Category Archives: B2B

“Inclusive marketing is all about brands acknowledging the many ways that people are different,” says this marketing master.

Her voice drops to a conspiratorial tone.

“And this is the very important part: Choosing which identities you’re going to serve.”

Also important (to this Marvel fan, anyway): What does inclusive marketing have to do with the … MCU?

Meet the Master

Name: Sonia Thompson, Founder, Inclusion & Marketing

Job: Thompson consults with brands that want to use inclusive marketing to grow their business

Lesson 1: Toss out your checklist.

I can barely make myself breakfast without a checklist, but Thompson’s got me convinced to throw them out when it comes to inclusive marketing.

As a marketer, you have to choose which identities your product or service is serving, “and that’s where a lot of people are nervous,” Thompson says. “Sometimes people take a checkbox approach — like, ‘let’s get everybody in there.’” But inclusive marketing doesn’t mean “marketing to everybody.”

She gives an example of a recent commercial with a woman in a wheelchair. “You can’t see her face, and there’s no speaking role — she’s just there.”

Your reaction might be, “There’s someone with disabilities in the commercial. It’s inclusive!” But Thompson says that wheelchair users weren’t this brand’s target audience, and she cautions: “All representation isn’t created equal.”

If you’re checking identity boxes instead of thoughtfully choosing your audience(s) and thinking about their overall user experience, you’re not being inclusive at all.

Lesson 2: Be your own MCU.

And that, oddly enough, brings us to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Think about your marketing in the context of customer experience,” Thompson says, “and the ways in which people engage and interact with your brand.” They’re going to do it on a macro level — like the MCU’s 17-year reign over pop culture — and a micro level — say, Black Panther.

“I had seen zero Marvel movies before Black Panther,” says Thompson. But “I felt like it was designed for me and my community.” So she moved on to Infinity War (Note: I’d’ve recommended Thor: Ragnarok, personally). “Black Panther has a role in it, but as part of a cast — a whole ensemble.”

When she audits her clients’ overall user experiences, Thompson encounters a lot of promotional materials, and many times, brands have designed something for specific identities. But it’s separate from their general marketing materials, and that’s a problem.

Your Black Panther should fit comfortably within your multiverse — that is, the specific identities you serve should be an integral part of your marketing ensemble. And they should show up across your full marketing mix — your Instagram feed, your website, your commercials. Wakanda forever.

Lesson 3: Bring the main character energy.

A few years ago, Thompson conducted a survey on representation in marketing. She asked people what types of representation were most important to them and how they wanted to see themselves represented.

“We don’t want to feel like we’re in the back,” was the overwhelming sentiment, “or just placed there to say that we’ve been included.” (There’s that checklist again.) “We want a storyline. We want to be the main character.”

That’s not the only way that brands relegate identities to the supporting cast.

“Let’s say, for instance, that you want to reach Spanish speakers,” says Thompson. Say you’ve translated your website, “but the [Spanish translation] is buried in the footer somewhere.” Sure, you’ve done the work, but you’re also telling that segment of your audience that they’re less important.

Thompson suggests finding a way to get an external evaluation of your inclusive marketing strategies. “If you don’t have people on your team who have those identities or lived experience or areas of expertise,” she says, “Co-create or bring in partners to evaluate and to assess different areas for you.” That way you can bring the main character energy.

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

What’s a piece of marketing advice you would have given earlier in your career, but you would no longer give, due to how marketing has changed? —Heike Young, Head of content, social, & integrated marketing, Microsoft

This Week’s Answer

Thompson: Early in my career, I would have advised marketers to spend time focusing on a unique brand and really investing in what you could do to deliver a remarkable customer experience.

It‘s not that remarkable experiences and strong brands aren’t needed, but I find spending too much time there — especially up front — prevents brands from showing up consistently. Today’s world and consumer move fast — and quite frankly, consumers will be the ones that guide you on what makes a remarkable experience.

So, it’s more important now to show up and let your voice, point of view, and what you stand for be known. Refine your experience over time, based on feedback from your customers and the community you build. That community and the trust they need to have with you is hard to build if you don’t show up consistently. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everything has to be perfect and super polished before it gets out into the world.

This isn’t a case for delivering poor quality, but rather a case for brands and marketers to do a better job of being active shapers and participants of culture as it is happening. Be relevant and remarkable to consumers in a way that is most valued and relevant to them. Your marketing and impact will be much more effective as a result.

Next Week’s Question

Thompson asks: How have you seen inclusion shape the way marketing has been done over the last five years, and how do you feel it will shape (if at all) the next five years of marketing?

A Microsoft study found that people spend 15% of the workday checking email— that’s about six hours a week squinting at their inboxes. While many want that number to be lower, the truth is that email is still a valuable communication tool.

When I opt into an email list, it’s because I anticipate something of value in return: expert insights, a story or case study, a free trial, or an event invitation. Brands have a small window of opportunity to show their value in your inbox. If they can’t, they’ll land in the no man’s land of unsubscribe. If they can, they gain a seat at the table.

So, how can brands follow the latter path? I dove deep into my own inbox, spoke to email marketing experts, and explored top brands to bring you best practices for B2B email marketing success— with 10 examples of brands leading the way.

Table of Contents

• What is B2B email marketing?
• What makes a great B2B marketing email?
• B2B Email Marketing Tips from the Experts
• 10 B2B Email Marketing Examples to Learn From

What is B2B email marketing?

B2B (business-to-business) email marketing is the practice of using email campaigns to promote products, services, or messaging to other businesses instead of individual consumers. B2B email marketing is typically partially or fully automated through an email marketing platform like HubSpot, with varying levels of sophistication and personalization.

B2B marketers use email marketing for several purposes: to reach and nurture leads, onboard new clients, build brand loyalty, share product tips and updates, and cross-sell and upsell. All in all, B2B email marketing is a valuable channel because it allows brands to initiate a conversation where professionals spend the most time— their inbox.

What makes a great B2B marketing email?

No matter which type of B2B email you’re creating— newsletters, welcome emails, drip campaigns, or sales prospecting emails— any marketing email worth its salt should have these three components.

1. Personalization

94% of marketers say personalization increases sales, and 96% say it leads to repeat business. But personalizing emails takes more than adding their first name to the salutation.

Use segmenting and signal-based intent to send dynamic, personalized emails that can move a lead through the funnel. For example, reference a recent event a prospect attended or content they downloaded to continue the conversation. You can also personalize emails with dynamic content, for example, swapping out a case study relevant to that client’s industry.

2. Sharp Copy

Good B2B emails should be brief, relevant, and packed with value. The primary way that you showcase your value is with your words, aka copy.

“Well-crafted copy that resonates with the audience’s needs and interests is vital. It should be concise, clear, and focused on providing value rather than just promoting products,” says B2B email marketing specialist and copywriter Joe Cunningham.

First, craft an intriguing subject line and pre-header to pique a reader’s attention. Then, don’t waste your reader’s time with fluff— you need to earn every open and click with great writing.

“Show busy potential clients or busy contacts that this is, in fact, worth reading, why it‘s worth someone’s time, and how it’s going to fix a problem for them,” advises Cunningham. Telling stories and sharing the voice of the customer can also connect you to the audience.

3. A Strong Call-to-Action

No marketing email is complete without a clear call-to-action (CTA). Even a newsletter or thank you email should have a call-to-action! Many businesses make the mistake of leaving one out or putting too many in, confusing readers about what to do next.

Button text like “Read the blog” isn’t strong enough to convince someone to click. Write CTA copy that speaks to the value you offer, like “Learn how to save three hours a week” or “Book your free consult today”.

B2B Email Marketing Tips from the Experts

I’ve managed email marketing at a startup, a financial services company, and a university. I also interviewed two email marketing specialists about their secrets to email marketing success, and here are the best practices we all agreed on.

1. Keep it short.

More is not better when you have a specific goal for your content. “People are not going to read through a bunch of content,” says Destiny Loyd, Sr. Lifecycle & Email Marketing Manager for Apptio. “So as an email marketing manager, getting to the point is very important. You need to be able to get to the point within the first one to two paragraphs and give the call of action very early on to keep reader engagement.”

Keep the number of clicks as low as possible when asking someone to complete an action, and question whether you need readers to click away at all or whether you can share the key information in the email.

2. Segment your emails.

I’ve already stated how important it is to personalize your emails, and I’ll say it again. Segmentation, where you separate your email lists by audience, industry, or lead stage, lets you send only highly relevant, personalized content to each group.

So instead of having one big mailing list where you send company updates, segment your emails by audience: prospects, leads, current customers, suppliers, partners, and so on.

“List management is the boring part. It isn’t sexy, it’s not fun, and it can be time-consuming,” says Cunningham. “Segmentation requires a lot of strategic thinking with the data you’re collecting and the data in your CRM, but it’s a huge opportunity to send more relevant and effective emails.”

3. Stop blasting your contacts.

There’s no right number to how often you should email B2B leads or partners— it depends on lots of factors. But we all know that many companies take email too far. When you send too many emails, you risk driving your audience away.

“Over-communicating can lead to disengagement,” warns Loyd.

Audit your emails by looking at analytics regularly. If your engagement or unsubscribes are below email marketing benchmarks, consider cutting down or consolidating the emails you send. You can also use standard suppression rules to streamline emails: for example, add a suppression list for registered attendees so you don’t keep asking people who have already registered to attend your event.

4. Centralize your email management.

I once worked at a university that audited how many emails students received from all the different university departments, and the results were eye-opening, to say the least. One key way to right-size your email sends is to coordinate your email marketing strategy across departments. Marketing, sales, customer success, and corporate communications may all send separate email journeys, inundating readers.

“I have been at places where anybody can request an email, and it makes it hard for others — or even me as the email marketing manager — to keep up with what’s being sent out,” shares Loyd.

“Establish a point of contact and a regular meeting to talk about what’s coming out of each department via email this month. Centralizing email requests is important because it will help you strategize, be more targeted, and help the company avoid over-emailing their database.”

5. It’s not about you.

“I think one of the biggest mistakes companies make is making emails too much about them — their news, their products — rather than focusing on what their audience actually needs or wants,” advises Cunningham. Instead of talking all about yourself, focus on the problems you are solving and the value you provide.

One simple way to do this is by using the second-person “you” to address readers and their pain points directly rather than using disconnected corporate speak. Consider how these subject lines hit differently:

• [Company] launches [product name] with innovative payroll solutions
• Sick of payroll errors? Alleviate payroll headaches with automated workflows.

6. Keep your brand and tone consistent across emails.

Your emails’ voice, tone, and branding should match across campaigns and any landing pages or content assets where you send them.

“If you send an email that‘s very straight to the point and simple to read and understand, then you drive them to a website that is not simple and easy, you’ll to lose them immediately because there’s a disconnect,” says Loyd. “Brand consistency plays a huge role in driving people down the journey and giving them a sense of familiarity and continuity.”

As a best practice, create a brand and voice guide for anyone creating emails to follow. Then, write on-brand email templates that your sales team or anyone else sending emails can adapt and share for individual emails.

7. Test different hooks, angles, and visuals.

Words and design matter in email marketing. As you write subject lines and body copy, make a practice of A/B testing different copy and visuals to gather evidence on what works best.

While marketers have some audience data and personas, creating great marketing content still requires a certain level of guesswork. You might be surprised by what resonates best, so stay curious and test often.

8. Use automation for smarter outreach.

Email marketing is, by nature, mass communication. To make it personalized, relevant, and timely at scale, look to automation. Setting automated campaigns means that once you set it up, you can send email marketing campaigns in your sleep. Here are three ways to approach automated email marketing.

Journeys

Journeys are an automated sequence of emails sent on a pre-set schedule. These are good for onboarding or nurturing campaigns to help them reach a long-term goal like retention or a purchase. The downside of traditional journeys is that once they start, you can’t adjust or personalize the content.

“Ensure that you’re documenting the logic behind the journeys and all the criteria, triggers, exit criteria, and all of those things that go into that journey,” recommends Loyd.

Behavior-Based Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns are individual emails or sequences triggered based on behaviors, also known as signals. Examples of signals could include downloading content, attending an event, completing a sales call, or logging into a platform.

Basing your emails on behavior ensures that you’re reaching prospects with the right message at the exact right time.

For example, if it’s a week into a prospect’s free trial period and they still haven’t logged into their account, it’s pointless to ask them to sign up since they haven’t tried the software yet. Instead, you can focus on educational content reminding them about the trial. After a signal like them logging into the account three times, you can switch to conversion campaigns.

AI-Powered Email Marketing Campaigns

Finally, you can power up drip and nurture campaigns with the power of AI. Instead of relying on broad segmentation, where leads are grouped based on shared characteristics, AI can analyze multiple data points to understand each individual’s behavior and intent— and recommend content and campaigns based on the data.

For example, HubSpot’s team revamped their email marketing using first-party marketing data, enriched company data, and thousands of intent signals. They aimed to have AI determine each prospect’s goal and create the perfect messaging and piece of content to send to help them reach that goal. As a result of this hyper-personalization at scale, they saw a 30% boost in open rates, a 50% boost in click-throughs, and an 82% lift in conversions.

10 B2B Email Marketing Examples to Learn From

Great emails can be hard to find, so I’ve done the hard work for you. Each example from a B2B brand below showcases stellar copywriting, design, and relevance to their audience. I’ve given a teardown for why each email hits the mark and how you can emulate it.

1. Newsletter: The Hustle by HubSpot

I love a good newsletter that can bring me up-to-date on the week’s news and stories without disappearing into a doomscrolling cycle. One of my go-to emails for this is The Hustle.

With over two million subscribers, The Hustle brings together the week’s most interesting headlines, original business features, and video and podcast content into daily and weekly emails. I love discovering timely articles I didn’t know I needed, like an article on the business of Halloween theme parks.

What I like: While sprinkled with free resources from owner HubSpot, the purpose of The Hustle isn’t to sell. It’s to build an audience and share expertise from across marketing, sales, small business, and tech. The spot-on mix of original multimedia content and current events commentary keeps me coming back, week after week.

2. Newsletter: Coda

The Docket is the monthly newsletter for Coda, an all-in-one collaborative document editor and collaborative workspace. The newsletter combines product tips, updates, and useful content for knowledge workers. Coda’s in the process of being acquired by Grammarly (another brand with a killer email game!), so I’m looking forward to seeing how the brand and email content evolves.

What I like: Coda’s colorful design stands out among a sea of white-background content. The copy is always playful, with a few good workplace puns to keep learning light. I like the “Small things considered” section with visual, bite-sized product highlights (and an NPR-inspired title!).

3. Lenny’s Newsletter

When I asked my community what their favorite B2B emails are, a few people said they’re far more interested in following solo creators than brands right now. I tend to agree: people-led email content is booming right now. In tech circles, there’s one solo creator whose name comes up again and again: Lenny’s Newsletter.

Who is Lenny, you ask? Well, he’s just a guy— a guy who’s built an entire business around an email newsletter. Lenny Rachitsky, a seasoned product manager, launched a newsletter in 2020 sharing product thought leadership and interviews and it’s become the go-to product publication. His readership just topped one million email subscribers, including 18,000 paid accounts, a paid Slack community, podcast, and consulting.

What I like: Lenny’s Newsletter shares those rare senior-level insights from those in the trenches of building innovative products. He also shares his unique perspective and voice from inside the industry. The newsletter feels like a community, with frequent guest contributions and reader spotlights. It’s great inspiration for brands for how to put people at the center of your email marketing efforts.

4. Drip Campaign: Adobe

Adobe is one of my favorite brands, and that carries over to their email marketing. I never feel inundated by Adobe emails— there’s no fluff— and their content is always brief, visually crisp, and clear.

What I like: It’s no surprise that Adobe emails have excellent design, but I’m always delighted at the sharp copywriting with headlines like, “Docs on loc,” “Turn to-dos into ta-das,” and “Make taxes less taxing”. I also love the simplicity of having just one CTA. There’s no question or confusion about what the next step is.

5. Drip Email: Figma

As a design company, it’s no surprise that Figma creates delightful emails. As a Figma user, I like that the company keeps its emails few and far between but packed with value.

What I like: Figma keeps its value proposition clear throughout the email content. It never simply tells you about a cool new feature; it tells you how it makes your life better or easier. The visual branding, clear designs, and fun illustrations are consistent throughout different emails and stay true to the playful, helpful voice of the brand.

6. Nurture Campaign: Circle

Circle is an online community platform that helps creators and brands engage their communities. When you join their email list, you’ll receive professional and relevant emails with original industry reports, event invitations, and inside tips like “How our top 10% of creators really build thriving communities”.

What I like: Circle’s emails bring consistent branding visuals and relevant content for community builders. I like that many of their emails come from a specific person on their team (like “Alexis at Circle”) so it isn’t just a faceless brand email. I also love how they use the voice of the customer. The nurture email above, for example, has just a short blurb and CTA, while three-quarters of the content features the voice of the customer through testimonial quotes.

7. Nurture Email: Beyond Meat

Why should SaaS companies have all the fun? Alternative protein producer Beyond Beef shows how brands in industries like food and agriculture can show up in a big way in emails.

What I like: Beyond Beef brings its bold, passionate, and sometimes irreverent brand voice to its email marketing. It uses appealing visuals and CTAs to stand out to its busy audience of restaurants and caterers.

8. Onboarding Emails: Perplexity

Perplexity calls itself the “world’s first answer engine,” and AI-powered, streamlined search alternative. Since Perplexity is a new category of tech, its onboarding sequence is crucially important to educate users on what they can do with the app before the free trial winds down. Nailing your onboarding emails helps you engage users and avoid churn.

What I like: Perplexity’s onboarding sequence contains seven emails (it’s in the subject line: 4/7, etc.) which walk the user through the best use cases of the app. They contain bright hero images and concrete product examples with images and prompts.

9. Offer Email: Squarespace

One of the common mistakes brands make is to cram too much into a sales email. Take at look at this offer email from Squarespace: by keeping it short and focusing on just one offer, incentive, and CTA, they raise the chance that the reader will convert.

This likely isn’t the first email Squarespace would send to a prospect. The reader has likely already received a drop campaign or completed a free trial and needs and incentive to buy.

What I like: Squarespace uses the power of urgency and scarcity to tempt a reader to buy a subscription. The email gives a percentage discount and an expiration date for the offer. Even the CTA copy (“Save now”) speaks to the tangible value of the offer.

10. Product Email: Notion

The organization tool Notion can do a thousand different things, and that level of overwhelm could turn users off. To combat that, Notion’s email marketing and product updates help users understand the best use cases for them.

What I like: Notion uses product GIFs to show its product in action and give examples of how someone could use the product. Its email designs are always simple and clear, in line with the brand.

Lessons in Email Marketing: How to Improve Your Email Game

When done right, B2B email marketing is still a powerful engine for engaging leads, nurturing relationships, and driving business growth. The best B2B marketing emails aren’t just delivering information; they’re creating value and helping clients solve problems.

Whether you’re just getting started or optimizing an existing strategy, I hope these B2B email marketing examples inspired you to craft better emails. Subscribe to a few of these brands’ email lists, and keep a swipe file of inspiring content to improve your own.

Look for an email marketing service and AI-powered tools to help you reach your goals. With personalization, sharp copywriting, and a clear call to action, you’ll engage your prospects and earn a seat at the table.

Engagement on social media is like mingling at a party.

There could be tons of people in the room (read: following you), the music could be great, and the vibe could be just right, but if no one’s conversing, the party’s dead — and no one wants to throw a lousy party.

By prioritizing social media engagement, businesses can avoid this fate and accomplish their marketing goals. Likes and comments may seem like vanity metrics, but they are catalysts for the greater traffic, conversions, and sales brands need to grow.

Pulling from the latest data from our 2025 Social Media Trends report, let’s unpack everything you need to know about social media engagement and how to harness it for your business.

Table of Contents

• What is social media engagement?
• Why is social media engagement important?
• How to Increase Social Media Engagement
  

What is social media engagement?

Social media engagement is when social media shifts from passive to active, from laying around on the couch to up and running around the neighborhood. It’s any interaction a user has with an account, creator, or piece of content on a social media platform, including likes, comments, direct messages, shares, clicks, and tags.

Why is social media engagement important?

These days, anyone can post on social media or get a high follower count. Heck, posting can be automated, and followers can be bought. Neither of these are worth bragging about, but high engagement? That’s something you can be proud of.

In a marketing context, engagement is the first step toward actually accomplishing your goals with social media. Want to drive website traffic? You need to get someone to click. Want to build awareness? That’s where sharing comes in.

It all starts with engaging, but there are also several other benefits.

Influences Algorithm

Achieving organic social media marketing success isn’t impossible, but it is much harder than a decade ago. Regardless of platform, what your audience sees is determined by an algorithm.

Our survey found keeping up with features and algorithm updates is one of the top 5 challenges marketers face with social media, but industry experts agree engagement is one of the most consistent criteria.

Check out Meta’s content ranking criteria, for instance.

Social media algorithms see engagement as a vote of confidence. The more people engage, the better the content and the more it should be shared.

Increases Brand Awareness and Discoverability

The better you do with social media algorithms, the more likely your content will appear in explore/discovery feeds and be seen by new people. New people mean new potential audience members and, more importantly, customers.

Marketers named building brand awareness their top goal with social media in 2025, so this can’t be ignored.

Fosters Trust and Sense of Community

Algorithm aside, engagement is what makes social media social. It’s how you form a personal connection with your audience and build trust.

And it’s not just about you engaging with your customers. Customers interacting with each other is also important. TikTok, Instagram, or otherwise, comment sections can get pretty wild as your audience interacts among themselves, but even this chaos creates a sense of community.

It brings people together under a common interest or conversation, making them feel part of something larger.

85% of marketers say building an active community in this way is important to their overall social media strategy this year. It can help increase brand sentiment and loyalty, attract followers, and incentivize user-generated content, among other things.

How to Increase Social Media Engagement

Now that you know why social media engagement matters, how can you boost it for your brand? Here are six tips you can follow.

1. Cater to the platform culture.

YouTube stole Stories from Instagram, and Instagram stole short-form vertical videos from TikTok. But even though social media platforms seem to be copying each other, no two are exactly alike.

To leave the biggest mark and earn the highest social media engagement, publish content that feels natural and specific to that platform.

This means not just using the features and mediums popular there but delivering the value or messages your audience wants and expects to get there.

Sure, both Instagram and LinkedIn host videos, but the same content won’t necessarily resonate. This is likely why Duolingo focuses its LinkedIn content on hiring and recruiting talent, while its Instagram content is catered to attracting and appealing to users.

 

Know the culture of the platform you’re posting to, cater to it, and you’ll be well-poised to maximize your social media engagement.

Want tips for specific platforms?

• Facebook Engagement: Everything You Need to Know [+ Research]
• How to Increase Your Instagram Engagement Rate
• How to Get More Followers on Instagram: 17 Ways to Your First (or Next) 1000

Pro tip: In our recent social trends survey, marketers named Instagram the top platform for overall engagement. If your audience is hanging out there, it’s a great place to start.

Source

2. Post consistently.

I’m a firm believer in quality over quantity, but I’ve found social media engagement really requires a balance.

You see, social media content has a short shelf-life — basically microscopic on platforms like X (formerly Twitter). No matter how good your content is, it can get buried quickly, so you need to consistently post high-quality, relevant content to stay in front of your audience and engage them.

The easiest way to do this is to commit to a posting schedule. Having a set time on your calendar to post gives you a deadline to abide by and gives your audience a specific time to anticipate hearing from you.

Pro tip: Use a social media management tool to help maintain consistency.

Get Started with HubSpot’s Social Media Tool

Also, experiment with different times to see what works for your audience and persona. Your target persona can drastically impact your posting timing and frequency, especially if they are in a different time zone.

3. Ask questions.

What’s the easiest way to get a response out of someone? Ask a question.

Questions are like conversational calls to action — they tell your audience what you want them to do next, and sometimes that’s all the convincing they need.

Ask for open-ended opinions in the comments (like Meta below) or prompt people to “vote” by taking different actions on your posts. For instance, they could hit “like” if the answer to your question is no or comment with their favorite emoji if the answer is yes.

Both of these are easy but effective ways to foster engagement.

Shopify does a great job in this Instagram post, asking their followers to share what motivates them in the comment section.

Pro tip: Several platforms have dedicated features you can take advantage of to ask your audience questions. Think polls on LinkedIn (like this one from Slack) and Facebook or the “Polls” sticker in Instagram Stories.

Source

These features elicit engagement from your audience and add variety to the mediums in your social media feed.

4. Host a giveaway or contest.

People love freebies — well, at least I know I do. They incentivize engagement, making people that much more willing to participate. Think of them like party favors — not expected but very much appreciated.

With this in mind, a popular engagement strategy on social media is hosting a contest or giveaway. You can require audiences to engage (e.g., like, comment, share) to enter to win, and if you ask them to tag friends, you’ll also build brand awareness.

Korean skincare brand Laniege regularly uses this tactic on its Instagram, generating thousands of likes.

5. Use humor.

In a recent study by HubSpot research, marketers reported that humorous content delivers more ROI than any other type, and who’s really surprised?

“Humor is serious business in social media marketing,” explains Samantha Meller, Head of Social at HubSpot Media. “When done right, genuinely funny social media content can make your brand feel more ‘human.’ This can make your followers, audience, and customers feel more connected to it.”

Funny content is also the content people want to “like” and share with their friends. So, look for ways to incorporate it naturally into your social media strategy.

Taco Bell has been a master of this for years, and it only continues with its TikTok content.

6. Collaborate with relevant brands and influencers.

Our survey found that 77% of marketers say influencer marketing delivers better ROI than other channels. That’s huge, especially with 44% noting engagement as their most important campaign metric.

With this in mind, explore the influencers, creators, or even other businesses your buyers follow. If relevant to your brand or offering, consider collaborating with them to get in front of new potential followers. This helps with discoverability, reach, and social proof.

Pro tip: Go niche. Nearly 45% of marketers reported seeing the most success with micro-influencers, followed by macro and nano-influencers. Mega-influencers (those with over a million followers) came in last.

While mega influencers may have a larger audience, their engagement is typically low. Some reported benefits of smaller influencers included more trust with their followers, access to tight-knit communities, and affordability.

Learn more about your options for influencer marketing.

Engage to Elevate Your Social Media

Social media engagement isn’t just a numbers game — it’s the heartbeat of your brand’s online presence — or the life of the party, if you will.

The more you engage, the more visibility, trust, and community you build. By understanding platform culture, posting consistently, asking the right questions, and tapping strategies like giveaways, humor, and collaboration, you can create a dynamic social presence that drives real results.

At the end of the day, social media is meant to be social. Treat it like a conversation over cocktails, and you’ll turn passive followers into active participants, loyal customers, and even brand advocates.

It’s rare that a B2B marketer is funny on LinkedIn. 

And not “posted a meme about ChatGPT taking over my job” funny. 

I mean genuinely, “I would watch this content in my free time” kind of humor. 

And she’s got 20K followers (and some viral videos with 4M+ views) to prove it.

Today’s expert tells us to stop obsessing over high-performing content, and why your buyer persona is bingeing Selling Sunset, too.

Heike Young

Head of content, social, & integrated marketing, Microsoft

• Job: She leads the Microsoft teams that shape their storytelling and ensures their content strategies resonate with target audiences.
• Claim to fame: Multimedia content is Heike’s superpower. She grew her LinkedIn following from 2K to 20K in one year by posting funny videos. She also launched Salesforce’s first branded podcast, and her team managed Salesforce’s YouTube account with 800K+ subscribers.

• Fun fact: Heike used to run her own business throwing princess birthday parties and story hours for kids.

Lesson 1: Your goal shouldn’t be high-performing content. Period. 

When Young walked into a conference room during her first day at Microsoft (this may have been virtual, but for the sake of the story let’s picture the Mad Men office), she told her team that her goal isn’t to create high-performing content. 

Her goal is to change minds.

Every time her team creates a piece of content, she asks herself: “What can we create that’s actually going to change the hearts and minds of our audience? And that’s a heady task.”

Here’s an example that hits home for us: At HubSpot, we’ve hit millions of views each year on one post alone — “The Top Movie Quotes of All Time.” 

(Yep. About as far from a product conversion as you can get.) 

But this year we took another look at that post and said, “Does it matter that it attracts millions of views if it has nothing to do with… well, HubSpot?” 

So we (finally) retired the post. (I suggested a Viking funeral, but we settled on a 301 redirect.)

This is Young’s motto and driving motivation behind all of her work. She says, “We hope it performs well, but really our goal is to create influence and to change how people think and act — and for our brand to grow when they do.”

There’s a bonus to this lesson: Creating content that changes minds means writing, recording, and posting content that is provocative and unique. And that’s the only type of content that will cut through the noise, anyway. 

As Young puts it: “Bold POVs are pretty much the only content left that resonates.”

Lesson 2: Your B2B buyer is the same person who’s bingeing Selling Sunset.

A couple of years ago, Young took comedy classes in LA at Upright Citizens Brigade, which touts past students like Amy Poehler, Kate McKinnon, and Nick Kroll. 

And she’s now bringing that comedy to her LinkedIn videos, some of which have amassed millions of views. 

Why? 

Because her B2B audience is still made up of people. And people like to laugh. 

“There’s this idea that is really important to me, which is content that moves with the culture. The same person who approves the PO for your SaaS company also binges Selling Sunset or does Twitch live streams at night.”

She adds, “In B2B, we’ve gotten into this habit of acting like people are so different. You know, they come to work and put on their work outfit and suddenly their standards for content or entertainment are different.”

Her remark reminded me of Severance: There is the buttoned-up, professional B2B audience, and then there are the people we get dinner with and watch movies with and call our friends.  

This artificial separation doesn’t just make our marketing feel stiff — it makes it ineffective.

Young says, “I personally want to create content that is informed by the culture at large and moves at that speed versus content that feels like it was sealed in a time capsule from 2001.”

Lesson 3: Employee-generated content matters now more than ever. 

Young is going all-in on personality-led content in 2025. 

Why? Because, as she told me, personality-led content can be the core differentiator for your brand: “Anybody can answer a bunch of questions. Nobody can clone your people.” 

(Take that, AI!) 

In her current role, she’s really focused on employee-generated content, and empowering her team to create content on behalf of Microsoft. 

And she’s walking the walk, too. Which is why, about a year ago, she started posting her own videos on LinkedIn. 

She told me, as a leader, she’d been missing the opportunity to create content. To her, it was important to get some skin in the game. “And I also really wanted to bet on myself.”

Sure, it can be hella awkward to post that first awkwardly edited iPhone video of yourself and getting seven likes on it.

But you never know where it could lead.

Coming full-circle to our first lesson, Young adds: “It’s important to change people’s minds around deeper topics, to have deeper conversations, and just to resonate more deeply. Surface-level, basic, one-on-one style answering questions — that’s not really the path forward.”

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

As a marketing thought leader, how do you see AI influencing strategic thinking and the creative process in brand building? — Lise Lozelle, senior director of communications and engagement, Best Buddies International

This Week’s Answer

Young: AI is effective as a thought partner. Ask it to poke holes in your strategy and play devil’s advocate. Also ask it to find additional research and data points you haven’t considered. Those workflows can make your original ideas even stronger.

All of that being said, I believe human creativity is more critical than ever, and I love seeing human fingerprints on the content I personally consume. For instance, I’ve recently been swooning over all the tiny creative details in Severance.

I believe some AI-related changes in marketing will happen faster than we expect, and others will happen more slowly. Only time will tell what falls into which category. So I’m leaning into AI where it’s useful for me, and not forcing it where it doesn’t seem helpful.

Next Week’s Question

Young asks: What’s a piece of marketing advice you would have given earlier in your career, but you would no longer give, due to how marketing has changed?

Prior to launching my own marketing business, I worked at athletic apparel company Gymshark, driving our marketing strategy around community. I knew that bringing people together was powerful. I just had to move that concept out of the fitness space and into business. How hard could it be?

So, when I launched my community marketing agency, Butterfly Effect, I took a new approach. I put on my “professional” voice. I tried to stick to business talk and keep interactions transactional. But as I built more authentic relationships with decision-makers, I noticed that behind every corporate email address was a human being facing real challenges.

That’s when I had my biggest insight: B2B isn’t just business-to-business — it’s human-to-human. The approach didn’t have to be cold and calculated. I had to take the community-building playbook I knew well and adapt it to a new platform: LinkedIn. Here’s how I did it.

How LinkedIn Transformed Our Business

I noticed that despite having over a billion users, only 1% actively post on LinkedIn. Yet, that 1% drives 99% of all reach and engagement. By consistently showing up there, I not only built influence but created one of the most engaged personal brands on the platform.

So, instead of treating LinkedIn as a digital CV or occasional broadcasting channel, I made it the center of my business development strategy. This approach wasn’t just marginally successful — it transformed my career and business trajectory completely.

When we launched Butterfly Effect, we weren’t starting from zero — we had some investment. But instead of spending it on a sales team or aggressive marketing, we poured it into the service experience. Our money went into building the kind of agency we’d want to work with. We wanted to be rooted in value, creativity, and community — not cold calls and closing scripts.

So we made a decision that scared most people in the room: No sales team. No cold outreach. No funnels. No performance ads. Just community.

We believed that if we showed up with real value, built trust in public, and put people before pitches, the right clients would come to us. Everyone told us we were mad. But, as the momentum built, our community did the selling for us.

Within 12 months, we hit £2 million ($2.6 million U.S.) in revenue. All inbound. No outbound.

So, I made a decision: LinkedIn wouldn’t be a billboard. It would be the heartbeat of the business.

Three Ways You Can Use LinkedIn to Build Connection

1. Remember: LinkedIn isn’t for corporate updates — it’s for building credibility.

Most B2B brands treat LinkedIn as an afterthought, posting corporate updates that no one engages with. I’ve fallen into that trap too.

My light bulb moment was when I realized that behind every logo was someone trying to solve something. Behind every inquiry was a real person with a problem, a goal, or a dream. LinkedIn was where these people were gathering, listening, and looking for clarity.

So, I moved away from “look-how-great-we-are” updates. Instead, I wrote open playbooks and useful insights. Every post became a conversation starter, and every comment became a connection. Our messages were open doors, not pitches.

This approach allowed the team to build credibility. Each post built on the last, compounding visibility into reputation. When people were ready to work with us, they already felt like they knew who we were and what we stood for.

Action you can take today: Audit your last 10 LinkedIn posts. How many provide genuine value versus talking about your company? Commit to an 80/20 split — 80% valuable insights, 20% business updates — and watch your engagement transform.

2. Leverage your own LinkedIn, not just your company page.

If you only focus on your company’s LinkedIn page, you’re missing out. My business blossomed when I recognized that buyers trust people more than logos. To capture that trust, I needed to leverage my LinkedIn presence.

As the CEO, I gained credibility as an expert in my field, built direct relationships with partners, and turned my personal brand into a business growth engine.

From there, I kept a close eye on who was interacting with my posts. I knew my ideal customer personas (ICPs) and tracked their engagement closely. If I saw an ICP who might be interested in our work, I could then reach out while I was still top-of-mind.

Instead of generic sales pitches, I used DMs strategically, engaging in warm, high-intent conversations that felt natural and valuable. The most powerful shift came when I built genuine inbound demand. My content provided so much value that prospects started coming to me, eliminating the need for traditional outbound sales entirely.

This approach went beyond just me. My whole team engaged actively. They didn’t need to become creators. They became contributors in a different way. Whether it was jumping into comment threads, sharing POVs in DMs, or amplifying the conversations happening on our posts, their presence helped extend the trust we were building.

Action you can take today: Look at your business goals for the next quarter. For each one, ask: “How could community connection help achieve this faster or better?” Then, implement at least one community-driven approach to your most important objective.

3. Transform your LinkedIn into a hub for your ecosystem.

When I noticed the power of LinkedIn, I committed to showing up every day — sharing ideas, telling stories, asking questions, and most importantly being myself.

That consistency changed everything. Over time, my personal LinkedIn evolved into our biggest growth engine. It powered my personal brand and ensured our company page wasn’t just a static placeholder — it functioned like a living, breathing homepage.

People returned to our LinkedIn to understand who we were and how we thought. We became a stop for real collaboration, not just networking. LinkedIn was a town square — the place where we proved our thinking before anyone filled out a form.

With that reputation, we were able to expand beyond the digital realm. We launched Catalyst, a series of events bringing together marketing professionals to tackle industry challenges. The goal? Build trust, exchange knowledge, and forge real connections.

From that foundation, I took an even bolder step with Butterfly Effect — a dedicated space where businesses facing similar challenges could come together to solve problems collectively. This wasn’t just another networking group or shallow forum. It became a space where collaboration led to real outcomes, not just conversations.

Action you can take today: Identify the top problem your customers or industry faces right now. Post your approach, then create a simple collaborative space (even a basic LinkedIn Group) specifically focused on solving that problem together. Don’t sell — facilitate solutions.

Driving Success Through Community

The old ways of using LinkedIn, keeping knowledge proprietary, and maintaining artificial distance are falling behind. The path forward requires:

• Being yourself openly so people trust you.
• Building a community of people who share your values.
• Sharing what you know to help everyone grow.
• Working together to make progress that lifts your whole industry.

The moment business became personal for me was the moment everything changed. By embracing authentic human connection in every aspect of my work, I didn’t just find a competitive edge — I found meaning, impact, and sustainable growth that benefits everyone involved.

And, all of that happened on LinkedIn.

2025 is upon us, and a new year brings new trends and new challenges. If you‘re a brand looking to leverage social media video this year, you may not know what to expect but don’t worry.

I, your resident content creator and social media expert, have the expertise you need to prepare for social media video marketing in 2025. I also have stats from HubSpot’s handy-dandy Social Media Trends Report, which includes data from 1,000+ social media marketers.

In other words, you‘ve come to the right blog. Let’s get started by answering a burning question.

Is social media video marketing effective in 2025?

The short answer? Absolutely. Our data shows the top three social media platforms for driving site traffic, social media engagement, and audience growth are all video platforms —specifically, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

Instagram shines the brightest, with our survey showing the majority of marketers say it’s the best for driving site traffic (28%), social media engagement (25%), and audience growth (23%).

YouTube ranks second in boosting site traffic and third in social media engagement and audience growth. Meanwhile, TikTok ranks third in site traffic but second in both social media engagement and audience growth.

 

With this data in mind, according to our survey, it’s no surprise that TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube are the top social media platforms for short-form videos and will see more investments from marketers than the other platforms in 2025.

4 Top Social Media Video Trends to Watch in 2025

I meticulously combed through our Social Media Trends report for the latest trends, and here’s what I found.

1. Brands will prioritize partnering with smaller influencers to create social media videos.

Here’s my hot take: Influencer marketing will always be among the top strategies for marketers.

They’re the new generation of celebrities but are more relatable and accessible than their predecessors. As such, they have a close relationship with their audience, making them perfect for promoting your brand to new audiences.

Don’t believe me? Our survey shows that 77% of marketers say influencer marketing delivers better ROI than other channels. Moreover, 85% say influencer marketing has been effective this past year.

So, it makes sense that nearly half (46%) of marketers plan to increase their investment in influencer marketing in 2025, while 47% will keep with their current spending. Only 6% plan to reduce their investment at all.

But, while influencers are the new celebrities, it won‘t be celebrity influencers receiving the most investment from marketers. In 2025, it will be the smaller influencer’s time to shine.

The majority of marketers in our survey (67%) work with micro-influencers, and 32% of marketers say working with small creators with 1,000 to 100,000 followers will be a better investment than working with large influencers in 2025.

Why? Micro-influencers have niche audiences, making fostering personal connections with their followers easy. In turn, their followers are much more active and engaged than those of a macro- or celebrity influencer. And engagement is crucial for influencer marketers.

Our survey shows that 53% of marketers rank engagement as the top determining factor in choosing an influencer or creator to partner with.

2. Building community on social media will be crucial.

Nearly a third of marketers in our survey predict that building a social media community will become more important in the coming year. Moreover, 85% of marketers say that building an active community is important to an overall social media strategy.

So, what’s with all this focus on community marketing? Turns out there are three huge benefits to fostering community with your brand.

First, 30% of marketers report that community building on social media increases brand sentiment and loyalty. Second, 28% say it attracts more followers and subscribers. Finally, 24% say it incentivizes user-generated content.

And if you’re not sure about investing in community marketing, keep in mind your competitors likely will.

According to our survey, 64% of marketers plan on having a dedicated community manager, and 93% of marketers will either maintain or increase their investment in community marketing in 2025.

In a long story short, expect to see brands leveraging video challenges, user-generated content, and any type of video marketing involving audience participation and community building.

Duolingo is an excellent example of using video to build a thriving digital community. Marketers behind the language-learning app achieve this by participating in viral trends while incorporating user-generated-content and inside jokes among its users. 

 

3. Brands will find and test new/emerging social media platforms.

When TikTok surged in popularity in 2020, many brands were scrambling to find their audience on the app despite it having already been around for two years. Some brands found their footing rather quickly, while others still struggled to stand out among billions of users.

In 2025, brands want to avoid that same struggle. In fact, 30% of respondents to our survey say finding and testing new or emerging social media platforms will impact their brand this year.

This focus on new platforms has a lot to do with marketers wanting to stay prepared in case they have to suddenly pivot their strategies.

Think about it: TikTok went dark in the U.S. for just 12 hours, and marketers saw a pandemic turn the world upside down. And don’t get me started on concerns of recession.

Like my mother always says: It‘s better to stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. Therefore, be on the lookout for new or emerging social media video platforms and don’t be afraid to play around with them.

4. Brand content and tone will be tailored to fit each platform.

I’m a content creator with many creator and influencer friends, and we often discuss how each platform has its own vibe.

For example, an influencer may post a gorgeous Instagram Reel of them wearing a matching athleisure set and assembling all their cute Stanley Cup accessories before heading to a hot yoga session.

Not a single hair is out of place, and there isn’t a bead of sweat on it.

That same influencer will post a much less polished video of themselves on TikTok sweating and struggling their way through an intense workout routine, emphasizing the difficult and relatable journey of working toward their fitness goals.

We’re not the only ones who notice this difference. According to our survey, 28% of marketers say tailoring the tone of their content to fit the unique voice of each social media platform will be more important.

For example, the hair care brand Cecred has a different approach to both Instagram and TikTok. It’s Instagram mostly consists of high-quality, stylized photos and videos, whereas TikTok leans more toward funny, simple, unpolished content.

This reminds me.

Regardless of the social media platform you leverage, remember the Big 3 content formats:

• Funny
• Relatable
• Authentic

Our survey shows that 52% of marketers leverage funny content as part of their social media strategy, 50% label relatable content, and 42% leverage authentic or behind-the-scenes content.

I suggest playing around with these content formats on different platforms and seeing how they perform.

The Top Social Media Video Challenges Marketers Face

Of course, social media video marketing isn‘t without its challenges.

Social media trends are more volatile than Florida weather (I can say that because I’m a Florida native), and the customer journey becomes more complex as consumers flock to new channels such as live streams or social searches to find products.

As trends rapidly change, assessing what consumers find engaging and what‘s considered “cool” or current can be difficult. And as the customer journey changes, tracking ROI isn’t as clear-cut as it used to be.

As a result, the top three social media challenges marketers anticipate in 2025 are keeping up with new trends, measuring ROI, and creating engaging content.

As a marketer, you can navigate these changes by investing in a community manager who is tasked with building a community with your audience and keeping a pulse on the kinds of discussions consumers are having about your industry and brand.

This will keep you on top of trends and more prepared to create engaging, timely social media videos.

As for ROI, experiment with newer channels like social media live-shopping or social e-commerce. Track where and how consumers discover your videos and look for ways to simplify their buyers’ journey.

For example, beauty brands on TikTok often include links to their TikTok within their TikTok videos, so people who stumble upon their products while scrolling can buy without having to leave the app.

Get on Trend This Year

2025 is going to be an interesting year for social media videos, but as long as you keep the above information in mind, you’ll be prepared for what the year throws your way. Good luck!

I’m fortunate to work on exciting marketing campaigns for fantastic Nickelodeon and Paramount+ titles. But I never forget that customer experience and marketing go hand-in-hand — everything I plan and execute is to fulfill customer wants and needs.

After all, Fluent Support stated that 89% of companies will compete primarily on customer experience by 2025. Brands can’t just focus on creating an amazing product and marketing it well. They also need to close the loop with positive CX.

Marketing plays a critical role in defining, communicating, and managing the customer experience. In this post, I’ll walk through how customer experience and marketing intersect, who owns customer experience, and the marketing best practices for supporting an organization’s CX.

Table of Contents

• Customer Experience and Marketing
• The Significance of Customer Experience
• Why Customer Experience and Marketing Go Hand-in-Hand
• Who owns customer experience?

The Significance of Customer Experience

Delivering experiences that delight customers takes a planned, proactive, and holistic strategy that spans the customer journey and lifecycle.

Rightpoint pointed out that customer-centricity, deep customer understanding, journey mapping, cross-functional collaboration, feedback loop, and employee empowerment are the key elements of a winning CX strategy.

Customer experience does not stop after the sale — in fact, some of the most powerful opportunities to create loyalty are experiences with service and support after the sale.

HubSpot’s Flywheel model offers a modern view of how companies can evolve by putting customer experience at the center of the organization’s focus.

The “delight” stage powers the “attract” stage of the inbound methodology because customers talk to others about their experiences, and word-of-mouth recommendations are one of the most powerful ways to attract new customers. I know I personally will make a purchase if even one of my friends or family members recommends it to me.

Source

In HubSpot’s 2024 State of Customer Service Report, we discovered many essential insights about customer experience, some of which I’ve detailed below:

• 55% of respondents say AI-powered chatbots are effective, and they prefer such self-service channels when seeking customer service.
• 77% of service teams are using AI and getting excellent results.
• 92% of service teams say AI improves their response time, improves CSAT (86%), and is essential to meeting business and customer needs.
• Service teams who have adopted AI say it has resolved 11-30% of their support volume.
• Leaders of organizations with collaborative service and sales teams are 76% more likely to claim their customer service strategy was effective in 2023.
• Leaders of organizations with collaborative service and marketing teams are 69% more likely to claim their customer service strategy was effective in 2023.

Ultimately, what it means to provide an exceptional customer experience is continually evolving, and marketing will need to work with sales and services teams to ensure they’re always keeping CX top-of-mind.

Why Customer Experience and Marketing Go Hand-in-Hand

You may be wondering, “Is customer experience part of marketing?” I get it — I felt that way, too.

Historically, customer experience has been strictly viewed as a priority for sales and service teams. But, there is a massive impact when marketing includes customer experience as a top goal.

1. Brand Promise and Follow-Through

Marketing builds a strategy that defines compelling brand messages and promises, and customers who invest in the brand trust that the marketing is authentic.

Customer experience can actually follow through on these promises, encouraging brand transparency and improved customer loyalty.

2. Customer Journey

The customer journey begins with marketing and continues through the customer experience. These are part of the same cycle and, thus, cannot exist without the other.

For instance, I work in title marketing for Paramount+ shows and movies. A large part of my job is ensuring we effectively promote the title across key touchpoints, from social to digital to out-of-home.

However, once we build awareness and gain acquisitions, retention is still hugely important, as we want the customers who signed up for Paramount+ to stick with us. This is where customer experience can play a huge role.

3. Revenue Growth

When CX becomes fundamental to marketing, the impact on revenue is massive. I found in my research that brands integrating these two elements see faster revenue growth (5.1x) compared to competitors with poor customer interactions.

4. Customer Loyalty

Along with revenue growth, companies that incorporate marketing and customer experience also see a huge increase in customer loyalty. 75% of customers remain loyal to brands with excellent customer support.

In addition, 77% of customers are more inclined to recommend a brand to others following a positive customer experience. In my opinion, customer experience is the new marketing — this symbiosis leads to enhanced customer retention and brand reputation.

5. Hyper-Personalization

In a crowded marketplace, I easily get tired of seeing the same marketing efforts repeated. Now, marketing can utilize AI to predict customer behavior, desires, and needs more accurately, which leads to a better customer experience.

For instance, many streaming services track users’ viewing patterns to recommend genres or titles. This combines targeted marketing with improved customer experience — I spend less time scrolling when great movies are suggested upfront — for a seamless, customer-forward brand.

Who owns customer experience?

Contrary to popular belief, customer experience is not owned by a single person or department. It should always be the shared responsibility of the entire company, although each team may support it in different ways.

For instance, some companies have a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) overseeing CX. However, this isn’t as universal as it should be; thus, customer experience is often managed cross-functionally by teams like marketing, sales, and operations.

The advent of digital marketing gives marketers the tools to interact with buyers at the individual level — through channels and touchpoints at every stage of the lifecycle. In turn, customer experience becomes important for the success of digital marketing.

While the entire organization is responsible for experience delivery, marketing is often best positioned to listen to, analyze, and advocate for customer needs. By delivering reliable, fact-based insights about customer experience, marketing helps overcome the siloing of departments, which is a major detractor to a consistent CX approach.

Let‘s explore the current marketing best practices for supporting an organization’s customer experience strategy.

1. Listen to customers at scale — and share their insights.

Conversations data: Marketing that meaningfully impacts the audience requires understanding customer experience and marketing analytics and interpretation of conversational data. Data is not only used for targeting marketing campaigns but also for improving the customer experience.

Segmentation: Digital marketing automation platforms make it easy to track and act upon data. Data such as customer history, behaviors, and interests make it possible to develop segments to target customers better, and they also provide insights on how to deliver a more satisfactory experience.

KPIs: Key performance indicators such as conversion rate, churn, retention rate, and patient satisfaction scores should be identified, monitored, and tracked in a manner that is highly visible to all teams. These shared insights drive change and reinforce progress, identify areas for improvement, and support a culture in which everyone is responsible for delivering an exceptional experience.

2. Know the voice of the customer.

Direct customer feedback is foundational for understanding and improving experiences. My team at Paramount continues to use traditional research methods, such as satisfaction surveys, focus groups, and interviews. These play a pivotal role in assessing satisfaction and capturing the voice of the customer.

However, digital technologies are providing new ways to supplement this information. Tools such as social listening, live chat, and website analytics provide opportunities to keep a pulse on customer feedback in real time.

Additionally, sales and service delivery teams can capture customer feedback through observation, field reports, and complaint logs. Regardless of method, following a journey or experience map can ensure effectively capturing feedback about the holistic experience rather than siloed stages.

HubSpot offers customer journey map templates, which help organizations outline the customer journey across several phases, such as lead nurturing, customer churn, and future state. I love how interactive these templates are, providing thought-provoking questions to get marketers into customers’ brains.

Source

Ultimately, marketing’s role is to work across departments and stages of the lifecycle to consolidate feedback, identify themes, and use the voice of the customer to bring about change.

3. Collaborate cross-functionally to foster change.

Unfortunately, it’s common for marketing teams to take responsibility for attracting prospects and generating leads but then have little involvement after qualified leads are handed to sales, leading to a disjointed customer experience.

Instead, we can bring the results of listening at scale to collaborate on making business processes more customer-centered. When marketing develops insights about customers, this knowledge gives teams a common objective basis for working together on changes to improve the customer experience.

Simply put, we marketers can support the customer experience by creating meaningful, valuable content for the buyer journey and identifying buyer segments and personas to target.

Additionally, the insights from listening at scale can have a much broader impact when shared and used as a springboard to identify bottlenecks, solve problems, and redesign processes in customer-focused ways. I recommend that marketing teams create workshops or brainstorming sessions cross-departmentally to generate solutions and obtain buy-in for change.

Of course, it’s difficult for marketing to bring about change without executive buy-in. One way they can engage and obtain support from executive teams is to calculate the ROI of improvements to the customer experience.

Satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (likelihood to recommend) are two popular KPIs. Others include churn rate, resolution time, or conversion rates.

4. Invest in automation.

Consider both marketing and service automation software to create an ideal customer experience. Marketing automation facilitates an improved customer experience by providing clients with the right information at the right time.

For instance, automation drastically shortens follow-up time. This is critical because the average response time for customer service chat is 2 minutes, but customers expect replies within 45 seconds to feel satisfied.

Marketing automation not only improves the overall customer experience but is also critical to lead generation. Therefore, organizations can benefit from investing in automation software like HubSpot’s Marketing and Service Hubs.

Marketing Hub helps businesses attract, engage, and convert leads through marketing tools, including email marketing, social media management, analytics & reporting, and lead management, all of which enable teams to manage marketing campaigns effectively.

Source

Service Hub focuses on improving customer support and retention through tools like a help desk and ticketing system, knowledge base, omnichannel support, and AI-powered assistance, all of which help manage customer conversations and improve satisfaction.

Source

Together, they create a seamless customer journey from lead attraction to retention. Since both share a centralized HubSpot CRM, marketing and service teams can access the same customer data to inform next steps more easily.

These teams can also utilize shared insights to inform their separate goals. For example, marketers can use Service Hub insights, such as common customer pain points, to create more targeted marketing campaigns. On the other hand, service teams can use Marketing Hub data, such as buyer personas, to offer customized support.

There is no end to the insights teams can share when investing in both Marketing and Service Hubs. This symbiosis offers the perfect opportunity for marketing teams to prioritize the customer experience since the customer service information and data are readily available.

Experience the Power of Customer Experience

Ultimately, to create an exceptional customer experience, I believe companies need collaboration from all three of the organization’s departments — marketing, sales, and service.

However, the responsibility can fall on marketers to lead the way by ensuring that when collecting research for marketing efforts, they share those results with sales and service and remain open to their feedback.

Check out The Ultimate Guide to Sales and Marketing to help integrate a stronger partnership between these teams at your own company.

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

I’ve spent decades analyzing shifts in marketing, but the rise of AI agents is the most disruptive one yet. These systems are quickly taking over the user journey — but unlike humans, they evaluate structured data, analyze backend specifications, and make decisions in milliseconds.

Major players are already taking note and adapting. For example, Adobe recently introduced AI agents that brands can use to help consumers navigate through their websites. Businesses can then enable personalized marketing based on real-time user behavior and unique customer attributes.

From a practical perspective, however, what does it actually look like when AI agents take over key stages of the user journey? And, what does that mean for marketers? To find out, I put three leading AI agent-powered tools to the test by assigning them real marketing tasks. Here’s what happened and what every marketer needs to do next.

What are AI agents, and why are they important in marketing?

AI agents are autonomous systems that research, analyze, and take action on behalf of users. Unlike traditional AI-powered tools that assist with isolated tasks, AI agents actively manage workflows, interact with software, and execute complex processes — without direct human input.

In marketing, these agents are quickly becoming the new gatekeepers, deciding which brands, products, and services get surfaced and used. Instead of persuading consumers directly with creative campaigns or paid advertising, marketers must now optimize for AI-driven decision-making. So, brand content needs to be structured, clear, and machine-readable.

3 Real-World Examples of AI Agents in Marketing

AI agents are already changing how marketing works. Here’s how three leading tools are taking over research, onboarding, and execution — and what that looks like from a user perspective.

1. Gemini Deep Research: the End of Customer Discovery

What’s one of the most overlooked changes in marketing? The customer research and discovery phase is slowly vanishing. That’s not because customers are skipping it, but because AI agents are doing it for them.

To test this, I used Google’s Gemini Deep Research, part of the Gemini 2.0 Suite, and asked it a simple question: How do I add a chatbot to HubSpot’s website? Instead of giving me a list of links or summaries, Gemini scanned 37 websites, synthesized the steps into a single tutorial, and delivered it in a format I could instantly use. No ads, no searching, no clicking around.

This change is subtle — but it means that if you’re still optimizing solely for human eyes, you’re risking irrelevance. AI agents don’t browse your blog or evaluate your brand voice; they look for verifiable information and clear, objective reliability. Even a superior product can be overlooked if your content isn’t presented in a way that agents can parse and evaluate.

How to Stay Ahead

• Format your content for extractability by using structured headers, ordered steps, and scannable product summaries.
• Create citation-worthy documentation by ensuring your product information is clean, factual, and consistently described across all digital properties.
• Choose product clarity over cleverness by skipping branded language or marketing jargon in favor of clear answers to functional product questions.

2. Google Stream Realtime: the AI Onboarding Partner

While Gemini Deep Research is reshaping how product information is discovered and gathered, Google Stream Realtime, part of Google AI Studio, is changing the way users learn to use a product.

Continuing with my experiment to add a chatbot to HubSpot’s website, I tested Stream to see how it would assist me in navigating the setup process. Instead of directing me to a help article, Stream observed my screen, analyzed my actions, and provided real-time, step-by-step guidance. Every recommendation was context-aware, adapting to exactly where I was in the process.

What stood out was that Stream doesn’t just react to inputs — it anticipates needs. As I navigated the interface, Stream learned how I was interacting with different elements and adjusted its guidance accordingly. This creates a continuous feedback loop where Stream teaches users while learning from their behavior. Onboarding then becomes more efficient and personalized.

How to Stay Ahead

• Clearly define and map out user journeys that follow a predictable structure and design flow, so AI agents can walk users through each step without confusion.
• Label interface elements clearly and consistently by making buttons, menus, and actions machine-readable with standard, unambiguous language.
• Provide structured help content like tooltips, walkthroughs, or embedded tutorials that AI agents can surface instantly when guiding users through your product.

3. Claude AI: Extending agent capabilities through tool integration

Claude AI, developed by Anthropic, represents the next step in AI agent capabilities through its Model Context Protocol (MCP), which allows the agent to utilize external tools and operate with greater independence.

For example, you can give Claude access to tools like Brave Search, productivity apps, or CRMs through secure connections. Once authorized, it can pull reports, generate content, trigger workflows, or even connect data across platforms — all without the user lifting a finger.

During the experiment, I found it particularly exciting that the agent doesn’t hand off tasks to the user — it completes them on the user’s behalf. This means your product needs to be accessible by both human users and AI operations.

How to Stay Ahead

• Build clear, well-documented APIs (like Hubspot’s API Guides) so agents like Claude can understand and act on your product’s capabilities.
• Use secure authentication tools like OAuth to allow safe agent access without compromising user trust or requiring constant credential re-entry.

• Structure your product and data for automation by creating well-defined actions, clear data models, and reliable feedback mechanisms that enable agents to trigger, complete, and validate key operations.

Adapting to Agents

AI Agents don’t scroll through your website, engage with your ads, or respond to emotional storytelling. Instead, they look for structured information and gather those insights for a human user.

Cutting-edge companies will restructure their approach to marketing so they resonate with AI gatekeepers and get their offerings in front of human decision-makers. If you haven’t begun experimenting with AI agents, it’s time to dive in, or you might just get left behind.

To learn more about how AI agents are reshaping your marketing strategy, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:

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

Throughout my marketing career, I’ve worked with a handful of small businesses and startups — each one scrappy, fast-moving, and trying to do more with less. I’ve seen firsthand how hard it can be to get the word out when you’re short on time, budget, or a full-time marketing team.

But I’ve also seen how much impact the right strategy can make. When small business marketing clicks, it’s like turning on a light. Suddenly, you’re not just reaching people — you’re connecting with the right ones.

In this guide, I’ll share the tips, tools, and lessons that have helped small businesses grow without burning out. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refresh your marketing strategy, these ideas are built to help you stand out and scale up using an inbound marketing approach that attracts customers by being helpful, not pushy.

Table of Contents

• What is small business marketing?
• What To Do Before Marketing Your Small Business
• Small Business Marketing Strategies
• Online Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
• Should you outsource marketing for your small business?
• Small Business Advertising Ideas
• Small Business Marketing Tools & Resources

What is small business marketing?

Let’s take a step back for a second and talk about what small business marketing really is.

At its core, small business marketing is the process of promoting your products or services to attract, engage, and retain customers. It‘s about making sure the right people know who you are, what you offer, and why they should care. Whether you’re promoting a product, service, or your own expertise, your job is to reach the right people and give them a reason to trust you.

In every small business I’ve worked with, the approach looked a little different. Some focused on email, others relied on events or word of mouth.

The point is: there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. The key is figuring out what works for you — and doubling down.

A recent study by SimpleTexting found that 75% of small businesses have a marketing plan, and those with a structured plan are 6.7 times more likely to report success than those without one. So yeah, having a plan matters.

The tips below come from real-world experience — things I’ve seen work across lean startups, solo teams, and growing companies. Think of them as your starting point. When the basics are in place, every strategy you layer on top will work harder for you.

Before you dive into marketing, it’s worth slowing down to set yourself up right. I’ve seen so many small businesses burn time and money trying to promote a product or service without a clear plan — and end up frustrated when nothing sticks.

The truth is, your marketing won’t work if your foundation is shaky. This section covers the steps I’ve found most helpful to get in place before you start promoting — so that when you do, your message lands and your time pays off.

1. Define your target audience.

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen small businesses make is trying to market to everyone. It spreads your message thin — and rarely connects. Instead, narrow your focus. Who’s the best-fit customer? What are they struggling with? Where do they spend time online?

When I started working with my first fintech startup, they described their target audience as “people who need help with HR stuff.” Not only was that way too broad, but it didn’t reflect who was actually buying. So we looked at who had converted recently and dug into what their day-to-day looked like.

Turns out, most of them were overworked finance managers at healthcare companies — not HR leads. They were the ones feeling the pain of messy payroll systems and were actively looking for a fix. That small shift in perspective helped us change our messaging, rework the website, and even adjust which channels we were showing up on.

The more specific you can get, the easier everything else becomes — ads perform better, content gets more engagement, and your leads are actually qualified. It doesn’t have to be complicated: start with your current customers. Who do you love working with? Who seems to “get it” fastest? That’s a great place to begin.

Try jotting down a few details about your ideal customer:

• What job title or industry are they in?
• What’s stressing them out at work?
• What’s happening right before they find you?

Once you’ve got that, give them a name. Not a real one — just a persona you can picture when you’re writing or building campaigns. It sounds simple, but it works.

If you want help building out a full persona, HubSpot’s free persona generator is a great tool for organizing your thoughts.

Download Free Buyer Persona Templates

2. Clarify your value proposition.

This is one of those things that feels obvious — but often gets missed. If someone lands on your homepage or social profile, would they immediately know who you help, what you help them do, and why they should care?

One company I worked with had an entire paragraph on the homepage describing “a better way to manage internal processes.” It sounded fancy, but it didn’t really mean anything. So we rewrote it to say: “Spot payroll errors before they cost you. Automate your internal audit process with AI.”

Suddenly, it clicked. Demo requests went up. Prospects finally got what we did.

Writing a strong value prop isn’t about sounding smart — it’s about being clear. Don’t hide behind buzzwords. Lead with outcomes. Use the language your best customers already use when they describe why they chose you.

If you’re feeling stuck, try answering these questions:

• Who’s this for?
• What problem are you solving?
• Why are you different or better?

Still not sure? Try filling in this prompt::

“We help [target audience] achieve [value] without [pain point].”

For example, when filled in, it should sound something like: “We help busy HR teams automate payroll audits without manual spreadsheets.”

Whether it’s your pricing, your process, your values, or your customer service, that difference should be easy to spot across your homepage, email campaigns, and social content.

Pro tip: If you’re still not sure where to start, try answering this: What would your happiest customer say about working with you?

3. Determine your brand identity and visuals.

You don’t need a fancy visual identity to get started — but you do need to show up consistently. When your Instagram looks nothing like your website, and your emails feel like they were written by a totally different person, it creates friction. And friction costs trust.

I recently helped an early-stage SaaS client settle on a simple color palette, two clean fonts, and a brand voice that matched how their sales team talked. Nothing groundbreaking — but it made everything feel way more polished. And will save them hours of decision-making down the line.

Just keep it simple:

• Choose 2 colors you’ll use across your site and social channels.
• Pick 1-2 fonts (you can find tons of free Google Fonts).
• Decide how you want to sound: Friendly? Witty? Reassuring?

Pro tip: Make a one-page “brand cheat sheet” and share it with anyone writing or designing for your business. It’ll keep things consistent without needing a 30-slide brand book.

4. Map your customer journey.

Before you spend money on ads or start writing blog posts, take a minute to zoom out. How does someone go from not knowing you exist… to becoming a loyal customer?

Think about what your customer needs to see, hear, or feel at each stage — from awareness to decision. What’s missing? What’s working?

At a company I recently worked with, we realized our content was driving solid traffic, but leads weren’t converting. People were reading blog posts and even signing up for our newsletter, but they weren’t taking the next step. So we walked through the journey from their perspective.

Unsurprisingly, we found a gap. We hadn’t clearly explained what would happen next. There were no nudges, no case studies, no middle-of-funnel content. We were assuming people were ready to buy — when in reality, they still had questions.

So we created a short email sequence that followed up with educational content, added a “Who It’s For” section to our homepage, and made our CTA buttons more specific. Those small changes helped fill the gaps and move people closer to converting.

To get started, try sketching out a simple version of your current customer journey:

• How they find you (search, referrals, social, etc.).
• What convinces them to trust you.
• What triggers them to convert (book, buy, subscribe).
• What happens after they do.

Even the act of writing it out can help you spot small moments where people are falling through the cracks — and give you ideas to fix them and effectively plan your go-to-market (GTM) strategy.

5. Choose your core marketing channels.

When you’re a small team, trying to show up everywhere is a fast track to burnout. You don’t need to be on every social platform or chase every trend — you just need to be in the right places for your audience.

At a startup I worked with, we initially tried it all: Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, newsletters, blog posts… even a podcast idea got thrown around. But once we looked at where actual leads were coming from, it was clear that 90% of our best-fit customers were engaging through LinkedIn and email. So we cut the rest and focused on doing those two things really well. Engagement went up. So did sanity.

Start with what you know:

• Where does your audience spend time online?
• Where do you already have some traction?
• What can you realistically maintain with your current bandwidth?

For example, if you’re a visual brand (like beauty or lifestyle), Instagram or Pinterest might make sense. If you’re selling to other businesses, LinkedIn and email might work better. If you’re trying to rank for long-tail keywords, SEO and blogging should be your focus.

Once you know your top 1–2 channels, build a simple rhythm — then commit to it for a few months. Test, tweak, and then consider layering on more.

6. Build a functional, mobile-friendly website.

Your website doesn’t need to be fancy. But it does need to be clear, fast, and easy to navigate — especially on mobile. Most of your visitors are going to land on your site, scroll for a few seconds, and decide whether to keep going. You want that moment to work in your favor.

I recently helped launch a new site for a customer loyalty company who didn’t have the budget for a full design team. We used a clean, mobile-friendly template, added clear messaging to the homepage, and made sure the most important buttons were easy to find. It wasn’t flashy — but it was professional and it converted.

The best way to start is to start simple. At a minimum, make sure your website:

• Loads fast (especially on mobile).
• Explains what you do in the first few seconds.
• Has a clear next step (like a contact form or sign-up button).
• Includes basic pages: Home, About, Services or Product, and Contact.

If you‘re short on time or budget, HubSpot’s starter bundle lets you build a clean, mobile-friendly site using drag-and-drop templates with zero coding required.

Pro tip: After you publish, view your site on your phone. If you have to pinch, scroll sideways, or dig to find info, it’s time to clean things up.

7. Set up basic lead capture on your site.

Getting people to your website is a big win. But if they leave without a trace, you’re missing out on future customers. That’s why you need a simple way to capture leads — before you start pouring time and money into promotion.

At one startup I worked with, we were running a solid SEO strategy. Blog traffic was climbing, but conversions were flat. So we added a short lead magnet content offer to the most popular posts: a downloadable checklist that matched the topic. Visitors could enter their email to get it, and boom — we started collecting warm leads without changing much else.

Lead capture doesn’t have to be complicated. You just need:

• A short form (name + email is often enough).
• A clear reason to sign up (newsletter, discount, guide, early access).
• A simple way to deliver the follow-up (email tool or automation).

If you’re not sure what to offer, think about what would be genuinely helpful for someone visiting your site. A guide, a calculator, a checklist — anything that makes their life easier.

If you’re looking for tools to help, HubSpot’s free form builder is a great place to start. And if you’re keeping things simple, even just embedding a basic form at the bottom of your homepage, blog posts, or landing pages can be surprisingly effective.

Pro tip: Place your lead capture form where people are already engaging — like at the bottom of blog posts or on your “About” page. These visitors are more likely to convert than someone landing on your homepage cold.

8. Set up a CRM to manage contacts and leads.

If you‘re still tracking leads in a spreadsheet, I get it — I’ve done it too. But it gets messy fast. Once people start signing up, emailing you, or showing interest, it’s way too easy to lose track of who’s who, what stage they’re in, or when you last followed up.

That’s where a CRM system comes in. It helps you stay organized, see your pipeline at a glance, and keep track of every customer interaction in one place. Even if you’re a team of one, having a CRM early makes it way easier to scale later.

At one company I worked with, we didn’t implement a CRM until we already had a few dozen warm leads — and we regretted waiting. Once we switched to HubSpot’s CRM, we could actually track which leads were converting, which emails were working, and who needed a follow-up. Our team felt more focused, and nothing slipped through the cracks.

There are tons of options out there, but HubSpot’s CRM is an easy (and free) one to start with. It’s built for small businesses and integrates seamlessly with tools like email marketing, forms, and lead scoring — so you’re not scraping everything together later.

The earlier you get this in place, the easier it’ll be to stay on top of your growth … trust me.

Small Business Marketing Strategies

With your foundation in place, now it’s time to put your message into the world. This is where you’ll start creating content, building relationships, and finding new ways to reach the right people.

The strategies below are the ones I’ve seen work best across early-stage startups and small teams. Some help you lay the groundwork. Others are about showing up consistently or expanding your reach. You don’t need to tackle all of them — just pick a few that feel doable, test what works, and build from there.

Get set up.

These are the basics — the things that help you build a marketing engine that won’t fall apart under pressure. This is about creating content that earns trust, setting up tools that track your impact, and laying the groundwork for more consistent growth.

1. Create foundational content for your website.

If your website is the digital front door of your business, your content is what gets people to step inside — and stick around. I’ve seen so many small teams launch a site that’s technically live … but missing the pieces that actually build trust.

Foundational content is the stuff people look for when they’re trying to decide if you’re legit. Be honest, how many times have you googled, “Is [company] a scam”?

In order to make sure no one’s doing that when they land on your website, try to include:

• A clear explanation of what you do and who it’s for.
• An FAQ that handles common objections.
• A pricing or “How It Works” page (even a simple one).
• A story about why you started the business or what makes you different.

One small business I worked with didn’t have a pricing page for months because they were still “figuring things out.” But prospects kept bouncing because they couldn’t tell if it was even worth booking a call. Once we added a “Pricing starting at…” section and a visual breakdown of the plan tiers, conversions nearly doubled.

Don’t wait for it to be perfect. Start with the basics. Then update as you go. Take it from me, a perfectionist.

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2. Start a blog and optimize posts for search engines.

I’ll be honest: blogging takes time. But when it’s done well, it becomes one of the most sustainable ways to bring in new traffic over the long term — without paying for every click.

Remember that fintech startup I worked with? Well, we launched a blog with just two goals: answer real customer questions and rank for high-intent keywords. We didn’t post weekly or follow a strict calendar in the beginning. Instead, we focused on a few solid pieces that hit the mark. Those posts consistently brought in qualified leads, months after publishing.

The key? Think about what your ideal customer is googling right before they need you. Start there. You don’t need dozens of posts — just a few that are relevant, helpful, and optimized.

Pro tip: Use resources like Ahrefs, Semrush or HubSpot’s free SEO tools to find keywords your audience is searching for. Then build your posts around those topics, using clear headlines, simple structure, and real examples whenever you can.

Download Free Blog Post Templates

3. Track performance with website analytics.

If you’re not tracking what’s working, you’re basically marketing in the dark. And I’ve seen it happen — teams spend hours on blog posts or landing pages without ever checking whether anyone’s actually reading, clicking, or converting.

Website analytics help you understand what’s landing with your audience and where people are dropping off. You don’t need to be a data wizard — just look for simple signals:

• Which pages are getting the most traffic?
• Where are visitors coming from?
• What’s converting … and what’s not?

At one company I worked with, we discovered that our “About” page was one of the most visited — but it didn’t have a single CTA. We added a short sentence and a button to download a free report, and just like that, it became a top-performing lead source.

Pro tip: Set a reminder once a month to check your top 5 pages. See what’s performing—and build on it. With HubSpot, you can track traffic, leads, and even which CTAs are converting—right from your dashboard.

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4. Build and segment your email list.

Your email list might just be your most valuable marketing asset — but only if you build it right from the start. I’ve worked with small teams who skipped this step and ended up with a messy spreadsheet of contacts, no clear opt-ins, and no idea who wanted what. It’s fixable, but trust me, it’s much easier to do it right the first time.

The good news? You don’t need thousands of subscribers. You just need the right people — and a system to keep them organized. That’s where segmentation comes into your email marketing strategy.

Start with the basics:

• One list for leads who downloaded a resource or signed up on your site.
• One for existing customers.
• One for anyone who’s requested a demo or contacted sales.

Even simple tags like “lead,” “customer,” or “inactive” can help you personalize messages and track performance later on.

At one early-stage company, we used these basic tags to trigger tailored emails—like onboarding tips for new customers, blog content for leads, and re-engagement emails for people who hadn’t opened in a while. Click-through rates jumped, and sales started asking for more campaigns because they could see the lift.

Pro tip: Most CRMs will let you segment your list automatically based on actions—like downloads, page views, or email engagement. Set those rules early, and you’ll thank yourself later.

Connect with customers.

Once your systems are in place, it’s time to put them to work. This next batch of strategies is all about showing up for your audience in ways that build trust and keep your business top of mind. Whether someone’s just discovered you or already joined your list, these tips will help you stay connected—and turn interest into action.

5. Set up automated email campaigns.

You don’t need to manually follow up with every new lead. In fact, one of the biggest time-savers I’ve used at small businesses is simple email marketing automation. A few well-timed emails can do a lot of heavy lifting — nurturing new contacts, sharing helpful info, and guiding them toward a decision.

At one startup I worked with, we created a three-part welcome sequence that went out automatically when someone downloaded a guide. The first email said thanks and linked to the content. The second introduced a customer story. The third offered a soft call to book a demo. It took an afternoon to set up — and brought in dozens of qualified leads every month.

You don’t need a huge workflow to get started. Just think about what someone needs to know after they sign up:

• Do they need a nudge to take the next step?
• Would a testimonial or resource help build trust?
• Can you answer a question before they ask it?

Pro tip: Tools like HubSpot’s email automation make it easy to build these sequences with drag-and-drop workflows without coding or stress.

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6. Use personalized emails to nurture leads.

Automation is great for saving time — but it’s even more powerful when it feels personal. Just because an email is triggered automatically doesn’t mean it has to sound like a robot wrote it.

That’s why segmenting your email list early (like we talked about above) is such a smart move. It gives you a head start on sending the right message to the right people without starting from scratch every time.

Once someone joins your list, the goal isn’t just to stay in touch — it’s to stay relevant. Generic emails get ignored. But personalized ones? They can make someone feel like you get them.

I’ve seen small teams double their email click-through rates just by segmenting leads based on where they signed up or what content they downloaded. It doesn’t require fancy tools — just a little forethought.

For example, if someone downloads a guide on payroll compliance, don’t immediately send them your latest product announcement. Instead, follow up with a helpful blog post or short checklist on that same topic. Keep the thread going.

Here’s what’s worked well for me:

• Use their name (but sparingly — once or twice max).
• Reference the action they took .
• Offer something that matches their interests.
• Keep it short and human like something you’d actually send.

Pro tip: Even a good free CRM lets you trigger personalized emails based on behaviors, like which page someone visited or what they clicked. You don’t need a giant list to make it feel personal.

7. Offer discounts or exclusive content in exchange for sign-ups.

Sometimes, people need a little extra motivation to join your list — and that’s where a good lead magnet comes in. Whether it’s a one-time discount, a downloadable resource, or early access to something new, giving your audience a clear reason to subscribe can make a big difference.

I’ve seen this work especially well for early-stage startups. One client offered a “10% off your first plan” discount for users who signed up through a specific landing page. Another gave away a free onboarding checklist that aligned with their product. Both doubled their conversion rates almost overnight — just by giving people something valuable up front.

Think about what would feel like a win for your ideal customer, is it:

• A helpful checklist or resource that solves a quick pain point?
• A discount code or first-purchase incentive?
• Exclusive access to new features or content?

Pro tip: Keep it simple and relevant. A small, useful freebie often works better than a big, vague promise. And make sure the follow-up email delivers right away. Nobody wants to dig around their inbox to find what they signed up for.

8. Establish a consistent social media presence.

Speaking of offering a discount, freebie, or lead magnet to grow your email list, social media is one of the best places to share it. But for those promos to work, your audience actually needs to see them — and that’s where consistency comes in.

Regular posting can significantly boost your brand’s visibility, especially when you consistently post at the right times. In fact, businesses that post consistently on social media see a 50% increase in visibility and a 30% boost in organic reach. ​

I’ve worked with plenty of small teams who post when they remember, then feel frustrated when it doesn’t drive results. The truth is, consistency matters more than frequency or follower count.

When I helped one B2B SaaS startup streamline their social strategy, we set a cadence of three posts per week on LinkedIn — much easier than posting every day, but still consistent. And instead of diluting content to spread it thinner, we focused on making each post count. That rhythm was manageable, and it worked.

Here are some tips if you’re just getting started:

• Choose 1–2 platforms where your audience already spends time.
• Commit to a schedule you can actually maintain.
• Focus on quality, not quantity.

And don’t overthink it. A quick product feature, a customer win, or even a trending meme can go a long way if your audience can relate.

Pro tip: HubSpot’s social media tools can help you plan and schedule posts in advance, so you can show up consistently without babysitting every platform. Our free social media content calendar can also help you get organized and started quickly.

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9. Use social platforms for service and customer interaction.

Posting regularly builds visibility — but what really earns trust is how you show up when people reach out. Social media isn’t just a content channel; it’s a two-way street.

I’ve seen small businesses turn a single DM or comment into a long-term customer — just by replying quickly and helpfully. At one company, we set a simple rule: respond to every comment, mention, and direct message within 24 hours. It wasn’t always easy, but it paid off. Prospects felt seen, and existing customers knew we had their back.

If someone tags your brand, asks a question, or shares a piece of feedback, that’s not a distraction — it’s an opportunity.

A few simple habits go a long way:

• Like or reply to every customer comment or shout-out.
• Answer questions publicly when possible (others are watching, too).
• Use replies as a source of content inspiration — your audience is telling you what they care about.

Pro tip: HubSpot’s Social Inbox tool can centralize all your social DMs, mentions, and interactions so you’re not toggling between apps. And the faster you reply, the more the algorithm tends to reward you—another reason to stay active.

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Grow your reach.

Once you’ve built a solid foundation and started engaging with your audience, it’s time to think a little bigger. The strategies I’m about to share are all about expanding your visibility — reaching new people who haven’t heard of you yet, but should.

You don’t need a huge budget or a viral moment to grow your reach. What you do need is a little creativity and a willingness to test what works.

10. Work with influencers or micro-creators in your niche.

You don’t need to collaborate with celebrities to see results from influencer marketing. In fact, I’ve seen micro-influencers — creators with 1,000 to 50,000 followers — drive better outcomes for small businesses than big-name partnerships. Their audiences are more engaged, and their recommendations feel more genuine.

And the numbers back that up. According to a recent report, micro-influencers on Instagram see an average engagement rate of 3.86% — compared to just 1.21% for mega-influencers. That kind of connection makes a real impact, especially when you’re trying to grow on a budget.

One client I worked with partnered with a few niche creators in the HR and operations space. Instead of a huge campaign, we sent each one a sneak peek of our tool, let them test it, and asked them to share their honest take. A handful of Instagram stories and LinkedIn shout-outs later, we saw a steady uptick in demos booked—and even better, we built relationships we could tap into again later.

Here’s what I’ve found works well:

• Find creators who already speak to your target audience
• Focus on relevance and authenticity, not follower count
• Let them tell your story in their voice—it comes across more naturally

Micro-influencers are often more open to creative or non-cash partnerships, like offering free access to your product, an affiliate link, or co-branded content. It doesn’t have to be a massive spend to be effective. You never know until you ask!

Pro tip: Download HubSpot’s free Influencer Marketing Guide to get started with your partnerships.

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11. Encourage user-generated content and customer shout-outs.

There’s nothing quite as powerful — or budget-friendly — as having your customers talk about you. Whether it’s a tagged Instagram post, a product review, or a casual shout-out in a LinkedIn comment, user-generated content (UGC) builds trust in a way no paid ad ever could.

That said, I know not every business has a lineup of customers ready to post. Especially in the early days, you might need to get a little creative. I’ve worked with startups who hired UGC creators — freelancers who record short, natural-feeling videos that look just like a real customer review. These aren’t high-production ads — they’re simple, relatable clips that work great for paid social, landing pages, and organic posts.

For one B2B SaaS client, we hired a UGC creator to simulate a first-time user experience with our platform. The video was short, honest, and shot on an iPhone — and it outperformed our polished explainer video 3 to 1 on click-throughs.

Whether you’re working with real customers or hired creators, the goal is the same: help people see themselves in the story you’re telling.

Try this:

• Ask happy customers to tag you or share a quick video.
• Offer a small incentive (gift card, feature, shout-out).
• Hire a UGC creator to model the customer journey if you’re just getting started.

Pro tip: Even a handful of videos or testimonials can be repurposed across social, landing pages, and ads. And if you’re not sure where to find UGC creators, platforms like Upwork or Fiverr are great starting points.

12. Collaborate with other businesses for co-marketing opportunities.

One of the fastest (and most underrated) ways to expand your reach is to partner with another business that shares your audience — but doesn’t compete with you.

I’ve seen this work incredibly well for small teams, especially when budgets are tight. One salestech platform I worked with partnered with a CRM company to co-host a webinar on streamlining sales processes. They promoted it to both of their email lists, shared the content across social media, and followed up with a joint blog recap. The result? Double the visibility, double the leads, and half the work.

You don’t have to do anything elaborate. Some ideas I’ve seen work:

• Run a co-hosted event or webinar.
• Create a bundled offer or promo code swap.
• Write a guest post or feature each other in newsletters.
• Do a simple Instagram or LinkedIn Live together.

Pro tip: Pick a strategic partner whose audience overlaps with yours but solves a different problem. That way, you’re adding value without stepping on toes, and your content feels like a win for everyone involved.

13. Incorporate short-form video into your content mix.

Short-form video is another one of the fastest ways to get discovered — and the good news is, you don’t need a studio setup or a big production budget to get started.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts reward content that’s real, relatable, and quick to consume. Whether it’s hopping on a trending audio clip or sharing a behind-the-scenes moment, short videos can punch way above their weight.

One early-stage SaaS company I worked with posted a quick video using a trending sound to show a “before and after” of their product in action. It was shot on an iPhone in under 10 minutes and ended up driving more traffic than a full week of paid ads.

You don’t have to be a creator to try this. Some of the best-performing videos are simple, helpful, or funny takes that speak directly to your audience. Just stay authentic, and don’t be afraid to experiment.

A few simple video ideas to try:

• Use trending audio to highlight a relatable customer pain point.
• Share a quick product tip or FAQ using green screen mode.
• Record a founder reaction to a recent stat or headline.
• Show the transformation your product delivers.

Pro tip: Repurpose what you already have. Take a blog post, FAQ, or stat you’ve shared elsewhere and turn it into a 15-second script. Tools like HubSpot’s free Clip Creator make it even easier to get started.

14. Experiment with webinars, ebooks, or downloadable content.

Long-form content might not be the flashiest tactic, but when it’s done right, it can generate leads for months. Webinars, guides, checklists, and reports give you a way to go deeper on topics your audience cares about — and collect email addresses while you’re at it.

At one company I worked with, we ran a survey to gather fresh data on B2B sales teams. Once we had the results, we turned them into a gated report, a blog post highlighting the key takeaways, and a series of quick-hit tips based on the insights.

We also repurposed stats and quotes into social posts, and hosted a follow-up webinar to walk through the findings live. That single project gave us a full month of content — and filled our pipeline with leads who were already engaged.

And you don’t need a research budget to get started. You can get scrappy:

• Ask your audience 3–5 questions with a free tool like Typeform.
• Host a casual, no-fluff webinar with a customer or partner.
• Package up your top blog posts into a downloadable PDF.
• Turn internal templates or checklists into lead magnets.

Pro tip: Evergreen content like webinars and guides can keep generating leads long after launch — if you make it easy to find. Add it to your homepage, link to it in blog posts, and promote it on social regularly (not just once). On that note…

15. Repurpose your best-performing content across channels.

If you’ve already put in the work to create a webinar, guide, or tip-packed blog post, don’t let it be a one-and-done. Some of the most effective content strategies I’ve seen aren’t about producing more — they’re about squeezing every last drop of value out of what you already have, especially when resources are scarce.

That AI sales survey I mentioned? Like I said before, we spun it into a full campaign. The gated report turned into a blog post, which turned into a carousel for LinkedIn, which turned into a short video script. We even used snippets for an email nurture sequence. Same story, five formats.

Here are a few ideas to get more mileage from what you’ve already made:

• Turn blog posts into short-form videos or carousel posts.
• Break up long webinars into 15–30 second video clips.
• Pull key stats or quotes into graphics or caption-style images.
• Convert your most popular email into a blog or LinkedIn post.

Pro tip: Not sure what to repurpose first? Start with your top-performing blog post or most-clicked email. Then use a tool like HubSpot’s free Campaign Assistant and Content Remix to quickly spin it into social posts, ad copy, and more, so your best ideas keep working behind the scenes.

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So far, we’ve walked through what to do before marketing your business, how to lay a strong foundation, and the strategies that help you connect with your audience and start building momentum.

Now it’s time to take things further with digital marketing tactics that help you scale that momentum. These aren’t massive campaigns or big-budget bets. They’re small, proven moves you can layer into your routine to stay visible, build trust, and convert more of the traffic and attention you’re already earning.

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to sharpen your day-to-day execution, these tips are designed to help you get the most out of your efforts — without getting overwhelmed.

1. Request and showcase customer testimonials or reviews.

When people are on the fence about trying something new, a good review can tip the scale. And for small businesses, social proof is one of the most powerful trust signals you can have.

I’ve worked with small businesses where one strong testimonial on the homepage or a LinkedIn shout-out from a happy customer made more impact than weeks of ad spend. People want to hear from real people — not just brands.

If you don’t have many reviews yet, that’s totally normal. You can start by reaching out to happy customers directly. A quick email with a specific ask — like a Google review, LinkedIn blurb, or quote for your site — can go a long way. Just make it easy for them to say yes.

Places to showcase testimonials:

• Your homepage or pricing page.
• A dedicated reviews or testimonial page.
• Social media posts or Stories.
• Case studies or customer spotlight emails.

Pro tip: If you already have great feedback buried in emails or support chats, ask permission to repurpose it. And if you want to automate requests, tools like HubSpot’s Service Hub can help you send follow-ups at just the right time.

2. Set up and optimize your Google Business Profile (and other business pages).

When someone searches for your business — or even just what you offer — your business profiles across platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook are often the first thing they’ll see. These listings act as digital storefronts, especially for local businesses.

And they’re powerful. A well-optimized Google Business Profile can boost your local SEO, make your business easier to find on Maps, and help build trust through reviews and photos. Yelp and Facebook offer similar benefits, especially when people are comparing options in your area.

At a previous company, we helped a client claim and optimize all three profiles. Once they added real photos, consistent hours, a strong description, and started requesting reviews, they saw an increase in website clicks and direct messages almost immediately.

Here’s what to include across platforms:

• Your business name, address, and phone number (NAP) — make sure it’s consistent everywhere.
• A short description that includes relevant keywords.
• High-quality photos of your space, team, or product.
• Updated hours, services, and links to your site.

Customer reviews — and replies!

You can get started here:

• Google Business Profile
• Facebook Business Page
• Claim your Yelp listing

Pro tip: Once you’ve set these up, share the links with happy customers and ask them to leave a quick review like we talked about above. These platforms can also be great sources of discovery, especially when paired with active social media accounts like Instagram or Pinterest.

3. Develop a referral program or loyalty incentive.

Word of mouth is great, but when you give happy customers a reason to spread the word, that’s when things really start to scale. A referral or loyalty program turns your best customers into your best marketers.

I’ve seen this work especially well for service-based businesses and subscription products. One SaaS company I worked with offered a $100 Amazon gift card for every successful referral, and it led to dozens of warm leads from people who already trusted the brand.

And not only have I seen it work, but I’ve done it myself! Just a few weeks ago I referred a friend to my favorite food delivery app and we both got $25 in credits for our next order. If that’s not a win-win-win, I don’t know what is!

Not sure where to start? Try one of these:

• Offer a discount or credit for every referred customer.
• Create a simple form where people can submit referrals.
• Send loyal customers a thank you gift (even something small can spark goodwill).
• Promote the program in your email footer, checkout page, or post-purchase flow.

Pro tip: The best referral programs should feel like everyone’s a winner. Keep the ask simple, the reward clear, and the follow-through fast. You can build one right inside HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, too.

4. Lean into word of mouth by delighting your customers.

A formal referral program can definitely spark action — but organic word of mouth is just as powerful, and often even more credible. The best part? You don’t always have to ask. When people genuinely love what you do, they’ll tell others all on their own.

I’ve seen this firsthand. At one company, we were still in the early stages of building a referral engine, but because our onboarding and customer support were so strong, users were already sharing us in Slack groups and tagging us on LinkedIn. It wasn’t fancy — it was just thoughtful, responsive service that made people feel taken care of.

You don’t need to roll out a massive retention campaign. Sometimes, the smallest details leave the biggest impression.

Here are a few simple ways to encourage word of mouth:

• Surprise customers with a small thank you or extra value.
• Give them a shout-out on social or in your newsletter.
• Make post-purchase check-ins part of your flow.
• Ask for feedback and show how you’re using it.

Pro tip: Pay attention to the moments that often get skipped — onboarding, support emails, post-purchase follow-ups. That’s where delight lives. And when people feel delighted, they talk.

5. Bring in freelancers to help you scale.

If you’re feeling stretched thin or you’re stuck on a project that’s outside your wheelhouse, bringing in a freelancer can make all the difference. Whether it’s content writing, design, SEO, or web development, hiring a specialist for a project (or even just a few hours) can help you move faster without hiring a full team.

As a freelance writer myself, I’ve supported dozens of small businesses that didn’t have the time or bandwidth to create content in-house. Sometimes that meant ghostwriting blog posts, and other times it was helping launch a new email campaign or tightening up web copy.

I’ve also been on the other side, working with freelance designers and SEO specialists to fill in skill gaps and move things forward faster for my own projects. You don’t need to do it all yourself.

Some things freelancers can help with:

• Website design or updates.
• Blog content and SEO optimization.
• Email campaigns and automation.
• Paid ad copy and creative assets.

Pro tip: Don’t wait until you’re overwhelmed to bring in help. Start by identifying one area that’s slowing you down or keeping you stuck, and then hire a freelancer to help you move it forward. Even a small win (like getting your blog backlog cleared or landing page refreshed) can create momentum and free up your time to focus on what you do best.

Should you outsource marketing for your small business?

If bringing in a freelancer for a single project can help you gain momentum, you might be wondering: Should I outsource more? Maybe even all of it?

It’s a question I’ve seen a lot of small business owners ask — especially once marketing starts pulling you away from the work you actually want to be doing. And honestly, it makes sense. According to a recent report, 37% of small businesses are outsourcing at least one business process, and digital marketing is one of the most common areas they hand off.

I’ve worked with scrappy teams who outsourced everything from blog writing to paid ad management so they could stay focused on product and customers. I’ve also seen founders keep things in-house until they nailed their messaging — then brought in experts to help scale. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. It really comes down to your goals, your bandwidth, and your budget.

If any of these sound like you, it might be time to outsource:

• You’re spending way too much time on marketing tasks you don’t love (or fully understand).
• You have great ideas, but no time to execute them.
• You’ve hit a plateau and need a fresh outside perspective.
• You’re ready to grow, but not quite ready to hire a full team.

The good news is: Outsourcing doesn’t mean giving up control. It means adding capacity. The same study found that 59% of businesses outsource to reduce costs, and 57% say it helps increase focus and productivity. In other words, outsourcing isn’t a shortcut — it’s actually a growth hack.

Pro tip: Start small. Pick one area that’s slowing you down and test the waters. Whether it’s SEO, content, or ads, the right partner can help you get results faster and give you room to breathe.

Advertising can feel like a big leap — especially when you’re working with a tight budget. But you don’t need a massive ad spend to make an impact. Some of the most effective small business ads I’ve seen were simple, low-cost experiments that helped validate messaging, reach new audiences, or give a nudge to content that was already working.

This section is all about lightweight, modern ways to promote your business — without burning through your budget or your energy. These ideas are built to help you test, learn, and build confidence in what works before you scale anything up.

1. Try PPC ads on Google and Bing.

If your customers are already searching for what you offer, pay-per-click (PPC) ads can be one of the fastest ways to get in front of them. These ads show up at the top of search results — and when done right, they can bring in high-quality leads who are ready to take action.

I’ve seen small businesses test search ads with just $10 or $20 a day — starting with branded keywords or super-specific phrases — and end up finding a repeatable, profitable growth channel. Once those early conversions came in, it became a lot easier to justify scaling up.

And the channel’s still going strong. According to a recent Statista report, paid search in the United States alone will amount to an estimated 455.9 billion U.S. dollars this year. Why? Because it works. Especially when you start small and optimize along the way.

A few smart ways to start:

• Target long-tail keywords to keep costs low.
• Write ad copy that matches the language people are already using to find you.
• Create a dedicated landing page instead of sending traffic to your homepage.

I’d recommend reading through this Ultimate Guide to PPC. Then, use the PPC planning template in this kit to create an optimized campaign.

Pro tip: Use UTM parameters or free PPC tools like HubSpot Ads Software to track which campaigns are actually converting. Don’t just look at clicks — optimize for what drives real results.

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2. Run targeted social media ads.

If search ads help you capture demand, social ads are all about creating it. They’re a great way to reach people who may not be actively looking for your product, but who are the right fit once it’s on their radar.

I’ve seen small businesses run incredibly effective campaigns on low budgets, especially when they used content that had already performed well organically. Think: a how-to video, a product demo, or a customer quote that got traction on Instagram or LinkedIn.

Starting with content that’s already working and boosting it means you’re not guessing what will land — you’re just amplifying it.

Social ad spend is projected to hit $219.8 billion globally this year, and small businesses make up a big part of that. Why? Because social ads are flexible, easy to test, and can be highly targeted.

To make the most of your budget:

• Focus on one platform where your audience is active.
• Test one variable at a time (headline, image, CTA).
• Use retargeting to stay in front of people who’ve already interacted with your brand.

Pro tip: Pull your best-performing organic posts and turn them into ad tests. If it worked once, it’s likely to work again — with a bigger audience behind it.

3. Offer discounts, coupons, or incentives.

Earlier, we talked about offering a freebie or discount to encourage email sign-ups. This takes that idea a step further, using strategic incentives to turn interest into actual purchases.

Whether it’s a limited-time promo, a seasonal coupon, or a simple “10% off your first order,” incentives give people a reason to act now instead of waiting. I’ve worked with businesses that saw real results by pairing a small discount with a clear next step — like redeeming it in a follow-up email or applying it on a landing page.

In fact, 62% of U.S. consumers say they actively search for promo codes or coupons when shopping online, according to a recent eMarketer report. I mean, I know I do.

A few ways to test this:

• Add a “new subscriber” promo code to your email welcome series.
• Promote a weekend flash sale on social to drive urgency.
• Create a custom landing page tied to a specific campaign or audience segment.

Pro tip: Your incentive doesn’t always have to be a discount. Early access, free shipping, or even a bonus download can be just as effective when aligned with your brand and audience.

4. Sponsor your products on marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy.

If you’re selling a physical product, marketplaces like Amazon’s sponsored products, Etsy Ads, and even eBay can be a great way to reach people who are already in buying mode. And while simply listing your products is a good start, sponsoring them gives you a serious visibility boost — especially in crowded categories.

I’ve seen a lot of small businesses test this approach by putting a small daily budget behind one or two of their best-selling products. It’s a lightweight way to increase visibility and drive conversions on platforms where people are actively searching. And because these ads run inside the marketplace, they often feel more native and less disruptive to shoppers.

Sponsoring your products on these platforms puts you in front of customers who are already searching for something like what you offer. It’s a way to compete without needing to drive all the traffic yourself.

Here are a few tips to get started:

• Start by promoting your best-selling or most-reviewed product.
• Use keywords customers are already searching for.
• Monitor your return on ad spend (ROAS) and adjust your bids accordingly.

Pro tip: Marketplace ads can also be a helpful testing ground. If a product performs well there, it might be a sign to feature it more prominently on your website or in your email campaigns.

5. Advertise with local organizations or community partners.

If your business serves a specific city or region, don’t overlook the value of local advertising. Whether it’s your neighborhood chamber of commerce, a community newsletter, or a local events page, there are plenty of low-cost ways to show up in the places your customers already trust.

I’ve seen small businesses partner with local coworking spaces, sponsor niche meetups, or run simple shoutouts in community-driven newsletters — all for far less than a big digital ad campaign. And because these placements are hyper-targeted, they often lead to stronger relationships and better word of mouth.

Here are a few ideas to try:

• Reach out to your chamber of commerce about advertising or listing opportunities.
• Sponsor a small local event or community meetup related to your niche.
• Partner with another business to promote each other in email newsletters or on social.

Pro tip: Local doesn’t have to mean offline. Many community-based publications and groups now have email lists, social channels, or Slack groups where your audience is already hanging out. Meet them where they are — and keep it personal!

6. Test and experiment to see what works.

No matter how many best practices you follow, the truth is: every business is different.

What works for one company might totally flop for another — and that’s okay. The key is to treat your marketing like a series of small, low-risk experiments.

I’ve seen small businesses unlock major growth by simply trying something new — a new channel, a different CTA, a reworked headline. Sometimes it fails. But sometimes it’s the thing that changes everything. The point isn’t to get it perfect. It’s to learn what works for your audience, your offer, and your brand. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them.

A few ways to start small:

• Test two different headlines in a social ad.
• Try a limited-time offer and track response.
• Swap out the CTA on your homepage and watch what happens.

Pro tip: Keep a simple spreadsheet or dashboard where you track what you tested, what changed, and what you learned. Over time, those small learnings add up and help you build a strategy rooted in what actually works for your business.

Download the Free Advertising Planning Kit

Small Business Marketing Tools & Resources

You’ve got the ideas — now it’s time to bring them to life. Whether you’re planning content, sending emails, or building your first website, the right marketing tools can make it a whole lot easier to stay consistent and get things done.

I’ve tested dozens of tools across startups and small teams, and these are the ones I keep coming back to. They’re simple, budget-friendly, and powerful enough to help you build real momentum — without adding complexity or cost.

1. Canva

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Canva is hands-down one of my favorite small business marketing tools. I’ve been using Canva for years and I still recommend it to almost every small business I work with. It’s one of the easiest ways to create polished, professional-looking content without needing a designer (or any real design skills at all).

Whether I’m putting together a blog header, a social post, or a slide deck, Canva is my go-to. The drag-and-drop interface is super intuitive, and the templates make it easy to stay on-brand without starting from scratch every time. I’ve even used it to build mockups for landing pages and marketing emails.

It’s especially great for small teams or solo founders who want their brand to look put-together without blowing the budget — or spending hours in Photoshop. If you’re just getting started, it’s one of the most beginner-friendly tools out there. Plus, their free version is great too!

2. Wix

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I’ve used Wix a few times over the years to help small businesses get a website up and running — and it’s one of the easiest ways to launch something that looks clean and professional without hiring a developer.

There’s a bit of a learning curve if you’ve never built a site before, but it’s pretty quick to pick up. The drag-and-drop editor gives you a lot of flexibility, and there are tons of templates you can customize for different industries and use cases. I’ve used it to help teams launch everything from one-page lead capture sites to more detailed product pages.

One thing I appreciate is that Wix also offers the option to get direct support or design help from their team. That’s a nice safety net if you run into something tricky or want a bit more polish. If you’re looking for a solid “set it and forget it” website option, this is a great place to start.

3. Hubspot Marketing Hub

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I personally believe that if you’re looking for an all-in-one platform to manage email, automation, forms, and more, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub is the best. I’ve used it with small teams that needed to get serious about marketing without stitching together a bunch of tools, and it made a huge difference. And that’s my honest opinion!

The email editor is easy to use, and like I said earlier, you can segment your list, build workflows, and track results without needing a developer or a full-time ops person. I especially love the way it integrates with HubSpot CRM so you’re not just sending emails into the void — you’re actually tracking what happens after someone clicks.

One team I worked with used HubSpot to launch their first email newsletter and lead nurture flow. It was intuitive enough for them to set up quickly, but powerful enough to scale as they grew. If you’re planning to grow your list and need more than the basics, this is definitely something worth exploring.

4. Later

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If you’re trying to stay consistent on social media — and not just post when you remember to — Later is one of the most approachable scheduling tools I’ve used. It’s especially great for visual planning, which makes it a nice fit for platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.

I’ve used Later to plan and schedule content across multiple channels, and it’s helped me (and clients) stay organized without needing to log in and post manually every day. The drag-and-drop calendar makes it easy to see how your content is spaced out, and I like that it includes link-in-bio functionality and basic analytics in the free plan.

If you’re building your presence on social media and want a low-lift way to stay consistent, Later is a great starting point. You can plan ahead, track what’s working, and keep your content on brand — even if it’s just you running the show.

5. Google Analytics & Search Console

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Technically two tools, but these are some of the first things I set up anytime I launch a new website. They’re free, surprisingly powerful, and give you a clearer picture of what’s actually happening when people visit your site.

Google Analytics (GA4) helps you understand how people are engaging with your content — what pages they’re visiting, how long they stay, where they drop off, and what’s driving conversions. If you’ve ever wondered “Is anyone actually reading this?” or “Which blog post is bringing in traffic?” GA4 has your answers.

Search Console, on the other hand, gives you insight into how your site appears in Google search results. I use it to see what keywords I’m ranking for, what pages are getting impressions, and where there are opportunities to improve SEO. It’s also great for spotting technical issues that could affect your visibility.

If you’re investing time into content or SEO, these tools are essential. They help you stop guessing and start optimizing.

Start Marketing Your Business Today

If you’ve made it this far, take that as your cue to get started (or keep going). I’ve worked with a lot of small businesses and startups over the years, and I’ve seen how much impact even the smallest marketing effort can make.

Sometimes it’s one blog post that starts bringing in search traffic. Or a one-page site that helps convert that first customer. Or a welcome email that turns into a real relationship. You don’t need a perfect strategy to start — you just need a place to begin.

Whether it’s publishing your first post, testing a new tool, or finally organizing your contacts, each small move helps build momentum. And that momentum matters.

The effort you put in today will keep paying off long after the post goes live.

Good luck — you’ve got this!

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

Facebook was born in 2004, and since then, countless other platforms have entered the social media arena. Still, it’s prevailed as a powerful marketing outlet — though exactly how to use Facebook for business has changed drastically.

The phrase “Facebook is dead” can incite an instant debate amongst marketers. Facebook is a lot of things — frustrating, constantly evolving — but it’s not dead. With more than 3 billion active users, Facebook is undeniably alive: it‘s the most active social media platform on the planet. But, the way it’s used by businesses changes too often for some brands to keep up with.

Taking a page from a 2004, 2014, or even 2024 Facebook playbook isn‘t going to guarantee success. Businesses that get traction on Facebook are tailoring their strategy to what’s working right now (and most are running ads). I’ve managed Facebook pages for all kinds of brands: nonprofits, local government offices, small businesses, digital brands, and more. Let me show you the ropes of a modern Facebook strategy.

Table of Contents

• How to Use Facebook for Business
• 25 Tips and Tricks for Marketing on Facebook

How to Use Facebook for Business

If you’re just doing Facebook to “check the box,” then you can set up your Page, enter your business details, and go water your virtual grass elsewhere. Brands ready to actually build and engage on Facebook can follow these steps.

1. Create engaging content.

Posting only text and photos on Facebook is so mid-2000s. Content can take almost any form on Facebook, including:

• Text posts.
• Photos.
• Short-form videos.
• Long-form videos.
• Live videos.
• Stories.
• Polls.

Here’s a great content example from activewear brand POPFLEX Active. This is a short-form video asking for product feedback from viewers:

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The above list covers different content formats that you can produce on Facebook. Each piece of content also needs a goal. Popular content goals include:

• Demonstrating products.
• Showing off happy customers.
• Answering questions.
• Getting product feedback.
• Engaging customers in comments.

Here’s an example of a short text post from Zappos. Not only did they post an engaging, on-brand question — they also replied to the comments from their audience. This leads us right into step number two.

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2. Engage with your audience.

If I had to guess, I would say that 80% of businesses handle engagement badly on Facebook. This isolates customers, loses momentum in the algorithm, and defeats the purpose of social media. Engaging with viewers on your Facebook Page is key in growing a meaningful social media presence.

On Facebook, you can directly engage with your target audience through:

• Post comments.
• Comment reactions.
• Direct messages.
• WhatsApp messages.
• Groups.
• Live video.

Here’s a great example from Forme answering questions from their audience on a Facebook ad:

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An engaged Facebook Page will require more time from the marketing or customer support team, but engagement is a good thing. Facebook tries to make it easy for brands, too.

Within your Meta Business Suite (previously called Facebook Business Manager or Business Manager Account), you can see your curated “to-do list” that includes unread messages and comments. This makes it easier for you to engage with customers and show that your page is a dialogue and not a monologue.

Note that business tools like this aren‘t available on a personal Facebook account. You’ll need to create a Facebook Business Page to access the Meta Business Suite. You can also use our social inbox tool to help manage all of your social communications.

3. Consider creating a group.

There‘s more to Facebook marketing than just having a business page. Facebook groups are a powerful way to help customers maximize their success with your brand, but it’s not right for everyone.

Here are a few questions to ask to determine if a Facebook group is right for your brand:

• Are referrals a big part of your lead generation strategy?
• Does your brand rely on a membership model?
• Are there existing groups (run by others) dedicated to your products?
• Could users of your product help each other, instead of you having to answer customer support tickets all day?

If you’re nodding your head, then a Facebook group could be a viable part of your marketing plan.

Here‘s a Facebook group example from Instant Pot®, a pressure cooker company (that I can personally testify is worth the hype). On top of facilitating discussion, it’s a rich resource helping customers find success with the product:

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The idea of an online forum surrounding a specific topic isn’t new. In fact, it has early internet vibes where there were dedicated community forums for any topic you can imagine.

A Facebook group is a powerful forum because you can observe the discussion and moderate when necessary, instead of having to provide all of the engagement yourself. Users will meet each other and find community by gathering around your brand.

I‘m in a number of Facebook groups like this — the Elementor Facebook group comes to mind. As far as I’m aware, Elementor employees engage minimally and users are helped by one another. Creating the group allows Elementor to have some say in the narrative/advice stemming from online chatter.

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4. Listen to your audience.

This step is similar to the engagement step, but it drills straight to the core of social media marketing. Is your Facebook page a monologue or a dialogue? It should be a massive learning opportunity for your marketing team.

I’ve noticed that many businesses let their failure to listen on Facebook turn into a negative billboard for their company. For example, customers leaving comments on posts asking to get in touch with customer support and getting ignored.

Or worse — other viewers start to dogpile on the discussion, complaining about the brand together (I see this happen all the time on the Pinterest Facebook page).

When I managed the Facebook page for a local government office, I can remember people asking critical questions about how their tax dollars were being used. It’s a fair question, but leadership insisted on deleting the comments instead of engaging. It was a huge missed opportunity.

To really leverage Facebook for marketing, you should actively ask users for their feedback and use social media listening tools to track what people are saying. You can track mentions of your company and follow hashtags so you always know what’s trending and going on with your customers.

The more engagement you get, the more data you’ll be able to pull about your audience through the Meta Business Suite:

These audience insights are helpful to steer your marketing decisions in general, but they’re also extremely powerful if you plan on pursuing Facebook advertising.

5. Create Facebook Ads.

Facebook is most popular among businesses for its advanced ad reach. If you’re running online ads, Facebook is one of the best places to do it. You can create ads relatively quickly and use advanced tools for customization and audience targeting.

Spending money on ads is nerve-wracking, but use our free resources to help you learn and leverage AI in this process:

• Facebook Ads and Marketing Course.
• AI Facebook Ad Copy Generator.

Not sure where to start? Consider starting with a retargeting ad. This type of ad campaign focuses exclusively on viewers who have already been on your website but not purchased.

Here’s an example from Warby Parker. After browsing glasses on their website, I opened up Facebook and immediately saw a company ad. Retargeting ads on Facebook are extremely powerful and can help make the most of your budget.

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Now that you know how to use Facebook for business, let’s dive into some tips and tricks to help you succeed.

(P.S. Already a HubSpot customer? Click here to integrate your HubSpot account with Meta Ads and become eligible to win $15K to skyrocket your business ads strategy.)

25 Tips and Tricks for Marketing on Facebook

New to Facebook marketing? Learn all about it with HubSpot Academy.

Tips for Your Facebook Business Page

1. Create a business Page, not a personal profile.

First thing’s first: You need to create a business Page — not a personal Facebook profile — to represent your brand. Pages look similar to personal profiles, but they include unique tools for businesses, brands, and organizations. Your fans can Like your Page to see updates from you in their News Feeds, which is something they can’t do for personal profiles.

Not only will this maximize Facebook‘s business potential for you, but it’s actually against Facebook’s Terms of Service to use a personal account to represent something other than that person, like a business. If you‘ve already created a profile for your business, you’ll want to convert it into a business Page, which you can learn how to do easily here.

Setting up a page is simple. Just visit this page and follow the step-by-step setup instructions.

2. Claim your Page’s website URL.

Once you‘ve created your business Page, it’ll get a randomly assigned number and URL, like facebook.com/pages/yourbusiness/123456789. To make your Page more shareable and easier to find, you’ll want to create a recognizable vanity URL (e.g., http://www.facebook.com/hubspot).

To create a vanity URL, visit this page, then follow the instructions.

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3. Add a great cover photo.

Facebook‘s page design lets you feature an 820 x 312 pixel cover photo at the top of your business Page. You’ll want to optimize that cover photo to capture the attention of new visitors, encourage them to explore and learn more, and provide an effective mobile experience — all the while ensuring you‘re following Facebook’s Page Guidelines.

Learn all about do‘s and don’ts for your Facebook cover photo in this blog post.

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Here are some more awesome examples of business Page cover photos to get your creative juices flowing. You can also use these free Facebook cover photo templates to create your own.

Download Free Facebook Cover Photo Templates

4. Add a recognizable profile picture.

Pick a profile picture that will be easy for visitors to recognize — like your company logo or a headshot of yourself if you’re a solopreneur or consultant. Being recognizable is important for getting found and Liked, especially in Facebook Search. Your profile image is pictured at the top of your Facebook Page and is also the thumbnail image that gets displayed next to all your Facebook Page updates, so choose wisely.

When choosing a photo, keep in mind that Facebook requires your profile picture dimensions to be 170 pixels by 170 pixels.

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5. Optimize your “Intro” section.

It’s located on the left-hand side of your page beneath your profile picture. This is the first place people will look when they arrive on your Facebook Page.

Optimize this section with brief yet descriptive copy to give visitors a sense of what your Page and your business are about before they decide to “like” you.

Here’s an example video marketing software company Wistia:

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To edit your own “Intro” section, scroll down to this page of your Facebook business page and select “edit bio.” You have 255 characters to use, so choose your copy with intention.

6. Go for depth.

The best tip for Facebook marketing in 2025? “Get deep into community, engaging content, and adding value,” shared Dr. Stefanie Boyer, Professor of Marketing at Bryant University.

“Stop broadcasting like an advertising channel with one-way communication and deliver what the community wants. Think local groups, private groups, sending individual messages, and make sure each engagement adds value, rather than ‘checking in’ or pushing an agenda,” Dr. Boyer advised.

“The algorithm prioritizes meaningful interactions. A Facebook Group that is run well (responsive, engaging moderators, and valuable content) can outperform public posts 10 fold in engagement.”

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7. Add a featured section.

Let viewers immediately see your most important content by putting it in the “featured section” of your Facebook Page. Also called the “pinned items” section, you can include up to six items here, including:

1. Upcoming events.
2. Recent videos.
3. Recent posts.

To edit, go to the top of your Facebook Page wall and select “manage” under the “featured” section:

9. Choose a call-to-action button.

Facebook’s option to place a simple call-to-action button at the top of your Facebook Page is another handy feature. You can learn how to add a CTA button to your business’ Facebook Page here. Edit this setting by clicking on the three dots on the right-hand side and selecting “add action button.”

You can choose from 16 pre-made button options:

1. Book now.
2. Sign up.
3. Start order.
4. View shop.
5. Get tickets.
6. Send message.
7. Send WhatsApp message.
8. Call now.
9. Send email.
10. Contact us.
11. Learn more.
12. Watch now.
13. Visit group.
14. Play game.
15. Buy now.
16. Reserve.

Use these buttons to link to any website that aligns with your business’s goals.

10. Manage Page “Sections.”

The “Sections” on your Facebook Page appear like tabs under your profile picture. In fact, these used to be called Facebook business page tabs.

Some of these are required, like about, mentions, and reviews. Others are optional, allowing businesses to remove these “sections” from your page:

• Music.
• Check-ins.
• Sports.
• Movies.
• TV shows.
• Books.
• Likes.
• Reviews given.

Blast from the past: Facebook business page tabs used to be more customizable. Now, they’re quite limited, but businesses should still deselect the off-brand topics from this list. To do that, visit your page, then click the “More” tab and choose “Manage Sections” from the dropdown menu.

Tips for News Feed Visibility

11. Prioritize quality over quantity.

Here are two questions we hear a lot: How often should I post to Facebook? Will posting more frequently help me reach more people?

Statistic: The average Facebook page posts 7.9 times per week.

Should you automatically post that often? In short, the answer is no. At the end of the day, how visible your posts are in people’s News Feeds all comes down to the quality of your posts. These algorithms are meant to filter out the irrelevant and the poor-quality posts so that the highest-quality stuff is what gets through and gets shown to users.

So don‘t overwhelm your customers with content on Facebook, and be selective about what you’re publishing. Spend more time crafting better Facebook posts, and less time crafting a lot of Facebook posts.

Remember: It‘s a marketer’s job to post content to social that’s interesting, entertaining, helpful, and/or relevant to the audience. This means picking relevant topics, writing delightful copy, and posting compelling images and videos. Many brands even lean into internet culture, like the below example from outdoors brand Gnara.

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12. Post at the best times for your audience.

Another common question: When’s the best time to post to Facebook? Unfortunately, there‘s no perfect answer — different businesses may find different days and times work best for them. Timing often depends on what your target audience uses Facebook for, the region(s) you’re targeting, the content of your post (e.g., funny or serious), your goals (e.g., clicks versus shares), and so on.

That being said, there is data out there on optimal times to post on Facebook:

• The best time to post on Facebook is Wednesday, 11 a.m. and 1–2 p.m. Other optimal times include Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
• The worst times to post on Facebook are on Sundays, or every day before 7 a.m. or after 5 p.m.

Think of this data as a general guideline, and use it to help you find the optimal posting times for your business.

13. Post your best blog content.

For businesses, social media continues to be driven by content. It‘s a marketer’s job to post content to social that‘s interesting, entertaining, helpful, and/or relevant to our audience. Start populating your Page’s timeline with content by handpicking your best, most helpful blog posts.

If you’re strapped for resources but maintain a business blog, you can try connecting your blog to auto-post links to new blog content you publish. Many blogging platforms (like HubSpot) automatically offer this feature within the software — you‘ll just need to turn it on and sync it with your Page.

You don’t want to put too much emphasis on automation, though. It’s okay to auto-publish some content, but make sure a real human is posting and engaging with your fans, too.

14. Make sure your blog posts’ meta descriptions are complete.

Have you noticed that when you post a link to Facebook, it pulls in a brief description as well as an image?

The description gets pulled from the page’s meta description, which refers to the HTML attribute that explains the contents of a given web page. It‘s the short description you see on a search engine results page to “preview” what the page is about, and it’s also the copy Facebook will automatically pull in to populate the description of a post.

Without a meta description, Facebook may pull in the first text they can find, which doesn’t make for a very good user experience. Plus, meta descriptions are your chance to sell your visitors on what you have to offer: informative, valuable content.

Your meta description should be compelling enough to get people to click, and it should be 155 characters or fewer in length. Read this blog post to learn more about writing effective meta descriptions.

15. Remove links from your post copy.

Keep your copy succinct by removing the horrendously long URL you’re sharing from the text in your post.

Your post real estate is precious, and you want to ensure any characters employed are purely for the sake of sparking a reader‘s attention. Plus, any user can click on the generated thumbnail or title for that URL to navigate to the blog post, web page, or any URL you’re linking to — so there’s no need to include it in the copy of your post as well.

16. Post your most compelling visual content.

Facebook‘s timeline page design places more of an emphasis on visual content like images and videos. That’s why posting compelling visual content is one of the most important things you can do to improve your Facebook strategy.

Use this to your advantage by posting your best visual content to your Facebook page or making an effort to create more visual content. (Click here to download 50 social media image templates for free.)

A successful social strategy will often include photos, videos, and screenshots of infographics or other graphs. In addition to being fun to look at, it’s important that your visual content be compelling and relevant to your audience.

Another reason to post lots of visual content? It’ll help auto-populate the “Photos” and “Videos” tabs, which are automatically added to every Facebook Page. You want those to be rife with visual content when people click on them.

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17. Make sure your images are properly formatted.

Don‘t just post images for the sake of posting images. To give your users the best experience possible, you need to optimize your images for Facebook so that they’re the right sizes and dimensions. (Click here to download pre-sized cover photo templates for Facebook and other social networks for free.)

Below are a few of the most common Facebook image sizes, but you can find a more detailed guide here.

• Cover photo: 820 px wide by 312 px tall
• Profile image: 170 px wide by 170 px tall
• Shared image: 1200 px wide by 630 px tall
• Shared link thumbnail image: 1200 px wide by 627 px tall

18. Prioritize video content.

Video content on Facebook can take a couple different formats:

• Short-for vertical videos (AKA reels).
• Long-form horizontal videos.
• Live videos.

Statistic: Video consumption accounts for 60% of the time users spend on the Facebook app. Reels alone account for 50% of that time.

Facebook is continuing to tweak how the algorithm measures people’s interest in video content on Facebook, but the main takeaway is to make your videos as visually engaging as possible — especially in the first few seconds. This is known as a video’s “hook.”

Why? Although all videos on Facebook autoplay in people‘s News Feeds, they’re on mute until the viewer manually turns the volume on. The more visually engaging your video, the more you can entice people to stick around.

Getting people to spend more time watching your video will help your video rank higher in the News Feed because to Facebook, signs of user engagement with a video include spending time watching the video, turning on the audio, switching to full-screen mode, or enabling high definition.

19. Use Facebook Insights.

Facebook Insights is Facebook‘s internal analytics tool that helps you measure and analyze your Facebook presence. The tool provides Facebook page administrators with analytics data about Page visits and engagement, which can help you understand which content is and isn’t engaging to your fans.

Access your page’s Insights here or by clicking into the ‘Admin Panel’ on your Page. We’ve also published an informative blog post and video that walks you through how to analyze Facebook Insights to improve your content strategy.

20. Schedule posts in advance.

Scrambling for Facebook content is not a new phenomenon. We have meetings. We run late. Things come up. That‘s why you’ll want to use a third-party Facebook application like HubSpot’s social media publishing tool to schedule your Facebook posts (and other social media posts) in advance.

First, download our free social media content calendar template to help plan your posts in advance. You can fill it in at the same day and time every single week to prep for the following week’s social media content. Then, use that third-party Facebook application to actually schedule out your posts.

However, just as we advised against too much Facebook automation with blog auto-posting, the same holds true for scheduling. Don‘t get caught in the trap of turning your page into a robot, and make sure you’re actively engaging with your fans, too.

21. Add Facebook social media buttons to your blog and website.

Adding Facebook social media buttons will help encourage visitors who are on your website to also connect and interact with you on Facebook, as well as spread your content and expand its reach.

The Facebook Follow Button lets you expand your Facebook reach by making it easy for your site visitors to Like your business‘ Facebook Page with just one click. It displays your page’s number of Likes, as well as faces of people who already like your page, using social proof to amplify its effectiveness.

The Facebook Like Box lets you promote your business’ Facebook Page on your website and blog, highlight other users who have already Liked your page, display your follower count, and feature recent posts on your page. With just one click, people can Like your business Page — without leaving your site.

The Facebook Like Button lets people easily Like your content. When a user Likes a piece of content, it may show up in your friends’ News Feeds because the algorithm takes it as a signal that your friends will find it relevant.

(Note: This button doesn’t allow them to add personalized messages to links before sharing them. To allow users to add a personalized message, use the Facebook Share Button, explained below.)

To customize your Facebook Like Button, visit this page and follow the instructions.

Facebook Share Buttons act similarly to the Like Button by sharing your content on their Timeline and in friends’ News Feeds, except they also let people add a comment or message to the link when sharing it.

To generate a Facebook Share Button, visit this page and follow the instructions.

22. Subscribe to Facebook’s Official Blog for future announcements from Facebook.

Give yourself a competitive edge by staying on top of the latest announcements from Facebook, such as new features and tools, by subscribing to the official Facebook Blog.

Tips For Advertising on Facebook

23. Choose the right advertising tool.

Facebook offers users the Ads Manager. Facebook’s Ads Manager works great for most companies. Figure out which is best for your business based on your company size and the number of ads you plan to run at once.

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24. Use Audience Insights to learn about your audience.

The best Facebook ads are high-quality, relevant ads that fit seamlessly into the user’s environment on Facebook. Learn more about your customers and prospects using Audience Insights, which you can find inside the Facebook Ad Manager in the left-hand navigation.

The tool will help you target your ads more effectively and learn about your audience — even if you are not advertising to them. How? The data can help you build stronger buyer personas, create more compelling content, and uncover some gems for your competitive research.

25. Test multiple versions of a single ad.

Running a single campaign won’t give you much to work with in terms of finding your audience, optimizing your ads, and determining if Facebook advertising works for your business. You need to be able and willing to run multiple campaigns to test and experiment with different parts of a single campaign. This process should be strategic.

“You need a structured approach to test Facebook ad creatives at a high volume without losing sight of why ad creatives are performing well,” shared Colby Flood, Founder at DataAlly. He shared that he tests his Facebook ads in this order:

• First brand positioning.
• Then, messaging angles.
• Then, emotional triggers.
• Lastly, creative design styles.

“Most marketers get very hung up on why one single ad performed well, which is important, but you will get lost in the data if you don’t zoom out and track performance from a 1,000-foot view to understand the ‘why’ behind performance trends,” Colby advised. “You can accomplish this with clear naming conventions for your ad creatives to help filter data by each category you test.”

Facebook ads reward you for testing more ads and targets. Whereas cost-per-click doesn‘t change much when you’re advertising on Google or LinkedIn, Facebook ads cost a lot less if you’re diligently testing them.

Want to learn more? Read this blog post to learn more about creating, optimizing, and analyzing your Facebook ads.

Getting Started

As I discovered in the State of Marketing Report, Facebook is the social media channel that marketers plan to invest the most in 2025. It also holds the highest ROI from influencers (28%). I know that Facebook for business has undeniably changed in the past few years, but it still holds incredible power for your brand, and it’s important to figure out how it can work for your company.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in September 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.