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When I need stock photos, I get them for free on Unsplash. Yet, for some reason, many other publishers continue to push out cheap (and usually cheesy) stock photography to serve as a representation of their brand.

The truth is high-quality stock photos don’t have to come hand-in-hand with a hassle or high price tag.

To prove it, we’ve compiled a list of awesome resources for free, high-quality stock images for websites, blogs, and similar online properties.

From enviable office spaces to stunning scenery, we‘re certain you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for with the help of this roundup.

Best Free Stock Photo Websites for Royalty-Free Images

1. Negative Space

Negative Space offers up new free stock photos every week. All of its photos are shared without copyright restrictions, meaning you’re free to use them however you please.

From architecture to technology, Negative Space‘s continuously growing collection of images is one you’ll find yourself tapping into again and again.

Core Features

New images added every week
There are no copyright restrictions

What we like: I found that the website is incredibly easy to navigate. It was also easy to filter through the gallery of photos — which are sortable by category, copy space position, and color.

Click here to view the full license details.

2. Freepik

Freepik strives to be the go-to destination for free stock images, vector designs, and PSD files, providing a vast collection of high-quality and professionally verified images and graphic design assets for any web design, blog, or marketing project.

Built around a highly creative community, Freepik provides a solid foundation for professional and aspiring photographers to upload their work, making money per download in return.

Premium members will gain full access to premium content and a higher download cap per day without the need for any attribution.

Core Features

Stock images, vectors, and PSD files
Professionally verified images
Highly active community

What we like: With an in-your-face style display, I found that the webpage was easy to navigate. Bolstering hundreds of stock images, you’re bound to find something amazing.

Search optimization gives you an easy ride when finding the most specific images for your project.

Click here to view the full license details.

3. Vecteezy

Vecteezy is a U.S.-based online marketplace that provides access to over 30M free and premium stock photos, vector graphics, and video footage.

Vecteezy is a category leader in freemium imagery, and its mission is to simplify the creative process by providing safe, legal creative assets to everyone. The company is also one of the fastest-growing stock photo marketplaces, according to TrustPilot and G2.

They also offer an extensive library of free PNG, SVG, and PSD files along with fully customizable templates via their Template Editor.

The browser-based design tool can customize business cards, resumes, social media designs, posters, flyers, and many other designs in just a few clicks.

Basic features are free but include ads and limitations. Pro subscribers get advanced licensing and a more comprehensive content selection and tools.

Core Features

30 million free stock images
Extensive library of PNG, SVG, and PSD files
Multiple subscription options

What we like: This website is a delight to navigate. An easy-to-use interface displays all the available categories for stock images as well as complete information for vectors and video footage.

Click here to view the full license details.

4. Death to Stock

When founders and photographers Allie and David noticed how challenging it was for businesses, bloggers, and creatives to find free high-quality images that fit their “vibe and tribe,” they stepped in.

As a result, Death to Stock was born. Simply submit your email and enjoy a new batch of photos delivered to your inbox every month.

If you have an extra budget, Death to Stock also offers a Premium membership for $15 a month or $180 a year.

The cool part about the paid membership is that a percentage of the profit is used to fund photography trips and other creative projects to keep the resource moving forward.

Core Features

Easy to navigate
Custom tailored for the bloggers and creatives
New photos delivered to your inbox monthly

What we like: With multiple options for membership and stock images delivered directly to your inbox, what’s not to love? I found the overall process to be rather enjoyable.

It’s easy to find the perfect image that makes a statement for your brand.

Click here to view the full license details.

5. HubSpot

When we noticed a shortage of high-quality free stock photos available to marketers and creatives, we decided to whip up some of our own.

We’re a bit biased (since many of our own employees appear in these photos), but we think these images can help you spruce up your site or marketing materials.

Core Features

Hundreds of stock photos
Variety of categories and style options
Free to download

What we like: I would recommend checking the HubSpot stock archives. With dozens of options to choose from, you are sure to find something amazing.

Check out the following collections to get your fix:

6. Picjumbo

Need free images for your next website design or blog post? Look no further than Picjumbo. With new photos added daily, there is a wide selection of high-quality images to fit a variety of topics.

The photographer, Vicktor, also offers unique paid packages for bloggers, designers, and agencies (starting at $10/month).

Core Features

Perfect for website design or blog
Photos added daily
Unique paid packages offering bonus content

What we like: PicJumbo seems to tick off all the boxes for us. I found the comprehensive list of categories easy to navigate. Crystal-clear images and digital photos can improve your next blog post or jazz up your next memo.

Click here to view the full license details.

7. CreateHER Stock

CreateHER Stock is a stock photography site that features authentic images of Black women created by founder Neosha Gardner. Priced at $10 per month, there is a collection of “freebies” that includes more than 185 images.

Keep in mind that CreateHER Stock is not intended for commercial use without an extended license.

Core Features

Paid subscriptions but still offers “freebies”
Commercial use is available but not created with so in mind
Affordable pricing model

What we like: This option is an excellent source for authentic images. I found the collection of freebies available to view both beautiful and inspiring. At a mere 10 dollars a month, we recommend giving CreateHER a look.

Click here to view the full license details.

8. Kaboompics

Karolina, a web designer from Poland, is the creative eye behind this awesome resource for high-quality photos. From fashion to food to landscapes, her images cover a variety of different scenarios.

And users have the freedom to use them for anything they’d like — commercial or not.

While there are no formal attribution requirements, Karolina does ask that you include photo credit with a link back to the site when possible.

This request will help her grow the website and, in turn, provide even more awesome photos for everyone to use.

Core Features

Commercial or noncommercial application
Wide variety of options
Perfect for websites or social media pages

What we like: A true depiction of humble beginnings, Karolina built this with love, and it shows. From the moment you land on the Kaboompics home page to navigating the collections of images, there seems to be something for everyone.

Click here to view the full license details.

9. Startup Stock Photos

“Take ’em, these things are free. Go. Make something.”

While the name is specific to startups, there are plenty of professional options to use, no matter what industry you’re operating within. Opening the homepage is enough proof of that.

All the images are tiled immediately for you to view, a simplistic design that fits the needs of almost any industry.

Core Features

Great for startups
Offers many options for commercial application
Simple design with ease of use

What we like: I enjoy the in-your-face interface. A simple header and search bar adorn the top of the page, as the rest is filled with featured images that are available. Very easy to use and fun to explore.

Click here to view the full license details.

10. Moose

Moose is a stock photos library with images created by the Icons8 team. It features images of hundreds of different categories, including people, animals, nature, technology, and more.

All these images can be used for free for a link back to Moose. To use them with no attribution, you should get a paid subscription.

Core Features

Free images with links back to Moose
Hundreds of categories to choose from
Free and paid subscriptions

What we like: Whether you go for the paid subscription or take the free images with the photo credit, you’re bound to find something good from moose.

I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of images available upon arriving on the home page.

11. Freerange

All of the photos on the Freerange website come from a pool of both in-house photographers and a growing community of external contributors.

Not only is there a lot to choose from, but the photos are high quality, too. “Images provided directly (in-house) by Freerange Stock originate one of two ways.

They are either digitally photographed on Canon DSLR cameras, or they are a high resolution (4000 dpi) Nikon scan of an original 35mm slide,” according to the site.

Core Features

High-quality HD images
Growing community of contributors
Camera-specific photo specs

What we like: We found the high-definition images beautiful and packed full of inspiration for future projects. You can see the work and energy poured into each image.

Click here to view the full license details.

12. LibreShot

Photographer and SEO Consultant Martin Vorel is the creative force behind the stunning photos available on this site.

From crisp architectural shots to vibrant florals, Vorel‘s collection of photos contains some of the most unique selections we’ve come across.

Core Features

Unique and stunning photos
Geared toward commercial application
Simplistic and easy to use

What we like: I can’t say anything more appropriate than “accessible.” Upon arriving on the home page, you are greeted with a pleasant message stating the images are free to use for personal and commercial use.

Click here to view the full license details.

13. nappy

nappy is a free stock photo site on a mission to “provide beautiful, high-res photos of black and brown people to startups, brands, agencies, and everyone else.”

On their site, the team talks about how many stock photo sites depict unrealistic representations. There’s often a lack of diversity in the people depicted.

This presents a real problem for creators who are intentional about representation in articles, designs, and ads.

nappy calls on their audience to “tackle diversity and representation one photo at a time.” Best of all, their library is completely free.

Core Features

Expansive free library
Tackles diversity and represents a positive message

What we like: I found the real-world images extremely refreshing and informative. On top of that, the site boasts an extensive library representing diverse people.

Click here to view the full license details.

14. Fancy Crave

Not only are the photos on Fancy Crave free of copyright restrictions, but they’re also pretty remarkable. All the photographer asks is that you never advertise the photographs as your own and provide attribution when and if you can.

With two new photos uploaded daily to keep things feeling fresh, this is a bookmark-worthy resource for great photos if we’ve ever seen one.

Core Features

High quality without copyright restrictions
Offers articles and tips for using stock images
Daily uploads

What we like: They offer all kinds of tips and tricks for editing and using your photos. Dozens of copyright-free images are at your disposal with the informative power to really use them.

Click here to view the full license details.

15. Unsplash

Unsplash serves up 10 new “do whatever you want” photos every 10 days. What we love most about this resource is the uniqueness of the photos.

With pages upon pages to choose from, you won’t run into any cheesy, “smiling Boss Shaking Hands With Male Employee” shots.

Not to mention, every photo published on Unsplash is licensed under Creative Commons Zero, which provides users with the freedom to copy, modify, distribute, and use all of the photos without attribution.

Core Features

Free to modify, copy, and distribute
Plenty of options with a focus on corporate culture
Simple design for maximum results

What we like: I was happy to see all the text-based information, educating users on how to clean up and edit the images.

Click here to view the full license details.

16. StockSnap.io

StockSnap.io proudly claims that it‘s “not your typical crappy stock photo site.” We couldn’t agree more. After landing on the home page, this message becomes apparent. Everything is laid out very neatly.

Images are clean and high-quality, lending to the slogan StockSnap leans into.

In fact, its selection is so interesting and versatile that it’s almost too easy to “fall down the rabbit hole” and come to fifty-something scrolls later.

Core Features

Versatile and easy-to-use collections
Bright, vibrant images ranging from holiday to commercial

What we like: Simplistic design goes a long way, and StockSnap has gotten it right. With hundreds of free images at your fingertips, you can spend hours sifting through the extensive library they boast.

Click here to view the full license details.

17. The Jopwell Collections

Jopwell is a career advancement platform for people of color, helping brands recruit and retain diverse candidates. Their slogan is “representation matters.”

As part of that commitment, they’ve created a collection of stock photos that feature people of color in the workplace.

The images are free to use as long as there’s a visible attribution to Jopwell.

Core Features

Empowering diversified career advancement platform
Geared towards commercial and branding applications
Professional quality images

What We Like: Aimed at a more commercial application, I was surprised to see how professional in demeanor all the images presented by Jopwell are.

From office culture photos to informative images highlighting a professional atmosphere, Jopwell has really leaned into the commercial aspect of stock imagery.

Click here to view the full license details.

18. SplitShire

SplitShire offers awesome free photos for you to use without commercial restrictions. Powered by Italian photographer Daniel Nanescu, all of the images available on the website are “made with love” — and it shows.

From stunning portraits to sleek workstations, we‘ve got a feeling you won’t have any trouble finding the perfect photo for your next project or blog post.

Core Features

Free to use photos without restriction
High-quality images
Instant download

What we like: No commercial restrictions and a variety that’s truly notable have us in awe. Splitshire wastes no time showing off what it has.

As I arrived on the homepage, I was greeted by beautiful images ranging from landscapes to high-detail images of vehicles.

Click here to view the full license details.

19. Life of Pix

Brought to you by Leeroy Advertising Agency in Montreal (and its network of talented photographers), Life of Pix is home to some awesome high-resolution photos.

All of the images are donated to the public domain. They are available for personal and commercial use.

As if that wasn’t enough, Life of Pix also has a counterpart, Life of Vids. According to its website, Life of Vids serves up free footage videos, clips, and loops weekly.

Like the images, the video content contains no copyright restrictions and can be easily downloaded on its Vimeo account.

Core Features

Weekly submissions
Talented network of photographers adding professional quality images
Public domain

What we like: I found the use of realism to be invigorating. Starting with a more antique-style shot really showcases the skills of the individuals donating their work for public use.

With more of a real-life feel to the photos, Life of Pix is sure to provide an excellent experience.

Click here to view the full license details.

20. Pexels

These photos are carefully handpicked from a variety of free Image Sources to ensure that you’re getting only the best of the best.

All of the photos that make the cut are under the Creative Commons Zero license, meaning that they are free for personal and commercial use with no attribution required.

And thanks to its search functionality, turning up the right photo for your next project is super easy.

Core Features

Stunning royalty-free images
Free for personal and commercial use
Simplistic web design, allowing for easy navigation

What we like: This is a great spot for creators to share their work and promote themselves by offering select free images.

Click here to view the full license details.

21. Gratisography

With new photos added weekly, Gratisography is another awesome website serving up high-resolution photos covered under the Creative Commons Zero license.

All of the photos were taken by Ryan McGuire, a “whimsically creative visual artist based in Ithaca, NY.”

And while these photos are a bit more quirky (we’re talking everything from monster feet slippers to Vespas to bananas), they are entirely usable for the right project.

Core Features

Vibrant, expansive catalog
Stylized, high-quality imagery
“Whimsical” and fun to navigate web design

What we like: Vibrant, Whimsical, Pink! These are just a few words I would use to explain Gratisography. Showcasing a variety of vibrant and stylized images, we feel like they have definitely earned a spot on this list.

Click here to view the full license details.

22. Jay Mantri

Designer Jay Mantri has built up an impressive gallery of professional, quality images just for you and me … and everyone else.

If I had to describe Mantri‘s photos in one word, it’d be “scenic.” But don’t just take my word for it. Go see for yourself.

Core Features

Large gallery featuring a number of landscapes
Public domain
Diverse options to choose from in terms of style, filter, and more

What we like: The tagline “Make Magic” that is displayed front and center as you arrive on the homepage for Jay Mantri truly speaks to us. These images showcase a deeper, more detailed version of our world.

Click here to view the full license details.

23. ISO Republic

ISO‘s Republic’s mission is to “provide high-quality images to be used by designers, developers, bloggers, marketers, and social media teams.”

And all it takes is one quick scan of the website to know that it is succeeding in doing just that. (So much so that it’s hard to believe the images are free.)

For those looking for access to more exclusive free photos, ISO Republic invites you to sign up for its email list and receive photos right to your inbox.

Core Features

Large database lending to plenty of options for all applications
High-quality images geared toward designers and developers
Convenient and easy-to-use interface

What we like: Showcasing beautiful images based in realism and personal connection, ISO really takes the cake for personalized experiences. With so many options to choose from, there is bound to be some inspiration lurking around the corner.

Click here to view the full license details.

24. PICNOI

PICNOI is a free stock photo site “for a colorful world.” The photos feature people of color, and all of the images are free as long as you provide attribution (though you can choose to make a donation to support their mission).

Core Features

Diverse, stylized photos feature people of color
Free database of hundreds of options to choose from
Paid subscriptions available

What we like: Diverse would be an understatement here. PICNOI features beautiful, colorful, high-def images.

Click here to view the full license details.

25. New Old Stock

Who can resist a good black-and-white photo?

This collection of vintage photos comes from the public archive via Flickr Commons. According to the website, the photos are free of any known copyright restrictions.

That said, while it‘s likely that they are safe to use for things like blog posts and hero images, you’ll want to read up on the rights and usage below before you use them for any type of commercial project.

Core Features

Specialized “antiqued” photo gallery
Vintage options dating as far back as the late 1800s
Free of copyright restrictions

What we like: Taking a quick 180 from the other options listed, New Old Stock showcases antique public photos pulled from archives and cleaned up.

From images showcasing architecture to old industrial scenes, if you need more of an antiquity feel, you’re in the right place.

Click here to view the full license details.

26. Pixabay

Pixabay serves as a repository for a ton of quality photos that were released into the public domain under Creative Commons CC0.

The site is clean and intuitive, making it easy to navigate your way through the 780K+ free photos, vectors, and illustrations.

The main search bar even allows you to filter your query down by factors like media type, orientation, color, and minimum dimensions.

Core Features

Clean and easy to navigate
Offers various media options, including video and music

What we like: I was thrilled to see not only stock photos and videos but stock music and sounds as well.

Click here to view the full license details.

The perfect image can solidify your design, article, ad, or other creative. Whatever your need, there are many resources for free stock photos out there.

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

B2B

The 2024 State of Marketing & Trends Report: Data from 1400+ Global Marketers

i4lead Jan 10, 2024

If you’re anything like me, you probably wish you had unlimited time and resources to get through your busy work, come up with game-changing ideas, and ultimately give your audiences unforgettable brand experiences.

While AI’s quickly become a marketer’s ultimate assistant in many of these quests, it’s also caused our landscape (and competition) to evolve even faster.

Using data from our survey of 1460 B2B and B2C marketers across the globe, we’ll dig into the top marketing trends of 2024, how AI will keep shifting our industry, and how you can win over audiences in a new era of marketing.

Key Findings:

AI’s quickly becoming the ultimate marketing assistant, but still faces adoption barriers like job security concerns, brand reputation, and lack of knowledge around how to use it.
Social media apps could drive higher ROI than ever in 2024 as they evolve into frictionless e-commerce platforms.
Video-centric apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube will see the most growth in 2024, though Facebook’s still the most used and ties with Instagram for highest ROI. s.
Short-form video offers the highest content ROI and will earn more investment than all other formats.
Marketers will turn to social media targeting, first-party data, and AI tools to reach audience after Chrome’s third-party cookie phaseout.

The Top Marketing Trend of 2024

1. AI’s becoming the ultimate content marketing assistant.

We can’t discuss marketing trends without AI, and the impact is so huge it takes the first and second spots on our list.

The most important takeaway is that AI is quickly becoming the ultimate marketing assistant, with 64% of marketers already using it, and 38% of those who don’t yet planning to start in 2024.

AI is only growing in importance. In fact, Sean Downey, Google’s President, Americas and Global Partners, believes it will be the single biggest trend in 2024.

He told HubSpot in this post, “It should come as no surprise that in 2024, the biggest marketing trends will center around the possibilities of AI. Today, marketers are faced with pressing challenges to navigate evolving consumer expectations and consumption habits in today’s media landscape, which is fragmented and shifting dramatically — all while delivering business outcomes more efficiently.”

He adds, “The AI opportunity is coming at a time of transformation for everyone, including marketers. In fact, in addition to connecting brands and products to people, more than ever before, marketers need to be growth drivers for their companies.”

quote from Sean Downey

Things get interesting when we look at how marketers see AI being used – 60% say it will act as an assistant that helps them across their job duties, while 20% see AI primarily taking over menial tasks.

But there’s no debating that AI will make a big splash in the world of marketing in 2024.

85% of marketers say generative AI has changed the way they will create content in 2024 and 63% say that in 2024, most content will be created at least in part with the help of generative AI.

Marketers who use generative AI are seeing great results, saying it helps them make significantly more, higher quality content that performs better.

As Briana Rogers, Head of Product Marketing at Miro, tells me, “Marketers will have to learn how to integrate AI into their work.”

She explains, “The space is moving so quickly and we need to experiment with everything … from the more well-established use cases — like leveraging machine learning to improve ad buying, or creating predictive customer value models — to newer spaces, like identifying patterns in user research and data, assisting in creative development, and building full customer campaigns that are powered by AI.”

how generative AI helps marketers

81% of marketers who use generative AI say it’s effective at assisting them in their role, saying. Specifically, it helps them:

improve the quality of the content they create (85%)
create content more efficiently (84%)
make significantly more content (82%)
create more personalized content (77%).

On top of all that, 56% of marketers who use generative AI for content creation say this content performs better than content created without it.

Also, our survey shows marketers who use AI/automation tools are 95% more likely to say their marketing strategy was very effective this year compared to those who don’t.

But, a big disclaimer is that AI shouldn’t replace your entire content team. You’re consumer won’t want this, and neither will platforms like Google.

In fact, a recent report from one of our colleagues, Curtis del Principe, highlighted the punishment handed down to one agency after they farmed thousands of posts with AI in what we’re calling an “SEO Heist.”

So, if you can’t create ALL of your content with AI completely, how can you still leverage it to the best advantage in your content plan?

How Marketers Use AI for Content Creation

The marketers we surveyed told us the top use cases for generative AI are data analysis, research, and content creation (but, don’t stop reading here).

how marketers use ai for content

When it comes to creating content, marketers aren’t replacing writers or creatives with AI. Instead, they primarily use AI for

Brainstorming new ideas or angles,
Re-purposing or adapting pre-created content for a different audience, format or channel
Writing basic copy or outlines
And creating images or basic videos.

In terms of the types of content marketers use generative AI to produce, social media posts, emails, blog posts, images, and product descriptions.

While that all sounds great, there are a few concerns to be aware of with AI we should talk about.

Where AI Still Faces Barriers

The AI revolution is a huge change, so it’s no surprise that close to half of marketers are concerned about AI replacing their jobs. 23% even think marketers should avoid using generative AI altogether.

But based on how marketers are actually using AI, it isn’t replacing their jobs, but acting as an assistant.

Among marketers who use generative AI to write copy, just 6% use it to write the entire piece of content for them. 45% use it for ideas/inspiration, 31% use it for an outline, and 18% use it for a first draft.

how marketers use gen ai to write copy

Additionally, 95% of marketers who use generative AI to write copy make edits to the text, with 44% making significant edits.

Another issue is integrating AI throughout marketers’ workflow, with 46% feeling overwhelmed at the prospect.

The good news is businesses are going out of their way to help, with 40% of marketers saying their company has hired a new employee specifically to help their team leverage AI.

Still, with AI being so new, just 21% of marketers have integrated it throughout their daily workflow. 32% of marketers use AI for specific tasks and 10% are still in the experimentation phase. Of course, 36% don’t use AI at all – but 38% of marketers who don’t say they will start using AI in 2024.

To what extent have marketers integrated AI in their workplace

One final concern shared by 60% of marketers is that AI can harm their brand’s reputation due to bias, plagiarism, or misalignment with brand values.

This is definitely an issue, but if you’re using AI as an assistant, you’ll be editing and watching over the output every step of the way.

AI tools are also aware of these problems and some have already rolled out capabilities to source and fact-check the information it spits out.

For example, Google’s Bard will allow you to double-check the output with existing information on the web to let you know if it can be confirmed by other sources, while also providing links to relevant sources.

Google bard prompts

Luckily, as companies hire AI implementation experts, marketers become more comfortable using AI as an assistant, and AI tools become more accurate and trustworthy, we predict the concerns above will be overcome quickly.

Top Marketing Channels

2. Social media is the highest-ROI marketing channel as it continues to evolve with ecommerce.

Social media is indisputably the #1 marketing channel. Not only does it offer the highest ROI, but it’s used by 43% of marketers.

The reason social media is so effective is that it’s become a leading product discovery and purchasing channel as shopping takes center stage across platforms.

Marketers can set up virtual stores to give shoppers an all-in-one frictionless shopping experience, from discovery through influencer recommendations to in-app purchases and customer service via DMs.

Earlier this summer, our Consumer Trend Survey found that 64% of Gen Z, 59% of Millennials, and 47% of Gen X discovered a product on social media in the past 3 months. On top of that, social media is the most preferred product discovery channel for Gen Z and Millennials, with Gen X and Boomers warming up to it quickly.

What’s more, 17% of social media users bought a product in-app in the past three months. In that time, one in four bought something based on an influencer’s recommendation, and 19% sent a DM for customer service.

Additionally, every time we run and rerun our Consumer Trends survey, these numbers increase significantly. So, it’s no surprise marketers are quickly embracing social selling.

Our social selling survey even found that 87% of marketers who sell on social say it’s effective, and 59% say they’re making more sales in 2023 than they did last year.

Currently, 27% of marketers use social selling tools, 23% leverage influencer marketing, and 22% use social media DMs for customer service. Marketers plan to invest heavily in these channels for 2024.

Now that we’ve gone over the benefits of social selling, let’s take a look at the most effective platforms for marketers in 2024.

Top Marketing Challenges Ahead

6. Marketers turn to social media targeting and first-party data in response to Chrome’s third-party cookie phaseout.

Increased data privacy regulations have been a hurdle for marketers over the past few years, from iOS changes to GDRP and Google’s plans to phase out third-party cookies.

With 84% of consumers in our consumer trend survey saying data privacy is a human right, public opinion is definitely shifting towards more safeguards around personal data.

On the marketer side, 84% say data privacy changes affected their strategy in 2023, with Google’s planned phaseout of third-party cookies being the most impactful.

The issue is marketers aren’t quite ready for this shift – 81% say their marketing activities rely on third-party cookies to some extent and around one in five marketers say they aren’t prepared to lose access to them.

Additionally, 76% of marketers say Google phasing out third-party cookies will make marketing more difficult.

So what are marketers doing about it? 47% say their company is exploring alternatives to third-party cookies, with social media targeting and first-party data being the most popular solutions.

25% of marketers are exploring targeted social media ads, followed by collecting first-party data (25%), Google Topics API (21%), contextual advertising (15%), and universal identifiers (14%).

We’ll talk about the benefits of first-party data next, but to learn more about these alternatives, check out our blog post taking a deeper dive into each solution.

Personalized Marketing with First-Party Data & AI

Despite steps towards personalization and a lot of talk about focusing on the customer experience, we know there’s plenty of room for improvement.

Our survey shows only 35% of marketers say customers get a very personalized experience with their brand and just 65% of consumers say the content they see from brands feels relatable.

On top of that, most marketers lack crucial information about their audience, with only 65% saying they have high-quality data on their target demographic.

When we asked marketers what they know about their target audience, less than half know where they consume content, their demographic information, their interests and hobbies, products they are interested in, and insights on their shopping habits.

Why is this so important? Getting this data helps you create a truly personalized experience, which 96% of marketers say increases the likelihood of buyers becoming repeat customers, and 94% say personalization increases sales.

To top it all off, marketers whose brands give customers a personalized experience are 215% more likely to say their marketing strategy this year was very effective compared to marketers at brands that don’t offer a personalized experience.

As we mentioned in the previous trend, data privacy regulations make personalization a little more difficult by reducing your access to data.

But that also presents a new opportunity with first-party data, which is data collected directly from your customers. Not only is it higher quality, but it’s also unique to your customers and your business, providing better insights and only getting more powerful with the addition of AI.

While we’ve all been using generative AI tools that leverage public information, the real magic happens when you combine AI with your own business data, allowing marketers to offer a highly relevant, personalized experience.

77% of marketers who use gen. AI say it helps them create more personalized content, personalize the experience customers get with their company (72%), improve the overall customer experience (71%), and understand their customers better (71%).

While the power of AI and first-party data is still yet to be seen, all signs point to this intersection being the key to a truly scalable personalized experience.

And when it comes to making the most of your data, one key piece to the puzzle is having a single source of truth, so let’s go over some of the reasons having centralized and accessible data is make or break in 2024.

7. Marketers still struggle with disconnected data, tools, and company siloes.

In last year’s State of Marketing report, data-driven decision making was both a top tactic and a top challenge marketers were addressing.

And, while AI and other flashy trends might convince you otherwise, data is more important than ever in 2024. Still, marketing data, teams, and tools are disconnected.

This makes sharing and getting necessary data challenging, prevents organizations from getting a holistic view of their data, and reduces data quality. We call this phenomenon a crisis of disconnection.

Around 1 in 4 marketers say it’s difficult to share data with other teams and get data they need from other teams at their company.

On top of that, 23% of marketers say the way marketing data is stored at their company is inaccessible and just 26% say their marketing data is fully integrated with the tools they use. Additionally, only 59% of marketers say the tools they use are interconnected.

Our survey also found that marketers with connected tools, data, and teams performed significantly better in 2023.

The Solution: A Single-Source of Truth

While 93% of marketers with a single source of truth for data say it is beneficial to their organization, only 65% of marketers actually tell us they have one.

A single source of truth directly addresses the top challenges marketers see with sales and marketing alignment – a lack of effective communication between teams, sales and marketing teams using different tools, and difficulty sharing data between teams are all key drawbacks.

So what actually happens when sales and marketing teams aren’t aligned? Marketers say their budgets are wasted, sales and leads are lost, and customers end up getting a poor experience. And marketers who are aligned with their sales team are 26% more likely to say their marketing strategy this year was very effective compared to those who aren’t aligned.

One highly effective way to implement a single source of truth is getting a CRM like HubSpot, which integrates data with tools and boosts alignment across teams.

86% of marketers using a CRM say it’s effective at improving alignment between the teams and marketers with a single source of truth are 56% more likely to be strongly aligned with their sales team than those without one.

Furthermore, 76% of marketers with a CRM say it is important to the success of their overall marketing strategy, and 57% say their CRM became more important in 2023.

Marketers who use a CRM are 128% more likely to say their marketing strategy this year was very effective compared to marketers who don’t use a CRM. And on top of that, 93% of marketers using HubSpot CRM say their marketing strategy was effective this year.

Lastly, AI is also very effective at improving connection, with marketers who use it saying it helps their organization share data more effectively (74%) and collaborate more effectively (73%).

What’s Next in Marketing

When it comes to all the things shifting in today’s landscape, the list above is just the tip of the iceberg.

For a detailed list of the top tactics, opportunities, challenges, channels, and content marketers will leverage in 2024, stay tuned for our State of Marketing Report — which launches next week and will be linked to this page soon.

Until then, see just how much things in the marketing landscape have changed by poking through our 2023 State of Marketing Report below, or check out our newest State of AI Report here.

B2B

Top Marketing Channels for 2024 [+Data]

i4lead Jan 10, 2024

Social media, email, video, audio —today’s marketers have more marketing channels to choose from than ever before.

As the former head of marketing for two different tech companies, I learned firsthand that an effective marketing strategy must consider all these channels and identify the best investments for your specific company, product, and target market.

Of course, this is easier said than done. The marketing channel landscape is constantly growing and evolving, and it’s essential to understand the value that each channel can provide.

The HubSpot team surveyed over 1,000 global B2B and B2C marketing professionals to explore the most used marketing channels.

Below, I’ll share the top marketing channels identified in that survey. I’ll discuss how I’ve found these channels can help you amplify your reach and drive revenue while prioritizing your current customers.

Top B2B Marketing Channels

According to HubSpot’s survey, more than 80% of marketers feel that marketing has changed more in the last three years than in the previous fifty.

In this ever-changing environment, the number one challenge marketing professionals identify is determining which platform (or platforms) they should invest in.

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When making these critical decisions, I’ve found that it’s helpful to do some benchmarking against other professionals in the industry.

Our survey found that the top marketing channels today’s marketers use are short-form video (i.e., TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, etc.), influencer marketing, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

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Moreover, the survey found that 41% of B2B marketers are increasing their budgets, enabling them to invest in new marketing channels.

Specifically, in addition to the channels described above, B2B marketers mainly focus on website and blogging channels and email newsletters.

In fact, nearly one in three marketers report leveraging email marketing to engage with potential customers.

These targeted email campaigns can run manually and be automated, empowering marketers to focus their energy elsewhere.

Many marketers are also leveraging new tools that allow them to segment subscribers and personalize their messages, maximizing the impact of these campaigns.

However, our data suggests that short-form videos, influencers, and SEO are the most significant channels to watch.

Top B2C Marketing Channels

Many B2C marketers use platforms similar to their B2B counterparts but with a few key differences. For B2C professionals, social media and email are the top marketing channels, followed by websites and blogs.

In general, B2C marketing is usually focused on offering enjoyable content and quick wins, while B2B marketing focuses on building longer-term relationships with customers. As such, focusing on social media makes sense for B2C.

After all, as of 2023, there are nearly 5 billion social media users worldwide (more than 60% of the global population), making this the ideal platform to cast a wide net and reach a broad consumer audience.

HubSpot’s survey offered further support for the importance of social media, finding that B2C brands were most likely to invest in marketing efforts on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The data shows that LinkedIn is a more important platform for B2B brands than B2C, with B2B marketers substantially more likely to report investing in this platform.

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Alongside social media, the survey identified email as a significant marketing channel for B2C brands. Sometimes, this can refer to a traditional newsletter.

Still, email can also be used to share B2C content such as personalized communications, time-sensitive notifications (like product launches or sales), and cart abandonment email reminders.

Another significant advantage of email is that it’s an owned media channel. Nobody can dictate when, how, or why you can contact your prospects.

At the same time, it’s essential to remember that your customers will unsubscribe if you oversaturate their inbox with too many emails.

Finally, the HubSpot report found that 36% of B2C marketers use blogs and websites to connect with customers, helping these brands generate brand awareness, drive traffic, convert leads, and, most importantly, establish authority.

When you create your blogs and website content with SEO tactics in mind, you’re even more likely to meet your goals.

This is because these strategies can help your content rise to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) when customers make queries related to your business content.

It’s easy to get complacent when it comes to marketing channels.

However, our survey found that more than half of B2C marketers expect their budgets to grow, suggesting that it’s critical to invest in identifying the best new channels for your brand — and take the time to build out your presence on those channels as effectively as possible.

Omnichannel Marketing

According to HubSpot’s survey of marketing professionals, more than nine out of ten marketers leverage more than one marketing channel — and 81% leverage more than three channels.

In today’s marketing ecosystem, trying to work with just one marketing channel or to implement just one strategy simply doesn’t work. Omnichannel marketing is the only option.

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Indeed, according to CMO and co-founder of NP Digital Neil Patel, “100% of the companies we worked with that grew focused on omnichannel marketing and continually expanded.”

This diversified approach helps teams stay agile, adapt to new opportunities, and pivot when specific platforms become oversaturated.

One common approach to omnichannel is content repurposing:

Rather than creating custom content for each platform from scratch, 82% of social media marketers in HubSpot’s survey reported repurposing content across various social channels.

This enables you to ensure brand messaging continuity while reducing the work necessary to engage across many marketing channels.

Video Marketing

Now is the time if you’ve yet to invest in video marketing.

Across industries and markets, I’ve found that video can be a great way to boost conversions, improve ROI, reach new audiences, and help you build relationships with current customers.

That may be why marketers report that video is the top media format they leverage today.

That being said, there are a lot of different kinds of videos. Regarding marketing, short-form content takes the cake for both B2B and B2C marketers.

In the age of TikTok, many social media platforms are rewarding content creators who make short-form video content that encourages viewers to stay on the app longer.

This is also a significant growth area, with 29% of marketing professionals planning to try leveraging video marketing for the first time in 2023. Video can also be a great way to flex your creative skills as a marketer.

For example, I focused mainly on written content early in my career, like blog posts and PR articles.

When my team suggested investing in creating a short promotional video, I was a little nervous at first — but it turned out to be a fascinating project, and the footage drove a lot of sales for our new product.

So, even if you haven’t worked with video before, now might be a great time to start.

Influencer Marketing

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

These influencers can generate brand awareness by associating a familiar face and personality with your product in customers’ minds and providing social proof.

This is especially important as research has shown that consumers today trust marketers less and less.

Because of this skepticism, they tend to shy away from traditional lead-generating content, instead turning to influencers for product recommendations.

Because influencers are personable, honest people who share your customers’ interests, buyers are likelier to trust them. In the tech age, influencers might be a modern version of old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing.

Moreover, the data shows that influencer marketing pays off. A recent report found that 86% of B2B brands are successful with influencer marketing.

In contrast, a study from Shopify found that every dollar spent on influencer marketing had an average ROI of $5.78 — i.e., this strategy can achieve more than 5x returns.

In light of these statistics, it’s no surprise that investment in influencer marketing is on the rise.

HubSpot’s survey found that 17% of marketers planned to try influencer marketing for the first time in 2023, and of those already using this approach, 89% plan to increase or maintain their investment.

Search Engine Optimization

Another critical component of any modern marketer’s strategy is Search Engine Optimization or SEO marketing.

If you successfully optimize your web content, it will position your brand as an authority in your domain, ultimately helping you increase traffic and your conversion rate.

It’s important to note that SEO isn’t just about your website. All of your web content needs to be search engine optimized.

That includes your YouTube channels, Google business profile, and podcast episodes, which should be optimized using target keywords.

The pillar-cluster model is one strategy that can help you organically build a thriving online presence. According to HubSpot data, 35% of B2B and 59% of B2C marketers report this as an effective strategy.

So how does it work? With the pillar-cluster model, 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.

This helps signal to search engines like Google and Bing that your pillar page is an authority on the subject.

Other SEO tactics that can be highly effective include using search insights reports, optimizing photos or videos for visual search engines, and optimizing load speed for any media-heavy web pages.

Remember, this doesn’t have to be a lot of work. In my experience, just spending an hour or two reviewing relevant keywords and noting words and phrases to use in your content can make a big difference in SEO marketing.

Podcast Marketing

In a Pew survey conducted in 2023, 42% of Americans aged 12 and older reported having listened to a podcast in the past month.

Audio content is in high demand, so for many brands, podcasts can be a great platform to reach larger audiences.

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

In addition, because people can listen to podcasts passively while doing other things, this can be an excellent channel for reaching people during their morning commutes, walking their dogs, or cleaning the house.

Featured Resource: How To Start a Podcast For Your Business

Podcasts can also be compelling because the human brain is programmed to crave, seek out, and respond to a well-crafted story.

The audio medium can be an excellent opportunity to tell a compelling story, capturing your audience’s attention while making your brand more personable.

Interestingly, just one in three marketers report leveraging podcasts or other audio content in their strategies — but of those that do, more than half say that it is the most influential media format they use.

That may be why podcasts receive the second highest marketing spend, with marketers sharing that video is the only channel they’re investing more in.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

A 2023 survey from PwC found that more than half of U.S. consumers have recommended a company they trust to their family and friends.

As online content becomes increasingly oversaturated, paid content is trusted less and less, with many buyers instead turning to word-of-mouth recommendations to inform their purchasing decisions.

In this new reality, marketers must earn customers’ trust by relying on customer recommendations and word-of-mouth marketing.

Real customers will be much more effective in earning that trust than marketers, who have agendas and are ultimately focused on their bottom lines.

After all, as marketing professionals, we’re paid to promote our brand’s products — but customers will typically only rave about a product or service if they love it.

So, what does this look like in practice? Word-of-mouth marketing is about more than just face-to-face conversations.

Satisfied customers might post about your brand online, tell their roommates they like your service, or leave positive reviews on your product pages.

Only one of these examples involves an actual, in-person conversation, but they’re all ways consumers can vouch for your brand’s credibility.

At its core, word-of-mouth marketing is all about creating a customer experience that’s just so magical that existing users are driven to share your brand with their networks.

As a customer, I’m only motivated to tell my friends about a product if I’ve had a stellar experience.

If you focus on offering top-notch customer service and on always going above and beyond for your customers, you’ll be set up to succeed with word-of-mouth marketing.

Make Your Marketing Channels Work for You

Now that you know the stats behind different marketing channels, there are two key questions: First, how might you reach your existing audience in a new way? And second, how might a new channel enable you to reach new audiences?

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

Studies have shown that customers are likely to come into contact with your brand at least seven times before taking action.

As such, using a range of different marketing channels can be a great way to create those multiple points of contact, nurture your leads over time, increase conversions, and help you achieve your marketing goals.

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

B2B

3 Tips on Launching a Kickass Podcast, from My First Million Producers

i4lead Jan 9, 2024

The pandemic birthed a rise in puppies, planting flowers in Animal Crossing, and podcasts — with 1.1m+ shows launched in 2020 alone.

But soon, the podcast phenomenon plateaued. New podcasts decreased a year later, and in 2022, fell by 80%. 😬

Would you ride this rollercoaster? Be honest. Source: NiemanLab

Does this mean the podcast train has left the station? No more tickets available to savvy hosts and sultry voices?

Not at all — your podcast just can’t suck.

Luckily, podcast geniuses Darren Clarke (executive producer of My First Million) and Kal Elsebai (HubSpot’s senior manager of podcast strategy) shared their tips on how you can create a killer show. The two broke it down into three distinct parts:

Ideation

Launching
Monetization

Here’s how you can turn your business or niche hobby (ever wanted to listen to 49 minutes of stationary fangirling?) into the next big thing in podcasting:

1. Create the podcast you want to listen to

If you’re launching a podcast to make a quick buck… think again.

Instead of finding a profitable niche, start with your passions. If you can rave about a topic for hours, chances are your enthusiasm will come through, and people will pay attention.

If you’re starting from scratch, conduct your research, identify your niche, and figure out your unique take on that topic.

“Niche down until it hurts,” as Darren lovingly suggests.

Consider the podcast Beach Too Sandy, Water Too Wet. As the name suggests, this widely popular podcast explores the most dramatic one-star reviews ever written. And that’s it. The hosts simply use their cracking wit and high-class Karen’ing to create a niche, comedic podcast.

Remember to ask yourself — what will listeners take away from tuning in to your podcast? Will they whip out the Notes app? Will they chuckle at your wit throughout?

Whatever emotions listeners experience from listening to you, identify the promise your podcast makes to them.

If you already have an audience, find the middle point between your passion and their wants. Poll your customers, newsletter subscribers, or social media followers. If possible, get them on a call.

2. Launch with slingshot momentum

Before you launch your podcast into the ether, set it up for success:

📅 Figure out a realistic cadence. Can you produce an episode a week? How about every other week? Whatever you choose, stick with it.

🎙️ Record several episodes before launching. That way, you give yourself breathing room to produce future episodes.

🎨 Design compelling podcast art. The thumbnail should tell a story right out the gate. When a user scrolls through shows, the art should tell them what your show delivers.

A mixture of cool art and cool headshots seems to be the winning formula. But you do you! Source: HubSpot Podcast Network

✏️ Write a snappy description. Your podcast’s description should explain exactly who you are and why they should listen.

📺 Create a trailer that demands attention. The trailer for your podcast should feature the hosts, your topic authority, and what listeners can expect — all, ideally, in under a minute.

It might feel strange calling up the parents and seeing if they can promote your new project. But the moment your podcast launches, put aside that ego and beg your family and friends to share, share, share.

Why suffer the embarrassment? Because launching gives you the opportunity to build serious momentum.

Platform algorithms, including Spotify, favor new shows and will promote them more than older ones. But you only have ~48 hours to leverage it. So, for the last time, call your parents. Please?

Outside of leveraging your personal network, you can:

Guest on other shows and promote your podcast
Work with influencers
Post on social media

The bottom line: Get your face (and voice) out there!

3. Make bank — in due time.

From the start, we warned you that podcasting requires some heating up before it gets you that cold, hard cash. But it will come – once you build up a sizable audience. Here’s how you can do just that:

⭐ Star as a guest on another podcast. If you have a connection to other podcasts in your niche, try reaching out to star as a guest. This works especially well if you bring a unique point of view, whether it’s your expertise or experience in your field.

🎧 Pay attention to viewership spikes. To build an audience, you need to create consistently popular content. Find what resonates with your listeners by paying attention to spikes in viewership. Did a certain topic generate a huge amount of listens? Create episodes around a similar topic.

🤩 Collaborate with influencers. Yes, even in podcasting, influencer marketing can help grow your audience. Identify popular influencers in your niche, reach out to them, and see if you can get a partnership with them (e.g., promotional posts, videos, and so on).

Podcasts make money using two modes: advertising and subscriptions.

🏢 Introduce advertisements. “This episode is brought to you by…” brings in ad revenue for podcasts. Listeners dedicate almost an hour of their time to someone they trust on a topic they love. When hosts recommend products or services, they pay attention.

🙋 Offer exclusives. Podcasts often offer exclusive content to subscribers, such as behind-the-scenes recordings or bonus episodes. You could record an hour of content and reserve half of it for subscriber-exclusive content, for example.

You can get sponsored advertising for your podcast in a number of different ways, some are easier (but less profitable) than others. You can:

Reach out to brands or small businesses directly
Become an affiliate marketer for Amazon Marketplace, Audible, and others
Take advantage of platform-based advertising, such as Spotify’s subscription model for their podcasts

But monetization happens in due time. You should prioritize creating compelling content and growing your audience before thinking of sponsorships. Few brands will pay to advertise to a nonexistent, or even small audience.

Still, podcasting can turn your knowledge (and beautiful voice) into a long-term investment.

B2B

19 Types of Blogs that Make Money in 2024 [+Examples]

i4lead Jan 9, 2024

Blogging is an attractive and creative outlet for sharing your unique perspective. Besides adding value to your audience, blogging helps you turn your passion into income through several monetization methods.

In this post, you’ll learn how to monetize a blog and see examples of the most popular (and lucrative) types of blogs that will inspire you to get started with your own blog.

How do blogs make money?

What blogs do people want to read?

19 Types of Blogs That Make Money

Popular Blog Examples

How do blogs make money?

Like any labor of love, blogging is still labor. The good news is that there are several ways to make money from that labor, including:

Advertising. Advertising networks such as Google AdSense will pay to show ads to your visitors. You get paid a commission for the clicks you earn.
Affiliate Marketing. You can get paid to promote products to your audience by joining an affiliate program like Amazon Associates. You earn a commission from sales generated by your blog.
Lead or Demand Generation. You can use your blog to promote your business, whether you provide a service, run an e-commerce store, sell digital products such as online courses, or run a subscription/ content model for exclusive content.

Remember that none of these work if you don’t first create valuable content that attracts an audience. The last thing you need is to make your blog a billboard in the middle of a desert.

With that said, there are some popular niches that do really well with blog monetization when implemented effectively.

What blogs do people actually want to read?

Before you start planning how to monetize your blog and start making future purchases, you need to understand what types of content people actually want to consume. So, what do people like to read during their time online?

In a HubSpot poll of 298 consumers, we found that 32.9% of readers check out blogs between one and four times per month. The next largest group, at 18.8%, read blog posts one to three times a week.

Only 12.1% of people never read blogs. So, the good news? People both crave and click on blog content.

We also asked our respondents what types of blog content they prefer to read. Step-by-step guides and DIY tips topped the list, with 17.8% of respondents saying they read this content.

Recipes and cooking tips were next at 17.4%. Demos/tutorials and interview-driven posts tied for third with 12.1%.

Now that we know the format let’s explore the subject matter. We asked the top three topics people like to consume content about. Our top three categories follow:

Entertainment, music, or movies (36.6%).
Non-fiction storytelling or journalistic stories (28.5%).
Fictional storytelling (24.2%).

Now, let’s dive into the types of blogs that make money.

1. Fashion Blogs

In these blogs, readers can find posts like fashion obsessions, back-to-school looks, makeup tutorials, and more. A common practice is to include sponsorships, like the one shown below with Vooray.

The two brands collaborated on a gym bag, releasing it on the LSF blog and website:

With brand partnerships, companies seek heavy hitters in their industry and offer the brand the ability to design a product exclusively for base pay and a percentage of the profits.

And, while this happens a lot in the beauty industry, it’s definitely not an industry-specific idea.

2. Food Blogs

As a self-proclaimed foodie, food blogs are my favorite type of blog. They usually follow a similar content format of categorically-organized recipes. Some have videos to pair with those recipes, as well as social media channels that all connect to the blog‌.

Above is an example of one of my favorite food blogs, Minimalist Baker. Note how the title of the post contains information that might pull a foodie in — “5 minutes” and “plant-based.”

This recipe will appeal to anyone who searches for easy, no-fuss cooking.

Minimalist Baker provides this value to attract readers, and they use affiliate links to monetize their blog.

3. Sports Blogs

Sports blogs exist for every type of sport imaginable — even squash.

If you have a passion for athletics and love writing, this may be the perfect intersection for you. From covering games to giving player insights, sports blogs are an important source for fans to catch up on what they missed.

Like this screengrab from ESPN, sports blogs also report on news in the industry — these two stories are about the Super Bowl.

So, if you’re thinking about doing a sports blog, you have options: focus on a specific sport or take a more holistic approach, like ESPN.

ESPN uses its website and blog as companions for its media presence to attract and retain viewers, but other sports blogs use banner advertising to monetize their traffic.

4. Travel Blogs

If you love to go on trips and capture the moments, a travel blog might be right up your alley. There‘s something about travel blogs that are relaxing‌, like the sight of gorgeous destinations.

That’s why, if you’re thinking of launching a travel blog, you might want to invest in a nice camera.

For instance, look at this vibrant, colorful photo of the Charles River. (I‘m probably a little biased, considering I live in Boston and commute across this river daily).

To rank highly on the SERPs, you’ll need high-quality images to compel travel enthusiasts to view your posts.

Travel blogs can use several avenues to generate income. Most commonly seen are banner ads, native ads, sponsored posts, and affiliate links for products such as suitcases or airline tickets.

5. Lifestyle Blogs

Lifestyle blogs are probably the most versatile of blog types. Aptly named, these blogs are about a person’s life. They cover what the blogger likes to do, where they eat, shop, etc. Think of these blogs as a website for influencers.

Check out this lifestyle blog, Wit and Delight, as an example:

Several influencers use blogs to market themselves and build a more solid following. Often, businesses will look for an influencers‘ blog or website to learn more about them, as well as contact them for a partnership.

If you’re interested in becoming an influencer or simply want to share more of your life with friends and family, this might be the right blog for you.

You can monetize a lifestyle blog with affiliate links, native ads, and sponsored posts. Banner ads for ad networks also work well here.

6. Parenting Blogs

Parenting blogs usually give advice and share relatable stories that parents or expecting parents can learn from.

These blogs can be a great resource for repurposing your content into other formats, like videos. Plenty of parenting blogs have added a YouTube channel to keep their content fresh, expanding them into new target markets.

For instance, Happily Eva After, the parenting blog shown above, now has a thriving YouTube channel with over 5,000 subscribers.

Parenting comes with a lot of opportunities for product purchases, so the monetization prospects are limitless.

7. Gaming Blogs

Gaming has turned into an industry that now typically happens online. Between downloadable content (DLCs) and games that depend on an internet connection, it‘s hard to be a gamer if you’re not online.

Because of that, gaming blogs are extremely popular.

From game announcements to corporate sponsorships, gaming blogs can go a couple of different ways. They can include game reviews, walkthroughs, cheat codes, or content codes.

Since gaming YouTube channels attract a lot of fans, this type of blog can also grow into a YouTube channel of its own.

Additionally, it’s a pleasant space for gamers to connect with each other, especially if you create opportunities for your readers to engage (like in the comments section of your blog).

You can monetize the blog with banner ads, or you can use the blog to drive demand for streaming channels where more views mean more money.

8. B2B/Marketing Blogs

HubSpot, this blog you’re currently reading, is an example of a website in the B2B/Marketing category. Because we offer marketing products as part of our CRM platform, we use our blog to help millions grow better.

Creating content for our audience helps us provide value, gain trust, and build industry authority. This makes us gain mindshare from our audience.

I want to make it clear that marketing isn‘t the only industry represented by B2B blogs. Instead, it’s more of an example of the type of B2B blogs you can find out there.

For more information about B2B marketing and how a blog looks in this industry, check out our ultimate guide here.

9. Health and Fitness Blogs

You may have heard of “Fitstagrams” (Instagram accounts dedicated to fitness journeys), but fitness blogs are also a dime and a dozen.

These blogs recommend workout tips, healthy recipes, and sometimes offer full workout plans in a “How-to” format, like this post from Nerd Fitness.

Fitness blogs can be a great companion to those who want to live healthy, not just working out.

Readers might be interested in perfecting their fitness routine, finding new ways to make healthy eating exciting, or looking for motivation to stick to their fitness lifestyle.

10. Technology and Gadget Blogs

If gadget reviews, software tutorials, or PC troubleshooting interest you, then you should absolutely create a tech blog. Technology blogs are trendy because people want to learn new information about smartphones, computers, and apps.

The emergence of AI also means there is no shortage of content to cover for tech websites.

11. Personal Finance Blogs

Making money may be easy for some people, but managing it is a different ball game. That’s why they turn to personal finance blogs to learn how to handle their money better.

If this is your superpower, many people will appreciate it once you share your finance knowledge and experience on your blog.

Personal finance blogs provide helpful tips on topics such as budgeting, saving, investing, and getting out of debt. They also cover frugal living, retirement planning, insurance, financial independence, and tax strategies.

12. DIY blogs

People are always searching for ways to beautify their environment whilst saving costs. Enter DIY blogs. It’s a great niche for anyone who enjoys getting their hands dirty.

DIY blogs provide step-by-step guides and tutorials for projects like home remodeling, crafts, and gardening. A great example is Remodelaholic. The site averages 329,000 monthly visits.

As a DIY blogger, you can make money through display ads, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and consultations.

In addition, many DIY bloggers create and sell their own products, such as home decor items and printable templates, to generate extra income.

13. “Make Money Online” Blogs

Other blogging niches may come and go, but the “make money online” niche will remain evergreen. The reason isn’t far-fetched — people want to earn passive income and gain financial freedom.

If you plan to start a blog in this niche, you can cover topics like freelancing, affiliate marketing, passive income strategies, stocks, and more.

But considering how saturated this niche is, generic advice won’t cut it. To be successful, you have to offer unique insights, practical tips, and case studies to help your audience generate income online.

14. Self-Care and Personal Development Blogs

Recently, there has been a huge spike in mental health awareness, which has fueled interest in self-care and personal development blogs.

People want to improve their overall well-being, manage stress, and develop a positive mindset and healthy habits. This is where experts like therapists, psychologists, or counselors truly shine by sharing content that fulfills this need.

Selling digital products, offering online courses, providing coaching sessions, and recommending affiliate products are a few ways to earn money from your self-care blog.

15. Dating and Relationship Blogs

What does a healthy relationship look like? How do I find the perfect partner? How do I make a long-distance relationship work? These are some queries people type in Google about dating & relationships.

If you’re a relationship expert or maybe offering dating advice is your thing, consider creating a blog that answers these questions.

Infusing your personal stories will make your blog more exciting and make you an authority because people want to hear from someone who has experienced their struggles.

Topics you can cover include breakups, dating tips, healthy marriage, communication strategies, conflict resolution, and compatibility.

After building a strong reader base, monetize your blog by offering coaching services, online courses, and e-books on dating and relationships.

In addition, sponsored posts, banner ads, and affiliate marketing are alternative ways to bring in extra income.

16. Pet Care Blogs

According to the 2023-2024 APPA National Pet Owners Survey, 66% of U.S. households own a pet. That’s about 86.9 million households who may be constantly looking for tips to keep their furry little friends happy and healthy.

Most pet care blogs cover a wide range of topics, such as nutrition, grooming tips, training advice, health and wellness, and product reviews.

However, sharing personal experiences about how you care for your pet is enough to start building an online audience.

For monetizing your pet care blog, consider sponsored content from pet brands, affiliate marketing for pet products, display advertising, and even creating and selling your own pet-related products.

17. Career and Employment Blogs

Going from college into the labor market isn’t easy for many fresh graduates. That’s why they rely on career and employment blogs for tips and advice on resume creation, interview preparation, and networking.

But you don’t have to be an HR manager to start a blog in this niche. All it requires is sharing experiences that have helped you build a successful career.

This will help your audience to understand their career goals, navigate the job market, and boost their employment prospect.

With a loyal following, monetizing your blog becomes easy.

You can make money from selling courses or ebooks, resume writing, or interview coaching sessions. Also, you can earn extra income from affiliate sales, paid webinars, display ads, and partnerships.

18. Entertainment Blogs

Where do you go to get the hottest gist about your favorite celeb? You guessed right! Entertainment blogs.

From music, movies, and TV shows to celebrity news, sports, and fashion, there’s always an audience ready to catch up on the latest happenings in the entertainment industry.

If you’re a pop culture enthusiast or have an inside scoop on the entertainment industry, entertainment blogging is an excellent way to turn your passion into profit.

Make money through banner ads, merchandise sales, sponsorships, paid partnerships, and premium subscriber content.

Also, using affiliate links to sell movie tickets, music, or video streaming subscriptions is a great way to monetize an entertainment blog.

19. Real Estate Blogs

The real estate industry is highly lucrative for folks who have the right knowledge. Those who don’t have to turn to real estate blogs to gain information before buying, selling, or investing in properties.

Most blogs cater to homeowners, real estate investors, agents, appraisers, and brokers. They cover market trends, home buying or selling tips, investment strategies, renovations, property management, and tax laws.

This is not an expansive list. If you have an idea, see what can come of it. The good thing about blogs is that you can take it wherever you want, and if the content is compelling for a certain readership, money and notoriety come after.

Here are some examples of high-grossing blogs and their categories.

Popular Blog Examples

1. Love Sweat Fitness

Love Sweat Fitness is a fitness blog started by Katie Dunlap. This expansive fitness blog offers content ranging from workouts to healthy recipes, and more.

The blog pulls in over 3,500 organic (search) visits per month, and Katie uses her content to promote different products in her e-commerce store.

2. Grammarly

The Grammarly blog offers writing tips, articles on grammar, and even advice for writing projects such as resumes, professional communication, and thesis.

Their mission is “to improve lives by improving communication,” and their helpful content generates over 32 million organic visits per month.

They use the brand awareness generated by this visibility to promote their grammar app and extension, which has a free and premium (paid) version.

3. PC Gamer

PC Gamer is a blog that provides reviews, demos, and news updates on gaming and gamer tech. Their content generates over 3.8 million organic visits per month, and they monetize this traffic with affiliate links.

For example, this is a post about the best personal computers to buy for gaming, updated for 2023. The post brings readers suggestions about which computers are best for PC gaming, and nearly every product has an Amazon link.

Every time a user clicks on the Amazon link, the website earns a profit, as well as Amazon, which is one way the website can fund its expansive listicles.

4. Apartment Therapy

Apartment Therapy is a lifestyle blog that discusses interior design and home living topics. They cover everything from trendy furniture to cleaning hacks and even money matters.

This blog generates over 2.5 million organic visits per month. It monetizes this traffic with sponsored posts (like the one below), banner ads, and affiliate links.

5. PS I’m on my way

PS I‘m on my way is a travel blog run by Trisha Velarmino as she travels the world and learns about other cultures.

Her content earns over 45,100 organic visits per month (and more from social media), and she’s been featured on publications like Cosmo and Tripadvisor. She monetizes her blog by offering travel coaching services and digital courses.

In addition, the sidebar on her blog includes banner ads.

6. Lauren Conrad

This lifestyle and fashion blog primarily reports on trends and product launches, bringing in over 142,000 organic visits per month. Lauren Conrad is considered an influencer, and this status helps her earn partnerships to monetize her content.

7. NerdWallet

NerdWallet is an app for comparing credit cards and making smart money moves. Their whole business model revolves around their content, which drives over 21.2 million organic visits per month to their website.

Their app is free, but they make money from affiliate partnerships with lending institutions and credit card companies.

8. Rookie Moms

Rookie Moms is a blog championing #MomLife and discussing all topics/issues related to parenting.

Their blog is a powerhouse that brings in over 32,000 organic visits per month and generates income from banner ads and affiliate product links.

9. CNET

CNET is a tech blog that has built a reputation as the go-to website for tech gadget reviews, latest trends, and how-to tutorials.

The site attracts 42 million visitors every month and monetizes its blog by promoting tech companies’ products through affiliate links. Other tech blogs make money through sponsored content, affiliate marketing, and banner advertising.

10. The Balance

The Balance is a brilliant example of a popular personal finance blog with over 52,000 monthly visits.

They monetize their blog through display advertising and affiliate sales. Other ways to generate income as a personal finance blogger include sponsored posts and sales of digital products, such as e-books or courses.

11. Smart Passive Income

Founded by Pat Flynn, the Smart Passive Income blog is a prime example of a successful ‘make money online’ blog.

SPI teaches its audience how to make money through affiliate marketing and online courses, garnering over 217,000 monthly visitors. He also runs a podcast and YouTube channel, allowing him to expand his audience.

Pat generates his income by selling online courses, e-books, and membership access. You can also monetize your make-money-online blog through sponsored content, affiliate links, display ads, and coaching services.

12. HousingWire

HousingWire is an excellent example of a real estate blog that provides helpful content. This site attracts over 429,000 monthly visitors.

As a realtor with plenty of hands-on experience, consider starting a blog to provide expert industry advice and insights.

It will help you attract a loyal audience and bring in revenue from consultations and commissions on property sales.

You can also make money through affiliate marketing, selling e-books, and partnering with real estate companies for sponsored posts.

If you have passion to share and an audience ready to receive your insight, monetizing is definitely on the table once you start generating real interest.

The hard part is getting started and creating the value that will get people to come. With a content management system and some elbow grease, you’ll be well on your way.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2020 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

B2B

13 PPC Tools & Software to Help Your Ad Campaigns Crush It

i4lead Jan 9, 2024

I’ve seen it all — from pay-per-click (PPC) ads that had me clicking through before I knew it to campaigns that couldn’t stick the landing. If I could offer one piece of advice to companies creating ads, it’s this: Don’t wing it.

Use PPC tools and software to understand ad performance and adapt as necessary.

Why? Because there’s no middle ground with PPC ads. They either work as intended to capture your target market or get left in the dust.

The right PPC tools can help marketers and sales teams track, monitor, and manage PPC campaigns to drive more conversions and crush the competition. Here are 13 of the best in the business.

PPC Management Tools

1. WordStream PPC Advisor

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Cost: $264/month for 12-month plans, $299/month for 3-month plans, or $2,928 for an annual pre-paid subscription.

Integrations: Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

WordStream’s PPC Advisor targets small business owners who want to take advantage of PPC properly but do not have the finances to hire staff experts or advisors.

The software can integrate with Google Ads, Bing Ads, and other major ad platforms.

With WordStream Advisor, you can activate the “20 Minute Work Week” tool, which will take a short time to analyze PPC campaigns and send recommendations on improving your campaigns.

You can then make these changes through the Wordstream software.

You can also build campaigns, identify positive and negative keywords, and adjust budgets. The software also allows you to create optimized landing pages and track and produce reports around conversion and call data.

Below is a quick explainer video:

WordStream offers a seven-day trial to those who fill out a contact information form.

What we like: WordStream covers all the extensive search and ad platforms but does it in a way that’s accessible and affordable for small business owners. In a world dominated by digital advertising, this helps SMBs level the ad playing field.

2. Optmyzr

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Cost: Sliding scale based on monthly ad spend. For companies with $25,000 ad spend per month, the cost is $249.

Integrations include Google, Bing, and Yahoo ads programs

I’ve found that for marketers or agencies that want to run multiple campaigns or want more automated features, Optmyzr offers slightly more advanced tools for creating and managing campaigns in bulk.

Like WordStream, this paid platform allows you to launch, track, and manage PPC campaigns on different platforms. According to Optmyzr’s website, all software versions enable users to automate scripts, alerts, and reports.

Each membership also comes with biannual product training sessions with Optmyzr reps.

One of Optmyzr’s tools, Automyzr, allows users to upload and generate campaigns in a bull from data sources like spreadsheets or integrations.

Once the data is uploaded, a user can use specific criteria such as “brand” or “product” to generate names and other ad elements automatically. Here’s a demo that walks through the process:

This software is highly recommended by Joe Martinez, who was named one of PPC Hero’s top 25 PPC experts in 2017 and 2018. He says the PPC manager is helpful to both lead-gen and e-commerce accounts.

“Optmyzr allows marketers to easily see performance data in their accounts and adjust quickly. I can also use their list of scripts to automate certain tasks I must do consistently,” he says.

He adds that the software has saved him much time over the years. “I can rely on the tool to do many tedious, high-level tasks, which gives me more time to focus on strategy or deeper analysis in the important areas of the account.”

What we like: Optmyzr lives up to its name by helping businesses optimize their PPC ad data. Access to more information more easily makes Optmyzr an excellent choice for companies of any size.

3. Google Ads Editor

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Cost: Free to Google Ads advertisers

Integrations: Google Ads

This downloadable desktop application, formerly AdWords Editor, can create, track, and edit your Google ads.

Along with performance monitoring, the app allows you to make bulk changes to multiple ads, preview edits in draft mode before they go live, and build or revise your ads offline.

The editor works alongside Google Ads, which allows users to create and assign a bid strategy to campaigns specific to the Google bid strategy. You must first create a Google Ads campaign to manage it through the Ads Editor.

Here’s a quick demo that explains how:

If you are just trying to master one PPC strategy at a time and want to focus on Google first, this tool could be an affordable and straightforward option.

However, Google Ads Editor does not give you similar automation options or improvement suggestions like WordStream or paid PPC managers will. Because of this, more manual adjustments and monitoring might be required.

What we like: While Google Ads editor may not offer the same quality-of-life features that come with for-pay products, it has the distinct advantage of being connected to the world’s largest search engine.

Sure, it might require more manual effort, but it also gives your campaign the best chance to reach the most significant market.

4. Bing Ads Editor

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Cost: Free to Bing advertisers

Integrations: Bing Ads

While many marketers might think of Google as their primary PPC option, Bing PPC has gained steam as the search engine has over 100 million daily users.

Bing offers software similar to Google for its search engine’s PPC ads. Like the Google Ads Editor, you can make offline revisions to your ads, which can be uploaded to the online platform once you regain internet access.

With this management tool, you can also research keywords, manage your bids, and monitor your performance.

The demo below walks you through how to create a campaign, import data via Google Import, and use the Opportunities tab to gain suggestions on how you can improve your performance.

Similarly to Google Ads Editor, this tool does not offer any automation tools and is only accessible to those with a Bing Ads account or campaign.

What we like: Ah, Bing. While I don’t use Microsoft’s search engine, it’s gaining ground against Google.

Sure, it’s still a David v. Goliath situation, but given that Bing’s PPC tools are accessible, companies can’t go wrong by expanding their ad impact.

5. SEMRush PPC ToolKit

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Cost: $129 (Pro), $249 (Guru), $499 (Business); Enterprise edition varies by company.

Integrations include Google Ads Bing Ads.

SEMRush’s PPC management software focuses on competitive research, keyword research, and campaign planning.

When researching competitors on SEMRush, you can search your domain to see a list of domains you compete with organically and those you compete with within paid search.

You can also find out which keywords competitors have bid on in the past to see if you should take a similar bidding strategy.

The ToolKit’s “Charts” tool can also show you visual graphs of multiple competitors’ performance.

Another feature is the Keyword Magic Tool, which allows you to type in a keyword or phrase and get a list of stronger keywords and data about them, such as search volume. You can then export this information into a document to share with their team.

SEMRush four pricing plans. The lowest cost plan — targeted to freelancers, startups, and small businesses — includes SEMRush’s PPC, search engine optimization, and search engine marketing tools.

The more extensive plans are targeted more towards larger companies and agencies. These offer advanced reporting features like white-labeled reports and more advanced API integrations.

To test out SEMRush, you can try features, including the Keyword Magic Tool, here. To access these free tools, you must register for a free account with an email and a password.

For a more detailed look at all the tools, here’s a demo that shows how you can use SEMRush to start a PPC campaign:

What we like: SEMRush doesn’t just tell you how you’re doing — it also offers insights about your competitors’ PPC ad performance. This is critical data for companies looking to stand out in an increasingly crowded ad market.

6. HubSpot’s PPC Management Template

Cost: Free download

We recently posted this helpful template on our blog if you prefer to plan their PPC ads for the lowest cost without using the software.

This spreadsheet guides you through creating strong PPC ads for each customer journey level. It also guides you through identifying positive and negative keywords and building AdGroups.

Download this Template for Free

While this template can help you plan your campaigns, it can also be a great document to share with clients or other decision-makers on your team before launching ads.

You can find the link to download and detailed instructions on how to use the tool in this blog post.

What we like: It’s our template, but that’s not the only reason we think it’s worth your time. Along with the template itself, our experts offer in-depth instructions on how to make the most of this resource for your current and next PPC campaigns.

PPC Bid Management Tools

7. MarinOne Search

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Cost: Plans often start around $500/month. Marin does not specify specific pricing.

Integrations include Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter

MarinOne Search offers bid management features for ads on platforms including Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, and Amazon.

According to Marin, the software uses a large pool of data and patented machine-learning algorithms to “allocate budgets and calculate bids.”

According to Marin’s tour of its budgeting software, seen below, users can also adjust the budget algorithm by taking actions like assigning a dollar value to different types of conversion events:

If you want more information on Marin’s impact, its website highlights case studies on how the software has helped major clients like Nissan, Dell, and Jeep.

What we like: Bid too much, and you’re spending more than you make. Bid too little, and your ads may end up unseen. MarinOne helps pinpoint the sweet spot for ad spend to help you make the most of PPC budgets.

8. Skai

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Cost: Varies by company. Skai provides free demos and quotes.

Integrations: Compatible with platforms including Google, Bing, Yahoo, and Apple Ads.

Skai (formerly Kenshoo) offers a variety of advertising tools related to budget management, search, social media, e-commerce, and app-based ads.

The software’s bid management features allow you to make and adjust various bids, including rules-based and model-based bids.

You can integrate data from Google Ads and other online ad programs with Skai’s platform. The data can be displayed on multiple dashboards, including one that shows spend, revenue, ROI, and conversion head-to-head.

Skai says it uses award-winning machine-learning algorithms to give users bid suggestions and budget and ad performance forecasts in its dashboard interface.

Skai’s site describes its software as enterprise-level but says it offers plans and paid tools targeted at startup-level companies, along with a free trial for interested businesses.

What we like: Skai lets you import data straight from significant search engines and lets you visualize bids that work best for your team.

This makes it easier to understand how PPC ads are performing and where spend will have the biggest impact.

9. Acquisio

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Cost: Varies based on your company’s ad spend, the number of accounts that will be managed, and the contract length determined between the company and Acquisio.

Integrations include Google, Bing, and significant social networks.

Acquisio’s bid and budget management tool uses machine learning algorithms to analyze and adjust bids and budget distribution on a 24/7 basis.

According to Acquisio, the algorithms are trained to adjust budgets automatically based on seasonality, day of week, time of day, and ad platform.

Because of the flexible pricing plans, this software could be helpful for companies ranging from startup to enterprise level.

This software might be helpful to marketers with multiple accounts or who may need more time to monitor bids and budget distribution regularly.

Due to the machine learning tools, you might save time on tasks related to bid research and crunching numbers. This extra time could then be used for other productive projects.

What we like: The biggest draw of Acquisio is the tool’s ability to auto-adjust budgets based on relevant ad factors. This can help teams save money and ensure that the suitable ads are in the right place at the right time.

PPC Reporting Tools

10. WordStream

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Cost: Free with short registration

Integrations: Google Ads

This WordStream tool, formerly called the AdWords Performance Grader, can give your Google Ads campaign a percentage score based on criteria including text and keyword optimization, keyword quality, click-through rates, impressions, and landing page optimization.

The report also gives more information or a sub-score related to each individual piece of criteria.

To help users in benchmarking, the report also notes how well campaigns are doing compared to the previous month.

Here’s an example of what the top of a Google Ads performance report might look like:

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After registering and giving a small amount of company information, you can link this tool to your Gmail account and automatically receive the grades for ads associated with your email address.

What we like: No one wants a bad grade, but when it comes to Google PPC ads, it’s better to know if you’re coming up short — otherwise, you’re spending on ads that aren’t having the desired impact.

The crystal-clear nature of the Google Ads Performance Grader makes it a great asset for marketing teams.

11. ReportingNinja

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Cost: $20/month (Starter), $40/month (Small), $70/month (Medium, $120/month (Large)

Integrations include: Google Ads, Bing Ads, Twitter Ads, Facebook, LinkedIn

This software might be a good option for marketers or agencies who wish to build whitelabel analytics dashboards that their clients can access.

Aside from the portal, ReportingNina can also be used to schedule and send automated reports to marketers or clients via email.

When integrating with Google Ads and/or Bing Ads, a marketer or client with access to the white label portal can see a dashboard that pulls in all the information from these third-party platforms.

With this integration feature, users can see all their need-to-know data in one place. Outside of PPC, data from Twitter Ads, Facebook Insights, LinkedIn Ads, MailChimp, and other accounts can be integrated as well.

What we like: Teams don’t have time to chase down data from multiple sources.

By combining ad data into a single, simple, accessible portal, marketers can access campaign data anywhere, anytime, to see how ads are performing and make necessary changes.

12. Octoboard

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Cost: Octoboard offers seven plans with annual and monthly commitment options. Annual plans are $5 to $150 monthly, and monthly, no-commitment plans fall between $18 and $210.

Each plan allows a different number of clients as well as access to a different list of features.

Integrations include: Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Octoboard provides a number of customizable and white-label reporting templates for marketers and their clients.

With the software, you can create reporting documents as well as dashboards that can be sent to an unlimited amount of recipients. The software also offers report templates that can be embedded into a website.

For those who need to report to their team or clients but don’t have time to create a nice visual, Octoboard already offers templates that specifically report on Google, Bing, Facebook, and LinkedIn PPC.

Here’s an example of a few of the templates currently displayed on the website:

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To test drive the software, you can click on one of the templates on their homepage. When you enter the template, the site will give you a prompt and instructions showing you how to integrate your data.

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Similarly to ReportingNinja, the software also offers automation tools that can create and send templated reports on a schedule.

You can register and preview certain reports with your data in them for free on the Octoboard site. However, to receive more access, you will need to subscribe to one of its monthly or annual plans.

What we like: The no-code component of Octoboard is its biggest strength. Teams can easily create and customize reports that align with marketing goals and provide need-to-know data.

13. DashThis

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Cost: $38/month (Individual), $119/month (Professional), $229/month (Business), $349/month (Standard).

Integrations include: Google Ads, Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, Youtube, LinkedIn Ads, Twitter Ads

Like ReportingNinja and Octoboard, DashThis allows users to connect PPC and SEM tools to the platform so that all performance data appears on one dashboard.

This feature could be helpful if you need to use two or more tools to monitor your PPC ads, traffic, and other data related to your campaigns.

The platform allows users to build and customize these overarching dashboards.

When building a dashboard, DashThis allows you to build off of three templates: Periodic, Rolling, and Campaign.

While the Campaign pulls in data about a specific campaign, the Rolling dashboard shows live data and the Periodic shows data for a certain time period.

Here’s a tutorial that shows how to get started with a DashThis Periodic template:

DashThis also offers a list of pre-made KPI widgets that measure and report on factors like cost-per-click, cost-per-acquisition, conversion rate, impressions, ROI, and return on ad spend. Users can also create custom widgets of their own.

This software would be a good choice for agencies looking to save time on the reporting processes related to PPC or SEM marketing. After creating a dashboard, they can use it to share and report back on live data to their clients or colleagues.

DashThis also offers a low-cost individual subscription, which allows users to launch up to three dashboards for $39 a month.

What we like: Build your own PPC dashboard from scratch or use pre-made KPI widgets to streamline the process. The ball is in your court with DashThis.

Building Your PPC Toolkit

While all of these tools offer benefits, you don’t need all of them all at once. My advice? Start small. Pick one or two apps that align with current ad goals, and see what kind of data they return.

If it’s accurate and actionable, stay the course. If it’s not, tweak the settings and try again. If you’re still not seeing ROI, consider a software shift.

No matter which tools or software you select, be sure to check out our Ultimate Guide to PPC for facts, figures, strategy ideas, and best practices.

B2B

24 Digital Marketing Tips That HubSpot Swears By [Research]

i4lead Jan 9, 2024

With over five billion internet users globally, and more than 4.8 billion active social media users, it stands to reason that digital marketing is vital for reaching a larger audience than you could through traditional methods alone.

Digital marketing can help you better engage prospects, turn prospects into leads, and ultimately convert leads into loyal, delighted customers — but which digital marketing tips are worth following when time is of the essence?

To help inspire your marketing team and invigorate your 2023 digital marketing strategy, we’ve cultivated a comprehensive list of digital marketing tips from marketers here at HubSpot as well as industry experts.

Table of Contents

What is digital marketing?

Digital marketing is a broad term that encompasses any type of brand promotion in the digital space, from social media to blog posts to paid advertising.

Marketing is a general term that refers to content that has:

A sales goal (for example, a Facebook ad for a clothing line’s summer sale).
General brand awareness and education (for example, that same clothing line sharing tips on Instagram for how to wash their items).

The benefit of digital marketing is that it’s more scalable than traditional or offline marketing.

Traditional market tactics include billboards, print magazine features, event marketing, direct mail, and in-person presentations, to name a few techniques.

The opportunities presented by digital marketing for brands are limitless.

Types of Digital Marketing

Before pursuing a plan for your business, it’s important to understand the different types of digital marketing and the opportunities each presents.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that, as the name suggests, takes place on a social media platform.

There are dozens of social media platforms that each have more than 100 million active users, but most brands focus on the most prominent for marketing their brands:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
X (previously Twitter)
LinkedIn
YouTube
Pinterest

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Social media, while incredibly powerful, is a borrowed platform. A digital marketing strategy can’t rely solely on social media because you don’t own your followers or channel subscriber list.

Platforms change, become obsolete, shutter, get banned by the government, and mistakenly suspend accounts without review. While your Instagram account or YouTube channel may be free, you metaphorically rent the space on the platform because you can be evicted anytime without notice or cause.

Social media is a wonderful place for lead generation, but you have to capture those leads. This fuels the need for another form of digital marketing: content that you own.

Proprietary Marketing Channels

The goal of social media marketing isn’t to simply build an audience; it’s to build an audience and inspire them to follow you from social to a proprietary marketing channel that you own.

There are many proprietary marketing channels that businesses own, with some of the most common being:

Website, blog, digital shop, etc.
Email list and SMS list
Company mobile app
Client or contact roster

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Traditional forms of proprietary marketing resources include a Rolodex, direct mailing list, and physical storefront, to name a few. These types of marketing are done organically, which brings us to the third type of marketing we’re going to examine.

Paid Digital Marketing

Paid advertising is the most aggressive and advanced form of digital marketing.

Some examples of paid digital marketing:

Social media promoted posts
Influencer marketing
Website banner ads

Look with an inquisitive eye on your next social media scroll or YouTube search and it won’t take you more than 30 seconds to notice paid digital advertising on your screen. Advertising and organic marketing are closely related but different types of marketing.

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Paid marketing is like pouring gasoline on a fire: Ads can result in huge growth, but if you pour it on while your flame is too small, your fire will go out. Your organic digital marketing efforts are essential in growing a strong fire that can withstand advertising.

Here are some of our favorite tips to help make it happen for your brand.

Marketing Research Tips

Ahead of every successful marketing campaign, social media carousel, or blog post is a well-developed plan. Use these marketing research tips to help you get to know your audience and craft a tailor-made plan for them.

1. Craft highly relevant content with AI personas.

An essential part of any digital marketing strategy is understanding who your target audience is, and that comes from developing your brand’s persona.

Sometimes called the “brand personality,” “ideal client avatar,” or a similar alias, this is a description of your client that you remember every time you create content. Many brands will have more than one persona to represent different stages of the buyer’s journey.

Understanding your brand’s personality has long been viewed as a hallmark of effective marketing, but it’s even more important in the age of AI because marketers need to tailor AI-generated ideas and mold them to fit their brand’s unique client.

“Many marketers are using AI for content production, but it’s important to note that whatever content is generated by AI, you still have to edit it, proofread it, and humanize it,” said Isabella Bedoya, founder of MarketingPros.ai.

“My favorite use case for AI in digital marketing is how accurate it is with creating audience personas, which allows you to craft content strategies and content pieces that actually feel relevant to your target market.”

While a brand persona is a behind-the-scenes digital marketing task, it’s one that has an impact on every aspect of your marketing that goes out to the viewer.

Use AI to help generate different brand personas for your brand and then plug those characteristics into our buyer persona generator so that you can share this with your whole marketing team.

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2. Routinely update your understanding of your customer.

Knowing your ideal customer is a starting point, but it’s not the ending point. Just as every individual evolves, your customers will evolve and you’ll need to continually get to know them.

“Keep on top of the pulse of the customer, and hold yourself accountable to it,” said Ari Plaut, a Product Marketer at HubSpot.

“Schedule monthly time to shadow your support team and your sales team. Your best content ideas will come straight from the source — your customers.”

3. Match your content to every stage of a buyer’s journey.

With the exception of kiosks at the mall selling magnetic bracelets that claim to radically improve balance, companies almost never sell a product to a customer the day they learn about it. Instead, customers go through what’s called the buyer’s journey from awareness to purchase.

It’s important to match your content to customers at every stage of that journey, or your content won’t resonate with a large part of your audience.

“Personally, I think a big ‘Ah-ha’ moment for our customers when talking about ads strategy is when we tell them they need to match their content offer to a moment in the buyer’s journey,” said Alex Girard, an Associate Product Marketing Manager at HubSpot.

“It doesn’t make sense to target an ad for a sales demo at someone in the awareness stage. It also doesn’t make sense to target an awareness stage offer, like a recommended blog post, at someone who is ready to buy.”

Content Creation Tips

With your marketing research complete, it’s time to start creating content.

Before exploring specific tips for creating content for Google search and social media, let these guidelines help you create content that resonates with your audience and converts.

4. Don’t just write about your products or services.

A brand that only talks about themselves in their content marketing is a brand that’s going to leave a lot of money on the table with their digital marketing.

“Don’t just write about your products or services on your blog. That can immediately alienate anyone who isn’t already close to purchasing,” advised Karla Cook, a Senior Manager of the HubSpot Blog Team. “Instead, invest the time in learning about what your target audience is interested in, and develop content that aligns these interests with what your brand can offer.

“For example, if you’re selling coffee makers, you might create a blog series that looks at different ways to improve your morning routine.”

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5. Use AI to help generate content ideas.

Generating content ideas is one of the most important and time-consuming parts of marketing, and AI can help lighten the load. While AI can’t replace the human creativity and execution that great content requires, it can help immensely with ideas generation.

“AI has been great to give ideas, an outline, or be a starting point for content that I write,” content creator Karolina Kubala shared. She doesn’t recommend leaning on AI completely, though.

Karolina offers this advice: Use AI like a guide on a canvas, but paint the picture yourself with your own creativity.

“I use ChatGPT as a starting point with content I create, to help me with an outline or give me a good direction.”

Using AI to free up time for your higher-impact tasks is a popular trend. Our State of AI research found that 83% of professionals using AI say that it enables more time spent on the most impactful work.

6. Personalize your content.

With an abundance of shopping options at their disposal, consumers want to feel like the companies they purchase from offer a personalized experience.

Customers need to understand how your content contrasts against the other products and services that they’re weighing, and they see that contrast when you personalize your brand.

“Personalize your content to differentiate your business from competitors and create a unique customer experience,” shared Clint Fontanella, a Junior Staff Writer at HubSpot. “More than 40% of customers switch brands due to poor online personalization.”

If you’re not sure what makes your content unique compared to your competitors, use AI to help you understand.

7. Use AI to analyze your reviews (and your competitors’).

Sometimes your customers or clients can articulate what makes your offer unique better than you can.

Tap into that potential by using AI to analyze the sentiment of past customers through review mining. Or, perform the same analysis on your competitors’ reviews to find opportunities.

“This allows you to track your own and your competitor’s reviews for patterns, things to improve, common phrases, etc.,” said Rahul Choudhary, founder of Beef Up Media.

He offers these steps to anyone who wants to try this technique for themselves. Gather reviews for ChatGPT to analyze in a spreadsheet, and prompt it to answer these questions:

What are the common struggles, challenges, or pain points that the reviewers were facing?
How did the product/service help them?
What are the common outcomes that the reviewers received?
What are the common drawbacks of the product/service?

“And voila!” said Rahul. “You can use this information to optimize your marketing efforts, website messaging, etc.”

Conducting research is a task that 48% of marketers report using AI for, and this is an easy way to try it for your own brand.

8. Leverage industry experts.

See huge returns by leveraging industry experts in your digital marketing.

“Be sure to include industry experts in your content marketing programs,” said Amari Gonzalez, content marketing manager at LinkedIn. “Industry experts have taken a lot of time to build trust within their audience.” Brands leverage that trust by featuring a familiar face that represents industry expertise and credibility.

Amari suggests including experts in any area of your content marketing:

Blog posts
Social media posts
Videos
Ebooks
Reports
Advertisements
Podcasts

In addition to the implied endorsement your brand receives by collaborating with experts, they may share the content with their audience when it’s published.

Industry leaders being represented in your marketing touches on a type of marketing that’s much older than the pixel: word of mouth.

This can be done organically in the ways above, or you can invest in influencer marketing. Influencer marketing has been growing in popularity for years, and it’s still holding strong in its return on investment (ROI).

Our marketing industry trends report found that influencer marketing offers the 2nd high ROI of any 2023 marketing trend.

9. Leverage video testimonials.

Video marketing specialist Doug Dibert, Jr. refers to YouTube as an untapped goldmine. Where to start? He says the answer is video testimonials.

“Imagine a thrilled customer sharing how your product or service transformed their life,” shared Doug. “These authentic tales, more persuasive than any 5-star review, will fill your YouTube channel with compelling content.”

“Sprinkle in some Video SEO magic, and you’re on an express journey to the next level.” When optimized for YouTube search, videos can appear in both YouTube search results and Google, which means tapping into two search engines with one piece of content.

Our marketing industry trends report predicts that YouTube will see more growth than any other platform in 2023.

10. Remain consistent in design when launching a campaign.

It’s easy to run away with creativity when an ads budget is involved, but remember to remain consistent so that consumers recognize the campaign across platforms.

“When launching an integrated campaign on multiple channels, make sure you tie together your creative design and messaging so there is a red thread throughout the campaign,” shared Brittany Geoffroy, a Marketing Manager of Global Acquisition.

Social Media Marketing Tips

Social media marketing is one of the primary marketing channels that brands invest in today. Try some of these tried-and-true methods today.

11. Use your DMs.

Social media isn’t a megaphone where you loudly share your message with whoever will listen. It’s a two-way street where brands will engage both publicly (in comments) and privately (in direct messages) with their viewers.

Using direct messages (DMs) for customer service has the third highest ROI of all our 2023 marketing trends and is expected to grow further in 2023, and they hold enormous weight when it comes to digital marketing. DMs can be used to:

Answer questions from potential buyers.
Troubleshoot problems that existing customers have.
Engage and respond when happy customers share your product online.

At the heart of the growth in DM popularity is the desire for audience members to feel a sense of real community.

Being as responsive in private as you are in public is also a key factor in building trust and genuine dialogue with an engaged community, which 90% of marketers say is crucial to a successful social media strategy.

@blogilates

You asked me to put leggings under a skirt, so…I DID IT 🙂 I hope the sklegging is helpful to girlies who do not feel comfortable showing so much skin at the gym. XXS-3X. I am wearing S. @POPFLEX #modestfashion #fashiondesigner

♬ Dreamy Vibes – Ocean Bay Jazz

12. Spread content across platforms (with care).

It makes sense to reuse social media content across platforms, but simply downloading a TikTok video and uploading it as a Facebook reel won’t do much for your digital marketing goals.

Only 17% of marketers share identical content across platforms; instead, 48% of marketers share similar content but with some tweaks specialized to the new platform…

Dimensions
Trends
Demographics

Make your audience feel like you care about their viewership. Avoid making your content look lazy, like leaving a watermark from a past platform when you repurpose it on platform number two.

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13. Try short-form videos.

While video has been popularized by YouTube for years, it’s reached a new level with the advent of short-form video. This term generally refers to videos that are under 60 seconds and are vertically-oriented instead of the previously standard horizontal.

This content sensation started on TikTok in 2020 and has earned a lofty place on most platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Our research has found that short-form video is the type of social media content with the highest ROI, and the format which will see more growth than any other format in 2023.

If you haven’t figured out short-form video for yourself yet, try one of these popular format types:

Displaying how your product or service work
Answering audience questions
Client testimonials or reviews

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Search Engine Optimization and Website Marketing Tips

Social media is an active form of digital marketing where you’re actively putting logs on the fire every day to engage with your audience.

Digital marketing aiming for Google traffic, on the other hand, is a more passive inbound marketing strategy.

Search engine optimization (SEO) writers at your company can write a well-optimized blog post that ranks on Google and passively brings viewers to your website for months or years. Here’s how to capitalize on the opportunity.

14. Incorporate SEO into your overall content strategy.

Even though SEO is an old trick, it’s one that marketers are still getting results: SEO clocks in as the third trend marketers will spend the most money on in 2023.

“While positioning a blog as a pure thought leadership publication has its merits, incorporating an SEO strategy into your topic selection and blog writing is the best way for long-term traffic growth,” shared AJ Beltis, a HubSpot Content Optimization Specialist.

“Use sites like Ahrefs or SEMRush to find out what people in your industry are searching for and talking about as a first step to maximizing your blog’s potential.”

15. Manually research Google’s rankings.

While there’s an endless list of software that conducts keyword research for you, your research doesn’t stop once you find a great keyword opportunity.

The next stage of your research requires you to go to Google and see what’s ranking and learn from it.

“It’s important to do manual research and see for yourself what types of pages Google is ranking,” shared Sarah Blocksidge, marketing director at Sixth City Marketing. “Do thorough competitor research and see for yourself what types of pages are ranking well.”

Even though you can use AI to provide actionable SEO insights, as 37% of bloggers do, no program or algorithm renders this step of your research moot. Sarah recommends asking yourself these questions during research:

Are they product and service pages? Blog posts?
How are they structuring their headers and metadata?
Does their content thoroughly answer a question or provide definitions and FAQs?

16. Don’t underestimate backlinks.

Getting a backlink to your website means that someone else links to your website from their website, and these are powerful for SEO.

“Marketers are increasingly shifting their SEO strategies from keywords to topics,” shared Braden Becker, a Senior Staff Writer at HubSpot.

“In other words, the more keywords you target that all belong to a similar topic, the more expertise you’ll demonstrate, and the better you can perform for each individual keyword. But expertise and organic traffic don’t happen at the same time.”

Braden additionally suggested, “While topics are important to building your reputation, you still need the backlinks — a major ranking factor for Google — to back it up.”

After you create content on each topic, Braden suggested taking these steps to get a sense of how your content will perform:

Share the content in as many ways as you can.
Network with people in your industry.
Track how many other publishers are linking back to your content.

17. Target multiple search engines (Pinterest).

While the search engine conversation always starts with Google, it doesn’t end there.

Pinterest is also a search engine, but unlike Google, it won’t index and rank your pages on its own. The foundation of Pinterest marketing is creators uploading a thumbnail image (called a pin) summarizing every webpage they have.

“Pinterest is the best place to share everything you’re creating, from content to products,” said Nadalie Bardo, Pinterest expert. “With a bit of SEO and a graphic, you can level up your traffic!”

Nadalie shared this list of content ideas to repurpose onto Pinterest:

Blog posts, podcast episodes, and YouTube videos
TikToks, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts
Product listings, sales pages, and work-with-me pages
Infographics and illustrations
Inspirational quotes, or artwork
Affiliate content and product reviews
Photos and videos

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Digital Marketing Big Picture Tips

Digital marketing is a large machine with many moving cogs, changing components, and rapidly-evolving landscapes.

It’s important to keep your eye on the big picture to stay on course, and market reporting along with these tips can help.

18. Focus on the long-term.

The focus of digital marketing should always be on long-term goals, despite any pressure to cut corners.

“I’m a marketer, and I understand the pressure to deliver leads to sales each month. But employing short-sighted tactics that generate some attention and may result in a momentary spike ultimately won’t set you, or your customers, up for success in the long-term,” said Jeff Vocell, a HubSpot Product Marketer.

“As marketers, we should focus on generating demand through helpful and customer-centric campaigns. Focus on delight, no short-sighted acquisition.”

19. Pivot as audience preferences shift.

With new features being introduced constantly across marketing channels, it’s important to have a flexible approach and not pass up opportunities because you’re unwilling to match your audiences’ shifting preferences.

“Businesses constantly need to ensure their digital strategy remains relevant to their target audience,” shared Kristen Baker, an Associate Content Strategist at HubSpot.

”For instance, if you’re targeting a group that’s primarily active on Instagram, focus on that platform and consider using your resources to create engaging Instagram Stories, instead of spending too much time making YouTube videos. However, pay attention to if, and when, your audience’s preferences shift.”

While an annual strategy and goals list is nice, you may need to pivot as your audience’s preferences evolve (maybe more than once per year).

More than half of all marketers pivoted their strategies in 2021, and of that group, 83% said that they altered course two to four times in a single year.

20. Follow consumer trends.

Your audience’s preferences are unique to your organization, and on the other end of this moving pendulum are consumer trends.

“Read consumer trend reports, and then brainstorm ways that your brand can leverage the insights to help convert followers to customers and customers to brand evangelists,” recommends Mikayla Catoe, co-founder of BEGOOD Creative Marketing Agency.

For example, here’s a fascinating find from The Coefficient Capital Consumer Report. Given the chance:

Gen Z survey respondents would prefer to improve their mental health by 25% (over physical health).
Millennials responded the opposite.

“Brands should list ways they can use this trend to their advantage and list the costs associated with each to determine which makes the most sense from a logistical and financial perspective.”

21. Try new things.

While pivoting is often strategic, sometimes marketing encounters a need to go all the way back to the drawing board and start throwing things at the wall.

“If you see that something could be working better, go back to the drawing board and try something new,” said Meredith Hart, a Junior Staff Writer at HubSpot.

“This can apply to internal processes within your team or with your digital marketing efforts.”

When it comes to your digital marketing efforts, that experimentation could look like:

Creative email subject lines
A themed blog series instead of one-off
Trends and humorous content

You never know what kind of content is going to resonate with your audience until you try it out. Sometimes the most unexpected content can get the biggest results and help you stand out.

For example, has your brand ever tried humorous content? A reported 66% of social media marketers said that funny content is most effective at standing out in a crowded digital space.

“Small changes can have big results,” Meredith encouraged.

22. Invest in AI-powered personalization strategies.

Once you have established Google rankings and website traffic coming in on a regular basis, you can use AI-powered personalization strategies to tailor the user experience even further.

“This involves tailoring content, offers, and recommendations to individual users based on their behavior, preferences, and past interactions with your business,” shared Yogesh Kumar, digital marketing manager at Technource.

Tailored AI can produce personalized recommendations by analyzing data from:

Social media engagements
Purchase history
Website interactions
Email responses

23. Understand the big picture when analyzing an advertisement’s performance.

When you leave the organic marketing domain and enter paid advertising, understanding how to tailor and pivot your content is even more important because ad budgets aren’t endless.

“If your ad isn’t performing well, don’t just look at the messaging itself, but see if there’s a mismatch between what someone is searching for, the messaging you are showing them, and the landing page on which they end up,” shared Cathleen Smith, a CSM at HubSpot.

“With that bigger picture in mind, when you see a ‘bad’ ad, look at all the different pieces of your campaign to determine what needs optimization.”

When your ad under-performs, look at the big picture and ask yourself: What is the overall journey someone is taking to get to the point where they see your ad?

For example, examine the journey someone takes after seeing a Google ad. Someone had to:

Search for a keyword you chose.
See your ad.
Have it resonate with them.
Click on the ad directly.
And then have the landing page feel relevant and easily digestible.

24. Become a growth leader for your company.

“Marketers have never had a better opportunity to be growth leaders,” said Jeff Vocell, a HubSpot Product Marketer.

“Marketing has historically been responsible for attracting new leads and then passing them off to sales.

Today, in a world where customer experience has to come first, marketers have an opportunity to architect the path to growth through sales and services as well.

“Instead of solely thinking about how you can bring in new customers, start to ask yourself and your colleagues around you:

What happens when this lead is passed over to sales?
And what happens when sales pass them to services as a customer?

“It’s likely you’ll find opportunities for advocacy and marketing embedded in those moments that will help you grow better.”

Conclusion

Have you been inspired by these digital marketing tips and strategies to boost your brand’s marketing? Marketing is an ocean, and I hope that one of these fish speaks to you and motivates you to deepen your seas.

B2B

The Best Marketing Jobs and Careers for You to Pursue in 2023 (BIR NNP)

i4lead Jan 8, 2024

Marketing seems simple, but it gets more complex as you break it down. If you don’t already know about marketing careers, scanning jobs online could convince you that this isn’t your dream job.

But marketing is fun. Marketing a company is essentially grabbing a bullhorn and saying, “Hey! We love this company, and here’s why you should, too.”

Marketing is also incredibly dynamic and diverse. It offers positions for people of all strengths. Whether you’re equipped with creative ability or analytical prowess, marketing’s got a spot for you.

In this article, we’ll break down what marketers do. We’ll show you how you can get into marketing and the different marketing jobs that are out there. We’ll give you what you need to map out your marketing career and pinpoint your goals. Let’s get started.

According to Merriam-Webster, marketing is “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service.” But the job involves much, much more than that.

The day-to-day activities of a marketer depend on what they’re marketing, whom they’re targeting, and what platforms they use to promote products or services. There are too many marketing roles and functions to provide a single definition applicable to everyone in this field.

Before we dive into the various positions you can find within a marketing department, let’s discuss tools and education necessary to become a marketer.

What You Need to Be a Marketer

There’s not a single, definitive path to any job field. Marketing comes from people with all kinds of backgrounds — journalism, psychology, and more. I’ve mapped out a career path as it’s the most straightforward way to jump into a marketing job. Later in this article, I’ll dive into how to get a marketing job.

Education

If you’re serious about a long-term marketing career primed for growth and variety, a bachelor’s degree is the way to go. Four-year programs teach you the skills and competencies needed to join and excel in the competitive, fast-paced landscape that is the marketing world. They can help with public speaking, creative problem-solving, logistics, sales, and analytics.

The following degree programs can lead to a career in marketing:

Marketing
Management
Business
Economics
Psychology
Communications
Public Relations
Journalism

Nowadays, it doesn’t matter as much what you major in as it does where you go to school or what you get involved in. Organizations like the American Marketing Association, National Association of Sales Professionals, or Pi Sigma Epsilon (a co-ed marketing fraternity) can help you get connected outside the classroom and off-campus.

Some marketers choose to extend (or return to) their schooling by pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or graduate degree in marketing. Both programs offer in-depth studies of marketing, but they differ in education specifics and structure.

MBA programs focus on the humanity of business, such as people management, organizational behavior, and leadership. Graduate marketing programs study consumer behavior, changes in the domestic and international marketplace, and growing digital trends.

You can combine these programs, of course, but their cost and completion time can be an issue for most students.

While we can’t tell you if graduate school is the right choice for you, we can encourage you to research your options for career success. Here’s a great article from U.S. News to help you figure out if an MBA or master’s program is for you.

Internships and Co-ops

While a degree (or three) may not be in the cards for you, an internship or co-op most certainly should. There’s no better education than real-life experience, and internships allow you to learn on the go while you’re still learning in the classroom.

Marketing internships are valuable because they help you determine what kind of marketing you want to do. Do you like the creative side of marketing, or do you like working with numbers and analytics? Does promoting a single product excite you, or would you prefer to work on overall brand awareness?

Marketing departments have lots of moving parts, and internships and co-ops help you determine exactly which projects and promotions you’d like to join.

Lastly, internships are valuable currency in today’s job market. Think about it: Thousands of students graduate each year and enter the workforce. That’s not even considering how many workers are changing their minds and careers to pursue marketing jobs.

With some real-life experience under your belt, you automatically become a highly desirable candidate to employers. Some internships can lead to full-time jobs, too.

Many educational institutions offer internships through their business or communications departments, so if you’re still in college, start there. Universities worldwide hold valuable relationships with local businesses that will hire students while still in school.

If going through your college or university isn’t an option, sites like WayUp and Chegg Internships can help you find open positions. Idealist is an internship site that focuses on nonprofit roles, and Global Experiences helps you find international opportunities.

And, of course, you can always find open internships through LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed.

Skills and Aptitudes

Surgeons possess incredible patience and stability, psychologists are fantastic listeners, and chefs have excellent memory. Like any other professional role, great marketers tend to carry a particular set of skills. These can be skills you’re born with or skills you develop and fine-tune through schooling and real-life practice.

Either way, the following skills and aptitudes are typically required to excel in any marketing role:

Creativity. Whether you’re writing a business plan or a campaign brief, being able to creatively spell out your vision is a must in the marketing field. In today’s world, grabbing consumers’ attention isn’t easy. Marketers have to constantly think up new ways to attract their audience and entice them to make a purchase — great marketers are creative.
Problem-solving. Imagine the conundrum marketers faced when DVR came out and commercials became futile. What about the overwhelming switch to mobile versus desktop? These trends in the marketplace forever changed the way businesses sell, and marketers were on the front lines of those shifts, huddling and figuring out how to solve new problems that came their way. Great marketers are problem-solvers.
Passion for numbers. Even the most right-brained marketers have a passion for numbers and ROI. How else do companies know that their promotional efforts are working? Whether they’re tracking retweets, click-throughs, or video views, marketers live and breathe metrics. Great marketers are analytical so they can prove the value of their work.
Curiosity. The marketing landscape is ever-changing, and opportunities arise every day for businesses to promote their products in new and exciting ways. But marketers wouldn’t be able to seize these opportunities if they don’t continually ask, “What if?” Great marketers stay curious and are lifelong learners.

Now that you know what’s recommended (if not required) to thrive in a marketing role, let’s take a look at the job market for marketers. How many people are looking for marketing jobs, and what companies are looking for them? Is there room for growth and innovation?

The Marketing Job Market

According to Statista, marketing jobs are expected to grow 10% from 2020 to 2030 — a faster rate than average for all other jobs, and likely not stopping any time soon.

Marketing and promotional campaigns are essential to every company, regardless of industry, as organizations seek to grow and maintain their market share.

That’s why marketing jobs are available at all kinds of organizations — large firms, startups, small businesses, and nonprofits. Do some companies offer better marketing jobs than others? No, not really. But there are some companies that excel at different types of marketing and offer opportunities for different kinds of employees.

Marketing is also a great career if you’re looking for a remote job. 35% of full-time employees in the United States have the option to work remotely. Another 23% have the option to work remotely part-time. And according to LinkedIn, remote jobs in marketing increased by 177% in 2021.

Here are some places to start your research on companies for marketers, based on a variety of factors:

Top companies for marketing jobs (LinkedIn)
10 companies that are defining innovation in branding (Fast Company)
Top companies for remote marketing jobs (FlexJobs)

Today’s job market is thriving, and there’s more opportunity than ever to dip your toe into the proverbial marketing waters. But what are these specific opportunities, you ask? Below we’ll break down the various marketing jobs and marketing career paths available.

Any given marketing department manages a variety of positions, projects, and goals. The difference between these roles can be minute or major — it all depends on what medium they’re working with, what they’re promoting, and who they’re promoting to.

1. Digital Marketing

Digital marketing refers to marketing through digital channels like search engines, websites, email, and mobile apps. In the last 30 years, the rise of the internet, smartphones, and big data has completely changed the way companies market and promote their products and services. In turn, these shifts create many new marketing careers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Search engine optimization refers to organically optimizing web content. This helps search engines index your content, which makes it easier for your audience to find.

Search engine marketing is paying for advertising space on said search engines. SEO, SEM, and their ever-changing trends have become such an influential part of online marketing that people are specializing in it — and companies are hiring for it, too.

Email Marketing

Email as a marketing medium may seem more traditional, but email’s impact is still strong. Email marketing uses a single channel to reach current and potential customers through creatively-written emails and digital promotions.

Growth Marketing

Growth marketing (or hacking) is a relatively new term and refers to marketing that targets the entire funnel — not just the top few tiers. Growth marketing takes into account the fact that retention is a major factor of growth and so it prioritizes both customer success and customer acquisition.

2. Content Marketing

Content marketing, since it’s mainly executed online, could be considered a segment of digital marketing. But the career path has become so impactful that we believe it deserves its own section.

Content like blogs, ebooks, white papers, and guides are critical components of a solid inbound marketing strategy, and content marketers are the people who create them. Content marketing refers to marketing via long-form content, websites, blogs, and even audio and video content.

Marketing Copywriting

Copywriting is a foundational part of marketing and advertising. Content and copywriters create copy for:

Blogs
Websites
Ads
Email
Landing pages
Social media

They use language to encourage, educate, and inform. In the process, they entice customers to buy, stakeholders to engage, and leaders to support the business.

Graphic Design

Graphic design is a subset of content marketing that focuses more on the visual appeal of web and print content. Graphic designers typically work on:

Website design
Ad designs
Infographics
Images used in marketing or promotions

Content Creation

30% of social media marketers are investing more in short-form video in 2022, while 29% are trying it for the first time.

To keep up with this kind of trend, businesses are investing in content creation. Content creation focuses on digital content like video, podcasting, and other new media. This focus gives brands an opportunity to connect with customers where they spend the most time online. This strategy can speed up business growth.

Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing leverages social platforms to promote a company and its products. Some specialize in one or two platforms, while others manage multi-channel promotion.

Social media marketing also helps brands connect and engage with audiences in new and authentic ways.

Community Management

Community management focuses on community-building for businesses. This role helps to connect customers, employees, and stakeholders.

Adding a community manager for engagement can help a brand:

Improve brand reputation
Share updates
Grow with customer needs in mind

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

The main goal of content marketing is to use content to educate, interest, and convert readers into customers. But content can’t always do that on its own. That’s where conversion rate optimization comes into play.

3. Product Marketing

Product marketing is all about setting the tone for how, where, when, and why a company promotes its products and services. Product marketers are typically assigned to one product or product line. They act as chief advocate and strategist for that product.

4. Brand Marketing

In today’s economy, a company’s brand plays a major role in how consumers shop. According to a 2022 survey of U.S. consumers from Salsify, 46% of shoppers will pay more for a brand they trust. This consumer behavior has paved the way for roles in brand management and public relations.

5. Event Marketing

Company-run events are a popular way to interact with and entertain potential customers and clients. Event marketing brings together your community, delights your customers, and puts a friendly face to your brand name — especially for B2B marketers. For this reason, companies need event marketers.

6. Niche Marketing

As online shopping and social media expand the reach of big brands, it’s become more important than ever to stand out. Niche marketing focuses promotional efforts on small defined segments.

Niche marketers use their personal knowledge to target the unique needs of a specific audience. Whether your focus is health and wellness or travel, your niche could be your path to a career in marketing.

7. Marketing Analysis

In the marketing world, numbers are king. No other factor has the power to shift campaigns, change budgets, hire and fire employees, and draw investors.

Marketing analysis is a unique role. While most companies hire internal analysts, third-party consultants and agencies also exist to help businesses interpret and apply data findings. Regardless of whom they work for, data scientists — specifically marketing analysts — read and interpret digital data to help businesses and marketing departments make better business decisions.

8. Marketing Strategy

While many careers in marketing focus on tactics, as you advance you may develop an interest in strategy. Marketing strategy involves creating long-term plans that connect business goals to customer needs. Strategists create the playbook for how you can find the right prospects and make them loyal customers for your brand and products.

As you review these choices, it’s important to note that different marketing positions can have the same or similar titles. Job titles are often less important than job descriptions in marketing. The same can be true about whether an open role is at the entry, mid, or leadership level.

So, when searching for marketing jobs, look at and assess each job description individually.

1. Digital Marketing Manager

Career path: Digital Marketing

Responsibilities

Digital marketing managers develop and support the online identity and sales for a brand. This is often a multi-dimensional role that could include:

Data analysis
Paid ad placement
Email marketing
Content marketing
SEO
Social media management

Responsibilities for this role might also include presentations, and developing and executing marketing campaigns.

Skills

To succeed in this role, you will need to be a flexible and strategic thinker. Skills in a range of marketing tactics, including copywriting, research, and design, are useful. It’s also important to have skills in building and maintaining professional relationships.

Income

Digital marketing managers make $47,000 to $101,000 per year.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Specialist

Career path: Digital Marketing

Responsibilities

SEO specialist responsibilities include:

Improving the ranking of a website on a search engine results page (SERP)
Conducting keyword research
Making technical SEO recommendations
Designing site architecture
Analyzing and applying metrics on website and keyword performance

Skills

The skills and qualifications required of graphic designers include proficiency in graphic design programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, knowledge of design elements, excellent verbal and visual communication skills, and experience creating visual art for marketing purposes.

Income

Graphic designers make between $35,000 and $66,000.

8. Content Creator

Career path: Content Marketing

Responsibilities

A content creator works individually or as part of a team to create

content for a range of media and channels.

Content creators include:

Podcasters
Social media influencers
Video content creators
Blog writers
Newsletter authors
Video game streamers

Skills

Successful content creators balance creative skills with the ability to research and analyze data and consumer habits. Depending on their target audience, a content creator might need skills in SEO, promotion, or production to thrive in this role.

While some content creators work independently as freelancers, others work full-time for brands. Independent content creators also need to develop entrepreneurial skills.

Income

Content creators earn $17,500 to $83,500 per year.

9. Social Media Marketer

Career path: Content Marketing

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of social media marketers include:

Managing a company’s social presence
Monitoring online conversation
Organizing customer service through social media
Creating content for social channels
Staying up-to-date on social media trends and news

Skills

The skills and qualifications required of a social media marketer include excellent verbal and digital communication skills, a creative and innovative approach to digital marketing, proficiency in all social channels, and experience in public relations or public brand management.

Income

Social media marketers make between $37,000 and $86,000.

10. Community Manager

Career path: Content Marketing

Responsibilities

Community manager responsibilities vary widely depending on the business goals. Usually, their ultimate goal is community-building. Many manage communications in online groups and communities, including social media, for a brand. Some also represent the brand at online and in-person events.

Skills

The ability to multitask and organize is essential for community managers. This is because this position requires communication on many platforms at a fast pace. Other valuable skills for this marketing role include:

Patience
Enthusiasm
Empathy
Data analysis
Flexibility

This role offers support and clarity to audiences that include business leaders and new customers. This means that a top skill for this role is staying informed and positive as needs change.

Income

Community managers make $52,000 to $64,000 per year.

11. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) Specialist

Career path: Content Marketing

Responsibilities

CRO specialists focus on optimizing websites, user flows, and content offers to drive the most conversions — whether a conversion means making a sale, securing a lead, or getting a subscriber. The responsibilities of a CRO marketer include:

Auditing content to measure effectiveness and ROI
Influencing content creation to ensure impact
Measuring how visitors and readers interact with your content
Using data to optimize for improved performance

Skills

The skills and qualifications required of CRO specialists include experience auditing and creating digital content, ability to A/B test and measure content impact, and proficiency in online content platforms and analysis tools.

Income

CRO specialists make between $30,000 and $96,000.

12. Product Marketer

Career path: Product Marketing

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of a product marketer include:

Determining overall messaging and positioning of the product
Mapping the buyer’s journey to purchase the product
Collaborating with the product creators, designers, and other marketers

Skills

Besides the marketing skills listed above, ecommerce specialists may also need skills in:

User experience
Web design
Coding

The ability to work with different teams is also important.

Income

Ecommerce marketing specialists make between $34,000 and $78,000 per year.

17. Marketing Analyst

Career path: Marketing Analysis

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of a marketing analyst include:

Using data to influence campaign impact, allocate funds, determine how to design and optimize a website, set the prices of products and services, and more.

Analysts also identify new opportunities and initiatives as well as develop metrics, benchmarks, and standards for future performance.

Skills

The skills and qualifications required of a marketing analyst include data analysis and management, fluency with programs like Microsoft Excel, SPSS Statistics, and SAS, and knowledge and experience with trends in big data.

Income

Marketing analysts make between $43,000 and $80,000.

18. Marketing Strategist

Career path: Marketing Strategy

Responsibilities

A marketing strategist develops and communicates strategic plans to meet business goals. They also pull together the efforts of different teams to execute those strategies.

Besides broad marketing strategist positions, there are also roles for:

SEO strategists
Content strategists
Social marketing strategists

Strategists sometimes cover the day-to-day tasks for their area of expertise, but they are usually focused only on strategy. For example, a social media manager will design and publish posts on social media. But a social media strategist will develop and research the targeted campaigns and customer targets that inform those daily posts.

Skills

Advanced experience and technical knowledge. Awareness of SEO, SEM, and marketing news and trends is also important. Besides bringing knowledge and experience, strategists should also have strong skills in:

Time management
Communication
Presentation
Management

Income

Salaries for marketing strategists range from $51,000 to $152,000 per year.

The outlines above are only a partial list of popular marketing jobs and career paths. It’s clear that there’s a lot of opportunity. But that doesn’t mean that marketing isn’t a highly competitive field.

With ever-changing trends and consumers, marketers must be at the top of their game when applying to and thriving within their roles. Next, we’ll dive into how to find, apply for, and get a marketing job in your chosen field.

How to Get a Marketing Job

Getting a marketing job might feel complicated, but it’s not impossible. There are a few things you can do to ensure you’re applying for the right jobs and promoting the best version of yourself in the process.

1. Figure out what type of role you want.

Before opening a job application, you must figure out what type of marketing job you want. As we explained above, there are plenty of marketing jobs available — and we hardly scratched the surface.

Do yourself (and your potential employers) a favor and perform some self-analysis before deciding which jobs to pursue. Review the jobs we’ve described above and research others that spark your interest. Take a look at how marketing impacts your day-to-day life and see which components intrigue you.

Do you find yourself gravitating towards the creative parts of marketing, or are you excited by the analytical side? Both play an important role in marketing, but the jobs for each will differ.

Make a list of what you’d like to do in your role. If I were building a list of “wants,” I’d say:

I like writing and telling stories.
I like research.
I like working with analytics only to help me create better content.
I like working with a team.

Determining what kind of marketing jobs interest you will give you much more clarity in your job search and will help you decipher which specific roles best match your interests and skills.

2. Find jobs matching your interests.

There are a few ways to go about finding marketing jobs. First, throw your search query in Google. If you’ve decided you’d like to design marketing materials for a company, search “marketing design jobs” or “graphic design marketing jobs” and see what comes up.

Second, check out job board sites like Indeed, Glassdoor, and SimplyHired. These sites aggregate available jobs and make it easy to set filters for salary, location, company size, and more. They also include suggested jobs in the search results so you can easily discover related roles.

Lastly, check out available jobs on company websites. If you’ve discovered a few companies for which you’d love to work, go to their websites directly and see what kind of roles they have listed.

Also, some roles might have different names at different companies and might not come up in common search results on job boards. For example, one company’s “blogger” might be another company’s “content creator.”

3. Review job descriptions.

Once you’ve found a few open jobs to which you’d like to apply, take a close look at the job descriptions. This is when you’ll compare your list of “likes” from earlier to the terms in the job descriptions.

From my list above, I’d look for words like “writing,” “editing,” “content creation,” “research,” and more. This process will help you find the best-fit roles, which will, in turn, increase the likelihood of securing an interview — and the job.

4. Market yourself.

Outside of a job application, cover letter, and interview, there are other ways to boost your chances as an applicant. As a marketing candidate, you must be able to market yourself. In fact, your “marketability” speaks volumes to companies and managers, sometimes more so than your application material.

As you search for and apply to jobs, make sure your digital presence is spotless. Review your LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social channels and ensure they all promote the same message and self-image. Google your own name and make sure all results reflect positively on you.

Also, depending on what role(s) you’re pursuing, consider creating a portfolio or sample of your marketing chops. If you’d like to find a position in social media, create some sample posts to include in your application. If you’re pursuing a public relations role, build a contingency plan to discuss in your interview.

These steps will help you stand out from the crowd of marketing applicants and will skyrocket your chances of landing the job.

Example Marketing Career Path

Each career in marketing is as unique as the person pursuing that career. Besides being a great career for creative people, marketing is also a popular choice for remote work.

That said, marketers that begin their careers right after college have many options for advancement. The outline below will give you some ideas of what your career path could look like in marketing.

Entry-Level

There are entry-level marketing jobs for every career path in marketing. These roles are a great way for recent graduates and those who are new to marketing.

Entry-level marketing jobs cover a wide range of skills, but most will include:

Research
Administrative work
Customer service
Helping with creative work

These roles can help you learn the basics of marketing, and help you decide where you want your career to go. They’re also a good time to develop professional soft skills.

If you’re just starting out, this post offers more advice on how to secure a job in marketing.

Mid-Level Marketing Careers

Once you’ve been working in an entry-level role for some time, there are a few different paths you can follow in marketing. Sometimes your next step will depend on the company you’re working for. Other times it’s a decision you’ll need to make for yourself.

Marketing strategy, freelance marketing, and marketing management are all great next steps. Let’s talk about each one of these choices.

Marketing Strategy

If you enjoy the day-to-day work, you may want to deepen your knowledge and responsibilities by taking on a strategist role. These careers may include some leadership. But the focus is on marketing and connecting tactics to business results.

Freelance Marketing

Another option is to develop your own business as a freelance marketer. This will give you a chance to expand your knowledge and skills. It’s also a chance to experiment with new approaches to marketing.

If you’re curious and want to learn more, this resource for marketing freelancers can help you get started.

Marketing Management

Marketing managers also take on new know-how and responsibilities. Besides the day-to-day work of marketing, managers are leaders. Depending on your company, this role might involve strategy, budgeting, or data analysis.

Marketing management also might include training and managing other people on your team.

Marketing Leadership

After 10-20 years of work experience in marketing, you may be looking for a leadership role. In your path toward leadership, you may also pursue additional studies. Many marketing leaders pursue MBAs or certifications over time.

Again, leadership role specifics will vary by company and industry. But, these are some positions that you may seek out as a marketing leader.

Director of Marketing

The director of marketing is a multifaceted role. Besides developing and executing marketing strategies, it might include:

Evaluating research and reports
Overseeing promotion and advertising
ROI analysis
Assessing market conditions
Reviewing customer data
Competitor analysis

Some marketing directors will report to a VP or CMO. Others will lead marketing for their organization and manage a team of mid-level marketers.

Vice President of Marketing

The VP of Marketing is responsible for a company’s marketing results. This role works across departments within a business to improve and support its teams and the business. Besides managing a team of marketers, VPs may also take an active role in:

Hiring
High-level project management
Market research
Campaign and strategy innovation

Chief Marketing Officer

Chief Marketing Officer, or CMO, is usually the most senior marketing role. The modern-day CMO doesn’t have a generic, one-size-fits-all background. Their primary responsibility is the return on investment from marketing activities.

There are many similarities between the vice president of marketing and CMO roles. In cases where a business has both a CMO and one or more VPs of marketing, the CMO will usually focus on high-level strategy while the VP works on tactics.

The CMO may also be responsible for managing teams across different company branches and locations. They build and develop teams and networks to execute on top organizational goals.

Marketing Job Resources

You don’t have to pursue a marketing job on your own. Looking for some resources to help you better understand specific marketing components or brush up on your skills? Check out the communities and courses below. Bonus: Some of these certifications can make you a more desirable marketing candidate, too.

Courses and Communities

Find a Career in Marketing That Works for You

Marketing is a career path that’s going to last because it’s part of every business. As businesses grow and change, their approach to marketing gets more competitive and complex.

As digital advances and new roles change the face of marketing, you need to develop new skills and get specific about the roles you want.

Whether you’re creative or analytical, a leader or a tactician, there’s a job for you. As you keep learning, the right opportunity will appear. What you do with that opportunity is up to you.

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

B2B

I Took a Deep Dive Into ASO Marketing. Here’s What I Learned.

i4lead Jan 6, 2024

Confession — I have a long history of skin allergies. Recently, I’ve been searching for an app that would let me track all the cosmetics that I use (or plan to) to spot ingredients that could potentially cause skin irritation.

I was overwhelmed with the options.

I eventually found the “one,” but it got me thinking — how much work did it take from the app creator to make it rank at the top of search results?

As a marketer, I asked myself: What ASO marketing strategy did they use? And what makes or breaks an app’s ranking if there are millions of them across app stores? I decided to find out.

On top of my own research and experience, I also reached out to ASO experts and took a popular app store optimization tool for a spin. Here‘s what I’ve learned.

What is ASO Marketing?

ASO Marketing Tactics to Master

ASO Marketing in Action (With Technology)

Best Practices of ASO Marketing

What is ASO Marketing?

ASO Marketing, short for App Store Optimization Marketing, is a strategy that aims to improve your app’s searchability and number of impressions in mobile app stores, like those from Apple and Google.

Some sources refer to it as App Store marketing, while others go for the colloquial “SEO for mobile apps.”

Naturally, the number-one goal for ASO optimization is maximizing app downloads, but there are a few extra ones that you can add to your list. These are:

Boosting brand visibility.
Gaining positive app reviews and improving ratings.
Engaging your audience.
Diversifying your marketing efforts.
Increasing traffic to your website.

ASO Marketing Tactics to Master

1. Localize your app listing.

Human language is full of nuances. Just because we speak the same language, for example, English, doesn’t mean that the same words have the same meaning in every country.

Let’s take “soccer” and “football,” for one. The first is used in the U.S., while the second is in the U.K. and other English-speaking countries.

If you launched an app that lets users track live match scores, then you‘d have to adjust the terms you use for each market. After all, you wouldn’t want an NFL fan to land on an app they’re potentially not interested in, like soccer finals.

Keyword localization is a vital ASO tactic that many brands turn to, including TeamUp, a cloud-based calendar solution for fitness businesses.

Laia Quintana, their head of marketing and sales, says: “After we realized that our users across the globe use different terms to search for fitness solutions, we tailored our app store keywords to match these local terms.”

Quintana says this strategy significantly improved their visibility in those regions.

“We saw an impressive 30% increase in our app downloads within the first quarter of implementing this strategy. This brought our total downloads to over 100,000,” Quintana says.

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2. Optimize your title & subtitle.

If you want your app listing to stand out, then you must pay a lot of attention to its title and subtitle. They must be both catchy and searchable, i.e., include terms that are relevant to the potential user’s goals.

But how do you get them right? You‘ve guessed it — by experimenting and analyzing what did and didn’t work.

This has worked particularly well for Magee Clegg, founder and CEO of Cleartail Marketing. He says that after putting a stronger emphasis on their clients‘ app listings and including carefully selected high-volume keywords, they’ve seen a significant spike in app rankings.

“For instance, one of our clients experienced a 120% increase in organic downloads within a month after we optimized their app title and subtitle,” Clegg says.

That said, while searching for relevant keywords, remember that there are strict character limits on both app stores — as of late 2023, both Apple and Google allow a maximum of 30 characters per title.

This brings us to the next ASO tactic.

3. Check your app’s search results on both Google Play & Apple App Store.

When someone searches for your app name or enters a relevant phrase, they‘ll see something slightly different depending on whether they’re using an iOS or an Android device.

The Apple store will display your app‘s title, subtitle, icon, and relevant images. Meanwhile, Google Play gives far less context, showing only your app’s title and icon.

This means that it might be far easier to “sell” your app to an iOS user since they’ll be able to see some in-app screens and a tagline.

In Google’s store, you have to make the magic happen through the app title itself. One way is to make it descriptive. You can inspire yourself with Notion’s title below:

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4. Use image sequences.

While cliche, an image truly is worth a thousand words when it comes to ASO. But adding static screenshots will no longer cut it — the top four app store optimization mistakes in 2022 were all attributed to the wrong use of visuals.

According to Linda Zheng, CEO of Rexjewel, the more eye-popping and interactive they are, the better. Based on the jewelry brand’s app experiences, she recommends taking on a “visual storytelling” approach.

“We launched the ‘Jewel Journeys’ visual series on our app listing,” she says. “This initiative replaced standard screenshots with a sequence of images narrating the story behind each jewelry piece.”

The result was striking. Zheng reports “a 15% increase in daily downloads, with over 12,000 new users downloading ‘Rexjewel Interactive’ in the first month post-launch.”

As Linda sums up, what has helped them grow their user and customer base exponentially was embracing technology — not only in their jewelry app but also in the app’s store optimization experience.

5. Understand your audience.

Your ASO marketing strategy should begin with getting to know your audience. Answer the following questions:

Who are they exactly? (Look into demographics.)
What do they expect from the app they’re searching for?
What problems are they trying to solve?

Your app listing must, most of all, speak to your potential users and answer their needs. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of apps to choose from. Your copy has to go beyond SEO optimization; it must be persuasive and relevant.

6. Pay attention to icon sizes.

Some users are aesthetes, so a visual presentation of your app also matters. Every time I download a new app, especially when I know I will be using it on a daily basis, I check the images.

I want to be certain that the UI is easy to navigate around and pleasing to the eye.

So, before publishing your listing, ensure it includes good-quality images and icons that nicely show what your app is capable of. Bear in mind that when it comes to sizing, each app store has its own criteria. Here are a few examples:

iOS — 1024 x 1024 pixels.
App icons — 180 x 180.
Navigation icons — 66 x 66.
Tab bar icons — 75 x 75.
Google — 512 x 512 pixels.

7. Include captivating preview videos.

Preview videos are an ASO tactic that works well on both app stores, though you might not be able to use the same recordings. The Apple Store lets you add a maximum of three videos, each 30 seconds long.

One of these will autoplay without sound when your listing comes up in search. It’s how many users will form their first impression of your app.

So, make sure the video is both visually attractive and that it demonstrates the features and in-app flow well.

In the case of Google Play, you can only add one recording, but it can run as long as you wish. This means you might need to take on a different ASO marketing strategy for each platform.

8. Check what your competition is up to.

Before you start working on your app listing, take a quick look at your competitors — treat them as a source of inspiration. Pay attention to:

The keywords they rank for. Type the keywords you plan to use in the app store search bar, and check what brands come up at the top. Analyze their listing, and see how they use the keywords in the subtitle, app description, etc.
The app description. What do they focus on in their copy? How long is it?
The images. What do they show?
The reviews. By reading what users say about the competing apps, you’ll know what they care about. Use these insights while creating your app listing.

9. Try to maximize your downloads.

Did you notice that the most popular apps usually appear at the top of search results? That’s because the number of downloads impacts app rankings, i.e., the higher it is, the more visibility you gain.

They also act as social proof — a lot of people think that since the app has been downloaded so many times, it has to be good. To maximize your downloads, work on boosting your conversion rate.

10. Backlinks matter in ASO (yes, really).

Backlinks are hardly the first ASO factor most of us think of (at least, that’s been my experience). Yet, it’s hardly surprising that this traditional SEO ranking factor also plays a certain role here.

Google’s app store looks at the number and rating of domains that mention your app. Similarly to how Google ranks websites, the more authoritative sources mention you, the more credibility it gives your app.

The link between backlinks and the Apple App Store is less apparent. Still, if a user finds your iOS app through a website and downloads it, then you‘ll boost your user statistics.

And if they also leave a good app review, then you’ll have two ASO factors playing in your favor.

11. Monitor your results continuously and optimize your strategy.

ASO optimization is a never-ending story. New apps are added to app stores, users’ behavior changes, and Google updates its algorithms — all of which impact your app’s ranking.

This is why you should continuously monitor your app’s performance. And to do it effectively, you need to set some KPIs like downloads, user retention, conversion rate, etc.

Whenever you notice your KPIs deteriorating, find out why that is, and implement an improvement plan.

12. Keyword density matters — but its importance varies between app stores.

Keyword density is how frequently you use each phrase in your listing. Google Play analyzes how often you use a term in the app description, but Apple does not.

Still, most sources put the ideal keyword density anywhere between 1% and 3% (or 4–5 times) per description. Bear in mind that it depends on how long your text is.

It’s worth keeping the number of keyword repetitions under control to avoid keyword stuffing accusations — both app stores could penalize this behavior.

ASO Marketing in Action (With Technology)

There are plenty of ASO tools on the market. I decided to try out one of the most popular tools, ASOdesk, to show you what they’re capable of.

One of the reasons I chose it is that it offers a free two-week trial — and I like to take the software for a spin before I commit.

It’s easy to get started. After signing up, you see a simple onboarding sequence where you select your goals. You can use it to:

View, reply, and analyze reviews.
Optimize your listing.
Boost your keyword strategy.

To begin tracking your metrics, all you have to do is provide the name of the app or its app store listing URL. For this demo, I’m going to choose the payment platform Wise.

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After clicking on the Keywords tab, you can see all the ones you should rank for. Some of the suggestions included “wise app” and “receive money.” Some of the other terms included names of competitors.

This could make sense for creating comparison websites, but whether this suggestion works for your app listing is questionable.

You can also inspect all the keywords your app ranks for. What I like is that there are separate tabs for Top 1, Top 2-5, and Top 6-10 positions.

I can easily see which keywords Wise is a clear winner for and which ones it still needs to work on to reach top search results. For each keyword, you can also see its daily impressions.

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ASOdesk lets you take a deeper dive into all keywords. Among others, you can check what new terms you’ve started ranking for, which keywords you’ve lost, and, overall, which went up or down in rankings.

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I also like the long-tail keyword suggestion feature — ASOdesk analyzes which combinations of terms could be worth including in your listing to reach high-intent prospects.

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Going further, I decided to try out the Page Builder feature. Some of the things you can do here include checking your description for character count, keyword density, and the number of queries for each of the phrases you use.

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Now, do you remember how I mentioned keeping track of your competitors? Well, that’s exactly what ASOdesk lets you do. You can add your competitors to see how your app ranks in comparison. For this experiment, I chose Revolut.

Below is a screen of Revolut’s keywords — notice that you can see the same information as for Wise, i.e., Top 1, Top 2-5 positions, etc.

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After adding a second app, you can now run a keyword gap analysis, i.e., see what terms they rank for that you don’t. You can check each term for popularity to see if it’s promising enough to include in your listing.

Better yet, you can also get a glimpse of your competitors’ listing copy — the character count, daily impressions, and popularity of keywords, along with their density in the descriptions.

This can come in handy when evaluating successful, i.e., high-ranking listings.

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In short, it’s a comprehensive tool, which allows you to work on literally every aspect of your listing. The fact that you can compare your app against competitors gives you a great opportunity to spot patterns and improve your listing.

The interface is friendly, making the learning curve soft, especially given the number of features it offers. Overall, it’s worth giving it a shot!

Best Practices for ASO Marketing

1. Ask users for reviews.

Social proof can do wonders for your ratings, so don’t hesitate to ask your users for reviews.

Magee Cleeg says that “both the quantity and quality of these reviews affect an app’s ranking. We encourage our clients to solicit reviews in an organic and user-friendly way within the app itself.”

This strategy led to a 35% improvement in the rating of a client’s app, “which in turn had a positive impact on its search rankings.”

2. Refine your listing by reviewing user feedback.

You should make your app feel as relatable to your target audience as possible. One of the best ways to do this is by looking at what users say about your app online. Among others, you can read app store reviews or run a survey.

What adjectives do they use to describe the experience and benefits? What emotions does your app evoke? Make sure to use these terms when writing your listing copy.

This approach has worked for Ilay Ayhan Turkmen, business development manager at YouParcel, who also serves as a board/advisory member at a few startups.

While working on one of the app optimization projects, the company “regularly updated app content based on user feedback and trends, ensuring it remained appealing and met evolving user needs.

These tactics led to a 30% increase in app downloads within the first quarter after the ASO overhaul.”

Ilay says that this feedback-in-the-loop approach helped prove the role of ASO in its entire mobile app marketing strategy.

3. Run A/B testing.

It’s hard to get your app listing right the first time, so I encourage you to run A/B tests to figure out what works best. There are a number of elements you can test, including:

App description copy.
Copy length.
Headings and subheadings.
Screenshots.
App icons.

Just make sure to change one component at a time. Otherwise, you won’t know what impacted your results.

Sudhir Khatwani, founder of The Money Mongers, says that by A/B testing the icons and images, they managed to increase their engagement rate by 20%. Pretty impressive!

4. Adjust text length for each app store.

Google Play and Apple App Store users see different elements of your listing — both in search results previews and when viewing the detailed page.

As mentioned earlier, both platforms let you create a title of up to 30 words, but they differ in other aspects.

For example, there are no subtitles in the Android store, but you can add a description of up to 80 characters. Meanwhile, iOS relies on the title and a short subtitle only.

The bottom line is that you should regularly check how each app listing appears for various users, as it’s vital in encouraging them to click through and, ultimately, download your app.

What I learned…

As someone who’s worked primarily in SEO, I can say that ASO bears a lot of resemblance to its website counterpart.

In the case of Google Play, some analogies stem from the fact that Google uses similar ranking signals, like backlinks, across both platforms.

While working on your ASO marketing strategy, here are some things to keep in mind:

Select your keywords wisely – consider their popularity and difficulty score.
Localize your listing for specific markets. This means not only using the right spelling but also terms that are most popular in each country.
Don’t be afraid to run A/B tests. After all, it’s hard to get your listing right the first time.

And, lastly, remember that ASO isn’t a 100-meter run; it’s a marathon, where you have to continuously analyze and refine your app listing to reach those top results.

Good luck!

B2B

Social Media Copywriting: Expert Tips for Composing Text on 5 Different Platforms [Bookmarkable]

i4lead Jan 6, 2024

Most of us know that nailing social media copywriting and maintaining an active social presence is essential to a brand’s marketing strategy. After all, over 90% of marketers say that social media is essential to their business.

And yet, managing it continues to be a source of frustration for many.

That’s understandable — there are many moving parts to a successful social media strategy. There’s knowing the right frequency with which to post. There’s the measurement of any ROI on these efforts.

And there’s determining what the heck to post to each channel.

Different channels have different audiences, peak times, and character limits.

That’s why we put together the guidelines below to compose copy for five social media channels: Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat. So read on — and start writing.

How to Compose Text for 5 Social Media Channels

Facebook

Let’s start with a look at Facebook’s audience:

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According to the Pew Research Center, 69% of all online adults on Facebook continue to be the highest-utilized social network. It’s a great place to start building an online community.

And remember, 90% of social media marketers say building an active online community is critical to a brand’s success in 2023 – so your efforts will not be wasted.

But out of the channels we’ll cover here, it also has the highest usage rate among the 65+ audience.

When composing text for Facebook, it’s essential to remember these data — especially if that’s who your brand is targeting. Let’s say you’re creating a marketing budget and want to decide how to allocate a portion for social media.

While we encourage having a presence across all channels, if you’re aiming for the attention of the 65+ audience, this might be the best network for an ad spend or a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.

Focus your energy here, and then repurpose that content for other channels.

So, let’s go over some basic ground rules:

Make sure your formatting is correct. That’s a big reason we discourage auto-posting duplicate content across multiple channels — you risk including an “@user” tag that’s only fitting for X or Instagram.
Facebook’s character limit on status updates is 63,206. That’s far from ideal. People don’t visit Facebook to consume long-form text or stories. Buffer has found that Facebook posts with 80 characters or less receive 66% higher engagement.
Less text allows greater focus to be placed on any visual content that accompanies it.

Facebook is an excellent avenue for creating an online community and promoting your external content — things like blog posts, reports, or videos. But don’t just post a link without a description.

Be sure to accompany it with brief, attention-grabbing text that signals what the content is about or poses a question that it answers.

Expert tip: Facebook is a great place to create community with your audience, but you need to be strategic with your posts.

Neal Schaffer suggests, “You need to make sure that your posts are aligned with your business goals as well as the reason why people liked your page in the first place!”

He says, “Not only will this best practice strengthen your relationship with your audience, but it will also grow your audience.”

X (Formerly Twitter)

X has become an increasingly popular social media platform. The platform is growing 30% faster among Gen Z than other platforms, like Instagram.

Even though only 7% of marketers think X is the most effective platform for building an engaged community, it is well worth the effort to include crafting the perfect copy for posts as part of your marketing strategy.

Posts for most users have a maximum of 280 characters. For X Blue users, the character count is 10,000. Even though some users have a higher character limit, the ideal post length is around 240-259 characters.

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Remember that hashtags are an effective way to indicate and summarize your message when composing copy for posts. Nearly 87% of social media marketers think users will use social media instead of a search engine to search for products.

So, creating a hashtag specifically for your brand is an excellent way to become discovered by users who might be using hashtags to search for posts or products.

But exercise some restraint with hashtags, and make sure the text accompanying them comprises most of the post. Limit it to one or two — these posts have a 21% higher engagement than those with three or more.

What is social media copywriting; graphic showing successful types of Twitter content

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Notice how music site Pitchfork uses X to promote its top songs and albums for the year.

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The post makes the most of hashtags, using the same tag the publication used to promote audience voting. The post also uses eye-catching graphics with alt text. This makes the post accessible for screen readers and optimized for SEO.

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LinkedIn ranks as the fifth largest social media to provide a high ROI for marketers. The platform has become an interesting content distribution channel.

Users can share simple post updates, usually business-related (think: job openings and professional conferences), and push them to X simultaneously.

However, we don’t recommend that — see our note on the problems with identical content across different channels.

But in 2012, LinkedIn introduced its Influencers program, which recruited notable business figures to guest blog on LinkedIn’s publishing platform.

Eventually, that platform became open to all LinkedIn members in 2014, positioning it as an outlet for people to share original content with an audience much larger than they may have received on their own domains.

That’s part of decentralized content: A concept that allows users to share their work published elsewhere on a content creation platform.

Unlike most social media — where limited content is displayed — the full text and images of the work are shared, with the original author and source credited, on a site different from its origin.

That makes LinkedIn an excellent place to re-post and link to your blog content. But why make the duplicate effort? Well, consider this: 16.4% of all online adults use LinkedIn.

Does your blog have that kind of reach? If it doesn’t, you can reach LinkedIn’s larger audience by syndicating your own content on their platform, drawing more attention to your work.

According to Tim Queen, the character limit for these posts is 3,000 characters.

Expert tip: Re-posting your blog content on other social media platforms requires little knowledge of character counts.

Tim Queen suggests, “If you limit yourself to 2200 characters or 300 to 400 words, you can share your story on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook without the need to edit a word.”

Keep character limits in mind when crafting your social media copy.

Instagram

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Instagram continues to be a favorite social media platform among users and social media marketers alike. 25% of social media marketers say it is the best platform for growing an engaged audience.

Since Instagram is, first and foremost, a platform for sharing photos and videos, the primary focus should be on your visual content. But it’s helpful to provide context that lets users know what they’re viewing — within reason.

Like many other channels we’ve discussed, people don’t use Instagram to read long-form content. And while Instagram doesn’t appear to specify a maximum number of caption characters, it’s cut off after the first three lines.

That’s why we recommend limiting captions to that amount, and if you require more text, make sure the most important information — like calls-to-action — is included in the first three lines.

Hashtags, @mentions, and extraneous details can go toward the end of the copy.

Here’s an excellent example from Vulture. The post starts with an eye-catching image and a well-known actor — Timothée Chalamet.

The copy in the caption gives the post context, noting that it’s a story about the actor’s heartthrob persona. The post also mentions the writer and image’s illustrator expanding its reach.

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Using your caption to provide context is especially important when sharing videos. These typically automatically play without sound, so use the description to let them know what they can’t hear — and maybe even motivate them to listen.

And about those hashtags: Unlike X, it’s okay to use more than two here, but it’s advised to use less than eight.

According to Instagram, the sweet spot seems to be around three to five hashtags — those Instagram posts seem to get the most engagement.

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As for Instagram Stories, there isn’t a ton of detail on character limits there, but because the text overlays the visual content — which is the focus — don’t obscure too much of the photo or video with a caption.

Expert tip: Instagram captions should be short, sweet, and to the point.

Ashlyn Carter suggests that you should “apply any headline copywriting tips you’ve learned to write that first line on Instagram.”

Since Instagram only shows a short snippet of copy to those scrolling through their feed, your first line should draw your audience in and keep them engaged.

Snapchat

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While we‘re on the topic of not obscuring visual content, let’s discuss Snapchat. Again, because the focus here is on the visual, you’ll want to prevent distracting viewers from it with too much text.

According to Teen Vogue, Snapchat’s character limit is 80 per post. The word “snap” implies brevity, so try not to ramble.

The same goes for your Snapchat story: “a compilation of Snaps that a friend has posted to their Story over the last 24 hours.”

Here’s a fun example of how the Food Network created an entire Snapchat story based on the idea of coffee. It began with a small promo on “3 Ways to Step Up Your Iced Coffee Game” under Featured Stories:

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Then, it shared a series of animated images and videos all about the topic, ranging from recipe tips to clips from the network’s show, “Cutthroat Kitchen.”

It took a simple topic — coffee — and expanded it into engaging, consumable content to highlight what the brand does best.

Notice that for certain parts of the story, there’s a call-to-action at the bottom to “Watch” or “Read.”

While Snapchat doesn’t make this entirely clear, it seems like that’s strictly a feature of ads and not something that can be added organically.

However, if your budget permits, adding these CTAs is another way to drive attention to your longer-form content.

Get That Copy Right

Managing your brand’s social media presence is no simple task, but it’s more than possible. And now, writing creative, compelling copy for your various platforms can become a fun task.

And, if you need inspiration for the content you’d like to share on your social media platforms, AI tools, like HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant, can help you write copy in minutes.

Before writing, draw some information about your audience composition for each social network. Then, see how that compares to the user data from Pew Research Center.

From there, you can see where you have the most active audience and how you can repurpose content from one channel to draw attention to another one — and attract website traffic.

How do you create and repurpose copy for social media? Let us know in the comments.

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