Category Archives: B2B

I cringe whenever I look at how many unopened emails live in my work inbox. I’m lucky if I open maybe ten percent of them — including anything promotional.

But, of those ten percent, what convinced me to open and respond to them? Those companies did below the line (BTL) marketing right.

Email marketing, direct mail, events — below the line marketing includes these and similar targeted tactics to convince and convert buyers. What goes into running a successful BTL campaign? And where do you begin?

To help you start, I dug into BTL marketing: the history, its relationship with other marketing tactics, and best practices from experts. Here’s what I found.

Table of Contents

• What is below the line marketing?
• Above the Line vs. Below the Line Marketing
• How to Make Below the Line Marketing Work for You
• Below the Line Marketing Examples
• Below the Line Marketing Best Practices

What is below the line marketing?

Great question! Answering “What is BTL marketing?” is surprisingly tough.

First, let’s look at history. Below the line marketing got its start in the 1950s.

Manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble wanted to separate advertising activities based on who got paid for them. “Traditional” advertising costs (aka, TV, radio, OOH) payable to ad agencies made it above the line on the company’s draft budget. Everything else fell below the line.

In modern marketing parlance, I’d say below the line marketing is a spiritual cousin to demand generation. However, BTL marketing in practice feels more like a subset of demand gen — enabling demand gen’s strategy through tactical details and execution. BTL campaigns often run on shorter operational timelines.

The results BTL generates focus more heavily on responses and conversions instead of demand gen’s longer-term customer acquisition and nurture goals.

For our purposes, BTL marketing tactics will include:

• Direct mail
• Email marketing
• Trade shows and events
• Location-specific promotions
• Targeted online outreach

While traditional BTL marketing relies on a physical component, the internet’s reach is inescapable. So long as it’s highly targeted, personalized, and time-bound, you could make a case to include physical and digital marketing tactics.

Above the Line vs. Below the Line Marketing

Speaking of the internet, digital marketing has blurred the lines between above the line (ATL) and BTL marketing. Yet, whether it happens in cyberspace or physical space, we need distinction between both operations. For our discussion, let’s say:

• ATL marketing involves broad campaigns aimed at wide audiences.
• BTL marketing involves targeted campaigns aimed at specific segments of your target audience.

The elements of targeting and personalization make the difference. Instead of billboards nationwide, it’s mailers sent to a dozen neighborhoods. BTL brings a clear focus to connecting with an audience subgroup and convincing them to buy.

This targeting shrinks a campaign’s size and scale, so BTL actions typically cost less than their ATL counterparts.

What do ATL and BTL marketing look like in practice?

To answer this question, I went to Sara Croft. Croft is the CEO of Five Four Partners, a growth agency that helps companies launch and scale. Many of her early-stage startup clients use below the line marketing tactics.

She positions the ATL/BTL divide with her clients like this: “Let’s take a LinkedIn ad campaign example,” Croft said. “A generic, broad message about your product that’s targeted to a very wide audience and sends people to your home page could get a lot of eyeballs and maybe some clicks, but likely won’t result in a conversion. For an early-stage company, this wastes time. While brand building is important, startups need customers — now.

“For targeted BTL marketing, an early-stage startup could consider running LinkedIn ads for a webinar,” she continued. “It’s a lower barrier to entry for the audience to sign up to attend a webinar versus signing up for a demo of a potentially six-figure product purchase. The webinar educates the audience further and helps qualify and disqualify prospects. The results are tangible, measurable, and actionable.”

A strong marketing strategy requires both ATL and BTL actions, but it’s vital to know when to apply each:

• ATL marketing is great for companies wanting to increase brand awareness and reach. If your metrics are more top-of-funnel-focused, you’ll do well with ATL tactics.
• BTL marketing is for specific audiences and supports bottom-of-funnel-related metrics. If your goal is to convince and convert, BTL is the way to go.

Or, as Croft puts it, “ATL marketing makes the prospect aware of a pain and its solution, but BTL marketing helps them know what to do about it.”

How to Make Below the Line Marketing Work for You

Whether you’re running marketing for an early-stage startup or a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, BTL marketing can offer many opportunities to convert your target audience. But it can be daunting to start.

When I build BTL marketing plans, I find it helps to adopt journalism’s Five Ws (Plus H):

• Who?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

With these questions in mind, let’s see how you can build and execute your plan. For our purposes, I’ll also share details from BTL donor relations campaigns I’ve run to tie these concepts to concrete outcomes.

1. Define your target segments.

Who are you talking to? Because of BTL’s tighter targeting, you need to get detailed with your target segments. The more information you have on your potential buyers, the better.

In past campaigns, I’ve built donor outreach lists based on demographic and psychographic data gathered through various sources:

• Age
• Location
• Disposable income
• Engagement with other content
• Previous interest (e.g., volunteered at an organizational event, visited a physical location)
• Previous giving data (if available)

These data points helped me build the vision for my ideal buyer.

2. Customize and personalize messaging.

Once you know who you’re talking to, you must understand why you’re reaching out and what you want them to know. I’ve seen marketing teams run with generic copy from other campaigns and call it a day. That’s a surefire way to waste your and your buyers’ time and resources.

Through market research and past interactions, you can build a nuanced understanding of your messaging. What clicks with prospects? What makes people’s eyes light up in interest? What scares them away?

At this stage, practice articulating your messaging with draft copy. I find it helpful to lay out an internal brief containing:

• Core messaging
• 3-5 key points I want buyers to remember
• Purpose statement (Why am I reaching out to you?)
• 30-second elevator pitch copy (What am I trying to say?)
• Draft copy for short-form and long-form content

Great writing comes from great thinking. Use this internal brief model to organize your thoughts and state your case.

3. Pick the right channels.

You’ve chosen your segments and crafted a compelling message. Now, where will you find your buyers? When will you reach out? And how will you do it?

BTL marketing campaigns survive on nitty-gritty details. From your research and experience, you should know where your buyers spend their time.

Coupled with clear messaging, you can choose the right delivery channels:

• Direct mail
• Email marketing
• In-person experiences

My donor base loved receiving letters in the mail. They tended to be older and were more apt to respond and convert by mailing back a check instead of completing a digital donation form.

So, my organization would send a letter every two months to over 1,200 donors or prospects. The copy would be ghostwritten as a board member, program manager, or even program beneficiary. We’d tell donors about their gift’s impact and invite them to renew or upgrade.

While we offered multiple engagement channels (e.g., “Find us on Facebook” or an online donation link), that letter converted and upgraded more donors than any other tactic.

Pro tip: I wouldn’t use generative AI to write full drafts. But, AI tools can help you include personalized information from your CRM to humanize copy.

For instance, calling out a donor’s last volunteer interaction at the annual holiday festival helps you connect more meaningfully. AI can scale those small insertions across hundreds or thousands of letters.

I knew my donor base inside and out, which helped me run successful BTL campaigns. With all these pieces in place, you can start running your campaign.

4. Measure and analyze results.

As you execute your plan, check your progress often. Pay close attention to how your BTL campaign fits within your overall marketing strategy’s goals. Know which metrics matter to your organization, and use those metrics to track your campaign’s outcomes.

For instance, my donor management role’s goals included:

1. Establishing new giving relationships with prospects.
2. Reactivating lapsed givers.
3. Upgrading gift amounts for current donors.

Every letter in my direct mail campaign focused on meeting one of these goals. I’d then check the response and conversion rate on those letters to learn what worked, what didn’t, and how I could improve for the next batch.

Remember to gather quantitative and qualitative data, too. Post-action surveys can deliver extra intel on your audience and core messaging. Prospects might not respond to your initial BTL action.

But, offer them a chance to win a $500 gift card if they complete a survey telling you what you did wrong? That’ll start conversations.

5. Tinker and retry.

You won’t always get it right the first time. In fact, it’ll probably take around eight touchpoints to move a prospect. Use your data to tinker with previous stages and try again.

Like any good scientific experiment, don’t alter too many dependent variables at once. You want to track what you’ve changed so you can replicate winning outcomes. Try altering one segmentation criterion (e.g., shift the age group) or channel choice, and rerun your experiment.

Croft relayed that this is one of BTL’s greatest benefits. “BTL marketing helps you identify what to scale,” she said. “When you start with more targeted marketing, you can better understand the campaign’s ROI.”

Below the Line Marketing Examples

You can spot BTL marketing throughout your daily life. Let’s focus on two examples from my life — and how these companies converted me.

Example 1: Email Marketing to My Canine Friend

Email is a popular channel that is overwhelming users. These days, your buyers probably never open your email: 79% of consumers delete branded emails at least half of the time.

And even when they open it, consumers spend an average of nine seconds before deciding to buy or trash it.

Your email should inform, engage, and convert in nine seconds. That’s a tall order for any marketing team.

BarkBox did that to me. I have a dog, and she’s classified as a “Super Chewer.” She loves gnawing on tasty treats and tough toys. BarkBox knows this and sends me highly targeted, personalized emails.

They put my dog’s name in the title and waste no time in presenting the offer. The email contains their Super Chewer lineup for the holiday box, so I know exactly what I’m getting. And BarkBox offers a clear CTA to convert me in seconds. Guess who will chew on their Rudolph-themed toy this holiday season?

Pro tip: If you’re struggling to use email successfully, our comprehensive email marketing guide can help you begin.

Example 2: Direct Mail Gift Boxes to Upgrade My Subscription

Receiving a physical item still means something to people. Research from gifting platform Sendoso found that 83% of recipients feel closer to a company after receiving a physical gift.

But that gift has to mean something: Business.com research found that 54% of professionals have received a gift so bad that they immediately threw it away.

You need to know exactly what your buyer wants and reinforce that sentiment with your gift selection.

For instance, I’ve been using and evangelizing an AI presentation generation tool called Gamma for over a year. As a reward for my support and advocacy, they asked me my shirt size and sent me a swag box.

Inside, I received a properly-sized branded hoodie, a water bottle, and a personalized note. Gamma sent me useful, meaningful items. While this box celebrated our relationship, it also nudged me toward upgrading my subscription.

I did exactly that. And I’ve been more apt to share the tool with my marketing friends.

There’s a higher upfront cost to this tactic — and a higher cost for failure if you don’t know your audience. But in the right hands and with the right people, direct mail can deliver big conversion numbers.

Below the Line Marketing Best Practices

We’ve covered a lot about BTL marketing so far, but before you begin your next campaign, let’s review a few final (yet vital) best practices.

Do your research.

Successful BTL marketing means knowing your target audience intimately. There’s no shortcut to this process. Your goal should be to reach the right people, in the right place, at the right time, with the right message.

Audience research helps you achieve that objective. Deep research lets you segment an audience across several axes:

• Demographics like age, gender, and income.
• Purchase intent like people searching for “best college laptop to buy.”
• Lifestyle, including attitudes, opinions, and interests.

A vast amount of quantitative and qualitative data is at your disposal to help you segment appropriately. Explore target audience research tools and techniques to get the good stuff.

Secure relevant permissions.

BTL marketing is exciting, but pause to consider any legal and ethical implications. Did your direct mail recipient consent to a gift box? Are you following CAN-SPAM regulations with your targeted email outreach?

Because BTL tactics typically need personal data, review your data security and privacy requirements before launching campaigns. Tell people how you plan to use their data and what value exchange they can expect. It pays to be upfront about your intentions and let people opt out easily.

You can even turn permission gathering into a touchpoint. For example, let gift box recipients pick the swag they actually want. You gather their consent while letting them take part. Plus, they’ll be extra excited when their hand-chosen package arrives.

Integrate BTL into your overall marketing strategy.

This tip might seem self-explanatory. But I’ve seen teams try to execute BTL tactics without understanding how other marketing actions and ATL tactics affect their audiences’ brand perception and intent.

For example, you can build an incredible booth experience at your industry’s largest trade show. But if nobody knows you’re there or what to expect (i.e., content you share in an above the line press release and media outreach campaign), you’ll miss out on significant foot traffic and coverage.

Effective BTL actions require you to understand marketing’s influence across your organization. Marketing and communications, sales, customer success — engage anyone involved in achieving marketing’s strategic outcomes.

Also, plan comprehensively to ensure everyone agrees and is tracking the same outcomes. For instance, use HubSpot’s email marketing planning template to help you plan, calendar, and optimize your BTL email marketing campaign. Share this document with all stakeholders to keep everyone on track.

BTL Marketing Matters More in Busy Digital Worlds

My review of BTL marketing left me thinking we need more marketing like it. Generalized brand building has a vital place in our marketing toolkits.

I don’t think we’ll have a world where you’ll never run ads or buy billboard space.

But, amid the noise around scaling marketing and deploying AI and similar technologies, there’s something refreshing about true personalization. About something meant for me.

That’s why I opened those ten percent of emails with:

• Offers tailored to my needs.
• Simple and clear calls-to-action.
• Delivery at the right place and time.

In a busier world, help your customers feel seen and heard. BTL marketing done well can help you deliver on that feeling while also driving stronger marketing outcomes.

I‘ll be honest: I don’t know anything about an “AI target audience” or finding an audience via AI.

However, I want to learn because I recently started working with a local pole fitness studio in my neighborhood.

I want to help it gain new students. So, dear reader, we are going to learn about AI audience targeting, its benefits, and helpful AI target audience tools together.

Here we go!

Table of Contents

• What is AI audience targeting?
• Benefits of Using AI for Target Audiences
• How to Find Your Target Audience Using AI
• 6 Best AI Tools for Target Audience Research

What is AI audience targeting?

After some research, I’ve found that AI audience targeting is when you use artificial intelligence to find and engage with a distinct group of potential customers (your target audience).

Specifically, AI target audience tools examine audience behaviors, interests, regional preferences, and demographics to guide marketing strategies and content.

Benefits of Using AI for Target Audiences

Using AI target audience tools can help improve many aspects of a marketing strategy.

I’m personally most interested in how it can help with advertising, content, and customer engagement since these are most important to me as I help my neighborhood business.

Advertising

AI target audience tools would be most helpful in advertising because they could analyze large quantities of data in seconds, allowing me to draw conclusions quicker, decide on my advertising strategy, and pivot quickly when necessary.

As I said, the business I‘m working with is a pole fitness studio. An AI target audience tool would help me quickly figure out our target audience’s behaviors, where they search for pole fitness content, and what platforms they frequent.

From there, I can craft an advertising strategy tailored to them, thus boosting the studio’s visibility and gaining more students.

Content

I‘m trying to grow the business’ visibility on social media. I’ve found that some videos perform better than others, but analyzing all the content performance data is still tedious, and I need to figure out what our audience likes.

As I said earlier, AI audience tools can analyze this data faster than I or any human could, allowing me to adjust my content strategy and create engaging content more quickly.

How to Find Your Target Audience Using AI

According to my research, I can find and understand my target audience using AI via the following:

1. Predictive Analytics

I can’t stress enough how efficient AI is at analyzing data. In this case, AI can quickly assess data to build models for future consumer behavior.

For example, my neighborhood studio could use predictive analytics to figure out when someone is in the market for classes if a potential student:

• Attended one of its events, such as the Halloween-themed pole dance workshop it hosted
• Is a part of a demographic of people who are interested in learning pole fitness
• Lives in an area where there are gyms, fitness programs, and dance studios
• Clicked on an ad for the studio recently

If someone does one or more of the following, AI will help the studio find them and create targeted ads and content to encourage them to become regular students.

2. Behavioral Analytics

AI can analyze behavioral analytics metrics such as where your audience is coming from, what they click on your site, and how long they’re on your platform to help you better understand their behavior.

For example, visitors to the pole fitness website always click on the website’s banner. That would encourage me to update the banner to take visitors to a signup page to register for classes.

3. Hyper-personalized Content

AI audience targeting can effectively analyze data to deliver personalized content and ads to potential consumers. For example, let‘s get back to the pole fitness studio I’m working with. AI target audience tools can assess:

• The time of year most students sign up for fitness classes or gyms
• The needs and concerns of first-time students
• How old the average student is
• Where most potential students reside locally

Thanks to AI’s speed, I could use all this information to create targeted and quickly pivot when consumer needs change.

6 Best AI Tools for Target Audience Research

Now that I know what AI target audience tools are, their benefits, and how they can be used, it‘s time to explore tools to help me market my local pole fitness studio and help you market your own business.

Here are the best ones I’ve found and plan on testing out for the pole studio I’m working with.

1. HubSpot’s Breeze AI

I promise I‘m not biased when I say HubSpot’s Breeze AI boasts several excellent tools for finding and engaging your target audience. One feature I find most useful for my marketing goals is Breeze Social Media Agent.

I’m currently leveraging social media to boost awareness of the pole fitness studio and encourage potential students to register for classes.

Breeze Social Media Agent can help me achieve this by analyzing past post-performance data and assessing business details and industry best practices.

It will then use the information to optimize my social media strategy with data-driven post suggestions.

Best for: Refining and optimizing your social media strategy.

2. ExactBuyer

ExactBuyer helps businesses find their ideal customers, gather relevant data, and use the information to create realistic, targeted buyer personas.

Even better, the AI-powered tool allows users to consistently update and refine the gathered data to optimize the personas in real time.

I wanted to use ExactBuyer to create realistic buyer personas for prospective students interested in the studio’s classes.

Best for: Creating hyper-focused buyer personas.

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3. OpinioAI

OpinioAI is one of the most interesting AI target audience tools because it allows users to create buyer personas and chat with them to get insight into consumer thoughts on their business.

You can talk to your persona about its favorite brand, hobbies, behaviors, needs, and more to get insight into your target audience. Think of it as a virtual one-on-one conversation with a potential consumer.

Best for: Gathering insight into the wants and needs of your target audience.

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4. Pixis

Pixis AI features allow users to create precise, targeted content for their audience.

Its AI Targeting feature is most interesting because it establishes custom audience cohorts based on search trends, competitive keywords, and brand keywords.

Best for: Identifying niche audiences.

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5. GapScout

GapScout delivers AI-powered insights that pinpoint content gaps and emergency trends that competitors in your niche are missing.

Best for: Helping your brand tap into underserved needs in your market.

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6. Userpersona

This is a great AI tool for marketers new to creating and understanding user personas to guide their brand strategy. All users need to do is describe their product and service, and Userpersona will do the rest.

For example, I typed in the information about the pole fitness studio I’m working with, and here is what Userpersona generated.

It only took one sentence for Userpersona to generate a persona called “Sarah Smith” to represent our target audience and give me an idea of how and who to market the studio.

Now, we both know quite a bit more about AI target audience tools and how to use them.

I plan on using HubSpot’s Breeze AI to help my favorite local pole fitness studio attract more students. I hope you will also try the tools I listed. Good luck!

For marketers, AI-generated imagery tools open up new possibilities for content personalization and campaign engagement…but only when applied in strategic, targeted ways.

AI-generated imagery platforms like Flux, Runway, and DALL-E are becoming a valuable part of marketing, design, and UX toolkits. But with all the options available, it’s sometimes difficult to understand where and how these tools actually bring value — and where they fall short.

In a recent Marketing Against the Grain episode, Kieran and I discuss common challenges teams face when using AI image tools, practical use cases for maximum performance, and best practices for integrating AI imagery into your workflow.

Three Key Challenges of AI-Generated Image Adoption

AI image generation holds massive potential — but its adoption isn’t without hurdles. In particular, three challenges preventing widespread use that Kieran and I often see are:

1. Hesitation due to privacy and security concerns.

Employees hesitate to engage with AI tools, often due to concerns around privacy, data security, and AI’s current limitations. Many also feel that AI might not yet be “good enough” for their needs.

Addressing these concerns starts with clear communication about AI’s strengths and limitations. When teams understand where AI can add value — and where it can’t — they’re more likely to engage with it in a realistic way.

2. Misaligned expectations.

Users often expect AI to “do it all,” leading to frustration when it falls short, especially for tasks requiring precision. As Kieran pointed out, employees sometimes treat AI as a “magic box,” which can set them up for disappointment.

By managing expectations and educating teams on how AI works best, marketers can shift focus toward the achievable, practical uses that make an impact.

3. A need for guardrails.

With such broad potential, many people struggle to find the right applications for AI. As Kieran highlighted during the show, a defined, structured approach — like having clear AI prompts or targeted use cases — helps ease adoption by giving employees a clearer sense of purpose.

Similarly, using guided prompts or simplified interfaces for specific tasks can make it easier for teams to explore AI without feeling overwhelmed.

Three AI-Generated Image Use Cases in Marketing

Despite these challenges, AI image tools can have a strong impact when applied to targeted use cases. In our experience, AI-generated imagery tools can be used to:

1. Boost ad performance.

In my opinion, one of the most effective applications of AI-generated imagery is creating tailored ad variations. Custom images that closely align with specific ad copy help marketers deliver a more personalized experience across different platforms.

In our tests at HubSpot, we’ve seen that this approach significantly boosts conversions, making it an invaluable tool for efficiently scaling our ad campaigns.

2. Increase email engagement.

AI can also increase engagement in email marketing by generating unique images tailored to each message.

Combined with AI-generated text, these visuals create a curated and relevant experience for readers, adding a layer of personalization that keeps content fresh and increases the chance of connecting with audiences in a deeper, more memorable way.

This approach works particularly well when you need to create distinct visuals for different segments or campaigns at scale.

3. Save time on editing.

AI is equally valuable for image editing, helping marketers quickly adjust visuals to fit different audience needs.

For example, a technology company might use AI to modify product screenshots by adding a client’s logo or emphasizing specific features.

This tactic allows brands to deliver a more personalized visual experience without the time and effort required for manual edits, making it a powerful option for scalable, audience-specific content.

Best Practices for AI Image Implementation

Maximizing the value of AI-generated images means knowing where and how to use them. These pointers will keep your approach practical and results-focused.

✔ Define clear use cases. Since AI can be overwhelming, define specific applications (like customer support or ad variations) where it’s most likely to succeed, rather than trying to apply it universally.

✔ Focus on volume over perfection. AI excels at creating multiple variations rather than single “perfect” images. If you need one flawless image, stick with traditional methods.

✔ Educate teams on AI’s strengths and limits. To improve adoption, set clear expectations and provide guidance on where AI is most beneficial, which can help address resistance due to privacy and reliability concerns.

✔ Keep it authentic. Avoid using AI-generated images to represent real people or customers, as this could damage trust. Save AI imagery for conceptual or product-focused visuals.

To learn more about how marketing leaders can integrate AI-generated imagery into their teams and workflows, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain.

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.

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

Brands in ecommerce have the wonderful advantage of having access to a broader number of consumers than their local counterparts. Before you can woo a broader base of consumers, it is important to recognize the diversity that exists among them, and the intention required to convert them.

I’m an inclusive marketing strategist and run an inclusive marketing consultancy.

Last year I did audits of multiple ecommerce websites, and found the same opportunities for improvement over and over again from the perspective of how brands can do a better job of converting more of their ideal consumers who are part of underrepresented and underserved communities.

Consumers, no matter their identity, are looking for an answer to this fundamental question: is this brand for people like me?

There are three core areas that signal to a consumer whether or not a brand is for them or not. And as a result of those signals, the consumer will make a decision whether or not to take the next step forward with you, or not.

Signals That Tell Ecommerce Customers a Brand Is for Them

1. Representation

The people you want to serve need to see themselves, or who they aspire to be, reflected in the visual imagery your brand puts forth.

When they see themselves represented in the models you use, in your customer testimonials, or even imagery of your team, they receive a signal from you that communicates “people like me belong here.” When they don’t see themselves represented, the signal they receive is, “This brand isn’t for you.”

2. Customer Experience

Delivering experiences that have as little friction as possible for the people you serve, especially those with identities that are part of underrepresented and underserved communities, will demonstrate to them that you’ve taken the time to consider them to ensure they feel like they belong with you.

3. Identity-Based Design

One of the most effective ways to eliminate friction in your customer experience, is to design your ecommerce user experience with specific identities in mind.

By considering the various types of identities your ideal customers hold in the design and development process, it makes it easier for you to incorporate elements that make people with those identities feel seen, supported, and like they belong with you.

If you need additional resources to help you with your ecommerce strategy, check out this Ecommerce Planning Kit from HubSpot.

Examples of Inclusive Ecommerce Websites

Here are eight examples of ecommerce websites that have done a good job of designing for the needs of consumers with specific underrepresented and underserved identities.

1. Moo and Farm Rio take a global approach to converting more consumers.

Smart marketers know that people who have the problem their brands solve don’t just live in one country or speak one language. As such, it is helpful to showcase to these consumers immediately when they land on your website that your brand is for them.

Business card print house Moo does it by placing an option in the main navigation of its website that enables site visitors to select which country they are in, and the associated language they need. Based on the selection, the website automatically changes to the country’s corresponding language.

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Retailer Farm Rio takes a similar approach. Consumers are able to select which country they live in from the main navigation. Once confirmed, pricing and shipping options for the clothing items change to reflect the local currency of where the consumer is shopping from.

In this image, the country selected is Morocco, and prices are shown in their currency, the Dirham.

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Having to do a price conversion adds unnecessary friction, and sends a strong signal that “This brand isn’t for me.”

This episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast details how to build an effective multilingual content strategy so you can attract more people who speak other languages to your website.

2. Dolce & Gabbana leans into accessibility.

Just because someone has a disability, that doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy wearing stylish clothes. 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability.

As such, making your website accessible enables you to support the needs of a broader group of people, while delivering an experience with less friction.

Fashion brand Dolce & Gabbana has embraced accessibility, by making it so website visitors can adjust accessibility settings to suit their needs.

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3. Amazon delivers an effective experience for neurodivergent consumers.

Estimates show that between 15-20% of the population is neurodivergent, including people with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and sensory processing disorder.

Amazon is a brand that is making an intentional effort to serve these consumers.

In this video, three neurodiversity consultants, who are also consumers, share the ways in which Amazon delivers an experience that supports their needs.

You can catch the full discussion on how brands can design experiences that work for neurodivergent consumers on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

4. Calvin Klein, Fenty Skin, and Bonds welcome LGBTQ+ consumers.

Smart brands demonstrate to the LGBTQ+ community that they are seen, supported, and belong all year long, rather than just with PRIDE month limited edition products and rainbows.

Retailer Calvin Klein does it by showcasing a broad diversity of masculinity in the models it features on its website. Here’s how one gay male consumer explained why that range of representation is important to him.

Another way ecommerce brands can show support to the LGBTQ+ community is in how products are classified.

Fenty Beauty made its skincare line gender neutral, so there was no need to label products being for “men” or “women” which can exclude people who are non-binary. The brand even goes as far to showcase gender diversity in the models using the products.

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And underwear brand Bonds has done it by offering a gender-free line of its clothes.

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You can find more tips on how to build an LGBTQ+ inclusive brand on this episode of the Inclusion & Marketing podcast.

5. Cooper’s Hawk embraces dietary restrictions.

Many restaurants now have an ecommerce arm to their business, as they start asking, and even encouraging, people to grab takeout via online ordering.

As someone with dietary restrictions, I’ve always been reluctant to embrace the convenience of ordering food online, for fear of the staff not seeing my write-in requests for accommodations with my food.

Cooper’s Hawk has addressed this fear. Within the online ordering section, they’ve created separate products that are labeled gluten-free. Even the name of the product has a “GF” at the end, so me or anyone else with a gluten-free restriction doesn’t have to write anything in and pray the notes were read.

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The brand takes a similar approach to vegan items on the vegetarian menu. A person can feel reassured that their food will in fact be vegan because it is labeled on the website as, “Vegan Sweet Corn & Tomato Risotto”

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6. Savage X Fenty puts women of all sizes front and center.

The average clothing for a woman in the US and the UK is 16-18. But too often, the models showcasing clothing on ecommerce retail sites are models who wear much smaller sizes.

Savage X Fenty takes a different approach. The brand features a broad range of diversity in the models it uses, including a range of body sizes and types.

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And when it comes time for consumers to select their size, they don’t have to deal with being labeled “plus-sized” as other retailers often do. They just select from the broad range of sizes offered by the brand.

7. David’s Bridal’s approach to race and ethnicity.

There are many different identities your consumers have when it comes to race and ethnicity.

As such, when you’re thinking about the people you feature on your website, make sure you include a range of models that reflect those races and ethnicities.

Pro tip: Don’t opt for trying to use models who are racially ambiguous to try to appeal to the broadest range of consumers. It actually has the opposite effect, and frustrates people (often those of darker complexions) who often don’t see themselves represented.

Retailer David’s Bridal does this on their website, by highlighting a broad diversity of races and ethnicities with their models that is reflective of the people who buy their dresses.

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8. Ikea embraces religious traditions like Diwali.

Consumers who have the problem your brand solves will also have a diversity of religious affiliations, traditions, and celebrations. While most brands lean hard into traditional Christian holidays, such as Christmas, more brands are starting to add additional holidays to the ones they celebrate.

Ikea has added products for Diwali, to see and serve consumers who celebrate it.

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And consumers appreciate that IKEA has products for them. There’s plenty of videos on YouTube of people showing their Diwali hauls from IKEA.

Make Your Ecommerce Website More Inclusive

There’s no downside to doing so. The more people you’re able to send clear signals that “you belong here” through your intentional design and user experience choices, the more people you’ll be able to convert.

As someone who does conversion rate optimization (CRO) for a living, I can’t express to you how excited I get when a simple change makes a big impact. And this particular example? It doesn’t get much simpler or more impactful.

Sure, I’m a self-proclaimed CRO geek, but if you were able to increase the conversion rate on a web page by 560%, I bet you’d be geeking out, too.

Personalization as an Optimization Tool

As a member of HubSpot’s web strategy team, I’ve been optimizing the core website pages on HubSpot.com for the last eight years.

Prior to that, I spent many years optimizing this very blog.

And in the past year, I’ve been experimenting a lot more with personalization to improve both user experience and conversion rates on the website. The tactics
 
seem simple — I’ve tailored both calls-to-action (CTAs) and content for different segments of our website visitors.

But personalization can be tricky. By creating more than one version of a single page, that means you also need to maintain more than one version of the page.

Multiply that by each page on your website, and things can start to get pretty unmanageable. This makes it critical to track the performance of any personalization you put live on your website, and keep only the ones that are worth the return on investment.

Luckily, this one was worth it.

Personalizing for Free Users

On many of the core pages on HubSpot’s website, we typically show visitors two CTAs by default:

• One CTA encourages visitors to start using the free version of our software.
• And one CTA encourages visitors to get a demo of the premium editions.

When I started experimenting more with personalization on the website, it occurred to me that it was pretty silly to show free sign-up CTAs to contacts who are already free users.

And if these contacts are still visiting our web pages after becoming a free user, they’re probably still evaluating their options and might be interested in trying the premium editions.

So on one of our highest trafficked pages — a product page about our free CRM and other free tools — I created a rule using HubSpot’s smart content to replace the free sign-up CTAs with demo CTAs for any contact who was already a free user of our software.

Since there was no risk to free sign-up demand and therefore no reason to run a true A/B test, I ran this as a lookback test. (Meaning I made the change for 100% of visitors, then compared a period of time before and after the change to assess impact.)

Here’s what that looked like in action:

Default Content:

Smart Content:

The results were staggering. Once I implemented the free user personalization, it increased our demo conversion rate by 560%. We saw demo requests go from 38 demos/month to 258 demos/month — just from this one page. Aww yeah.

What’s more, there was absolutely no negative impact on free sign-up demand.

Even better? This approach can be implemented on any page where we have free sign-up CTAs. Meaning we’re bound to generate even more demo demand as we implement this across more website pages. That’s what they call a win-win! Or maybe it’s a win-win-win. 🤔

How to Set Up Personalization With HubSpot Smart Content

If you’re a HubSpot user who is subscribed to the Professional or Enterprise editions of Marketing Hub or Content Hub, you have the ability to personalize your web pages with smart content. There are several options for how you can segment smart content to your visitors, including by device type, country, referral source, language, and more.

For this particular use case, I based my smart content on contact list membership, first creating a list of contacts in our HubSpot Smart CRM that included anyone who is a free user of our software. And because this list is also smart, it’ll automatically update whenever a new or existing contact becomes a free user, ensuring that my personalization will always be up to date.

Next, I set up a smart rule in the page editor for each module on the page I wanted to personalize, based on membership to the contact list I’d created.

This enabled me to modify certain parts of the page (like copy and CTAs) just for free HubSpot users, while leaving the rest of the page content unchanged by default.

Best of all, it only took me a few minutes to set up. Talk about low-hanging fruit!

How to Make Personalization Work for You

The segmentation strategy you use to personalize your web pages should be based on your website’s overall conversion strategy and your business goals, which only you will know.

For example, one of our challenges on the HubSpot website is that we sell products that suit various business sizes, ranging from small startups to large, scaling businesses. These different-sized businesses have various challenges and needs and, therefore, will respond differently to certain content and conversion flows.

So the crux of our current personalization strategy is segmenting content based on both business size and where a contact is in their buying stage.

For some additional guidance and inspiration, check out our article on website personalization. (Pro Tip: If you’re a HubSpot user or are considering becoming one, you might also be interested in the new Breeze Intelligence functionality that enriches your contacts with third-party data, which can make your personalization efforts even more powerful.)

However you decide to segment your personalization strategy, start small, and keep a close eye on ROI. You might be surprised to find that sometimes, even the simplest change can make a big dent 😉

 

This week’s master has worked for Lou Malnati’s (pizza), Krispy Kreme (doughnuts), and now heads the marketing team at California Pizza Kitchen (back to pizza) — making her career sound like my dream delivery order after a rough Monday.

Keep reading to hear from Dawn Keller, CMO at California Pizza Kitchen, on why she likes giving consumers emotional FOMO and how to lead the charge on brand evolution.

Lesson 1: Drive emotional FOMO. 

“Craveable items that are unique and compel consumers to be irrational are the best defense against competition, consumer apathy, or inertia,” says Keller. 

For Keller, this pertains to both her menu and her marketing. Her goal is to “drive emotional FOMO” for her consumers. 

Look, I’ll hand it to you — discussing “craveable products” with the marketing leader for a pizza company probably doesn’t sound too relatable to B2B marketers. 

But when I tell Keller that cheesy, gooey crust is more seductive than revenue attribution reporting, she pushes back: “I actually see this in B2B marketing all the time. Emotional FOMO is totally create-able in that world, too — you just need to show what’s possible, and the success stories of other people.”

She adds, “It’s all the same humans, you know? They’re just making different decisions… Like, what to eat, and what software to use for their businesses.”

While you might not be selling garlic knots, there are plenty of B2B attributes that are insanely “craveable” — like ease of use, time savings, and productivity boosts. Use those plot points to get all your soon-to-be consumers hungering for your offerings like they crave a good mac and cheese. 

Lesson 2: Turn negative moments into a chance to show up. 

Recently, a customer ordered mac and cheese from CPK — and just got cheese. 

After she posted the vid on TikTok, CPK responded with a video in which Chef Paul jokingly walks through the steps of properly making a mac and cheese (emphasis on: Add the mac) and then announces 50% off mac and cheese for all CPK customers. (Since the customer only got 50% of her meal — get it?) 

CPK’s TikTok response got 13.5 million views. Keller was shocked… and thrilled. 

“It was mind-blowing to everybody [how well it did], but we believe what really made the difference was how we showed up — in a super authentic, humble, self-deprecating way. It wasn’t corporate-y or stuffy.”

CPK could’ve chosen to ignore the customer’s complaint altogether, or they could’ve commented on the video with a generic “I’m sorry!” customer service response. Instead, they decided to use the opportunity to reframe the narrative into something fun and lighthearted. 

And as Keller points out, “We still got to reinforce what matters to us — which is that we have quality food, and we care about our guests. Authenticity and entertainment is what gets people’s attention… Not just that you’re using socials as an advertising channel.” 

We’ve heard it across the board this year from Greg Fass, Jenna Kutcher, and plenty of other Masters in Marketing, and the point holds true: Being authentic and showcasing the human behind your brand is a much better strategy than a polished ad these days. 

Lesson 3: Evolve as your consumers do. 

It hasn’t always been doughnuts and pizza for Keller, who has also held marketing roles at CVS Health and Staples.

Across those roles, she believes one core responsibility has always been to be an “agent of change.” 

But people don’t always love change, particularly at brands that have existed for 40+ years. So I wanted to know: When Keller joined CPK, how did she balance fresh ideas without making the team feel like she was steamrolling the good-ole way of doing things? 

“I give a lot of credit to Jeff Warne [the CEO of CPK] and my colleagues, who have really incubated this idea that any brand that’s been around for 40 years has to continue to evolve and do new, fresh things,” Keller tells me. 

Fortunately, she also has some words of wisdom for marketing leaders who’ve been tasked with growth at a company that doesn’t embrace change as easily.

“You have to bring people along the journey and invite ideas from anywhere. Sometimes, leaders think good ideas can only come from new people. But veterans with deep context can also be the originators of the best new thinking.” 

Everybody has a role to play, and the more a change agent can encourage and incentivize fresh ideas while breaking down the walls of fear or discomfort, the more likely they are to succeed in creating an increasingly relevant brand. 

Workplace loneliness has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the way a lot of businesses operate — with most shifting to hybrid or completely remote working.

However, that all started almost five years ago (half a decade, can you believe it?!). While some businesses are continuing on as remote or hybrid, many have returned to the office.

And still, loneliness persists.

Brand new data from aaask reveals that this problem could be even worse than you might think. The survey aaasked 170 people (who work remotely at least some of the time) how they currently feel in the workplace.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the data.

Loneliness is not caused by working from home.

The data revealed that 60% of people feel more lonely at work than they did 5 years ago.

Honestly, his figure didn’t really come as a shock. Given the pandemic, it’s easy to blame working from home for this rise in workplace loneliness. The solution is just to get everyone back on site, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy.

The survey also found that 47% of people always or often feel lonely when working from home …

… and 43% of people always or often feel lonely when working on-site (in the office).

Now, this data was surprising! It shows that remote working isn’t to blame for increased loneliness. It’s clear that regardless of where people are, they’re feeling a disconnect from their colleagues.

Current strategies aren’t working …

We didn’t just uncover problems with our data. We also explored solutions to workplace loneliness.

Surprisingly (compared with the above statistics), most people (78%) are largely happy with the methods their employers have put in place for them to stay connected and engaged with co-workers.

These methods include email, virtual meetings, asynchronous communication tools, and project management tools.

“At aaask, we can relate to this. We use all of these methods to keep our co-workers connected — including regular, automated feedback surveys — and we find this combination works well for keeping everyone on the same page.”

84% of people even said they have a true friend at work — someone they can rely on for emotional support.

And while this is all great stuff, it’s clearly not good enough. If it was, almost half of all workers wouldn’t state that they are still lonely most of the time.

The Impact of Loneliness

Loneliness has many detrimental impacts on people on both a personal and professional level.

In fact, 76% of people said workplace loneliness has negatively impacted their mental health, with 40% adding that the impact had been severe.

On a professional level, the biggest impact of loneliness in the workplace is a reduction in engagement (57%), followed by a sense of burnout (45%).

Workplace loneliness has also made 43% of people want to quit their jobs, reduced the overall job satisfaction of 28% of people, and made 24% of people feel as though they are disconnected from their team.

Overall, 73% of survey respondents agreed that workplace loneliness had affected their career growth and professional development.

While all companies experience these challenges to some extent, it’s quite shocking to see that the figures are so high.

If your team isn’t engaged, doesn’t feel like they are making any strides professionally, and feels disconnected from each other, you can probably guess that productivity and work output are going to take a big hit.

So, employers seem to be doing all the right things …

They’re putting tools in place that people are happy with, and companies are making it so colleagues can form close bonds and friendships.

But workplace loneliness isn’t improving.

What can we do?

Given the data, it seems that the issue isn’t making sure we use the correct tools to solve loneliness — it’s making sure we have the correct conversations.

Here are two ways to do just that.

1. Schedule regular one-on-ones.

When asked how they’d most prefer their employer to tackle workplace loneliness, 41% of people said they wanted more virtual check-ins.

Make sure you’re having regular chats with your team. These conversations should offer staff a safe place to talk about any pain points, including workplace loneliness. And if they don’t bring it up, try asking them about it.

Then, work with them to find solutions.

Pro tip: Tools like aaask can help you automate check-ins about anything. You just set a prompt, select a group of co-workers to be included in the conversation, and then aaask sends it out to everyone.

2. Encourage more non-work-related conversations.

If you don’t already, encourage your employees to have conversations that aren’t about work.

Sure, you might worry about the impact this could have on productivity. But a lack of engagement, increased burnout, and reduced job satisfaction, could be much worse. And the reality is these are all caused by workplace loneliness.

Plus, people used to have these conversations anyway — around the water cooler, in the kitchen, or on the way to the bathroom. You’d only be reinstating the time that employees used to use for bonding.

The Bottom Line

It’s clear that a sense of community has been lost (or at least reduced) in the workplace.

Employers can only get that back by asking the right questions and giving their employees more opportunities to build meaningful connections with each other.

If you’re not sure what a blog is, you’ve definitely come across one at some point. Perhaps you’ve stumbled across a blog when you’ve searched “healthy dinner recipes.” Maybe you don’t know it, but you’re on a blog now.

I love blogging. I created my first blog in 2010 but stopped writing it just as I got my first-ever comment. Knowing what I know now, that was my biggest blogging mistake.

Now, I have my own blog — a blog about cycle touring. My blog has one goal: to help people get into cycle touring and travel the world. It’s what you’d call an affiliate blog.

I also write blogs for HubSpot, and as an SEO I work with businesses on their blog strategy to generate traffic and leads for their website.

One of my clients generates 64% of their traffic via the blog. Thanks to analytics, we also know that $30,000 to $50,000 per month is generated from people who also viewed the blog.

A blog is not just a page you stumble across, and it’s not reserved for personal anecdotes; a blog can help you develop an online presence, prove yourself an expert in an industry, and attract more quality leads to all pages of your site.

I’m not the only one to think so — 76% of B2B marketers rate blogs as an effective tool for lead generation.

Professional blogs are sometimes called “news” or “knowledge centers” or “articles.” Many of these are, at their core, blogs.

If you’re contemplating creating a blog for your business or want to know what one is, keep reading.

Table of Contents

• What is a blog?
• What is a blog used for?
• How To Blog
• Blog vs. Website
• Why You Need a Blog
• How to Promote Your Blog

A brief history — in 1994, Swarthmore College student Justin Hall is credited with the creation of the first blog, Links.net. At the time, however, it wasn’t considered a blog … just a personal homepage.

In 1997, Jorn Barger, blogger for Robot Wisdom, coined the term “weblog,” which was meant to describe his process for “logging the web” as he surfed the internet. The term “weblog” was shortened to “blog” in 1999 by programmer Peter Merholz.

In the early stages, a blog was a personal web log or journal in which someone could share information or their opinion on a variety of topics. The information was posted reverse chronologically, so the most recent post would appear first.

Nowadays, a blog is a regularly updated website or web page, and can either be used for personal use or to fulfill a business need.

For instance, HubSpot blogs about various topics concerning marketing, sales, and service because HubSpot sells products related to those three subjects — so, more than likely, the type of readers HubSpot’s blog attracts are going to be similar to HubSpot’s core buyer persona.

My blog, Road to Frame, is a blog that documents my 24,000-mile bike ride across the world. It’s loaded with personal stories, travel tips, guides, kit lists, reviews, hotel recommendations, and more.

My blog doesn’t serve a larger company, it’s ‘just’ my passion: a blog written for an adventurous community who want to travel by bike.

Although my blog isn’t a business blog, it is still a monetized blog that makes a passive income month after month. Through my blog, I make money on ads, affiliate links, and product recommendations.

What is a blog post?

A blog post is an individual web page on your website that dives into a particular sub-topic of your blog.

For instance, let’s say you start a fashion blog on your retail website. One blog post might be titled, “The Best Fall Shoes for 2024.”

The post ties back to your overall blog topic as a whole (fashion), but it also addresses a very particular sub-topic (fall shoes).

Blog posts allow you to rank on search engines for a variety of keywords. In the above example, your blog post could enable your business to rank on Google for “fall shoes.”

When someone searches for fall shoes and comes across your blog post, they can access the rest of your company’s website. They might click “Products” after they read your post and take a look at the clothing items your company sells.

A blog post links back to your overall blog site. For instance, right now, you’re on blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-a-blog. The “what-is-a-blog” section of the URL is tied back to /marketing/, which is the blog.

If you need help creating a blog post, you can use HubSpot’s AI Blog Writer to do so.

What are the benefits of a blog?

There are many benefits of blogging, but here are the top three reasons to have a blog, in my opinion.

Audience Engagement

Your blog is a tool that allows you to engage more with an audience. On my blog, readers can comment on blog posts. A blog is more like a two-way conversation compared to the rest of a website.

The image below is taken from the comment section of one of my blog posts. This was a proud moment for me as a blogger.

There was an engaged commentary on the blog, but what stood out to me was that other readers were helping each other in the comments. The conversation was extending to a community, not just me and one reader. I loved it.

I’ve seen comments like this on business blogs, too. For my client in the retail space, we sometimes get comments asking for elaboration on topics or related queries. The comment section inspires new blog posts and helps us understand our audience even more.

Pro tip: Make sure you reply to comments to encourage others to leave them. You can also invite people to comment within the content of the article.

Content Generation and Repurposing

Blogs are generally longer-form content. Once you’ve created a blog post, you’ve got content that can be repurposed and shared across your marketing channels, such as social media.

If you set up the right analytics, you can also share and analyze data about user interaction. For example, you can monitor how many readers share your blog posts on social, how much time people spend on a blog post, and how far a user scrolls.

All of this data can help with your business and marketing more generally. If the number of shares are high and users scroll to the bottom, then you can bet you’ve got a good blog that’s of high interest to your audience.

Pro tip: If you repurpose content onto visual platforms like Instagram or Pinterest, you’ll likely create an image, or maybe a video. If you do, embed the asset into the blog, too! Repurposing works both ways.

Traffic Generation

If you add a blog (or a news section) to your website, and start writing strategically, considering SEO, you are likely going to start ranking for a lot of keywords. Your blog will likely be home to the majority of keywords. Therefore, your blog drives traffic to your website.

It enables you to better convert that traffic into leads, it allows your business to establish authority in an industry, and it continues to help your business grow and attract new customers months and even years after publication.

Pro tip: Blogs can generate traffic long after they’re written; that’s the great thing about a blog. One blog post has compounding benefits for years.

Blog vs. Website

A blog is typically a section of your business’s website. HubSpot’s website is a good example of a business website that has a blog as part of it.

The screenshot below shows that the blog is a section of the website and is navigable via the main menu.

Your blog differs from your website pages.

Generally your website is quite static. You create pages with purposes (eg. homepages, service pages, product pages, about pages, contact us pages etc.).

These pages make up the website. Your services likely don’t change much and remain static until you make a (probably minor) update.

Blogs, on the other hand, are expected to be updated frequently. You might use your blog to write about industry trends, educational pieces to teach your audience something or showcase your expertise.

For businesses, I often think of the blog as a section of the website that supports the most important pages (e.g., the money-generating pages: products and services).

A blog can also be an entire website, and often, it is if the blog is for personal use alone — for instance, a travel blog or a recipe blog.

If you’re starting from scratch and anxious about your first post, check out our step-by-step guide to writing a blog post.

What is the difference between a wiki and a blog?

A wiki is a collaborative space where anyone who visits the site can edit, share, or publish content — Wikipedia is one of the most popular examples of this.

On the other hand, there is typically only one person, or a team of people, with admin permissions to edit, share, or publish to a blog. Website visitors who come across the blog can potentially leave comments at the bottom of the blog post, but they cannot publish to the site or edit the posted material.

1. To help your company rank on search engines.

Typically, a business will use a blog to help the business’s website rank on search engines. You can absolutely employ paid ads, to help your company homepage rank on page one of Google — but a more effective, long-term solution is blogging.

Often, blogging is synonymous with content strategy and SEO. If you want a successful blog that actually gets visitors, you need to think seriously about SEO.

Or, you need to share the content far and wide in other areas of marketing, social media and emails, for example.

To consider how your company can rank on search engines via a blog, I’ll start with an example — let’s say you work for a web design start-up with very little online presence.

You decide to spend the first year writing and posting regular blog content that strongly relates to web design. Over time, your traffic increases and other companies link to your site for information regarding web design.

When this happens, Google recognizes your company as a legitimate source for web design information. Eventually (with a lot of trial and error), your blog posts begin ranking on page one of Google for terms like “web design,” “website builder,” and “ecommerce website.”

Then, one day, you search “web design companies in X city” and find your company is now on page one. This is likely due, in large part, to your consistent blogging efforts.

Take a look at How HubSpot Uses Blogging to Rank #1 on Google to learn more about specific strategies you can implement to rank on search engines.

2. To share information about a given topic and become an expert in an industry.

In 2006, Boston-native Matt Kepnes quit his job and began traveling the world. He documented his travels in his now-infamous blog, NomadicMatt.com.

After about a year, thanks to tireless blogging efforts and SEO strategies that enabled him to rank on Google, he began pulling in $60,000. Matt also created ebooks, and used sponsorships and affiliate marketing to make money.

Additionally, he wrote a New York Times best-seller, “How to Travel the World on $50 a Day.”

Now, Matt’s blog attracts 1.5 million visitors a month and grosses about $750,000 a year — and he’s become a well-known expert in the travel space.

If you want to become known as an expert in a topic that interests you, from fashion to blogging to fitness, you can — and, oftentimes, it starts with a blog.

3. To attract visitors to your site and turn those visitors into leads.

There’s only so much traffic you can get from the homepage or About Us page of your company’s website. Of course, those pages are critical for leads who are already interested in your products — but they often won’t attract traffic from top-of-the-funnel. That’s where your blog comes into play.

Your blog can be a general resource to help your website visitors even before those visitors are ready to purchase from you.

For instance, let’s say you sell products for ecommerce stores. You might attract some ecommerce owners who are already searching online for your products, but in most cases, the ecommerce owner isn’t going to be ready to buy right out of the gate.

Alternatively, if you begin blogging about tips to help the retail owner who is just starting out — like “How to start a retail website,” or “Benefits of ecommerce vs. physical store” — you’ll slowly attract an audience who enjoys your content and finds it useful.

Then, when those site visitors’ ecommerce stores begin growing (thanks, in part, to your blog), they’ll already know about your brand and already trust it as a helpful source. That’s when they’ll check out your product pages.

Here’s an example from ASOS showing how they attract leads via the blog. The screenshot below is taken from their blog “Every Shoe You’ll be Wearing This Autumn.” Within the blog they share an image, a styling tip, and, of course, a link to the product.

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4. To cultivate an online community and engage with an audience.

At the very least, you might create a blog to engage with an online community of readers with similar interests. Maybe you start a food blog and ask readers to share their own recipes with you.

Alternatively, perhaps you start a blog that focuses on DIY projects. You post the fun, DIY projects you’ve completed in your own home, and you ask your readers to share their own DIY tips in exchange.

Why You Need a Blog

For businesses, a blog is a valuable tool to have in your marketing strategy. It’s a great way to get the word out about your brand and build rapport with your audience and potential customers.

Use it to provide your audience with useful industry-related information, share company news, and product updates. Blog content is also easy to repurpose for email marketing needs and across social channels.

Without one, you’re missing out on opportunities to promote your brand.

Creating engaging blog content may seem like a heavy lift at first. Luckily there are free tools like HubSpot’s AI Content Writer to help you write better content faster.

1. Choose your target audience.

When you’re starting your own blog, it’s important to think of your target audience. Who are you creating the blog for? And who do you want reading your blog posts? Before you can get started, you have to consider the niche you’re writing about and what topics you’ll cover and why.

Brainstorming your target audience is similar to creating a buyer persona for your company. Plus, this will give you an idea on what kind of content you want to produce.

2. Brainstorm content ideas frequently based on your market segment.

Once you’ve started a blog, you’ll want to churn out high-quality, consistent content on a regular basis. This isn’t always easy. Creating content is a time-consuming task. You want to ensure your content is something your readers would be interested in and hopefully can help with your SEO — more on that in a minute.

To begin brainstorming content, consider what your competitors are doing. Look for gaps in their content that you can fulfill.

Additionally, you should also do SEO research to verify that users are searching for and interested in the topic you want to write about. Tools like SEMrush, Google Keyword Planner, and Answer The Public can help.

You’ll want to brainstorm content frequently so you always have ideas that you can execute. Having content ideas in the pipeline is an easy hack that removes the need to think on the fly. Using a Blog Ideas Generator will help you to fill your pipeline with content ideas that are relevant and helpful to your target audience.

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3. Research and review a content management system (CMS).

In order to create your blog, you’ll most likely use a CMS. A CMS is a tool you can use to design, manage, and publish on your website. You’ve probably heard of examples like WordPress or Wix. I wrote a post on the best blogging platforms to help businesses and bloggers find the best platform for them.

If you don’t have a website yet, you’ll want to choose a CMS that has the ability to host a blog. If you already have a site, check if it has blogging options built in. If not, you may need to find a CMS that integrates with your site or choose an entirely new CMS altogether.

There are tons of options in the CMS world, including HubSpot. (You can try out our CMS here.)

HubSpot’s free blog maker provides everything you need, including free hosting and security tools. It’s easy to get started, with hundreds of free themes to choose from, and a simple visual editor.

4. Create a blog strategy and editorial calendar.

Just like creating a business, you can’t create a blog without a strategy in mind. Your strategy should answer questions like:

• Who are you targeting?
• What type of content will you produce?
• When will you post?
• Where will you promote your content?

Overall, you should have a mission, vision, and goals for your blog.

Then, create an editorial calendar to keep you organized and on track. A calendar will help you track what posts are coming up, ensure writers are meeting deadlines, and assure you have enough content ideas for the foreseeable future.

5. Pay attention to article structure.

When you’re writing your blog posts, it’s important to consider the article structure. For instance, are you using subheads to break up the post so it’s easy to digest? Are you using bullet points and images that make the post easy to scan? These are important factors that will help keep your reader on the page.

Additionally, you‘ll want to make sure that you’re using calls-to-action (CTAs), that will guide the reader on what you want them to do next. This is how you can start making money and generating leads from your blog.

6. Become an expert in marketing and promoting your blog.

Another element of blogging is marketing and promoting your blog posts. It’s like the age-old adage, “When a tree falls in the woods and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound?”

Consequently, if you write a blog post but nobody reads it, will it have a positive impact on your company or brand? Probably not. That‘s why you’ll have to market your posts. You can use social media, SEO, your website, or your email newsletter to reach current and potential customers.

7. Learn about SEO.

Like I mentioned above, you want people to read your blog posts. One way to do that is to get organic traffic through SEO. If you want your blog to be successful, learn how to research keywords, how to rank in search engines, and how to build an SEO strategy.

I actually learned all about SEO through my blog. I started writing a blog, realized that I wanted people to read it, so I needed to learn SEO. I started employing SEO best practices from the few Google ranking factors that I knew at the time.

Before I knew it I had my first page one rank one for a long tail keyword and I was hooked!

My first page one blog rank is pictured below. The keyword is “cycling in Azerbaijan.” Pretty niche! Since not many people are doing it, it was, relatively speaking, easy for me to achieve.

If you’re starting in SEO, that’s what I’d recommend. Pick a long-tail, easy-to-rank-for keyword, even if it’s not ideal for business, just try and get something ranking and practice SEO.

8. Use a variety of blog post styles.

Your blog posts should be interesting to everyone who reads them, and especially for customers who read every single post.

For those that are active followers and ambassadors of your blog, you should use a variety of blog post styles so your blog doesn’t get stale. Consider using how-to posts, list-based posts, or thought leadership.

9. Repurpose old content.

Producing blog content consistently can be hard. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you write a blog post.

You can update old blog posts to keep them accurate and comprehensive.

Additionally, you can use other content of yours, perhaps a YouTube video or a podcast, and repurpose the content into a blog post.

Get started with HubSpot’s Free AI Blog Writer

To freshen up old content, you can leverage HubSpot’s Free AI Blog Writer — the software can help you generate ideas and write copy.

10. Perform a competitive analysis.

To understand your audience, run a competitive analysis on your top blog competitors. This will help you identify trends, uncover gaps in the content in your industry, and give you ideas on topics and ways to promote your blog.

Running a competitive analysis will help you build and iterate on your own blog strategy.

How to Promote Your Blog

If you’ve got your SEO sorted, visitors will largely find your blog through Google, but as mentioned earlier, a blog is an excellent channel to build awareness and promote your brand.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Link from your website.

This may seem obvious, but you should make your blog easy to find on your website. Consider using an attention-grabbing CTA or making it easily accessible from a dedicated spot on your homepage.

2. Repurpose blog content.

As previously mentioned, repurposing content will save you loads of time when creating content, but it also allows you to promote your brand across multiple channels whether through video, podcasts, email, or social.

3. Utilize internal linking.

Once you’ve started generating a significant amount of posts on your blog, it can be helpful to link to other posts or related topic pages within your blog.

This is good for SEO, but it will also help your readers find pertinent information on a topic they are interested in.

4. Promote on social media.

With the help of eye catching video or images, you can also leverage your social media channels to drive traffic to your blog. Additionally, consider placing a link to your blog on all of your social accounts.

5. Consider guest blogging.

Guest posting on another industry-related blog gives your brand the opportunity to introduce itself to new customers who may not have heard of you.

It’s also a great opportunity to network with other industry professionals and provide cross-promotion opportunities.

6. Leverage influencers.

Influencer marketing is a powerful tool you can use to give your brand some social proof credibility.

Similar to guest blogging, you’ll be able to tap into that person’s audience and introduce your brand to a new audience. Be sure to work on cultivating a relationship first before reaching out for a favor.

7. Explore paid options.

If you have the budget to do so, paid content promotion is another route you can take to get eyes on your content. Running ads or a boosted post on Facebook is a good entry point to paid promotion.

If you’re officially ready to get started with your own blog, take a look at our guide to creating a successful blog strategy.

Blogging is beneficial for business.

With a blog, the sky’s the limit — and so are the benefits for your business, as I’ve seen with the many blogs I have created or written for myself. When new content is published regularly, engaging, and helpful to your audience, it’s an invaluable tool to have in your marketing kit.

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

If you’re just getting started with local SEO, this Google My Business guide is the perfect spot to kick things off.

Even though GMB looks simple and pretty intuitive, there are a lot of things to pay attention to. You’ll really benefit from it only if your listing is set up right.

Remember — when people search for a product or service near them, they’re usually very close to making a purchase. One in two people who conduct a local search (think “watch repair near me”) visit a store that day.

So it’s important the information about your business that shows up when people search Google is as accurate, complete, and optimized as possible.

In this article, I’ll show you how to create your Google My Business account, verify your business, make your listing as strong as possible, and more — with some expert guidance along the way.

Table of Contents

• What is Google My Business?
• Is Google My Business free?
• Google My Business Benefits
• How to Create a Google My Business Listing
• How to Verify Your Business on Google
• How to Optimize Your GMB Listing
• Google My Business App — Does It Exist?

But wait … do I need Google My Business or Google Business Profile? 🧐

They’re the same thing. It used to be called Google My Business, and a lot of people still call it that, even though it’s now Google Business Profile. To keep things simple, in this piece, we’ll stick with the old name most folks are familiar with.

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Google My Business Benefits

Let’s explore the key six benefits of Google Business Profile and how it can help you get noticed online and bring in more local customers by putting all the important info right where people can see it.

1. Increased Visibility and Better Rankings

According to Safari Digital, 46% of all Google searches are driven by local intent. Plus, 97% of people search online to find nearby stores, and in 2023, 28% of those local searches ended in a purchase.

So, what does Google My Business do for you?

It boosts your business’s presence in Google Search and Maps, especially in local searches. When someone searches for “near me” services, GMB ensures your business shows up in the top results — if relevant.

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Google looks at various factors, including relevance, distance, and the prominence of the business in the local area. A complete and optimized GMB listing gives Google the data it needs to rank you higher.

• Example: A local pizza place sets up its GMB profile with updated info, like opening hours, pictures of its dishes, and customer reviews. Now, when someone in the neighborhood searches for “pizza delivery,” this restaurant appears in the local 3-pack — the top 3 results on Google Maps — which gets it more foot traffic and delivery orders.

2. Enhanced Customer Engagement

You can directly interact with your customers through Q&A sections and reviews.

Pissed Consumer reports that 75.5% of consumers trust online reviews, so responding to both positive and negative feedback is important for building trust and keeping people engaged.

• Example: A hair salon actively responds to reviews — thanking those who leave positive comments and resolving issues for those who leave negative feedback. This shows they care about customer satisfaction and, at the same time, encourage others to leave reviews.

Expert tip: “We use a tool called BrightLocal to manage all our client reviews in one place. It‘s super helpful for staying organized. Respond to every single review, whether it’s positive or negative. When you respond, try to naturally weave in keywords related to your business and location,” advises Marshal Davis, president of Ascendly Marketing

3. Valuable Insights and Analytics

One of the best things about GMB is its valuable insights into customer behavior.

You can see how customers find your listing (search terms, location), what actions they take (such as calling your business or visiting your website), how many people check out your business via Maps, and how many users interact with you overall.

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• Example: A local café notices through GMB insights that many customers find them using the term “breakfast near me.” Seeing this trend, they decide to promote their breakfast menu more heavily in posts and in-store promotions, leading to an increase in morning visitors.

4. Free Marketing and Advertising

GMB offers free exposure by letting you showcase photos, product or service descriptions, and key updates. This helps potential customers get a solid sense of your business before they even click on your website or step into your store.

The better your profile is optimized, the higher the chances you’ll appear in search results without spending money on PPC ads.

• Example: A florist uses GMB to showcase bouquets and seasonal offers. When people search for “flower delivery,” they can see fresh photos of the latest arrangements, which leads to more calls for orders, especially during holidays like Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Without any ad budget, they start appearing in local searches.

5. Mobile Access

All GMB listings are optimized for mobile, so when users search for businesses on their phones, they can quickly get all the info they need — directions, hours, reviews, etc.

This is crucial since 80% of Gen Z, 62% of millennials, 66% of Gen X, 35% of Boomers, and 52% of the general population primarily use mobile search.

• Example: A bakery ensures their GMB listing is complete with an address, contact number, and hours of operation. When someone’s out shopping and searches for “bakery near me,” the listing pops up with a one-click option to call or get directions, driving foot traffic to the store.

6. Simplified Appointment Booking

Service-based businesses can use GMB’s appointment booking feature to let customers schedule appointments directly from the listing. Actually, Publer states that 95% of companies receive appointment requests via Google My Business.

This reduces friction and improves the customer experience by making the process easy and seamless. And that’s exactly what users prefer.

• Example: A beauty spa adds an appointment link to their GMB listing. Clients searching for “facials” or “massage therapy near me” can now book their services directly from the search result, increasing bookings without requiring customers to visit the website first.

How to Create a Google My Business Listing

• Step 1: Log into the Google Account you want to be associated with your business (or create a Google Account if you don’t already have one).
• Step 2: Go to www.google.com/intl/en_us/business/ and select “Manage now.”
• Step 3: Enter your business name.

• Step 4: Choose your business type — online retail, local store, or service business.

• Step 5: Time to choose the category. Select the most accurate category possible — you’re essentially telling Google which type of customers should see your business listing.

Expert tip: “Fill out your profile fully, and don’t limit your brand to one category. GBP lets you add up to 10 different sub-categories to your business beyond your primary option, which can help Google better understand everything you do. Your business isn’t one-dimensional, so add different categories for the full spectrum of your products and services. The more categories you add, the more keywords you’re likely to rank for,” Elisa Daniela Montanari, head of SEO at Wrike.

• Step 6: Enter your business address.

• Step 7: Add your business phone number (optional).

• Step 8: Choose a verification option. If you’re not ready to verify your business yet, click “Try a different method” → “Verify Later.”

How to Verify Your Business on Google

There are several ways to verify your GMB listing:

• By postcard
• By phone
• By email
• Instant verification
• Bulk verification

Postcard Verification

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your business address is correct. Optional: Add a contact name — that’s who the postcard will be addressed to.

• Step 3: Click “Mail.” The postcard should reach you in five days — make sure you don’t edit your business name, address, or category (or request a new code) before it comes, because this could delay the process.
• Step 4: Once you’ve gotten the postcard, log into Google My Business. If you have more than one business location, select the location you want to verify. If you only have one, select “Verify now.”
• Step 5: In the Code field, enter the five-digit verification code on your postcard. Click “Submit.”

If your postcard never shows up or you lose it, you can request a new code by signing into Google My Business and clicking the “Request another code” blue banner at the top of the screen.

Phone Verification

Google lets some businesses verify their location by phone. If you‘re eligible, you’ll see the “Verify by phone” option when you start the verification process.

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your phone number is correct, then choose “Verify by phone.”

• Step 3: Enter the verification code from the text you receive.

Email Verification

Google lets some businesses verify their location by phone. If you‘re eligible, you’ll see the “Verify by email” option when you start the verification process.

• Step 1: If you aren‘t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose the business you want to verify. (If you’re already logged in, you’ll be at the verification step.)
• Step 2: Make sure your email address is correct, then choose “Verify by email.”
• Step 3: Go to your inbox, open the email from Google My Business, and click the verification button in the email.

Instant Verification

If you‘ve already verified your business with Google Search Console (a free tool that lets you manage your website’s search performance and health), you might be able to instantly verify your email.

• Step 1: Sign into Google My Business with the same account you used to verify your business with Google Search Console. (Some business categories aren‘t eligible for instant verification, so if you don’t get a notification asking you to verify the listing, you’ll have to use a different verification method.)

Bulk Verification

If you operate more than 10 locations for the same business — and you’re not a service business or an agency managing locations for multiple businesses — you might be eligible for bulk verification.

• Step 1: If you aren’t already logged into Google My Business, sign in now and choose a location. Click “Get verified” next to its name.
• Step 2: Click “Chain.”
• Step 3: Fill out the verification form with your business name (as well as the parent company, if applicable), country or countries where you operate, all contact names (i.e., everyone who will be using the Google My Business account), contact phone number, business manager email (someone at the business who can verify you’re a representative of that business), and the email address of your Google Account Manager.
• Step 4: Submit the verification form. It can take up to a week for Google to review and process your claim.

How to Optimize Your GMB Listing

Once you‘ve verified your business, it’s time to finish fleshing out your profile.

Go to the Google My Business dashboard, click the listing you’d like to work on, select “Info,” and then choose a section to fill out or update.

Add as much information and media as you can, including a business profile photo, the area you serve, your hours, attributes (e.g., “wheelchair accessible,” “free wifi”), the day and year you opened, and a public phone number and website URL.

Anyone can “suggest an edit” to your listing by clicking on the three dots in the right corner, so it‘s important to A) get everything right the first time (so you don’t encourage random people to make their own changes) and B) periodically log into your GMB dashboard and make sure all the details look right.

At any point in time, you can edit your business profile by logging into your GMB dashboard, clicking on “Info,” clicking the pencil next to the field you’d like to edit, making your change, and then choosing “Apply.”

Expert tip: “Create a listing for each location and skip the copy-and-paste. Each description should be unique so Google can tell these are two different businesses operating under the same umbrella. If each profile is a carbon copy, it could look suspicious to Google, and your ranking may suffer. That said, you shouldn’t need to manage everything manually, so use a tool to manage multiple profiles from a centralized location,” says Brooke Webber, head of marketing at Ninja Patches

Regarding optimizing your listing, I also spoke with Sergey Galanin, the SEO director at Phonexa, who pointed out that one common mistake is not keeping the details on your website in sync with your GMB.

If there’s inconsistency between your site and GMB, it can confuse potential customers. They might come across conflicting information and get skeptical about your business and what you offer.

This can lead to lost customers, a negative online reputation, and even bad reviews. Worst case, Google could even penalize your business for having mismatched information.

Google My Business Photos

According to Google, businesses with photos see 35% more clicks to their website and 42% higher requests for driving directions in Google Maps.

Ditch the generic stock photos and showcase what makes your business unique.

Think photos of your team in action, happy customers enjoying your products, or behind-the-scenes peeks at your process, says Marshal Davis.

Photos should be at least 720 pixels wide by 720 pixels high and JPG or PNG files.

Not sure how many pictures to add — or what they should be of?

Cover photo

Your Google My Business cover photo is one of the most important, as it shows up front and center on your listing.

Profile photo

Your profile photo is what appears when you upload new photos, videos, or review responses.

Along with your profile and cover photos, you can and should upload other pictures to make your listing more informative and engaging.

Type	Description	Google-recommended minimum	Suggestions
Exterior	The outside of your business from different directions.	Three photos	Use pictures from different times of day (morning, afternoon, evening) so customers always recognize your business.
Interior	The inside of your business, with a focus on decor and ambiance.	Three photos	Give customers an accurate idea of what it will look like to stand or sit inside your business.
Product	A representation of the types of products or services you offer.	One photo per product type or service	Show the products you’re known for and make sure the photos are lit well.
Employees at work	“Action” shots of your employees delivering the types of services you offer.	Three	Try to capture your employees with satisfied customers.
Food and drink	Pictures that represent your most popular menu items.	Three	Consider hiring a food photographer — these are tricky to get right! If that’s not in the budget, use bright, even lighting (i.e. no shadows or dimness).
Common areas	Photos of where your customers will spend time (think a lobby or lounge).	One photo per common area	Represent the variety of amenities you offer.
Rooms	Pictures of your different room and suite options (if applicable).	Three	Don’t try to mislead guests — show your wallet-friendly and high-end options.
Team	A shot of your management team and staff.	Three	Use pictures that show your unique culture and team personality.

Google My Business Videos

You can also add videos. Videos must be:

• 30 seconds or shorter
• 100 MB or smaller
• 720p resolution or higher

Videos can add some variety to your profile and make you stand out among other businesses in your category; however, don‘t worry if you don’t have any. Unlike photos, they’re not a “must-have.”

Google My Business Reviews

One of the best ways to encourage future customers to leave positive reviews? Respond to current ones. Not only does leaving an appreciative response show the original reviewer you’re thankful for their support, but it also makes that positive review stand out on your listing and influences people to leave their own reviews.

Here’s a sample reply to a satisfied customer:

Thank you for your business, [name]! We‘re so glad you enjoyed [product, e.g., “the blueberry pie”] — it’s one of our favorites, as well. Hope to see you back at [business name] soon.

You should also respond to negative reviews to show you take them seriously and placate the unhappy buyer. But make sure you’re extremely courteous — attacking them back will only make you look unprofessional and their review more credible.

Thank you for the feedback, [name], and I‘m incredibly sorry [product/experience] did not meet your expectations. [If you’ve made a change, mention it here — e.g., “We’re now double-checking orders to make sure everyone gets exactly what they asked for.”] If you‘d like to come back in, we’d be happy to give you [product] on the house. In any case, thanks for your business, and I hope we can do better next time.

Google My Business App — Does It Exist?

The Google My Business app is gone. To keep your Business Profile fresh and connect with customers, use the Google Maps app and Google Search instead.

Simply open the Google Maps app on your phone and go to the “Business” tab to manage your profile easily. Use the same Google Account linked to your Business Profile.

The Google Maps app offers most features of the old Google My Business app. You can:

• Add or claim your business to show up on Google.
• Edit your business info, like address, hours, or photos.
• Respond to customer messages or calls.
• Set up notifications for your mobile device.
• Manage your reviews.
• Check your performance metrics.
• Advertise your business.

Download the Google Maps app on both iOS and Android.

Do I need a Google My Business account?

As my final piece of advice: If you run a local business and don’t have Google My Business, it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

I dare to say it’s your best chance to get noticed by customers nearby and show them exactly what you offer. Plus, it lets you connect with them through reviews and posts, which helps build trust in your community.

And thanks to all the insights you get from GMB analytics, it’s easier than ever to fine-tune your marketing and find what works.

Bottom line? Google My Business is a free, powerful tool that drives local traffic right to your door. Don’t sleep on it. 🙂

P.S. Speaking of getting noticed, if you’re ready to launch your own business, check out our free Business Startup Kit. It includes nine easy templates to help you come up with a catchy name, create a solid business plan, and pitch your idea to investors. Figuring out startup costs or planning your marketing strategy? This guide has everything you need to get started.

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

As a startup founder or marketing leader, you’ve likely heard the mantra “distribution is everything.” But what does that really mean, and how do you put it into practice?

Building a great product is hard, but it’s only half the battle. The real challenge is getting that product in front of the right customers — repeatedly, and at scale.

For most startups, this is where things fall apart. In my experience, many founders either get stuck trying to sell to fewer customers at a higher price or chase thousands of lower-priced customers. As a result, they end up stretching their resources too thin and fail to create sustainable growth.

The solution is to build a scalable distribution engine. But how do you set up a system that consistently delivers results, while still balancing your current channels and marketing strategy?

In a recent Marketing Against the Grain episode, Kieran and I unpack why startups need to prioritize distribution from day one — and how to design a distribution system that works.

Check Your Numbers: Why a Startup Distribution Strategy is Critical

Let’s get real about the math. Most Series A or B startups are selling to mid-market companies with annual contract values of $5,000-$12,000. To achieve the growth investors expect, you have two options:

1. Go upmarket and increase your ACV to $250,000+. This is incredibly difficult and, in my experience, most fail.
2. Acquire thousands of customers at your current price point. This requires a powerful distribution engine.

The reality is, most startups never invest enough time in building that engine — and without it, they’re at a standstill.

The key is to design a distribution system that’s both predictable and high-leverage. Why? Because predictability gives you forecasting power, while leverage allows you to acquire customers efficiently.

Here’s how to approach it.

How to Build a Startup Distribution Engine

Having worked with countless startups (and helped build HubSpot’s own distribution engine from the ground up), Kieran and I have learned a thing or two about mastering distribution. Here are our top four tips.

1. Identify your product-channel fit.

Startups often talk about product-market fit — but just as critical is product-channel fit. In other words: which distribution channels best align with your product, attract customers, and allow for repeatable growth at scale?

At HubSpot, for example, we built our distribution strategy alongside our product development. Since our product was built around inbound marketing, we focused on channels like content marketing and SEO, which attracted our target audience while simultaneously (and conveniently) showcasing the actual value of our own product.

By aligning our distribution strategy with what HubSpot was designed to do — inbound marketing — we ensured that both our product and channels organically grew together in a way that was scalable and repeatable.

2. Balance predictability and creativity.

One of the toughest challenges of building a startup distribution engine is balancing predictability with creativity. You need reliable, predictable channels to fuel steady growth, but you also need to take creative risks to find the high-leverage opportunities that will propel your business forward.

A great example here is Abercrombie & Fitch. Once a brand in decline, they reimagined their distribution strategy by using influencers and social video to reach a new, younger audience.

While they still relied on predictable channels like social media, they added a creative twist by rebranding their image and using influencers to drive authenticity. This balance helped them thrive — outpacing even fast-growing companies like Nvidia for a period.

At HubSpot, we followed a similar path. In the early days, paid advertising drove about 50% of our demand, providing predictability. But as we scaled, we invested more in creative, high-leverage channels like search, flipping the ratio to where search eventually generated 60% of our demand — an absolute game changer for our scaling strategy.

Pro tip: Look at affiliate programs or creator collaborations to add creative twists to predictable channels. These types of partnerships can offer unique distribution angles that set you apart from competitors.

3. Find unique leverage points.

As Kieran points out during the podcast, the most successful distribution strategies find a unique angle within existing channels. Especially when a channel is already crowded, it’s no longer enough to just participate — you have to stand out.

A great example of this is Genius.com, which became the top lyric site by adding user-generated content like annotations to song lyrics. This feature increased each page’s value and helped them rank higher in search engines — not because they had the best product, but because they found a new way to use user interaction to boost visibility and engagement.

Pro tip: Segment your distribution channels into “known” (predictable) and “unknown” (risky, high-impact) categories. This helps you balance stable growth while testing new, high-upside channels.

4. Find asymmetric opportunities.

Distribution success often comes from identifying asymmetric opportunities — channels or strategies that offer disproportionately high returns with relatively low input. These opportunities typically arise from an ability to see what others miss.

As Kieran explains, “To get real leverage in distribution, you need someone who can creatively explore unproven areas while still applying process and rigor.” This means your team can’t just be focused on optimizing what’s already working — they need to be competitive, inventive, and unafraid to experiment.

A powerful example of this was a company I worked with in Brazil, which was targeting heads of logistics in a niche B2B market. Instead of going after traditional channels, we found an asymmetric opportunity by licensing popular business content (like James Clear’s Atomic Habits) and adapting it into Portuguese. This created a unique, localized offering that resonated with their audience in a way no one else was doing.

Don’t Neglect Distribution

Distribution isn’t a side concern for startups — it’s everything. To scale your business, you need a startup distribution engine that’s both predictable and capable of delivering high-leverage growth.

By focusing on the right channels, balancing predictability with creativity, and always looking for asymmetric opportunities, you’ll be in a much stronger position to grow your business.

To learn more about marketing startup distribution engine strategies, 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.