blog Post Examples

3. Thought Leadership Blog Post Template

A thought leadership blog post template is best for offering a unique perspective about a topic, challenging a well-known idea, or highlighting your expertise. Think: “Why I Believe AI Won’t Replace Marketers” or “My Predictions for the Future of Social Commerce.”

hubspot’s free thought leadership blog post template google docs

Download the full thought leadership blog post template here.

Simple Thought Leadership Blog Post Outline

Introduction

Highlight the reason why what you’re talking about is important, which audience this applies to, and what you’ll be covering.

The Current Landscape

Explore current conversations around the topic, highlight common or existing beliefs, and set the stage for your original perspective.

My Perspective on [Topic]

Clearly state your opinion, provide examples to support your claim, and thoughtfully debunk competing arguments.

Why This Perspective Matters

Explain the impact or potential business benefits of the idea you’re discussing to tie your perspective back to the reader.

How to Apply This Perspective (Optional)

If there are actionable steps your readers can take or tools they can use to implement your ideas, include them here.

Examples or Success Stories (Optional)

Bonus points if you can highlight a personal example or business case that demonstrates the successful application of your perspective in the real world.

Closing

Wrap things up and remind your readers of the intended key takeaway from your writing.

Call-to-Action

Point your audience to other relevant resources or encourage them to take action based on what they’ve just read.

How to Make the Most of This Template

  • Explain why your perspective matters. Position yourself as a thought leader, and introduce a unique angle that adds value to a trending or otherwise evergreen topic.
  • Support your argument with hard evidence. Case studies, visuals, and personal anecdotes will go a long way toward making your case.
  • Address potential objections. Have you considered the counterarguments? Disprove them with facts based on what you know as an expert on the topic.

Thought Leadership Blog Post Examples

4. Data-Driven Blog Post Template

A data-driven blog post template is best for highlighting original research or statistics based on industry trends. You can use this template to dig into the numbers for topics like “Top Email Marketing Trends” or “How Marketers Plan to Invest in Short-Form Video This Year.”

hubspot’s free data-driven blog post template google docs

Download the full data-driven blog post template here.

Simple Data-Driven Blog Post Outline

Introduction

Highlight the reason why what you’re talking about is important, which audience this applies to, and what you’ll be covering.

The Data

Present the data up front, loud and clear. I recommend using subheadings for each data point to keep things organized and incorporating visuals to illustrate the data.

What This Means for [Audience/Industry]

Again, always reel the bigger picture in for your audience. Highlight why they should care about the data and any personal or business implications.

Limitations or Considerations (Optional)

Are there any potential biases or circumstances that the data doesn’t fully cover? If so, be sure to note that here.

How to Act on This Data

Provide actionable steps for applying the data you presented in the post. This is a good place to share any helpful resources or best practices for implementation.

Closing

Wrap things up and remind your readers of the intended key takeaway from your writing.

Call-to-Action

Point your audience to other relevant resources or encourage them to take action based on what they’ve just read.

How to Make the Most of This Template

  • Clearly present the data. Focus on outlining the key points accurately, and don’t forget to give credit where credit is due if the data is outsourced.
  • Connect the data to actionable takeaways. Based on your interpretation, discuss how readers can use these insights — or how you’ve applied the data in your own work.
  • Use visuals. Charts, graphs, and infographics provide an alternate way to present the information and help reinforce your most important points.

Data-Driven Blog Post Examples

Why Use Google Docs for Blog Post Templates

The big reason I like to use Google Docs for blog post templates is collaboration. The platform allows you to:

  • Build, share, and save files and templates.
  • Manage editing permissions and track version history/changes.
  • Facilitate feedback, leave comments, and annotate suggestions.
  • Download and convert your content into other file formats.
  • Back documents up to the cloud.
  • Upload your documents into a CMS.

Plus, the Google suite integrates with many of the systems I already use for work, like Asana and Slack. This makes it easier to streamline my workflow.

No More Starting From Scratch

Blog post templates are great starting points. They provide a structure that makes it easy to write content that’s both helpful for readers and relatively quick and painless for you.

However, don’t get too caught up in the formula. Explore new formats, experiment with existing ones, and get creative with how you’re sharing information. After all, the goal is to consistently create content that has value for your audience.

If you do get stuck, download our free templates to break yourself out of that rut.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2012 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Categories B2B

Reddit Stats and Facts to Know in 2025

Reddit has evolved from its 2005 origins into a digital powerhouse, proving itself as an invaluable territory for marketers.

While the platform maintains its core strength in community engagement and authentic discussion, it’s transformed into a sophisticated marketing channel that offers unique advantages over traditional social networks like Facebook or Instagram.

Download Now: Free State of Marketing Report [Updated for 2025]

In this post, I’ll share some fresh stats to understand better how Reddit became a marketing haven.

In recent years, Reddit has solidified its position as a platform with staying power, and a marketing essential by expanding its advertising ecosystem and enhancing its multimedia capabilities.

The platform’s significance is amplified by its dominant presence among Gen-Z and millennial users, who now represent a prime consumer demographic with substantial purchasing power.

These users increasingly rely on Reddit for product research, recommendations, and purchasing decisions, making it a crucial touchpoint in the customer journey.

Successful brands are now integrating Reddit into their core marketing strategies through various approaches, from sophisticated AMAs (Ask Me Anything sessions) to branded subreddits that have become powerful hubs for customer engagement and community nurturing.

But enough of that introduction, let’s get into the numbers.

Reddit Statistics

To keep you informed and help you make strategic social media decisions, here’s a list of fresh, helpful, and intriguing Reddit stats related to the company, its user base, and what it takes to engage audiences on the platform.

General Stats

  • Reddit has an estimated 1.1 billion active monthly users. (Statista)
  • Reddit is the third most visited website in the U.S. (SemRush)
  • Reddit’s current market cap is approximately $35.04 billion. (Stock Analysis)
  • Reddit is the world’s 573rd most valuable company by market cap. (Companies Market Cap)
  • Reddit was founded in 2005 and acquired by Condé Nast in 2006. (Crunchbase)

Demographics

  • 44% of U.S. Reddit users are between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. (Statista)
  • Of logged-in users on Reddit, 43.3% are millennials, compared with 29.6% who are Gen Z. (Business Insider)

User Behavior

  • There are 3.4 million subreddits on the platform, and approximately 138,000 of them are active subreddits. (Business Dasher)
  • Reddit has 97.2 million daily users. (Emarketer)

  • Reddit users spend around 20-30 minutes a day on the platform. (Emarketer)
  • Reddit makes up about 5.3% of total social time and will approach 6% in 2024.
  • Users spend significantly less time on Reddit than on other platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter — but that’s because Reddit is more of an information and education platform than a video and entertainment platform. (Insider Intelligence)
  • 51% of Gen-Z users say they‘re attracted to the platform’s user-driven features, such as subreddits, comments, and upvotes. (Reddit Blog)
  • 82% of Gen-Z people trust Reddit when learning more about products. (Reddit Blog)

Source

Reddit Business Stats

  • According to HubSpot research, 11.3% of B2B businesses leverage Reddit in their marketing strategies, 11.9% of B2C companies leverage it, and the sector that uses it the least is non-profit/government at 8.55% (State of Marketing Report)
  • 8.77% of B2B marketers are planning to leverage Reddit for the first time in 2025. (State of Marketing Report)
  • 9.16% of B2C marketers are planning to leverage Reddit for the first time in 2025. (State of Marketing Report)
  • 2.6% of surveyed marketers plan to invest more in Reddit for social media marketing than other platforms. (State of Marketing Report)

Reddit Video Stats

  • Reddit users consumed more than 1.4 billion videos. (Business of Apps)
  • In 2018, video viewing time grew by 38%: Total users went from viewing 400,000 hours of natively hosted video daily to more than 13 million hours monthly. (Reddit Blog)
  • In 2018, three of Reddit’s five highest-performing posts included videos, while one had a photo. (Reddit Blog)

Engaging Content and Hot Topics on Reddit

  • The top four subreddits as of 2022 are /r/funny, /r/AskReddit, /r/gaming, and /r/worldnews. (Oberlo)
  • In 2021 the most popular “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) post with over 90,000 upvotes was “I’m a lobster diver who recently survived being inside a whale.” (Statista)
  • In a study of 60,000 Reddit posts, those between 60 and 80 characters get 8,600 upvotes. (Foundation Inc.)
  • The study also found that posts under 120 characters get more upvotes than posts above the character count. (Foundation Inc.)

Source

  • Posts with questions generate twice as many comments as posts without them. But, opposedly, posts without questions get more upvotes than posts with them. (Foundation Inc.)

Takeaways from Reddit Stats

If you’re a marketer in a field related to consumer products, especially technology, you might not want to count out Reddit just yet. As the stats above show, young people, especially Gen Z, are using and trusting the platform as a source for product research.

If your company has a lot of excellent video content, you may want to incorporate Reddit into your next marketing strategy. Remember, Reddit users consumed more than 1.4 billion videos monthly in 2018.

And if you want to share thought leadership content, consider having your marketing team open an AMA, or host videos from them on the platform, too.

Online video, especially in a mobile format, is being embraced much more heavily than in the past. Because of this, it might be worth exploring the idea of a Reddit video strategy if you ever have extra time or resources available.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in November 2019 and has since been updated for comprehensiveness.

Categories B2B

Beyond the Golden Arches: How Two McDonald’s Marketers Win Gen Z

90% of the U.S. population has eaten at a McDonald’s over the past year.

Whether a Big Mac is your drunk go-to, or you like to bribe your kids with Happy Meals on long car rides, the point holds: McDonald‘s is one of the most popular and long-lasting brands we’ve got.

We all take it for granted. Except maybe we shouldn’t.

There‘s a reason McDonald’s ranks among the top 10 most magnetic brands for Gen Z — surpassing Sephora, NFL, and Starbucks.

And it’s not the nostalgia factor… At least, not entirely.

To get to the bottom of this, I sat down with two experts — Anna Engel, Director of brand, content, and culture at McDonald‘s, and Nathaniel Gaynor, Brand marketing manager at McDonald’s — whose full-time job is to make McDonald’s cool to Gen Zers.

Click Here to Subscribe to Masters in Marketing

Lesson 1: Marketing should be symbiotic.

Engel thinks of campaign elements — whether it’s a new food item, a digital campaign element, or a social media post — as “ingredients.”

Of course she does.

And what she loves about Gen Z is how they‘ve created a symbiotic relationship with McDonald’s campaign “ingredients”. Engel‘s team doesn’t just create content for Gen Z. Gen Z creates content for them, too.

As Engel told me, Gen Zers often take brand ingredients and “create something new with them — that’s what excites us and motivates us,” she says. “For instance, they might create a narrative or an anime poster for a campaign… Things like that.”

Let’s also address the elephant in the room — why have they created an entirely separate Gen Z marketing team?

Because “Gen Z is driving culture,“ Engel explained to me. ”And our ambition is to continue to be a cultural icon.”

Lesson 2: Connect with your customers in the wild.

Every year, one of McDonald’s agencies takes a road trip. (Wholesome, I know.)

“The Fan Truth Road Trip helps us understand who our fans are and why they connect with our brand,” Gaynor says. “We see our fans pulling our brand into many different parts of culture — whether that’s anime, fashion, art, or gaming.”

Engel and Gaynor’s team then takes these learnings to create authentic experiences for their Gen Z fans.

Consider the Feb 2024 “WcDonald’s campaign.” The campaign was a nod to McDonald’s anime and manga fans, and included a limited-edition menu, Japanese manga-themed packaging, a four-episode anime series, and an interactive experience in L.A.

mcdonalds

Along with McDonald’s restaurants, the agency visits college campuses, malls, movie theaters, and parks, too.

As Engel puts it, “We break outside the four walls of McDonald’s to connect with our fans in the wild.

She adds, “It’s important for us to understand the universe they live in, what their interests are, and who they are outside of McDonald’s.”

While you might not be able to orchestrate a “Fan Truth Road Trip” for your brand, the lesson here works for all marketers: To fully understand your customers, you need to meet them outside the confines of your marketing efforts. What else do they enjoy, and how can your brand show up there, too?

Lesson Three: Be fan-led.

“Where we haven’t hit the right note in the past is when we haven’t been fan-led,” Gaynor told me.

“Now, we let our fans guide the way to our next big idea. It’s our job to embrace them and live in their creative universe and speak to them. And when we do that, we succeed.”

Engel echoes his point, and explains that another mistake they’ve made in the past is not being data-driven enough in their campaign approach.

“We can build great brand relevance campaigns. But if it doesn’t link to something tangible in the restaurant for the fans to purchase, touch, feel, eat, then it’s not going to be a business driver,” Engel says.

Because ultimately, Engel and Gaynor‘s main goal isn’t just to seem cool to the 22-year-olds on Fortnite. (Although it’s a fun side-benefit.) Their goal is to drive sales.

And if that just so happens to entail anime, fashion, or artwork, so be it.

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Categories B2B

The Content Collaboration Framework That Earned HubSpot 6 Million Views

It wasn’t too long ago that we weren’t collaborating much across Marketing.

If I published a blog post on “SEO strategy”, it became a happy coincidence if the YouTube team had covered anything similar that I could use in my post.

Download Now: Free State of Marketing Report [Updated for 2025]

Teams just weren’t creating content cohesively across different verticals. Let’s be honest: We’d grown too large.

On the Blog team, this also meant we had limited non-organic channels to use to get our posts in front of the right audiences.

Today, I’m going to pull back the curtain (sorry, I just saw Wicked) on how HubSpot’s Blog team reimagined our approach to content — transforming what used to be a siloed blog strategy into a dynamic, multi-channel storytelling machine.

(Psst: Curious what else is happening in the world of blogging? Check out our brand-new 2025 State of Blogging report with data from 500+ marketers — the first time we’ve ever run such a comprehensive audit on what’s happening across the blogging landscape.)

Why We Launched Our Media Narratives Program

When we first started our Original Research program in 2017, something became immediately clear: our blog readers are absolutely obsessed with data.

Like, Taylor-Swift-friendship-bracelets-level obsessed.

In our first full year, we drove over 1.4 million views through original research. Turns out, people love data — regardless of platform.

The challenge? Quality research is pricey and time-consuming. We needed a more strategic approach to not just create research, but to distribute it effectively across multiple channels to make sure we were getting the biggest bang for our research-bucks.

For instance, you shouldn’t have to be a blog reader to access our State of Marketing data — although, selfishly, I’d love it if you were.

But if instead you’re an avid YouTuber, newsletter subscriber, or IG follower, you should still be able to access the top marketing trends on those platforms, too.

Enter: Media Narratives.

In June 2022, I piloted our first Media Narrative — a quarterly approach that would transform how we think about research, content, and cross-team collaboration.

What started as an experimental program quickly became a powerful distribution engine for our original research, blog, and brand.

What is a Media Narrative?

Media Narratives is, at its core, a collection of multimedia content centered around one data-backed theme.

Think: A YouTube video, podcast episode, blog post, and a TikTok vid, all discussing the same trending topic and driving traffic towards one final offer.

Each Media Narrative is fueled by the Blog’s original research and expert thought leadership, and always has one corresponding research-backed report.

Let’s break it down in bullet-point format. A Media Narrative consists of:

  • One targeted, research-backed offer (think: State of Marketing, State of Sales, State of AI)
  • 15+ in-depth blog posts discussing the subtopics of that overarching report (i.e. “top marketing challenges”, “top marketing channels”, “marketing KPIs to focus on”)
  • Expert interviews
  • Videos
  • Podcast mentions
  • Social content

… With original research as the foundation for each individual channel’s content.

And, to-date, Media Narratives have driven over 6M+ views to the Blog.

Screenshot 2025-01-30 at 8.55.44 AM

How Media Narratives Help Us Solve for Channel Volatility

As organic search became increasingly unpredictable in 2024, we developed a brand-new, robust strategy that doesn’t just rely on traditional SEO tactics.

But we had another secret weapon, too: Media Narratives.

Media Narratives have helped cushion the blow of search volatility over the past year for two reasons:

  1. Media Narratives leverage multiple distribution channels — like YouTube, social media, and podcasts — which help us create content for platforms that are less impacted by the organic tides.
  2. Media Narratives content helps us compete against AI, since Media Narrative content is too difficult to replicate using AI. You know… Being focused on human perspectives, and all.

In other words, Media Narratives guarantee we don’t have all of our eggs in one basket.

We distribute content on all the channels our audience might prefer, so they can decide how, where, and why they want to consume our content.

Well … Hopefully they’re not asking why.

Plus, we publish content for Media Narratives like “Marketing Budgets: How Much Should Your Team Spend in 2024?” and “The Top 5 Marketing Challenges Expected Globally in 2025, And How to Overcome Them” — two topics I’d rather not ask a robot about.

What This Means for Marketers [3 Lessons for 2025]

1. Don’t just rely on search.

Okay, okay — I know this is an obvious one.

But it’s also surprisingly difficult. Our Blog strategy still relies primarily on organic traffic.

Because, let’s face it … Social media users aren’t too eager to click on a blog link that takes them off of TikTok. I get it.

But we’ve found it increasingly vital to test content on new channels.

Non-organic content deserves its time to shine. You’ll probably never Google keyword terms like “$400K fighter jets” and “Anti-marketing Liquid Death”, right?

And yet — and I hope this isn’t too presumptuous — I think you’d like to read, “Martha Stewart, $400K Fighter Jets, and Comedy Writers: How Liquid Death Wins at Anti-Marketing, According to Liquid Death’s VP”.

Screenshot 2025-01-30 at 8.56.55 AM

So give it a shot — share your blog posts via newsletters, social posts, YouTube descriptions, and more. And try out some newer UGC distribution channels, like Substack, Reddit, and Discord.

You want to play by the rules of each platform (cough, cough: Don’t spam your followers) but you should still get creative when it comes to how you get your content out there.

Still curious what other marketers’ are up to? Give our 2025 State of Blogging report (with data from 500+ marketers) a read.

2. Invest in original research.

We’ve all seen it first-hand: In the age of AI, way too many marketers are getting comfortable publishing generic “5 Marketing Trends” posts straight from the fingertips of good ole’ GPT.

So… What’s the Batman to ChatGPT’s Robin? Real, human perspectives.

Original data coupled with expert opinions is your competitive advantage in a world of AI-generated content.

It’s expensive, but it might be a worthwhile investment if it allows you to outrank your competitors while making your content more valuable.

If you do decide to invest in original research, I’d suggest to start small with a research report that correlates strongly to your highest-intent topics. If you sell video marketing software, a video marketing report is your sweet spot.

3. Embrace cross-team collaboration.

Our most successful Narratives break down silos.

When your podcast, social, newsletter, and blog teams work together, you create something greater than the sum of its parts.

It isn’t easy. It required a project-management mindset I wasn’t used to, and ultimately, I needed to take the time to learn how each team operates (and their preferred communication styles) before I got it right.

What I learned is this: When working with other teams, it’s important to create collaboration opportunities in multiple formats.

For me, this meant organizing a quarterly Zoom meeting that stakeholders could join, or an async spreadsheet they could drop notes into, or the option for a 1:1 meeting with me to discuss how we might work together.

This might look different for you, but it’s a good idea to collect feedback across teams to ensure you’re creating a process that works for everyone.

Playing It Safe Means Being Left Behind

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from owning Media Narratives, it’s this: Content success isn’t about playing it safe.

Instead, it’s about being bold, data-driven, and adaptable.

Our Media Narratives program is proof that sometimes, the bigger bets can pay off. It helped us solve for some major internal issues (siloed content teams), while creating more interesting content for our audiences.

And being a strong defense against AI was an added bonus.

My point? Use 2025 to test out some new pilot programs. Heck – give something like your own Media Narratives a shot. You never know how it’ll do.

Categories B2B

Anatomy of a Facebook Ad: How to Create Scroll-Stopping Campaigns [+ Examples]

Let’s be honest: advertising on Facebook successfully is not easy. Its power to attract and close customers for pretty much any industry is undeniable, but that’s only if you know how to navigate and optimize the anatomy of a Facebook Ad.

When it comes to creating a Facebook ad for your business, there are a lot of different things to consider. How much text is too much? What should it say? Video or image?

Download Now: Free Facebook Advertising Checklist

And that’s on top of all the budget, strategy, and setup logistics.

It can be overwhelming but taking it step-by-step helps. Here, we’ll do just that, focusing on my favorite part of the whole process (and also the area where I shine brightest): the creative.

Looking for a detailed guide for getting started with Facebook ads? This blog article has you covered.

Table of Contents

Facebook Ad Anatomy in 2025

In 2025, there are two main types of Facebook Ads — in-feed and right-column ads.

Right-column ads are only visible on desktops and are pretty minimal, with just a tiny image and headline to work with. Plus, with almost 99% of users accessing Facebook on mobile, these ads also don’t get as much attention, so I won’t cover them here.

(Note: If you’re curious about them, head on over to Facebook.)

Instead, I’m going to focus on in-feed ads. In-feed ads come in four different formats (which we’ll get into) and are made up of five key parts:

  • Headline
  • Media
  • Primary Text (Copy/Caption)
  • Description
  • Button (Call-to-Action)

diagram showing the five key pieces of the anatomy of a facebook ad

Let’s break down each of these using a snazzy ad I caught in my feed from Book of the Month.

Headline

Contrary to what its name suggests, your headline is not the first thing people see at the top of your ad. (That would be your profile picture and brand name.) It is, however, the boldest piece of text that appears below your visuals and next to your call-to-action button.

screenshot pointing out where the “headline” is in the anatomy of a facebook ad

Your headline is basically your main value proposition — what you’re offering your audience and want them to engage to receive.

Meta Ads Manager claims it can be up to 255 characters long, but with the limited visual real estate, I’d warn against that. Heck, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a headline that went past 10 words. A great Facebook Ad headline is short, clear, catchy, and compelling. It makes someone want to click.

This is where your conversion copywriting skills come in. Show personality or even play around with formatting (capitalization, symbols) and emojis to stop your audience in their scroll.

Pro tip: Try turning your headline into a verbal call-to-action that aligns with your button. This doubles down on your message and creates a more seamless experience.

Media

Now, in my experience (and that of many other marketers, I’m sure), your media is the most important part of your Facebook Ad. It takes up the most real estate and is almost always what your audience will notice first in their feeds.

screenshot pointing out where the “media” is in the anatomy of a facebook ad

The media of your Facebook Ad will depend on the format, but they all appear in the same place — below your name and profile picture and above your headline and call-to-action/button.

There four main ad formats are Flexible, Single Image or Video, Carousel, or Collection, but your media is the focal point regardless of which you choose.

Flexible

A Flexible ad lets Facebook’s ad delivery system decide what media or combination of different types (such as a single image, video, or carousel) to show to your audience.

With it, you can provide up to 10 images and videos for the system to choose from, but this format is currently only available for sales or app promotion ad objectives.

Single Image or Video

Now, this format is exactly what it sounds like — it’s a Facebook Ad that has a single image or video as its focal point. It’s one of the most universal options and arguably the one that looks most like an organic Facebook post.

Our handy dandy Book of the Month ad is an example of a single-image ad.

And here’s a great video ad from Aloha.

Carousel

A carousel ad showcases two or more images and videos in a single ad.

One unique feature of this format is that each image or video can have its own headline, description, link, and call-to-action.

This can be extremely useful for highlighting multiple products at once and is common with eCommerce sites like Ulta.

anatomy of a Facebook ad, carousel example, Ulta Beauty

Collection

The Collection Facebook Ad format pairs a video or image with a row of product images below it. It’s great for highlighting specific features or abilities of a single product

A Collection also comes with the option to use what Facebook calls an Instant Experience — a full-screen landing page that loads instantly when someone taps on the ad on Facebook or Instagram.

mockup showing an example of the collection format of a facebook ad.

Source

Primary Text (Copy/Caption)

The third part of a Facebook Ad is your copy or what the Meta Ads Manager calls your “primary text”). Thinking of standard, organic posts on Facebook, this is essentially the caption of your ad.

In it, you can use @ to tag Facebook profiles or Pages and Facebook recommends using 125 characters or less. This copy appears in most placements, though the position varies.

screenshot pointing out where the “primary text” is in the anatomy of a facebook ad

Pro tip: Caption writing is a common use-case for AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or even HubSpot’s Free AI Content Writer, but as I always warn you, tread lightly.

AI is a handy brainstorming and drafting tool, no doubt, but it needs editing to truly capture your brand and a human tone. More on that here.

Description

The next piece of your Facebook Ad puzzle is your description, which is super vague and confusing if you ask me.

With its placement — sitting underneath the headline in faint text, next to your call-to-action — it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly it’s describing.

Plus, Facebook notes that it won’t be displayed for all ad placements, especially if you have a longer headline.

screenshot pointing out where the “description” is in the anatomy of a facebook ad

That said, any space you have to capture your message shouldn’t be wasted. There isn’t much here, but you can use it to include extra little details you want people to know like “free shipping” or “offer ending soon!”

Button (Call-to-Action)

Last, we have your button or call-to-action — the actual link that you need audiences to click to take advantage of the offer showcased in your ad.

Now, you don’t have to include a button, but it does make it much clearer to those viewing your ad what they need to do next. It eliminates confusion and just makes for a much better user experience.

Button text options vary depending on campaign type/objective, and Facebook doesn’t allow you to add custom text, but it does have a long list of common options like learn more and shop now.

screenshot pointing out where the “call-to-action” is in the anatomy of a facebook ad

Now that you know what makes up the anatomy of a Facebook Ad, how can you optimize them to achieve your goals? Let’s unpack a few actionable tips.

Tips for Mastering Your Facebook Ad Anatomy

1. Get niche with your content.

In a recent HubSpot study, marketers said Facebook offers the second-best audience targeting tools of all social media platforms, losing out to YouTube by just 1%. That’s one of the best things about it.

With the wealth of information shared on Meta, you can target people using demographics, interests, or even previous activity on and off the platform, among other things. (More on that here.) It only makes sense that you get just as niche with your ad content to match.

For example, imagine you’re an online retailer like Amazon that sells pretty much everything under the sun.

You can easily go general and speak to anyone and everyone, but why would you, when creating ads specific to smaller audiences (e.g., people identifying as women in their 30s, teens who like gaming, etc.) gives you a better chance of earning clicks?

This Old Spice ad is an excellent example of going niche.

Sure, it could appear to be any old commercial for the brand at first glance, but calling out Costco specifically and linking directly to the retailer’s website makes it clear they’re trying to reach a certain clientele.

anatomy-of-a-facebook-ad-old-spice

The more specific you get with your content, the more likely it will strike a chord and resonate with your intended audience.

2. Show people in your media.

Research shows including people in your marketing helps your audience envision themselves using your product or service. In fact, one experiment found that photos of people helped increase a brand’s conversions by more than 95% over other alternatives.

Showing people helps audiences actually picture what their lives could look like if they clicked the button to buy or learn more. It helps eliminate some mystery of what they’re getting into and makes them more comfortable taking action.

Take this ad from Cycling Frog seltzer, for instance. If you’re wondering what trying the company’s product will be like, just take a good look.

The simple but creative ad shows a young, laughing woman buried in confetti and holding a can of Cycling Frog.

anatomy-of-a-facebook-candlelight-cycling

The company’s About Us page reads, “Life’s Short. Enjoy the Ride,” and that’s precisely the energy this ad captures.

3. Keep your copy short.

Facebook, like most social media, is an increasingly visual world. Of course, you want to capture details like your differentiators and main offer but do so as concisely as possible.

Orange Theory does an impressive job with that in the ad below. Not a single sentence (even the fine print) is longer than five words, but it still manages to leave no question unanswered.

What do you get by clicking? A free class that will help you build muscle, burn calories, and see results. And bonus: Some smiling faces will be there to greet you as well.

(Side note, but this is also great choice of image, considering its sense of community is another big selling point for the company.)

Pro tip: Incorporate relevant emojis. They can help draw the eye and also make your message appear more friendly and casual.

4. Have a single focal point.

Overcomplicating your Facebook ad can lead to distraction. Like you would a website or landing page, ask yourself what’s the one big thing you want people to see or pay attention to and make that the center of your ad.

Candlelight Concerts nails this.

anatomy-of-a-facebook-candlelight-concerts

The event company has shows all year round, but this minimalist ad wants people to know they can make the perfect Valentine’s Day date.

With this message in mind, the ad showcases a striking, close-up image of two people holding hands surrounded by candles as they would be at a concert. It grabs your eye and perfectly captures a romantic “this could be you” energy.

5. Incorporate social proof.

Consumers will always believe other people more than they believe in brands, and who can blame them? Marketers are trying to sell something, after all.

Thankfully, incorporating real outside support for your claims, such as customer reviews, awards, sales numbers, etc., (aka social proof) can help quiet your audience’s reluctance and make them feel more comfortable taking action.

Kind Laundry does a great job of directly adding a quote, name, and rating from a real customer to its ad.

Pro tip: Don’t fake your social proof. Nothing is a secret on the internet, and if you make an award or sales number up, your audience can easily find out, and that trust is hard to regain.

6. Tell a story.

Storytelling in marketing and advertising is nothing new. Stories make information (including marketing messages) easier for people to grasp and remember using emotion and relatable experiences.

That said, telling a story with your Facebook Ad can engage your audience and fit more naturally into the platform’s culture. People turn to Facebook to connect with friends and family.

Creating an ad that feels like you’re just catching up with a loved one blends in.

In this video example, our friends on the INBOUND team take us through a day at the event with one of the speakers. It offers a first-hand look at what it’s like attending and comes off as just an approachable video from a friend.

Pro tip: You can tell a story through any format, really, but carousels and videos lend themselves to it more easily. Videos are self-explanatory, but with carousels, look to advance the story with each slide/frame.

5 Facebook Ads That Hit the Mark

So, how do the tips we shared look when they all come together? Here are some of the best Facebook ads from my feed in the past week and what they did right.

1. Kolkata Chai Co

What I like:

  • Fast-paced and engaging video
  • Incorporates trends like ASMR and unboxing
  • Shows the product and people enjoying it in different ways
  • Has a voiceover and captions
  • Caption incorporates elements of social proof and differentiators of the product

2. The Edge Fitness Club

What I like:

  • Simple, on-brand, and eye-catching visual
  • Compelling, no-risk offer as headline
  • Shows a real person enjoying the gym
  • Short, friendly caption that uses emojis

3. Eat Clean

What I like:

  • Tells a story — following the meal from unboxing to microwave to the dinner table
  • The product is the focal point of the video
  • Short caption captures common pain points and differentiators
  • Has a compelling offer (deep discount) as the headline

4. Prose

What I like:

  • Well-paced video with calm, non-distracting music
  • Shows products and people from a variety of backgrounds using it
  • Uses social media trends (skincare videos) to create a video that would resonate with the audience
  • Compelling headline
  • Uses caption to highlight differentiators and draw the eye with emojis

5. Each and Every

What I like:

  • Uses a creative, high-quality image that drives home its natural, organic brand
  • The visual focus is on the brand
  • Incorporates a call-to-action button in the media, essentially turning the whole ad into one big button. This makes it even easier for people to take action.
  • Uses headline to highlight the deal
  • Uses description to share valuable details without distracting from the main focus.
  • Uses to deliver important differentiators but uses bullets to keep it easy to digest

Looking for more Facebook Ad Examples? Check out “16 of the Best Facebook Ad Examples That Actually Work (And Why)” or our free lookbook, “50 Facebook Ad Examples We Actually Clicked.”

Take (Facebook Ad)vantage in 2025

Mastering Facebook Ads doesn’t have to be hard. While the names and logistics can be a bit confusing (just like human anatomy), once you get the hang of them, there’s no limit to what you can accomplish for your brand with Facebook Ads.

Keep this cheat sheet in your back pocket, and you’re ready to create Facebook ads that catch eyes, get clicks, and drive real results from your target audience.

Categories B2B

Is it Real or AI? Test Your Detection Skills [Round 4]

Think you’re good at spotting AI-generated content? Put it to the test.

Between Midjourney, Lummi and the host of other AI image generators, it’s getting harder to detect AI imagery.

Take this quiz and find out how good you are at finding AI in everyday images, videos, and illustrations.

1. Which football pic is real?

real or ai (1)

2. Which dog is real?

real or ai (2)

3. Was this video shot by AI or a real person?

4. Can you pick out the AI model from the pack?

real or ai (3)

5. Is this video real or AI?

6. What about this shot?

real or ai 5

7. Which image is AI?

real or ai (4)

8. Which two are the AI illustrations?

real or ai (5)

Find the answer key below. 

Answer Key

1. A is real and B is AI-generated from Lummi.

2. A is a real photograph while B is an AI-generated image from Lummi.ai.

3. This is AI-generated on PikaLabs.

4. The AI model here is B from Lummi.

5. REAL – from Pexels.

6. This one’s AI from Midjourney.

7. A is AI-generated from Midjourney while B is from Unsplash photographer.

8. A & C are the AI-generated illustrations, B was created by illustrator Merle Goll.

Categories B2B

Chubbies Co-founder Warns: Don’t Get Hooked on the Performance Marketing Drug

Any time an interviewee makes me ask my boss, “Can we say that in a newsletter?” you know it’s gonna be a good day.

Today, we’ve got spicy takes and spicy language from a master of marketing who made his fortune selling spicy shorts.

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Lesson 1: Don’t get hooked on the performance marketing drug.

Preston Rutherford openly admits that he made every mistake in the book when co-founding the shorts company Chubbies.

So I kick off our chat by copping a line from Sheryl Crow: “What’s your favorite mistake?”

“Favorite mista-a-ake.” He sings, then laughs. “Favorite. Obviously a euphemism for gut-wrenching and sleep-depriving mistake. But, just to honor Sheryl…”

He thinks a moment: “Getting hooked on the drug that is short-term performance marketing — and in particular return on ad spend (or ROAS), where effectively all of our marketing investments were evaluated on that basis.”

My eyebrow goes up. Most marketing leaders want to see a measurable, proven return, right? How else do you know what’s working?

Rutherford says that exact sentiment is why he (and so many marketers) over-rotated toward performance marketing. That drive to make all of your marketing efforts systematic, measurable, and scalable.

“ We’re so used to a certain feedback loop on the data side, right? If I’m spending dollars, I’m only measuring success by who clicked on my ad and purchased in a 24-hour period.

But that feedback loop incentivizes marketing efforts that produce short-term results — at the cost of long-term brand building. Not to mention, it led him away from all of the fun and unusual things that made Chubbies recognizable in the first place.

And what’s worse, the hypertargeting of performance marketing means “you’re spending dollars to claim a purchase that would have already happened.”

preston-rutherford-mim-drug-quote

But if you’re not focusing on return, what are you focusing on?

Brand is the most important asset that any kind of business builds,” he says. “And is ultimately the least measurable with current tools.”

Rutherford’s hot take? Only 40% of your marketing dollars should be spent on short-term ad spend, with the rest going to brand building.

“You would much rather have someone come directly to you — not being prompted by some kind of promotion or false urgency — but rather, ‘this is just a company that I believe in’.”

Lesson 2: If content is king, difference is queen.

“What marketing trend needs to die in a fire?” I ask him.

“Generative AI,” he blurts without a moment’s pause.

Y’all. I bark-laughed. (Then I wondered if anyone in my reporting hierarchy reads the newsletter, and nervously tugged my collar like Rodney Dangerfield.)

“Creativity is queen. Things that are different are queen,” he explains. “Generative AI is trained on models of what has already been done in the past and what has ‘worked.’”

He puts that last word into air quotes. According to Rutherford, this creates two problems: “Only looking backward and, in my opinion, an incorrect definition of what works. It’s based on driving short-term revenue.”

Rutherford is quick to qualify that this doesn’t mean there isn’t any place for AI in marketing. But for many marketers, it will lead to churning out what he calls “the sea of sameness.”

Breaking out from that “sea of sameness” is how Chubbies was born in the first place. When Rutherford and his friends sported the handmade shorts on vacation, the unusual cuts and colors had complete strangers approaching them to comment. Not everybody loved them, but everybody noticed them.

That success would have never been realized if they had based their decisions on what already worked.

preston-rutherford-mim-friend-quoteLesson 3: Think of marketing like building friendships.

You’re probably thinking this lesson is gonna get all touchy-feely. Nope. This is a much more cuss-laden concept.

Rutherford says that any idea, tactic, campaign, or concept he has absolutely must pass through this filter:

Would I send this email to a buddy or would they talk shit to me?

For the third time in 15 minutes, I’m doubled over in laughter, but Rutherford has an excellent point. Stop and think about your favorite brands. They’re probably the ones that talk to you like a human being.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be funny, irreverent, or uncouth. But I guarantee you didn’t think of someone who blasts you with corporate-speak.

Because at the end of the day, brand building is actually relationship building. That relationship will look different if you’re selling hot sauce, tax software, or maternity pillows — but they all require authenticity… and respect.

Am I treating the people who view my ads like I’m a corporation marketing to faceless customers? Or am I a person marketing to other people?

As proof, he points out that this is exactly why influencer marketing is so effective right now. It’s a real person talking to you as another real person. And our recent survey data bears out the same story as marketing leaders are pouring heavy budget into creator content, brand building, and developing authenticity.

Rutherford then drops a sweary little denouement: “People can see through our bullshit. People are not idiots.”

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Categories B2B

Jaguar’s Rebrand: Bold Move or Costly Mistake?

Welcome to Creator Columns, where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

Jaguar’s recent rebrand has people talking, but not in the way most marketers hope for.

Gone are the classic cues of British elegance. In their place is minimalism and “modernist exuberance.” Their rebrand campaigns involve cryptic videos, high-fashion models, and a new mantra: “Copy nothing. Delete ordinary.”

Reactions have been mixed. Marketing legend Mark Ritson called it “f—ing lunacy,” while Rory Sutherland is reserving judgment, saying, “It’s too early to call.”

So, what’s Jaguar playing at?

Free Kit: How to Build a Brand [Download Now]

What has Jaguar done?

The historic British car manufacturer has gone for a new look. The leaping cat has been removed from the logo. In its place is a minimalist wordmark that now reads “JaGUar.” Yes… with that random capitalization.

Jaguar launched this rebrand by wiping their social media profiles clean and replacing their branding with car-free visuals. This prompted Elon Musk to ask, “Do you sell cars?”.

But the change is part of a broader strategy. Jaguar’s sales have been falling, and there’s a real fear that the brand can’t rely on its existing customer base.

To cope, Jaguar is repositioning as a £100k+ luxury EV brand to rival Porsche and Bentley. Rather than targeting an older generation who adore its British roots, Jaguar plans to target “cash-rich, time-poor” millennials and Gen Z.

But will it work?

The Tropicana Effect

Most marketers can recount a long list of failed rebrands. Usually, the top of that list is Tropicana in 2009. They ditched their iconic orange-with-a-straw logo for a sleek redesign.

The result was abysmal. Sales dropped 20% in two months. The company lost £30 million before scrambling back to the original design.

Jaguar’s gamble feels eerily similar: ditching the familiar in favor of “modern.” But here’s the thing: cars aren’t juice.

Buying Tropicana is a quick, emotional, and intuitive decision (what Daniel Kahneman would call “system 1”). Car buying is deliberate, logical, and tied to identity (“system 2”).

Screenshot 2025-01-30 at 9.44.08 AM

So, you could argue that severing Jaguar from its roots is unproblematic. After all, buyers will rationally assess Jaguar’s car based on its quality, not its historical marketing.

But we’re missing an important part of the puzzle: mental availability.

Jaguar’s Mental Availability Problem

Byron Sharp, author of How Brands Grow, highlights the power of memory structures. Jaguar’s heritage—Le Mans wins, the E-Type, and the “Jaaaag” factor—are its mental assets.

Sharp argues that one of the sole aims of advertising is to refresh mental availability. Doing so keeps the awareness high and boosts purchases.

Huge brands like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Apple, and Audi incorporate distinctive brand elements into every one of their ads. This repeat exposure builds mental availability in the customer’s mind.

In his book, Sharp notes how ads that successfully link to existing brand assets are 60% more effective at driving sales than generic ads with weak brand associations.

In other words, Coca-Cola sells more by creating familiar, albeit perhaps dull, ads of young friends drinking Coke on a hot day than they would by creating an ad that’s distinctive yet unfamiliar.

Jaguar ditching all their recognized assets for abstract visuals risks losing everything that makes the brand memorable.

Lessons from Australian Wine

Bryon Sharp shares an example of Queen Adelaide, a well-known wine brand in Australia that had lost market relevance and shelf space.

Seppelt, the company behind Queen Adelaide, saw an opportunity to relaunch the brand rather than create a new one. Unlike Jaguar, Queen Adelaide focused on maintaining familiarity. They retained the recognizable name and design elements to trigger existing memory structures in consumers’ minds.

Within a short period, Queen Adelaide became the largest-selling chardonnay in Australia. Sales surged due to the brand’s ability to reconnect with its established mental availability.

The example underscores that doubling down on mental availability can drive sales for a struggling brand.

The Sensible Option for Jaguar

The safe and sensible option for the iconic brand would have been to marry the old and the new.

Take the assets that Jaguar fans are familiar with and build on them to highlight their new electronic era.

Quote - Text (4)

They could have reinvented the logo but kept clearer nods to Jaguar’s heritage. Mental availability thrives on familiarity, and Jaguar’s rebrand leaves them as weak as a new brand entering an extremely competitive market.

By adding to the strong brand, Jaguar could have retained the strong associations millions around the world had with the brand rather than severing them.

But that’s the safe option. While it’s undoubtedly less risky and far less likely to lead to a catastrophic drop in sales, it also has less potential for upside.

The Big Question

Is Jaguar’s rebrand a clever move to secure its place in the EV market, or will it end up as another Tropicana-like disaster?

Mark Ritson argues they should’ve modernized with their heritage, not erased it. Rory Sutherland? He’s keeping an open mind.

What’s certain is this: Jaguar has risked billions in mental availability. If they can’t build new associations fast enough, this bold bet might cost more than they can afford.

This blog is part of Phill Agnew’s Marketing Cheat Sheet series where he reveals the scientifically proven tips to help you improve your marketing. To learn more, listen to his podcast Nudge, a proud member of the Hubspot Podcast Network.

Categories B2B

Real-Time Bidding for Programmatic Ads — Here’s How It Works

As a marketing leader with experience at several different tech companies, I’ve become an expert at real-time bidding (RTB) for programmatic ads.

This process is often one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to purchase ad inventory online.

Access Now: Free Media Planning Template

But, even for experienced marketers, real-time bidding can be confusing. That’s why I wrote this article: to break down what RTB is, how it works, and the pros and cons of using it — in plain, jargon-free English.

Table of Contents









In a traditional media buying process, the marketer has to buy ads manually.

Let’s say I find a magazine that serves my buyer persona. I ask the magazine publisher for their media kit, I choose the ad dimensions that fit my budget, and then I buy an ad for a certain amount of time. Once the time runs out, the ad is taken down.

Real-time bidding eliminates most of that work. With RTB, you can get space in that magazine — and hundreds of others — by letting a Demand-Side Platform (DSP) automatically choose the best publishers and ad spaces, and then bid on them for you.

You just set targeting parameters, such as maximum bid price and target audience. Then, the DSP uses these parameters to automatically determine where your ads are placed.

If you place the highest bid, the publisher accepts your ad automatically. Real-time bidding does all the bidding for you, so you don’t have to take any additional steps.

As Mandar Ambekar, founder and managing director of blueShepherd GmbH, explains, “The Real-Time Bidding process is like an auction, but it happens in the time it takes for a webpage to load. Advertisers compete to display their ads to a specific audience based on criteria like age, interests, or browsing behavior. The highest bidder wins, and their ad appears on the user’s screen.”

Real-time bidding is the driving force behind most programmatic advertising campaigns. Advertisers can buy ad inventory, place those ads online, and ensure that they get a certain number of impressions with their programmatic advertising campaigns.

Still confused? No worries. I’ll break down the concept of RTB and programmatic advertising further below.

Real-Time Bidding Terms to Know

There are several pieces involved in the real-time bidding process. Before we put them all together, let’s take a look at each piece one-by-one.

      • Advertiser: The advertiser is the company or brand that wants to place an ad online.
      • Demand-Side Platform (DSP): The Demand-Side Platform is the service that advertisers use to launch their ad campaigns.
      • Publisher: The publisher is the website or online property that wants to sell ad space, often referred to as “ad inventory.”
      • Supply-Side Platform (SSP): The Supply-Side Platform is the service that publishers use to make their ad inventory available. SSPs use ad exchanges to run auctions where ad spaces are instantly purchased by the highest bidder.
      • Ad Exchanges: The ad exchange connects companies who want to advertise with publishers who want to sell ad space. Ad exchanges carry out the bidding transaction automatically in real time by connecting Demand-Side Platforms and Supply-Side Platforms.
      • Impressions: Impressions refer to the number of times an ad is seen or scrolled past. In the real-time bidding process, advertisers pay per thousand impressions. This cost is known as the cost per mille, or CPM, of a campaign.

How does real-time bidding work?

real time bidding steps

Below, I’ll share what this looks like in action, explaining how real-time bidding works from both the advertiser’s side and the publisher’s side.

Setting Up an Ad Campaign as an Advertiser

On the advertiser side, marketers use DSPs, or Demand-Side Platforms, to set up ad campaigns and track their performance. To determine what ad inventory to bid on, advertisers will set targeting parameters.

For instance, a brand may only want to target users who are in a specific region or who have visited their website recently.

Importantly, there are many tools that today’s marketers can use to help them develop effective ads. For example, HubSpot’s AI Video Ad Creator makes it possible to quickly and easily produce video advertisements, while its Free AI Headline Generator tool can create tailored headlines for any target audience.

Then, once the ad is crafted and the campaign is set up, the advertiser’s DSP will evaluate ad potential in real time. The DSP can then decide whether or not to place a bid, and how much to bid, on a given ad space.

Listing Ad Inventory As a Publisher

Publishers, on the other hand, use Supply-Side Platforms (SSPs) to list their ad inventory and the prices they charge.

When creating these listings, they’ll want to include key information that DSPs will be looking for to evaluate whether a specific ad space is a good fit for their target market. That includes the type of content on their webpage and the types of ad space available.

Meeting in the Middle at the Ad Exchange

Next, the advertiser and publisher will meet in the middle at the ad exchange: the marketplace where the real-time bidding actually takes place.

Advertisers set their bid through their Demand-Side Platform, while the publisher’s Supply-Side Platform either accepts or rejects the bid. The prices are negotiated based on cost per thousand impressions, or CPM, so the advertiser isn’t paying based on uptime or even ad dimensions. Instead, they’re paying for the number of times, in thousands, that their ad is seen.

Still confused? Don’t worry — this can be tricky to wrap your head around. Let’s go through a real-world example to illustrate what real-time bidding can look like in action.

Real-Time Bidding Example

real time bidding example

Let’s say I’m the marketing manager for Silk, a UK-based beauty brand that just launched a new brow line and is running a marketing campaign to promote it.

I set up the ad campaign on a Demand-Side Platform (DSP) where I specify that I want to target users who regularly shop for makeup products, who are located in the Manchester area, and who are between 18 and 30 years old. I also note that I only want my ads to be shown on sites related to beauty and lifestyle.

So, what happens next? A user visits a publisher’s site, and the publisher’s Supply-Side Platform (SSP) sends a bid request to the ad exchange. Then, my DSP evaluates the impression’s value. The DSP determines whether the user meets the parameters outlined in my campaign, and if they do, the DSP submits a bid.

Of course, not every bid is a winner. But if Silk has the winning bid, then once the page loads, the user will see my ad, and Silk will pay the cost associated with the bid.

That’s real-time bidding on a single ad space for a single user — but most likely, this process will happen thousands of times on different web pages over the course of Silk’s ad campaign. Silk’s paid ads manager will then monitor the ad’s performance on the DSP to see whether the ad is reaching the desired audience, or if the parameters should be adjusted.

How Much Does Real-Time Bidding Cost?

As with any marketing tool, the cost of real-time bidding for programmatic ads varies substantially depending on your unique use case. But first, remember: The price of an RTB campaign is measured by the cost per thousand impressions or CPM.

In my experience, the CPM for a given ad campaign will change based on who your target market is, the budget you’ve allocated to the campaign, and how long you’ve allotted for the campaign to run.

If you’re looking to reduce the cost, you can adjust these factors to be more limited. In contrast, if you have more budget available, you can always explore opportunities to expand these factors.

In general, the CPM for a campaign targeting a niche audience will be higher than that of a campaign targeting a broader audience. Of course, there are substantial advantages to targeting a more niche user base. However, if you’re looking to reduce the cost per impression, broadening the audience may be helpful.

How to Measure the Success of Real-Time Bidding Ads

Of course, any marketing strategy is only as useful as your ability to measure its success. When it comes to real-time bidding on programmatic ads, there are several metrics that I’ve found can be effective ways to measure how well a campaign is working.

On the most basic level, I always start by simply measuring impressions.

Impressions are the easiest metric to track, but of course, just because someone sees your ad doesn’t mean they click through to visit your website, let alone buy your product.

That’s why click-through rate is another important factor to consider: How often are the people who see your ad actually clicking on it?

Beyond impressions and click-throughs, I’ve learned that it can also be helpful to explore more nuanced measures of user engagement. For example, a website visit is one thing, but how long do users stay on your website? How many pages are they visiting on your site, and which pages are they spending the longest on?

Tracking metrics like these can help you get a more detailed view of the actual quality level of the leads you’re paying for.

Finally, I always remember to zoom out and look at bigger-picture measures of success as well.

What is the ROI of the overall campaign? What percentage of ad impressions ultimately convert into purchases? And how loyal are these customers once they convert? Do they buy once and then churn, or do they become lifelong evangelists of your brand?

Accurately measuring success is no simple task, but factoring in a range of metrics and considerations like these can help to ensure that you invest your ad money as effectively as possible.

Real-Time Bidding Platforms

Now, you know what RTB is, and you’ve started thinking about how to measure success. But what does it take to get started implementing a programmatic ad campaign? There are several tools I recommend to help you get started with real-time bidding on programmatic ads.

I’ll start with the advertising side, showing which tools can help you buy space to place your ads online. Then, I’ll move to the publishing side and feature tools can help you sell your ad space.

Real-Time Bidding Platforms for Advertisers

real time bidding from an advertiser perspective

Source

As an advertiser, you’ll want to find a Demand-Side Platform (DSP) that allows you to manage several ad campaigns at once. I recommend looking for a DSP that lets you set specific targeting parameters, such as users’ most-visited websites and preferred brands.

Here are a few of my favorite options.

      • AdRoll: This simple self-serve Demand-Side Platform is a good fit for beginners in the programmatic advertising space.
      • mediasmart: This more advanced self-serve Demand-Side Platform offers detailed targeting and segmentation capabilities. As such, it’s a good fit for more experienced marketers who have already set up ad campaigns with other tools, such as Google Ads.
      • theTradeDesk: This Demand-Side Platform allows you to place ads on multiple devices, including TV ad rolls, online videos, music streaming devices, mobile apps, and publishers across the web — so it will be a good fit for marketers who are planning to advertise across all of these channels.

Real-Time Bidding Platforms for Publishers

On the other side of the equation, if you have ad inventory to sell, then signing up with a Supply-Side Platform is essential to take advantage of real-time bidding. With an SSP, you don’t have to speak with any advertisers or do any of the manual work associated with account management.

Here are a few of my favorite supply-side channels that can help publishers sell ad inventory through real-time bidding.

      • Magnite: This Supply-Side Platform is best for large-scale ad inventory sellers who also want to sell ad space through Private Marketplace (PMP) and Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) systems. It’s a good fit if you’re an experienced ad seller who wants to upgrade to a more capable system.
      • Index Exchange: This simpler supply-side marketplace allows you to get started with selling ad inventory on multiple channels, including display, video, mobile, and native. As such, it will be a good fit for publishers who would like to start selling ad inventory or who plan to take advantage of all these available channels.

Still not sure if buying or selling programmatic ads through real-time bidding is right for you? Below, I’ll go over some of the most important pros and cons to keep in mind when deciding whether to invest in RTB.

Real-Time Bidding Pros

real-time bidding pros and cons

Better Tracking

As TeqBlaze CEO Anastasia-Nikita Bansal explains, real-time bidding provides marketers “real-time insights and the ability to adjust campaigns on the fly.” She continues, “[This] ensur[es] advertisers can optimize their ads to reach the right audience at the right time, thereby reducing wasted impressions.”

In other words, with RTB, advertisers can monitor their campaigns easily without relying on vendors. No need to reach out to multiple publishers and ask for reports — you can get all the data you need yourself on your DSP.

This also gives marketers the agility to pivot quickly if their campaign isn’t performing as expected. For instance, you might find that switching out one keyword for another may boost your campaign’s performance and align better with the audience you want to reach.

Real-time bidding with programmatic advertising enables you to track your campaigns and easily identify opportunities for improvement.

Better Targeting

In addition, when purchasing ads through RTB, you buy one impression at a time.

That means every time a website visitor or mobile app user visits a publisher’s site, you get the chance to assess that person’s profile and see whether it matches your target audience. This makes for more accurate targeting, as you can ensure your ads only reach the right people at the right time.

Indeed, “RTB has a clear edge as compared to traditional forms of media buying,” notes Shridhar Mishra, chief business officer of the EMEA and APAC regions for DIGIAD DMCC. Specifically, he argues that “the performance [of RTB] would be quite better since you are going contextual and targeting the most relevant audience sets.”

More Cost-Effective

Finally, one recent report found that, on average, programmatic ads cost up to 20 times less per impression than traditional ads. Moreover, I’ve found that the precision of real-time bidding allows marketers to spend their ad dollars on higher-value impressions.

Too often, I’ve seen brands launch marketing campaigns that reach their target market occasionally, leaving much of their budget wasted on users who don’t fit the brand’s profile. In contrast, RTB enables marketers to ensure that every cent goes toward targeting users who are likely to be interested in the brand.

In addition, RTB takes much of the manual labor out of the online advertising process, allowing marketers to focus on other efforts.

You can also complement your RTB efforts by leveraging a Free Paid Media Template to track and organize your media planning. With tools like these, marketing teams can get more bang for their buck, prioritizing high-value work.

Real-Time Bidding Cons

Compromised Brand Safety

Despite the many benefits of RTB and programmatic advertising, real-time bidding has real shortcomings to consider. First, it’s important to remember that where your ad shows up is just as important as who sees it. This is because consumers judge brands based on the content surrounding their ads.

Indeed, a recent survey found that 71% of U.S. consumers report that they would feel less favorably toward a brand if it advertises near inappropriate content, and 56% would be unlikely to engage with an ad that appeared near inappropriate content. This can be anything from a site that hosts pirated movies to a blog that promotes hate speech.

Due to the nature of RTB, there is a risk your ad may appear on a site with content you wouldn’t want your brand associated with. To mitigate this risk, marketers can put certain keywords and sites on a “deny” list.

That said, because RTB systems place ads automatically, there is no way to fully guarantee that your ad will never be placed next to unsavory content.

Potential Ad Fraud

In addition, I’ve learned that it’s critical to be aware of potential ad fraud. Ad fraud happens when scammers (or any parties with ill intent) try to trick digital ad networks by falsifying impressions and clicks using bots.

Obviously, bots aren’t real people — so they aren’t potential buyers you can eventually convert into customers. Because you don’t get to hand-pick publishers when you use real-time bidding, there’s a very real chance that your ad might be seen by bots instead of real people.

The rising sophistication of bots can also cause brands to gather inaccurate data on their campaigns, mistaking impressions or clicks by bots for real, human traction.

This form of fraud may happen without publishers’ knowledge, but some deceitful publishers fabricate impressions knowingly to steal from advertisers. One way to combat this is by using a DSP or ad network with fraud detection software.

But of course, even if you take reasonable precautions, this risk is also still always going to be present.

Real-Time Bidding is the Easiest Way to Increase Brand Awareness

At the end of the day, I’ve found that real-time bidding makes the online advertisement process fast and easy. While it’s not without risks, RTB and programmatic advertising means marketers can skip the back-and-forth previously associated with ad buying and focus instead on tracking the results.

You can also use HubSpot’s Ads Software to create personalized and targeted ad campaigns, and see which ads are turning prospects into customers. Ultimately, this enables brands to increase the ROI from their campaigns — and it empowers brands to grow better, faster.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in March 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Categories B2B

Here‘s Everything I’ve Learned About Internet Marketing [Data + Expert Tips]

I still remember the early days of the internet and how exciting (and expensive!) it was to use. As it was a dial-up modem connection, my parents put strict time limits on how much time I could spend online (gosh, that makes me feel a little old).

Since then, things have changed tremendously and the internet has become so widely accessible that even people in the most remote areas use it. So, it’s not surprising that it became a massive marketing channel.

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Internet marketing offers unique benefits other marketing mediums (i.e., TV, print) can’t offer — scope of reach, the option to personalize content, and the opportunity to build far-reaching relationships with customers, being just a few.

There are tens of digital channels, including email, social media, websites, and search engines, to reach your ideal audience. In this post I’ll cover everything from marketing strategies to real-world examples, to ensure your business reaches the right people.

Table of Contents

Types of Internet Marketing

1. SEO Marketing

Search engine optimization or SEO, helps companies expand their visibility in organic search results. Essentially, good SEO ensures that when someone Googles your product or service, they can find your website in the search results.

For example, if I Google “Hubspot,” it appears at the top of the search results, right after the sponsored posts. Branded terms are much easier to rank for compared to other terms, like “best CRM.”

internet marketing content; google search results for the term “hubspot”

2. Social Media Marketing

With 5.17 billion social media users globally, if you’re not using it for marketing, you’re missing out. No matter who your target audience is, chances are you’ll be able to find them on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X, or another platform.

Depending on your marketing goals and budget, you may choose:

  • Organic. With organic social media marketing, you can take advantage of free marketing opportunities like creating posts and reels on Instagram.
  • Paid. With paid advertising on social media, you can create promoted posts targeted towards a specific audience.

A lot of brands (and individuals) turn to LinkedIn to not only show their expertise but also to build connections with their followers. For example, Ben Goodey, the founder of an SEO agency Spicy Margarita (whom I am a big fan of), has impressive engagement. Look at how many likes and comments he got!

internet marketing content; an example of a linkedin post from ben goodey

Source

3. Content Marketing

Content marketing involves the creation and distribution of branded online content you can use to engage and attract both potential and existing customers. This can include social media, a company blog, training materials, video content, case studies or other industry related topics.

Blogging is definitely one of my favorites. It gives companies a great opportunity to share unique insights and showcase their personality — especially now that the internet is flooded with generic, low-quality content written by AI.

Here is an example from HubSpot. It features a lot of expert tips, which add credibility to the piece.

internet marketing; example of an expert article from the hubspot blog

The CMO at gifted.co, Elad Maoz, told me that content marketing has proven a very helpful tactic for them.

“By creating high-quality, audience-centric content, we’ve built trust and engagement with our target market. One strategy we implemented was a blog series on creative gifting ideas, paired with video tutorials on making personalized gift packages. We distributed this content through email campaigns and social media ads,” says Maoz.

The blog series generated a 35% increase in website traffic and boosted engagement rates on social media by 50% over two months.

“Content marketing works because it positions your brand as a helpful resource, fostering loyalty and encouraging users to share your content, amplifying your reach organically,” he adds.

4. Email Marketing

Email marketing is the process of targeting your audience and customers through email. It helps you boost conversions and revenue by providing subscribers and customers with valuable information to help them achieve their goals.

When customers share their email with your brand, you can use it to:

  • Send welcome emails to new customers.
  • Promote new blog content.
  • Introduce new products or services.
  • Send promotions and discounts.
  • Solicit feedback from customers about their experience with your brand.
  • Send abandoned cart notifications to boost sales.

You might be wondering if it’s still worth investing in email marketing (especially since there are so many social media platforms to post on). My short answer is – absolutely. Some of the world’s most popular newsletters see subscriber numbers in the seven-digit range. For example, The Pulse, one of New York Times’ flagship newsletters, exceeded 2.4 million subscribers in 2024.

internet marketing; example of the pulse newsletter as an internet marketing content success story

Of course, the more niche your product, the fewer subscribers you’ll aim for. Yet, this example demonstrates that email marketing can still achieve outstanding success.

5. Pay-Per-Click Marketing

Pay-per-click, or PPC, is a form of advertising that allows you to pay a fee to have your website on the search engine result page (SERP) when someone types in specific keywords or phrases to the search engine.

The SERP will display the ads you create to direct visitors to your site, and the fee you pay is based on whether people click your ad.

For example, here are a couple of PPC ads that appeared in Google when I searched the phrase “newsletter tool.” Notice the “sponsored” tags and how these types of advertisements frequently take up all of the above-the-fold parts of the page.

internet marketing; example of ppc ads for the phrase “newsletter tool” in google search

6. Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing employs popular, niche content creators to improve brand awareness, increase traffic, and target messaging to a brand’s audience.

You can use influencers across multiple channels, including social media, blogs, digital and print ads, and television. It’s an effective marketing avenue because it uses word-of-mouth marketing and social proof, which are now critical aspects of any successful marketing strategy.

One of my favorite influencer marketing examples is Skin Unmasked, an Instagram profile run by Piotr Janicki MD, focusing on skin health and wellness. He has an engaged audience of viewers who turn to him not only for product recommendations but honest reviews and tips.

He’s also known for educating about the risks of myths and misleading product advertising. For more knowledge on these topics, he redirects readers to his blog and YouTube channel. This allows him to build an even more engaged community.

internet marketing; example of an influencer marketing profile on instagram

7. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing tactic in which a retailer, typically an online one, rewards a website with a commission for each customer referred via the website’s promotional activities.

The “affiliate” or website only gets paid when their promotion of your product results in a sale. This method is similar to influencer marketing, but the pay structure is different.

For example, HubSpot’s affiliate program offers a 30% recurring commission for each customer an affiliate refers.

What’s the role of internet marketing?

Simply put, the role of internet marketing is to help your business reach, attract, and convert online audiences.

Acquiring skills through digital marketing courses can be a significant step to mastering the methods necessary to achieve these objectives.

Let‘s dive into two separate goals you’ll have with internet marketing, as well as the necessary methods you’ll want to take to achieve those goals.

Goal 1: Internet Marketing to Attract New Customers

96% of shoppers use the internet for research before making purchasing decisions, so it’s important to pay attention to where your brand can be discovered (and how it’s perceived) online.

There are plenty of tactics you can use for this, like the following:

  • Paid social media ads. Which channels you choose largely depends on whether you’re in B2B or B2C. I once worked for a company that offered a digital product for business-to-business clients, so our marketing team assumed that running LinkedIn ads would bring the highest ROI. We also simultaneously ran paid campaigns on Facebook. To our surprise, the latter channel turned out to be the most effective, bringing in the best quality leads at the best price.
  • SEO. Optimizing your site for specific keywords will increase your chances of being discovered by prospects. Just make sure your content provides value to your target audience on top of being SEO optimized.
  • Partnering up with influencers. In order for this to work, you’ll need to run some preliminary research. Ask yourself, “What types of accounts does my ideal customer follow?” Then, research influencers (whether on social media, YouTube, or both) in your niche.

Pro tip: Before you reach out to an influencer with a collab proposal, I highly recommend checking if they have high engagement on their posts and videos.

This is even more important than the number of followers (the classic case of “quality over quantity”). How can these people help you promote your brand?

There are plenty of ways from anything as simple as sharing images of your products to recording a video showing the “before/after” complemented with a discount code for the influencers’ community.

  • Website design. While website design doesn’t attract new customers, per se, it affects how your brand is perceived. If the design is clunky, information is hard to find, and the site is slow, it might discourage visitors from exploring your website and surely won’t result in conversion.

Goal 2: Internet Marketing to Cultivate Brand Loyalists

Internet marketing is for more than “just” attracting new customers — it’s also critical for turning them into long-time clients. You can use the channels I mentioned above and a few others, but apply different tactics.

Here are a few methods I recommend giving a try:

  • Email marketing. This is a pretty broad category. It covers both wide-scale campaigns like informing all of your clients about a cross-site sale and personalized messages for individual customers.

One of my favorite examples of the latter is sending over a Happy Birthday message along with a special discount code that can be redeemed within a month or so.

With such a tactic, you don’t pressure your clients into buying while the promo code lasts and give them the option to get their favorite product or service at a special rate.

Pro tip: Of course, to reap the benefits of email marketing, you need to build and properly set up an email list. Here’s how to build an email list from scratch.

  • Social media. You might use social media to showcase your brand’s personality and hear directly from your customers. Consider hosting a chat on X, posting surveys on Instagram, or creating fun contests on Facebook.

Always reply to every comment your clients or prospects post — especially negative ones. If you don’t feel like you have the bandwidth to create all social media content internally, consider using a third-party service like UpContent, which sends you compelling, curated content that you can share with your audiences for increased engagement.

  • Loyalty programs. According to Emarsys, loyalty program usage went up by 28% in 2024. Given how much customers love personalized rewards and incentives, this is hardly surprising. I do need to say here, though, that you shouldn’t create a program unless you can genuinely follow through and offer attractive deals.

If you’re looking for inspiration, I recommend checking out the loyalty program at wellness brand Rituals. I’ve been shopping there every two or three months for about a year or so.

The first time I visited a brick-and-mortar location, I was asked if I wanted to sign up as a member, to which I agreed. Now, every time I go in to stock up on my favorite items, I am surprised either with a freebie (like hand cream) or a discount.

Just the other day, I was given a $5 discount upon checking out – a pretty nice touch, if you ask me!

Internet Marketing vs. Content Marketing

Content marketing and internet marketing are incredibly similar strategies used to attract leads and prospects to your site, and ultimately convert web traffic into customers. However, there are a few slight differences between the two.

Content marketing lives under the roof of online/internet marketing — which means online/internet marketing is the more broad, overarching strategy, and content marketing is one process within that strategy.

  • Content marketing applies only to the process of creating and distributing content to reach audiences.
  • Online marketing encompasses sharing that content through email, search engines, and social media — it also includes paid advertising, retargeting, and a wide range of strategies you might use to reach audiences online.

While most of the strategies that fall under online marketing have to do with content creation, online marketing also pertains to the non-content creation tasks of internet marketing such as PPC bidding, or website design.

internet marketing vs. content marketing

Here are 16 strategies you‘ll want to employ to ensure you’re successful at internet marketing.

1. Lean into short-form video content.

According to HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing report, not only is short-form video one of the most popular trends among marketers, but it’s also the most effective with an ROI of 21%.

Short-form video is expected to continue its growth trajectory, as visual storytelling is overtaking text-heavy content formats.

With the enduring popularity of TikTok, audiences are gravitating more and more toward short-form videos. Short-form videos continue to be the norm as Instagram and YouTube push similar short-form video features such as Reels and Shorts, respectively.

2. Post videos on YouTube or other social networks.

Video marketing is an undeniably powerful opportunity to reach new audiences and convert leads into customers.

In my opinion, saying that it’s currently “on the rise” would be an understatement. The average user spends 29 hours in the YouTube mobile app alone. In fact, 88% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads, and 87% of people say that they‘ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.

Convinced yet? If not, simply consider the fact that YouTube is used by 52% of video marketers — which means, even if you’re not posting videos on the channel, your competitors possibly are. Half of the marketers who use YouTube also report that it provides the highest ROI of all social marketing channels.

You’ll want to diversify the type(s) of content you produce to attract audiences who prefer video over text, or YouTube over X.

Consider how you might implement your own video strategy to reach and convert new audiences. If you‘re not sure where to start, check out HubSpot’s guide on YouTube marketing.

3. Keep TikTok in mind.

TikTok’s popularity isn’t expected to wane anytime soon. While Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube have the highest ROI for B2B businesses, TikTok is quickly becoming the app to invest in.

In our 2025 State of Marketing report, we found that Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube will remain strong for both B2B and B2C brands. B2B marketers (14%) plan to invest more in LinkedIn, and B2C marketers (10%) in TikTok, reflecting how shoppers research new products and services personally and professionally.

4. Find influencers to work with your brand.

I‘m currently wearing a watch I found on Amazon. I’m sitting on a couch from Wayfair, with a candle from Anthropology on the table in front of me. Where did I hear about all these products? Influencers.

In 2024, 24% of marketers reported using influencer marketing surveyed for our 2025 State of Marketing report said they are seeing the highest ROI from influencers on 1) Facebook (28%), 2) Instagram (22%), and 3) YouTube (12%), and brands most commonly spend 50-74% of

their marketing budget on influencers or content creators.

The best part is you can use influencer marketing effectively with short-form video, and take advantage of these two top ROI trends at the same time!

On top of all that, our consumer trends survey shows that 27% of Gen Zers have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months. And when they’re making purchase decisions, Gen Z says influencer recommendations are more important than recs from their friends and family.

Social media influencers have cultivated strong, meaningful relationships with their followers. Their followers typically trust them to provide true, reliable guidance on a range of topics related to the influencers’ expertise. This is why influencer marketing can be an effective opportunity to spread brand awareness to new audiences.

If you think influencer marketing could be a good choice for your business, consider micro-influencers as a more effective (and oftentimes more cost-efficient) option. Micro-influencers often experience higher engagement rates than mega-influencers.

We found that 62% of the influencers who inspired social media users to buy had under 10,000 followers, and 25% had even fewer – under 1,000.

Naturally, it can be expensive and time-consuming to find the right influencer(s) for your brand. If you’re going to invest in the strategy, consider working with the same few influencers for the long-term — which enables your company to build stronger relationships with their social followers.

internet marketing, chart of influencer sizes

Source

5. Humanize your brand using brand values.

AI has taken the internet by storm, swamping it with generic, meaningless content. While generative AI has many advantages, 60% of marketers using it for content worry it might hurt their brand.

Concerns include bias, plagiarism, or content that doesn’t match the brand’s values. This is a valid concern as content reflecting brand values has an ROI of 13%, which is the second highest after short-form videos.

Iñigo Rivero — former strategy and partnership manager at TikTok and founder and managing director at TikTok marketing agency House Of Marketers — agrees that brands should invest in their image.

“Success in internet marketing begins with authenticity. In my experience, creating content that tells a story or offers value draws people in naturally,” Rivero says.

He explained to me that it’s not “just” about promoting a product or service: companies should try to position themselves as problem-solvers. It’s about understanding your audience and connecting with them.

Rivero adds: “As I often say, ‘Marketing isn’t about selling; it’s about connecting and building relationships.’ When you listen to your audience and meet their needs, you foster loyalty that lasts.”

6. Repurpose content across various channels.

Repurposing content means re-using your existing content and presenting it in a fresh format that extends its lifespan and audience reach. Today, it’s one of the top AI use cases among marketers.

Examples of repurposing content include:

  • Sharing old blog posts you’ve updated with new information, fresh data, and video content (Hint: The piece you’re currently reading is an update).
  • Using video clips of podcast recordings sessions on Instagram to create intrigue and excitement over an upcoming episode.

If you’d like to learn more about repurposing content, here are 20 methods you should know about.

7. Invest in permanent social media content.

Permanent social media content is content that won’t disappear after a set amount of time, unlike Instagram Stories or SnapChat photos and videos.

A lot of the “disappearing” content you create might be simply too valuable to have it disappear within a few hours or a day. Luckily, you can now save Instagram Stories and pin them permanently to your company’s profile. Alternatively, you can create Reels, which are a permanent post by default.

8. Design a user-friendly website.

First, you want to create a user-friendly, and mobile-friendly, website. The design of your site will showcase your brand‘s personality and differentiate your business from every other online business. But it’s more than just looking good — a cleaner, more well-organized site structure can affect how you rank in the SERPS.

For help designing your website or ensuring it’s up-to-par, check out 8 Guidelines for Exceptional Web Design, Usability, and User Experience.

9. Optimize your site for search engines.

Next, you‘ll need to keyword optimize your site for search engines. Essentially, this means you’ll choose keyword(s) that relate to your business, and incorporate those keywords into the URL, body text, image text, headers, and navigation bar.

For tips on keyword optimizing your entire site, check out On-Page SEO 101: Tips for Keyword Optimizing the Most Critical Parts of Your Website.

If you’re interested in focusing on keyword optimizing your blog posts, consider reading Blog SEO: How to Search Engine Optimize Your Blog Content.

For a real-life example on how to successfully implement SEO into your digital marketing strategy, check out our case study on Canva.

10. Use email marketing or opt-in email campaigns.

Email marketing and opt-in marketing campaigns are one of the most effective long-term strategies to connect with potential customers and cultivate brand loyalty.

For everything from getting started with email marketing, to email marketing best practices and lead magnets, check out The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing.

11. Write online press releases.

Writing online press releases is an additional way to increase online coverage of your business from other sources, which will also positively affect your ranking in the SERPs. Plus, if a local news outlet covers your business, you’ll receive their audience, which you otherwise might not have reached.

To get started writing a press release for your business, consider How to Write a Press Release [Free Press Release Template + Example].

12. Create a blog.

I might be biased, but blogging is one of the best ways to attract a large audience to your site, establish your business as a thought leader in your industry, and prove your brand to be both useful and current.

Writing blog posts is especially effective for providing different opportunities to land on page one of search engines — for instance, maybe your eyeglass store’s website is on page three of Google for “eyeglasses,” but your “Best Sunglasses of 2025” blog post is on page one, pulling in an impressive amount of traffic (over time, that blog post could also boost your overall website to page one).

To learn everything from choosing a domain name to writing your first blog post, check out How to Start a Blog: A Step-by-Step Guide [+ Free Blog Post Templates].

13. Develop social media contests and campaigns.

Social media contests and campaigns are exceptional opportunities to engage with your online audience, form relationships with customers, and learn about your buyer’s persona.

For an overarching compilation on everything you need to know about social media campaigns — from how to craft perfect posts on Facebook to the most shared phrases on LinkedIn — take a look at Everything You Need to Know about Social Media Campaigns.

14. Leverage pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Pay-per-click advertising, or PPC, is an advertising model in which advertisers only pay when someone interacts with their ad through impressions or clicks.

PPC is most commonly used on search engines, and can help your business appear for searches related to your products or services. This is particularly important for more competitive keywords, when it’s difficult to rank on page one against websites with higher domain authority.

Cache Merrill, founder of Zibtek, told me that the company had great success running retargeting campaigns through PPC social media and search engine campaigns. They used it to promote a free downloadable guide on software development best practices.

“By promoting the guide through these ad types, we attracted thousands of leads. Then, we used remarketing ads to re-engage users who didn’t initially convert.” Merrill said that this PPC campaign boosted conversions by 40% and reduced Zibtek’s cost per lead by 25%.

It‘s important to note that PPC doesn’t replace your SEO strategy: it simply complements it.

For instance, if you‘re trying to rank for “website builder,” you’ll see the keyword difficulty is “super hard (95),” according to Ahrefs. However, there are some long-form keywords you might have success ranking for, including “what is a website builder? (52)” or “best website builders for ecommerce (57).”

If you do want to target “website builders,” you’ll want to bid for an ad and use PPC to stand out against competitors.

15. Optimize your site for conversions.

Okay, you got readers to your blog or homepage … now what?

Ultimately, you’ll want to invest in resources for conversion rate optimization (CRO). If you don’t, you risk not being able to convert any of your traffic into qualified leads and, ultimately, customers.

There are four areas of your website that can benefit from CRO: the homepage, pricing page, blog, and landing pages.

Within a blog, a CRO strategy might include adding relevant calls-to-action throughout the text, or inviting readers to submit their emails in exchange for an ebook. On a pricing page, a CRO strategy might include a slide-out that invites viewers to book time with a sales rep or watch a demo.

Optimizing your site for conversions is a critical component of any strong internet marketing strategy.

16. Create a Facebook group.

A Facebook group — unlike a Facebook page — is an exclusive, private group that enables you to facilitate a sense of community surrounding your brand.

A Facebook group isn’t a necessity for every business, but when done properly, it can go a long way towards creating a stronger relationship between you and your customers. Best of all, it can help foster connections between your customers.

Since having a strong community can help you build brand loyalty, it‘s important to seek out unique opportunities to engage directly with your customers. If a Facebook group doesn’t seem like a good fit for your business, however, there are other ways to create a sense of community — including via social media, or through a branded newsletter.

Finally, take a look at our Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing to dive deeper into the six essential steps of internet marketing.

There are many different methods to online marketing you can try to boost engagement for your brand. Here are ten that I recommend.

1. Repurpose your high-quality internet marketing content across multiple channels.

Like I said earlier, repurposing your content simply means reusing content you already have but in a fresh format. That reaction video you created on TikTok could be repurposed as a Reel on Instagram. If you change the caption on Reels, you can use the video to react to something else.

2. Lean into permanent social media content that doesn’t have a time limit.

Examples of permanent social media content include X posts, YouTube videos, and TikTok videos. Content such as Instagram stories are not permanent and disappear after a period of time.

3. Choose the right keywords and optimize your site for search.

Using keywords helps search engines, especially Google, categorize your content and ensure it reaches the right audience. It also helps your target audience find your website and services.

To optimize your site with the right keywords, use applications like Ahrefs that are designed to help you find the right keywords your audience is searching for.

4. Create a mobile-optimized site.

There are many ways to better optimize your website for mobile users, such as compressing images to reduce page load time, mapping your customers’ journey, or creating a mobile app.

5. Publish blog posts regularly.

Blogging consistently has many benefits. It keeps your website up to date with fresh content, maintaining the interest of your audience. It’s also an effective way to get your website to pop up on the first page of search engines. The more you post, the more content you’ll have for the search engine to rank.

6. Conduct email marketing campaigns.

In our recent survey to predict marketing trends, we found that email marketing is still a helpful approach to marketing your business online. According to our survey, the three most effective email marketing strategies are subscriber segmentation, message personalization, and email automation campaigns.

7. Encourage conversation on social media accounts.

Social media is the place where connections are made and conversations happen. Social media users don’t want to just interact with brands, they want to see the humanity behind the big name and logo.

A great way to create meaningful connections with the humans that make up your audience is to facilitate conversations.

8. Publish online press releases.

Like blogging, publishing online press releases will increase your presence on search engines and raise awareness of your brand. When writing press releases, remember to answer the “who,” “what,” “where,” and “why” of your brand. And make sure to use simple, understandable language as well as a quote.

9. Cultivate paid social media campaigns.

The idea of paying for advertising may seem a bit daunting, but paid social media advertising is one of the least expensive types of advertising. Paid social media ads can start as low as one dollar thanks to the bidding model and lottery system some platforms use to push ads to users’ news feeds and timelines.

Platforms that allow for paid advertisements are:

  • Facebook
  • X
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

10. Leverage pay-per-click advertising for competitive keywords.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) and SEO go hand-in-hand like peanut butter and jelly. Optimizing your website for keywords can definitely help your brand appear at the top of search engine results pages.

However, it requires patience, and you may not see results for weeks or months if you’re optimizing for highly competitive words.

But by leveraging PPC, you’ll be able to stand out among competitors by bidding for an ad.

11. Post videos on YouTube or other social channels.

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, with the United States making for its second biggest audience in the world (with 238 million users). So, you can bet your prospects and customers frequently visits the site.

When creating content for YouTube, be sure to diversify your content in order to attract audiences who prefer video over text. You’ll also want to research keywords you can optimize your content for and use in your video’s title, description, and tags.

12. Work with micro-influencers to reach new audiences.

On apps like TikTok, brands are still struggling to find their place. However, influencer marketing has proven to be a helpful tool in helping brands elevate their online presence and find their target audience.

Businesses are seeing the most success with smaller, niche influencers. In fact, 47% of marketers report positive results from micro-influencer partnerships.

These influencers provide access to highly engaged, loyal audiences at a more affordable cost.

Maris Laatre, the CMO at Bully Max, finds this tactic especially effective. She said they partnered with a popular dog trainer and pet influencer who shared their positive experience using Bully Max’s products.

“As a result, our website traffic increased by 20% and we saw a 13% boost in product sales within a few weeks. Influencer marketing humanizes our brand and connects us directly with dog owners, creating stronger engagement and building lasting relationships with our audience,” says Laatre.

Online Marketing Examples

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of online marketing examples to inspire your next internet marketing campaign.

Here, I‘ll dive into real world examples of social media, email, SEO, and website marketing methods. I’ll also include links to additional blog resources at the bottom, for even more exceptional ideas.

1. Social Media: #TheFaceof10 from Dove

In 2024, Dove launched an educational campaign to raise awareness about the societal pressure young girls face to look a certain way. The campaign highlighted the troubling trend of young girls adopting multi-step skincare routines to maintain youthfulness and glow.

To combat this, Dove invited numerous influencers, dermatologists, and academic experts to help promote a healthier self-image among youngsters, with even Drew Barrymore supporting the initiative.

The campaign was focused mainly on social media, especially TikTok, where influencers shared videos showing what a child’s face should look like– bright and playful, decorated with colorful tints, glitter, and stickers, not retinol.

internet marketing; an example of a social media campaign from dove

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A TikTok video posted by Drew Barrymore putting glitter on her face was liked by 27k and got 396 comments – pretty impressive!

internet marketing; a tiktok video from drew barrymore as part of the dove campaign

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2. Social Media: Patagonia’s “Buy Less, Demand More” Campaign

One of the boldest campaigns I’ve seen in 2024 was one from outdoor wear and gear brand Patagonia. The company, which has always communicated its dedication to sustainability and eco-consciousness, decided to launch a series of Instagram and YouTube videos and posts with the #WornWear tag.

internet marketing; a youtube video telling the story of patagonia client and farmer, jesse smith

The message Patagonia wanted to convey was that not every piece of worn-out garment needed to be tossed into the garbage bin. Instead, they wanted to spread awareness on how to care for (and, when the time comes, repurpose) their favorite clothing.

For this purpose, they partnered up with sports people, activists, farmers, and other real-life Patagonia clients who shared their stories and how the company’s apparel accompanied them in their daily lives.

Each of the videos released to YouTube garnered hundreds of thousands of viewers, with some even exceeding 1M.

I personally think that this campaign is more than “just” an example of how to promote your brand online to the right customer.

Back in 2023. Patagonia was accused of producing their garments in the very same locations as fast-fashion brands, so it’s also a good case study of how a brand can recoup from a reputational crisis.

3. Email: Expedia

Companies often use email marketing to re-engage past customers, but a “Where’d You Go? Want To Buy This?” message can come across as aggressive, and you want to be careful with your wording to cultivate a long-term email subscriber.

This is why Expedia’s New Year promo re-engagement email works so well — it gets straight to the point by mentioning its “Big January Sale” in the email tagline, while simultaneously reminding an old email subscriber (and client of theirs) that they might want to check out some of the discounted deals for travels well into the following autumn.

internet marketing; example of a promotional email from expedia

4. SEO & Expert-Driven Content: Databox

Databox was one of the pioneers of expert-driven content. They’ve been creating expert roundups at least since 2018, when I used to regularly submit answers to their article roundups.

They created SEO articles packed with tips and advice from subject matter experts – the screen below is an example of a piece where 45 experts shared their take on a topic.

internet marketing content; an example of an expert article published by databox

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With this type of internet marketing content, there are at least two benefits.

Firstly, you please search engines, which are now prioritizing unique articles that share first-hand experiences. Secondly, if you feature tens of experts, you can also ask them to share the piece on their social profiles to grow your organic reach.

This is the type of approach I myself use when writing content.

5. Web Design: AccessAble

AccessAble, an information provider for people with disabilities in the UK and Ireland, hired Agency51 to implement an SEO migration strategy to move AccessAble from an old platform to a new one.

By applying 301 redirects to old URLS, transferring metadata, setting up Google webmaster tools, and creating a new sitemap, Agency 51 was able to successfully transfer AccessAble to a new platform while keeping their previous SEO power alive.

Additionally, they were able to boost visitor numbers by 21% year over year, and the site restructuring allowed AccessAble to rank higher than competitors. Their case study is available on SingleGrain.com.

accessible homepage example

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More Internet Marketing Examples:

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer, or just starting out, there are plenty of tools available to help build your brand’s audience, including:

1. Marketing Hub by HubSpot

marketing hub homepage

Since marketers are arguably now managing more channels (and campaigns) than ever before, they need a solution that’s quick and intuitive to use.

Marketing Hub is our AI-powered solution that uses our Smart CRM feature to bring all your customer insights together into one view. It helps you grow your company’s reach, capture leads, and grow your contact list. These can be used (you’ve guessed it) to nurture your prospects – whether through engaging newsletter content, free assets, or any other tactic of your choice.

Also, with its automation capabilities, Marketing Hub can make it much easier to reach out to your leads and customers at the perfect moment.

2. Buzzsumo

I love Buzzsumo because it can help you analyze what content performs best for any topic or competitor. Buzzsumo can report important metrics such as social shares, backlinks, and which influencers are sharing certain pieces of content.

You can also find influencer reports that give insight if you’re looking for a micro-influencer to promote your brand.

3. Canva

Canva makes designing infographics and materials for print, blogs, and social media simple, even if you don’t have much experience with graphic design. Its user interface is easy to navigate and includes thousands of customizable templates you can redesign to fit your brand’s aesthetic.

4. GTMetrix

This application tests your website’s performance, particularly its speed. If your website takes too long to load, you run the risk of deterring potential customers or clients from your brand. With GTMetrix, you can measure how long your website takes to load and what areas of performance need to be improved.

5. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is my favorite tool for finding the right keywords for optimizing my content. They offer tools for tracking keyword performance, analyzing your competitor’s keywords, web traffic, and more.

One of my favorite features has been the “content gap” tool, which shows the keywords our competitors rank for that we don’t.

6. Buffer

Posting multiple pieces of content across several different platforms can be overwhelming. Fortunately, applications like Buffer allow you to draft and schedule posts across multiple social media channels, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Furthermore, Buffer also offers social media reporting and functionality monitoring so you can track how your content is performing.

7. Facebook Insights

When I was a journalist, Facebook Insights played a key role in tracking how my articles performed. With a Facebook Insights dashboard, you’ll be able track user behavior and post performance on your Facebook Business Page.

This tool also reports important metrics like page views and post reach for paid and organic posts. It even recommends competitor pages to monitor.

8. SocialRank

SocialRank is an online tool that helps you manage your followers on X and Instagram. SocialRank offers a range of filters to better analyze your follower count. It can also search for new followers, get leads, and more.

9. Trello

As your business grows, so will its output and the projects it takes on. Therefore you’re going to need a tool like Trello that will help you manage it all.

With Trello, a project management tool, you can put all your team’s projects in one customizable space that can grow as your company grows. You can use Trello to conduct growth experiments, sales pipelines, and product feature road maps.

10. Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is a website optimization software that offers A/B testing, heat mapping, and usability testing tools. We love its A/B testing tool because it allows you to test variations of every page on your website. All you have to do is copy one snippet of code to the pages you want to test.

You don’t need coding experience to use Crazy Egg, as the software is user-friendly for marketers at all levels.

11. Google Keywords Planner

If you struggle with finding the best keywords for your website, Google Keywords Planner is an excellent tool for you.

By putting in one keyword, multiple keywords, or even your website address into Keyword Planner, Google will show a list of related keywords along with simple metrics.

These metrics will gauge the competition around each keyword and how many searches it gets on both a global and local search level.

The Best Internet Marketing Content Strategies Add Value

As you can tell from this post, there are tons of internet marketing content strategies to choose from. Naturally, you shouldn’t aim to use all of them.

From my experience, it’s best to focus on the ones that work best for your business, given its size, the industry you’re in, and – ultimately – what your customers react to best.

This calls for a lot of experimentation, but will be well worth the effort. Whichever tactics you choose, just make sure they always add value not only for your business, but also your target audience.

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