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The movie Field of Dreams famously claims, “If you build it, they will come.” Unfortunately, this passive approach is just not true for content marketing. The marketing channels you use to distribute content are just as important as the content itself.

Marketing channels are the different tools or platforms you use to reach your target audience. By understanding the different values of specific marketing channels, you will be able to form a content distribution plan that fits your audience.

The Hubspot Blog surveyed more than 1,000 global marketing professionals in the B2B and B2C space to discover which marketing channels are being used by businesses today.

Read more to see how you can amplify your reach and increase revenue, while also prioritizing your current customers.

Top B2B Marketing Channels

The landscape of B2B marketing is changing. If your team is using old data, you’re already falling behind.

In a 2022 HubSpot survey of over 1,200 marketers, more than 80% said that marketing has changed more in the last three years than in the last 50 years.

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In 2023, the top channels used by B2B marketers will be social media, websites, blogs, and email marketing.

Short-form videos and influencer marketing are top marketing channels that businesses plan to invest more time and resources into in 2023.

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Social media is likely a top digital marketing channel because of LinkedIn. In the B2B landscape, LinkedIn offers a great platform for interacting with business-minded people. LinkedIn is also fifth as the most effective platform to use, with a 14% ROI.

Of the B2B marketers surveyed, 41% predict that their budgets will increase in 2023, giving more wiggle room for investing in new channels.

B2B marketers will likely focus significant effort on website and blogging channels because buyers often rely on websites before making purchasing decisions.

Websites also offer vital content sources for prospects, and SEO is how B2B marketers plan to attract their ideal customers.

Keyword strategy can be time-consuming but also relatively low-cost when creating organic content. People make nearly 97,105 searches on Google per second, meaning SEO has significant implications for advertising.

Email or newsletters are a powerful channel for B2B marketers to leverage. Email marketing helps brands share educational information with customers.

This strategy has also proven effective. In 2023, 32% of marketers reported that they will leverage email marketing to engage potential customers.

A targeted email campaign can also be automated, letting marketers focus their energy elsewhere. When sending emails, subscriber segmentation and message personalization are the most effective strategies.

In 2023, you can expect B2B marketers to continue their investments in blogs and email marketing while also increasing investments in social media platforms.

Top B2C Marketing Channels

B2C marketers invest in top channels as B2B marketers, but the order is different: social media and email marketing come first, then websites and blogs.

B2C marketing is usually focused on offering enjoyable content and quick wins, while B2B marketing focuses on long-lasting relationships with customers. 51% of B2C marketers expect their budget to grow in 2023, a jump from 44% last year.

Focusing on social media makes sense. As of 2022, there were roughly 4.74 billion social media users around the world, according to analysis from Kepios. That equates to 59.3% of the total global population.

So, B2C customers are most likely to engage on social media. For 2023, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are among the highest social media investments for B2C brands.

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Email marketing may just mean newsletters, but it can also be used for B2C content such as personalized communication, time-sensitive notifications (like product launches or sales), and cart abandonment email reminders.

Email is also an owned media channel, meaning nobody is dictating when, how, and why you can contact your prospects. However, keep in mind that customers will unsubscribe from oversaturation.

Blogging and websites can be used together to generate brand awareness, drive traffic, convert leads, and, most importantly, establish your authority.

Of the B2C marketers surveyed, 36% already use websites and blogs to connect with customers, and that is likely to increase in the coming year.

When you create your blogs with SEO tactics in mind, you’re even more likely to meet your marketing needs, as you’ll surface in SERPs when customers make queries related to your business content.

SEO ranked third as the most effective marketing channel to leverage in 2023.

Omni-Channel Marketing

Leveraging a single marketing channel with one strategy no longer works. In fact, HubSpot research shows that 92% of marketers leverage more than one channel. In 2022, 81% leverage more than three.

“100% of the companies we worked with that grew focused on omnichannel marketing and continually expanded,” writes Neil Patel, CMO and co-founder of NP Digital. This diversified approach helps teams stay agile and pivot when certain platforms become oversaturated.

A common omni-channel approach that B2C companies leverage is content repurposing. HubSpot found that 82% of social media marketers repurpose content across various social channels.

This creates continuity with brand messaging while also reducing the amount of work content creators will need to engage on many different marketing channels.

Video Marketing

If you’ve yet to get started in video marketing, now is the time. Video can boost conversions, improve ROI, reach new audiences, and help you build relationships with current customers. Video is the top media format marketers leverage for their strategies.

When creating video, short-form content takes the cake for both B2B and B2C marketers. In the age of TikTok, many social media brands are rewarding content creators who make short-form video content that encourages viewers to stay on the app longer.

Marketers plan to increase investments in the strategy for 2023, with 29% of marketers planning to leverage this strategy for the first time.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is when businesses partner with a relevant, popular creator in their industry to put out advertisements or specific pieces of content.

Influencers can generate brand awareness by providing a familiar face, personality, as well as social proof.

Consumers trust marketers less and less, shying away from lead-generating content.

Influencers can combat this mistrust by being personable and sharing common interests. In the tech age, influencers might even be the closest thing to word-of-mouth marketing.

One study from TopRank Marketing found that 86% of B2B brands are successful with influencer marketing. A nice bonus is a return on investment (ROI) for influencer marketing, with every dollar spent totaling $5.78 ROI in 2021.

Influencer marketing will see significant growth in 2023, HubSpot found, with 17% of marketers planning to invest in it for the first time. Of marketers already using this tactic, 89% of marketers using it will increase or maintain their investment next year.

Search Engine Optimization

Successful optimization can bring in traffic and increase conversions by positioning you as an authority.

All your web content needs search engine optimization. That includes your YouTube channels, Google business profile, and even podcast episodes should be optimized using target keywords.

To build a thriving organic presence online, consider implementing the pillar-cluster model into your blog (35% of B2B and 59% of B2C marketers report it as an effective strategy).

By doing this, you’ll create a single pillar page that provides a high-level overview of a topic and hyperlinks to cluster pages that delve into the topic’s subtopics, signaling to Google that your pillar page is an authority on the topic.

Additional SEO tactics that marketers effectively use include search insights reports, optimizing photos or videos for visual search engines, and optimizing load speed.

Podcast Marketing

As of 2020, 55% of the U.S. population aged 12 and above listens to podcasts, and 37% listened in the last month for an average of six hours per week. Audio content is in demand, so it’s worth considering as a platform to reach your audience.

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Podcast hosts can also serve as your brand-specific influencer, demonstrating the human side of your business.

The passive listening of a podcast makes it an ideal platform for reaching people during their morning commute, while walking their dog, or cleaning the house.

Featured Resource: How To Start a Podcast For Your Business

Storytelling is an excellent way to capture your audience’s attention while also making your brand more personable.

The human brain is programmed to crave, seek out, and respond to a well-crafted narrative — that’ll never change. Check out this blog on how to include more storytelling in your content.

Only 1 in 3 marketers reported leveraging podcasts or other audio content in their strategies, but 53% of those that do say that it is the most effective media format they use.

In 2023, podcasts will see the 2nd highest investment, second only to video. In fact, 10% of marketers said they would invest more in audio content than any other media format.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Trusting a brand is more important than ever. As of 2020, 70% of consumers say it influences their purchase decisions. Consequently, paid content is trusted less and less as online content becomes oversaturated.

Marketers need to earn the trust of consumers by relying on customer recommendations and word-of-mouth marketing.

Actual consumers are more effective in earning trust than marketers who obviously have agendas. Customers will typically only rave about a product or service if it actually benefits them.

People trust other consumers over marketers because marketers always have their eyes on the bottom line.

Word-of-mouth marketing is more than just face-to-face conversations. For example, satisfied customers will post about your brand online, tell their roommates they like your service, and leave positive reviews on your product pages.

Only one of those examples involves an actual, in-person conversation, but they all include consumers vouching for your brand’s credibility.

Word-of-mouth marketing, at its core, requires you to create a truly magical and converting customer experience. Focus on offering top-notch customer service and going above and beyond for your customers to leverage this channel.

What Now?

Now that you know the stats behind different marketing channels, consider how you might reach your audience in a new way or perhaps even reach a new audience.

Different marketing channels bring various benefits, but most businesses can find a way to use different channels in their marketing strategies to meet business goals.

Using different channels creates multiple points of contact, nurturing your leads and increasing conversions. Remember that a customer likely came into contact with your brand at least seven times before taking action.

By contacting them on different channels, you can expedite this process and reach your 2023 marketing goals.

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

When it comes to marketing, almost nothing is more important than having high-quality data on your target audience. So it’s no surprise that data privacy changes limiting marketers’ visibility into what their customers are up to is a huge threat.

But what if I told you data privacy changes are actually having a positive impact on marketers?

I get it – you’re probably used to hearing about how the loss of third-party cookies, GDPR, and iOS privacy changes spell certain doom for the marketing industry – but our survey shows that isn’t true.

Out of over 1,000 marketers impacted by data privacy changes, 32% say they’ve had a positive impact on their marketing strategy over the past year, while just 10% say privacy changes had a negative effect.

At the same time, 58% of marketers report a neutral impact, which is understandable since Google’s changes are now delayed till 2024, and the impact of other privacy changes might not be fully apparent yet.

But the big question is, why are marketers seeing positive impacts from privacy changes? Let’s dive into our data to find out.

3 Ways Privacy Changes Are Helping Marketers

1. Marketing Budgets are Increasing to Accommodate Data Privacy Changes

Both government regulators and consumers are demanding data privacy changes, and marketers have no choice but to get with the times.

Luckily, marketers are being given the budget they need to explore alternative tracking and targeting solutions.

Almost half (48%) of marketers say their budget has changed to compensate for data privacy changes this year, with 71% of them reporting an increase in their marketing budget.

What’s interesting is that these alternative solutions are potentially even more accurate and effective than those marketers currently use, which brings us to the 2nd benefit of data privacy changes.

2. New Data Solutions Are Better

Are the tools marketers currently use really that effective? It turns out most marketers are missing critical information on their target audience – just 42% know their basic demographic information, and even less know their shopping habits, purchase history, and which channels they consume content/media on.Alternatives like collecting first-party data, on the other hand, can be used to gain high-quality insights and deliver a highly personalized experience to your customers.

Since first-party data is collected directly from your customers, it is highly accurate and unique to your company – but for customers to give you their personal information, they need to trust you first.

3. More Trust = Better Data

Our consumer trends survey shows that close to half (45%) of consumers distrust companies with their website behavior/cookie data.

Data privacy changes can make consumers feel safer sharing their personal information, so they’ll be more willing to trust marketers with it. As one marketer in our survey put it:

“When it comes to marketing, it’s all about hitting your target audience. Phasing out third-party cookies for Google makes customers more likely to trust them. That trust should translate into more reliable information that I use to target my audience through google.”

Currently, distrustful consumers leave marketers with poor or incomplete data on their target audience. Data privacy changes will allow marketers to get higher-quality data while respecting consumers’ privacy, mutually benefitting both parties.

What’s Next for Data Privacy Changes

Adapting to data privacy changes is challenging because regulations and public opinion around data privacy are actively developing.

The most important thing marketers can do is explore new tracking and targeting solutions so they are ready to adapt their data strategy when the time comes. After all, our research shows that data-driven and agile marketers will win in 2023.

Marketers and third-party cookies — can you name a better combo?

A few years ago, you really couldn’t. But with Google phasing out third-party cookies in 2024, marketers are busy searching for new strategies to collect user data.

While 2024 might seem far down the road, over half of marketers say their company is already exploring alternative targeting solutions.

And that isn’t surprising, because 85% of marketers say their marketing activities are reliant on third-party cookies to some degree, and 77% say Google phasing out third-party cookies will make marketing more difficult for them.

So let’s look into exactly which solutions marketers are turning towards as a replacement for third-party cookies and the unexpected impact it has on marketing budgets.

Which Third-Party Targeting Alternatives Are Marketers Exploring

Of the 54% of marketers who say their company is exploring alternative targeting solutions, more than half are looking into using social media for targeted ads as a replacement for third-party cookies. Collecting first-party data from their customers is another top strategy, as is Google Topics API.

Let’s take a quick look at each of these.

Using Social Media for Targeted Ads

Social media offer advanced targeting tools to get your ads in front of your target audience.

With the rise in popularity of social shopping, tapping into platforms like Instagram is a powerful way to reach consumers – especially Gen Z and Millennials:

Collecting First-Party Data from Your Customers

First-party data is collected directly from your customers, but how exactly do you get it and what do you do once you have it?

First-party data can be collected from many sources – your website, surveys, email, SMS, a CRM like HubSpot, and more.

Once you have first-party data, use it to gain high-quality insights about your audience and create a personalized experience for them.

Considering over half of marketers don’t know basic demographic information on their target audience, among other critical data points, shifting to a first-party approach may end up working to your benefit.

Google Topics API (Privacy Sandbox)

Though not released to the public yet, more than half of marketers looking for alternatives to third-party cookies are checking out Google Topics API. In a nutshell, it will categorize the sites people visit into various topics. Those categories are then used to show relevant ads.

For example, someone who often visits websites related to sports might be shown an ad for a live sports streaming service, all without info on the specific site they visited being tracked and shared with advertisers. Users can also control which topics they are associated with.

Universal Identifiers

A universal ID is a unique user ID that allows companies to identify users across different websites and devices. It functions similarly to third-party cookies, with a few key advantages:

• Universal ID offers cross-device tracking, creating a more seamless experience and reducing data loss
• Universal ID eliminates duplicate information, meaning more accurate sample sizes
• Universal ID solutions can be created with first-party data, offering targeting while respecting privacy

Despite just over 1 in 3 marketers exploring alternatives to third-party cookies looking into universal IDs, it is new, growing, and definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Contextual Advertising

All of the solutions we’ve mentioned so far still rely on user data and targeting. Contextual advertising is all about putting ads in the right places. For example, placing ads for a pair of headphones on a blog dedicated to music production.

In other words, the ads are displayed based on the content being shown, not by tracking the user’s past behavior.

Marketing Budgets are Increasing to Accommodate Data Privacy Changes

While the disappearance of third-party cookies means your marketing strategy will have to change, it’s also an opportunity to develop more accurate targeting methods that respect consumer privacy.

If that isn’t motivation enough, data privacy changes are causing marketing budgets to grow. Almost half (48%) of marketers say their budget has changed to compensate for data privacy changes this year, with 71% of them reporting an increase in their marketing budget.

This means you might be getting some extra budget to explore some of these alternatives and see what works best for your marketing strategy.

And it might actually make your data strategy better – over 30% of marketers in our survey say data privacy changes have had a positive impact on their overall marketing strategy.

We did some extra research and found that a growing budget is just one of the three ways data privacy changes are benefitting marketers – follow the link to find out how else marketers are seeing a positive impact.

What’s Next for Data Privacy Changes

A big challenge in dealing with data privacy changes is that they are actively developing.

We know regulations are tightening and consumers are becoming more concerned about how their personal information is used.

But how data privacy changes will actually impact marketers and which solutions will become the industry standard is still up in the air.

The best thing you can do is prepare for a privacy-first future by exploring new targeting solutions and implementing them into your future planning.

This is a major change, but keep in mind that all marketers are facing the same challenge. Some will be more prepared than others — and the marketers most ready to adapt when the time comes will see the best results.

The creator economy has seen exceptional growth over the last few years and will only grow more in the future. So, what does that mean for brands, and how can marketers leverage this booming economy? To answer this question, I spoke to a couple of HubSpot’s marketing experts and researched the creator economy’s size, growth, and the changes we can expect down the line.

Here’s everything marketers need to know, starting with how the creator economy has grown over time.

How the Creator Economy Has Grown Over the Years

The exact size of the creator economy can vary, depending on who you ask. While statistics show 50 million people are contributing to the creator economy, a recent report by Linktree said there are about 200 million people as of 2022. One reason for the discrepancy could be how the numbers are calculated.

For example, there may only be 50 million content creators contributing to the creator economy. Still, the economy also consists of consumers, entrepreneurs, companies, platforms, and advertisers who keep the economy growing.

Either way, there is no doubt the creator economy is incredibly profitable. As of 2022, the creator economy market size is estimated at $104.2 billion, more than double its value since 2019.

Here are some other interesting facts about the creator economy’s size:

• In 2022, an average of 2.67 million concurrent viewers watched Twitch streams on over 95,000 live channels.
• There are 7.5 million active sellers on Etsy. Remember, creators who make and sell physical goods online are also a part of the creator economy.
• YouTube has over 2.6 billion users worldwide.

So now you know how massive the creator economy is, but how much has it grown over the last few years? Let’s explore.

How the Creator Economy Has Grown Over the Years

In a study published in August 2022, Adobe found the creator economy has grown by over 165 million people globally in the last two years — an increase of 119%. According to the study, creators make up about 23% of people, meaning almost 1 in 4 people worldwide are contributing to the creator economy.

Adobe notes the creator economy saw significant growth in 2020 — the year over 1 in 2 creators (52%) began posting social content, according to the study.

Image source: Adobe

The creator economy has grown, but how has that contributed to change? To get more insight, I spoke to Senior Marketing Manager at HubSpot Creators Andrèa Hudson. Hudson says the key chain she has noticed over the last five years is that brands are now focusing on the power of creators to drive impact.

“We’ve gone from an ‘influencer’ strategy to a ‘creator’ strategy, which means that the creator is actually a part of the marketing mix,” Hudson said. “This requires a significant amount of understanding what motivates creators, how omnichannel campaigns can bring creators even further into the fold, and why creators are an integral piece of the puzzle.”

Another significant change in the creator economy is its accessibility, according to HubSpot Director of New Media Kyle Denhoff.

“The barriers to creating a media product have dropped significantly,” Denhoff said. “When we talk about creators, obviously there are folks that can produce something right from their phone and post it on social media — but we’re also talking to independent writers, podcasters, and YouTubers who are building digital media products.”

Denhoff said, “It’s much easier for them to set up a home studio with lighting, audio, and great camera quality — and the tools and cost of those tools have gone down in the last couple of years. So it’s easier than ever for folks to create these independent media products and get up and running.”

Denhoff also says creators who may typically work for larger companies can now branch out and carve their niche in the creator economy.

“So, they were writers for The Atlantic or writers for Digiday,” Denhoff said. “They had built up a profile as an expert … at that media company, and because they were already so good at their job, they had an existing audience — and now they’ve branched off to create their own independent media products and generate revenue as a solo entrepreneur.”

An example of this phenomenon, according to Denhoff, would be The Atlantic writer Derrick Thompson who went on to host his podcast, Plain English.

Why the Creator Economy is Growing

A massive boost to the creator economy came at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when many people found themselves stuck at home or needing more income due to budget cuts and layoffs. People turned to platforms like TikTok and Twitch to ease their cabin fever during a lockdown or to earn extra income after layoffs.

However, both Denhoff and Hudson say other factors contribute to the creator economy’s growth.

Aside from increased affordability, Denhoff also said another reason the creator economy is growing is how platforms cater to creators.

“The platforms where people post their content have built more tools and functionality capabilities for creators,” he said. “So, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc., are offering them more options.”

Many of those options include opportunities to make more money.

“Twitter is starting to test a little bit with offering a newsletter option, and I think there is a ‘super follower’ option to monetize,” Denhoff said. “On YouTube, YouTubers can set up paid subscriptions … there are opportunities for people to go on these channels, product the content for the audience, and make money off that.”

Speaking of money, Hudson said one of the main factors contributing to growth is “the investment dollars from companies to creators.”

“Whether this is an indirect play or a direct play, the Creator economy market has reached over $104 billion in revenue in 2022, and brands will be forced to allocate spending to this sector if they plan to evolve with the future of business media,” Hudson said. “Creators are operating businesses; they are finding multiple ways to generate revenue by diversifying their distribution channels.”

Another factor, Hudson said, is that the pandemic forced media outlets to take on a creator-first approach and adapt marketing campaigns to a new landscape.

“Even large-scale media networks were made to report live from wherever they were, mostly their homes, and most community-focused platforms introduced a live option to tune in,” Hudson recalled. “During this time, you’d be hard-pressed to find a social media platform that wasn’t creator-first with their focus on driving engagement through live feeds and social media. The only place to go was to the internet; everything else was closed with no open date in sight.”

How the Creator Economy Could Change in the Future

So what does the future hold for the creator economy? As the creator economy continues to expand, I believe the following will happen:

Niche content will continue to thrive.

I’ll never forget when a content creator went viral on TikTok for reviewing bathroom sinks around New York City. That’s when I realized today’s consumers love niche content specifically tailored to their interests. And with content creation becoming more accessible, content creators with unique stories will continue to crop up.

This will also allow brands to find creators and micro-influencers who can introduce them to a new audience.

Community-centric marketing will grow.

Niche content goes hand-in-hand with community-based platforms like Twitch, Discord, and Reddit because audiences want to connect with other people who share their interests — and community-based platforms allow for connection.

As a result, the creator economy will likely focus more on establishing and maintaining a sense of community in the future.

Influencers will become more integral to businesses.

As the creator economy continues to focus on niche content and community engagement, brands will have difficulty connecting with audiences within digital spaces — because people want to communicate with other people, not brands.

To combat this, brands must collaborate with influencers with an established and engaged audience. Denhoff said brands should look to invest in long-term partnerships with creators — going beyond one-time paid advertisements on a creator’s platform.

“One of the things [HubSpot] has started to do is invest in independent creators to help them do what they do well,” he said.

Denhoff says that investment includes providing creators with financial value, distributing their content across HubSpot’s brand channels, and cross-promoting their content across HubSpot networks. He says this partnership will allow creators to grow and reach stability while introducing brands to a new audience.

“I think marketers just have to start to think through how they can partner with creators and how they can provide more value to creators to have a true partnership instead of just a paid transaction,” Denhoff said.

In summary, the creator economy isn’t going away anytime soon, and it will continue to amass more revenue while focusing on creators and their niche communities. Suppose marketers want to leverage this economy to their advantage (and they should!). In that case, they will need to form long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with influencers and creators to reach their audience.

What makes a blog post bad? The most pervasive problem we find is poor flow. The post jumps from one idea to the next or the post reads like a stream of consciousness – except it’s not a stylistic choice.

One way to prevent this is by creating an outline for your blog post.

Below is my method for outlining posts and organizing my thoughts to create a cohesive, logical piece.

Table of Contents

• How to Write a Blog Post Outline
• Outlining Tips from HubSpot Bloggers
• Blog Post Outline Example

1. Write down as many distinct takeaways from the article as you can.

Start with a brain dump.

Write down all the things you want your readers to get out of the article. These won’t always be the main sections of your article – it’s just all the things you want your readers to know by the end of reading your post.

This is the only time in the whole process you’re not worried about organization – just let your ideas flow naturally. You need to get out all of your wild and crazy ideas now so they won’t muck up your post later in the process.

For example, say my article is on using images to generate leaders on Twitter, I’d probably want readers to know:

• What sets a good image apart from a bad one on Twitter
• Where they can find images to use legally
• How they can create images on their own
• What sizes they need to make images
• How often they should tweet images
• How to actually upload an image to Twitter
• How they can generate a lead on Twitter
• How long their tweet should be with the image in it
• What results they should expect to get

Notice how these are really unfiltered and all over the place. That’s OK. We’ll rein it all in in the next step.

2. Break up those takeaways into larger sections.

Now, we’ll take that jumble of ideas and place them into overarching sections.

Think of it like sorting laundry – each thought belongs to a different pile. From your brainstorm, you should come up with a few big themes.

Sometimes, one of your brainstorming bullets will be a theme in itself, but usually, several bullets will fall under one overarching theme. You may also realize that there’s a theme that you may not have any bullets for, but the post definitely calls for it.

Many recommend sticking to three or four large sections, but it really depends on what type of post you’re writing. If you’re writing a comprehensive guide, you might need more.

If it’s a quick how-to post, fewer sections would be ideal.

Using the same example, here’s how I’d bucket my ideas into the following buckets:

1. Intro
2. Crafting a Twitter Image Lead Gen Strategy
   • How they can generate a lead on Twitter
   •  
   • How often they should tweet images
3. How to Create the Perfect Lead Gen Tweet
   • How long their tweet should be with the image in it
   • How to actually upload an image to Twitter
   • What sizes they need to make images
   • How they can create images on their own
   • Where they can find images to use legally
   • What sets a good image apart from a bad one on Twitter
4. Measuring Your Strategy’s Success
   • What results they should expect to get

3. Fill out the remaining sections.

At this point, your outline may still look bare in some areas.

You may have some sections with multiple bullet points and some without any. Now’s the time to fill in those gaps.

What did you miss in your initial brainstorm? Thinking about what’s missing is always hard, but it will help improve your final post significantly.

During this step, conduct some competitive research to see what other publications have covered on the topic and what readers are responding to.

Below shows how my outline evolved. I italicized all the things I added, and the outline is becoming closer and closer to being a post:

1. Intro
   • Images work really well on Twitter (find study)
2. Crafting a Twitter Image Lead Gen Strategy
   • How they can generate a lead on Twitter
   • How often they should tweet images
3. How to Create the Perfect Lead Gen Tweet
   • How long their tweet should be with the image in it
   • How to actually upload an image to Twitter
   • What sizes they need to make images
   • How they can create images on their own
   • Where they can find images to use legally
   • What sets a good image apart from a bad one on Twitter
   • Should you tag people in images
   • Should you use photo collages
   • What colors you should use to stand out
4. Measuring Your Strategy’s Success
   • What results they should expect to get
   • Which metrics to look at
   • How to find them in your analytics
   • How to adjust the above to get better results

Essentially, you’re re-doing the second step, but in a more focused manner.

4. Revise, remove, and reorganize details in each section.

Now comes the fun part: editing your outline.

You’ve already done the hard part of actually thinking of your ideas. Now, you’re tightening up your outline to include only the most relevant information, revising the sub-bullets to actually make sense, and reorganizing the sub-bullets to tell the most logical story.

First, let me show you what I’d cut – shown in bold.

1. Intro
   • Images work really well on Twitter (find study)
2. Crafting a Twitter Image Lead Gen Strategy
   • • How to generate a lead on Twitter
     • How often they should tweet images

•  

1. How to Create the Perfect Lead Gen Tweet
   • How long their tweet should be with the image in it
   • How to actually upload an image to Twitter (This is a pretty basic step that someone would already know if they’re reading this post.)
   • What sizes they need to make images
   • How they can create images on their own
   • Where they can find images to use legally 
   • What sets a good image apart from a bad one on Twitter
   • Should you tag people in images
   • Should you use photo collages
   • What colors you should use to stand out (Don’t believe there’s hard data on this, just speculation. Let’s cut it.)
2. Measuring Your Strategy’s Success
   • What results they should expect to get (The study in the first part should cover this bullet point.)
   • Which metrics to look at
   • How to find them in your analytics
   • How to adjust the above to get better results

Next, we’ll reorganize the remainder of the sub-bullets and rework them to sound like actual takeaways. We’ll also turn some of the sub-bullets into sub-sub-bullets. Here’s what this outline looks like now:

1. Intro
   • • Images tend to work really well on Twitter (find study)
2. Crafting a Twitter Image Lead Gen Strategy
   • How to generate a lead on Twitter
   • How lead generation fits in with the rest of your Twitter strategy
3. How to Create the Perfect Lead Gen Tweet
   • Creating it on your own
   • Finding images to use legally
   • Sizing images for Twitter
   • Tagging people in images
   • Using Photo Collages
   • How long the tweet should be with the image in
   • How to choose the right image
   • Optimizing the image for Twitter
   • Optimizing the rest of your tweet
4. Measuring Your Strategy’s Success
   • Which metrics to look at
   • How to find them in your analytics
   • How to adjust your strategy to get better results

Ta-da! A much more comprehensive outline that makes your post easy to write.

5. Include links to your examples and/or data.

This is purely a time-saving trick.

After you’ve fully fleshed out and then trimmed your outline, you should look for examples and data to support these claims.

Once you find a source to support your arguments, just add them as a note underneath the section. That way, when you go to write it, you don’t have to go digging.

6. Nail your working title.

Now that your outline is fleshed out, you can create a headline that summarizes the purpose of your article into something action-driven and eye-catching.

Some components of a great title include:

• Numbers
• Action verbs
• Descriptive adjectives

The goal here is to have a title that gives you a very clear idea of what the whole piece is about. You can make it sound catchy later.  

Review my final outline in the next section.

Blog Post Outline Example

1. Intro
   • • Images tend to work really well on Twitter
2. Crafting a Twitter Image Lead Gen Strategy
   • Reference Anchorman line: “Come and see how good I look.”
   • How to generate a lead on Twitter
   • How lead generation fits in with the rest of your Twitter strategy
3. How to Create the Perfect Lead Gen Tweet
   • Creating it on your own
   • Finding images to use legally
   • Sizing images for Twitter
   • Tagging people in images
   • Using Photo Collages
   • How long the tweet should be with the image in
   • How to choose the right image
   • Optimizing the image for Twitter
   • Optimizing the rest of your tweet
4. Measuring Your Strategy’s Success
   • Which metrics to look at
   • How to find them in your analytics
   • How to adjust your strategy to get better results

Outlining Tips from HubSpot Bloggers

In addition to the steps outlined above, our HubSpot writers are sharing additional tips they’ve collected over the years.

If you’re struggling to think of sections for your blog posts, Senior Marketing Manager Basha Coleman suggests checking the “People Also Ask” section on the Google SERPS.

This section will have questions related to your initial search query. Take our example article. When you Google “using images to generate leads on twitter,” these are the questions that come up in the People Also Ask search feature.

After a quick search, you learn more about common questions from readers and can include them in your article.

Karla Cook Hesterberg, senior marketing manager of the HubSpot Blog Network, recommends putting yourself in the reader’s shoes.

“Organize your structure based on what you think that person is going to be scrolling to find and put the most important/relevant info up front,” she said.

By leveraging these solid tips, writing your actual post should be a breeze.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in May 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

 

This post is a part of The Crisis of Disconnection, a thought leadership series examining the latest research and insights to uncover how businesses can meet their growth goals, even amidst unprecedented changes to the way we work.

If there’s a topline takeaway from the research that prompted us to call The Crisis of Disconnection by name, it’s this. The growth challenges you faced in the last decade won’t be the growth challenges you face in the next decade.

If you’ve been following along, we’re glad you’re back. If you’re just joining us now, we’re glad you’re here.

To recap, here are four things keeping the savviest leaders we know up at night:

• Businesses once in hyper-growth mode are now struggling to grow. One in three businesses are already citing “slowed growth” as a top challenge going forward.
• Painfully high expenses and increasing costs are leading businesses to re-evaluate their software spend, the tools in their tech stack, and how that impacts their bottom line
• Tried-and-true methods for generating demand are becoming less reliable and more expensive. Nearly two-thirds of businesses agree that sales engagement is struggling more now than pre-pandemic.
• 81% of businesses agree that COVID-19 has fundamentally changed the way we live, work, and connect — and “the new normal” is still largely TBD.

You’ve seen the data. You’re tracking the trends. But how will The Crisis of Disconnection manifest in your business?

Disconnection in Context: Challenges for Go-to-Market Teams

Let’s take a closer look at the three overarching disconnects with material impact on scaling companies:

What’s not pictured, and adding a sense of urgency to it all? The macroeconomic fluctuations that seem here to stay. Oscillations in supply and demand, rumors about an impending recession, and decreased access to capital are causing leaders across industries and functions to re-evaluate how to invest in growth.

Let’s consider each core complexity — and its consequences.

1. Disconnected Data and Systems Leads to Decreased Efficiency and Value to Your Business

If having a streamlined tech stack with clean, connected data feels like an increasingly pressing priority, you’re one of many re-examining their CRM solutions (for good reason).

One in four businesses today say disconnected data and systems are among their chief concerns as they grow. And the ever-popular point solution approach isn’t without problems.

Consider the Impacts to Your People

Impact 1: Proliferating tools are creating complex, bloated tech stacks that are increasingly hard to use, integrate, and maintain.

The number of martech solutions is up 24% from 2020. Additionally, new sales productivity research shows:

• Sales reps use just 62% of their tech stack.
• Sales reps spend 41% of their average workday not selling, costing companies approximately 38% in revenue per quarter.
• 74% of CRM buyers feel their teams have to switch between too many tools to get the job done, and 76% are using 3 or more applications to manage their relationships with customers
• Only 27% of marketers say their marketing data is fully integrated with the tools they use, and 22% of them find it difficult to share data across teams.
• Marketers spend an average of 3.55 hours each week collecting, organizing, and analyzing marketing data from separate sources.
• Psychologists have found that switching gears and logging into disparate tools can eat up as much as 40% of an employee’s productive time.
• A lack of unified data can block progress for individual contributors and make reporting an all-day affair for managers.
• It’s harder for both individual contributors and team leads to deliver tangible ROI.

Impact 2: Disconnected systems lead to decentralized data, which causes teams to spend more time searching for answers and less time focusing on high-value activities.

Impact 3: Frequent context-switching results in productivity loss at every level.

Consider the Impacts to Your Bottom Line

According to our research, companies with less connected data & systems are seriously disappointed in the ROI of their tech stacks:

• Only 13% of businesses that have a mostly or entirely unintegrated tech stack report excellent ROI.
• Businesses that report worse connectedness of their data also report substantially worse ROI from their tech stacks.
• Businesses that use 11 or more point solutions see 2.5x higher total cost of ownership than those that use just one.

On the flip side, companies see greater ROI when data and systems are more connected and CRM tools are all on one platform:

But why does connection & integration of your tech stack make such a difference to ROI? To answer that question, let’s take a look at how ROI is calculated:

As you can see in the equation above, total cost of ownership is one of the major factors in ROI  — as TCO increases, ROI decreases, fast.

And, as we’ve learned in our research,  having more point solutions leads to significantly higher cost of ownership, primarily driven by the increased personnel costs associated with using multiple tools.

So, even if a business is getting the same gains from their tech stack, using too many point solutions is likely going to decrease their ROI compared to a company that has consolidated more of its tools on a single platform.

As you can see, streamlining your tech stack does more than reduce friction between your systems and data. It reduces your total cost of ownership. It makes you more likely to weather the volatility ahead, with 52% of businesses with excellent data connectedness reporting they feel well-equipped to grow and thrive, despite the current state of the economy. And it connects your sales, marketing, and service teams (the importance of which we’ll talk more about below).

2. Disconnected People Leads to Decreased Sense of Community and Satisfaction

As you may have guessed, disconnected systems don’t just lead to disconnected data — they also contribute to feelings of disconnection between teams.

At the risk of stating the obvious: the way many of us work took a 180 in 2020. No fewer than 80% of U.S. employees say the crisis materially affected their daily work lives. Within a year, Zoom generated a mere $4 billion in revenue (a 53% increase year-on-year), with meeting participants increasing by 2900%.  Many of us had to learn — and are still learning — how to collaborate digitally instead of in-person.

There have been some upsides (access to more diverse talent, time saved commuting, meetings attended in pajama pants), along with some challenges.

What does this mean? The playbook for attracting, supporting, and retaining employees is — you guessed it — changing.

Employees clearly crave connection and are more likely to feel dissatisfied without it. What’s equally true? Creating moments of connection is more challenging in an increasingly remote world run on siloed systems and partially accessible information. And as The Great Resignation is already showing, the consequences of ignoring how employees feel — inside and outside of work — won’t be insignificant.

3. Disconnected Customers Leads to Decreased Interactions and Opportunities to Delight

If you’re getting the sense that these disconnection challenges are compounding, you aren’t wrong. Disconnected systems, data, and people are all contributing to another problem — brands are facing more hurdles as they try to connect with their customer base.

Before we double-click on the data and what it means for you, here’s a high-level summary (with a spoiler: what worked then won’t work now):

In case you don’t want to take our word for it:

• Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is up. 49% of those who track CAC say it has increased in the past year.
• 42% of businesses cite increasing costs to reach prospects/customers as the main obstacle standing between them and continued growth.
• Organic growth is diminishing. The average SaaS blog grew -1.6% last year and Google takes more than 65% of clicks.
• More than 30% of marketers say that they are experiencing average-to-no returns on their digital marketing investments.
• 80% of marketers report that getting rid of cookies will have a mild to major impact on their advertising strategy, and just 36% of marketers overall feel completely ready for impending data privacy changes.
• Businesses have already spent an average of $1.3 million on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance and are expected to spend $1.8 million more.

What does this mean for your business? It’s getting harder (read: less effective and more expensive) to reach potential customers. And if/when you do reach them, it’s getting harder to exceed their expectations (with fewer insights about their personal preferences than ever). Without a single source of truth about customers, it’s harder for teams to deliver personalized, connected customer experiences. Although 80% of marketers consider personalization the key to increasing revenue and enhancing customer experiences, HubSpot’s research shows that over half of marketers are missing critical data on their target audience that prevents them from delivering that personalized experience. 

So where does that leave today’s go-to-market teams?

Next Steps

So far, we’ve covered the “what” and “so what” associated with The Crisis of Disconnection.

In the final installment of this series, we’ll cover the most important question of all. Now what?

Stay tuned for our next post, and in the meantime, learn how HubSpot can help you connect all the dots.

The project management field is growing. By 2027, employers will have 88 million PM roles, according to the Project Management Institute. To capitalize on new opportunities, PMs must keep up-to-date with industry trends and insights.

Whether you’re an industry professional or just starting your career, we’ve gathered 8 of the best project management podcasts to help you on your journey. These podcasts cover a wide variety of topics, from company culture to organizational leadership.

Take a deep dive below.

1. Manage This — The Project Management Podcast

• Hosts: Andy Crowe, CEO at Velociteach, and Bill Yates, Executive Vice President at Velociteach
• Length: 30-45 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify

This podcast offers an inside look into every aspect of project management. In each episode, Crowe and Yates share insider intelligence and actionable tips. Recent discussion topics include the challenges of management remotely, reshaping project innovation, and building culture.

What we like: Crowe and Yates invite a variety of subject matter experts onto the show. Conversations range from advice for someone just starting in project management to leadership tips – including how to manage uncertainty.

2. PM Point Of View

• Host: Kendall Lott, President at OSP International LLC
• Length: 1 hour
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts and Stitcher

This podcast comes from the Project Management Institute of Washington, D.C. Plus, you’ll gather a wide range of perspectives on project management. Host Kendall Lott brings experience from roles in project management and within the C-suite. Guests also come from a variety of backgrounds and industires.

What we like: This podcast offers a wealth of knowledge. Each episode includes actionable tips and advice for PMs of all skill levels.

3. Project Management Happy Hour

• Hosts: Kim Essendrup, Founder of Kolme Group, and Kate Anderson, Senior Product Manager at PayPal
• Length: 35-45 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts and the podcast’s website

In each episode, Essendrup and Anderson cover a common problem in project management today. They then dive into practical advice and real-life examples. In addition to industry insights and tips, the hosts offer thoughtful case studies.

What we like: Each episode feels like a casual discussion with your friends. If you’re looking for a podcast that offers honest conversations about real-world issues in project management, then this is the podcast for you.

4. The Digital Project Manager Podcast

• Host: Galen Low, Co-Founder and Community Lead
• Length: 45-55 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the podcast’s website

The Digital Project Manager Podcast provides inspiration, how-to guides, tips, tricks, tools, actionable advice, and thoughtful stories. Episodes cover everything under the project management umbrella — including managing budgets and expectations, setting benchmarks, and the factors driving digital transformation.

What we like: Host Galen Low goes beyond just discussing industry trends. He connects with guests and offers actionable advice that will help you through every aspect of project management.

5. The Biker PM

• Host: Anthoney Pavelich, Project Manager and Consultant
• Length: 25-35 minutes
• Where to listen: Spotify

The Biker PM is the perfect project management podcast for small businesses. Host Anthoney Pavelich brings on entrepreneurs and small business owners to discuss the project management challenges they face. Here, they dissect what worked, what didn’t work, and how to navigate new startups.

What we like: Discussions on The Biker PM can benefit any small business owner or entrepreneur who needs guidance on how to avoid project management pitfalls.

6. Projectified

• Host: Steve Hendershot, Journalist, Founder, and Chief Creative Officer
• Length: 20 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts and Spotify

Created by the Project Management Institute, this podcast is for people who lead strategic initiatives that deliver value to their organizations. Guests include both senior and rising project managers, business leaders in Fortune 500 companies and startups, best-selling authors, top researchers, and a wide range of leading-edge thinkers.

What we like: Projectified is produced by the Project Management Institute, a for-purpose professional membership organization for project management. You can trust the podcast’s content to be accurate and in line with industry standards.

7. People and Projects Podcast

• Host: Andy Kaufman, PMP, PMI-ACP
• Length: 35-45 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts and Spotify

This podcast focuses on the intersection of people and projects — where work gets done in the real world. Here you’ll learn management tips that can help your team stay on track and collaborate on big-ticket items.

What we like: If you want a fresh take on project management, this is the podcast for you. Host Andy Kaufman and his guests cover various topics, from skill development to surprising ways you already use project management in your daily life.

8. Project Management Paradise

• Host: Aaron Murphy, Project Manager
• Length: 20-30 minutes
• Where to listen: Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Audible

This podcast delivers real project management tips and tricks from experts around the world. Host Aaron Murphy talks with business leaders, entrepreneurs, and project managers to offer thoughtful insights.

What we like: After each episode, you’ll walk away with solid guidance and understanding to help you conquer real-world challenges. That includes change management, shifting organizational behavior, and creating a project management style that aligns with your company’s culture.

Choosing the Right Podcast

If you’re looking to gain more actionable insights or expand your skills as a project manager, consider adding these podcasts to your rotation.

Both industry newcomers to long-standing project managers can learn something new from these shows. Plus, you’ll gather tips that can take your project management skills to the next level.

Early this year, conversations surrounding an upcoming recession started making headlines. Then, we saw mass layoffs and hiring freezes happening, particularly in the tech world.

According to our 2023 Marketing Strategy Report, 48% of global marketers say the potential for an economic downturn or recession has affected their company’s hiring plans in 2022.

The report also suggests that this impact will continue into 2023. In this article, we’ll cover:

• How the Recession Has Impacted Hiring So Far
• How the Recession Will Impact Hiring in 2023
• Which Roles Remain Popular & Which Ones Have Lower Demand
• Which Companies and Industries Are Most Impacted

How The Recession Has Impacted Hiring So Far

Based on our report, we know that nearly half of marketers globally say the current economy has impacted their hiring plans for the year. The question is how.

The report suggests that marketers already struggle with hiring top talent, with 47% of respondents saying it’s one of their biggest challenges. More specifically, respondents say the biggest roadblocks are finding candidates with the right skill set and meeting salary expectations.

The recession has only exacerbated an existing issue. Here are some standout figures:

• 35% of respondents say they had to slow down or pause hiring efforts.
• 27% of respondents say their company had to fire or lay off employees.
• 26% of respondents say their company had to rescind offers made to prospective employees.

When asked in the Fall of 2022, “How long do you expect hiring efforts to be slowed or paused at your company?” 43% estimated four to six months while 27% said over seven months.

This indicates that many companies will be experiencing hiring freezes well into the new year.

It’s worth noting though that the recession hasn’t impacted all companies in the same way. The report shows that some companies actually increased hiring, according to 34% of marketers surveyed.

One interesting finding is that companies that describe their marketing strategy as effective are nearly 20% more likely to increase their hiring efforts in 2023.

How The Recession Will Impact Hiring in 2023

According to our report, 10% of marketers still anticipate struggling with hiring top talent in 2023. And 42% of respondents say the recession will affect their hiring plans next year.

How exactly? 35% say they will have to slow or pause hiring efforts. In addition, 24% of respondents say their companies plan to fire or lay off employees.

However, mirroring the 2022 outlook, many companies – 48% –plan on increasing hiring efforts, suggesting that not all industries are being impacted negatively by the economic downturn.

Which marketing roles will be impacted by a potential recession in 2023?

Every company weighs roles differently. Depending on their business goals, companies will place more importance on some roles versus others.

We were interested in finding out if there was a lot of overlap across industries with the roles they chose to invest in most or least in 2023.

Here’s what we found out: Two roles for which companies plan to decrease their recruitment efforts the most are: General marketing managers and acquisition marketing managers.

Given the economic climate, companies may be focused more on retention rather than acquisition, explaining the shift away from this role. As for the general marketing manager role, one theory is that companies rather invest in specialized roles that can offer quicker results.

Conversely, when asked about which roles they plan to increase their increase efforts, the top three were:

• SEO strategist
• Marketing data analyst
• Creative director

Which companies and industries will be most impacted?

We’ve mentioned throughout this article that no two companies are impacted the same way during an economic downturn.

Our report shows that companies in the Media and Entertainment industry are most likely to decrease hiring efforts in 2023, 13% more than other industries.

83% of respondents in that category say that the potential for an economic downturn or recession will lead to a decrease in hiring efforts in 2023. Among those surveyed, those working in government and ecommerce show the lowest potential for a decrease in hiring efforts.

Meanwhile, we’re seeing the highest numbers for increases in hiring efforts in these five industries:

• Defense and aeronautics
• Government
• eCommerce
• Chemicals and metals
• Advertising or marketing

There also seems to be a correlation between a company’s size and its hiring plans. According to our report, companies with large marketing teams (201 to 500 marketers) are 20% more likely to increase their hiring efforts in 2023.

There’s still so much unknown surrounding the current economy. However, our report suggests that many companies are taking a conservative approach to hiring in 2023 in preparation for difficult financial times.

Customer service is important. 

Depending on which side of the spectrum your business resides in, customer service can either lift you to new heights up or sink your business straight to the bottom of the sea. 

The statement, however, is also one of the biggest understatements in business.

No one wants to be bad at customer service on purpose. It’s simply that not every business makes a conscious commitment to their customers before they ever even meet them. 

Knowing that customer service can make or break you is one of many reasons NetLine has made customer support such a main pillar of our company’s identity and culture.

It’s because of this focus that’s allowed NetLine to be a G2 Leader in the Lead Capture category for the last five consecutive years—and we’d like to talk a bit about why it’s so important to us.

NetLine Named a G2 Fall Leader

Here are some of the results from G2’s Fall 2022 Report, specifically in the Lead Capture category: 

• This is the 20th quarter in a row the company has been named a Leader in the Lead Capture cohort
  • The Lead Capture class consists of 35 demand-centric businesses
• Overall, NetLine outperformed group averages in seven of G2 Grid® Report’s eight categories in the Lead Capture field
• NetLine finished the Fall 2022 review period with a 98% rating in the Quality of Support category
  • This score bested the average score by 6%—and 11% higher than ZoomInfo
• Thanks to our wonderful clients, NetLine’s scores in the Ease of Admin and Ease of Setup categories improved from the previous quarter

Even our Net Promoter Score rose! It’s terrific to see how consistent this industry recognition has been, but who are we kidding?

We know who the real stars are.

Thank You (Thank You, Very, Very Much)

We’ve said it numerous times, but it can never be said enough. We’re so grateful for our clients. 

It goes without saying, but without them, NetLine wouldn’t be here and any G2 Leader status would be a pipedream. 

For 28 years, we’ve made it a point to dedicate ourselves to the service of our clients and their goals. Regardless of how long they’ve worked with us, how much they choose to spend, or their level of understanding of the platform, we make it a point to deliver each and every time. 

Clearly, this has resonated with our customers, as they’ve consistently rated us as the top of G2’s Quality of Support category in our field for 20 straight quarters. 

To get a better idea of why service is part of the fabric of NetLine, we asked the brains behind the heart of the operation, Melissa Becht, our VP of client services.

“It’s always been a main philosophy”

When I asked our CEO, Robert Alvin, about how and why service came to be one of NetLine’s pillars, he was quick to point out he wasn’t the catalyst. “It was always Melissa,” he said.

Melissa Becht has seen a lot in her time at NetLine. Over the course of 17 years with the company, she’s held nearly every position within the Client Services team she now leads.

“Ensuring customer satisfaction has always been at the forefront of our core business initiatives,” Becht said. “It’s always been a main philosophy of mine and always at top of mind.”

We pay close attention to our G2 ratings and reviews. Whenever we get a new review, Melissa’s the first one the entire team hears it from. she said. “This is validated within our customer satisfaction rating.”

The way Melissa sees It, it’s vital to ensure the account management teams are monitoring and calibrating customer service quality as well as recommending campaign optimization ideas to clients on an ongoing basis. 

Having a commitment to quality across the Client Services organizations has been proven time and again by the dedication the team has to client needs and dynamic approach to problem-solving. “Without happy clients we wouldn’t have the campaigns and business we have today,” Melissa said.

A Commitment to Service

Client Services is forever focused on improving customer satisfaction and being a strategic partner to our clients. But it’s not just client services. It’s all of us.

NetLine as a whole is focused on supporting and growing relationships with clients.

As we move into 2023, we have a lot of exciting plans in the works. The entire company is eager to share all of it with you.

Until then, we’ll keep our heads down and keep working toward the same common goals we share with our clients: Doing good work that benefits everyone. 

Thank you for trusting NetLine. Here’s to another five straight years!

Seventy-one percent of US businesses use Instagram to market their products, services, and brand to more than one billion users on the app. With a variety of interactive features, Instagram marketing has become essential for small businesses.

Your team needs need to have an Instagram marketing strategy in place to harness the platform’s power. Read this guide to help you tackle the platform.

Table of Contents:

• Why Instagram Marketing Matters for Small Businesses
• 15 Instagram Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
• Getting Started

Why Instagram Marketing Matters for Small Businesses

In our digital-first world, Instagram is one of the first places people go to learn about a small business. Today, 90% of people follow at least one business on Instagram. Further, 1 in 2 people use the app to discover new brands, products, and services.

As a small business owner, you need to use Instagram to get your business in front of customers and build brand loyalty. But without a clear Instagram marketing strategy in place, you may find yourself struggling to grow your audience, post content consistently, or generate quality engagement. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Over 90% of small businesses struggle with these common social media challenges.

Here’s the good news: Even if you have a small budget, limited resources, or a one-person team, there are several Instagram marketing strategies that small businesses can use to grow their presence and find success on the platform. Let’s dive in.

 

15 Instagram Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses

1. Start with a goal.

There’s no doubt that Instagram is a powerful tool for small businesses. To get the most out of your Instagram marketing, there needs to be a clear goal in place for what you want to achieve on the platform.

Here are a few examples of goals you might choose for your Instagram marketing strategy:

• Increase sales.
• Drive website traffic.
• Generate brand awareness.
• Boost customer engagement.  

Once you have a goal in place, you can use that to guide the type of content you post, the people you want to reach, and the general messaging to use on your page.

2. Set up the basics of your profile.

A few basic elements of an Instagram business profile are a profile picture, business name, and business category. Your page should also include contact information like a phone number, email, and address (if you have a physical location).

Clothing brand Quince includes a contact email in its bio so customers can easily reach out to the brand for support.

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Another way to get the most out of your Instagram profile is to make sure it’s search-friendly. Create a searchable username so people can easily find your business.

Your profile image should also be something recognizable like your logo so new followers instantly recognize your brand’s thumbnail as they scroll.

3. Optimize your bio.

Your Instagram bio is the first thing people see when they visit your profile — think of it like the homepage of your website.

If you only have a few seconds to capture a visitor’s attention, what are the main elements or pieces of information you want them to take away?

Use your bio to let new followers know who you are and what you do. Include your company’s tagline or put together a sentence or two that sum up the type of content people can expect to see by giving you a follow.  

You can also use your bio as an opportunity to share announcements, promotions, or product launches. Pet brand Wild One includes special offers in their bio.

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4. Be intentional with your bio link.

If one of your Instagram marketing goals is to drive more traffic to your small business’ website, then spend a little extra time optimizing the link section of your bio.

Because you can’t include clickable links in Instagram captions, the link in your bio is what users will click on to learn more about your brand, shop your products, or sign up for an email list.

Use the link section to direct people where you want them to go next.

If you have multiple pages or products you want to promote at once, use a tool like Linktree or Later’s Link in Bio. These tools turn your main link into a mini website, giving users multiple options to click on within one link.

Newsletter brand Girls’ Night In uses a link tool to make it easy for its followers to find and visit links for products and articles that were mentioned in their posts.

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5. Host a giveaway

Want to grow your audience on Instagram? Host a giveaway.

According to one study, giveaways help Instagram accounts grow 70% faster in just three months.

And it’s easy to see why. Instagram giveaways increase brand awareness, boost organic engagement, and drive more people to your profile by encouraging likes, comments, and shares for a chance to win.

To generate even more engagement for your giveaway, team up with another brand for a joint prize like Oat Haus and Califia Farms did below.

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Not only does more than one prize incentivize people to enter, but teaming up with another brand doubles the audience that will see your content or be introduced to your brand for the first time.

6. Geotag your posts.

If you have a physical location for your small business, be sure to create a geotag so you can include it in your Instagram posts. A geotag provides location data which helps users pinpoint exactly where to find your small business.

Not only that, but Instagram also organizes posts that use a certain geotag under one searchable tab so users can see all of the posts from that location.

By contributing to the tag, you can show people what they can expect when visiting your business. For instance, if you have a restaurant, use your geotag to show off menu items or give people a glimpse at what the dining atmosphere is like.

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7. Tap into user-generated content.

Content creation is at the heart of Instagram marketing, but it’s no small feat. From brainstorming creative ideas to shooting images or taking videos, there’s a lot that goes into a single post.

This is where user-generated content (UGC) comes in handy.

UGC is content that’s been created and posted by Instagram users. It’s usually in the form of an image or video of someone using your product or visiting your business.

You can scope out UGC by checking out posts that you’re tagged in or browsing through content that uses your geotag.

Self-care brand Chillhouse regularly reposts customer photos that align with the rest of its Instagram content.

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Not only is UGC a time-saver when it comes to content creation, but it also helps build social proof and brand credibility by showing followers authentic content from real people.

8. Offer exclusive promotions.

If you want to give people a reason to follow you on Instagram, offer exclusive promotions for followers.

Share a discount code that followers can mention if they visit your business in person or use at checkout when shopping online. To make the promotion even more exclusive, use Stories to share discount codes. Because Stories disappear after 24 hours, followers may feel a sense of FOMO if they don’t act on it quickly.

Promotions give your followers a reason to stay engaged and look forward to what and when you’ll post next, which helps build brand loyalty for your small business.

9.  Take advantage of hashtags.

Hashtags are essential for your small business’s Instagram marketing strategy. Hashtags can help you join in on a conversation or topic that’s relevant to your brand. They also help Instagram categorize your content. When users search or browse a hashtag they’re interested in, they may see your posts.

Not only are hashtags a tool for users to discover new brands and content on the platform, but they also allow your small business to build brand awareness and recognition.

Consider creating a branded hashtag and encourage followers to use it when they post about your brand. This helps build brand recognition and encourages people to share UGC.

Shoe brand Tecovas created a branded hashtag for an Instagram campaign that encouraged followers to share their game-day outfits using the hashtag #TecovasTailgate.

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10. Engage with influencers.

Every industry has its influencers, from food to beauty to business. Influencers are highly effective at connecting with an audience and building trust with their followers. In fact, 37% of consumers trust social media influencers over brands.

If you have extra room in your marketing budget, consider partnering with an influencer for sponsored content.

As a small business, micro-influencers (influencers with around 10,000 followers or less) may be best to collaborate with or form a partnership with. Not only are they more relatable to your audience than a mega influencer or celebrity, but micro-influencers tend to generate more engagement than those with hundreds of thousands of followers.

11. Make your posts shoppable.

Each month, 130 million people use Instagram’s shopping features. If you operate an e-commerce business and want to reach even a fraction of these engaged shoppers, take advantage of Instagram’s commerce tools.

Instagram Shopping makes it easy for your followers to browse and purchase products directly through the app. After setting up your shop on your profile, you can add product tags to your posts like the outdoor brand Kammok does below.

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12. Talk to your followers.

With all of the features that are available on Instagram these days, it can be easy to overlook one of the foundational elements of the platform: being social.

Engage with your audience wherever and whenever you can – in the comments section, in Stories replies, or even in DMs. By connecting with your audience on a personal level, you humanize your small business and build strong customer relationships.

You can start the conversation by directly asking for follower input. Use the interactive features on Stories, like polls and questions, to gather feedback and generate ideas from your audience.

Encouraging participation is another way to connect on a more personal level. Your followers will feel like they’re part of your community.

13. Experiment with Reels.

Instagram has rolled out several new features over the years including Stories, Lives, and now Reels.

Reels are short-form videos that can be creatively edited to form a compilation of clips that tell a story.

Here are a few ideas for Instagram Reels:

• Show a day in the life of a small business owner.
• Share a behind-the-scenes look at your process.
• Tell the story behind the brand.
• Introduce team members.
• Give a tour of your space (office, storefront, restaurant, etc.).

Small businesses can also use Reels to share how-to videos that educate their followers. In the Reels below, P.F. Candle Co. demonstrates how to safely relight one of their candles.

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14. Get creative with your captions.

For small businesses, your Instagram captions are an opportunity to add personality to the brand.

Rather than directly promoting your product or service, you can use your captions to spark conversations with your audience, encourage engagement, or show off the human side of your business. Waterloo Sparkling Water keeps its tone fun and human in the post below.

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15. Analyze your metrics.

To understand how well your Instagram marketing strategy is performing, it’s essential to track and measure your metrics.

You can use Instagram’s native insights or one of the many free and paid Instagram analytics tools. Make sure you have a set of metrics you want to track and a process to evaluate their success.

The metrics you choose to measure should tie back to your goals. If the goal of your Instagram marketing strategy is to drive more people to your website, then you’ll want to track your Instagram link clicks to see how they correlate to your site traffic.

Getting Started

Instagram continues to be a powerful and effective way for small businesses to grow their brand. With a strong Instagram marketing strategy in place, small businesses can reach new customers, increase sales, and build loyal customer relationships through the app for years to come.