Whether commuting by car, bus, or train, I find myself watching the world — and billboard ads — go by. Billboard advertising has come a long way, from signs painted on barn roofs to sleek, powerful advertisements and multimedia sensations.

Billboard advertising isn’t your typical inbound marketing strategy. It relies on the customer coming to the ad instead of sending it to the customer. However, I find it’s a powerful way to build brand awareness, support other marketing channels like blogging, online lead offers, and SEO, and reach new audiences.

I’ll share everything I know about billboard advertising in this article, including my secret weapon for low-cost billboard advertising, to help you maximize your out-of-home (OOH) marketing efforts.

Table of Contents

• What is Billboard Advertising?
• Types of Billboard Advertising
• Does Billboard Advertising Work?
• Billboard Advertising Statistics
• Billboard Advertising Cost
• Billboard Advertising ROI
• Billboard Design Tips and Examples

Billboard locations are based on traffic — how many people will see the billboard — and are usually located beside busy roads, at offramps, near train stations, and in cities where many people pass by them daily.

Billboards are examples of out-of-home (OOH) advertising, similar to bus shelters, wallscapes, and posters.

Overall, billboards tend to have more views (impressions) than other marketing methods due to high-traffic locations, making billboard advertising great for brand awareness.

Types of Billboards

Today’s billboards are far more than just large signs on poles. There are five major types of billboards you can use in your OOH marketing campaigns, and some billboards cross categories.

1. Static Billboards

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These are the classic, large outdoor advertising displays you see along highways and busy urban areas. They feature a single, unchanging image or message.

Older billboards used to be hand-painted, but today’s static billboards are usually preprinted and pasted on in sections similar to wallpaper or printed on large vinyl sheets (often called vinyl billboards) and stretched across the sign for a smooth look. However, some static billboards are more creative in design.

Static billboards are effective for brand awareness and long-term advertising campaigns. They provide a constant visual presence that can reinforce your brand message over time. Some have even become protected landmarks, like the Pepsi-Cola sign in Queens.

2. Digital Billboards

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Digital billboards are a dynamic form of outdoor advertising. Unlike static billboards, they use LED screens to display multiple eye-catching ads that include animations, changing images, videos, and even live updates.

My favorite feature of digital billboards is the ability to change the message quickly. If I need to update my ad or run a time-sensitive campaign, digital billboards make it possible without the hassle and cost of printing new materials. This flexibility is invaluable for promotions, special events, or providing real-time information.

3. Three-Dimensional (3D) Billboards

Three-dimensional billboards incorporate 3D elements like special effects to create a more immersive experience for viewers. While digital billboards create 3D effects through visual illusion, there are also physical 3D billboards with sculptural pieces (static or animated) added to them for more interest.

This heightened level of engagement is perfect for brand awareness campaigns, product launches, or any advertisement where you want to make a lasting impression.

4. Mobile Billboards

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Mobile billboards display ads on moving vehicles like trucks, buses, or cars. They take the message directly to the audience by traveling through various routes, which offers more reach than stationary billboards and puts the messaging at eye level.

One thing I love about these billboards is that you can use them to target specific areas or demographic groups. For instance, if I want to reach a particular neighborhood, I can schedule my mobile billboard to travel through those areas at peak times.

5. Interactive Billboards

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Interactive billboards grab attention through a sense of novelty and incorporate touch screens, motion sensors, QR codes, augmented reality, and even smell to create a participatory experience for viewers.

Unlike passive traditional billboards, I can use interactive billboards to invite people to engage directly with my ads with real-time feedback and a multi-sensory experience that can leave a lasting impression on passersby.

Scented billboards in this category are becoming more common in large cities. Generally, they are placed near restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and fast-food chains to draw in consumers with yummy smells. One of the most famous examples is the Smells Like McDonald campaign, where the company used the smell of fries to attract pedestrians.

Fragrance and beauty companies can also leverage these billboards to give potential customers a preview of their latest scents.

Does Billboard Advertising Work?

Digital optical illusion 3D billboards revived interest in billboard advertising. Billboard ads of every type are still effective, even in the age of social media and online digital ads. They have unique features that online ads can’t replace, like:

• Constant visibility. Unlike online digital ads that I can block or skip, billboards are always on display, making my message consistently visible to everyone who passes by.
• High reach. Billboards reach a large audience because they’re positioned in high-traffic areas.
• Impactful presence. Billboards’ sheer size and bold designs make them stand out in busy environments and create lasting impressions on viewers.
• Geographic targeting. I can choose prime locations that align with my target audience’s daily routes to maximize engagement. For example, “exit now for” messages near offramps to my stores.

Mark Pierce, CEO and founding partner of law firm Wyoming Trust and LLC Attorney, shares that billboard ads are highly effective for his firm, “We want to be a name or brand that feels approachable and familiar to our audience without hitting them over the head. Billboards are a low-lift complement to achieving this.”

While billboard rental costs can be higher than digital advertising, they offer many benefits. The scale of the audience alone can significantly boost brand awareness and conversions.

Mia Anderson, a fashion expert and a founder of women’s fashion brand ChicSew, notes that “These campaigns often lead to an uptick in sales and customer inquiries, indicating that billboards effectively generate interest and drive consumer action.”

Further, she sees an increase in in-store foot traffic quickly following the launch of her billboard campaigns.

Billboard Advertising Statistics

Billboard ads are better accepted than online ads. OAAA research shows that 85% of people find OOH ads like billboards useful. In comparison, a Statista survey shares that online ads annoy 40% of users.

Plus, viewers remember out-of-home ads better. OOH Today found that out-of-home ads create more recall than:

• Print ads.
• Online ads.
• Podcasts and radio.
• Live and streaming television.

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Plus, consumers take action after seeing billboards. The OAAA research shows that 65% of viewers took action (like visiting a website or searching online) after seeing a digital billboard.

The most common billboard ads, with nearly 1.7 million ads displayed in the United States, are mobile billboard ads, likely because they are cost-effective compared to traditional billboards.

Those results may be why top brands are increasing their OOH advertising spending. In fact, OOH advertising revenue grew by 6.8% to $1.94 billion in the first quarter of 2024.

All that spending is driving the global digital billboard market, which is expected to increase to around $20.2 billion over the next five years.

Billboard Advertising Cost

Costs for billboard advertising primarily depend on:

• Billboard location.
• Total traffic in the area.
• Estimated number of people who will see your advertisement.

Geopath, a nonprofit organization, uses technology and media research to estimate the weekly impressions of every billboard in the country. Using that information, it assigns every out-of-home advertising opportunity an OOH rating, which ultimately determines its value and cost to advertisers.

OOH advertising companies that own the billboards pay Geopath for the information and base their rates on those ratings.

I’ve found that the average cost typically runs around $910 for four weeks, but big markets have big costs. For example, an ad could cost $50,000 for a day in Times Square, New York. Overall, digital billboard costs start at a much lower price than other billboard ads. While some can charge as little as $100 per month, the average cost of a four-week campaign is $417.

According to Geopath, up to 10 determining factors make up an OOH rating and, therefore, the cost of each billboard advertising opportunity. However, the three main factors do the bulk of the work.

Circulation

The number of people passing the billboard each week is called circulation, and it’s calculated from data provided by local transportation authorities.

Demographics

The characteristics of the audience make up the demographics. Geopath uses information from local transportation authorities and travel surveys to figure out the age, gender, income level, and other characteristics of people passing the billboard.

Impressions

Where circulation is a potential audience measure, impressions are an estimate of how many of that audience will actually see the billboard ad. It’s calculated based on many factors, including:

• Billboard size.
• How close it is to the road.
• Billboard visibility.
• Traffic speed beside the billboard.
• The billboard’s circulation.

Billboard ad design fees can start at $150 per hour, and the complexity of your desired design matters, too. For example, if I plan to create a 30-second 3D animation for my digital billboard advertising, the costs could start at $1,000 per minute.

Beyond renting advertising space on an existing billboard, there’s also the cost of designing and constructing the billboard if you’re getting creative with your billboard. Depending on what kind of billboard you want to create, this could cost anywhere from $2,000 to over $100,000.

Pro Tip: Self-service digital billboard ads are a low-cost option.

I promised my secret weapon for low-cost billboard advertising, and I keep my promises. A great way to start billboard advertising is with self-serve digital billboards.

Companies like Blip offer ads starting as low as $5 a day in some cases. You adjust the combination of impressions, location, and budget per day to fit your needs.

Billboard Advertising ROI

Billboard ads are profitable. Spiceworks’ 2022 study shows that digital billboards deliver a 38% ROI. Traditional billboards also have good ROI, with a 40% return on investment.

Gabriel Lukov, Head of Inbound Growth at enterprise software firm Businessmap, says they get an average ROI of 5:1 on their billboard advertising investments.

Meeting your ROI goals means researching and planning how to measure results. For example, adding a CTA with a unique URL for your billboard ad can help you track conversions.

While billboard advertising can’t match the ROI of some forms of content marketing like email (which has an incredible ROI of 3,800%), brand recognition is one of the most powerful reasons to advertise with a billboard. If that’s your focus, you may want to measure ROAS (return on ad spend) instead of ROI.

Pro tip: Use our ROI calculator.

Using an ROI calculator is a great way to help determine your budget if you plan to direct traffic to your website.

Billboard Design Tips and Examples

Easy-to-read and attention-grabbing billboard ads come from following solid billboard advertising design guidelines.

Here are my favorite billboard design tips for creating effective billboard ads.

1. Tell a (short) story.

Take viewers on a journey with your billboard through imagery and maybe some text. However, most drivers only have time to read a few words, so I try to show the essence of an idea rather than describe it with text.

For example, Apple’s iPhone challenges gather stunning images from iPhone users that highlight the product’s photography features. At the same time, they also add inspiration to public billboards.

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A story doesn’t have to be complex to be exciting. This 3D digital billboard example from BMW tells the story of their latest model heading out for a quick drive while focusing on action.

2. Make it bold and simple.

You only get a few seconds to deliver your message to drivers and passersby. I recommend keeping your billboard design simple to reach the highest number of viewers (and potential customers). After all, people are often driving past your billboard at 70 mph.

Choose bold fonts in large sizes set against contrasting background colors. Colors should stand out to viewers and enhance visibility. For example, I avoid earth tones like greens and browns for billboards near a lot of trees.

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Specsavers made an impact using simple text and color, plus a 3D prop. If your message is the most important part of your billboard, use design decisions like font, layout, and color to draw attention to it.

3. Consider the location.

I’ve lived in my current neighborhood long enough to foster a certain sense of pride. So, when I wander by authentic billboards that work with my location, I always pay attention.

Using sports, nicknames, nuances, or inside jokes related to the area can make the billboard (and brand) feel in touch with the community.

The popularity of the Shinjuku digital billboard in Tokyo, Japan, makes it an attraction for visitors and hosts many high-end creative ads, like this Nike example.

Some billboard advertising sticks around long enough it becomes a landmark and part of the community. For example, Portland stag billboard has become part of the local identity.

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4. Make it interactive.

Depending on my billboard’s location, I may be able to design it so it interacts with its surrounding environment. This strategy makes my ad stick out among the noise and grab the attention of passersby.

For example, Intel and Genvid collaborated on Project Monarch, which created an interactive game that allowed viewers to play it via their mobile devices and see the results on the billboard.

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5. Make it memorable.

OOH advertising needs to stand out from the hustle and bustle of a regular commute (or the monotony of a long road trip), and my billboards shouldn’t be any different.

I design my billboards to tell a story or share a call to action in exciting and memorable ways through emotion. Whether I use humor, outrage, empathy, or desire, emotional marketing tactics improve recall for my billboard designs.

Businesses aren‘t the only ones looking to advertise. I’ve also seen proud moms congratulating recent graduates, wedding proposals, and fans trying to save streaming shows on billboards.

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While some of these efforts may not be right for your brand, they bring smiles and news attention, and many of these local efforts end up going viral.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these edible billboard examples.

Out of Home Advertising: The Marketing You Never Knew You Needed

Billboard advertising may not be a common marketing strategy, but in my experience, it’s a highly effective way to promote your products and boost brand awareness.

My billboard design tips and examples are a great starting point to create your next billboard campaign. Who knows? Maybe your billboard will catch your next customer’s attention during their commute.

I can honestly say that, so far in my career, I’ve never witnessed such a high competition for marketing roles on LinkedIn, both full-time and freelance, as now.

And I’ve seen countless comments and got tens of email replies from hiring managers, saying that they’re overwhelmed as they’ve received over a hundred applications.

No wonder that to make sense of it all and spot relevant candidates, companies are looking for ways to streamline the recruitment process. For them, applicant tracking systems are a blessing. However, for some inexperienced candidates, they can feel like a nightmare.

Luckily, getting past these automatic resume filtering systems is certainly attainable if you know how they screen CVs. Let’s take a look.

Table of Contents

• What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)?
• ATS Friendly Resume Templates
• Testing It Out
• Tips for Creating an ATS-Friendly Resume

What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)?

Human resource departments receive hundreds of resumes. To make their lives a little easier, they use computer software called ATS.

These solutions help recruiters process large volumes of CVs and pick the most suitable candidates. Applicant tracking systems come in handy in the initial screening phase and eliminate resumes that aren’t a good fit for the position.

One of the most important things that candidates should know about the ATS is that it lets employers filter resumes based on keywords. That’s why it’s vital to tailor your CV to specific roles. Only after passing the initial screening will the resume be reviewed by a recruiter.

ATS Friendly Resume Templates

Let’s now look at some ATS-friendly templates. Each one describes a different role.

Marketing Manager — ATS Resume Template

When you go through all the templates, you’ll probably notice one thing — they are all well-formatted and minimalistic. The days of fancy designs are over. Now, it’s all about specificity and relevancy. This trend shines through in this resume.

Each section has a clear heading, making scanning easy, which I really like. The design is clean and easy to read. It doesn’t include any acronyms, which an ATS might not be able to understand — a big plus.

What I like: While it’s important to create a resume which can go through an ATS, it’s also key to remember that if it passes initial screening it will be reviewed by a recruiter. I like that this resume incorporates the needs of both situations.

For the latter, you need to ensure that it nicely demonstrates your achievements, preferably backed by numbers as shown in this template — “increased site traffic by 15%.”

Executive Assistant — ATS Resume Template

This template includes a short professional summary. It’s one of the elements required by the ATS system, so it’s great. It’s short and to the point, which I like. It’s well formatted and features a good overview of all positions held, which are succinctly summarized.

What I like: I like that this resume includes skills specific to the job. These can also be treated as keywords, improving the candidate’s chances of being selected — or at least getting through initial screening.

Early-stage Marketing Professional — ATS Resume Template

First of all, I like the idea behind this free HubSpot resume template. It specifically targets applicants who are relatively new to the job market, so I can imagine how many Gen Z’s could benefit from it.

These candidates might find it hard to demonstrate their job-fit and skills without having a lot of previous professional experiences. I can imagine how mind-boggling it could be to simultaneously think about pleasing ATS.

What I like: I like that this CV template, under each header, features guidelines instead of a fictional summary, past roles, etc.

The instructions clearly say that the resume must be to-the-point and concise. This will not only make it easier for an ATS to scan the contents, but it will also make it simple to navigate by recruiters.

HR Professional — ATS Resume Template

The fictional applicant is an experienced HR professional. However, to keep it under one page, they only discuss their two most recent roles.

The descriptions are quite detailed, so there’s a lot of room for natural use of the right keywords. Also, the “Skills & Competencies” section is super-scannable both for the ATS and the human eye.

What I like: This CV is an ideal blend of detail and conciseness. It shows how a senior specialist can keep their resume within one page.

Pro tip: Check out these free resume templates for Microsoft Word.

Testing It Out

Now, I am going to try to create an ATS-friendly resume. I am applying for the senior content marketing manager position at Whatagraph. You can see the job posting below:

I am going to use one of the free resume templates from the section above as my starting point. Next, I’ll upload it to Resume Worded, a resume scanner, and check the suggestions it has for me to help make it pass ATS.

Before you dive into this experiment with me, bear in mind that I did not spend a lot of time on following ATS guidelines in the first version of the CV. I wanted to make sure all the information is there, but left room for Resume Worded to show me how I can make it better.

My initial resume got a score of 30 out of 100, which is quite low. After applying the suggested changes, I was able to double my score. Using the features available on the free plan, I got a 64 out of 100. I’m pretty happy with it. If I were to use the paid version with premium tips, I would get that number even higher.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the whole process.

Here’s the initial version I created using one of HubSpot’s free resume templates:

After uploading it to Resume Worded, I got plenty of suggestions as well as information on what I already did correctly:

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Here are the changes I implemented, according to the tool’s suggestions:

• I re-worked the experiences from paragraph-based descriptions into bullet points.
• I checked the CV for passive voice use.
• Resume Worded suggested adding an additional section to increase the word count. The first version of the resume was about 30-40 words shorter than the industry average. So, I decided to add an “Awards and Achievements” section.
• I added extra information on education.
• I removed the “filler” words. Suggestions included changing terms like “notable increase” to just “increase.” However, I only found two or three in the entire document, so I don’t think they were detrimental to my score.

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Here is the changed version of the resume, along with the new score:

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What I think: Overall, I think it’s a useful tool. Some of the suggestions were helpful and easy to implement, while others I disagreed with. For example, it told me the dates might be in an incorrect format, which isn’t true. I only included months and years, so this couldn’t even result from the E.U./U.S. disparity.

The tool also suggested using more numbers and stats — I already had eight. Considering the length of the resume, that’s plenty. But I appreciate the fact that it puts a lot of emphasis on quantifying your achievements. Ultimately, it will be a human making the final decision — not software.

What I don’t fully agree with is how the tool defines “repetitive” words. It underlined two crucial terms when you’re applying for a senior content marketing role — “website traffic and conversion rates.”

I used these twice; once in the Summary to show a high-level achievement, and once in one of the role descriptions to demonstrate results for the specific company.

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Tips for Creating an ATS-Friendly Resume

1. Add a relevant headline.

Your resume won’t make it past the automatic evaluation if you don’t add an accurate title next to your name and surname. So, what should you focus on?

“Make sure you include the specific job title that you’re applying for, as well as a few choices of keywords related to the qualifications listed in the job description. Naturally, make sure that they match your skill set or experience,” says Rob Boyle, marketing operations director at recruiting firm Airswift.

Boyle recommends doing all of this in a single sentence — ideally, one that only takes up one line. For example, it could be something like “Experienced cross-platform Mobile Developer with proficiency in Python and Java and strong UI/UX design knowledge.”

Boyle says that with a strong resume headline, the ATS and human reviewers will see from the very beginning that you have the core skills for the role. And “this, ultimately, will entice them to read on.”

2. Use the keywords from the job ad, along with their variations.

When I asked Anna Williams, human resources director at Digital Silk, about her single most important tip for getting past an ATS, she said:

“With more than 15 years of experience dealing with ATS systems, I’d advise candidates to consider the importance of mirroring job description keywords. ATS filters resumes for specific phrases relevant to the role you’re applying for.”

Williams says that a lot of candidates already know that they should use relevant phrases. However, many of them miss one important detail — using variations of these keywords.

“Let’s take the example of a ‘project manager’ role. An ATS might also search for terms like ‘project coordinator’ or ‘project leader.’ Therefore, incorporating synonyms or alternative phrases for your job title can increase your resume’s visibility,” Williams says.

At the same time, since your CV should be a one-pager, think about how you can avoid keyword stuffing.

“If a job description mentions ‘project management’ multiple times, consider how you can reflect this term, without overusing it, in your resume,” Williams told me. “Use phrases like ‘managed multiple projects concurrently,’ to align your experiences with the job.”

Similarly, any unique terminologies or skill-specific words used in the job description should be reflected in your resume wherever genuinely applicable.

3. Include storytelling and prioritize results.

I can’t underline this tip strongly enough — today’s ATS systems can understand sentences thanks to natural language processing (NLP), so don’t limit yourself to using “dry” statements or generic descriptions.

“When it comes to crafting ATS-friendly resumes, what I have found effective is incorporating storytelling elements into your bullet points. Rather than just listing job duties, try framing your accomplishments as mini-stories that showcase your skills and experiences in action,” says Mohamed Mezian, founder of Augurisk.

For instance, Mezian points to the phrase “Managed social media accounts.” Instead, you could say, “Elevated brand engagement by 30% through strategic content curation and audience engagement tactics.”

Mezian says that this not only makes your resume more engaging for human evaluators, it also helps ATS better analyze the impact of your work and increase your chances of making it through the initial screening process.

“Remember, behind every bullet point lies an opportunity to tell your professional story in a compelling and memorable way,” he concludes.

4. Mirror the “Requirements” section.

Jarir Mallah, HR Manager at a rapidly growing tech startup Ling, uses ATS on a daily basis to grow their team.

“While most candidates are aware that their resumes should include keywords relating to the job description, I recommend prioritizing those found in the ‘Requirements’ section of the listing,” he says.

Mallah underlines that, instead of stuffing their resume with buzzwords used in the job posting’s “Responsibilities” section, candidates should focus on mirroring the “Requirements.”

“Companies are, first and foremost, looking for candidates meeting essential skill sets and qualifications. So, this strategy significantly improves the chances of passing ATS scans.”

5. Structure the document for quick parsing.

Preparing your resume’s format is a surprisingly overlooked strategy. Liza Griffen, Director at recruitment agency Tyler Griffen, agrees.

“Most recruiters know about including keywords, but not everyone considers how an ATS reads the file’s format. A straightforward yet innovative approach is to structure your resume with a ‘Core Competencies’ section right after the introductory profile,” Griffen says.

She suggests using a concise bulleted list, with each point mentioning a common industry term.

“This method not only highlights your expertise right off the bat, making it impossible for the ATS to miss. It also caters to the scanning algorithms of ATS systems, which are designed to pick up and categorize information presented in simple, digestible formats,” Griffen says.

Griffen tells me that you can significantly improve your visibility in candidate searches by placing this section at the front of your resume.

6. Be careful about using graphic elements.

Now that I’ve mentioned formatting text, I must also mention other contents of your resume — i.e., those that can’t be parsed to plain text.

Before you submit your resume, search for elements that would go missing if all the icons or images were dismissed.

To give you an example, look at the image below. It’s a popular stylistic choice for displaying skills.

Be careful about submitting it to a company if it has to go past an ATS, as you have no certainty that the system will know how to “read” this section.

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Nick Derham, IT recruitment specialist at Adria Solutions, agrees, and shares his perspective.

“If you are creating a resume to upload to an ATS, you should aim for a lightly formatted CV without text boxes, illustrations, images, or charts. Focus on crafting a resume that is concise and easy to read, even if it seems too simple or boring,” Derham says.

Derham admits that advising candidates to upload an “ugly” resume sounds like an unpopular opinion, but he says there’s a reason for this.

Like most recruitment companies, Adria Solutions uses an ATS to make sure they supply the right candidates to clients.

“When we do so, we remove all candidates’ personal and contact information and use our own company-branded candidate sheets. Since most ATS won’t allow us to upload several documents, we copy and paste the information from the candidates’ resumes, so all creative resume formats are gone,” Derham explains.

Candidates have more control over how their data is processed and what the hiring manager sees if they upload a simple but concise resume. “Even if it’s uglier,” Derham concludes.

7. Create two copies of your resume.

This one might surprise you a little, but it’s worth creating two versions of your resume.

As aptly put by CIO, “an aesthetically pleasing resume with headers, different fonts, and visuals won’t do much to impress an ATS. Save that for the human recruiter or hiring manager by creating a second copy of your resume in a plain text format that will be easy for the ATS to scan.”

It might be a little more time-consuming, but it will pay off!

In the example below, save the first for when you get in contact with a person, but submit the first to be scanned by ATS:

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8. Personalize your resume for each job you apply to.

Whenever I visit LinkedIn and see an interesting job opening, I also immediately notice the overwhelming number of applicants.

And these applications have been sent within an hour or so from the job appearing on LinkedIn. This makes me think that most of these applicants use the “easy” apply button without tailoring their profile.

This will never work with an ATS; your resume must be tailored.

Angela Tait, people operations strategist and founder of Tait Consulting, says,

“Especially with an applicant tracking system, using keywords and direct sentences is a surefire way to submit a relevant and catchy resume. Tweaking your resume with each job application, while a bit more time-consuming, can make the difference between landing an interview or getting lost in the piles of applicants.”

She also shares an example:

“When I’m recruiting for an HR manager position for leaves I get a lot of resumes from people in HR, but when I look at their experience, they have nothing listed specific to leaves, which makes me assume they may not have experience. If I were using an ATS, it’s unlikely that the resume would even end up on my desk since it lacks the keyword ‘leaves.’”

9. Pro-tip for office-based roles: Include your zip code.

You’ve probably noticed that a growing number of companies require employees to be in a specific location. Even if they list a position as “remote” they usually add “within the U.S.,” “California,” or other. That’s why you should consider including your zip code — especially if it’s an office-based role you’re applying for.

Matt Collingwood, managing director at VIQU IT Recruitment, says,

“Many applicant tracking systems use AI to read resumes, pulling your key information such as your zip code to search whether you would be suitable for a job. Normally, recruiters will look for candidates within 20 miles of the client’s office, so if you don’t quote a zip code, you won’t appear in this ‘near’ radius search.”

10. Quantify your accomplishments with numbers and metrics.

You have to remember that at some point, your CV will end up in the hands of a recruiter (if you make it ATS-friendly, of course).

That’s why you cannot focus only on optimizing it for the tracking system, you also have to impress the hiring person.

Rahul Vij, CEO at Web Spero, says, “Applicant tracking systems love keywords, but simply including general skills from the job description isn’t enough to make you stand out. Instead, quantify your achievements using metrics that showcase the impact you’ve made in previous roles.”

For instance, Spero notes instead of just listing “social media marketing,” you can mention something like “Increased brand engagement by 20% through targeted social media campaigns.” This approach demonstrates not just the skill but how effectively you’ve applied it.

11. Proofread to check for errors.

This should be a no-brainer, but many candidates forget about it — make sure your CV is free from errors. This will increase your chances of having your resume accepted by an ATS. Since the system relies on specific words, if you make a spelling mistake it won’t be able to understand them.

Tim Elliott, president and COO at Mr. Moxey’s, says, “If you submit your resume with a spelling error, you’ll likely miss the opportunity, as your resume may not rank for the relevant keyword you misspelled.

Tools like Grammarly are good for helping you note and remove grammar errors from your write-up. It also provides quick suggestions on the corrections that are available.”

Elliot also emphasizes the importance of readability, pointing to the Hemingway app. “Your text must be easy to read for the required grade. If your resume has complex language, the ATS might find it hard to categorize you in the specific job,” he says.

12. Avoid the functional format at all costs.

Forget the functional resume format, which focuses primarily on your abilities without tying your skills back to your work history — it’s a big mistake.

Lisa Hagendorf, founder at Centerpiece Public Relations, says, “Not only are functional resumes considered ‘ATS incompatible,’ but recruiters distrust them. If you use a functional resume, hiring professionals assume you have something to hide — which is never good.”

She says it’s better to opt for a hybrid or reverse-chronological resume format, which displays information in a clear hierarchy, and it’s something that ATS appreciates.

These resume formats are not only conducive to applicant tracking systems, but their layout makes it easy for recruiters to quickly skim your resume and understand your career story and the value you have to offer, Hagendorf says.

“If your previous experience doesn’t support your new job goals, you’re better off using the professional summary section of your combination resume to highlight your relevant skills, rather than resorting to a functional resume format,” Hagendorf adds.

ATS Resume Template as a Good Starting Point

I realize that the job market these days is tough — there are thousands of candidates “fighting” for one position. This only raises the stakes when it comes to getting past the first phase, before a human even gets a glimpse of your application.

You might be a perfect candidate for a role, but if you don’t tick all the ATS boxes, you won’t get through the initial screening process.

You can use an ATS resume template as a starting point and use the tips I gathered for this piece to boost your chances of getting through to the next recruitment stage.

I’d like to once again emphasize that the times when you’d send the same version of your resume to multiple companies are long gone. Generic CVs no longer make an impact, as they lack the personal touch and won’t make you stand out.

Instead of wasting time creating a pixel-perfect resume design, focus on getting its content right — this will get you much further. Good luck!

Consumption habits change. 

For the past eight years, our annual State of B2B Content Consumption Report has shed light on these behaviors and the potential insights they offer. When applied appropriately, these findings can be a keystone of effective content strategies. 

But each report has so much to deliver and limited time.

This year, we’ll be diving deeper into some of the most prominent stats, findings, and insights from our 2024 State of B2B Content Consumption and Demand Report.

In this article, we’ll delve into the major shifts in content consumption patterns observed over the past year and explore their implications for B2B marketers.

Key Highlights

1. Total registrations increased by 14.3% year-over-year.
2. Demand for gated content has risen 77% since 2019.
3. The Consumption Gap widened by 2.5 hours in 2023, a reversal of last year’s shrinking.
4. eBooks remain the most popular content format, representing 39.5% of all demand with registrations increasing by 34.5%.
5. Webinars saw a 7.6% year-over-year increase in registrations; on-demand webinars grew by 56.7%.
6. C-level consumption represented 12.7% of audience demand, growing 7.9% year-over-year.
7. Demand for AI-related content increased 5.5 times year-over-year.

Demand Just Keeps Growing

2023 saw a 14.3% rise in total content consumption. 

This surge is particularly pronounced in the IT sector, which experienced a 25% increase, while the manufacturing industry saw a notable 10% rise in registrations.

The Five-Year Story

Some believe the growth from 2019 to be an arbitrary figure. Some think it’s just a stat to make NetLine look good. 

Perhaps that’s all true. But the fact remains that it’s still true and it tells a worthwhile story.

When COVID hit in March 2020, we wondered whether or not our 2019 retrospective (aka the 2020 report) would still have merit in a world turned upside down.

Four years later, the throughline remains unchanged: B2B content consumption continues to rise. 

Why Does This Matter?

For B2B marketers, these increases indicate a consistent and growing appetite for content among professionals, especially in key sectors like IT. 

Marketers must capitalize on this trend by producing more high-quality content to meet the rising demand. 

Understanding which industries are most active can also help in tailoring content strategies to target these high-engagement sectors. 

For a deeper look into your industry, we recommend taking a look at Audience Explorer. This free, real-time tool allows you to break down audience content consumption by Job Area and Industry—as well as filtering options by Region, Company Size, and Job Level—with real-time data from the past 180 days.

The Ever-Widening Consumption Gap

The Consumption Gap—the time between when content is requested and when it’s actually consumed—is one of the most intriguing stats we report on each year. 

2022 saw the gap shrink by 4.6 hours. 2023 was more in line with the trendline.

The gap increased by 8.7% in 2023—from 28.7 hours to 31.2 hours. 

So what’s causing this delay? 

• Swift ROI demands due to economic pressures.
• Balancing short-term needs with long-term goals.
• Increasing workloads with fewer resources and time.
• Professionals face higher expectations with limited means.

In our estimation, however, the growing complexity of the buying process is the primary driver of the Consumption Gap’s widening.

A whopping 59% of B2B buyers now involve at least four people in their buying committee.

25% include at least seven.

Why Does This Matter?

Does it take four people to open one document? Of course not.

But the amount of discussion, consideration, and planning that each team member requires is certainly a recipe for a slowdown.

Let’s take a look at how consumption differs by Job Level.

What the Data Tells Us
Job Levels such as Contractors (47.5) and Owners (45.9) show slower content consumption, indicating lower engagement or urgency. 

Conversely, roles like Senior VP (17.7) and VP (22.9) are more responsive, demonstrating higher engagement and eagerness to consume content. 

While each role features different priorities and content consumption behaviors across job levels, it’s clear that Vice Presidents should be viewed as key members of the buying committee. 

Perhaps these professionals should be held in higher regard compared to their C-Suite superiors.

The data also confirms the need for marketers and GTM teams to approach their target accounts with a multi-thread strategy.

Multithreading in sales involves engaging multiple decision-makers or employees of influence within a target organization. This approach helps sales teams navigate complex B2B buying dynamics, reducing reliance on a single contact and increasing the likelihood of a favorable decision.

As you would expect, each person within every account is proceeding at their own pace—even if the corporate pace is being set by someone else. Understanding and adapting to these varied consumption patterns is crucial for effectively engaging each member of the buying committee.

Now let’s look at how each Industry differs.

Deductions from the Data

Professionals in the Automotive (21.5), Government (25.1), and Construction (25.9) industries show higher engagement and eagerness to consume content. While it’s surprising for many Americans to see Government professionals acting quickly (hey, we’re having fun here), these pros need easily accessible information.

Industries with higher numbers, like Travel/Hospitality/Entertainment (38.2) and Corporate Services (38.1) aren’t in as big of a rush to consume. This trend highlights the varying urgency and content consumption behavior across industry.

Can We Shorten the Consumption Gap?

An excellent question.

The easiest way to answer this is with another question. Is your content so good and so relevant that it absolutely needs to be consumed immediately?

If the answer is no, then you have your first answer to shortening the consumption gap. 

It’s also worth asking if it matters. Some content begs to be consumed right away, whether due its seasonality, newsworthiness, or its fleeting nature. But some content doesn’t need to be opened right away. It’s good for marketers and sellers to remember this. 

When we log off for the day at our day jobs, we remain human beings and consumers in the world. We know that there are things that need our attention now and others that can be tended to later. Your audience, prospects, and buyers are no different. This is why we believe so deeply in buyer-level intent. 

Advice for B2B Marketers and Sellers

For roles with higher engagement, such as Senior VPs and VPs, provide concise, actionable insights through executive summaries and strategic reports to meet their quick consumption needs. 

Moderately engaged roles like Directors and Managers should be targeted through relevant content like case studies and how-to guides. For less engaged roles, like Contractors and Owners, adopt a nurturing approach with in-depth content that can be broken into bite-size chunks.

• Employ multi-channel strategies, including personalized emails and social media, to maintain interest and stay in their periphery. 
• Leverage analytics to track content effectiveness and adjust strategies accordingly. 
• Respect their time constraints by highlighting key takeaways in easily consumable formats like videos and podcasts.

The Bottom Line on Going from Consumption to Conversion

Patience is key. 

Our prospects need time to digest and discuss the content they’ve requested. Don’t be surprised when after less than 24 hours they’re completely unaware of anything you’re talking about. Rushing them with follow-ups could backfire. 

Give them space and time to consume the content, and plan your follow-up strategy accordingly.

Content Format Preferences

Webinars saw a 7.6% year-over-year increase in registrations, with on-demand webinars netting a 56.7% increase.

Those are great numbers…but eBooks remain the most popular content format for B2B professionals by leaps and bounds. [FLAG]

Representing 39.5% of all demand and with total registrations increasing by 34.5%, eBooks are the belle of the ball in the B2B world. Why? Because they’re convenient.

But unless you’re a TikTok star, popularity doesn’t pay the bills. What’s more interesting about the format is what we can learn from the “typical” consumption progression of its consumers. 

Maybe eBooks are TikTok stars after all…

Why Does This Matter?
Users are three times more likely to request an eBook than Guides, the second most popular format. Automatically, this makes eBooks a powerful tool for building awareness at the top of the funnel. 

More importantly, we found that eBooks were linked to a greater likelihood of purchase within the next six months (comparing 2023 to 2022). This demonstrates their effectiveness in driving conversions. 

Because eBooks are relatively straightforward to produce (writes the man who knows just how much work goes into one) creating eBooks that address the specific questions and pain points across the buying committee is a smart move. Our team did this in January by releasing the 2024 Content Trends & Planning Guide.

This approach ensures marketers can deliver valued and relevant information to all stakeholders, facilitating smoother decision-making and significantly increasing the likelihood of securing a purchase.

Tailoring content to these complex decision-making ecosystems not only aligns with the realities of modern B2B buying but also enhances the effectiveness of marketing efforts in driving conversions. ​

Implications for Marketers

Understanding these shifts in content consumption patterns is essential for adapting marketing strategies. 

Here are some actionable ways to leverage these insights:

1. Diversify Your Content Formats
   The popularity of webinars and ebooks suggests that professionals are looking for both interactive and in-depth content.
   
   By offering a variety of content formats, marketers can cater to different preferences and stages of the buyer’s journey, ultimately driving higher engagement and conversion rates.
   
   Invest in creating a mix of webinars, ebooks, and whitepapers to cater to different preferences and stages of the buyer’s journey. Each format has its unique strengths and can drive engagement in different ways.
   
   Why This Matters
   Diverse content formats ensure that you meet the varied preferences of your audience, increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.
2. Leverage Personal Profiles on Social Media
   Encourage employees, especially senior leaders, to share and engage with content on LinkedIn. Personal profiles are favored by algorithms and can significantly enhance the visibility and reach of your content.

Why This Matters
Leveraging the reach of individual profiles allows you to tap into broader networks and achieve higher engagement compared to branded accounts alone.

1. Optimize Content for Preferred Channels
   Leverage LinkedIn for distribution while maintaining strong email campaigns and utilizing industry-specific websites to reach a broader audience.
   
   Why This Matters
   Channel optimization ensures that your content is delivered through the most effective mediums, enhancing reach and engagement.
2. Create Evergreen Content
   Develop content that remains relevant over time to ensure sustained engagement. This approach not only maximizes the value of your content but also strengthens your brand’s authority and presence.Why This Matters
   Evergreen content provides long-term value, keeping your audience engaged and coming back for more.

Learn the Latest B2B Consumption Trends

The 2024 B2B Content Consumption Report provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving habits of B2B professionals. 

By understanding these shifts, marketers can adapt their strategies to meet the changing needs of their audience. In our next piece, we’ll explore how understanding consumption patterns is crucial for leveraging intent data to enhance content marketing efforts.

By integrating these insights into your content strategy, you can stay ahead of the curve and ensure your marketing efforts are both relevant and impactful. 

Stay tuned for our next article, where we’ll dive deeper into the role of intent data in shaping effective content strategies.

ChatGPT this, ChatGPT that. Well, I’m here to add to the AI noise (but in a good way, I promise).

I’ve seen a lot of discourse on LinkedIn about ChatGPT resumes and other professional use cases for AI.

Since the job market is on fire right now, I decided to do a little digging myself to see how helpful ChatGPT really is for resume writing.

Table of Contents

• Should you use ChatGPT to write your resume?
• How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume
• How to Use ChatGPT to Update Your Resume
• ChatGPT Resume Example
• Best Practices for ChatGPT Resumes

For those of you who appreciate a good visual: Watch me in real-time as I test out a couple of ChatGPT resume prompts to build my own resume.

Should you use ChatGPT to write your resume?

In my opinion, it’s not really a matter of should vs. should not.

ChatGPT can be a great resource to help you write or update your resume if you use the right prompts.

AI gives you three main superpowers:

• Speed: Tools like ChatGPT can create content quickly and save you time.
• Agility: AI can help you adjust your tone and language for your audience.
• Clarity: You can simplify complex sentences, ideas, and topics with AI.

But as we all know — with great power comes great responsibility.

I wouldn’t suggest relying solely on AI to help you land an interview. When it comes to your resume, you’re still going to have to do some of the heavy lifting.

However, ChatGPT can help make things a little lighter for you.

How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume

1. Use ChatGPT to create a professional summary.

Let’s kick this off with a professional summary.

I like to include a brief bio at the top of my resume to describe who I am and what my areas of expertise are. This is especially useful when the job application doesn’t require a cover letter.

To create a professional summary using ChatGPT, I used the following prompt:

Write a professional summary for a resume that describes a marketer with 8 years of experience in content strategy, writing, and editing. Limit the summary to 3-4 sentences, and make the tone conversational but professional.

Here’s the output I received:

I have to say, this is pretty solid. There are some areas I’d tweak based on my own preferences (I don’t use “adept” in conversation, for example). I’d also shorten some of the sentences for flow.

While ChatGPT could do some of this for me, I’d rather add my own personal touches — and I recommend you do the same.

Prompt(s) I Used:

• Write a professional summary for a resume that describes [your role] with [years of experience] in [areas of expertise]. [Include additional instructions related to format, length, and tone].

2. Use ChatGPT to expand on your work experience.

After my summary, I dive right into work history on my resume.

For this prompt, I’m going to start with some of my overarching responsibilities and see if ChatGPT can add more substance.

Here’s my input:

Generate bullet points to summarize my experience overseeing the content strategy for a large-scale blog property and writing compelling copy for marketing professionals.

And here’s the output I received:

Sometimes, it can be hard to put your work experience into words. I can see this output being a helpful source of inspo as you’re writing.

Prompt(s) I Used:

• Generate bullet points to summarize [experience/work history].

3. Use ChatGPT to pull compatible skills from your experience.

Next, I reserve some space for my education and skills. I don’t need help on the education side, but I will tap ChatGPT to help tease out skills based on my work history.

I started with this prompt:

Curate a short, bulleted list of professional skills for my resume based on my experience as a blog editor, writer, and project manager.

Here’s the output I received:

Not bad. However, I want to make sure my skills align with the role I’m applying for. To do so, I followed up with this prompt:

Align these skills with the following job description.

Then, I copied and pasted the job description.

Here’s the output I received:

The alignment aspect of this prompt is very useful. Part of creating a strong resume is including relevant keywords based on the job overview.

Together, these two prompts help tie your skills back to the role (which means the hiring manager doesn’t have to).

Still, I’ll include another plug here to rewrite your ChatGPT outputs in your own words. AI is great, but your voice is even better.

Prompt(s) I Used:

• Curate a list of professional skills for my resume based on [work history/experience] in [format].
• Based on the first output: Align these skills with the following job description. [Copy/paste the job description].

4. Use ChatGPT to write a cover letter.

OK, so your cover letter isn’t technically part of your resume. However, I figured I’d include it since many jobs are still asking for them.

I decided to use two methods to write a cover letter with ChatGPT. First, I used the job description as my guide.

I started with this prompt:

Write a cover letter for a Blog Manager position at a B2B SaaS company based on the below job description. Format the cover letter for email, limit the cover letter to 3 paragraphs, and make the tone conversational but professional.

Then, I copied and pasted the job description (not pictured for length).

Here’s the output I received:

Next, I asked ChatGPT to incorporate a couple of my specific accomplishments into the cover letter.

I used this prompt:

Incorporate these accomplishments into this cover letter: Drove nine consecutive months of organic goal attainment and ten months of YOY growth at my previous company.

Here’s the output I received:

This is another helpful starting point. I see some long sentences that need cleaning up, and it’s a little broad in describing my qualifications.

I could use ChatGPT for help with that too, but I’d suggest taking it from here to add more specific details about your experience.

I say this because your cover letter is supposed to help you stand out to hiring managers. And you don’t want to risk sounding like all of the other candidates who may have used ChatGPT to write theirs.

Take the extra time to refine the output so it reflects your personality and maps your unique skill set back to the role.

Prompt(s) I Used:

• Write a cover letter for [position] at [company] based on the below job description. [Include additional instructions related to format, length, and tone]. [Copy/paste the job description].
• Based on the first output: Incorporate these accomplishments/skills into the cover letter: [list accomplishments/skills].

Speaking of cover letters, ChatGPT can help you write job application emails, too.

How to Use ChatGPT to Update Your Resume

1. Tailor your resume to a specific job description.

Sometimes, you’ll need to adjust your resume to reflect a particular industry or role, and ChatGPT can help.

To demonstrate, let’s use a section of the sample resume I created earlier with this prompt:

Rewrite the professional summary on my resume to align with a marketing position in the healthcare industry. Mention my 5 years of health communication experience and plain language writing skills. Limit the summary to 3-4 sentences, and maintain the conversational but professional tone.

Then, I copied and pasted my professional summary into the chat.

Here’s the output I received:

You’ll notice I asked ChatGPT to “simplify this summary” after the first answer because it was too wordy for me. Keep in mind that it may take a few tries to get your desired response.

Prompts I Used:

• Rewrite [section of resume] to align with [position] for [industry/company]. [Include additional instructions related to format, length, and tone].

2. Proof your resume for grammar (and tone).

This prompt is pretty straightforward. Once your resume is complete, you can use a prompt like this one to proof it before hitting send:

Proofread my resume for any spelling or grammatical errors. Shorten long sentences, maintain a neutral but professional tone, and rewrite any complex words and phrases in plain language.

Here’s the output I received:

ChatGPT did a nice job tightening up the copy. I’d likely use this prompt again for copywriting tasks outside of just my resume.

Prompts I Used:

• Proofread my resume for any spelling or grammatical errors. [Include additional instructions related to specific proofing areas like length and tone].

ChatGPT Resume Example

And … drum roll, please … there you have it! Here’s the full ChatGPT resume we just created.

Here are a few next steps I’d do from here:

• Rewrite certain sections (like the work experience bullets) to add specificity based on my responsibilities.
• Include the rest of my work history and add more skills to represent the range of my expertise.
• Review and copy edit line-by-line to polish it up. You know, so it sounds more like me and less like AI.

Best Practices for ChatGPT Resumes

Based on this experience, here are my top three best practices to get the most out of your ChatGPT resume outputs.

• Provide as much detail as possible in your prompt. Your ChatGPT results are only as good as your inputs. Be as specific as you can in your request, and if that doesn’t work, try bullet #2.
• Keep asking until you’re satisfied with the output. AI is far from perfect. Continue to adjust your prompts, use more prescriptive instructions, or restart the conversation to get the results you want.
• Don’t copy/paste the exact response into your resume. Please don’t do this. Imagine you and 25 other candidates use the same ChatGPT resume language for a job application. Chances are none of you get hired.

Pro tip: Looking for even smarter results? ChatSpot combines the power of ChatGPT with unique data sources (including the HubSpot CRM).

ChatGPT, write me a conclusion for this.

(I didn’t actually ask ChatGPT to write one for me, but I could’ve.)

Anyway, landing a new role is a lot of work, so you might as well work smarter — and not harder — with AI. Just don’t let it interfere with your ability to showcase who you are on your resume.

Guess what’s common among the top organizations like Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon? An effective communication plan.

Be it the content strategy, a product launch, a campaign announcement, or a customer escalation, a robust communication strategy holds every part of your organization firmly.

A survey by The State of Business Communication revealed that 72% of business leaders credit effective communication for their team’s productivity.

Without an organized communication plan, even the strongest strategies can fall apart, breaking your business. Writing an effective communication plan isn’t a tedious process if you have pre-made internal communication plan templates in place.

In this post, you’ll learn how to create an effective communication plan that prepares you and your company for any situation — and I’ll provide some templates to help you in the process.

Table of Contents

• What is a communication plan?
• How to Write a Communication Plan
• Communication Plan Templates

A descriptive business communication plan answers the where, why, and how of your campaigns. From product launch to advertising, running social media promotions, or addressing a crisis, a communication strategy details the messages to deliver, to which audiences, and through which channel.

For instance, if I were to create a communication plan for a data breach crisis in an IT company, I’d need to create an immediate crisis plan to communicate with the crisis team. The plan will outline the goals, stakeholders’ comments, plan of action, communication medium, and due date.

It’s also important to name the person or a team responsible for the specific issues and include the customer problems within.

In my opinion, it’s impractical to use one type of communication template for various communication types. A social media communication plan, for example, will have the key components as campaign objectives, communication channel, frequency, audience type, and date of posts.

For the same organization, a product launch template will have a different layout — consisting of product launch type, deliverables for clients, leads, stakeholders, and social media. This also requires a public relation, so you’ll need a tab for covering the media news.

I’d also consider different formats for different communication plans. While a social media or a product launch communication plan looks more organized in the table format, a strategic communication plan is understandable in a horizontal text format.

Need a free, easy-to-use communication plan template? HubSpot has 12. Check out this toolkit for everything you need to build your own.

This is part of a template offered in the toolkit. For this particular template, the organization is separated into phases, a description of that phase, and who needs to complete that action.

Download These Templates for Free

Now that we’ve gone over how a communication plan can be helpful, let’s learn how to write one that will be effective.

1. Use pre-built communication plan templates.

If I had to write a communication plan for a social media campaign, a crisis management message, or a public relations campaign, I would consider using different layouts for each.

For each of these communication plans, it is essential to stay consistent with the structure and layout. There are a multitude of communication plan apps and tools to write effective communication and automate the plans — but that comes with a catch.

The tools can’t be a suitable pick for large teams with a multitude of objectives and goals. Also, the technicalities within these tools aren’t suitable for every team member or manager at various levels.

Instead, the pre-built templates can be a good starting point for writing an effective communication plan. These templates can be downloaded in various formats — Excel, Word, PDF, or any editable format.

From time tracking to goal planning, from conducting regular meetings to complying with regulations, the business templates can be a great time-saver for large project teams.

These business templates by HubSpot, for example, offer free downloadable templates for various communication plan types — action plans, annual reports, business proposals, business cases, etc.

2. Conduct an audit of your current communication materials.

Renowned U.S. retailer John Wannamaker once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted and the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

If you’re sailing on the same boat, you might need a thorough communication audit. A communication audit analyzes the current communication material and provides relevant data and insights on future plans.

For example, I’d need to perform an audit on brand messaging, intended effects, and product progress before starting a product launch communication plan.

The audit will help me identify the major gaps in the marketing materials and a topic that is discussed but aligns well with the new product. Hence, the communication audit upfront will let me know what to include in the communication plan.

To conduct an audit, you’ll need to carefully gather and interpret data on your current marketing plan performance and build a path forward based on those results.

It is also imperative to host focus groups or send surveys to the audiences to find gaps in the current communication materials.

Of course, you’ll want to have the goal of your communication plan in mind when conducting an audit.

For instance, if you’re launching a new email marketing tool and you notice you’re lacking content on Google Ads, this might not be relevant information for your communication plan.

However, if you’re missing content on email marketing best practices, that’s important information you can use to tailor your communication plan appropriately.

The following template considers the five Ms for a successful communication audit. The top leadership and the head of the project can leverage elements to understand the current communication scenario.

Image Source

3. Set SMART goals for your communication plan based on the results from your audit.

After your audit, you’ll want to lay out a few goals based on the data from the results. What do you want to achieve with this plan?

When in doubt, remember that your goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. A recent poll by one of my colleagues at HubSpot revealed that over 52% of participants believe SMART goals help them achieve their goals more often than if they didn’t use a SMART framework.

SMART goals enable the teams to plan the communication strategy with a desired outcome. This framework guides the team to achieve the time-bound goals through specific actions.

For instance, if a small agency is writing a communication plan for its client, it might write a goal along these lines: “We plan to increase employment applications for our client by 25% over the course of one quarter.”

Alternatively, perhaps your HR team needs to write a communication plan to pitch designing a new growth matrix for individual contributors who don’t want to become managers.

If that’s the case, your HR team will need to identify specific goals they hope to achieve as a result of their plan, even if the results are less quantifiable — for instance, their goal might be to “increase employee retention rates by 10% over the next year” or even “increase employee satisfaction, as indicated by their next NPS scores.”

They’ll need to pitch these goals to stakeholders to get leadership on board.

Download Your Free SMART Goal Template

4. Identify the audience to whom you plan to deliver your communication plan.

A communication plan without a target audience is like a journey without a direction. You can’t create an effective communication strategy until you have an audience (externally or internally).

If I had to create a crisis communication plan, I would consider stakeholders as the primary audience. But which one(s) are you writing for?

Your internal stakeholders include employees, investors, and customers, while the external ones can be local government officials or media outlets.

If you’re writing for media outlets, a press release detailing your goals is a good idea for that audience. There should be a process for who will speak to the media outlets, an outline of what they will say, and an action plan put in place moving forward.

Or, if your audience is your employees, you might want to create an up-to-date internal document for employees to refer to, as well as the contact information for the internal DRI if they have follow-up questions.

5. Outline and write your plan, keeping your audiences in mind.

When you’re ready to outline and write your plan, it’s likely easiest if you start with a table or chart to identify the messages you need to promote, to whom you’re targeting those messages, and on which channel(s).

I’d recommend keeping a balance between the organization’s goals and resonance with the audience.

Once you’ve created a general outline, here’s how you’ll want to structure your communication plan (feel free to copy these sections into a Table of Contents for your own plan):

• Purpose (what is this communication plan for).
• Escalation Framework (including “first line of defense” and “greater response team”).
• Roles and responsibilities of each employee.
• Do’s and don’ts.
• How to maintain an effective response plan.

(If you need help writing a communication plan, download our free, ready-to-use communication plan templates.)

When writing your communication plan, work with groups or representatives from your stakeholders to improve accuracy. Strategies should solve for goals or potential risks.

For instance, if you work for an agency aiming to promote a client’s product, a risk might be spending money on paid ads without a guaranteed ROI. To solve that risk, the agency should detail different steps to ensure the ads are effective before going public.

6. Determine the channel(s) on which you need to deliver your messages.

The channels you choose to communicate with your audience depend on your message and to whom you want to deliver that message.

For instance, if you’re creating a communication plan for internal employees, you might send out your communication plan in a company-wide email, use a team communication app, or in-person team meetings to deliver your message.

Alternatively, if you’re communicating with customers, you might determine it’s best to communicate via an email newsletter or a press release.

Of course, the channel(s) you choose will depend on your goals, but it’s important as you’re writing your communication plan that you keep your distribution methods in mind.

In my experience, using the same communication channel for similar goals or stakeholders keeps the communication consistent, and the team members can focus on other things apart from setting up these communication channels.

7. Decide which team members are responsible for delivering the message.

Once you determine the audience and channel(s) on which you’ll deliver your communication plan, figure out the DRI for delivering the message.

For instance, if your HR team is pitching a new growth matrix to leadership, you might ask your director of HR to deliver the initial pitch in the first meeting.

Once leadership is on board, you might ask each HR representative to deliver one training session for each internal team to ensure every employee understands what’s changing internally and why.

8. Estimate a timeline for how long each step should take.

Studies suggest deadlines are one of the most stressful aspects of the workplace. In fact, missed communication and goals are likely to happen when there are no fixed timelines.

That said, you should have a ballpark estimate of how much time each step in executing your strategy will take.

For instance, if your plan needs to go from the higher-ups down to the employees, it’s good to take into account how long going through the chain of command will take. It’s also smart to infer how long a media cycle will last.

For a minor slip-up on an ad campaign, the advertising agency might estimate the cycle for controlling the issue will take a month — including meeting with the client, stakeholders, and employees to discuss steps moving forward.

9. Measure the results of your plan after presenting to stakeholders, and determine successes and areas for improvement.

Even if it’s a minor communication, mapping the success rate is crucial to guide your plan. After all, there’s always room for improvement, and that comes with a detailed evaluation.

Measure the results of the plan after presenting it to stakeholders. Determine aspects that went well and areas for improvement next time.

For instance, the ad agency might not have met its goal of increasing prospective applications by 25% within a quarter. They might rework their goals to give themselves more time or pivot their quarterly focus to fit those goals.

Or say, if you notice certain language in your communication plan evokes a level of stress or fear with internal stakeholders, consider how you can re-word it next time to ensure your communication plan feels helpful, beneficial, and positive.

Some aspects of building a communication plan can be a “choose your own adventure” journey.

The key is choosing aspects that best reflect what your business needs in times when effective communication is key. What do your stakeholders need to know, and how are you going to best communicate that?

Communication plans can get tricky, but writing an effective one will prove itself with its longevity. The following communication plan templates include analysis for stakeholders you’d respond to and the procedures for what to include in those communications.

1. Internal Communication Plan Template

This internal communication template by Slideteam is specifically designed for the internal communication teams that involve the stakeholders. The template is best for providing organizational updates to the stakeholders at regular intervals.

This template gives a high-level view of basic as well as advanced tasks to the leadership and everyone else on the team — bringing them on the same page. The key components of this template are frequency, stakeholders, medium, and escalations.

We picked this internal communication plan template for its simple layout and elements that account for organizational updates.

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What I like: The template is designed in PowerPoint and can be edited through the program. You can add colors, change elements & orientation, and add text to the header to customize it to your needs.

2. Strategic Communication Plan Template

Bright Hub Project Management’s communication plan explains how, when, and why communication happens within its organization.

This example is great because it details how communication managers write crisis plans and acknowledges that sometimes the busy marketer or project manager takes on this responsibility.

The key components of this template are:

• Communication objectives.
• Stakeholder analysis.
• Strategy for communicating that decides the intervals.
• Risks and issues.
• Budget versus actual cost.
• Evaluation.
• Audience.

I find this template useful for small and medium organizations that want to establish a brief communication. The template stands out for its twelve logical sections, crafted best for strategic planning.

Here, sections such as external environment, context, and stakeholder analysis set a strong foundation and provide valuable insights before laying out the strategic plan.

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Best for: This template is best for creating strategic decisions and creating plans during a crisis. This text-based template gives a clear picture into the objectives, vision and mission, communication strategies, and budget plan.

3. Project Communication Plan Template

Here’s an example of a Billing Upgrade Project from Simplicable. This communication plan maps out all the important meetings and documents needed for the project.

As you can see, it also includes necessary sections, including audience, responsibility, schedule, and format (meeting, report, or document).

The following template is designed for effective communication in a specific project. The key components here are audience, goals, schedule, and format. This is perfect for creating quick communication among large teams — involving different departments, stakeholders, project teams, and committees.

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What I like: I like that this template gives a column for communicating through various media. The responsibility section views the person responsible for conducting the communication.

4. Marketing Communication Plan Template

A marketing communication plan is essential for communicating to your target market, especially when launching new products or initiatives. Your customers aren’t the only people involved in boosting your marketing. You should actively communicate with the sales prospects, media partners, stakeholders, and everyone else.

This example from Smartsheet allows you to plan marketing communication strategies for customers, sales prospects, media partners, internal stakeholders, and events.

The template is detailed and works best in segmenting your audiences to drive them to action. The key to successful communication is using various marketing channels. For communication with team members, a secured messaging app works best.

For communication with customers, social media and newsletters are the best media. The template fills the relevant gaps in the marketing campaigns with information on various medium types.

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What I like: I like that each objective has a fixed tenure so that communication is streamlined and quick. If you are planning to use marketing automation tools, you can also list them.

5. Corporate Communication Plan Template

Corporate communication plans outline how organizations communicate internally and externally.

This example from Smartsheet is a nine-step roadmap that includes space for a mission statement, executive summary, situation analysis, key messages, and more.

The key components of this three-page communication template are:

• Executive summary.
• Target audience.
• List of stakeholders.
• Communication medium.
• Competitive analysis like SMART goals.
• Budget plans.
• Situation analysis, including the PESTLE and SWOT analysis.

Documenting details like PESTLE analysis and SWOT analysis will give your internal stakeholders a clear picture.

What I like: I like this template because of its comprehensive communication elements such as key messages, tools, and tactics for communication, budget, and a milestone chart. This chart lists all the tasks, the owner, and due date, which brings transparency to the communication.

6. Crisis Communication Plan Template

This communication checklist below, by Prezly, gives a great overview of the details of a crisis plan from beginning to end. It can be used as an effective guide when drafting a crisis management strategy.

A crisis communication plan lays out the actions that you need to take before an unlikely event. These actions include scrutiny and legal issues, compliance with regulations, and the necessary escape.

The template also includes the representative who should be a spokesperson for this crisis with additional resources such as press releases or announcements on social media or email.

The template stands out for its simplicity and accessibility in the Excel format, making it customizable. This Prezly crisis template has tabs that segment different phases of crisis: pre-crisis, live crisis, and post-crisis.

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What I like: I like that it has a tab for social media comments where the stakeholders and the top leadership can view their audience’s reactions at the time of crisis and how the organization reacts to them.

Communication Planning Tips

Communication planning can be tricky, so here are some extra tips to keep in mind to help your plan shine: When describing procedures for handling crises, include who the situation involves. This lets stakeholders envision decision-making processes.

Additionally, if you’re part of a larger company with a broad stakeholder list, it’s okay to split up target audiences for your plan.

For instance, maybe your audience is more than just “consumers.” Split stakeholder groups for easier comprehension and more distinct solutions.

Ultimately, your communication plan needs to clearly and succinctly provide necessary information to everyone involved in the business decision, product launch, or PR crises. Use the strategy mentioned above, as well as our communication plan templates, to ensure yours is as effective as possible.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

I run HubSpot’s Marketing Daily Newsletter, so I know quite a bit about email marketing and why an email marketing platform is one of the first additions to a marketer’s tool belt.

Email marketing is an effective way to engage and nurture leads into loyal customers. It’s also extremely cost-effective — some studies show an ROI of $40 for every $1 spent.

Leveraging email marketing can be difficult, especially if you’re trying to grow your list or manage the massive list you already have. Fortunately there are plenty of email marketing services available to help.

Here are 18 of the best ones I’ve found. I’ve even tested a few. Let’s dive in.

Why is an email marketing service important?

Today, email marketing services continue to be an integral, strategic tool for businesses of all sizes across all industries — it helps businesses build strong relationships with prospects and customers all while moving them through the buyer’s journey and maintaining strong communication throughout.

Not to mention, as ESPs continue to develop, features like A/B Testing, automation, and personalization have made the tools even more valuable to a marketer looking to engage with an increasingly fragmented audience.

 

What to Look for in an Email Marketing Service

1. Security: Email addresses are personal and sensitive customer data that you’re responsible for protecting. Your email marketing service provider should have robust precautions in place and use best practices to protect this data like DMARC email authentication standards.

2. Ease of Use: If you’re using email marketing to nurture and convert customers, it should be easy to create an email and send it to your audience. Look for drag-and-drop features and templated workflows in your email tool.

3. Audience Segmentation: Personalization is a key component of a successful email marketing strategy, and for this, you’ll need audience segmentation included in the tool you choose.

4. Automation: Automated workflows, triggered sends, and scheduled emails are all parts of email marketing automation that come in handy for small and large teams alike. Look for these automated features when choosing an email marketing service.

5. Third-Party Integrations: Odds are, you and your team aren’t handling your marketing tasks manually. A great email marketing provider will be able to integrate with many of the other tools you use, especially a CRM.

6. Data Analytics: Keep track of open rates, bounce backs, and CTR with data analytics weaved right into your next email marketing tool

7. Customer Support: Even after learning your new email marketing service tool through and through, you’ll need help from the support team at some point. Make sure the provider you choose has a helpful and accessible customer support team that you can lean on when you need help.

Now let’s look at some of the best email marketing services today — one of which you might choose to implement at your company. (And psst: If you need help writing your emails once you’ve found the right provider, this video can help you do so seamlessly.) 

For each of the following services, I’ve listed notable features and pricing details. I also tested the ones I had access to so you’ll have greater details.

1. HubSpot Email Marketing Software

Best for: Email marketing that’s powered by CRM data.

Okay, so I might be a bit biased; however, I’m being honest when I say HubSpot’s free email marketing software is secure and easy to use, has an extremely high deliverability rate, and includes all the bells and whistles you’d expect to see within an ESP.

HubSpot Email Marketing Software Features

I use HubSpot Email Marketing Software to create and distribute the marketing email newsletter, so I am quite familiar with the software’s features.

So, here’s a walkthrough.

When creating an email, I can choose from one of many drag-and-drop templates or craft a custom template tailored to my brand. Once I’ve got my template, incorporating content is simple and intuitive.

I can also personalize and preview my emails for different recipients based on device type, country, or list inclusion — or use a simple personalization token to ensure that each email includes content specific to each recipient.

When it comes time to send an email, I can use the smart send feature to ensure recipients receive my messages at an ideal time.

Additionally, I can run A/B tests to compare different versions of an email to understand which one resonates the most with your audience.

Furthermore, I won’t have to worry about deliverability—HubSpot maintains a 99% deliverability rate across the network for all marketing email sends.

Outside of the email marketing functionality, HubSpot offers a wide range of reports on my emails’ performances, letting me judge what’s resonating with my audience so I can optimize my strategy accordingly.

In their email marketing software guide, Venture Harbour put it like this:

“By connecting the dots between your marketing, website, and sales activity, HubSpot is able to attribute which campaigns influence your sales — which means you can invest more in what works and less in what doesn’t.”

For instance, users can report on something as broad as their overall email performance in Q1, or they get granular and see how one particular lead is interacting with their emails.

Users can also leverage tools like HubSpot’s Email Writer and Campaign Assistant to create email marketing campaigns.

Lastly, HubSpot’s automation platform makes it easy to scale my email marketing strategy, which will help me quickly turn leads into loyal customers.

And if I want help tracking my emails’ open rates and other insights, I can leverage our Marketing Analytics & Dashboard Software in tandem.

HubSpot Email Marketing Software Price

Hubspot’s Email Marketing Software (and CRM for small to enterprise companies, for that matter) is free forever. However, if you need enhanced capabilities, paying for one of the upgraded Marketing Hub plans may be worth it.

2. Sender Email Marketing Software

Best for: Affordable email marketing platforms with high inbox deliverability.

Sender is an all-in-one marketing automation platform that goes beyond just offering a basic email marketing service.

Sender Features

After testing Sender, I’ve found that it’s a powerful yet affordable email marketing service and provider with accessible, premium features.

I can use the automation builder module with powerful conditional flows to build a series of email and SMS steps that can fire based on quickly definable trigger conditions such as cart abandonment, product purchase, link clicks, email opens and more.

Its Segmentation feature allows me to group my subscribers based on powerful considerations such as basic information, engagement, and custom fields.

Along with emailing, I can choose from a range of solid and highly responsive popups or embeddable forms, customize them with my brand, and offer and deploy it on my landing pages and website in no time.

With Sender’s SMS capabilities, I can sync my emails and SMSes as immediate, one-off broadcasts or schedule them together for a later date and time easily in just a few clicks.

Sender Price

I love that Sender’s pricing plans are wallet-friendly at every price point. Its Free Forever plan comes with all the top premium features.

The features include automation and segmentation, apart from the ability to maintain 2,500 contacts and send a maximum of 15,000 emails every month.

Its paid plans start at just $15.83 per month for the ability to send up to 60,000 emails a month. 

3. Moosend Email Marketing Software

Best for: Creating automation and sending personalized emails.

Moosend is an email marketing and marketing automation platform that offers a variety of features at an affordable price.

Moosend Features

By testing Moosend’s platform, I found out it allows me to quickly craft email newsletter campaigns, landing pages, and subscription forms to capture, nurture, and convert my audience.

With the drag-and-drop editor, I can either create an email newsletter from scratch, using interactive elements like videos, or use one of the responsive email templates.

I can also use advanced automation features to build specific campaigns for segments of my audience or create custom workflows, such as welcome, engagement, or abandoned cart sequences.

The real-time reporting and analytics tools give you measurable results about campaign performance and user engagement, enabling me to make informed, data-backed decisions.

Then, I can use the A/B Testing feature to find the best element variations for my target audience to optimize my email marketing strategy for better results.

I especially appreciate that Moosend simplifies every aspect of building and testing a campaign into steps and provides accessible resources for new users.

Moosend Price

Moosend’s pricing model is subscriber-based and consists of three pricing tiers. The 30-day free trial includes most features and allows users to send unlimited email campaigns.

The Pro plan starts at $9 per month and allows subscribers to send unlimited emails, create automation workflows, forms, and landing pages, and send transactional campaigns to up to 500 contacts.

The Enterprise plan is based on custom pricing and offers more advanced functionality and additional support.

4. EngageBay Email Marketing Software

Best for: Account-based email marketing and social media marketing.

EngageBay is an all-in-one marketing, sales, and customer support software designed specifically for small businesses.

EngageBay Features

With EngageBay’s powerful platform, I can launch personalized email campaigns, design stunning landing pages, capture leads through forms, and quickly close deals.

The visual multistep automation builder helps me automate the most complex tasks without writing a single line of code.

I can choose from various triggers that can launch workflows and create custom workflows for various scenarios, including drip campaigns, cart abandonment alerts, welcome emails, and birthday wishes.

Social media is a powerful channel for lead generation.

With EngageBay’s social media management, I can engage with my social audience with a single tool. Manage your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn accounts, and use streams to keep track of retweets, mentions, posts, and events.

I can also utilize social listening to find out what is trending and what your audience is talking about. To post ahead of time, users can schedule their posts smartly for the best conversion rates.

EngageBay Price

EngageBay offers four plans. The Free plan includes essential features to help small businesses get started. The Pro plan starts at $101.99 for unlimited contacts and offers account-based marketing, advanced automation, traffic analytics, and other pro tools to help you scale your business effectively.

5. Omnisend Email Marketing Software

Best for: Creating custom workflows.

Omnisend is an easy-to-use platform that offers automation workflows for any stage of the customer journey.

Omnisend Features

What I believe separates Omnisend from other email marketing tools is the omnichannel functionalities, which offer greater control over how and where users connect with their audience.

While testing the automation workflow, I found I can add email, SMS, push notifications, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and more.

Let’s say I’m trying to reach a specific audience that might not respond well to traditional email communication. In such a case, using a tool like Omnisend can help me build and manage more customized, targeted communication workflows.

This would not only help me better connect with my audience but also provide a less disruptive, more personalized experience for my contacts.

Omnichannel features combined with user-friendly segmentation mean I can send the right message to the right person at the right time on the right channel.

Omnisend also offers templates for email capture, campaigns, and automation workflows so I can get started quickly.

Omnisend Price

Omnisend has three pricing plans — one of which is free with very limited capabilities as well as a customizable pro plan. Its plans come with a free trial so you can experiment with the service to determine what works best for you.

6. Mailmodo Email Marketing Software

Best for: Creating and sending AMP emails.

Mailmodo is a complete email marketing software that helps marketers create app-like experiences in email without coding. 

Mailmodo Features

By testing Mailmodo, I found that it could help email marketers like myself build and scale their email automation engine with an intuitive visual builder that has drag-and-drop workflows to automate time-based drip series.

It makes checking responsiveness for different devices easy and has an in-built open rate suggestions feature to fix errors in an email before sending it.

I especially love that Mailmodo’s AMP technology allows me to add calendars, forms, surveys, live ratings, reviews, polls, and widgets to gamify emails like spin the wheel, quizzes, etc., inside the email to reduce redirections and boost engagement. 

Mailmodo Price

Its Lite plan starts from $39 and lets users send emails to 2,500 contacts and 20,000 email sending credits. Its Pro plan costs $99, allowing users to send emails to 2,500 contacts with a monthly limit of 25,000 sends.

Finally, its Max plan is priced at $249 and lets subscribers send emails to 2,500 contacts with a monthly limit of 37,500 sends. If you want to try Mailmodo before buying, its pricing plans include a free trial period. 

7. Pabbly Email Marketing Software

Best for: Delivering bulk emails.

Pabbly Email Marketing is an email marketing software that enables you to send bulk emails either by connecting via SMTP or external SMTP.

Pabbly Email Marketing Features

Pabbly provides access to SMTP routing, workflow automation, email scheduling, and much more without any restrictions.

With the help of marketing automation and autoresponders included in the tool, I found I can schedule emails in advance and create triggers to avoid manual follow-up responses.

Additionally, Pabbly offers responsive email templates and a drag-and-drop email editor for easy customization.

The email tracking feature allows me to track data such as bounce rate, open rate, and click-through rate so I can improve upon my email marketing and campaigns.

Pabbly Email Marketing Price

Pabbly offers multiple plans based on your number of subscribers. Its free plan allows you to send unlimited emails to up to 100 subscribers, and an advanced plan is tailored to websites with large audiences.

8. Brevo

Best for: Sending automated nurturing and text message campaigns.

Brevo is an email marketing platform that helps customers send a total of over 30 million automated emails and text messages every day.

Brevo Features

My favorite Brevo feature is its forms tool that allows me to collect new leads, which I can then segment into specific lists and enter into email nurturing campaigns.

Let’s say I’m not sure how to kick off my email nurturing campaign. No problem. Brevo has workflows that provide access to a number of pre-made automation campaigns tailored to my specific goals.

If I want to run a more nuanced email nurturing campaign, I can always create a campaign from scratch to meet my specific business needs.

Brevo Price

Brevo has four main plans: one free, two between $9 and $18 per month, and one enterprise plan that requires a customized quote. The plans vary in cost based on the number of emails sent per day/ month.

9. SendX Email Marketing Software

Best for: Offering visual email marketing performance data.

SendX is an intuitive, affordable, and feature-rich email marketing software for marketers and business owners.

SendX Features

With SendX, I can send unlimited emails to opted-in subscribers across all pricing plans. Users get charged per subscriber – not per email sent – no matter how many lists, tags, or segments you have them in.

While testing, I discovered I could optimize my email campaigns based on 30+ parameters, including past open behavior, time zone, domain name, email client, ISP, etc.

I can automate my email marketing with a rule-based interface and send the right message to the right user using email drip sequences and audience segmentation.

SendX can also help users grow their email lists with forms and popups. Users even get pre-built email templates, which they can further design with the drag-and-drop email editor without HTML.

The tool also features a heatmap report for different types of campaigns to give you a quick visual overview of which CTAs are working and which links people are clicking.

SendX Price

SendX’s pricing is based on the number of subscribers you have. For 1,000 subscribers, plans start at $7.49 per month for the annual subscription (or $9.99 for a monthly subscription). They also offer a 14-day free trial.

10. Constant Contact Email Marketing Software

Best for: Creating email drip campaigns and easy-to-use templates.

Constant Contact is a popular email marketing service that works well for many industries.

Constant Contact Features

I appreciate that the service comes with over 100 email templates that I can either use as-is or customize. Once my email looks good, I can easily schedule it to send to my contacts at any time I choose.

In addition to drip email campaigns, I can also have emails go out at a regular cadence to celebrate specific events — for example, I could have a regular email go out on each customer’s birthday.

Once an email contact list is uploaded, bounces and unsubscribes are automatically updated. Constant Contact also has “Plus” features that allow me to execute specific types of campaigns, such as coupon offers, donation collections, or surveys.

Constant Contact Price

Constant Contact has three plans depending on the features you need that start at $12, $35, and $80 per month. The price differentiation is related to your number of contacts.

It offers a free trial, so you can experiment with the service prior to committing to it.

11. Campaign Monitor Email Marketing Software

Best for: building personalized emails.

Campaign Monitor prides itself on providing powerful, personalized email marketing tools that are simple and easy to use.

Campaign Monitor Features

Its drag-and-drop email editor is intuitive, and the included analytics make it simple to optimize my email strategy and create targeted customer segments.

Personalization is key for campaign monitoring.

It uses data to increase personalized content and inform my list segmentation, boosting my engagement. It also offers a visual marketing automation tool so I can create a unique customer journey at scale.

Not to mention, Campaign Monitor has an extensive library of resources available to help users become email marketing pros.

Campaign Monitor Price

There are three major plans you can choose from with Campaign Monitor ranging from €10 up to €149 per month.

You can choose to pay annually rather than monthly and take advantage of the option to pay per campaign if that schedule works better for your needs.

12. TargetBay Email Marketing Software

Best for: Shopify email marketing and SMS marketing

TargetBay is an all-in-one email marketing service with over 380 email templates, drag-and-drop functionality, pop-up builder, SMS marketing, coupon builder, email automation, A/B testing, advanced reports, sign-up forms, and more.

TargetBay Features

TargetBay’s innovative platform allows me to generate sales and will help me until the leads convert to customers.

After testing it, I suggest using its sign-ups to capture leads and designing attractive emails with over 380 pre-written content templates.

I also suggest segmenting your subscribers to send relevant and targeted emails that will have more chances to get opened or clicked and adding coupons with TargetBay’s very own coupon builder.

With TargetBay, I can set up email automation to keep communication with my subscribers going.

With TargetBay’s easy-to-use interface, I can also A/B test every element of my email to find the best working email for my subscriber list. This is done using accurate real-time data on the email campaign performance.

TargetBay’s Price

TargetBay has a forever free plan with a 2500 email limit per month and a 250 subscriber limit/per month. The basic paid plan starts from $10.

If you want to explore TargetBay before you make a decision, they provide a free 14-day trial period in its pricing plans

13. MailChimp Email Marketing Software

Best for: Actionable data insights to improve your email marketing strategy.

Over the years, MailChimp has added landing pages and various ad tools to its capabilities, but its email marketing service remains its claim to fame.

MailChimp Features

MailChimp has millions of customers in over 175 countries and it use the data it collects off those customers to provide users with actionable insights to improve their email strategy.

The tool is flexible enough for an enterprise company, yet simple enough for someone just getting started with their startup’s email marketing strategy.

Best of all, MailChimp has over 300 integrations that help you customize the tool to your business. By using these integrations to further personalize your marketing, you’ll get the most out of your email strategy.

MailChimp Price

MailChimp offers four plans, ranging from free to $350 per month. Aside from the free plan, your monthly payment increases with the number of contacts you have, depending on the option you choose.

14. Canary Mail Email Marketing Software

Best for: AI email management and advanced security.

Canary Mail is your go-to email client if you’re in pursuit of AI-powered productivity, advanced security, and a highly customizable email experience.

Canary Mail Features

Canary Mail offers a comprehensive email solution. I like that its AI Copilot helps me craft excellent content with eye-catching subject lines and persuasive email body copy.

The app’s AI categorization intelligently organizes my inbox, making sure that important responses and feedback from my campaigns are front and center.

Canary Mail’s SecureSend and PGP support ensure that sensitive campaign data and communications remain locked down.

When it comes to customization, the app offers various options: custom swipe and thread actions, custom snooze times, and a customizable interface with dark and light mode options.

Additionally, the read receipts feature helps me track when my campaign emails are opened, giving me real-time feedback on my content’s engagement. 

Canary Mail Price

Canary Mail offers a flexible pricing structure. The annual subscription for iOS, macOS, and Android is $20/year each. 

15. AWeber Email Marketing Software

Best for: Small businesses and entrepreneurs just starting to build their email lists.

Aweber is an email platform built specifically for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

AWeber Features

The goal of AWeber is to make it simple for those who are just getting started with email marketing to segment their contacts, design a professional email, and start nurturing leads.

Customers praise AWeber for its deliverability — AWeber’s deliverability team monitors their servers around the clock to ensure your campaign consistently reaches the inboxes of your recipients.

Aweber Price

AWeber offers multiple plans ranging from free to $899.

16. Ortto Email Marketing Software

Best for collaborative email marketing teams.

Ortto differentiates itself from its competitors with its visual marketing tools.

Ortto Features

I’m a fan of how everything from Ortto’s email editor to its automation tool is set up to work via a drag-and-drop interface, making the system intuitive and easy for me to use.

Ortto offers collaborative tools to help teams work together effectively — it allows me to quickly share my work with my team, ensuring everyone is on the same page before I launch a campaign.

And with the “annotate & collaborate” feature, I can quickly mark-up a customer journey and ask my team for feedback and assistance.

Ortto Price

Ortto offers three plans, which range in price between $509/m and $1699/m.

17. Ontraport Email Marketing Software

Best for creating detailed email marketing campaigns.

Ontraport offers a full suite of marketing automation tools including ecommerce functionality for businesses with online stores.

Ontraport Features

Ontraport’s visual campaign builder allows you to create detailed campaigns to engage your audience.

You can create a campaign from scratch or tap into the marketplace where they offer dozens of the most common marketing campaigns to choose from, including abandoned cart nurturing or webinar sign-up and follow-up.

The service also provides insight into detailed reports so you can gain insight into your pipeline, traffic sources, and conversion timelines.

Ontraport Price

Ontraport’s basic plan starts at $24 per month and its most expensive plan, Enterprise, starts at $249 per month.

Choose Your Email Marketing Service

During my time in email marketing, I’ve found that most email marketing tools offer the essentials needed to craft a basic email newsletter.

However, there are fewer options if I want a range of top-notch features such as complete customization, available support, and data analysis.

Furthermore, marketers like myself often prefer combining our email marketing service with a CRM to provide even greater functionality that can impact email marketing, sales, and service efforts.

But take it from me: The best email marketing tool for you depends on your team’s goals and particular needs. So review the options I provided and the services’ product and pricing pages to get started.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April, 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

 

The words “marketing budget” might strike fear into the heart of any marketing leader, but it’s non-negotiable when creating a marketing strategy for your company. In fact, when budgeting season rolls around, I hunker down.

I know that the budget I set affects what my team can accomplish and our value to the company. Without the right funds, my team can’t capitalize on emerging trends or create high-quality content that our audience will love enough to eventually make a purchase.

In this post, I share tips on managing your marketing budget based on my experience. I’ll also share eight templates to help you get started.

Common marketing investments include advertising products to target customers, raising awareness of your brand, and building backed processes that support marketing at scale.

Advertising efforts may include paid online ads, email campaigns, and social media posts. Raising awareness centers around fostering customer connections by creating digital content that offers value, like informative blog posts or ebooks.

Finally, the backend marketing process may include business automation or software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools that help streamline operations and reduce manual efforts.

As a marketer, I need to account for all of these line items in my budget.

Marketing Budgets for Small Business

Marketing budgets are especially important for small businesses. Small business owners may lack experience in drawing up budgets. Moreover, it’s critical that these companies keep costs as low and lean as possible as they scale.

Ironically, you need marketing to scale. Without it, it‘s hard to sell your products and services. In addition to the budgeting templates provided below, check out some of our free offers and courses to mitigate your company’s marketing costs.

Yet, marketing budgets can be difficult to establish for companies of all sizes.

How much should a company spend on marketing?

Well, digital media makes up nearly 60% of both U.S. and global advertising spend. This includes initiatives that cater to audiences on desktop computers, search engines, video streaming platforms, social media, and mobile devices.

Given the success marketers have seen, you might consider planning to spend at least half of your marketing budget on some of these digital channels.

Let’s talk about other ways to allocate your marketing budget.

Marketing Cost Examples

As I build a budget, here are the items I make sure to remember.

1. Software

As a marketer, our tech stack is an essential part of getting my work done.

Even my friends who work in print media still leverage InDesign, Photoshop, and paid ad campaigns. That doesn’t even include those helpful tools like Grammarly and Getty Images, which are commonplace in marketing.

There’s a marketing tool for just about any task you can think of, but they are generally broken down into the following categories:

• Customer relationship management (CRM).
• Online advertising.
• Social media.
• Content creation and design.
• Event marketing.
• Lead capture and lead generation.
• Marketing automation.
• Data reporting and analytics.
• Digital asset management.
• Team collaboration.

Pro tip: The costs of these tools can quickly add up, so it’s worth it to try out the free options until you’re ready to commit to a tool your team loves.

2. Freelancers

When I’m in a pinch, I’ve often turned to freelancers for help. For example, I might want to film a video across the country from where I live. I can tap a freelance videographer to get the footage on my shot list.

If you have a temporary campaign or want to test out a new marketing strategy, you might want to hire a short-term freelancer before bringing on a full-timer.

Reach out to your network for recommendations or consider using a site like UpWork.

Freelancers typically charge an hourly rate, so be sure to examine your budget before hiring.

3. New Personnel

Not every role in marketing has to budget for new personnel.

I’ve made many budgets for projects and programs where staffing was handled by a separate department. However, your organization may need you to financially account for full-time employees.

When you do hire, you’ll want to include costs like the employee’s computer, technology, benefits, and onboarding-related needs. According to Zippia, the average cost of hiring a new employee is $4,425.

4. Advertising

When I make a budget, I don’t just need to account for making content. I also need to set aside money to promote what my team makes.

That’s where your ad budget comes in. Plan for how much money you’ll spend on paid opportunities such as physical ads, native ads, sponsored content, search engine ads, and social media promotions.

Most businesses will benefit from some form of online advertising whether via social media platforms, search engines, or native ads.

Statista estimates there are more than 5.4 billion internet users worldwide as of 2024. If you’re not advertising online, you’re missing out.

5. Content Creation

Content creation requires both resources (cameras, actors, software, etc. all cost money) and time (which, as the adage goes, is also money).

When I create content, including videos, photos, or even blog posts, I need to put paid time into it.

Content marketing brings in three times as many leads as traditional options, so it’s worth dedicating funds to this area.

Budget how much money will go into creating this content so you can adjust accordingly based on its return on investment.

Now that you know more about what to include in your budget, let’s look at how those funds are spent.

If you’re not sure where to start with budget allocation, a good guideline to follow is the 70-20-10 rule. Using this as a benchmark:

• 70% of your budget is allocated toward strategies you know work well.
• 20% of your budget is allocated toward new strategies aimed at helping you grow.
• 10% of your budget is allocated toward experimental strategies.

Marketing Cost Example

Let’s say your business has a marketing budget of $10,000. The budget allocation may look like this:

• $7,000 towards a CRM or other software you love, successful paid search campaigns, social media marketing.
• $2,000 towards marketing a new product, feature, or service you’re testing.
• $1,000 towards testing sponsored content.

Allocation by Channel

How you allocate your budget per channel depends on your company’s particular goals, so there is no hard and fast rule.

However, the chart below from Statista can give you a ballpark idea as it illustrates the share of marketing budgets from large companies across North America, the U.K., Germany, and France.

Image Source

Organized by channel, you can see that the top spots belong to social marketing, digital advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Marketers are expected to spend more than $740 billion on ads in 2024. Let’s look at some examples of how these digital marketing costs apply to your budget.

Paid Search Advertising

You’re probably familiar with the ads at the top of a Google results page that show up above the list of search results. Those are forms of paid advertising called pay-per-click (PPC).

You can create and run ads on Google, and each time someone clicks, you pay. The cost-per-click (CPC) can range anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars. You can use Google’s keyword planner to help estimate costs.

With this method, you only pay for clicks you receive. So, even if you’ve set aside a budget of $2,000, your campaign may only generate $1,500 worth of clicks.

Social Media

Like Google Ads, social media platforms have advertising programs based on the PPC model but also charge by impressions.

The CPC of running a paid social campaign varies depending on the platform of choice. Prices range from a few cents to several dollars.

Some companies may opt to hire an agency to run their campaigns and to create a social media strategy. Outsourcing this function is more expensive and can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $20,000 per month.

Content Marketing

Having a brand blog is a great way to get into content marketing, especially if you have in-house staff tasked with keeping it updated.

Instead of a blog, you may be more interested in creating case studies, ebooks, videos, or guides. They’re all designed to promote your brand and attract new customers.

Content marketing costs vary widely based on your goals and area of focus. Hiring outside consultants or agencies to handle content marketing for you can range from $2,000 to $10,000 per month for small to medium-sized businesses.

While it isn’t cheap, paying an agency to handle this task will free up your team’s time to work on other projects and may yield better results than going solo.

Email Marketing

Email marketing is a must-have for businesses, especially online retailers.

With a customer acquisition rate 40X more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined, it’s no surprise why this tried and true method is a staple in most marketing budgets.

Email marketing also provides higher ROI as you’re connecting with people already interested in your brand.

Email marketing costs depend on the size of your business, your goals, and your chosen software or platform. Hiring an outside firm to handle these efforts will cost significantly more than doing it yourself.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO aids marketing efforts by improving your web pages so that they show up in search engines like Google. The more often your website comes up in search, the more potential customers will see it and hopefully visit your website.

If you don’t have staff to handle your SEO needs in-house you may need to work with an agency. Depending on what your business needs are, this can cost thousands per month.

While the marketing channel choices can seem endless, don’t feel pressured to use all of them. Every business is different, and you should prioritize putting funds toward the methods that best suit your needs.

Spreadsheet knowledge alone won‘t help you understand how you’ll spend your marketing money this year.

Creating a sound marketing budget starts with knowing what purpose this budget will serve and which marketing teams it will represent.

Here’s how I approach creating a marketing budget.

1. Know your buyer’s journey.

Your buyer‘s journey is the steps your audience takes as they “journey” from prospect to paying customer.

Knowing my buyer’s journey allows me to understand how my audience interacts with my marketing. I can then better set my goals and budget to reach my customers.

I always ask myself these questions as I define my buyer’s journey:

• How do leads and customers typically discover my products?
• What do they need to know before they make a purchase?
• How many site visits do I see per month?
• How many leads are we generating per month, and how many of these convert to paying customers?
• What is the cost of generating new leads and then converting them to customers?
• What’s the typical value/revenue of each lead?

This process should point out what marketing tactics are (and aren’t working), where I should alter my marketing goals, and where I can focus my marketing budget.

2. Align your budget with your marketing goals.

What you spend and where you spend it will depend on what you’re trying to accomplish.

So, when starting to create your marketing budget, make sure you’re only spending money on the things required by your current marketing goals — goals set based on your audience and their journey from prospect to customer.

These could include:

• Display ads to promote a new product you’re launching this year.
• Sponsored social media posts to generate followers on your new Facebook page.
• Paid search engine ads to drive traffic (and purchases) to a specific product page.
• Contract bloggers to get more organic search traffic to your company’s website.

Former Demand Generation Marketer at HubSpot and current Head of Marketing at Hummingbirds Jessica Webb Kennedy, says this about how your costs can change when focusing on lead generation vs. lead conversion.

“The majority of the money you spend on paid efforts is usually calculated based on the volume of clicks or impressions. Because of this, you’ll often want to put more budget toward campaigns with higher-volume offers and audiences,” Kennedy says.

For example, a tweet or Facebook ad promoting a lead generation offer that leans more top of the funnel will likely receive more clicks than something that falls more toward the middle or bottom of the funnel, she explains.

Your paid advertising costs will also change depending on how wide of an audience you are attempting to reach.

“You can look at Twitter advertising as an example,” Webb says. “You have the option to target your campaigns based on users’ interests or keywords searched for.”

She continues, “Interests are a much broader category, whereas smaller pockets of users are searching for any given keyword, therefore your interests-based audience is going to be much larger and require a larger budget.”

3. Beware of hidden marketing costs.

One of the great advantages to having and maintaining a budget spreadsheet is that it helps you avoid those end-of-the-quarter or end-of-the-year freak-outs when you realize, “Whoa … what did I spend all that money on?”

In many cases, unanticipated costs can force marketers to fork over cash that they didn’t plan on spending. Product marketing offers a perfect example.

According to Meghan Keaney Anderson, former HubSpot vice president of marketing and current head of product marketing and communications at Watershed, it’s easy to forget that successfully marketing your products and services requires more than just promotion.

“When people allocate a budget for product marketing, they tend to think in terms of product launches and promotional activities,” Anderson explains.

Anderson notes that teams should remember to set aside resources to conduct research and message testing long before the product ever goes to market.

“Having conversations with customers about the pain points your product will ultimately address is critical to shaping the messaging and having a successful launch,” Anderson says.

4. Remember where your priorities lie.

Marketing is overflowing with add-ons and extras, upsells, and “premium” versions. One of the best ways to assess what‘s nice to have versus what’s absolutely necessary is to (you guessed it) organize all of your expenses.

I keep tabs on where my budget is being allocated and cross-check that spending with the results I’m getting. This makes it much easier to figure out what should keep getting budget and what should get kicked to the curb.

For example, let‘s look at the world of public relations. In PR, there are countless tools to which you can allocate budget, which could leave you overspending where it doesn’t matter — and underspending where it does.

“Tools abound to help PR practitioners not only create and distribute great content and find and target key stakeholders, but to ultimately measure reach and effectiveness,” says Nathaniel Eberle, HubSpot’s former director of PR and brand and GoTo’s current vice president of global brand and creative management.

Eberle says teams need to laser focus on the audience they want to reach and influence. Then, teams can revisit their budgets and ensure that the spend supports initiatives that appeal to said audience.

“As the media and digital landscape evolves at breakneck speed, continually reassessing the tools, services, and programs you‘re employing is a great way to determine real-time ROI of your overall spend. Today’s measurement tool may be worthless to you tomorrow,” Eberle says.

5. Spend your budget smartly.

When you open up these budget templates and check out all the various expenses detailed in them, don‘t fret if you can’t tick every box. I’m not advocating for an “always spend more” approach to marketing.

I‘m advocating for an “always spend smart” approach. The expenses listed out aren’t mandatory — they‘re just meant to guide your thinking and to help ensure that you haven’t overlooked any hidden costs.

6. Prepare to measure ROI.

When I put a certain amount of money into a certain area, I want to determine if my budgeting helped or hurt me as I plan out future budgets. The best way to do this is by measuring ROI — or return on investment.

If the money I’ve spent on one item results in my company making more in return, I may want to increase the budget in the next year. If my money doesn’t end in returns, I re-examine my budget.

Marketing Budget Templates

Using a marketing budget template can be useful when you’re not sure how to split or track your marketing costs.

For instance, let’s say your company decided to invest in a website redesign to improve lead generation, and you’re responsible for managing the project.

Naturally, one of the first questions you ask is, “How much is this website redesign going to cost?”

The answer, of course, is “it depends.” Are you simply switching to a new template and adding some new CTAs, or are you migrating your entire website to a new platform?

If only there were a way to organize your answers to all of these questions — a place where you could enter in estimated costs for all of your line items and then compare your projected marketing budget to what you actually end up spending. Good news: Marketing budget templates can help.

Included in our eight marketing budget templates bundle is a template to manage your website redesign … as well as templates for both Excel and Google Sheets to help you track your content budget, paid advertising budget, event budget, and more.

With these templates, you’ll be able to manage all of the moving pieces of your budget at a monthly and quarterly level.

Use the Excel version of the templates to keep all of your budgets in one place.

When you download the zip file, you’ll find a separate file for each marketing team, as well as a Master Budget Template to maintain a high-level view of your overall expenses.

Interested in sharing your marketing budget across a larger team?

Try the Google Sheets version of our templates to share access with other Gmail users. For the Google Sheets templates, each team budget is found in a separate tab of the same Google Sheet.

No matter which version you choose, each budget is optimized with the same line items, tips, and graphs. Read on to learn how to use each budget template.

1. Master Marketing Budget Template

Download the Master Marketing Budget Template here.

While it‘s helpful to have individual budget templates for specific marketing departments and activities, it’s also nice to be able to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

The Master Marketing Budget Template lets you do just that: It’s the place where you can collect the totals from the other seven templates in the bundle and see all of your expenses in one place.

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Budget Overview from All Departments: In the first table, you get to see both your budget and actual spending from all marketing departments, including product marketing, content marketing, paid advertising, PR, branding and creative, and events.

Month-Over-Month Expense Summary: For a more bird’s eye view of all expenses, look at this table, where you can see the aggregated budget and actual spending for all marketing activities.

Marketing Budget vs. Actual Spend Chart: This chart allows you to pinpoint trends in spending and budgeting — where you came under and where you over-spent.

2. Product Marketing Budget Template

Download the Product Marketing Budget Template here.

This template will guide you step-by-step through the process of budgeting for a product launch.

From determining product/market fit, to running user testing sessions, to promoting your finished product, our Product Marketing Budget Template will help ensure you don’t overlook any important expenses.

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Budget & Spend per Product Marketing Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track your spending for product marketing activities such as carrying out focus groups, hosting launch events, and creating white papers.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as product release spending and product testing. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Year-to-Date Summary Chart: This chart allows you to see a visual breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

3. Content Budget Template

Download the Content Budget Template here.

The budget required for creating and promoting content can vary greatly from organization to organization.

For example, while some organizations keep most of their content operations in-house, others rely more heavily on freelancers and contractors.

And while some use many different software products, publishing tools, and services, others take a much simpler approach.

Our Content Budget Template is designed to cover as many content-related bases as possible. So, if you see any expenses listed that don‘t apply to your organization, go ahead and delete them.

(That’s the beauty of Excel spreadsheets: You can customize them to your specific needs.)

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Budget & Spend per Content Marketing Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for content marketing activities, such as purchasing design software, creating landing pages, and hiring freelance writers.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as software purchases and freelancer costs. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Year-to-Date Summary Chart: This chart allows you to see a visual breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

4. Paid Advertising Budget Template

Download the Paid Advertising Budget Template here.

Paid advertising: Does it really qualify as an inbound marketing tactic/channel? That is a loaded question, my friends, and one that I don’t have room to answer in-depth in this post.

What I can tell you for sure is that you can do paid advertising in an “inboundy” way — i.e. by targeting specific buyer personas and using paid advertising as a supplement to your organic efforts to help drive awareness and conversion opportunities.

Measuring the effectiveness of your paid advertising campaigns is also paramount to doing things the inbound way.

Using our Paid Advertising Budget Template, you can keep tabs on your monthly (and quarterly) ad spending and then cross-reference the amounts with your lead-generation metrics to determine your cost-per-lead.

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Budget & Spend per Paid Advertising Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for paid advertising activities, such as launching CPC campaigns, creating social media ads, and investing in a content discovery platform.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as search advertising and lead generation. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Year-to-Date Summary Chart: This chart allows you to see a visual breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

5. Public Relations Budget Template

Download the Public Relations Budget Template here.

Public relations expenses amount to more than just paying for press releases.

From reputation monitoring software to traveling (e.g., to events and trade shows) to applying for awards, there are many PR costs that can be all too easy to overlook.

To ensure you‘re accounting for all of your organization’s PR-related expenses, check out our Public Relations Budget Template.

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Budget & Spend per Public Relations Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for PR activities, such as purchasing a press release service subscription, creating PR content, and hosting PR dinners.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as subscriptions, content, tradeshows, and media relations. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Year-to-Date Summary Chart: This chart allows you to see a visual breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

6. Branding & Creative Budget Template

Download the Creative Budget Template here.

In order to produce high-quality, innovative graphics, videos, and other content, the branding and creative teams of today need more than just Photoshop … a lot more. One of the largest — and often most overlooked — expenses is storage.

If your organization is producing a lot of video, storage is especially important.

Because as it turns out, when budgeting for video storage, you shouldn’t be thinking on a megabyte (MB) or even a gigabyte (GB) scale, but on a terabyte (TB) scale. FYI: 1 terabyte = 1 trillion bytes.

You can keep track of all your storage costs (and other branding and creative costs) using our free template.

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Budget & Spend per Branding & Creative Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for branding and creative activities, such as purchasing creative software, investing in hardware, and renting equipment.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as software subscriptions, equipment rentals, and outsourcing costs. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Year-to-Date Summary Chart: This chart allows you to see a visual breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

7. Website Redesign Budget Template

Download the Website Redesign Budget Template here.

Budgeting for a website redesign can be seriously tricky. With so many moving pieces to consider, there is a lot of room for underestimating or miscalculating costs.

We created our Website Redesign Budget Template so you can keep all of your redesign-related expenses in one convenient location.

Unsure if your current website is right for a redesign? Grade your website using this tool.

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Budget & Spend per Website Redesign Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for website redesign activities, such as purchasing a domain name, investing in CMS software, and creating wireframes.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as software, content and design, and content migration. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Website Redesign “Actual Cost by Category” Pie Chart: This chart allows you to see a percentage breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

8. Event Budget Template

Download the Event Budget Template here.

When planning an event, the associated costs can seem obvious at first.

There‘s the venue to consider, of course. And the P.A. system and microphones.

And then, the costs associated with booking and bringing in presenters/performers.

That’s pretty much it, right?

Wrong.

For example, does the venue come with tables/chairs, or will you have to rent those separately? Do you want your attendees to wear name tags, and if so, will you be printing out the name tags ahead of time or will attendees be writing their own names on blank tags?

If the latter, have you factored in the pens or markers you’ll need to accommodate that? As you can see, planning for an event can lead you down many rabbit holes.

Use our Event Budget Template to stay organized.

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Budget & Spend per Event Hosting Activity: This table allows you to set a budget and track spending for event hosting activities, such as renting an event hall, purchasing food and drinks, and hiring presenters.

Year-to-Date Summary of Categorical Expenses: Here, you can see an aggregated summary of all expenses divided by category, such as revenue, refreshments, and promotion. It will also automatically calculate the amount of money you have left.

Event “Actual Cost by Category” Pie Chart: This chart allows you to see a percentage breakdown of where most of your funds are going, which is immensely helpful for figuring out where to scale back and where to invest more.

Sample Marketing Budget

With your chosen template downloaded, it‘s time to consider which digital channels to allot a budget for.

Hint: There’s no right answer — it’ll depend on the market research you do to figure out where your specific audience spends most of its time.

If you find your buyer prefers learning and consuming content in the form of video, for example, you might invest more of your money in YouTube advertising.

Advertising Budget Example

Here‘s a small sample budget for a quarter’s worth of expenses by a hypothetical company that has decided to invest heavily in video marketing.

This template was created using the Master Budget Template, the first template listed in the section above.

Based on the figures above, video advertising‘s total expenses for the quarter exceeded budget by $20, while full-time recruitment’s total expenses exceeded budget by $2,400. This means the company is trending over budget for the first three months of the year.

Why might this happen? Perhaps a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign on YouTube received more clicks by viewers than expected, and a sharp video-savvy job candidate negotiated a higher salary.

Based on the difference between this company’s planned spend and actual spend, their budget template produced the following graph:

What is an advertising budget?

Your advertising budget is a subset of your marketing budget. An advertising budget is the total amount you expect to spend on creating, testing, and running advertisements that (hopefully) engage consumers.

Advertising budgets also cover the cost of evaluating ad performance and making necessary changes if ads aren’t meeting expectations.

Marketing Budget vs. Advertising Budget

While marketing and advertising budgets aim to capture consumer interest and increase sales, marketing budgets encompass this process end-to-end. Advertising budgets focus on creating awareness and engaging customers.

As a result, advertising budgets fall under the larger purview of marketing budgets. While ad budgets often represent the largest portion of marketing budgets, ads are only effective when combined with larger marketing efforts such as audience targeting and customer follow-up when ads capture interest.

What to Include in an Ad Budget

Six costs form the core of effective ad budgets.

1. Internal Resources

Internal resources include both people and purchases.

The amount of time staff spend working on ad campaigns plus the total cost of their wages for this time gives your total people cost.

The longer it takes to create ads and the more people are required to make these ads, the higher your spending.

Purchases, meanwhile, may include software or hardware that staff need to create and manage great ads.

For example, you might spend on business process automation (BPA) solutions to streamline key proceeds, or new laptops for advertising teams so they can work on the go.

2. Market Research

If you don’t know the market, your ads will miss the mark. As a result, every ad budget should include the cost of both micro and macro market research.

From a macro perspective, it’s worth understanding trends at scale — what do customers want from ads, and what do they want to avoid?

On the micro side, businesses need to target specific segment behaviors. For example, what type of ads are most effective in engaging first-time viewers? Which advertisements connect with existing customers?

3. Third-Party Providers

Advertising agencies can help improve market targeting and create compelling ads. Opting for third-party providers also lets your team focus on current campaign management and long-term strategy development.

Services offered by ad agencies range from consulting to market testing to ongoing ad management, making them a key line item in any advertising budget.

4. Asset Creation

It’s also important to account for any asset creation costs as part of ad budgets. These costs could include graphic designers, web designers, freelance copywriters, video creators, or social media influencers.

5. Ad Space Spending

Advertisements won’t drive revenue if no one sees them. To get your ads noticed, you’ll need to spend on digital or physical space.

Examples of physical ads include bus benches, billboards, and magazine ads. Digital ads can appear on search pages, web pages, social media sites, or on mobile apps.

6. Performance Evaluation

Finally, part of your budget has to focus on performance evaluation.

Here, spending typically focuses on software tools capable of tracking and managing ad efficacy. Common metrics include the total number of ad views, actions taken by customers, and the overall impact of ads on sales volumes.

Total up the cost of these six components to get your potential ad budget. If this is your first year creating an ad budget, set budget caps slightly higher than you anticipate. If you have previous years’ data on ad performance, use this information to help determine expected costs.

It’s also worth noting that ad budgets rarely remain on target as the cost of digital advertising space increases and customer expectations evolve.

As a result, it’s worth building in some extra budget room in case ads don’t live up to expectations or high-performing campaigns can benefit by increasing their reach.

How to Set & Monitor Your Ad Budget

Advertising budgets aren’t static. Instead, they change over time in response to business goals and consumer expectations.

To make the most of your ad budget, it’s important to both set a baseline and monitor metrics over time. Here’s what this looks like in practice.

Setting An Ad Budget

Follow three steps to set your basic ad budget:

1. Decide on a strategy.

There’s no upper limit for ad spending. If you wanted to reach every possible member of your target audience, budgets would quickly balloon out of control.

As a result, it’s critical to select an advertising strategy before you assign a budget value.

For example, if your target audience primarily uses social media sites such as Instagram and Facebook, it may be worth focusing on this advertising avenue rather than casting a wider net.

Pro tip: Meet customers where they are, not where you want them to be. If current strategies aren’t working and data tells you that customers have moved on, pack your bags and make the change.

2. Select measurable goals.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t act on it.

Let’s say you’re running a new ad campaign and early results seem positive. Sales numbers are up, and engagement with the ad is steady, so you expand its reach.

Expected conversions fail to materialize, however, and spending now outpaces success.

So what happened? In this case, a deep dive into metrics would have revealed that seasonal buying trends led to the brief sales increase, and while engagement with ads was steady, customer perception of the campaign was negative.

To ensure ads perform as expected, set measurable goals. These might include X% sales increase over Y period of time. Monitor customer behavior and conduct engagement surveys to link causes and results.

Pro tip: Pick just a few metrics to start. While more data provides more insight, doing too much too quickly can lead to information overload, increasing the risk that actionable data gets lost in the shuffle.

3. Do your research.

The more you know, the better. Customer expectations are constantly evolving, which means the preferences of your target audience aren’t static.

By asking buyers what they want and what would influence them to make a purchase, companies are better prepared to create ads that have an impact.

Pro tip: Cast a wide net. Use a combination of in-person interactions, online reviews, digital surveys, and customer service histories to better understand what customers want — and if you’re providing it.

Equipped with strategies, goals, and data, you’re better positioned to create a realistic ad budget that lets you both target the ideal audience and capture their interest.

Monitoring Your Budget

Keep your budget on track by monitoring three key metrics:

1. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

ROAS helps determine if your ads are generating sales or losing money.

To find ROAS, divide sales tied to ads by the cost of those ads. For example, if your ads produced $1,000 worth of sales and cost $200, you divide $1,000 by $200 to get a ROAS of 5.

Higher ROAS values mean more performance for the cost. Values under 1 mean that ads cost more than the revenue they produce.

Pro tip: ROAS isn’t enough in isolation. While it tells you the total value of ads versus spend, it doesn’t tell you anything about customers themselves.

If your goal is to encourage repeat purchases, ROAS can show you that ads are working but can’t tell you if the same customers are coming back or if purchases are one-and-done.

2. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate measures how frequently customers take a specific action when they view an advertisement.

This action might be clicking on the ad to visit your website, clicking through to download a free ebook or other resource, or signing up for email newsletters.

To find the conversion rate of your ads (measured in a percentage), divide the total number of conversions by the total number of advertisement views, then multiply by 100.

Pro tip: Conversion rate is often the first metric to fall as advertisements lose efficacy. As a result, it’s worth measuring conversions on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to make ad changes as necessary.

3. Cost per Lead (CPL)

Cost per lead offers a per-person look at ad spending.

This value is calculated by dividing the total amount spent on an advertisement by the total number of leads attributed to this ad. While metrics like ROAS show sales in relation to ads, CPL shows the number of leads.

Consider a company that measures ad-attributed sales at $10,000 and ad spend at $1,000 for a stand-out ROAS of 10. The following month, however, sales plummeted. What’s going on?

CPL, meanwhile, shows just 20 leads for the ad, meaning that each lead cost $50 — and without repeat spending the following months, the ad underperformed. As a result, it’s critical to measure both ROAS and CPL to get the big picture.

Pro tip: Companies can reduce their CPL with A/B ad testing before campaigns go live. The concept is simple: Test out two (or more) ads in limited distribution to see which one gets the most interest and generates the most leads.

Create Marketing and Advertising Budgets That Prioritize Your Goals

A well-thought-out marketing budget serves as a roadmap to your team’s success. Revisit the buyer’s journey, flesh out your goals, and stay away from tempting add-ons that are not in line with your marketing priorities.

Go now and plan wisely — your marketing staff is counting on you.

Editor’s Note: This blog post was originally published in December 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Consumer trends are changing all the time, reflecting the “never-sleeping” nature of markets and society.

From the rise of AI to the growing popularity of shopping on social media, heightened data privacy concerns and consumers tightening budgets due to recession fears, times are changing fast.

But one thing is certain — businesses need to track all these trends to avoid getting lost in the shuffle.

To help marketers keep up and stay ahead of the curve, we’ve run our biannual Consumer Trends Survey of 700+ U.S. adults. Keep a pulse on:

• What trends they’re following.
• How they spend their time online.
• How and where they prefer to shop.
• What standards they’re holding their favorite brands to.

Top Consumer Trends

Before jumping into all the trends, let’s highlight those that stand out in 2024:

• Trust in AI remains low despite its widespread use, calling for more transparency.
• Social media has transformed into shopping hubs, with influencers playing a big role in buying decisions.
• Newer social platforms gain popularity, while established ones see slower growth.
• Social search and AI shake up traditional engines, but people still trust them.
• Economic uncertainty prompts tightening budgets and job security worries.
• Data privacy becomes a basic right and demands clear rules and control.
• Brands standing for social issues and diversity earn consumer loyalty.
• Support for small businesses grows as consumers seek community connection.
• People prefer human support, social connections, and mobile searches.
• Flexible work arrangements become essential and strongly influence job decisions.
• Employees prioritize companies with inclusive cultures and positive environments.
• People love authentic and relatable video content.
• Consumer spending on non-essentials drops as people opt for quality over quantity.
• Gifting strategies and voice search opportunities gain traction.
• Metaverse pop-up shops and virtual stores are emerging as trends.
• Gen Z sets itself apart in shopping habits and social media usage.
• Consumers remain cautious about investing in Web3 and virtual currencies.

Digital Media Trends

1. Consumers don’t trust AI, but one-third still use it.

AI is hands down the top trend of 2024, with one in three consumers already using chatbots and platforms like ChatGPT.

But here’s the plot twist — only 33% of consumers actually trust content created with AI.

As businesses leverage AI, building trust and maintaining transparency are key to fostering consumer confidence in AI-driven experiences.

Regardless, 39% of full-time employees use AI at work, and 74% of them say it’s effective.

The top use cases for AI chatbots at work revolve around assisting people in their work rather than doing their job for them — helping with tasks like getting ideas or inspiration, summarizing text, and learning new things.

These are also among the most effective uses for AI in the workplace.

Workers are saying AI is most effective for analyzing and reporting data, learning new things, creating images/videos, getting ideas and inspiration, and conducting research.

Lastly, we asked consumers which AI they plan on using in the future.

Despite ChatGPT’s head start, almost half of consumers see themselves primarily using Google’s Gemini (formerly known as Bard) — followed by ChatGPT — with Bing in third place.

Discover how HubSpot AI can make your work easier, streamline processes, and generate great content effortlessly.

2. Social media is the future of shopping.

Social media is quickly becoming the future of ecommerce, with social shopping growing in popularity across all ages. Influencers are impacting more purchase decisions, while customers increasingly sliding into DMs for customer service.

Just in the past three months, 41% of consumers have discovered a product on social media.

In fact, Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X prefer finding products on social media over any other channel.

When it comes to actually purchasing these products, 25% of social media users have bought something directly on a social media platform in the past three months, rising to 43% of both Gen Z and Millennials since our January update.

On top of that, 21% of social media users have bought a product based on an influencer’s recommendation in the past three months.

For Gen Z, 27% have bought a product thanks to an influencer in the past three months, and they say recommendations from influencers are more impactful to their purchase decisions than recommendations from their friends or family.

Of social media users, 17% have also sent DMs to get customer service in the past three months. Not only that, but 1 in 4 Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X say DMs are how they prefer to get customer service from a company.

In past Consumer Trends pulse surveys, we continued to see that consumers don’t fully trust social shopping.

Today, they seem to be coming around.

While just 47% of social media users feel comfortable buying through social apps and only 45% trust social media platforms with their card information, both of these are improvements over last year’s numbers.

3. Younger social platforms gain steam as legacy apps stall.

Despite being the most used social media platforms, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram saw the least growth in users in our survey group year-over-year.

Facebook usage remained flat, Instagram usage dropped by 5%, and YouTube usage dropped by 2%. Meanwhile, BeReal grew 333%, Twitch grew (43%), and TikTok grew (21%).

(Note: We ran this survey just before Threads launched and expect it to be a big discussion point in our next bi-annual survey.)

Still, Facebook is the most popular social media app, used by 71% of consumers, followed by YouTube (61%), Instagram (42%), TikTok (37%), and X, Snapchat, and Pinterest (all at 23%).

Although LinkedIn is towards the bottom of the list, B2B marketers shouldn’t panic or count it out.

Although it saw a slight decrease in users year over year, the usage on this platform can vary (and even might be seasonal in response to how workplaces hire or promote).

For example, in our January 2023 update, we saw that LinkedIn had 20% more consumers who reported active usage.

Overall, this data aligns pretty closely with data we’ve seen from App Stores, platform analytics firms, and reports directly from the respective platforms.

4. Social search and generative AI are disrupting traditional search engines.

While there’s no denying search engines are still dominant, social search is growing in popularity, especially among Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.

Not only do 32% of consumers turn to social media to search for answers to their questions, but nearly one third of 18 to 54-year-olds prefer to search on social media over search engines.

Between search engines, social search, and AI, consumers still say search engines are the most effective way to get their questions answered.

Ultimately, while social search and generative AI are becoming more popular, traditional search isn’t going anywhere just yet.

Budgeting Trends

5. Consumers are tightening recession budgets.

Of consumers, 57% think the U.S. is currently in a recession, and 55% are tightening their budgets in response. About half (47%) of U.S. adults have taken steps to plan or prepare for a recession.

Additionally, 42% of consumers expect the recession to last for over a year.

6. Consumers continue to fear layoffs and recession impacts.

Although many companies will save thousands, or even millions, on reducing office space and facilities costs with hybrid and remote work, half of consumers are still rightly concerned about being laid off from their current jobs.

For marketers, earlier research from 2023 showed that their departments were already working with less resourcing, headcount, and budget than in past years. As some industries are still seeing the brunt of economic trends, this has likely continued.

Many also worry that AI — the very tool that streamlines their busy work — could take over their work entirely.

At HubSpot, we think AI should be used as a tool to help employees cut out busy work and drive results, not as a means to save money by cutting staff. And, heads of other AI platforms, like Jasper.AI, agree.

Still, it’s understandable to worry about what the combination of AI and economics could do to job security. After all, most employees we’ve surveyed compare AI to a modern-day Industrial Revolution.

If you’re concerned about your role, zone in on skills AI can’t replace — like critical thinking. Meanwhile, use AI to give you and your team more time to earn a high-performance track record.

This way, if your role does shift or dissolve, you’ll be able to pivot and adapt to change.

Data Privacy Trends

7. Data privacy as a human right.

Of consumers, 75% say data privacy is a human right. And it really is — especially nowadays when our personal information is more vulnerable and available than ever.

Thankfully, both legislation and tech are continually improving to ensure our data remains private and secure on the Internet.

8. Customers need trust.

Not only are 76% of consumers worried about how companies use their personal data, but 72% say they’re more likely to buy from companies they trust with it.

Also, 71% of people say their trust in a company impacts their decision to share personal information.

Pro tip: I recently watched a great YouTube video about consumer trends by Rabeea Hasan, ex-brand manager at P&G. Rabeea advises brands to use hyper-personalization in marketing and be transparent about data practices if they want to earn customer trust.

9. Customers want to have control over data.

We asked what would make consumers more comfortable sharing data with companies, and it comes down to transparency, security, and ownership.

Of consumers, 75% want to be in control of what’s happening with the information they provide — what data is collected, how it’s used, and with whom it’s shared.

10. “Pay to get my personal information.”

Of people surveyed, 37% strongly agree (+ 25% somewhat agree) that companies should pay for access to their data. On the other hand, only 3% of respondents completely disagree with that.

However, let’s consider that personal data like purchase history, browsing habits, and location can be incredibly valuable for ads, new products, and market research. Paying for such “golden info” apparently makes sense, right?

Overall, this is a complex issue with no easy answers. Every company should strive to find a balance between user privacy, data value, and fair compensation.

11. CEOs influencing customers’ decisions.

Of consumers, 48% say the owner/CEO of a company influences their decision to share data.

The CEO’s actions and statements can shape how the public perceives the company’s data practices. A CEO “popular” for privacy scandals could make people wary of sharing their information.

On the bright side, a CEO with a reputation for ethical business practices could inspire confidence.

12. No data sharing with third parties.

40% of customers do not want their data to be shared with third parties under any circumstances.

Also, nearly half (42%) of customers expect you to be able to delete their data entirely if they decide they no longer want you to have it.

13. 50% of consumers don’t allow data tracking.

Companies have a lot of work to do to build that trust, with half of U.S. adults saying they usually decline to have their personal data tracked.

Just 17% usually allow their data to be tracked, while 33% say it depends on the company.

Ultimately, embracing today’s privacy-first world will be positive for your brand perception — and most importantly — for customer trust and safety.

In a recent post, our CMO, Kipp Bodnar, explains why data privacy is far from just a passing fad:

14. Consumers increasingly support brands committed to social issues.

Companies taking a stance on social issues has grown more important and influential on consumers’ purchasing decisions, with 51% of U.S. adults saying brands should do more regarding social advocacy.

Affordable healthcare, income inequality, climate change, and racial justice are the most important issues respondents want to see companies take a stance on.

For Gen Z specifically, affordable healthcare, racial justice, and climate change are the most important issues.

Compared to last summer’s Consumer Trends results, respondents increasingly support brands committed to diversity and inclusion, as well as small businesses.

15. More consumers support small businesses.

52% of consumers say a product being made by a small business makes them more likely to purchase, while 46% have chosen to buy a product because it was made by a small business (both up 18% from last year).

Consumer Behavior Trends

16. Consumers still want human support.

There are two main ways customers prefer to get help — with a human agent or by themselves.

Interestingly, 72% of people still prefer talking to a real person when they need assistance. This shows a desire for the “human touch” in customer service.

On the other hand, 28% of consumers would rather solve problems on their own.

For instance, I prefer tackling challenges solo, especially when sites lay out clear instructions.

But when things get tricky, a human touch is the way to go.

17. People mainly use social media to stay connected with family & friends.

Even though we all hop on social media for fun, here’s a cool trend: About 61% of people mostly use it to stay connected with loved ones.

Meta definitely wins in this field with over one billion monthly active users on Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram.

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I really love this trend — it shows that, above all else, social media is all about keeping those personal connections strong.

18. Mobile phones remain a favorite for Googling.

When it comes to Googling, consumers clearly favor their mobile phones, with a whopping 63% choosing them over computers and tablets.

While only 26% opt for laptops or computers, Boomers emerge as the champions, with 41% still preferring desktop searching.

19. Many consumers consider themselves “creators.”

When looking at our survey results for the question, “Would you consider yourself a creator?” we found that 46% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 50% of 25- to 34-year-olds call themselves content creators.

What’s great for brands here? Your very own audiences might jump at the chance to create content for you, which could, in turn, help them build online influence.

But what exactly IS a “creator”? Check out this deep dive by Caroline Forsey to learn more: If Everyone’s a Content Creator, Is Anyone?

Consumer Buying Trends

20. Consumers mostly trust Facebook shopping.

Many social media users have made purchases directly within social media apps in the past three months.

For example, 46% of respondents have used Instagram for in-app purchases, 58% used Facebook, and 51% TikTok.

Also, a huge 47% of respondents said they feel comfortable making purchases directly on social media.

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When it comes to trust, Facebook leads the pack, with 37% of respondents expressing complete trust in it. Boomers are the biggest fans of Facebook shopping — 42% buy directly from the platform.

This trend showcases the increasing integration of shopping features within SM platforms, which is definitely great. Because, let’s be honest, we’ll all buy more stuff if we don’t need to leave the app (the laziest generation so far?).

21. Many consumers trust influencers.

About 21% of our 700 respondents are swiping their credit cards based on influencer recommendations — millennials are winners here, with 36% saying that influencers are really influencing their purchasing decisions.

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This is especially true for the influencers they really love, have followed for a long time, and trust.

I’ll be the first to admit guilt here because I simply can’t resist buying products recommended by my favorite SM personalities, such as Zach King. 😎

22. Stores and online retailers aren’t going away despite the growth of social commerce.

In January 2024, 64% of consumers preferred to purchase a product in-store, while 50% preferred to purchase through an online retailer selling a variety of brands (e.g., Amazon.com).

Take Pink Tag Boutique, for example. The Kentucky-based clothing and accessories business saw immense growth in Facebook shops.

They attribute $44,448 in incremental sales from the tool and have seen 66% greater average order value from social commerce buyers compared to those who bought directly from the company site.

For more examples of brands that are already excelling in social commerce, check out this post.

You can also find more shopping trend data in this follow-up report from Caroline Forsey: The Shopping Trends of 2024 & Beyond [State of Consumer Trends Data]

23. Consumers have high expectations that products will match descriptions/depictions.

When they buy stuff straight from social media, 53% of people believe that it will be just as described. This statistic shows how much trust we put in these shopping platforms.

That’s why sellers should be more careful when describing items and not make them look better than they actually are because 45% of shoppers expect a refund.

24. Consumers cut back on non-essential spending.

Of respondents, 45% are spending less money on non-essential items and focusing only on purchases critical for survival or well-being.

There’s also a big demand for long-lasting products. When people buy something, they want it to endure and not have to be replaced soon after.

“Here‘s a major cost of living crisis, and people value quality over quantity. They’re moving away from cheap, disposable products and looking for higher-quality, longer-lasting items, even if they’re slightly more expensive. Brands should focus on developing higher-quality products with timeless designs to attract customers.”

– Rabeea Hasan, Brand Manager

Consumer Work Trends

25. Many people will leave their jobs because the pay is not competitive enough.

The main reason most people are considering leaving their jobs is non-competitive pay.

Specifically, 38% of individuals are thinking about making a change, with Gen X leading the pack at 48%.

Honestly, I’m glad to see this trend increasing because people, more than ever, recognize the value of their work and, more importantly — the time they invest, which needs to be fairly paid.

26. Almost 50% of employees are not worried about losing their job.

A surprising trend has emerged in job security concerns.

Approximately 18% of full-time employees are very concerned about being laid off, while 33% are somewhat concerned.

But here’s something interesting — a good chunk, about 27%, aren’t very worried, and 22% aren’t worried at all.

This confidence might come from a strong skill set, high demand in their field, or feeling super secure in their company’s position.

27. People want flexible & remote work.

Our survey highlights how much remote work matters to people nowadays.

Can you believe that 11% of respondents said they’d think about leaving their jobs if remote work wasn’t on the table? It shows just how important flexibility and work–life balance are to folks.

What’s even more surprising is that the lack of flexible work options is immediately behind burnout as a reason to leave.

To the question “Would you consider leaving your job if your company made you go into the office 5 days a week?” 42% said yes!

It’s a clear sign that companies need to take flexible and remote work seriously.

28. Company culture matters.

Not only do consumers need to see flexibility to stay loyal to employers, but they also need to see efforts made to build a positive and healthy company culture.

A whopping 65% of employees say it’s important that the company they work for has a diverse and inclusive culture.

And it makes sense. As more people are asked to go back to the office, even part-time, they’re more heavily putting their work experiences into perspective.

After all, why would you want to return to an office associated with negativity, unnecessary stress, non-inclusive siloes, or lack of psychological safety?

If poor culture, flexible work, or other negative things like overwork, lack of upward motion, or poor recognition of good performance aren’t handled, teams may run into a trend some leaders fear — quiet quitting.

At this point, one-third of employees surveyed are actively doing it — still on par with our research from the past year.

Trends Discovered in January 2023

While the list above reflects data from our most recent consumer pulse checks in early 2024, below you’ll find highlights (which still could impact marketers) from an earlier survey one year prior.

1. Consumers are investing less money into virtual worlds, items, and currencies.

Despite the waning hype around the metaverse, attitudes haven‘t changed much over the past year. Both May and January’s surveys found only 8% of U.S. adults have ever visited a metaverse.

Public opinion on the metaverse has improved slightly over the past nine months. Of consumers, 36% now say the metaverse is the future of technology. And 33% say the metaverse is an extension of reality.

However, investments in virtual currencies have seen a decline. In fact, among those who‘ve ever visited a metaverse, only 50% reported buying cryptocurrency in January 2023 — which is a 35% decrease since May 2022.

Additionally, 60% of metaverse visitors reported buying NFTs in January 2023 … 13% lower than May’s respondents.

The decrease in purchasing virtual currencies might have to do with today‘s economic landscape. If people are generally more conservative with their spending, this could trickle into the virtual atmosphere, as well.

However, it’s important to take note of the decrease as a potential signifier that virtual currency isn’t as popular as it was in 2022.

2. Gen X and Boomers are warming up to social media product discovery.

In January 2023, we found that 46% of Gen X and 24% of Boomers had discovered a new product on social media in the past three months — that’s a 10% and 41% increase since May 2022, respectively.

All of which is to say: Continuing to invest in social media marketing as an opportunity for product discovery is a good idea to keep up in 2024.

3. Gen Z increasingly differentiates itself from others.

One of the most fascinating things to dig into when looking at survey results were the vast differences between Gen Z and other age groups — including their closest predecessor, Millennials.

When taking a deeper dive into our generation-by-generation data, we found that Gen Z:

• When it comes to shopping, generations are highly influenced by price, quality, and product reviews. Gen Z especially values brands that have active communities around them.
• TikTok and Instagram are the most used social media apps among Gen Z women, while men spend much more time on YouTube.
• Gen Z is all about YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Not only for social networking and entertainment but also for discovering (and buying) products.

The findings above weren’t the only interesting points to call out. Our lead researcher and analyst, Maxwell Iskiev, explores the differences between how all age groups shop and discover products with this follow-up guide:

How Each Generation Shops in 2024 [New Data from Our State of Consumer Trends Report]

4. Some consumers are stepping into Web3, but most don’t even know what it is.

While some consumers, especially those in younger generations like Gen Z and Millennials, are ready to throw their whole wallet into the metaverse and cryptocurrency, most are still getting their first taste of the Web3 world.

While Web3 experts believe this technology will continue to grow in the coming years, businesses don’t need to pivot their whole strategy to get ahead of it right this second.

However, as the technology gets more prominent and accessible, it’s still helpful to learn about the potential opportunities and risks of the Web3 space.

That’s why Caroline Forsey interviewed a handful of Web3 experts to learn more about how it could impact how consumers use the world wide web in the future.

Here is a quick, overarching summary of what Web3 could mean for future internet usage from Anna Seacat, VP of Marketing and Web3 Community at Proxy:

While Web3 might be a new concept to many, expect to hear more about it as the technology becomes more accessible to consumers and businesses in the coming years.

For more expert predictions around this, hear what our CMO Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan, our SVP of Marketing, have to say about it in this episode of Marketing Against the Grain.

For more insights, check out these guides:

• How Web3 Technology Will Impact Consumer Trends [Expert Insights]
• How Businesses Could Shift in Web 3 [Executive Insights & Podcast]
• Everything Brands Need to Know About the Metaverse

5. Consumers crave video, and effective brands are taking notice.

By now, you know that video has played a powerful role in the lives of consumers.

Not only do consumers stream more video than ever, but year-over-year, HubSpot researchers find that most brands consider it to be their most effective type of marketing content.

But, not just any video will result in a conversion, purchase, or view. While you don‘t need a huge budget to woo your audiences, you will need to create content they’ll actually enjoy, keep their attention on, and be persuaded by.

In fact, 69% of our January 2023 respondents say it is more important that a marketing video be authentic and relatable than polished with high-quality video/audio.

This video interview and post from Wistia CEO, Chris Savage, goes into great detail on his tips for leveraging video to humanize your brand.

For more information on how marketers benefited from video in 2023, check out our 2023 Video Marketing Report.

What’s Next for Consumers, According to Trend Analysts

Now that you’ve read through the biggest findings of our Consumer Trends Report, you might also be asking, “What trends and themes could come in the next six months — or beyond?”

To give you a taste of just a few trends to keep on your radar, we reached out to Julia Janks of Trends.co to learn what she and her team of trend analysts will be focusing on. Here are three of the nine trends they’re keeping on their radar.

1. Gifting strategies could catch the eyes of consumers.

Forget loyalty points — gifting is the new customer retention strategy. As remote everything continues to rise, keeping connected to clients and loved ones will be key.

For instance, after starting a gifting program, &Open clients saw sales go up by as much as 20% from existing customers in just three months.

Also, when they gave thoughtful gifts to employees, HR leaders noticed that their Employee Engagement scores and customer satisfaction ratings improved a lot.

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2. Voice search and audio SEO opportunities will grow.

The world of podcasts is growing faster than the entire internet did in the early 2000s. Spotify alone now hosts 6 million+ podcasts!

3. Consumers will visit pop-up shops — in the metaverse.

Pop-up shops in the metaverse are a thing now. And, brands like Roblox & Walmart are already testing them out and gaining more and more popularity this way.

Walmart‘s new venture, Walmart Discovered, is shaking up the world of digital retail by selling real-world products in the Roblox metaverse.

This move is significant for three reasons — Walmart’s clout, Roblox‘s massive user base, and Walmart’s curated product selection tailored for the metaverse.

We could see the metaverse shopping industry continue to grow with consumer interest, as 30% of consumers HubSpot surveyed think more brands should consider virtual stores.

Dive Deeper Into Consumer Trends

In the post above, I gave just a few highlights of our State of Consumer Trends Survey, as well as predictions for what’s to come. To learn more interesting themes, check out these follow-up posts:

• The Way People Search the Web is Changing: 4 Findings to Know

• The Top Shopping Trends of 2023 [State of Consumer Trends Data]

• The Top Channels Consumers Use to Learn about Products [New Data]

• How Each Generation Shops in 2023 [State of Consumer Trends Data]

• 9 Things Our Trends Team Will be Following in the Next 6 Months & Beyond

• How Web3 Will Impact the Future of Consumer Trends [Expert Insights]

Want to see how data has changed since 2023? Click below to download the full findings of that survey in our State of Consumer Trends Report.

Consumer Trends Post Authors

I‘m going to be fully transparent here. As I write this blog post, I’m on a train to the other side of my state. If you’re a busy marketer or content creator like I am, chances are you’re always on the go for your next project (figuratively or literally).

You could probably use some tools to streamline or automate aspects of content marketing, saving you time and allowing you to move on to the next big thing on your to-do list.

67% of marketers say the biggest benefit of AI is its ability to create content faster. If this sounds enticing to you, then you’ve come to the right blog post.

I tested and reviewed five AI content generators to see how they work and whether they can benefit marketers and creators. Keep reading to learn about my experience and see if any of these generators could be an excellent assistant to your workflow. 

 

How I Tested the Best AI Content Generators

To test the best AI content generators I could find, I signed up for a free trial and played around with the available features. I then documented my experience and noted features I enjoyed and ones that could be improved.

Remember, I’m only sharing my personal experience using the tools, so I suggest trying them out for yourself to see if they can be a great assistant to your workflow.

To get the most out of the generators I review, it‘s always best to already have an excellent idea you want to bring to life.

If you’re having writer’s block or trouble coming up with an idea, consider using the HubSpot Blog Ideas Generator to generate content ideas.

Then, bring those ideas to the generators below.

The Best AI Content Generators

1. Craiyon

Craiyon is an easy and free AI image generator. Below, I tested it by asking it to create an AI image of a happy cat eating food. As you can see, it provides different options for the image’s style.

I can choose to have it look like art, a photograph, or a drawing.

Scroll the carousel below to see how each style came out.

Craiyon also allows users to tweak the generated images by removing the background, changing its color, or upscaling the quality of the image.

Pros: The platform is very straightforward and simple to use.

Cons: While the platform is free, users utilizing the free tier will have to watch 60 seconds of ads between each use. So, if you’re pressed for time or, like me, lack patience, this could be frustrating.

Best for: Quickly generating images to complement a marketing campaign.

Price: Paid tiers start at $5 per month billed annually.

2. Rytr

Rytr is an AI writing generator unlike any I’ve tested before. The platform has a free tier, is straightforward, and is user-friendly. I especially like that as 40 different use cases, users can choose from to get the content they need.

When I started my free Ryter account, I had to answer a few prompts about what kind of content I wanted to generate and what I hoped to get from the platform. Once I answered those questions, I was taken to a dashboard resembling ChatGPT.

The left side of the dashboard contains tools, settings, and options for use cases, tone, and language.

I asked Rytr to generate a blog idea and outline about marketing to Gen Z. Here’s what it generated:

Rytr also allowed me to download the outline via a Google Doc file or other file—super convenient!

Pro: Versatile use cases and intuitive, user-friendly design.

Cons: The free tier has very limited credits that can be used monthly. 

Best for: Generating written marketing materials such as emails, blog posts, outlines, headlines, or messages.

Price: Paid tiers start at $7.50 per month.

3. Simplified

I am blown away by Simplified’s number of AI tools and generators. The platform includes:

• An AI Designer to create Ads, thumbnails, and presentations
• AI Video generator to create videos and clips
• AI Writer to create branded written content
• Social Media AI to manage digital platforms
• AI Chatbot to create an AI assistant

I decided to try out its AI Thumbnail Maker because it seemed simple enough. All I needed to do was clarify what the video was about and select the thumbnail size.

From there, I can select a template or skip it to generate it immediately. Curious about the templates, I selected one before proceeding.

And then, I was told I needed to sign up for a plan to proceed, which was a little disappointing. I ran into a similar issue when I tried other AI tools on the platform. Only getting far enough to see how easy they are to use but not enough to see the results.

However, I was able to look at features that were free to me, and I can confirm Simplified’s AI Designer has plenty of templates and tools that make image generation a breeze.

Pros: Versatile AI tools that can be used to generate video, copy, thumbnails, and more

Cons: Many require a paid plan to use to their full potential

Best For: Streamlining content creation workflows such as copywriting and image generation

Price: Paid tiers start at $10 per month.

4. ChatGPT

Of course, I can‘t write about AI content generators without mentioning ChatGPT, right? If you don’t know what ChatGPT is, it’s an AI chatbot that uses natural language processing to generate content and answer queries.

I’ve tested ChatGPT several times for script writing, blog writing, headlines, and generating social media copy. To use it, you just need to sign up for a free account.

Let’s say I want to generate some headline ideas for a blog post about how to market to Gen Z.

I would simply type into ChatGPT, “Generate 5 headlines for a blog post about “How to Market to Gen Z.”

From there, the chatbot will generate five possible headlines for me to use.

Simple and straight to the point.

Pros: Easy to use, free, and widely available

Cons: Information generated by ChatGPT may not always be up to date. Plus, you will likely have to spend extra time tweaking the content to your liking.

Best for: Generating social media copy, blog outlines, metadata, and headlines.

5. Narrato

Narrato is an AI-powered content creation workspace that allows creators and marketers to to manage their entire content creation process on just one platform.

Narrato offers a few content creation tools, but the one that sticks out the most is its AI Content Genie.

The AI Content Genie automatically generates social or blog content based on the theme of your website. To use the tool, type in the URL of your website and enter keywords pertaining to your theme.

I have a website where I discuss anime, manga, and comics, so I entered the URL and keywords relevant to my topic.

I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never seen an AI content-generating tool like this. Less than a minute after entering the URL of my website, Narrato was able to scan its content and create relevant social media and blog posts within my niche.

In the screenshots below, the platform shows the draft of a post that mentions specific content on my site, such as a recent blog post I uploaded and my podcast, Nerds at Work.

I don’t know if I should be impressed or a little weirded out. Either way, I can definitely see busy content creators and marketers automating their social media marketing with this platform.

Of course, Narrato also allows users to edit, schedule, and publish the content if it’s up to par. The AI Content Genie and generate and schedule on your behalf on a weekly basis if you desire.

Pros: Narrato’s AI Content Genie is quick, intuitive, and impressively thorough. It can also generate and schedule content weeks in advance.

Cons: There is no free tier.

Best for: Automating your social media content posts

AI content generators are here, and they aren‘t going anywhere, but you don’t need to use AI if you feel it isn’t relevant to your business. That said, the AI tools I listed above are worth checking out if you want to save time and boost efficiency.

Okay, my train is about to pull in. Talk to you later!